\s newsline welcome to nhk world "newsline." the operator of a nuclear power facility in central japan is getting ready to at a feed more electricity in the hungry power grid. engineers say they'll restart at the second reactor there next wednesday. >> they shut down reactor 4 for routine inspections but the unit had to past safety tests put in place following last year's accident at fukushima before going online. the power company spokesperson say they expect the generator to

start generating power by july 21st and reach full capacity four days later. engineers restarted the number three reactor at the beginning of july. it went into full scale operation a couple of days ago. a politician in japan is vowing to stop the initiative. ozawa has launched a new party under the banner people's lives first. he criticized the democrats for the changes they made for changes they made. he said the agreement with the opposition on a bill to raise the consumption tax deprives the

public the right to choose between alternative policies. liberal democratic secretary general says he is looking out for himself, not citizens. >> translator: ozawa is making promises that are impossible to keep. even though he says the priority is the lives of the japanese people i believe that he is playing a power game by establishing a new policy because he lost against prime minister noda. >> he and their supporters tendered their ressing nakzs to the democratic party. the prime minister's bill to double the consumption tax

passed and is waiting approval by the upper house. south east asia nations are trying to draw up a framework to avoid further conflict. they apparently agreed to keep talking. beyond that there is little sign of any major progress. the meeting focused on one of the most delicate issues, who owns the south china sea. delegates from both sides agreed to start working on a legally binding code of conduct to settle disputes peacefully. foreign ministers from the ten member states met their chinese counterpart on wednesday afternoon. china agreed to start discussions on drawing up the code of conduct but observers say china seems reluctant to sign a binding agreement that could limit its activities in the south china sea. the waters are believed to hold oil and natural gas.

china has its eye on the natural resources to power its economy, the biggest in asia. one of the biggest countries have been rising this year. vessels were locked in a standoff that lasted more than two months. for an analysis we are joined by char main. what do you make of china's decision? >> china has agreed to start the code of conduct favored by asean to avoid international criticism and doesn't want to give the united states an excuse to intervene. but china's basic policy remains unchanged. that means no concessions regarding its territorial claims to the south china sea. it also means taking a cautious approach to drafting any parts of the code of conduct that will tie china's hands. >> what are the challenges?

>> a big challenge of reigning in the giant neighbor even as china hardens its stance. the ten members wanted measures they wanted included, including the creation of a monetary system and getting china aboard and achieving these goals is another matter entirely. this weeks talks in phnom penh highlighted differences between asean members. on one hand, there is cambodia, this year's host country and chair of asean. it's biggest economic backer is china. on other hand, you have countries including vietnam, and the philippines that are locked in direct disputes with china. it remains unclear whether the ten asean members can unite behind the code of conduct. the issues arise to the islands is not only about sovereignty and national pride but related to the ownership of the region's

natural resources like oil and gas. watching developments it has become clear, both asean and china need to step up efforts to find agreement. otherwise, incidents like the south china sea -- the skirmishes in the south china sea risk escalating into a much larger and possibly regional conflict. >> thank you so much. charmaine. on thursday, attention was turned to the asean national forum. the united states and north korea will both join that meeting. north korean delegates led by foreign minister arrived in cambodia on wednesday. he later held talks with chinese foreign minister. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton arrived on wednesday. the obama administration has shifted its focus towards the asia pacific. the region is now officially at the center of u.s. economic and

military strategy. clinton's priority at the asean regional forum is to contain chinese moves in the south china sea. north korea's nuclear weapons program is expected to be a major talking point. we'll be reporting live again on thursday. so please join us then. reporting in phnom penh. japan and china have failed to narrow their differences over the islands in the east china sea. the state owns one of them. it's been renting the others from a japanese family since 2002. the islands are claimed by

taiwan and china. also protested the entry of three chinese boats. the coast guard warned the boats to leave japanese territory but the chinese side reportly said they were engaged in legitimate duties. also referred to the government's negotiations to purchase some of the islands from their private japanese owner. he said peaceful and stable control of the islands is important. he referred to similar disputes involving countries including china, philippines and vietnam and islands in the south china sea and said the issue should be resolved between related

parties. south korean president's plan to strengthen ties with japan backfired. his idea is relatively simple, a diplomatic deal with better security as its goal. but the opposition, the media, and the public lined up against it for reasons political and historical. shery ahn picks up the story from seoul. >> reporter: south koreans aren't afraid to take to streets to let their leaders know how they feel. this time, they're protesting against an agreement that would bring them closer to japan, former colonial ruler. opposition lawmakers are and groups are rallying against a military pact. they want to scrap a proposed deal that would allow officials in tokyo to share confidential data. both sides negotiated the agreement around the time north korean authorities test fired

the missile they claim was a sat lie carrying rocket. many south koreans aren't happy with it. they say the president's administration unilaterally endorsed the pact. >> translator: the administration is trying to stick in the deal at the end of its term. it's rushing its signing by hiding it from the public. we think this should be stopped. >> reporter: opposition pressure ended up forcing the foreign ministry to postpone the signing of the agreement, less than an hour before the signing ceremony. since then, three government officials have lost their posts, the most prominent casualty is a top national security aide considered a key architect of the foreign policy. experts say, the president's personnel shuffle is aimed at dressing criticism from opposition parties. but they also point out, the pact isn't just staring

controversy because of how he handled it. history's also a factor. >> translator: korea already has agreements with the u.s., canada, and even with russia. but the relationship with japan is unique. because korea was colonized for 35 years, people have nightmares when they hear the words japanese military. >> reporter: south korea/japan relations aside, this issue's also getting attention because it could affect ties with the biggest trading partner. >> translator: china could think the u.s., japan, and south korea will be an axis for keeping it in check. >> reporter: lawmakers are now getting a chance to debate the military pact in the national assembly. but this is an election year, and many analysts point out that means debate could get dragged out and the fate of the deal

could be left up to the next administration. shery ahn, nhk world. south korean's foreign minister said south korea will work with japan yet his government will not compromise on territorial and historical issues. some lawmakers voiced support and others expressed concern saying south korea should be making suffa deal with china, as well. china's new auto sales rose

10% from a year ago. the subsidies helping to boost sales. nearly 1.6 million units sold last month. that's an increase of just under 10% from a year earlier. worries over china's economic outlook dampened demand earlier this year but government incentives helped to bring about recovery in demand. new car sales rose 3% from the previous year. total came to about 9.6 million units that is the world's largest. automakers are shifting things into high gear to increase production in china. a concern about overproduction are on the rise. critics point out restrictions on license plate issuance to ease air pollution and traffic jams. another worry is a higher number of unsold cars in showrooms. japan's wholesale prices in june fell compared to a year

ago. this comes as demand for goods and materials was sluggish due to the european debt crisis. slower growth in china and other emerging economies was also a dampening factor. the bank of japan said the corporate good price index stood at 100.6 last month down 1.3% from a year earlier and marks the third month of declines. by category the price of steel dropped nearly 7%. a u.n. report says eurozone countries may lose 4.5 million jobs and face more social unrest if they don't take steps to boost the labor market. the warning was issued in a report. it states unemployment could reach almost 22 million. that would be up from the current 17.4 million.

austerity measures are cited as the main reason for the sharp rise. the report proposes more investments into environment-related medical services and other industries. the jobless rate across the eurozone was 11.1%. here are the latest market figures. people have been paying

attention to a lot of things they can't see or touch. a sensation was created when they announced the discovery of the higgs boson. researchers in japan study neutrino. >> reporter: scientists believe the big bang created by universe about 13.7 billion years ago, but they are stomped on one key part of the story. theoretically there should have been equal amounts of matter and antimatter when the universe began. however it consists solely of matter now. experts at japan's high energy accelerator research organization have taken a significant step toward finding answers.

they are leading the multinational experiment named t2k, featuring on neutrinos which are difficult to detect among the other particles. the researchers are running tests at the japan accelerator research complex. it's located in the village of otokai, 100 kilometers northeast of tokyo. this is their main piece of equipment. a particle accelerator. the device is one of the most advanced of its kind in the world. it removes protons from at atomic nucleus and accelerates to light speed. and produce neutrinos. neutrinos are everywhere, in the galaxy, in the sun.

several hundred trillion. they serve our bodies every second but they're virtually impossible to track. they are less than 1 trillion of a millimeter and easily pass through any detector. >> translator: most of the neutrinos we generate go through the detector and disappear into space. in this sense, our neutrino research is like catching air, or scooping air with a colander. >> reporter: scientists say there are three different forms of neutrinos, electron, neuron, and tau. previous experiences know the particles constantly change type.

the research group has been trying to monitor that change. the experiment is aimed at observing the transformation of new neutrinos into electron neutrinos. scientists send a beam from j-parc and to a detector 295 kilometers away for the appearance of electron neutrinos. detecting this converge is the final piece of the puzzle needed to complete the picture scientists have of this particle. neutrinos are one of the most primary element in the universe. studying the properties could reveal how the universe was created and help solve the mystery of the missing matter.

scientists all over the world have been competing to make this discovery. researchers with the t2k experiment group became the first to announce they successfully observed the events of neuron to electron neutrino conversion. this man closely followed the work at j-parc. he was the first to detect knew neutrinos from a super nova in 1987. his research won him the nobel prize in physics in 2002. the professor says he's been asked thousands of times about the benefit of studying neutrinos. and each time he answers, there's no use for us, that made him realize something.

>> basic science is not aiming at something useful. just desire to know new things. however, i thought it back and found out that we human beings should be thankful to the neutrinos. >> reporter: professor koshibo believes the neutrinos trigger super nova explosion. scientist says explosions spread elements throughout the universe. and that some of the elements end up in the human body. the t2k experiment group will continue to chase the true nature of neutrinos by accumulating and analyzing more data. people who study subatomic

particles from a neutrino to higgs boson say research is helping us get closer to understanding the nature of the universe. a newborn giant panda has died suddenly at tokyo's ueno zoo. the cub was only a week old. he was the first giant panda born in captivity at the zoo in 24 years. a panda known as shin-shin gave birth to the cub last week. zoo officials found him wednesday at 7:30 a.m. lying on his back on his mother's belly. he wasn't breathing. he died an hour later. staff put the cub in an incubator last weekend because his mother stopped holding him but returned him to her monday. she started cuddling her baby again. officials say at one point, breast milk became stuck in the bronchi.

they believe he died of pneumonia. it has been hot and muggy in tokyo. it is muggy due to heavy rainfall. some areas have seen about 200 millimeters of heavy rain. as this area continues to push to the east you can see short time heavy rain with embedded thunderstorms. on top of that severe thunderstorms could be erupting, even hail with this whole frontal boundary. also talking about the air surging in from the south. not one of the days you want to be venturing out to the beaches despite the fact it is raining

here. 250 millimeters across much of kochi. off towards the tokyo region you can see 250 millimeters. this is very prone to land slides if rains keep up. in tokyo up to 150 millimeters could be falling in this region. let's follow this band back towards the west. you have seen about 86 millimeters of rain. it looks like going through friday about 200 millimeters could continue to fall here due to the stagnant low pressure area. in southeastern china hot weather. hong kong 33. bangkok and manila both at 32. you are going to be experiencing afternoon heavy rain showers and thunderstorm activity in both of these areas.

towards the americas let's talk about the tropical systems in the eastern pacific. we have amelia here. you can see a well defined eye in the satellite picture. this is going to continue to head out to sea. a fish storm indeed. even this area behind it the national hurricane center is watching this very closely for possible development. that should follow the same path as amelia and continue to head out to sea. towards the east we have the rainy season boundary in the southeast. and this is bringing heavy rainfall about 150 millimeters could fall through friday. and even farther off here towards the west you have this baking heat towards the southwest here and across portions of arizona over towards southern california you are going to be seeing absolutely record breaking temperatures here. las vegas with a high of 45. in san diego you are seeing

record breaking temperatures all the way up to 47 on your tuesday here. well above average across much of this area. in europe, as well you are seeing extreme heat here well above average. north of this we have these frontal boundaries bringing heavy rainfall towards the scandinavian peninsula you have the risk of flooding in many of the areas and dropping down of temperatures as the fronts continue to push towards the east. london below average at 20. south of the fronts. here is a look at your extended outlook.

we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo.