hello there and welcome to "newsline." it is monday, september 30th. i'm catherine kobayashi in toke yes. north korean leaders are considering shutting down a diplomatic program that has helped people in japan connect with their past. a foreign ministry official told nhk the country may stop visits by japanese whose relatives died on the korean peninsula toward the end of world war ii. authorities in pyongyang have

allowed six groups of japanese to visit the suburbs of the capital and other cities since august of last year. the korean peninsula was once under japanese clone yalt rule. many japanese died in what is now north korea as the war came to an end. more than 20,000 remains are believed to be buried there. a north korean foreign ministry official told nhk exclusively that the visits by relatives could end this year. the official said the planned construction of housing and other projects in the area could halt the program. the official revealed north korean leaders want the japanese government to agree to hold talks on what to do quit the remains. they in turn want to get back the remains of north koreans who died in japan during the war. those individuals were conscripted by the japanese military and private companies. some experts say north korean leaders are trying to improve relations by making the remains issue a priority. astronauts aboard the

international space station have a big unpacking job ahead of them. an unmanned capsule developed by a private company has arrived packed with supplies. >> secure on the international space station. >> iss crew used a robotic arm to grab the capsule known as cygnus and approve it to the station. the transporter carried about 600 kilograms of supplies including food and clothing. starting monday, astronauts plan to transfer the supplies to the space station and fill the capsule with trash and gear. orbit sciences corporation developed cygnus and launched it a couple of weeks ago. it was scheduled to reach the space station last sunday but a data exchange problem caused delay. orbital sciences is the second private company to succeed in sending a shipment to the space station. japan coast guard officers have arrested a chinese crew member of a freighter in

connection with a deadly collision at sea. the vessel slammed into a japanese cargo ship about 100 kilometers south of tokyo. the collision happened on friday. five crew members of the cargo ship died. another is missing. coast guard spokespersons say the ship has a gash in its hull more than two meters in diameter. and they say the freighter has damage near its bow. the vessel is registered in sierra leone. coast guard officers arrested shia hongbo sunday. he was piloting the freighter at the time. the spokespersons say he failed to take proper action to avoid a collision and has admitted to the charge. populous. prosperous. pushing ahead. china's rise brought it wealth, power, and problems. an income gap divides its people. pollution threatens their

health. and disputed seas strain relations with its neighbors. find out about the challenges china faces on "newsline." people across china are feeling a burning in their eyes and their lungs. air pollution has reached one of the highest levels on record. thick fog covered many parts of the country on sunday. visibility in the eastern province of january sue was reduced to ten meters during the day. drivers had to turn on headlights and slow down. authorities closed some expressways. beijing recorded the highest level on a six-point scale of harmful particles known as pm 2.5. bad air will linger on monday. they're warning relevance dents to wear masks or stay indoors. chinese government officials have said they will limit the number of vehicles to reduce the density of air pollute ants by more than 10% by 2017.

a new free trade zone opened in shanghai on sunday. the initiative is aimed at encouraging foreign investment and helping to maintain china's economic growth. the 29 square kilometer zone combines four special trade districts in eastern shanghai. the zone will have simplified customs procedures, restrictions will be eased on capital transactions with overseas companies. foreign firms operating in the new zone can sell game machines that are banned in china. overseas companies will be allowed to open medical institutions in the zone. china's leaders hope the experimental economic zone will boost exports and increase foreign investment. they plan to build more free trade zones nationwide. . a standoff between the u.s.

government and legislature continues. washington is facing a shutdown for the first time in 18 years. u.s. house republicans have rejected an emergency budget bill approved by the senate and passed their own amended bill. the u.s. government is still without a budget for the new fiscal year that begins on tuesday. republicans who control the house of representatives are trying to delay president barack obama's health care reform known as obama care. the house's amendment of the reform ignored president obama's threat of a veto. however, the senate is unlikely to pass the amended bill when it is sent from the house. the senate is not scheduled to meet until midafternoon on monday, less than half a day before a possible government shutdown. so what exactly would happen if the u.s. government were to shut down? during the clinton administration 18 years ago, some federal departments and agencies closed for nearly a month. the issuance of passports was

delayed, resulting in long waits at many offices. pension payments were suspended when civil servants were laid off. even popular tourist spots such as museums and national parks had to close. but services that would have an immediate impact, such as defense, disaster response, and health care, would continue under plans that are currently being studied. people in northwestern pakistan are starting off the week in mourning. a car bomb blew up in a busy market, killing 40 people and wounding 85 others. the car was packed with explosives and parked in front of a police station in the city of peshawar. many people were shopping in the area at the time. security personnel say islamist extremists are responsible. the attack follows a series of bombings in the city that left more than 100 people dead. prime minister sharif has called for the restoration of security through dialogue with the

pakistani taliban and other islamist extremists but there's been no letup in attacks more than three months since he took office. another powerful earthquake has shaken residents of a remote part of southwestern pakistan. the magnitude 6.8 quake killed at least 15 people. it happened on saturday in the province of bluuchistan. seismologists consider it as aftershock of the 7.7 quake that hit the same region on tuesday and killed at least 515 people. local officials say the aftershock deployed many houses left standing following that quake. the aid effort in response to the larger tremor has been slowed because emergency teams have come under attack. separatists in the province are being blamed. thousands of residents are still waiting to go home. vast tracts of land are still waiting to be restored.

and more than half of fishing ports on the pacific coast must be rebuilt. people in northeastern japan still face challenges following the 2011 disaster. but step by step, they're moving forward. see their stories every wednesday on the road ahead right here on "newsline." the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant says a rubber mat has come loose in a tank of a new filtration system. this may be clogging the drain outlet. tokyo electric power company suspended a test run of the advanced liquid processing system on friday after having resumed operation earlier in the day for the first time in one and a half months. the system is designed to eliminate radioactive materials from the water that's accumulating at the plant. tepco had detected a decline in the flow of radioactive waste water in a pipe that carries the water to a storage tank. the rubber mat is used to protect the floor of the tank

when carrying out inspections with a ladder. the utility will check other tanks for similar problems before resuming the test run. authorities in sendai city say they have finished cleaning out the inflammable debris from the earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern japan in march 2011. the task was completed ahead of schedule. workers used heavy machinery to throw the last 50 tons of rubble into the flames in wakabayashi ward. the official in charge of the project presented letters of appreciation to the operators of a temporary incinerator. officials initially planned to treat 210,000 tons of debris from sendai and additional waste from a neighboring city before the end of the year. but the project was carried out more quickly than expected because an incinerator in ishinomaki increased its disposal capacity.

endo is in charge of disaster waste disposal in sendai. he says the city residents have been waiting for this day for a long time. >> translator: the city of sendai has made another important step in the recovery process. >> the city government plans to complete its disposal projects by the end of the year. experts on a japanese government panel will discuss changing the interpretation of the country's pacifist constitution. prime minister shinzo abe pledged japan will engage even more actively in u.n. security operations in a speech to the united nations. >> translator: no single country can protect its peace and security only by its own efforts. >> under the current interpretation, the constitution allows self-defense force personnel only the minimum use of weapons when they participate in u.n. peacekeeping missions.

the constitution is also interpreted as banning the sdf from joining multi-national forces that launch military actions based on u.n. resolutions. panel members say japan should cooperate more closely with the international community, given changes in the global security situation. they will consider allowing the sdf to use weapons to support troops from other countries who come under attack in peacekeeping operations. japanese defense ministry officials say domestically produced patrol aircraft may be allowed to fly again as early as next month. the maritime self-defense force has grounded the p-1 planes because of engine problems. the first two patrol planes were deployed at an msdf base in march. but another plane ran into trouble during a predeployment test flight in may. all four engines temporarily stopped when it was over the pacific ocean. defense ministry officials say a

sudden slow-down in speed lowers fuel intake and leads to unsteady combustion. they say engineers will modify the software controlling the engines to maintain a steady fuel supply. they hope to resume flights in october after conducting tests on the ground. in italy, cabinet ministers from the center right party led by former prime minister silvio berlusconi have resigned amid deepening rifts between the coalition parties. a spokesperson for deputy prime minister angelino alfano said saturday all the five cabinet ministers from berlusconi's people of freedom party are resigning. parliamentary debate begins soon on whether to remove berlusconi from his legislative seat. he was convicted of tax evasion. his party has asked its coalition partner, the center left democratic party, to expose expulsion of the former prime minister from parliament but the democrats are unwilling to do

so. the two parties have also been at odds over an increase in value-added tax to reconstruct state finances. it took two months after the parliamentary election in february for the right and left-wing parties to form a grand coalition. the foreign minister of syria has expressed his government's intention to abide by the u.n. security council's resolution, demanding the else of chemical weapons in his country. walid al mualem was speaking to nhk on saturday in new york where he's visiting to address the u.n. general assembly. mualem said the government is carefully studying the content of the resolution adopted unanimously at the security council on friday. he said all states have to follow council resolutions. >> the member of security council who adopted yesterday the resolution be responsible to combat terrorism because what we

are fighting in syria is branches of al qaeda in afghanistan. >> he apparently urged restraint on western nations who support anti-government groups. he also said the syrian government is ready to take part in the international conference attended by both the government and opposition sides without conditions. the plan was included in the resolution. egypt's interim foreign minister nabil fahmy has delivered a speech to the u.n. general assembly. he defended the crackdown on the muslim brotherhood as necessary to promote democracy in the country. >> translator: our priority is to maintain security and to counter any attempt to obstruct the political process. we're determined to achieve democratization. >> the minister also said the military overthrow of president mohammed morsi in july was the

will of the egyptian people. the interim government has detained leaders of the muslim brotherhood. the group is morsi's support base but government officials describe it as a terrorist organization. these moves have raised concerns among western nations that egypt could be reversing democratization efforts that began two years ago. however, fahmy said he believes the international community will support the egyptian people's struggle against violence. am. >> a teach. a team of researchers says they have identified a part of the brain that could be responsible for overeating. they say the finding could lead to the possible development of treatment for eating disorders in the future. researchers at the university of north carolina and other institutes focused on the area of the brain known as the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, or bnst.

cells in the bnst play an active role in regulating mouse appetite. researchers inserted an optical fiber into the brains of mice then they used laser beams to stimulate them. in the video on the left, when the light hits the bnst, the mouse continues eating even though it's full. the video on the right, in contrast, shows the reaction of the mouse when the functions of the bnst are suppressed. it stops eating even though it's hungry. the bnst is also present in human brains. the researchers say their discovery could be used to develop treatments for overeating and other eating disorders. survivors of the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki still carry the scars 68 years later. some people are suffering with illnesses they haven't had before. they're offering to help out researchers who are interested in what they're going through.

>> reporter: doctors at hiroshima university hospital are seeing something new. a rising number of patients with a rare disease caused by radiation. talking about she'll may is one of them. she was 4 when old when the atom bomb hit her hometown of hiroshima. a test revealed abnormality in her blood. these are her blood cells. the spots are white blood cells that have become cancerous. takashima has myodysplastic syndrome, mds. it is known as the second leukemia. there's no cure. >> translator: we believe this is because of atomic bomb radiation in hiroshima. >> translator: last time i came here, i had no reason to cry.

who could expect slide? something like this? >> each year hiroshima history hospital finds mds in more than ten bomb survivors. 68 years ago, atom bomb radiation pierced people's cells. it penetrated the genes that are blueprints for the body. it's believed the damaged genes after decades cause cancer. however no, large-scale genetic data has been available to help scientists understand. one reason is what happened to many bomb victims after the war. the radiation study centers set up by the u.s. in hiroshima and nagasaki were not for treatment. bomb victims who hoped their suffering would be eased found their consultations were only for the collection of data. they started to feel like guinea pigs.

it took decades for this resentment to pass. yoshida died of mds five years ago. two years after her diagnosis. before she passed away, she offered her genes for medical research. she also decided to speak publicly about her experience. >> translator: the atomic bomb has been nesting in my body for 61 years. i was shocked when it came to the surface. the horror of nuclear weapons knows no end. >> reporter: to honor yoshida, a group in nagasaki launched a drive to collect genes from bomb victims. on this day, a researcher at nagasaki university meets with a bomb survivor who is due to have

surgery for colon cancer. >> translator: i hope some of what is removed tomorrow can be used for research. >> translator: i'm happy to help in any way. >> reporter: the next day, his genes were taken from his cancerous tissue and frozen. so far, around 400 bomb survivors have joined the program. the data brings scientists closer to grasping the genetic mutations common to atom bomb survivors. >> translator: i believe this shows that the bomb victims understand our research and want us to find out more about radiation's harmful effect on the human body. >> reporter: takashima is now donating her bone marrow cells for study. like other bomb survivors, she is hoping this benefits others in the future.

it is time now for a check on the weather with my shoji. >> good morning, catherine. we are monitoring a storm system which is now a strong typhoon status over the warm water here over the south china sea. it is already affecting much of the surrounding countries with stormy conditions, packing winds of 180 kilometers per how. its name is butterfly in chinese, making it toward central vietnam, possibly making landfall around afternoon hours local time. not only is it going to be bringing gusty conditions, storm surges and the high waves around the coastal regions here, but also dropping heavy amounts of downpour not only in the eastern side but also the western seaboards of indochina peninsula as well. thailand already has seen about 100 millimeters of rainfall in

the past 24 hours in localized areas so the land is well saturated, the soil is very loose. any additional amounts could trigger flooding, landslides, as well as mudslides. any additional amounts could top as much as 100 millimeters across these areas with the storm surging all the moisture and enhancing the southwestern monsoonal flow, not very good news. we'll keep a close eye on this one as well as a couple of other storm systems that very active in the pacific ocean. these also look like it will become a tropical storm status into the next 24 hours. this one looks like it will be moving as it did in the previous storm which made landfall. looks like it will be making it toward that and moving into the northeast. but for now, it's still a tropical depression over the water. more rain to come across the korean peninsula. that will be moving into hokkaido. thunderstorms are likely.

northern kyushu will likely be the heaviest downpour area. tokyo, beautiful skies the last few days, looking overcast and wet conditions into the start of this week. 25 degrees here in tokyo. 24 degrees here in seoul with rain. ulan bator at 10 degrees for your high there. and taipei looking at 31 with rain chances. yesterday looked like it was a nice day to have this event. let me show you a video coming out from there. a unique event took place in taipei on sunday under calm autumnal weather. more than 50 teams competed in a race showing creativity and determination. soapbox cars are no longer made from old soapboxes. some contestants crossed the finish line and crashed into bales of hay. contestants take into account not only speed but creativity as well. looks like a really fun event there. all right, pulling back let's move over to north america and

canada where we're seeing this system moving inland and steadily bringing heavy rain and gusty conditions. and the canadian rockies, northern rockies, you'll be seeing some snow covering the higher elevations. towards south dakota, wyoming, montana, these are the areas where high wind alerts and red flag warnings are in place. but across much of the eastern areas, we're looking at really nice skies with new york at 23 degrees. plenty of sunshine today. and that's actually going to be up to about 25 on your tuesday. 28 on your wednesday. but looking pretty cool here in vancouver at 13 degrees for your high. now the extended forecast.

2014 th about four months to go winter olympics in the russian

black sea resort of sochi, the olympic flame has been lit at a ceremony in southern greece. the event was held in the ancient greek city of olympia on sunday. a woman in traditional dress used a concave mirror to focus the sun's rays to light the olympic flame. thomas back, the newly elected president of the international olympic committee, was accompanied at the ceremony by members of the sochi olympic organizing committee. greek alpine skierian necessary andelu lit the torch to begin the relay. the russian leg will begin on october 7th with 14,000 runners expected to take part in the more than 65,000-kilometer course. russian olympic organizers reportedly are even planning to conduct part of the replay in outer space. the sochi winter olympics will be held from february 7th to the 23rd. that is all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo.

do stay with us. we'll be back with more at the top of the hour. 

- coming up, a balanced take on china's security challenges. - we do try to look at the world from beijing's point of view, and we see a very challenging environment for beijing. - columbia's andrew nathan discusses china's security concerns both inside and outside of its borders and how the united states fits in. it's just ahead on "global ethics forum." our speaker is andy nathan, and he's an old friend of the carnegie council, so i'm delighted to welcome him back to this forum. as one of our country's most widely respected china scholars, whenever andy writes or speaks about chinese politics or american policy towards china, his remarks are always worth playing close attention to. today he will be talking about a new book