national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." it's tuesday, september 17th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the united nations inspectors handed in a long-awaited report on the use of chemical weapons in syria and found what they called clear and convincing evidence that such weapons were used to attack civilians. secretary general moon says the report makes for chilling reading. >> chemical weapons were used on

a relatively larger scale. this was a grave crime. and those responsible must be brought to justice as soon as possible. >> syrian opposition leaders say last month, government forces used poison gas to attack their neighborhoods in the suburbs of damascus. hundreds of people were killed. they interviewed survivors and collected blood and urine samples and checked the soil for chemicals and reported that almost all samples tested positive for the nerve gas sarin and concluded that surface to surface rockets were used in the attack and they did not say which side used them but u.s., british and french envoys say the report left no doubt that the government of the syrian president bashar al-assad was responsible. u.s. and officials brokered a deal to avoid military strikes on syria. syrian officials will be required to disclose their

chemical weapons within a week and then eliminate them by the middle of next year. a japanese minister has spoken about fukushima to the international atomic energy agency and pledged strong leadership at the damaged plant to deal with the leakage of radioactive water. science and technology minister spoke on monday at the annual iaea general conference. >> the government of japan has decided to assume a proactive role to achieve a fundamental settlement of this issue. >> yamamoto said the toxic water is not polluting a sea beyond a short distance from the plant's port and he said japan's food and drinking water are safe. about 200 people later attended an explanatory session by japanese nuclear regulators and energy officials. >> it was a good detailed meeting but it did not focus on

the fundamental questions of responsibilities and the government role versus tepco's role. >> i think the government has realized that they haven't done a good job expressing that and they need to do a lot better. >> japanese leaders are hoping to dispel international concerns with a transparent approach over fukushima. severe tropical storm passed over japan on monday leaving a trail of widespread destruction. residents were left to face power outages and landslides. three people were reported killed. and six missing. more than 130 others are injured. two women were killed when landslides destroyed their homes and a 63-year-old man died after strong winds knocked him off a ladder. in fukushima prefecture four men

were swept away by a river. one of them is still missing. man-yi headed north up japan's east coast. people in kyoto prefecture saw the river break its banks flooding streets and houses and farmland. meteorologists have downgraded man-yi to a low pressure system and said heavy rains and gusty winds will pass but officials remain on the alert for further landslides. they may have helped to save thousands of people. nhk world has this report. >> reporter: kyoto is an iconic land mark. the river submerged when it go overs the banks.

>> at dawn, locals already have 280 millimeters of rainfall. they normally have this much in the whole of september. at 5:05 a.m., the agency officials sent out the warning. kyoto city acted on the warning 45 minutes later. they advised more than 45,000 people living along the river to evacuate. at 9:30 a.m., some 268,000 residents were told to get moving. that's one in every five kyoto

citizens. the city disaster chief faced difficult decisions under pressure. >> translator: we haven't experienced flooding this bad for sometime. we hope to learn from this experience so we can be better prepared for next time. >> translator: we would like to review our warning system by interviewing local interviewing local municipalities and >> reporter: the people of kyoto have suffered the worst in the case. but not a single person was lost. weather officials are hoping they can keep their new system on hand for another rainy day. nhk world, back to you. the powerful winds unleashed by the storm have cut powers to thousands of households and damages hundreds of homes.

in miyagi prefecture, the wind. >> we were just getting back on our feet from the tsunami two years ago. i don't know what to say. >> many homes near tokyo were heavily damaged as the wind tore down powerlines and toppled trees. >> translator: i woke to a shaking noise. i thought it was an earthquake. it only took about a minute for the power pole had fallen over. >> reporter: the storm also damaged homes in other precheck fek sures north of tokyo and local authorities have set up evacuation shelters for effected residents. employees from north and south korea are back at work at a jointly-run complex after it was shut down for fire months.

nearly 1,000 south korean workers crossed the border on monday morning into the town of kaesong. anna jung reports from the edge of the demilitarized zone. >> reporter: trucks carry raw materials are lined up in front of a gate that leads to the industrial complex of kaesong. they've just crossed the demilitarized zone. south korean workers are also entering the complex after completing formalities at the border. the gateway to the kaesong complex just behind me is about an hour's drive north of seoul. we've seen some going in and out. they seem to be getting back to normal but this barricade remains in place in case of an emergency. south korea's unification ministry says about 820 workers crossed the border into kaesong on monday. about half of them will remain there. >> translator: things were tough

because we've had no work over the past five months. i hope the reopening of the industrial complex will improve my company's situation. >> reporter: more than 100 south korean companies were operating at kaesong in february and employed about 60,000 workers mainly from the northern side of the border. they produced around $470 million worth of goods in 2012. but north korea abruptly withdrew its workers in april amid rising tensions with seoul. north korea relaxed the stance over the summer leading to a basic agreement in august to reopen the site. south korean workers say they can feel a difference in the way they interact with their colleagues from the north. >> translator: they've completely changed their attitude. they are very eager to work and they welcomed us warmly.

>> reporter: many people in south korea hope the resumption of joint operations at the site will lead to better relations between seoul and pyongyang. anna jung, nhk world, south korea. senior north korean officials are in beijing to attend a symposium on pyongyang's nuclear program analysts say north korea is indicating its eagerness to restart multilateral talks on nuclear issues. north korea sent the top diplomat, and the chief negotiator to the six-party talks on pyongyang's nuclear program. the negotiations are chaired by china. they have been stalled for almost five years. the united states, japan and south korea say they won't be sending their top envoys to the symposium which starts on wednesday. american researchers said last week that satellite images taken in late august suggest north korea may have restarted its

nuclear reactor. if confirmed, this decision would represent a violation of u.n. security council resolutions. relatives of japanese people abducted long ago by north korea have shown they haven't given up. they staged a rally calling for action before it's too late. prime minister shinzo abe attended the event on monday in tokyo. the organizers scheduled it close to the anniversary of a milestone in their struggle. north korean leader kim jong-il acknowledged the abductions in a summit in 2002. abe attended as a top aid to the then prime minister. they managed to negotiate the release of five abductees. a woman attended the rally. her daughter was taken in 1977. >> translator: this past 35 years are heavy burden, but i

never give up until we get back my daughter and the others. >> translator: our mission will never be complete until all families are reunited. i'll apply all necessary pressure to resolve this issue. >> 12 other citizens are officially recognized as abducted and their relatives are making sure they won't be forgotten. electoral officials in afghanistan are preparing for the first transfer of power since the taliban regime was ousted in 2001. hopefuls have started to enroll for next year's presidential election. officials in the capitol kabul on monday set up an office to screen potential candidates. outgoing president hamid karzai has served two terms. but the constitution says he can't stand again. officials reported more than 20

people have stepped forward so far to fill karzai's shoes. the new leader will face a challenge, building an independent and stable country, commanders from the u.s. led coalition are said to withdraw all forces by the end of 2014. leaders of the taliban insurgency announced their refusal to take part in the election. authorities are tightening security to prevent militants from sabotaging the electoral process. ceramic artist in iran have been relearning the techniques once lost to history studies how to make shimmering persian luster ware.

we have this report. >> reporter: this vase from the 30th century. this is a unique feature is it's golden luminousness. they convert silver and copper but no gold. luster ware is said to prevent the pinnacle of art. this is the national museum in iran, this july, held official lusterware exhibition. >> translator: all the work was wonderful. each piece had depth and character. >> reporter: all the pieces were not different. it was by a japanese photo.

she was -- a living national treasure who led the lusterware revival. many of the achieved techniques over hundreds of years. lusterware was aware of -- >> translator: i thoughts, this was a mysterious kind of pottery. it has the glow of amber. i've never seen such irdesense. >> reporter: he was guided by ancient iranian pottery and he figured out a formula for the pigments and the best way to build. he led a global revival of lusterware. this is a guest of the

exhibition. he has a passion for the craft and he has been teaching. over 100 photos were in the demonstration. mohammed alaie is from pakistan. he built a studio on his roof four years ago where he focused on making lusterware. lusterware is fired at about 600 degrees. that's lower than the kiln for most pottery. the temperature -- >> translator: the design didn't come out. this is no good. i have to try again.

>> reporter: he she had some light on all the questions. >> translator: water damages the color. you have to get rid of every trace of water. >> reporter: he has learned a range of techniques, including how to use this tool, which keeps the flame from direct contact with the pieces. >> translator: now i understand how to bring out the gloss, thanks to him planting the seed. i will continue to practice with his techniques. >> reporter: a proud lusterware has been revived in japan and now it's being returned to iran's next generation of artists. nhk world, tehran.

let's take a brief look at the markets. one of japan's leading opera singers has been using her voice to spread a message of peace and hope. every year she gives us a temper 11 concert to honor the victims of two tragic events. nhk spoke with her. ♪

>> reporter: this renowned soprano has performed in the great opera houses of the world. on september 11th, she a special performance in tokyo. the concert marked the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the united states. it also honored the victims of the great east japan earthquake which struck on march 11th, 2011. the songs were not all from operas. she also sang well-known japanese tunes about hometown nostalgia to give comfort to victims of the earthquake and tsunami. >> translator: i think japanese sojs are unique in that there are so many lyrics about nature and the passing of the four seasons. >> translator: there are many nostalgic songs about hometowns and nature. u sang those songs because after so much deaf station we needed

to remind ours of the pain they went through during the past 2 1/2 years. >> reporter: she was in washington when terrorist attacked the u.s. in 2001. she was set to perform three days later. the city was on high alert and terrified citizens were running through the streets. but the concert went ahead anyway. >> translator: when i went on stage, there was almost a full crowd. the audience thanked us and said they hoped the arts would help bring peace. i still get a little teary when i think about that concert. >> did that experience change you in any way? >> translator: before that, i was focused on challenges myself to become a better performer with difficult songs. i wanted to step up careerwise. but at that performance, i decided i wanted to be a singer who could reach the heart and bring joy to the audience. even with simple songs.

>> reporter: she used this new approach to connect with the audience japan's 2011 disaster. she wanted to give hope to people living in devastated areas. after a concert in the fukushima prefecture she inspired the audience to join her in a song about their own town. ♪ >> translator: i was moved by the beautiful lyrics. i thought about how wonderful it is that people have such a strong connection the their hometown. >> reporter: in august, she visited another town in iwate prefecture where more than 800 people died or are still missing. she gave a performance that was broadcast live on tv. she chose to perform flowers

well bloomed, a popular tune that she had has sung many times since the earthquake and tsunami. ♪ >> translator: if there are people in pain, sorrow, we naturally want to empathize with their sorrow. i hope i can help ease their pain, even if only by a little. ♪ ♪

>> reporter: she believes firmly in the power of music and she says she'll continue to sing to spread hope and happiness. nhk world. time for a check on the weather. good morning. as we've been reporting, people across japan are cleaning up after a storm swept through. what's it look like the morning after? >> well, good morning, catherine. they low over east of o'die da is moving away so conditioning are better and we're seeing clear skies across much of the country today, however, it did the devastation it brought drenching amounts of rainfall and, in fact, it got possibly three tornados swept through two regions. and in three prefectures, emergency warnings were in place which means people were forred

to evacuate. look at this. it's apparent that so much rain has fallen across much of the central regions. more than 500 millimeters have been found in the course of 48 hours. a lot of these areas seeing more than 450 millimeters and the flooding situation, still, will not be aleleviated yet. even though clear skies are found here across japan, the rough sea conditions will be continuing and thehe flooding a last night's risks will be remaining in place across the country. after one storm, there's another storm that formed over east of the philippines here across continental asia. it's named "rabbit" in japanese but it won't be cute. it's moving over toward the northern philippines and intensifying over the warm water. feeding it to become a strong typhoon status. as it either impacts or nears northern phillipenes. the outer band are affecting the central philippines so you can

see how intense the storm system is. packing gusts of 90 kilometers per hour and moving at the speed of 15 kilometers per hour toward northern philippines. it will be bringing stormy conditions throughout this week across the arch pi l across the archipelago. and this one will become a tropical storm as well. over the south china sea as we speak. look at the temperatures here. very messy across the indochina peninsula. we have reports of about 230 millimeters in the past 24 hours in some locations but it's going to get worse with all the thunderstorms that pop up. manilla looking melsy. tokyo, fine, clear skies and a sunny day at 29 degrees. 18 degrees over here and if you can recall last week you saw temperatures down to about single digits for your high so recovering there. now over to mexico, we have two storms to talk about. let me show you the condition here. not a good way to start off this

week. tropical storm man-yi drenched the south pacific coast over the weekend and several people fell victim to heavy rain and landslid landslides. trees were toppled by fierce winds. military personnel arrived in flooded areas to help the locals. manual has lost some steam but people can expect wet weather in its wake for the next couple of days. pull back you can see the satellite, messy conditions across much of mexico, especially in much of the southern areas due to a couple of systems. this is a remnant. we've shown you manual from the video and it's changed to a low pressure system but it will be bringing drenching rain across the area. this ingrid. look at your temperatures, mexico city, rain, of course, at 20 degrees for your high. looking quite chillier across

much of the great lakes region. new york only down to 18 degrees for your high today. here's your extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition of nhk. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.

♪ >> ok. welcome to the woodrow wilson center. for today's presentation young and undocumented, the new american story. more on that in a moment. first some business. my full time job is that i am the executive producer, managing editor and host of our weekly program dialogue at the wilson center. i am curious how many are visiting the wilson center for the first time? ok. a significant amount of