welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. supporters of mohamed morsi are taking to the streets to protest the ar my's decision to remove him from power. >> security has been tightened in northwestern china. friday marks the fourth anniversary of large scale

protests in the uygur autonomous region. and several types of eel could soon be listed as endangered species, a decision that could have a big impact in japan. egyptians are preparing for another weekend of unrest. supporters of the muslim brotherhood are angry that the army has removed morsi from office and installed a new president. the group is urging people to take to the streets. >> reporter: anger here could easily turn to violence. many have already told us that they are ready. officials from the muslim brotherhood are calling for egyptians and others to not recognize the new administration. morsi has been replaced by the chief justice addly mansour. he was sworn-in as interim

president on tuesday. >> our refusal and revolt of the military coup is showing our feelings. >> they're showing mixed reactions. saudi officials have been concerned about islamist forces expanding their power base. but in tunisia officials from the ruling islamist party have condemned and calling it a coup against peaceful protest, but they are warning they will not tolerate any violent action. police presence has been increased following last week's protest. friday marked the fourth anniversary of large scale demonstrations in the uygur autonomous region.

we report from the capital of the area. >> reporter: large security force has been deployed near the orumgi district. state-run media say similar attack was earlier this week. 35 civilians and officers were reported to be killed. another group of armed men reportedly launched a similar attack in another city last friday. the incident was one of the worst since riots in july 2009 when 200 people were reported to be killed. ethnic muslims make up half of the population. many weegers are -- uygurs are

angry saying the government is banning them from religious activities. >> translator: the government should treat us better. we are not terrorists. if the government treated us properly, we would respond in the same manner. >> reporter: the recent unrest is being seen as a backlash against government forces targeting minorities. the chinese government appears to try to contain any sign of unrest out of concern that social instability may spread. nhk world, china. >> a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has defended the country's policy on ethnic minorities. >> translator: chinese authorities are taking strict legal countermeasures to protect social stability, people's lives and their assets.

>> the spokesperson also said the government's policy on uygurs and their religion meets the people's needs. she said residents of xinjiang support the policy. japanese power companies operating nuclear plants say they're ready to file applications to restart some of their reactors. all but two of the nation's 50 commercial reactors were shut doub in the wake of the fukushima accident. the utilities plan to submit their applications as soon as updated nuclear safety requirements take effect on monday. power companies are seeking to restart a total of ten reactors at five nuclear plants. the plants are located throughout japan from tomari in northern hokkaido to sendai. applications will be submitted first day next week to the nuclear regulation authority. regulators will proceed to

screen them based on new safety requirements. they will determine whether the utilities have taken all necessary measures to prevent accidents like a meltdown from happening. officials at the nra say it will take at least six months to process each application. for centuries grilled eel has been a favorite summertime dish for japanese people, but the fate of this delicacy is hanging in the balance. environmental experts are meeting in london to discus whether eels should be given the status of endangered species. and their conclusions could have a big impact on japan. ancient japanese poetry describes eel as a source of energy. people traditionally eat grilled eel during the hot days of late july, but this year diners are already flocking to eel restaurants. >> translator: it's really good. i mean really. >> catches of japanese eel in

japan and china have fallen to about 1/20 of their peak in 1961. the decline is blamed on overfishing and polluted rivers. the situation has led the international union for conservation of nature to consider listing 19 types of eel on its red list of endangered species. experts are meeting in london to decide the fate of the japanese eel among others. designation on the red list doesn't carry legal force, but it can result in trade controls under the washington convention on endangered species. and that's what worries japanese importers. more than half of eel consumed in japan last year came from abroad, mainly china and taiwan. farmers also rely heavily on imports from hong kong. >> translator: we don't know how to handle this situation. when supply falls, eel prices will obviously continue to remain high. the consumers' market will

without doubt shrink significantly. >> an expert says japan needs to take the initiative by pushing for a legal framework that dissuades countries from catching eel in the wild. >> translator: 70% of the eels raised around the world are consumed in japan. i believe japanese people should come to terms with the situation, humbly accept the consequences and take steps so the species will remain a part of their culture for centuries to come. >> the international union for conservation of nature will examine the status of eel stocks and hear from a wide range of experts. its conclusions are expected in several months. the lathest u.s. unemployment report is now out. and it shows that the job market appears to be improving in june. the job data are closely watched by the federal reserve to decide on when to scale back its bond

buying program. the u.s. labor department says the jobless rate stood at 7.6% in june staying at the same level as in the previous month. meanwhile, employers added 195,000 more jobs in the nonfarm sector from the previous month, that's more than about 165,000 new jobs than analysts had widely expected for the month. last month fed chairman ben bernanke hinted that if employment and other economic data keep improving as expected, the central bank might taper it's quantitative easing measure later this year. the latest jobs results apparently show a mild recovery is continuing in the u.s. now let's see how the markets are reacting to the latest u.s. jobs data. first currency, the dollar, is trading higher against the yen and for the first time in a month it reached over 101 yen. settling right now at 100.91 to

95. london ftse down by almost 2.1%. the dax declining and cac 40 down. pakistani prime minister nawaz sharif is working to promote economic ties with china. he is visiting beijing where he has met with top leaders. patchari raksawong in bangkok has more. >> sharif and his chinese counterpart attending a ceremony for signing a series of agreements on friday. since returning to power in june, sharif has set his eyes on building stronger relations with china. he is working with the old ally in the hope of rebuilding pakistan's economy and developing its infrastructure. sharif chose china as the destination of his first official overseas visit since taking office. pakistan and china are close allies in part because of their mutual rivalry with india.

>> our friendship is higher than this and deeper than the deepest sea in the world. and sweeter than honey. >> there may be another reason behind sharif's glowing message to china. pakistan's energy shortages continue to worsen. some areas of the capital, islamabad, are without power more than ten hours a day. sharif wonover voters during his campaign by condemning the previous government for failing to solve the power issue. now that he has been elected, he needs to win investment and support from china to improve inf infrastructure in pakistan. specifically sharif is keen on securing china's cooperation in building more nuclear power plants. western countries have criticized pakistan in the past for passing on nuclear technology to other countries and are unlikely to offer

support in the future. the pakistani leader also met with chinese president xi jinping on thursday. xi says he hopes the two countries can use their advantages to help each other and promote development of both countries. china for its part is seeking help from pakistan to crackdown on insurgents trying to make the uygur autonomous region independent from china. they are based in the northwest of pakistan. pakistan is also turning to the international monetary fund for help in tackling its pressing problems. the two sides have agreed to a provisional deal for a $5.3 billion loan to be disbursed over a three-year period. the sharif administration hopes it will help pakistan rebuild its economy and take on energy shortages. an imf delegation announced the deal following negotiations with pack sta

pakistani officis in islamabad. >> a pakistan designed and built program, which we feel like we can support. it consistens of comprehensive reform to help solve the severe shortages which have been zapping economic growth potential. >> the agreement will be further developed by officials of the imf. its executive board is likely to approve the loan as early as september. as it faces a deteriorating state of security, pakistan is bringing back the death penalty, which it suspended in 2008. human rights groups are speaking out against the decision. the previous government placed a five-year moratorium on capital punishment which expired this year on june 30th. sharif's administration says it does not plan to extend it. the government claims there are about 400 people on death row,

but a human rights group says the number could total as much as 8,000. according to reuters, the pakistani government insists that the death penalty is a key policy for deterring rampant crime and militancy in the country, amnesty international condemns the move saying there is a risk of executing innocent people. southeast asia's expanding middle class is taking to the skies in ever increasing numbers. that's largely thanks to the burgeoning number of low cost carriers. asean nations are home to more than 20 lccs of which the largest by fleet size is air asia group. chief executive of air asia, tony fernandez is betting big on economic integration. he sat down with dhra dhirakaosal. >> tony fernandez is already a legendary figure in the airline industry. in 2001 he bought an airline in

malaysia with only two aging planes. 12 years later the air asia group has the largest fleet of any low-cost carrier in southeast asia. >> when i started the airline, it was all about survival, you know. i never thought about ten year's time. if you told me i would have 140 planes and carrying 50 million people, you know, 45 million people, whatever, i would have said what drugs are you taking? you know, it's not real. but i always thought the potential was there. people love to travel. people want to travel. people want to move around. but it was too expensive. well, we're looking at about 24 planes a year. that's a lot of capacity by any stretch of the imagination. but the market is booming. >> air asia continues to expand to countries with growing economies. the newly established air asia india will begin service this

year. fernandes also sees myanmar as a key destination as the former military regime continues democratic reforms. >> i see a lot of potential. if you think of myanmar if i can get traffic to india and china, this country sits on the border of 2 billion people, it would be a very natural place to develop tourism from china to myanmar, from india to myanmar. so lots of flows right now into myanmar's adventure. we started with one flight to yangon. there's a lot that can be done. the beauty of what we've created in air asia is a lot of inter-asean travel. so a lot of kids who never thought of going to thailand, going to myanmar or vietnamese, they can go to malaysia. >> low-cost carriers are quickly increasing their market share.

they now account for more than 50% of seat capacity in the region according to the center for aviation. last year fernandes established air asia asean and moved to jakarta where the association's secretary general is based. fernandes expects that the asean economic community, or aec, scheduled to launch in 2015 will bring even more passengers and connectivity. >> i am mr. aec. we've actually gone out and done it. i moved my office to jakarta to prove a point. i went to jakarta to make a statement that i want to be seen as not malaysia or thai or indonesian, tourism is one of those things we can help by growing. the great thing about asean if you put anywhere in asean and you draw four hours, the diversity of culture and

differences is huge. go four hours in america it's all the same, right? four hours in europe is more or less the same, a little difference, but more or less the same. so potential is huge. and we're reaping those benefits. two guys from the music business come in and start an airline with very little money and now we carry 45 million people. so it shows the power of asean, which is something i think many people should realize. more low-cost carriers, the better, better for the industry. in terms of air asia, we're in a very strong position having so many aircraft and having invested in so many different places that it's very hard for someone to catch up with us. >> that was tony fernandes, ceo of the air asia group. and that will wrap up our bulletin. i'm patchari raksawong in bangkok. two years is a long time for

a sumo wrestler to be out of work and out of practice, but when the nagoa tournament starts on sunday, one will be taken -- all along he insisted on his innocence. he prevailed in the fight of his life. now he's got to prove himself in the ring again. nhk world has more. >> reporter: returning to where he left off, the top ranking division. he earned his way there from china's inner mongolia. the allegations against him kept him out of the ring for what might have been his peak years. he's 29 now. how did you cope during this time?

>> translator: it was long. i thought my ordeal would be over more quickly. >> reporter: sokokurai arrived almost a decade ago. in 2010 he became the first chinese to reach the top division. but a bout-fixing scandal calls an abrupt reversal of fortune. two stable masters and 23 three oth -- others were to resign. he was one of them. >> translator: i didn't do it. period. >> reporter: sokokurai did more than stick to his story. he filed a lawsuit in a bid to return to the ring. did you ever feel like giving up or that you were defeated? >> translator: being alone i got lost in thoughts plenty of times, but i had lots of people

supporting me. >> reporter: messages collected in his room were written by people who believed in his innocence and campaigned for his comeback. many march the tokyo district court rejected allegations that sokokurai intentionally lost bouts. and validated his dismissal from sumo and ordered his reinstatement. japan accepted the decision without filing an appeal. >> translator: we're quite sorry. sokokurai would have been at his peak strength in these years. >> reporter: about a month after winning in court, he was back in the ring. he took part in an official practice session before the

yokozuna official. yokozuna grand champion chosen as his opponent. that just drove encouragement from the man at the very top helped sokokurai understand he was back where he belongs. how was stepping back into the ring after two years? >> translator: i realized how much i missed being there. i was overjoyed. >> reporter: his stable master says sokokurai's tribulations may turn him into an even more formidable force in the ring. >> translator: he appears stronger mentally. he's like my son. i admire him for having endured

so well. >> translator: the only way to move forward is to endure whatever you have to. i would never say i'll be yokozuna tomorrow, but if i do my utmost, i believe the chance will come again my way. >> reporter: sokokurai's real fight to success starts here this sunday with all eyes on him. hiro morita, nhk world. it's going to be hot over the weekend here in japan. meteorologist robert speta with more on that. robert. >> we are watching the heat set in due to the rainy season front we've been talking about all week. it's going to start to slowly lift off there farther to the north. still in south korea and ech towards northern tohoku expecting about 100 to 150 millimeters of rainfall from this itself. but it's also going to usher the

high pressure in and southern winds coming off the mountain, inland areas where the warmest temperatures are going to be because we have these down slope winds, as the winds roll down the hills they warm up as they go. very similar to what you see in santa ana winds in california, up to 37 degrees expected in some areas here. it is going to be heating up. the front lingering on the sea of japan coast extending towards the north. also into central and eastern china. past 24 hours we've seen rain reports here about 120 to 140 millimeters of rain. that threat is still going to be there going into saturday and even sunday in isolated areas out here. as far as temperatures towards the west though it's heating up here too. shanghai a high of 31, beijing 34, even towards the tropics afternoon thunderstorms popping up across much of the region here, but temperatures only going to continue to climb up there towards the 30s. looking across the ocean though, well, we have our latest

tropical storm. tropical storm erick. now, it's pulling off towards the west really following in the same weather pattern we've been seeing in the eastern pacific. actually, this is dalila, it's really not much left of that now. now this storm system it's going to continue to follow that same track, moving away from the coastline. it formed a little closer to the coastline. so we have these tropical storm warnings in effect around acapulco, you could be seeing high waves. definitely stay out of the waters. rip currents are also going to be very dangerous with it. it is going to continue to track out to sea before gradually weakening. farther towards the north also watching heavy rainfall across much of the east coast especially around the appalachians, florida pan hapd l two to three millimeters reported in the past 48 hours alone. it is really coming down. some of these storms are quite strong with gusty winds even extending towards toronto and southern ontario, you have these showers here as well. this is going to be creating that risk of flash flooding.

the flood watch is still in effect. just east of that though especially on the eastern seaboard talking about new york city, washington, d.c., actually expecting clear skies over the weekend. and even temperatures continuing to warm up into the 30s. so things are going to get hot out here for your fourth of july weekend. farther towards the west isolated storms continuing to pop up across the rockies. we have one storm system moving out of montana. that's going to bring the risk of even some severe weather there into the dakotas here through friday afternoon extending through saturday as it pushes off to the east. winnipeg, 31 now. it will cool off with that front pushing by, chicago at 29. look down towards the south, atlanta, 27, miami getting up into the 30s, some afternoon thunderstorms expected for you. now, over towards europe, well, as we can take a look at the satellite picture, there is not too much going on here at all. but we are watching this hoop e high pressure come in from the west. much of western europe you have travel plans out here, you have any vacation time or if you just want to get out and enjoy your saturday and sunday afternoon, this is the weekend to do it. really the high pressure's going to continue to dominate, make

for some cloud-free skies. take a look at these temperatures. london getting up into the high 20s. madrid 37 on monday. that's a look at your world weather. here's your extended forecast.

>> that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. enjoy your day.

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