patchari raksawong at our bureau in bangkok has the story. >> ghani's message to the nation on friday signaled the start of the holiday celebrating the end of the fasting on ramadan. since assuming his post last year, ghani has made peace talks with the taliban a key pillar of his government's agenda. ghani spoke at the presidential palace in the capital kabul. he said negotiations are the solution, the way, and this is what our nation wants to end the bloodshed. >> translator: the issue of the taliban is different from others. they want to participate in the political process. and if they have some problems, they'll be solved through negotiations. other terrorists who have come from other countries, neighboring countries and other places, our security forces have responded to them with force. >> afghan government officials held talks on tuesday last week with representatives of the taliban. the meeting is the first dialogue officially concerned between the two sides. it was held in the hill resort of murree in pakistan. the government and the taliban agreed to restart talks after ram

i'm patchari raksawong in bangkok. >>> many children become infatuated with computer games at an early age. now some educators in japan are trying to help young people transform a hobby into a career path. nhk world's keiko yamamoto has the story. >> reporter: last month in tokyo, a group of elementary school students took to the stage. they were showing off smartphone applications they had created. >> translator: my game is called battle rpg. >> reporter: 80 children took part. the projects include drawing apps and battle games. >> translator: it's fun to use my imagination to create games. >> reporter: more than 200 elementary school students attend programming classes that were launched by an i.t. company. university students help out. organizers want to familiarize children with programming to nurture their talent. they aim to address the growing qualified programmers. >> translator: we hope as many children as possible will not just approach i.t. as a game, but go on to master it, and see the many possibilities it presents. it could affect their career choices. >> reporter: the st

patchari raksawong at our bureau in bangkok has more. >> in a rare message for the reclusive leader,omar backed the direct talks between the taliban and kabul saying they are legitimate. the talks hosted by pakistan were the first officially recognized direct negotiations between the two warring parties. concurrently with armed jihad -- the international community has welcomed the direct talks, but many analysts remain skeptical about whether they'll lead to full-fledged peace negotiations. hardliners within the taliban are calling for a complete withdrawal of international troops in afghanistan as a precondition for starting peace talks. the taliban has carried out suicide attacks in kabul on the same day of the attacks. it's time now to get another check of the weather. robert speta joins us again with an update on the tyvon heading towards japan and weather conditions elsewhere. >> let's start off with the typhoon here because i still want to mention it here. it's continuing to near the coastline of shik oaku expected to make landfall thursday night to friday morning. a threat is