hello and welcome "newsline." tuesday, july 17, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. . american sailors turned their guns on a boat off the coast of dubai, killing one and injuring three others. there is tension between the u.s. and iran. a spokesperson for the fifth fleet of the u.s. navy says

sailors issued repeated warnings to the fishing boat, but small vessel continued to race toward the ship. the crew then fired on the boat. uae government officials told media in the emirates that the victim was an indian man. the closing down the bottle neck between the persian gulf and the arabian sea, iranian authorities often dispatch high-speed boats in the gulf to intimidate u.s. vessels on patrol. china's business practices are coming under international scrutiny. the world trade organization ruled that a chinese company rules a my massachusetnoply. the u.s. filed a complaint with the world trade body in 2010. in the ruling, the wto says

china discriminates against foreign banks by providing china union pay with a monopoly in processing of electronic payments denominated in 9 the chinese currency. kirk said the decision will help u.s. companies and increase american jobs as more efficient credit and debit payment systems in china enable consumers to buy more goods. he added that china should honor its wto commitments and eliminate the discrimination. china's commerce ministry spokesperson released a comment saying the u.s. claims have not been accepted and the government will decide on how to respond after examining the wto report. east team war ruling party announced it reached an agreement with two other parties to form a coalition government. the country's first president

after it obtained independence ten years ago is likely to remain in power as prime minister. gusmao's party, the team for reconstruction, gained the most votes in the country's parliamentary election on july 7th, but failed to get a jort. it'll form a coalition with the democratic party. the alliance will hold a total of 40 seats in the 65-seat parliament. the incumbent prime minister will remain in power. after the announcement, there were mass demonstrations in the capitol. some destroyed vehicles and attacked police officers. the united nation's peacekeeping force plans to withdraw before the end of the year. the schedule may be affected by whether the new coalition government is able to maintain security. china says its most advanced manned submarine will go on an exploration mission in the south china sea next spring.

the deep sea project is seen as part of chien yeah efforts to assert its territorial claim in the region. there will be deep sea dives with the submarine between april and may in 2013. they will be aimed at putting the sub to practical use. the submarine docked in china monday after carrying out six deep sea dives in the pacific ocean last month. it reached a record depth of more than 7,000 meters, breaking the previous record of 6,527 meters, set by japanese manned submarine. tension has been building in the south china sea. last month china announced that it was integrating the disputed islands and two other disputed island chains to create a new city called sunsha.

a ragged chain of rocks in the east china sea is casting a shadow over diplomatic relations between tokyo and beijing. the object of the dispute, the senkaku islands, saying they are part of the chinese prefecture. surveys indicated the presence of oil resources in the area. decades later, the dispute remains very much alive. >> public opinion in china is once again focused on the territorial dispute with japan over the enkaku islands. the prime minister of tokyo planned to purchase the islands from its owner. noda said earlier this month that the central government is

considering similar plans. trance tran t . >> translator: the point is to take over the islands in a stable manner. er with working on a comprehensive plan. >> the proposal drew feweral comments on chinese on-line forums. >> the chinese military should occupy the islands. >> japan needs it pay for its attitude. >> monday's press briefing at the foreign ministry suggested chinese officials were ready for stronger action. >> buying or selling china's sacred land is unacceptable. the government will do what it takes to protect her sovereignty over the islands. >> two days later, three chinese patrol boats entered waters near the islands and were challenged by japan coast guard vessels.

the confrontation lasted several hours. >> this was a significant case of trespassing into ourter toral waters. we will have to keep watching china closely. >> the incident occurred just 12 hours before both countries topped diplomats held talks on the side lines of a meeting. japan's foreign minister protested the intrusion. his counterpart repeated that the islands belong to china. earlier gene otani spoke about the territorial disputes with professor from university of tokyo. >> let me ask you point blank, how do you interpret chinese patrol boats entering japanese waters. >> i think there is not so much doubt they were sent by the chinese government to express protest at the remarks made by prime minister noda.

noda saying that the japanese government has the intention to nationalize some of the islands, the senkaku islands. so they want it express their unhappiness about this. >> do you think that some of china's intentions is appealing to their own people? >> the domestic context, i think we should point out two factors. one is, party congress is approaching. this is held once in five years. it is a very important event in chinese politics and the new leadership will be chosen at the conference. so for the chinese leaders at this moment, it is a very delicate sensitive political season and they don't want to be seen as a weak leader, so that's one factor. >> and the second factor is, as you all know, the sentiments in chinese society, is rising very much, so this show of toughness,

against a foreign country is much welcomed. or if they don't do this, there will be a lot of protest coming from the chinese society. >> do you see similarities between scarborough show and senka senkaku? is it going to turn into a shore where the boats are not going to leave? >> well, there is always a possibility that things might jessica late in the east china seas. so both sides must act very prudently. and it's the same, the situation this south china sea and situation in east china sea, same in the sense that the chinese claim sovereignty of the islands. that exist in these two seas. and they are not ready to make any kind of positions about the sovereignty claims, so on as far as that is concerned, the issues are similar. and we also, are in a similar position with the southeast nations that we have to find

some constructive solution without touching upon perhaps the sovereignty issues. because the sovereignty issues are very difficult and they know this, so their proposal to the japanese in the 1970s and onward, as far as senkaku is concerned, would be that we would self the sovereignty issues and perhaps conduct a joint development of the resources around the -- in the area. >> that was professor takahara from university of tokyo speaking to our gene otani. tens of thousands of people in japan spent their national holiday hollering an anti-nuclear message. they gathered in tokyo to tell their politicians to shut down plants that produce atomic energy. they are phasing out nuclear power since last year's accident at fukushima daiichi.

organizers say this rally was the biggest so far. >> they brave the heat and humid it to come out in historic numbers. these protesters in tokyo are demanding the government listen to citizens. tens of thousands of people are here to say no to nuclear power. >> translator: nuclear power is too dangerous for humans to deal with. >> people in japan find out how dangerous in 2011. an earthquake and tsunami trigger explosions and radiation leaks at fukushima daiichi. the crisis facility is still ongoing. since then, japanese have held protest after protest, urging the government to stop using atomic flrg. a group of permanent figures called for the area. among them, an academy award

winning musician. they told the crowd, life and health are much more important than economics. organizers say about 170,000 people came out today to listen to that message and to raise their own voices. demonstrators demanded the government stop restarting nuclear plants and decommissioned them. >> i cannot believe they operate such dangerous things when i think about my child and other children in fukushima daiichi, i cannot help but do something. >> it would be a great shame for all japanese if another nuclear accident happens again. i'm really angry about the terrible politics that politicians play. >> government officials have heard that before. but they say, japan needs nuclear power for now to avoid electricity shortages, especially during summer.

however, prime minister noda is promising to reduce the dependence on atomic energy. how much is still up for debate. he is planning to set the government's future policy by the end of august. these people say he should reflect their voices before he makes his final decision. nhk world, tokyo. thousands of south defense force personnel and emergency crews started a five-day drill monday in tokyo. city officials estimate a huge earthquake hitting directly under the capitol could kill more than 9,000 and destroy or damage 380,000 buildings. >> defense ministry workers put out a mock alert.

then officials rushed to the offices to lead their teams. they are practicing how fds units and relief supplies would be set up in the event of a disaster. they worked on crossing the river by boat to prepare in case something blocks their access to disaster areas. the self-defense forces learned a lot after last year's earthquake and tsunami. 100,000 troops went to japan's northeast to help out. but they had problems working with local communities and sharing duties with u.s. soldiers. later this week, the fdf will set up coordination posts with the u.s. forces to divide roles in operational areas. this is the first time the american military will take part in this kind of drill. nasa's search for evidence that life once existed on mars gets rolling again in a few weeks. engineers with the u.s. space agency says their state of the art probe will land on the cold and dry planet on august 6th.

the space rover curiosity, is the largest mars probe ever. it is the size of a car. nasa launched it last november. the rover will move on wheels, it will use various instruments such as robotic arm to collect rock and sand samples from the surface of the red planet. it can analyze samples on the spot. many scientists believe ancient mars had wet environment which would have supported life. >> the curiosity rover has the potential to discover the building blocks of life on mars, if life ever existed on mars. >> the curiosity mission will last two years. it'll begin by investigating whether a place known as the gail crater ever offered an environment favorable for microbal life. president obama set a goal of sending humans to mars in the 2030s.

facebook, the world's largest social networking surface, it boasts around 900 million active users. but rival networks in other regions are enjoying explosive growth. china has its micro blogging services with 300 million leaders. another service has 100 million. and very soon the middle east will have its own. now, there is going to be a new alternative, salamworld. >> the people behind salamworld have an ambitious goal, connecting the world's 1.5 billion muslims. we see how they plan to do that. >> salamworld is based in istanbul, turkey, on the border between the middle east and europe.

>> as salamworld, our aim is to open muslims to the world and the world to muslims. >> salam sms world is aiming to become a version of facebook. it hopes to attract 150 million users, within the first three years. the platform will be available in eight different languages. commonly used by muslims around the world. the staff are all muslim and hail from 12 different countries. they are putting the final touches to the design of the new site, which will make its debut later this month. the site will reflect traditional islamic values. for example, facebook runs advertisements for revealing women's garments. on salamworld, images like that will not be allowed, as they go againstis plamic teachings.

>> alcohol or other cigarettes for example, advertisement, more sexual advertisements on the social media sites, for me, i want to have a right to not see them. >> the developers say islamist extremists will be excluded so the portal will be safe for everyone to use. >> translator: we will exclude all messages that are too radical. our purpose is to spread moderate islam the way it should be, which is completely different from the extremists. >> given the huge numbers of potential viewers, salamworld is watching closely. one of the most developed of the gulf states, for muslims, food has to be prepared according to

islamic principles. this fast-food restaurant has become very popular in the muslim world, with 72 branches, mostly in the middle east, and africa. company officials see great potential for expansion if they advertise for salamworld. >> you get more business. so the company will be gradually more popular in the world and it will be large scale business. >> there is a growing interest from businesses far from the middle east. mohamed runes a company in malaysia that produces 120 kind of cosmetics and health foods. because liquor is prohibited, all of the beauty product are made without the addition of any alcohol. >> if you are a muslim, you want to use things that comply to the

requirements, and then you use it without being -- without any worries. >> mohamed set up her business six years ago. now she's hoping to expand globally. even before it goes on-line, salamworld has gun registering users. mohamed signed up straight away so she could set up a sign for her business. >> very nice. >> gives us a possibility of interacting within the community that we want to serve. so this is a very good focus. >> but sa lamworld's sites go fr beyond business. >> we want it create a site that is a place that's safe, a place where people can feel at peace. you could say we want to create our own country in cyber space.

>> in the past two years, internet use among young muslims has spread like wildfire. since almost half of all muslims are 25 or under, salamworld looks it take the islamic world by storm. nhk world, dubai. >> salamworld will be officially launched sometime this week. the japanese embassy in the philippines has held a job fair for filipino nurses who failed the certification exam in japan. the japanese government has been encouraging filipino nurses to work in japan under an economic partnership agreement but many of them have given up and returned home. about 30 job seekers took part in the event at a hotel near the capitol, manila, on monday. officials from 14 institutes including japanese asillated companies, and hospitals

attended. the first group of 93 filipino nurses went to japan three years ago under a bilateral partnership agreement. nurses worked in japanese hospitals while studying for japan's state certification exam. they were given three years to pass the exam. many failed and were not allowed to continue working in the country. nearly 70% have returned home. the high failure rate was blamed on the language barrier. >> if i have a chance to go back again, i will go back -- >> the embassy is considering more such events, including practice exams for those who want to sit for japan's nursing tests again. >> all right, now let's take a look at the market figures.

rachel furgason joins us now with the world weather forecast. some parts of eastern asia are continuing to see excessive parts of rain. now there a tropical storm as well. what's the latest? >> good morning, catherine, you're right. there a new tropical storm here. this is located southeast of the japanese islands. this is tropical storm and moving west at 30 kilometers an hour right now. it looks like it'll go further west and come up through the yellow sea in towards the western half of the korean peninsula.

now, it will bring heavy rain with it. and here in the western half of the korean peninsula, you really do need to see rain, dealing with drought for the last several weeks. so that's not particularly bad news. however, we really don't want any of that rain to come into western japan for the last wek or so. extreme heavy rain has been impacting unfortunately you will still see about 250 millimeters of rain over the next 24 hours. the good news is that we are not expecting any direct impact. that said, the systems are very unpredictable so well continue to monitor its progress. right now the winds gusts are up over 108 kilometers an hour. that's another thing to take into consideration. right now, we have a seasonal front that's affecting an area from tahoku into south korea. that is moving further down south. but already you can see plenty of rain fall here in southern

china. couple of low pressure systems as well as the monsoon. that's really been bringing very heavy rain here. so flooding and landslides also high risk here. and as we head into the next 24 hours, that doesn't look like it will be letting up much, plenty of wet weather down here towards the south. we also have been dealing with heat problems too. excessive heat across japan. really the southern half of the country has been dealing with temperatures in around the mid to upper 30s. the tokyo looking to see 34 degrees on the thermometer today. up to 37 degrees as well. hot day in beijing is 34 and down in the tropics again, mid 30s in bangkok as well asthma nilla. taking a look into north america, heat is going to be the focus of the day as well. you will remember last week, we saw those ongoing heat conditions across much of the midwest and eastern parts of the u.s. it then moved out west over the weekend but it is starting it creep back now. jet streams moving very far

north and that is allowing a lot of heat to come up from south. we are seeing more thunderstorms as well. along the u.s./canada border once again. anywhere from dakotas and moving in through new england today. this storm has a history of bringing golf ball sized hail. that's a concern with the storms and lots of wet weather through the gulf of mexico. it'll be fairly unstable here and those temperatures once again soaring up to 37 degrees in chicago as well as d.c. and toronto on your tuesday. let's go now to europe. the continent is split in half as we head into tuesday. we will see cooler and unsettled conditions across the north and down south, more heat and it will be remaining mostly dry. now those storms that tore up through poland, for example, over the weekend, we are still going to be seeing some very unstable weather here moving through poland as well as northern germany and going to be a wet day for you as well across

much of scotland and you are not seeing temperature getting past the mid teens down to the south though 36 in athens, 36 in madrid and up to 37 in lisbon. here is your extended forecast. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in

tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.