welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday, june 28th, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. tokyo electric power company, the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant says it skipped testing the plant answer water pipes as scheduled. on monday, tepco was forced to suspend a water recycling operation due to leaks. the utility began running the filtering system on monday, but it had to halt the operation afr only 90 minutes as the treated water was leaking from pipes that were not fastened properly. the system is designed to recycle contaminated water to be

used to cool the reactors. the operator says it failed to check the four kilometers of piping because it did not find any problem during an inspection more than two weeks ago. the company says it will review that decision. circulating the decontaminated water around the reactors is considered an important step in stabilizing them by mid-july as planned. it will also help prevent the volume of waste water from increasing. tepco says it will repair the leaks and hopes to resume the water circulation soon. an operator of waste incineration plants in eastern tokyo says it has found a high concentration of radioactive ash at one of its facilities. a plant in edogawa detected 9,740 becquerels of radioactive materials per kilogram of ash from a device that filters exhaust fumes. the operator believes that

radioactive cesium had built up in the incinerating process but it says there is no danger of the toxic substances escaping into the environment as they were trapped by the filter. legally the plant can only bury ash registering 8,000 becquerels or less per kilogram but ash with more than 8,000 becquerels must be stored until the government determines a safe disposal method. the tech yo metropolitan government asked for gid lines. >> "newsline" offers the latest information and insights into japan's ongoing crisis on "nuclear watch" every thursday night at 8:00 and 11:00, and friday mornings at 8:00 japan time. japan's prime minister naoto kan wants three bills to be enacted before he steps down. the bills are related to post dister reconstruction efforts. kan said in early june that he intends to resign once he

fulfills his roles in handling the issues from the march 11th earthquake and the fukushima accident. in a news conference thursday, kan clarified his role. >> translator: passing a second supplementary budget, a bill for renewable energy and a bill to issue bonds to cover debt are what i would like to do. >> kan has been under strong pressure to step down not only from opposition parties but also from his ruling democratic party. they say he has mishandled the disasters. the international criminal court at the hague has issued arrest warrants for libyan leader moammar gadhafi and two others for crimes against humanity. the court announced on monday that the warrants are for gadhafi his second son and chief. it says he and his son ordered

to crush done insations and sis sin nusi carried them out. they are charged with imprisoning hundreds of civilians in the first 12 days of uprising to overthrow gadhafi. protests occurred in tripoli and benghazi in the northeast. the warrants came amid a stalemate in fighting in libya. it's not clear how or if the international community will be able to arrest gadhafi. in 2009 and 2010 the same court issued an arrest for omar al bashir, sudan's president, but he has not been arrested yet. next we go to our bureau in bangkok. dhra dhirakaosal has the latest on what's going on in the region. >> greetings from the thai capital.

in cambodia, a new chapter has begun in efforts to uncover the truth behind the genocide of the regime. four indicted khmer rouge leaders went on trial at a u.n. backed tribunal on monday. the four defendants include pol pot's second in command as well as former deputy prime minister. they're accused of crimes against humanity. the tribunal was set up five years ago by the united nations and the cambodian government. in less than four years in the 1970s, the khmer rouge killed more than 1.5 million people by forced labor and genocide. their tribunal's first day of discussions focus on which witnesses to call. nuan chie left the courtroom after just 50 minutes saying he was dissatisfied with the judicial procedures. another defendant also left claiming poor health.

last year the tribunal sentenced the regime's head prison warden to 35 years in jail. some observers are concerned that the tribunal may not reach a conclusion as of the average age of the defendants is over 80. but expectations remain high amongst cambodians that the truth behind the atrocities will be uncovered. china faces mounting international criticism over its recent maritime disputes with nations boarding the south china sea. on sunday china held its first high-level talk with the united states and separately with vietnam over the issue. world nhk world's atsushi miyauchi reports. >> reporter: in the vietnamese capital hanoi, demonstrators

took to the street for the fourth straight week. >> translator: we'll continue our protests as long as china's provocation continues. >> reporter: against this backdrop, u.s. assistant secretary of state curt campbell arrived in hawaii. so did his chinese counterpart vice foreign minister cui tiankai. china recently stepped up military exercises and disrupted vietnamese army operations in waters off the spratly islands. three have previously expressed caution of the american involvement in the issue. as the u.s. lays no claim to the territories. speaking to reporters after talks campbell said he has called on china to exercise restraint. >> we had a -- i think, a candid and clear discussion.

we want tensions to subside. >> reporter: campbell also said china's overall tone was constructive, but he did not give any further details. meanwhile, china's state-run xinhua news agency said state counselor dai bingguo met the vietnamese vice foreign minister in beijing on saturday. the agency reported that the two sides agreed to address the dispute through negotiations and to adopt effective measures to safeguard peace and stability in the south china sea. regional security will be on the agenda at the asean forum in indonesia next month. china apparently wants to resolve the dispute through bilateral negotiations with vietnam as soon as possible before the u.s. and other

countries become involved. atsushi miyauchi, nhk world, beijing. turning to another territorial standoff in the region, this time between thailand and cambodia. thailand says it's withdrawn from the world heritage convention to protest a move regarding a disputed temple. thailand's decision was made during a unesco meeting in paris over the weekend. it came after the u.n. body agreed to consider cambodia's management plan of the disputed pravahear temple. thailand believes that plan would threaten its sovereignty. in bangkok, the prime minister abhisit vejjajiva stood firm on the issue. >> reaffirming that it simply doesn't make sense to accept the idea. it clearly will have an effect on the dispute that is ongoing, and it will only contribute to

further tension and greater risk of violence. >> in 1962, the international court of justice ruled that the 11th century pravahear temple belonged to cambodia that both claimed sovereignty over the surrounding area. thai and cambodian troops had flashed several times since unesco had a temple as a cambodian world heritage site in 2008 in the face of opposition from thailand. following thailand's latest move, both thai and cambodian troops have reportedly been placed on alert. and that wraps up our asia bulletin. i'm dhra dhirakaosal reporting from bangkok. as we just heard from bong kok, former khmer rouge leaders went on trial in a u.n. backed tribunal in cambodia monday, investigating roles in the mass killings in the late 1970s.

here's a brief history of the deadly regime. >> at the height of the cold war in the 1970s, cambodia was torn by a civil war. backed by china, rebels took control of the capital phnom penh, and replaced a pro-american government. the communist regime decided to build a new society based on agriculture but it took social engineering to an extreme evacuating cities and sending the entire population to forced labor in rural villages. the regime also purged intellectuals and practitioners of traditional culture, resulting in the deaths of more than 1.5 million people. a basic agreement between cambodia and the united nations was reached more than a decade ago, paving the way for the

extraordinary chambers in the courts of cambodia but the tribunal was not established until 2006 as the government sought to retain control of the court. >> earlier michio kijima spoke with senior reporter yusaka nakagawa who spoke as our phnom penh bureau chief since 2005. he spoke with nuan chie, a former democrat of the people's assembly. >> would you first tell us a bit more about this man? >> he is said to be the architect of the pol pot regime's ideology. he was second in command. the interview took place in 2004 when he was living a solitary life in thailand near the border. i asked him about the massacres committed by the regime through

forced labor and why they happened. >> translator: there was indeed murder. people were forcibly taken away for labor. i won't deny that. back then there were traitors in cambodia linked with elements in north vietnam trying to tackle our government. i strived to investigate those traitors and took actions to partially to sever their network. i understand that there were citizens who starved to death or died due to illness. i clearly state that we, the government, never intended to kill civilians, but it could have been wrong to have failed

to check our subordinates duties to let them act at their own discretion and we didn't have enough opportunities to see for ourselves how ordinary people were living. >> listening to the interview, he sounds like he's denying any responsibility for the atrocities. did nuan chea say he was not involved in the deaths of the citizens from forced labors? >> if that's true, that's going to be examined at the tribunal, but nuan chea said the people point out that he was the leader of the government blamed for massacres. they say that means he bears his share of responsibility for what happened and that by itself should be pursued at the trial. in july last year, the tribunal handed down a 35-year sentence to the former chief of the jail. but he's expected to take several more years before the tribunal rules on the four khmer rouge leaders, given the vast number of involves.

it's more than 30 years since the regime collapsed and the average age of the defendants are over 80 and families victims are also ageing. they are watching to see if the tribunal can rule soon enough for justice to be served. >> we will closely watch the trial as well. yusaka, thank you for your perspective. five japanese hh school students traveled to new york to raise money for the disaster victims back home. all five lost parents in the tsunami and earthquake on march 11th. the students received help from several americans who have also lost family members, victims of the terrorist attacks of september 11th, 2001. nhk world's rosa sabrino reports. >> reporter: these students traveled all the way from miyagi

prefecture. maryoka lost her father and her home in the disaster. the high school freshman now lives with her mother, brother and sister. >> translator: dad and i used to fight, and i thought he was annoying. but now i miss him so much. >> reporter: this is maria's first trip outside japan. when she looks at all the people and sees so many items on display, she cannot help but notice the contrast between new

york and her devastated hometown. >> translator: it's very different from home. people from america are just living their normal lives. if the earthquake hadn't happened, my hometown would not be the way it is now. >> reporter: the students visit a memorial near ground zero. it was set up for the victims of the september 11th terrorist attacks, which happened ten years ago. >> so that's what happens downstairs, positive thinking. >> reporter: the director, lee ielpi, greets the students. he lost his son in the attacks. >> we know how difficult it is when you lose loved ones, but we here at the tribute center want

to look positive, that tomorrow can be a better day, by remembering yesterday. >> translator: i'm very sad, but i know it can't be like this forever. somehow, i want to find a way to move forward. >> please help japan. >> please help japan. >> please help japan. >> please help japan. >> reporter: maria and her group begin to fund raise. in just two hours, many people stop and donate money. >> translator: i'm having a difficult time, but there are more people in worse situations, so i want to help them. >> reporter: hillary strouh also joined the fund-raisers.

she lost her father in the september 11th terrorist attacks. >> i've experienced a loss similar to a loss they may have experienced with the tsunami, and some of the feelings i know are the same. >> translator: i'm grateful that many people have donated money and support us. lots of people here are struggling to get through a hard time, too, so i want to try harder. >> reporter: it's been more than three months since the disaster. now survivors are making efforts to help themselves, others affected and create awareness. rosa sobrino nhk world, new york. competition is heating up in the auto industry to expand sales in emerging markets. nissan motor is now planning to work closely with its capital alliance partner renault to achieve combined global sales of more than 10 million vehicles in

five years from the current 6.7 million. ♪ >> today nissan has a clear and global vision, and established presence in all major markets and segment, and is recognized as a potential leader in innovative technologies, products and services. >> nissan unveiled a medium term business plan through fiscal 2016 on monday. the automaker said it will keep domestic production unchanged at 1 million units a year. the company says it doesn't expect any significant growth in the japanese market. nissan instead plans to expand business in fast growing emerging economies like china, india and brazil. the carmaker says it will increase the number of dealerships by 1,500 in these countries and also rule out new low-priced models. earlier nhk spoke to nissan's ceo. >> we think most of the growth is going to come from emerging

markets so in order to compete in the merging markets you have to be present there, you have to sample your product there, you have to have a good relationship with your dealer there, with your supplier there so we're going to put a lot of focus on the emerging market. another major japanese aautobe maker, toyota motor, laurnlged a new passenger car in india. the small hatchback, the etias liva, went on sale monday. the body is shorter than the sedan model. passenger sales in the country more than doubled from five years ago but parking space is limited. hatchback models are becoming popular since they're easier to park. toyota uses the same parts as the sedan models in india to keep costs down. the lowest price for the new vehicle is about $9,000.

nakagawa added the company wants to increase output to 210,000 units next year. now let's take a look at the market figures.

hello there. welcome to your weather update. well let's take a look at asia first of all. lots of clouds spreading over northern japan this morning. we are going to see additional heavy rainfall impacting tohoku area and we have various warnings and advisories in effect for flooding as well as landslides. this frontal system remains very active indeed with a lot of warm air in the region. that's set to move into the korean peninsula next looking much drier today, a little bit cloudy today but as we head into your wednesday we'll see some intense showers developing again. elsewhere across the region widespread rain is going to be affecting southern china, over the next couple of days, watch out for some heavy rain to occur along the southern coast of

guandong, heavy rain pushing across taiwan and northern luzon, hefty showers. indo china peninsula picking up moisture from the bay of bengal. 31 degrees in hong kong today, temperatures exceeding 30 degrees for many of you in china. 35 in chongqing. 32 in beijing and warming up in tokyo as well to 30 celsius. over to the americas looking very wet out in the east during the overnight hours. we have a very long frontal system that's stretching across the region and areas from missouri extending towards west virginia could pick up some severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, tornadoes not out of the question. a new system coming in from the pacific is going to be spreading some light showers from british columbia down into northern california here and ahead of

this frontal system we'll start to see some winds kicking up as well for the southwestern corner so again we're looking at critical fire conditions from tuesday onward for the southwestern corner here, it stays dry, windy and temperatures remain on the warm side again, 37 degrees in houston, lots of red showing up in the southern tier of the u.s., 33 in atlanta, and 32 in washington, d.c. high pressure system continues to dominate much of europe again today, but out towards the east, this is very active low pressure system continues to swell over the region, bringing lots of unsettled weather to the ukraine, also showers starting to spread into the balkans as well and the rain will remain put in western russia. now a new system coming in from the northwest is going to be bringing wetter and cooler weather for the british isles so heavy rain expected in the southeastern corner here, some showers and thunderstorms will erupt across france, northern spain as well and the heavy rain

pushing into norway as well, but temperatures will remain warm in the iberian peninsula, much of central europe again, 37 degrees in madrid today, 28 in berlin, very warm in paris as well at 29 degrees but turning much, much cooler for places like london, 23 degrees for your daytime high. all right, here is your extended forecast now.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.