hello and welcome to this edition of "newsline." it's tuesday, september 22nd. a national holiday in japan. i'm catherine kobayashi. ministers from japan and russia agreed to resume high level talks on an issue lingering for decades. they renewed discussions on a peace treaty. the foreign minister got together with his russian counterpart sergey lavrov in moscow. he drew attention to territorial dispute. he expressed regret over a series of visits by russian ministers to four islands called

the northern territory. russia controls the islands. japan claims them. the japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japan's territory. it says the islands were illegally occupied after world war ii. he said the visits are contrary to japan's position. he said the countries should discuss a solution that is acceptable to both sides and should base it on a statement issued at a 2013 summit by japan's prime minister shinzo abe and vladimir putin. they agreed to arrange a summit. they pledged to hold more working level consultations. >> israel's prime minister fears russian involvement in a nearby conflict could have disastrous results for his own country. benjamin netanyahu told vladimir putin russian arms flowing through syria could end up in the wrong hands.

the leaders got together in moscow to discuss the crisis. netanyahu took top israeli officers to the meeting with him. putin indicated he'll continue giving military aid to the government of syrian president assad. netanyahu says the security situation around israel's northern border with syria is becoming more tense. he said russia's military support could indirectly place advanced weapons in the hands of forces hostile to israel. putin denied russia is sending top of the line arms to syria. israel has no need to fear syrian aggression. he says the conflict left the war-ravaged country too weak. they want to avoid unintended clashes in syria. the head of the u.n. nuclear watch dog says its agency is relying on evidence handed over by iranians to run some sensitive tests. yukiyo amano says it's trying to

use the samples to determine whether tehran has tried to develop nuclear weapons. the director general of the international atomic energy agency wound up a visit to iran by saying he'd made significant progress. amano went to a military site near the capital tehran. experts suspect people used the location to conduct experiments on triggers for nuclear bombs. emian revealed the iranians collected samples from the site before he arrived. >> authentication by the agency of the samples was achieved through use of an established verification process. the process was carried out under our responsibility and monitoring. >> officials at the agency will analyze the sample and hold more talks. they will issue a report by december 15th. the migrant crisis is

dividing the european union. officials in some nations are trying to encourage the increasing number of migrants to move on to neighboring countries. more than 25,000 people flocked from croatia to neighboring serbia. hungary effectively closed its border with serbia last week. overwhelmed croatian officials have moved the refugees and migrants to areas near the hungarian border. many have been trying to cross into hungary. hungarian authorities have criticized croatia for its handling of the issue. they have been relocating new arrivals to areas near their border with austria. as a result, more than 20,000 people entered austria this weekend alone. austrian police expressed their willingness on sunday to assist those heading for germany. interior ministers and top leaders of the e.u. are scheduled to meet later this week but it's unclear if they'll be able to find a solution.

authorities in china are cracking down on christianity. tearing down crosses and detaining christian lawyers. the moves come as more chinese adopt the faith, taking the number of followers to an estimated 100 million. that gives the church more members than the ruling communist party. nhk world reports how church goers in eastern china's zhejiang province are standing their gr >> reporter: out of the blue, so sort sorties into this city are breaking into this church. they enter this compound. they push aside members of the

congregation. then they take away the cross by force. they built the church in the east end. the church has been having prayer. things began to change. first local authorities order the church to remove the cross from the roof top. they said it's against building regulations. so the worshippers erected the cross again, this time on the ground, but even that was intolerable in the eyes of the officials.

>> we are heartbroken. the cross is our faith itself. >> no law justifies their action. the government is bullying us christians. >> this is the leader of the church's party. he launched a public protest with members from other chur churches. >> translator: we want to know why government officials are taking down crosses. we hope they'll listen to our voices. >> reporter: christian activists say 1,000 churches have been demolished or have crosses removed from their compounds. officials order this church to remove its cross. the parties refuse to comply with the demand and hire a lawyer.

authorities set up a surveillance camera in response. police detain the church's pastor, a man and his wife and others on charges of disregarding official order. a local communist party newspaper accused the pathors leading a luxurious life. the article says the wife stole money from the church. this is the lawyer hired by the church. he says all the allegations are groundless. but he received a document from a group taking over the church's administration. the letters say the lawyer is in conflict with the church has been nullified. he fears the government will do everything it can to crush any movement that may undermine the

nation's would be perfect communist rule. >> this is how you destroy a linl. if the government hates its way of thinking, it can detain its followers, fabricating whatever crimes it wants to slap on them. >> reporter: the pressure from the government. the sight of crossless churches have increasing tension between christians and authorities. this year marks 70 years since the end of world war ii. two men, one british, one japanese were on opposite sides during the war. one was a p.o.w. forced to work

on the infamous death railway. the other was a soldier who supervised other prisoners. these elderly veterans have chosen to replace the hatred spawned in war with bonds of friendship. >> reporter: this 95-year-old served in the imperial japanese army. he and his family were celebrating a planned trip to the uk. he was a railway engineer. after he was conscripted, he was assigned to building the burma railway. in 2013 he appeared in a documentary about the railway. the film portrays the harsh conditions along the 400 kilometer route. the japanese used forced labor including prisoners of war. so many died that some still refer to it as the death railway.

many japanese declined to be interviewed. he was brave enough to speak candidly about the conditions the soldiers and the p.o.w.s faced. he expressed his desire to visit the uk and meet with p.m. p.o.w.s. sir harold atcherly is a former p.o.w. who appeared in the film. impressed with his sincerity, he decided to make his dream come true. >> translator: when he get to england, i want to express my sorrow and share my sense of pain. >> how do you do it? 's a wonderful moment for both of us. lovely to see you. a long time ago, 72, 73 years

ago, i was about 23 and i think you are two years younger than i am. >> reporter: sir harold says he is saddened so many ex-p.o.w.s remained trapped in hatred and torment. he, himself, had to forget about the past in order to keep his life moving forward. but he recently decided to do something to soften the hatred of others. >> i do say because there is this hatred around i wanted to do it. and to meet with him. as a representative of his country. because it's not just him and me. it's a very large number of human beings.

>> reporter: sir harold organized a res reception so he could meet other prisoners, as well. 72 people attended including world war ii veterans. some guests still have mixed feelings toward japan because of their painful experiences during the war. >> translator: when i imagine the cruel conditions the p.o.w.s experienced during the war, i feel deeply saddened and my heart fills with pain. i sincerely hope that such sorrow will not be repeated ever again. >> reporter: some of the former prisoners wanted to shake his hand.

>> i've always said that how long do you go on hating? do you go on hating till you're dead? it certainly doesn't do anybody good, any good. and then i find the same with mikio. we are completely together on that. >> reporter: mikio left london with a renewed sense of mission. >> translator: not so many young people know about the war in japan. when i get home, i want to tell people about it and the friendships i made with our former enemies. >> reporter: these two former foes can't communicate their deep emotion through language, but their hands clasped in friendship say more than words ever could.

people from fukushima in japan are feeling the impact of the nuclear accident four years ago. 45,000 continue to live away from their homes. their polite has drawn the attention of a group of high school opportunities from the country that relies more heavily on nuclear power than any other. >> reporter: 20 high school students from france and a local area headed ten kilometers away from the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. the town remains a restricted zone and nobody is yet allowed to live here. the area is being used as an initial storage site for radioactive waste. the students had already studied the aftermath of the accident in 2011. but this was the first time they were able to take a close look.

>> translator: there is really a lot of waste. i also spotted considerable amounts on our way here. >> translator: i wonder where the final disposal sites will be for this much waste. >> reporter: this man was among the students eager to visit fukushima. >> translator: nuclear power plants are important for france. people talk a lot about them. it's interesting to get first hand knowledge of the damage nuclear accidents can cause. >> reporter: the accident has hit multiple businesses hard. fukushima prefecture is a major producer of peaches, but sales are not yet back to normal. the students visited farmers in the town to hear directly about

their efforts to put their businesses back on track. >> what is the impact after the fukushima accident? >> translator: our peaches didn't sell for the first couple of years because of groundless rumors. even though our products were safe. >> reporter: the students went back to school to check for themselves how high the radiation level of peaches from the prefecture is. japan set the standard of 100 becquerels of kilogram for farm products to be used for eating. it was below the detected level. >> translator: such data is hard to come by. i believe that's why people are afraid. >> reporter: the japanese students also learned more about

the accident and nuclear power through their interreaction with their french friend. >> translator: french students know the good side and bad side of nuclear power plants. i was impressed to know they look at them from technological and economic aspects. >> reporter: on the last day of the workshop, students made presentations to sum up what they learned. the students came to understand that nuclear disasters were not only about radiation or raid active waste, but about severe spillover damage like concerns influenced by unconfirmed information.

>> translator: i was deeply touched by meeting people here directly. and seeing the real sites. because i could really sigh the significance of the accident, i'll tell my friends and others around me about the real situation here. >> reporter: people in fukushima will have to deal with the impact of the accident for decades to come. but these students have found some clues for improving the lives of multiple people and lessons from the accident they want to share with people and the rest of the world. nhk world, fukushima.

research by nhk found at least 120 elderly people suspected of having dementia were taken to hospitals in tokyo this past summer. they are apparently suffering from heatstroke. most of them were elderly and living alone. many were found unconscious when caregivers or support center workers came to visit. some of the patients had been unable to distinguish between the tv remote control and that for the air conditioner. this man in his 80s was diagnosed as having dementia six years ago. when he was found nearly unconscious in august, he had apparently set his air conditioner on heating mode. >> translator: is it hard to use? >> translator: this is over my head. >> translator: he was doing it wrong just now, not again. >> a dementia expert noted that adjusting room temperatures can become a serious problem in summer as well as in winter.

>> translator: people with dementia cannot do things other people take for granted, such as switching on the air conditioner or getting a drink of water. >> nagata says it's important for families to seek community support and create support networks. a tourist association in central japan staged an unusual event to promote the area's main fruit at the peak of its harvest season. participants competed to see who out of several groups of 20 could spit a grape seed the farthest. they were given two tries. they made various gestures in their attempts to spit the seeds as far as they could. some said they wanted another try. competitors ranging from young children to the elderly took part in the annual event in a region known for its grapes. a man in his 70s was the winner in the first team with distance

of nearly nine meters. the winners in each group were given a prize of two kilograms of grapes. >> translator: this is wonderful. i feel great. >> he said the grapes were sweet and tasty and he would share them with his family. it is time for a check of the weather. robert, good morning. it is a sunny day here in tokyo, just the way i like it. will we continue to see this great weather? >> a super week going on the weather is going to remain decent. we have high pressure continuing to dominate. you see we are talking about clear skies overhead. even back there toward the korean peninsula. the big thing is this area of high pressure. it's pushing in some cooler air from the north. it feels like autumn out there, especially if you're off towards hokkaido. we do have southerly winds coming in.

if you are in the korean peninsula, temperatures could be pushing to the high 20s, low 30s. going to be humid out there. there is something on the horizon i do want to mention. we have a tropical depression toward the southeast toward northwest guam. long range that could near japan. talking by the weekend into early next week. now pretty decent weather. we have a low pressure area moving out of north eastern china. could impact northern areas of japan. it's going to stay decent out here. showers to tuesday. as we look over to osaka, tokyo, looking at sunny, maybe partly cloudy skies out there through your thursday. let's see what's going on in europe. into northwestern portions, we

have a low pressure area. all this is continuing the track toward the east. even a brief of foul weather. it's not just this bringing the foul weather. here in the southeast. this is the real stormy weather going on. a tornado reported into greece. this storm system pushing towards turkey. we could see the threat of large hail and teenaging winds. a chance of tornados with this. the big thing is the refugee crisis going on here. thousands of people without proper shelter. mix this in with it makes an unpredictable situation. unfortunately with the jet stream dipping farther south, these storms will be coming more and more common.

we have a low pressure area pushing off towards the north. that's been pumping in the moisture. some areas could be seeing 100 millimeters of total rainfall. flash flooding is a big issue with this. all this is getting helped along by a cold front to the northern plains bringing the chance of severe weather. especially out across the dakotas into the western great lakes heading into tuesday afternoon. once you get that daytime heating mixed in there with it. back east, things are staying on the warm side. new york, washington, d.c., into the 20s. the clear skies kind of a double meaning here. during the overnight hours, all that heat escapes. we have frost advisories in parts of new england. look at the capital of vermont here. 4 degrees for your low there on your tuesday. i'll leave you with your extended outlook.

one more story to share with you here before we go. an hour glass in a sand museum in western japan has been certified as the largest in the world by guinness world records. the device is 5.2 meters tall and has a diameter of one meter. it takes 365 days for one ton of sand to drop from top to bottom. the previous guinness world record was held by 1.06 meter high device made by an american. the guinness certificate was on display on sunday. visitorings ss say they are imp by the size of the hour glass. a museum official says it's a local treasure and he wants more people to know about it. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

>> euromaxx highlights. host: hi there and welcome to our highlights edition. glad you could join us. let's have a look at what's in the pipeline today. glamour girls. tire maker pirelli puts out a collector's edition. copenhagen by bike. a bicycle tour through the danish capitol. buena vista. we visit a unique holiday home on the island of lanzarote. it's a fact of life that sex sells. and since 1964 that's been the underlying marketing ploy behind the famous pirelli calendar. the italian tire maker has always hired the most famous ot