phnom penh is about 700 kilometers away. the road used to be narrow with only one each way. it was improved nine years ago with construction of a central divide. four hours after leaving the factory we arrive at the border. there's a long wait to pass through customs. drivers kill time by the roadside. inside cambodia the first town we come to is poipet. the highway has brought dramatic changes to this once isolated town. shops are crowded with people and imported goods such as alcohol and accessories. >> translator: i never imagined poipet would be a thriving town like this. this area used to be a jungle. >> reporter: a new driver takes over for the next 400 kilometers to phnom penh. the road in cambodia is pitted with holes. at least for now there are no street lamps. the road is pitch black after sunset except for the glow of headlights. that doesn't deter some brave drivers. >> translator: driving in this darkness isn't easy. sometimes the car in front stops suddenly. some vehicles don't even have brake lights. >> reporter: 12 hours after crossing the border we are arriv

nhk world, phnom penh. >>> environment ministry officials in japan are turning to experts for advice on their plan to store dirt and other debris contaminated by the 2011 nuclear accident. workers have been removing topsoil from the ground in fukushima if their effort to decontaminate the area. the government plans to construct intermediate storage facilities in three towns near the fukushima daiichi plant. the debris will be kept there until final disposal sites are bill but some residents are concerned about high levels of radiation. in response the environmental ministry is bringing in experts. they will check the ground under the sites to make sure it is stable and also give advice on the structure of the facility as well as safety measures. another panel of experts will discuss how to conserve the environment around the sites. the panels will hold their first meetings before the end of the month. >>> lawmakers in japan are giving local leaders more power in times of crisis. they've revised a law to allow municipalities to give new alerts to residents during disasters. members of

committee members got together in the cambodian capital phnom penh. they approved eight sites as national properties. those include the region of western china and mount etna in italy. observers say committee members could endorse mount fuji as early as saturday. the mountain is a candidate for recognition as a cultural property. it's 19th on unesco's list. committee members first have to get through nominations for natural properties and sites that are natural and cultural. >>> lawyers for u.s. tech giant apple have won a victory in their global patent fight against south korea samsung electronics. the latest case unfolded in tokyo. a tokyo district court issued a preliminary verdict on friday in favor of apple. the judge said that technology used in some samsung products infringes on an apple patent. the patent in question includes technology that's used for scrolling the screen on smartphones and tablets. pages snap back when users come to end. apple lawyers argue the sale of samsung products involving the infringed patent total about $760 million.

election rallies took place in phnom penh on thursday. eight parties are contesting 123 seats in the lower house. five years ago hun sen's ruling cambodian people's party scored a landslide victory. the result was seen as a clear sign of support for the prime minister. many people credit him with achieving peace and economic growth after years of civil war. but opposition parties claim that hun sen's politics for three decades has spread corruption and human rights abuses. voters will go to the polls on july 28th. >>> thousands of residents are still waiting to go home. vast tracts of land are still waiting to be restored. and more than half of fishing ports on the pacific coast must be rebuilt. people in northeastern japan still face challenges following the 2011 disaster, but step by step they're moving forward. see their stories every wednesday on "the road ahead," right here on "newsline." >>> a ship carrying nuclear fuel has delivered its cargo to a dock on the sea of japan coast. it's the first such shipment in two years since the a

today there, are perhaps 400,000 garment workers and 300 factories in and near the capital, phnom penh. they are factories for retailers in europe and america. cambodia's garment industry has grown into the largest export earner for this country, three out of four come from the garment factories. the key question, how much all of this has benefited workers, almost all of whom are female. many factories have been plagued by labor unrest. occasionally it's been violent. there have been frequent reports of faintings on factory floors, the unions cite unhealthy conditions and workers weak from malnourishment. >> translator: workers of very low salaries, $61 u.s. dollars per month. you cannot afford to live on that day to day. it's legalized slavery. >> reporter: like most colleagues, they are young, rural migrants, living in tight shared quarters, supporting families back home. this woman supports her husband, parents and 2-year-old daughter. >> translator: i can only see her once a month. when i go home, she really misses me. so she hugs me, especially when i must leave only one day later

election rallies took place in phnom penh on thursday. eight parties are contesting 123 seats in the lower house. five years ago the ruling cambodia people's party scored a landslide victory winning 90 seats. the result was seen as a clear sign of support for the prime minister. many people credit him with achieving peace and economic growth after years of civil war. but opposition parties maintain that his dominance of cambodia politics for almost three decades has bred corruption and human rights abuses. voters will go to the polls on july 28th. >>> mongolians have handed their leader another mandate to use what lies deep underground to grow their economy. electroofficials say incumbent tskahia elbedorj is assured the win in the election. the election commission announced elbedorj the democratic party won the vote securing a second term in office. he faced two challengers. one was a former mongolian sumo champion of the main opposition mongolian people's party. the other was natsag udval of the revolutionary party. she's the country's f

. >> it was 2002 when bill and lauren smith ended up at this garbage dump outside pe phnom penh.>> they were starving picking through garbage for a few cents a day. >> so the smiths decided to help one person. >> i remember seeing this little girl with the red hat. and i don't know if it was the red hat or if it was her eyes that just looked kind of hopeless. >> the guy come up to me and he say, hey, you know, this foreigner want to talk to you. they want to help you. take you go to school. >> they took 10-year-old sreyna home to talk to her mother and met the 12-year-old. >> we got to help the sister too. >> the couple agreed to pay the girl's mother what the children earned at the dump, about $10 each. >> the deal was they could never go back to the dump again and we would put them in school. we would pay for everything. >> over the years the girls became close to the smiths. >> we feel like we like second family. i get emotion because i don't have like a feeling with my family that much. >> now, the two young women are attending college in chicago. >> education to me is like a

. >> reporter: it was 2002, when bill and lauren smith ended up at this garbage dump outside phnom penhir driver asked if they wanted to see the children. >> starving, picking through garbage for a few cents a day. >> reporter: so the smiths decided to help one person. >> i remember seeing this little girl with the red hat, and i don't know if it was the red hat or if it was her eyes. but just looked hopeless. >> the moto guy came up and says this foreigner wants to talk to you, help you go to school. >> they took her home to talk to her mother and met 12-year-old celi celine. >> we thought that we have to help the sister too. >> reporter: they agreed to pay the sisters what they made at the dump. about $10 a month. >> at agreement, we would pay for everything, put them in school and they could never go back to the dump again. >> we feel like we're second family. i get emotional. because i don't have a feeling with my family that much. >> reporter: now the two young women are attending college in chicago. >> education to me is like a second life. >> gives me goosebumps. >> good for them

fuji as a cultural heritage site at the meeting in the cambodian capital of phnom penh. members have been screening 30 heritage candidates. they have also endorsed other sites including the sand sea in namibia and mt. etna in italy. mt. fuji is japan's highest peak. it has been regarded as a sacred site for centuries. it also has been an inspiration for japanese art and culture. the governors of the prefectures of yamanashi and shizuoka, which straddle the mountain, expressed gratitude at the meeting. >> we'll continue to do our utmost to preserve the natural environment and the current landscape surrounding fuji so that it will forever be loved by the people of the world. >> the governor said they will safeguard and pass the legacy of mt. fuji on to future generations. >>> up next, the world weather forecast. >> and that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm keikichi hanada. on behalf of our team, thank you for staying with us. . give us this day our daily bread. and forgive us our trass passes as we forgive those who trespass against us. let us not into temptation,