welcome back to "news line" i'm yuko aotani. innovators at apple brought consumers the iphone, ipad, and all the i products are adding up. the most valuable company in history. market value topped the previous record set by microsoft. apple share price rose 2.6% from friday's close. it ended the day at an all-time

high, $665. speculation the firm is about to release new smartphones and tablets, and lifted the capitalization to $623 billion. that's $3 billion more than microsoft hit in the height of the dot com bubble. apple's rise comes as a series of new product releases boostd peck tags xd -- expectations and the resumption of dividend payments first time in 17 years. the fortunes of people investing in facingbook haven't gone quite the same way. the biggest initial public offering ever. shares have slumped to less than half their initial price. the social networking firm shares on the nasdaq exchange reached a new low monday. $18.75. investors fear the firm does not have great potential for growth

and things could get worse. facebook price began to slide soon after topping ipo price of $38. the day the company went public. u.s. president barack obama has warned syria against using any chemical or biological weapons and mentioned possibility of military action for the first time. >> we cannot have a situation. we have been very clear to the assad regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is we start saying a whole bunch of chemical weapons around or being utilized. >> syrian president al assad made it clear forces are ready to use chemical weapons if foreign troops intervene. the fight against the free syrian army. many residents fear what might

happen now that u.n. monitors have ended their mission. >> reporter: residents of the syrian capital damascus hope to these u.n. monitors are leaving their former headquarters in central damascus. uh. >> the u.n. monitors are leaving the former headquarters in central damascus. they are loading up to set off for the lebanese border. the multinational observers make no progress in bringing government and opposition forces closer to cease fire. >> translator: our mission failed. neither the government, nor the opposition acted on their commitments.

>> reporter: in the government-controlled area of the city, a gutted school is evidence of recent fighting. government sources said rebels used the school as a base. this graffiti expresses support for the free syrian army. people find it hard to get fuel with supplies cut short. many feel trapped with no end in sight. >> translator: i don't care who's in control. i just want peace to return to our lives. >> reporter: an algerian diplomat, lakhdar brahimi, will replace kofi annan as the u.n. syria peace envoy. he faces a challenge to prove his effectiveness. many syrians are waiting to see if the diplomatic effort can be renewed. most are resigned to a long wait.

government and opposition forces have not let up their fight for aleppo. a japanese journalist covering the battle was killed. a freelance journalist working with japan press. a colleague working along side her said she got caught in the cross fire. telling nhk that they entered aleppo monday the he said they were accompanying opposition forces when soldiers who aper to be with the government suddenly fired on them. and she was just a few steps behind him but they lost each other. sato found her dead at a nearby hospital. she was a seasoned journalist with more than 20 years of experience. she covered the conflicts in kosovo, afghanistan, and iraq. she tacklked with nhk last mont why she believed in the work she was doing.

>> translator: covering conflict zones is tough. but i will continue with my work. i believe there could be a chance to finish the war or contain the damage by reporting on what is happening on the ground. however tragic. parliament members were sworn in at a heavily protected airport in mowing gidishu. militants control most areas outside the capital. more than 200 law makers were hand picked by clan elders. the first duty to choose a president. the interim government drove islamic militants out last year with the backing of the african union. but that hasn't put an end to insurgent attacks.

many people have many different theories on how to fix fragile economies. some say more stimulus is needed. others call for belt tightening. nobel prize winning professor about everything from income disparity to what japan should do to boost employment. >> hi. >> hi, such a pleasure to moot you, sir. >> first of all if you can set the stage for us what is your assessment of the current global economy? >> weak, very weak. and facing a number of very big risks. europe is already in a recession. the european leaders have not dealt effectively with the euro crisis. >> last autumn, he joined the

young protestors critical of the high jobless rate at occupy wall street movement. he called for a change in policies to reverse social and economic inequality. we asked him the message he wanted to get across in this moveme movement. >> the big message that occupy wall street movement was something is wrong in our society, something is wrong in our economy. the basic law of economics is demand equals supply. that means, demand for equal supply for labor. that means there should be be no unemployment. one of the other underlying problems was inequality. reduced demand. people at the top spend less than those at the bottom. when you have this growing inequality you are going to get more instability. weaker economy. and so -- what we have seen in many countries, united states is the worst, but japan, other countries, inequality has been

increasing. >> how did the u.s. get here? >> in america, a child's lifetime prospects are more dependent on the income and education of the parent than any of the other advanced industrial countries for which there is data. if you are poor you can't educate yourself. we have to have government providing education to make sure that -- a child's prospects don't depend on the choice of his parents. >> what about japan? we have been through two last decade. what are your thoughts on the japanese economy now? >> the good side of japan is that while you have had two decades of very slow growth you don't have the degree of inequality that the united states, all has, although it has been increasing. you don't have the degree of unemployment, though it has been

increasing. >> about japan and unemployment. what do you think japan can do to boost its employment? >> the key word is -- you have to stimulate the economy. again that goes, like i said, there is no man magic bullet hou create equality, no magic bullet of how you stimulate the economy. there are many things you will have to do. one of the things is, to try to bring down your exchange rate. make your exports more competitive. another thing to stimulate your economy is to strengthen your service sector. another thing that you need to do is to create more equality. because when you redistribute income from the top to the bottom, people will demand more goods. >> but still, i think we have

been trying to do that for two, 20 years. it hasn't happened. >> there are political forces as well as economic forces. so what i want to say, while people talk about the rhett ror of stimulate the economy, where they don't often, we say in america, walk the talk. they didn't do what they have to do. japan is feeling the impact of an economic slowdown in china. its exports to the giant market next door fell from january to june for the first time in three years. the japan external trade organization, says exports to china totalled nearly $74 billion in the first six months of this year, that's down 5.7% from a year earlier. shipments of steel, construction machinery, and production equipment showed declines.

that reflects a flagging demand in china due to the effects of europe's debt crisis. officials also say japan's imports from china hit a record of more than $91 billion due in part to rising smartphones imports. as a result, japan's trade deficit with china grew to a record high of about $18 billion. officials say exports to china are expected to continue to fall as production in the country is likely to remain sluggish. they also predict japan's bilateral trade deficit for the entire year will also set a record. a major polluter is ash from burning coal. innovative japanese technology can turn the ash into a

pollution fighter. 80% is generated by burning coal. but the process dumps ash into the environment. and this causes serious problems. ash from coal fired power plants in shanxi province, collect inside houses in this village. the residents are concerned. >> translator: ash keeps building up no matter how often we sweep the floor. many people are becoming ill. >> this man runs a machinery plant. he is experimenting with the way to make the ash useful. >> the environment gets pollute as wind scatters the ash

everywhere. >> he began by building a machine to solidify ash mixed with water. he felt people may be able to use the product as construct mags terl. -- product as construction material. nobody in china wanted to buy it. they could purchase cement and other alternatives at low prices. so he turned to japanese technology. microorganism in the porous inside this concrete, purify water. they are related to natural bacteria. japanese use them to ferment soy beans. wet bacteria clean the water by breaking down substances that cause odors. he came up with the idea of using coal ash instead of

concrete. he tied up with a japanese firm to make coal ash blocks, containing bacteria. they turned out to be more porous than in concrete blocks. so, more bacteria can grow, and more water is purified. in just two weeks, this water will look like this. >> getting clean water is a very serious issue in china. i think the market potential there is huge. compared to japan. many at this exhibition for water treatment technology in june showed interest in the coal ash blocks. >> it is a wonderful technology that i would loike to use.

>> lakes and rivers are very dirty in china. i think the japanese technology can help us solve the problems of both coal ash and water pollution. >> the water purifying business in china is expected to growpla make it happen with japan's superior know-how. taiwanese president has called for a peaceful rez loogs -- peaceful resolution. taiwanese president ma ying-jeou has called for a peaceful resolution to the dispute of the senkaku islands.

taiwan, japan, and china all claim the territory as their own. he told nhk the islands are an integral part of taiwan but his administration will not take china's side. >> translator: i want to say we set great store on the relationship with japan. the relationship is the best it has been in 40 years. >> the senkaku islands form part of japan's southern most prefecture, okinawa. the taiwanese call them diaoyutai. several activists from hong kong landed on one of the islands last wednesday to stake china's claim. japanese police arrested them. then on sunday, a group of regional lawmakers from japan visited the islands. ma said it's important for all sides to exercise self restraint. by 2010, a record 141,000 students were studying here and they keep coming.

students who study abroad get an education far beyond the classroom. they learn about customs, language, and culture. the number of foreign students in japan remain constant until around the year 2000. by 2010, a record 141,000 students were studying here, and they keep coming. nhk world has their stories. >> reporter: students here are studying corporate compliance. the students are all from other asian countries. waris came from thailand three years ago. he was interested in learning about japanese manufacturing and culture. we visited his apartment. >> translator: this is a japanese manga. >> reporter: manga comics and cartoons he read as a child drew his attention to japanese culture. he got hooked on the dynamics of japanese manga and yearned to know more about the culture. >> translator: i like ninja stories the most. they made me interested in japanese culture. >> reporter: waris received a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering in thailand. when it came to deciding about his career, it struck him to go and study in japan, the country he loves. he was certain he would benefit from studying in a country

renowned for its prowess in manufacturing. >> translator: japan is a country of state of the art technology. if you want to study engineering, japan is the best country. >> reporter: after arriving in japan, he enrolled in language school and studied japanese intensively. this is when he heard about the career development program for asian students at osaka university from his friend. the graduate program targets asian students who wish to study japanese manufacturing. they study not only japanese, but also specialized courses taught by lecturers with business experience. japanese companies are a part of the program as well. firms invest in scholarships and run internship programs.

the program helps students find jobs at japanese companies. the program also aims to educate asian students to become the best in thr field. waris has been focusing his research on chemical plants. he was offered a position at the largest construction equipment manufacturing company in japan and will start working there next spring. >> translator: raising asian talents here in japan will bring us great benefits. they understand us japanese well and will certainly be our best supporters and help us in the business world. >> reporter: waris lives with two chinese roommates who are also studying in the same program. like waris, the chinese students

say they were attracted to japan's advanced manufacturing technology. >> translator: i think what's expected of me is to come up with ideas japanese people cannot come up with. if i can do this, i'm sure i can make a great contribution. >> reporter: it's been five years since the program's launch and 43 students from six asian countries have studied in this program. waris is determined to commit himself to working in japan. he says he needs to brush up on his japanese, but eventually he's looking forward in playing an active role in making his company number one in the world. akio, nhk world, osaka. the previous membership at augusta national allowed for men only.

private club in georgia has been the home of the masters since 1934. former u.s. secretary of state condoleezza rice and a financier will become the first female members when the season opens in october. women's organizations have protested the men only policy for years and paying close ear tension since a woman took over as chief executive at ibm. the firm is one of the club's long-time sponsors. japanese scientists say the area of ice covering the arctic ocean is the smallest in mid august since record keeping began. researchers used their satellite to measure the ice. they found it covers 4.66 million square kilometers. they expect the ice to contract further by the end of summer, to the smallest level on record. scientists use the satellite to measure microwave emissions from the earth's surface and atmosphere.

they suspect rising ocean temperatures is causing the ice to shrink. rachel ferguson at the weather desk? >> we have been tracking a very strong typhoon, set to become a violent typhoon before making landfall in taiwan on thursday. northeast of the philippines. and of course it is going to be coming close to the southern japanese island as well to. day we can expect waves to reach 4 meters. and into wednesday, they'll reach about 10 meters. we are talking about a violent typhoon. you are talking about a strong, category 3 hurricane. and upwards. so a very, very powerful system. you can expect extensive structural damage. certainly enough to cause blackouts and -- cause problems

with water, of course, and traffic. so we are looking at a very serious situation already the wind gusts at 234 kilometers an hour. they're increasing. now along with that we're going to be seeing the heavy rain. at the moment most of it is coming down over water. it is going to start within the next 4 hours to impact greatly, southern japan and, the eastern coast of taiwan. now, in behind it we have yet another system. this one is a severe tropical storm -- bolaven. and you can see, tracking pretty much the same direction as our strong typhoon right now. coming in towards southern japanese island. taiwan, and also southeastern coast of china. looks look we could have a double whammy. and like i say, a very serious situation here as we head on through the week. heavy rain has been impacting much of central china.

chong-ching has heavy downpours. and the korean peninsula, bad news, north korea experienced extensive flooding. there will be more heavy rain. and the front over the next 24 hours. looking very unstable here in the southern japan. storms popping up because of the moisture from the two powerful storms. let's head on into north america. and, fairly quiet day to, today, you are going to see heavy downpours in the southeast. also thunderstorms could turn severe for the southern plains. there is possibility of seeing some of the dry thunderstorms up in the northwest. which could cause problems with wildfire. temperatures are not too bad across the northern tier. 26 in chicago. we have got 25 in toronto. back up into the upper 20s in new york city as well as in d.c. and, hot day in winnipeg for 29.

and let's go to europe. where we are starting to see showers moving across central locations. going to get a little bit unsettled for youen parts ein the british isles. the heat most of you are noticing. it has been sizzling over the weekend. into the beginning of this week as well. and, stays very hot for the next several days. you will see some temperatures starting to cool down a little bit. for example, berlin, 27 today. you have been in the 30s for a while. 32 in vienna. but, budapest, 37 degrees. not going to change much over the next several days. and madrid, another scorching day at 39. here is your extended forecast.

that's all for now on newsline. thank you very much for watching.