Daiichi. Some residents are happy while others have concerns. Kurdish forces in Northern Iraq are surging ahead in an operation to win control of a strategic facility. They are working to take back the largest dam in the country from sunni militants. Their momentum has been fuelled by a flurry of u. S. Air strikes. Reporter u. S. Bombers, fighter planes and drones targeted the dam. They carried out 14 air strikes own sunday alone. The largest single day attack since the operation began ten days ago. They took out armored personnel carriers and vehicles. Operated by Islamic State militants. It helped kurdish fighters in their effort take back the dam. The Islamic State seized it and kept it running. The facility provides water and electricity for much of the region. People feared the militants would destroy it. President obama outlined the importance of the infrastructure in a letter to congress where he explains his authorization of the air strikes. He said the failure of the mosul dam could threaten the lives of a large number of civilians and endanger personnel and facilities including the u. S. Embassy in baghdad and prevent the Iraqi Government from providing Critical Services to the iraq can i can populous. They are said to be proceeding as they work to gain control of the dam. They have told the media the militants left behind mines and bobby traps. Curdish are going after other positions in the north and the u. S. Air strikes have given them a boost here. The bombings kept the sunni militants out of erbil. They control mosul and other areas including oil fields. The leader of the parliament region has been asking your peen asking european officials for assistance. The president is eager to update and increase the supply of weapons. He told the German Foreign minister backing from friends will help win the war. The conflict displaced a million iraqis, some include members of the minority, christians for example. We heard about the plight of the yazidis. Faith embodied christian and islam. They have been trying to convert the group to their strict brand of islam. They have taken women and children as slaves. Yazidi have said they are facing genocide. They want to leave iraq. This group was trying to get though turkey. Others are learning how to fight back against Islamic State. They have gone to syria to get weapons training and say they want to get revenge on militants. Politicians in baghdad are working to form a new government. Many believe unity is the only way to confront the Islamic State and stop the advance and they hope the Prime Minister will be able to bring people together. Nhks craig dale. Staff at the Japanese Embassy in jordan say militants in syria may be holding a japanese citizen. They arent released his name or age. They have set up a task force to get more information. Embassy Officials Say the man is thought to have been captured in aleppo. Government and Opposition Forces have been struggling for control there for year. Embassy staff are examining this video. They suspect someone linked 0 sunni militants took the footage. The man says in english hes from japan. Embassy Officials Say no one has claimed responsibility. The militants have been active in and around aleppo. Officials with the Japanese Foreign ministry have been urging japanese citizens to leave syria even before this. The Foreign Ministers of ukraine said there is no room in the policy morally or religiously for weapons of mass destruction. Officials promised to provide relevant information ahead of the august 25 deadline. They agreed to clarify an issue concerning testing explosives. He said iranian officials explained their decision to develop detonateers and said they proposed new ways. Iran and six world powers plan to resume talks next month to try to resolve the nuclear issue. The Foreign Ministers of ukraine and russia defended their positions as the crisis in Eastern Ukraine continues. They sat down with counterparts to discuss ways to diffuse tensions. The ministers met in berlin for about five hours. They discussed a range of issues, including the possible of a sustainable ceasefire. The Ukrainian Foreign minister suggested they did not make much headway and said the talks were difficult but said they did move forward on certain points. He said the leaders of all four countries are expected to decide in the next couple of days whether to organize more talks. Those leaders have seen little let up in the fighting. Units are battle for control of the cities and civilians are getting caught in a cross fire. Ukrainian Officials Say they forces have recaptured a number of strongholds in the countrys east. Spokesperson said Government Troops have retaken the District Police station. Ukrainian president made a comment on twitter and said that Government Forces have control of the center of a town near donetsk and described it as having strategic importance. Thousands of personnel from the United States and south korea have began their annual military exercise and are conducting a drill in south korea. They are preparing for possible attacks by north korea and leaders have made it clear they are upset. About 30,000 u. S. Personnel and 50,000 South Koreans are taking part along with officials. The troops will check on new strategy. North korean leaders have already complained calling the drill a provocative act that damages interkorean relations and warns forces taking part in the drill will be targets for attacks. North korean authorities have carried out a series of tests in the past months. South korean prosecutors are questions a japanese newspaper reporter over an article which appeared on the newspapers website and sparked criticism by several groups. Officials say they will cooperate with the investigation but are unsure of what the problem is. He quoted a south korean daily questioning the whereabouts. Nearly 300 people died in the accident. The article mentioned rumors that park had an encounter with an individual at the time. Tlt was a protest lodged. They say they will seek civil and criminal action against the paper. The last thing we want to do is clamp down on ron madison because he is always with a treasuretrove of the latest business. In china prices for new homes fell in more than 90 from the month earlier. That news is fuelling concerns that a slow down in the Real Estate Market could dampen the chinese economy. Officials in the bureau of statistics say new home prices rose in just two of the citiess surveyed. Prices declined in 64 cities. That is the most since 2011. The pace of decline expanded to 1. 4 in shanghai. Home prices in beijing turned down by 1. 3 . Investors have been discouraged. Analysts do expect housing prices to keep falling for the rest of the year. Following the release of the data investors sold shares of Chinese Property Developers but weakness was offset. The composite at 2,239 the highest close in more than eight months. Here in tokyo Market Players had a slow start to the week. Trading volume was light. The nikkei pretty much flat, 15,332. Taking a look how other markets finished out the week. Investors in the region were monitoring how the situation in ukraine would develop. Japanese firms are trying to hire more College Graduates to help expand business in the region. Some are prepared to recruit graduates on the spot. Eight Japanese Companies with operations in china and Southeast Asia took part in the job fair. Managers are interviewing university students. Major Recruitment Services firm organized the event. Officials said more firms are looking for employees to bridge the gap with their japanbased colleagues. Translator we have local affiliates in asia so we want employees who can contribute to our global operations. I want to work with the same sense of responsibility as japanese employees. And this event will go on until tuesday. People do rely on computers to communicate, to inform themselves and sometimes even just to relax. Few people understand the programs that drive them. Thats changing now. Developers are writing coding languages so simple that even a child can learn them. Reporter this programming work shop is offered by a nonprofit organization. The instructors are professional coding teachers. These Elementary School students are deeply interested in the subject. They are having fun using coding tools that have been developed especially for children. When you want this cat character to move first drag and drop the block that says move ten steps. The cat begins walking. Similarly, if you combine the blocks that say when green flag clicked this is what happens. After a few lessons the children are able to create programs that operate toys according to the instructions. Translator it starts to move the toys around in a way i want. Translator computer skills allow children to do or make lots of different things. These skills will help them connect with people around the world in the future. Reporter program was introduced in Junior High School two years ago but is now facing a big challenge. These teachers gather to discuss the problem. Most of them lack the skills that professional coding instructors possess. And they need to teach students whose level of interest in programming is low. A programming expert says the important thing is to bring out childrens creativity through interactive approaches rather than making them learn passively in the classroom. Translator children that have the desire to make things themselves, teachers should play the role of facilitators that bring out that desire. Reporter one new teaching approach is attracting attention. Here the facilitators are children. It was the idea of a 13yearold boy. Two years ago he won first prize at the coding contest for kids 15 and younger. He taught programming to two classmates. The three of them are now teaching programming to 20 children. Translator see, its been reset. Now, you click this and then reporter he and the other Children Exchange ideas freely as if they are playing a computer game. Once children learn how fun programming can be their creativity and output kick into high gear. Translator its easier when children teach children because they have perspectives and ideas that are different from teachers. Translator we would like to pass on the joy of programming. The important thing is to create places where kids can learn coding in the same spirit as when they play with friends. Reporter the approach has taught instructors one important lesson, if you are looking for the right way to teach children, sometimes it is best to ask a kid. Nhk world. That is going to do it for business hour. Here is a check of the markets. Japanese defense authorities have began drilling in the waters off okinawa. The authorities are drilling into rock and coral reef. They will drill at 21 locations along the coast. They plan to push earth into the water. The plan site includes parts of the u. S. Marine corps more than 100 residents and members of civic groups opposed to the protests. Ten years ago the officials want to better protect the remote islands. They say their budget requests for fiscal 2015 will effect policy guidelines. They want to improve the capability to respond quickly to invasion of remote islands and retake them. They will ask for financing to buy about five fighter jets. They plan to buy around four patrol planes made in japan and want three unmanned surveillance aircraft. The officials want to build another ship built with the Missile Defense system. A Senior Ministry official says thebage request would exceed defense spending of about roughly 48 billion. The japanese government has lifted an Evacuation Order for part of a village near fukushima daiichi. Some people say they are happy to return home. Nhk world reports. Reporter eastern fukushima prefecture. Part of the village is designated unlivable but in other parts Evacuation Orders are ready to be lifted. Some people have concerns over whether their communities are free of radiation. On sunday the Central Government held a meeting for nearly 300 former residents. About 80 attended. Officials explained radiation readings are lower than the government standard. They also said the area is safe and infrastructure has been improved. Translator we think its not appropriate to keep the Evacuation Order while some residents are hoping to return home. Reporter the officials said they plan to carry out decontamination. They said the restoration of main roads is nearly complete. And they propose the Evacuation Order be lifted october 1. The village mayor accepted the proposal saying that lifting the Evacuation Order is necessary to reconstruction. Translator i want the Evacuation Order to be swiftly lifted so that people can interact once again. Reporter some residents long to return home but many are worried about insufficient infrastructure and how they will make a living. I feel the evacuation is set for october 1. Both the Central Government and village are acting way too fast. Reporter the future depends on national and local measures towards reconstructing the community so that residents can return home without worry. Nhk world. Thanks for that report. Hundreds of residents in a small town in the southern u. S. Have returned to their home. They had to evacuate after two freight trains collided head on. Two died in the crash. Diesel fuel from one of the trains and some type of alcoholic beverage being transported caught fire. Several of the cars went up in flames but firefighters dont believe toxic substances leaked out. About 500 residents had to leave their homes but crews brought the fire under control. And after about seven hours people were allowed to return. Officials with the National Transportation safety board and train operator are looking into the cause of the crash. Speaking of western japan it is now drenched in heavy rainfall while central japan bakes in the summer sun. Our meteorologist is here with the details. I certainly could have used some ice bucketing coming into work earlier. Will we see the rain that the western side of the country is experiencing later this week . It doesnt look like you will be dealing with wet weather over in western japan. The heat and humidity will continue here in tokyo and the central portions of japan. The reason why is because we have this stationary front that is draped all the way into the Korean Peninsula and is throwing moisture into the western portions of japan. I want to show you video coming out of that particular region. This is dramatic video. You can see people having to use boats to get around this place because of the recordbreaking rainfall during the weekend. Unfortunately, at least four people have been killed because of the flooding and rain with several still missing. You can see over 300 millimeters of rain fell sunday, twice as much as the monthly rainfall. Nearly 30,000 people were advised to evacuate. And then a landslide blocked the highway. It looks like the heavy rain is easing but high risk of flooding and landslides will continue. I want to show you other rain totals. Up to 335 millimeters in some places. In south korea 185. Looks like we will see the rain continue because of the stationary front staying in place over the Korean Peninsula and staying relatively dry. Here is a look at the three day forecast. For kochi and fukuoka rain continues for tuesday and wednesday. We have heavy rainfall into the philippines. High pressure driving up the warm weather into tokyo. That is going to keep dry conditions with low 30s in central japan. Wet for seoul, shanghai and very warm conditions for northern china, 33 degrees in beijinbeij we have this massive low pressure system continuing over the Scandinavian Peninsula. We have a cold front. Because of that poland saw hail on sunday. It looks like this is going to bring more wet weather for the northern portions of europe staying relatively dry to the south especially to the balkans where they need to start drying out. Looks like drier conditions there. Berlin and paris a chance for rain and maybe seeing showers especially for the northern portions of the Scandinavian Peninsula and scattered showers to the south. We wrap things up with a look at north america. We can see clouds billowing up. That is a low pressure system responsible for producing large hail. 11 centimeter diameter hail and strong wind gusts over into nebraska. Two tornado reports in iowa. That low will continue to move towards the east. That will be the focal point for rain and thunderstorms. We are also seeing a low pressure system that will drop into Northern California where our high is already located. That will cause problems with a wildfire situation for that area. Down towards the deep south seeing rain and thunderstorms. D. C. At 28 and 38 degrees in atlanta. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Here is your extended outlook. And that was this hours newsline. More to come on nhk world so stay right there. Welcome back to the france 24 newsroom for 60 minutes around the world. These are the headlines this monday. Missouri governor sends in the National Guard to ferguson just hours after police fired tear gas on protesters there. Its second now under nighttime curfew as anger builds over last weeks Police Shooting of an unarmed black teenager, michael brown. The iraqi army says it has taken back control of the countrys largest dam. Airstrikes help kurdish Fighters Chase out the extremists who took over the mosul dam