hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm ross mihara in tokyo. iran's new president, hasan rah hanny opened the door to negotiations in his first news conference as president. he says he's determined to resolve a dispute over the country's nuclear development.

rowhani says work has begun to build relations with iran's neighbors and international community. his stance is in stark contrast to his predecessor, mahmoud ahmadinejad. rowhani said he's ready to hold talks on the nation's nuclear development. he said concerns will be removed through negotiations. >> translator: i'm optimistic about the prospects of holding mutually beneficial negotiations. i believe it's possible. >> but he said iran will not abandon its nuclear program of enriching uranium for peaceful purposes. he urged western leaders to lift economic sanctions against his country. rowhani also hinted at the possibility of district talks with the u.s. after years of stalemate. >> translator: if the united states shows goodwill toward iran, the door to talks is open. even if it's america.

now, the european union's foreign policy chief has urged rowhani to resume the talks on iran's nuclear program as an as possible. catherine ashton has been coordinating the negotiations between iran and six major powers. ashton sent a letter to rowhani. she said the five permanent members of the u.n. security council and germany stand ready to continue dialogue to find a solution. ashton said the six nations hope they can schedule meaningful talks with iran soon. the negotiations have been stalled since april. iran rejected a proposal to suspend enrichment of uranium to 20% purity in exchange for easing sanctions. western representatives have high expectations for rowhani. they once reached a temporary agreement with the former nuclear negotiator. they hope to restart the nuclear talks in early september after a new iranian negotiating team is formed.

the philippine navy has gained another warship amid territorial disputes with china in the south china sea. ♪ the frigate sailed into the philippine's bay on tuesday. the bay was formerly the site of a u.s. navy base. the 3,250 ton cutter was used by the u.s. coast guard. >> translator: the arrival is proof of our resolve to have an armed forces that can truly defend our country. >> the philippine navy has about 130 warships, mostly small or mid-sized. it is the second large type the philippines has received from the u.s. people in myanmar are

celebrating the 25th anniversary of a nationwide pro democracy uprising. in august of 1988, the government used force against 200,000 protesters led by students and killed or injured more than 1,000. now the country's leadership is supporting the event organizers to show how far myanmar has progressed with democratization. about 3,000 people attended the event. in the country's largest city. participants included those who joined the uprising and now live overseas as political refugees. the government issued temporary visas for them. former political prisoners also joined the gathering. the leader of the uprising spoke of working with the government. >> translator: there is a hope that there are some forces on the other side who are willing to work with us toward a goal that we all believe in. >> the opposition leader will deliver a speech at the event that continues through thursday.

parts of china are experiencing acute water shortages amid the lingering summer heat. daytime highs since july have frequently risen above 30 degrees celsius inland in the country. the temperature in shanghai rose to a record 40.6 degrees celsius. on tuesday. this equals the record set in july. china's state-run cctv says about 4 million hectares of farmland have suffered damage by drought. 4.5 million people are short of drinking water. the situation is particularly serious in hunan province. hydroelectric power stations in these areas have halted operations to provide water for farmers and households. the chinese government has offered emergency cash assistance to about 4 million people so they can buy daily necessities. the "washington post" has been a journalistic icon in the

united states. now the ceo of tech giant amazon.com is buying the paper. many traditional u.s. print media have been the targets of acquisition in the age of the digital revolution. the "washington post" has announced that amazon.com founder jeff bezos will buy the paper and its affiliated publications for $250 million. the "washington post", founded in 1877, has been hit by slumping advertising revenue and a loss of subscribers. bezos has said he will ask the post executives to remain with the paper. he has indicated that the internet will play a role in any management reforms he may carry out. he has also noted that the internet is transforming almost every aspect of the news business, adding that he will need to experiment. the question now is whether the newspaper will be able to rebuild itself under bezos.

a key indicator of japan's economy fell in june for the the country is recognized as a nuclear power. it's not a signatory to the nuclear non pro liberation treaty. titled "town of evening calm, country of cherry blossoms" was released in new dehli tuesday. the author depicted bomb survivors and their families struggling with psychological damage and the after effects of radiation. india translated the stories into hindi. she hopes it will encourage young indians to think about peace and abolishing nuclear weapons. >> translator: i particularly want younger generations to learn about the lingering effects of radiation from atomic bombs. it can span several generations.

>> i feel like it's very touching. because i'm just, you know, reading this, and somewhere something -- it's very touching. i want to promote it, whether i want to ask. >> it is due to be sold at bookstores across india. august 6th marks 68 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on the city of hiroshima. many people are trying to preserve the memory of the tragedy. among them is a group of students who have recreated a virtual image of the city before it was destroyed. nhk world's yuzo ota reports. >> reporter: just 900 meters from the dome marks ground zero. before the explosion, government buildings stood everywhere. those structures can now be seen as computer images made by high school students.

for example, the former prefecture of this building and the surrounding streets. the students are learning how to make computer graphics at a high school in hiroshima prefecture. their teacher is supervising them. he wants to make sure that as the older generation dies, memories of the bombing will not go with them. so he got the students involved in the documentary about hiroshima before the explosion. >> translator: i was afraid that in the future, fewer kids would know even less about the bomb. my idea was that if students replicated the old town, they would learn something. >> reporter: hasegawi and the students went around the city looking for ideas to help them with their images. there's a memorial for the

people who were killed. an office once stood here. >> translator: strolling about the area allowed me to understand the extent of the bomb damage, and that would help in producing our cg. >> reporter: after returning to school, the students put their research to work, and the old buildings took shape. to make the graphics look more real, they decided to include people doing everyday activities. to make sure they got everything just right, the students interviewed survivors. they asked all kinds of questions about life before the attack.

>> translator: we learned a lot from the survivors. i want to make the images of people look as authentic as possible. >> reporter: but it's not easy to depict people's age or gender or recreate the clothing of the war era. >> translator: women don't take long strides like that. we're trying to make the figures look realistic, not like statues. >> reporter: the students never let up. keeping the people of the 1940s in mind. finally, they finish their work.

a man dressed in national uniform at the entrance to the prefecture office. on the street, a woman wearing loose work pants typical of the era. the information from the survivors helped make the computer images more lifelike. >> translator: before, i only knew that the atomic bomb was huge, that it destroyed the town and many people died. but i want many people to learn what i came to know through this project. >> reporter: these images simulate people as they went about their daily routine. and through this project

students get the clear idea of what was lost forever. yuzo ota, nhk world, hiroshima. >> it will be used in a documentary film scheduled for release in 2015. hiroshima, nagasaki. the atomic bombing killed hundreds of people in an instant. and left survivors suffering in the ruins. "newsline" is looking back at what happened then and what happened since. don't miss our special coverage. "war to peace, lessons of 1945" through thursday, august 19th. later this week people in nagasaki will hold a service to remember their city when it was attacked. outs of these cities, though,

awareness of the attacks is fading. members of a civic group in tokyo are trying to change that. nhk world shows us how. ♪ >> reporter: music to keep the memories alive. the pianist's improvisation was inspired not just by the atomic bombs, but by the piano itself. made in the united states around 1920, this piano was in the city of hiroshima when the bomb exploded. it has been preserved just the way it was with shards of glass still embedded in its wooden surface. >> translator: it really makes me feel as if the piano still remembers what happened that day. i hope my performance can convey that memory to everyone in the audience.

>> reporter: a slide show tells the story of the piano and its young owner. akiko kawamoto was a 19-year-old student living in hiroshima. she was born in 1926 in los angeles where her father was working at the time. the piano was bought to commemorate her birth. when akiko was 6, the family returned to japan together with the piano and settled in hiroshima. akiko loved playing the piano more than anything else. she often wrote about it in her diary. akiko was about one kilometer from the epicenter of the explosion working with a student mobilization corps. she died a day later from radiation exposure. akiko's parents left her bedroom

exactly the way it was when she was alive, including the piano. but recently, akiko's brother entrusted it to a peace group so that people could hear it actually being played. after hearing about the piano, he was keen to bring it to tokyo for the event on saturday. ♪ >> translator: it was as though he was having a conversation with akiko. i was thinking about the meaning of peace as i listened. >> it's so easy to forget things. and i think hiroshima is something that we should never

forget. so we want to keep this event so that people would remember. ♪ >> reporter: he wants everyone who hears the message of peace to talk about it with others. he believes that if nobody talks, then nothing changes. nhk world, tokyo. know know mads have roamed the grass lands of china for centuries. these herding communities have always lived close to nature. now government policy is promoting urban growth are changing their lives. they're being pressured to settle down in designated areas. and some say it goes against

their traditions. nhk world's yam amota reports. >> reporter: it's in the northeast mongolia region. the grassland is void of trees. this is the traditional home of the nomads. some roam around the border with russia. the monday goals and other minorities have survived here by herding livestock. but change has arrived. coal mines are opening and urban development is spreading. government officials say they want people to give up their nomaddic existence to improve their lives. ♪ some have dance. several are working through

tourists that promotes culture, music and food. this is a traditional tent made of felt. lamb is in most dishes. >> translator: we got to try some of the local alcohol and get close to nature out here. yeah. i have to say, it's amazing. >> reporter: she runs the restaurant with her family. she quit her nomadic life two years ago. all the ingredients come fresh from the farm. ♪ she says she likes working in the tourist industry, because it's a way of preserving her college's traditional food and clothing. ♪

>> translator: that life back in the old days was tough for our parents. i don't think people my age want to go back and be herders. i want to keep on working on my tourism business. and live a more comfortable life. >> reporter: many tourists only visit places close to the cities. most of the land the government gives to the nomads is in remote areas. this is the only house here. the government subsidizes the buildings. people's nomadic lives change. farming cows and sheep. he and his wife say they don't make much from selling hay and milk.

their three children study in a city 100 kilometers away. the couple wants to live with them, but they say that farming is their only option. >> translator: tourists would never be interested in coming here. the only thing we know is farming. i don't think we could ever live in a city. this is the life we're used to. and we have to keep living this way. >> reporter: some nomads say their resettlement policy has made their lives better. but at the same time, more and more people are finding the sudden change a shock to their traditional way of life. nhk world, hall emberg, china. people in vietnam are on the watch for a tropical storm

approaching the northern part of the country. lelet's get details from mie shoji. we have been talking about the heat across much of eastern asia but the heat also has fed the system to become a tropical storm. it was a tropical depression over oh gulf, now heading towards northeastern vietnam, possibly making landfall into thursday local time. already affecting the island, but already will be bringing stormy conditions towards the country of vietnam. packing winds of 90 kilometers per hour, it is named of kind of a fruit. it is not really going to be acute, though. it will bring drenching rainfall across the area where a tropical storm has already brought flooding conditions in the past several days. more than 200 millimeters could be found in and around hanoi, so urban flooding will be at very high-risk, as well as landslides

to be one of the primary threats, as well. we'll keep a close eye on this system. to the bigger picture, this high in similar areas, ongoing story. we have heat warnings and advisories still posted widely across east asia. 39 degrees, 40 degrees for shanghai today. talking about 37 degrees. well, in japan, we have the announcement the early warning already for the high possibility of extreme heat that will continue for the next ten days. so other countries are also seeing an ongoing story. 30 degrees into thursday, dropping only into the 38 average ranges just around this. so a lot of these areas are seeing well above your average range. please drink plenty of water and even saturday, sunday, the weekends are looking hotter in some locations. so if you can, try to reschedule your outdoor activities, which are planned for this weekend. now towards the southern areas

on top of the heat, we're experiencing extreme drought conditions. the precipitation, unfortunately, is not enough to ease that any time soon. other places here across east asia, we're looking at 21 degrees, chances of thunderstorms here. thunderstorms are also quite heavy across the central plains, across the north american continent here. this is due to a cold front sagging from canada, and this has a history of touching down a tornado in north dakota. so it has a capability of spawning even more tornadoes. towards the south, this low pressure system has spawned several tornadoes yesterday. for wednesday, these systems are going to be merging and becoming one huge storm-maker. so tomorrow we're looking at more severe thunderstorms to come across the region, all the way from northern texas and into the great lakes region. it's still quite hot across much of the arklatex region, reaching 38 degrees in houston, with plenty of sunshine.

now to europe. it's quite hot across the eastern areas here, as well, due to the african heat moving south. so the jet stream meanders to the north and east and to the south. and the western areas and unstable weather will be continuing here. we have a report of 115 kilometers per hour, gusts reported in czech republic in the three-hour span, 90 millimeters of rain fell in the same country. and we have eight centimeter diameter in germany. that's going to be taking place in similar regions from northeastern spain and into finland today. temperatures are shaping up like this, and it will be continuing to be very hot across the central locations. so do be precaution for heatstroke. now for our extended forecast.

here's one more story to share with you before we go. workers at a zoo in osaka are helping the animals stay cool in scorching summer conditions. they're trying to keep temperatures down inside the enclosures as a heatwave takes hold outside. the creatures suffered as the temperature rose above 35 degrees celsius. many spend all of their time outside. workers have set up shades to protect the animals from direct sunlig sunlight. they have installed machines to spray water through the polar bear facility and they have also turned on air conditioning in the penguin cage. >> translator: they must feel cool.

>> translator: i envy them. [ seal barking ] >> and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. and from all of us at nhk world, thanks for watching.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: facing the threat of a potential al qaeda attack, the state department today urged all u.s. citizens in yemen to get out of the country "immediately." good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> warner: and i'm margaret warner. on the newshour tonight, the warning came just hours after reports that suspected al qaeda members were killed by an american drone strike in yemen. we get the latest on the terror threat there. >> ifill: then, it's the dawn of a new era at one of america's landmark newspapers. we have an exclusive broadcast interview with the chairman and