josho watanabe, nhk world, azaz in northern syria. >>> u.s. officials have asked the chinese counterparts to end the fighting. they want bashar al assad to comply with their six-point peace plan negotiated with former envoy kofi annan. >> hope is that the chinese will do what they can andfluence the end the violence and come back and come into compliance with kofi's six points which the chinese also signed up to. >> china and russia vetoed security council resolution last month that would have imposed sanctions on the assad administration. annan resigned earlier this month complaining about a lack of support from major powers. u.s. and chinese delegates met in beijing for talks on the middle east issues. >>> the former prime minister of syria says the government is falling apart. riyad hijab is the highest ranking official ever to defect. he says the assad government is crumbling under the pressure of the fighting. hijab is now in jordan. he says forces loyal to assad's control no more than 30% of syrian territory. he said the regime is collap

"nhk world's" josho watanabe has more. >> reporter: here, this is the entrance checkpoint from syria to turkey controlled by syrian opposition force. several hundred people waited at the checkpoint on monday for the turkish government to issue in tree permits. -- entry permits. the checkpoint is located about 50 kilometers north of aleppo and controlled by the free syrian army. refugees line up to receive water and baby formula from the opposition forces. children are playing with shells scattered around their shelter. a 48-year-old man told nhk his house was burned down by government forces. he fled from the suburb of aleppo four days ago with his seven children. >> translator: i'm frustrated that my family has to live in a refugee camp without our friends or relatives. >> reporter: the turkish government official said 10,000 people have fled to the border area over the past four days, bringing the total to about 60,000. they are preparing more shelters to make up for shortages of temporary housing. josho watanabe, nhk world. >> the leaders from muslim nations and territories are me

josho watanabe, nhk world. >> the leaders of muslim nationand territories are holdg an ergen meeting to discuss a response to the civil war in syria. members of the organization of islamic cooperation have gathered in mecca, saudi arabia, for two days of talks. saudi arabia, qatar and other gulf countries have been supporting syrian insurgents. they are calling for president bashar al assad to step down. iran is an ally of the assad government. president ma mumd ahmadinejad says income countries are trying to pit musm countries agast each other. says intferee from gul countries hamade things worse. >>> survivors of saturday's twin earthquakes in northwestern iran are scrambling for food, medicine and water. the country's leaders have begun coordinating relief work but refused offers of foreign aid. magnitude 6.4 and 6.3 earthquakes hit the northwestern province of east azerbaijan shortly after dusk. the iranian government says more than 300 people died and over 3,000 were injured. the governments of russia and neighboring turkey offered to send emergency aid, but a senior iranian off

josho watanabe, nhk world. >>> uncle and mentor to kim jong-un is waving the way for the leader to go to china. china arrived in beijing airport monday with about 30 delegates from puyongyang. they will discuss projects in a border area in northeastern china and in the port city of rasan. china has been in charge of north korea economic reform and investment. he is seeking assistance from china and hopes to rebuild the economy by moving forward with joint economic projects. >>> about 48 south koreans are swimming to a disputed group of islands in the sea of japan. they are trying to show support for their country's claim to the territory. both country claim sovereignty over the islands. swimmers set out monday morning on south korea's eastern coast. south korean singer is one of those taking part. he is being joined by student from the korean national sport university. they will take turns swimming legs of the 220 kilometer trip. they aim to arrive wednesday on the anniversary of korea's liberation from japan's colonial rule. the swimmers will stream footage of their attempt on the in