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. russia's decision to grant edward snowden temporary asylum is causing tensions that may derail a meeting between president obama and vladimir putin.

more protests are planned by the military backed plan to leave the streets. ♪ and a traditional singer in china is drawing attention by drawing on our roots and competing in a talent contest on tv. the obama administration and some u.s. lawmakers are criticizing russian leaders for giving an american fugitive safe harbor. they call it a disappointment and a disgrace. u.s. authorities want the former intelligence contractor because he leaked details of top secret government surveillance programs. snowden walked out of an airport in moscow after spending five weeks inside. he's facing charges of espionage and theft after revealing the national security agency collects private phone and internet data. spokespersons say the edition

will ndecision will not affect relations with the u.s. >> we are extremely disappointed that the russian government would take this step despite our clear and lawful requests in public and private to have mr. snowden expelled to the united states to face the charges against him. >> carney suggested president obama may cancel a meeting scheduled next month with vladimir putin. john mccain described russia's decision as a disgrace and called for a review of u.s.-russia ties. snowden's lawyer says his client wants to use his information technology expertise to earn a living in russia. the company that runs the country's largest social networking website has reportedly shown a willingness to hire the analyst. snowden is is staying with an american family he knows, but he won't give further details for security reasons.

snowden may be planning to live in russia until he can secure permanent asylum in latin america. some countries there have offered to take him in. supporters of ousted president morsi have heard the warnings, but are refusing to back down. leaders are telling them to in their sit ins, but ty're planning to fill the steets after friday prayers. morsi supporters have been staging sit ins and two squares in the capital. military commanders pushed morsi out of office a month ago and installed a new government. interior ministry officials have warned the demonstrators to leave the squares. leaders have instructed security authorities to prepare to lead the protesters. the leaders of muslim brotherhood are still calling for large scale rallies.

supporters of the president have been streaming into the squares. they have placed sandbags at the entrances, men wearing helmets and carrying sticks stand on guard. >> translator: we are staging a peaceful protest. we are willing to risk our lives for democracy. military commanders and security forces have used vehicles. some units are about one kilometer from the squares. leaders in the u.s. and interim government have been urging a adequate settling of the conflict peacefully. the european union has sent a special envoy to cairo. a team of experts is set to examine there areas where the use of chemical weapons have opinion reported. syrian authorities and u.n. officials reached an agreement on the inspection plans in damascus last week. the regimes are accusing each other using chemical weapons.

nhk looks at how these accusations affect russia and syria, powerful allies. >> the team will depart for syria and is preparing to depart within days. in addition to the head of the mission the team will consist of about ten experts. >> reporter: in march this year, the syrian government made their first accusation, saying that opposition forces fired a rocket containing chemical materials near aleppo in northern syria. the official death toll came to 31. the assad regime asked the u.n. to investigate the site. the u.n. set up a team of chemical weapons experts, headed by swedish scientist.

the team said they were ready to begin as soon as arrangements were made, but syrian authorities refused entry when opposition forces also made allegations. the rebels accused of assad's forces of having used chemical weapons against civilians in multiple areas. the u.s., britain and france supported the rebels' claims, saying it was sarin. the u.n. was asked to investigate all alleged sites. >> translator: there is no doubt that it was the regime and its accomplices. >> reporter: but russia again defended the syrian government. russia previously vetoed security council resolutions, condemning the brutal crackdown of civilians by assad's forces. >> there is every reason to believe it was the armed opposition fighters who used the chemical weapons. >> reporter: the u.n. recently

secured syrian government permission for the inspection visit. leading the negotiations in the capital of the damascus. u.n. officials say the purpose is to determine whether chemical weapons were used in the alleged attacks but not which side used them. the investigation alone will probably not prevent similar incidents. more than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict and more are dying every day. widad franco, nhk world, new york. top diplomats have gathered in thailand where they're airing their concerns about disputes in the south korean sea. >> good evening, gene. thailand proposed it as part of the eithers between asean and china.

they called for direct bilateral talks. his remarks confirmed over having asean take part of negotiations. the prime minister said arguments in the south china sea represent just one part of asean china ties. >> we should not let this issue be a barometer of our relations with china. asean has economic and security reasons to strengthen relations with the world's second largest economy and to varying degrees, its members share the desire to avoid decision confrontation with china. but the foreign ministers of vietnam and the philippines made a move on thursday to form a united front.

they agreed to urge other asean members on formlating a legally binding code of conduct. searching the downside of development on their streets. more people have cars and more cars mean more traffic jams. it's forceded police to get training to deal with with a side effect. >> reporter: bangkok is often dubbed the capital of gridlock and its traffic problems are only getting worse. at times, it crawls along at an average of 2.67 kilometers per hour. the city streets can hold only 1.2 million vehicles, but over 7.5 million cars are registered. >> traffic really stresses me out. i need music to calm down. >> but heavy traffic can lead to

more than stress. passengers sometimes seek out a surprising kind of roadside assistance. traffic police officer manat is stationed at one of bangkok's busiest intersections where he is a helping hand in many such emergencies. that is helping woman in labor give birth. inside cars. he has delivered more babies than any officer on the force. 50 in counting. police say at least 112 emergency births in cars have been recorded since 1997.

this is a thai traffic police motor car. in the storage compartment, you'll find equipment police use to help women give birth. standard issue to traffic police includes latex gloves and umbilical cord trimmer, suction ball and sterile scalpel. >> translator: when a woman is in labor, we have to be more than just police. i want people to know that the thai police can do anything. >> reporter: as traffic has grown worse, for the last 16 years, traffic cops have been trained in midwife techniques. they learn from doctors how to

support the baby's head and body and immediately remove excess fluid that may cause it to choke. 20-year-old -- is mother to 11-month-old arawan. with the help of police, she gave birth to her daughter in the back of a taxi. >> translator: i was so worried that the baby and i wouldn't survive because there was so much traffic. i was shocked when i learn that a cop would deliver my baby. what could he do? i certainly never thought i would give birth in a taxi. officer manat was the one who came to the rescue. she says without his help, her blessed event might have turned into a nightmare. >> translator: i want to thank

him for seeing that my baby was delivered safely. we were far from the hospital at the time and if he hadn't shown up, our lives would have been in danger. >> translator: the problem is simply that there are a lot of cars on the road. our main reasonability is to help everyone drive safely, but i am also happy to help deliver babies when necessary. >> reporter: with no end in sight for heavy traffic, authorities have yet to come up with a way to prevent a baby being born of gridlock. the latest u.s. jobs data is out and shows mixed signs on employment for the federal reserve to decide on when to scale back its stimulus measures. the u.s. labor department says

the jobless rate stood at 7.4% in july. that's 0.2 percentage points town from the previous month and the lowest level since december 2008. employers added 162,000 more jobs in the nonfarm sector from the previous month. the figure was lower than market expectations. ben bernankes hinting that the central bank might scale down its bond buying program if employment and other data keep improving. the dollar fell against the yen after the u.s. jobs number was found to be weaker than what the market had expected. the u.s. currency fell below the 99 yen level at one point just after the release of the data. the dollar yen at 99.36 to 37. many investors believe the friend of a stronger dollar will continue despite the number of jobs in the nonfarm sector. american and european jobs makers made big gains in the u.s. from new car sales.

that's a seven-year high for july on the back of a moderate economic recovery. researchers at auto data say carmakers sold more than 1.3 ve. that's up 14% from a year earlier. purchases of new cars have gone up for 26 months a row. many american consumers switched to small er, fuel efficient car, but many others bought large vehicles. ford and chrysler saw an increase of about 11% from a year earlier. japanese automakers enjoyed healthy gains a well. honda sold nearly 21% more cars. nissan's sales grew to just under 11%. u.s. securities regulators have won a high profile legal jury. a new york jury has found a former goldman sachs --

vestors back in 2007. they accused a former trader of having misled those in europe about cdo. sec officials said he caused $1 billion in damages and violated u.s. securitiy s anies and exch laws. he allegationly sold them without providing posht information about the product, all the while anticipating their value to decline. those products were created together with the hedge fund led by john paulson. on the basis of the verdict, the u.s. district court is expected to impose a civil penalty on toure. sec officials said they were gratified by the jury's finding. goldman sachs settled the case in 2010 by agreeing to pay $550 million to investors. it reached that settlement without admitting any wrong doing. indonesia's steady economic

growth may be coming to an end. the latest statistics show the expansion stayed at the 5% level. that hasn't happened in nearly three years. spokespersons with indonesia's statistics bureau said gdp grew 5.8% in the latest quarter from a year earlier. that's the first 5% level growth since the third quarter of 2010. the spokespersons say domestic demand remains solid. but they point out experts of commodities such as coal, slowed down. analysts are concerned about the indonesian economy. they say the country's currency has been weakening, pushing up the index 8.6% in july. a singer in china is spreading our music through modern technology. she draws on her ethnic roots to

write her songs. ♪ >> sheives in beijing where she's striving to become a professional singer. she's a member of an ethnic minority known as member. her how mametown is sa small vie in the autonomous region. her songs are inspired by local songs and further experiences living in a huge city.

>> translator: a lot of people are worn out by the modern way of living. through my music, i hope people feel the importance of the soul. a lot of people these days seem to have forgotten how to do that. >> she has taken a big step forward in achieving her goal. she's won a spot in a national tv contest. each week, young singers like her compete to advance to the next round. ♪ contestants sing rock songs or pop tunes, so she stands out. >> beautiful. >> wow. wow. >> translator: you are the pride of tibet.

your music has the power to attract people. >> original songs to advance to the first round, but to make the top ten, the producers asked her to change her act. they wanted her to cover a famous pop song. a difficult task for a folk singer like her. she struggled to find a way the express herself in the unfamiliar medium. she decided to incorporate a village dance she learned as a child. in the waiting room, she choreographed the movements with the song most of the evening. >> translator: although someone else wrote the song, i'll try my best to make it my own. ♪ >> reporter: the day of the contest, if she wins, she goes on to the finals.

the young singers take the stage in front of an audience in front of 5,000. ♪ it's now her turn. a dance completely transformed the popular song. she scored first on the internet poll and that secured her a spot in the finals. >> translator: her music is so genuine. i will continue to support her even if she doesn't take first prize. >> translator: i'll keep singing my music. and i hope to serve as a bridge between my people and the rest of the world.

>> reporter: with her traditional ethnic background, she is one step closer to realizing her dreams of becoming a professional singer. >> she is now working toward winning the final round of the contest scheduled for mid august. a tropical storm looms in southern china. robert has been following the situation closely. robert, what can you tell us? >> thunderstorm jebi already making land fall. we are going to continue to see heavy showers coming out of the storm system. some areas could see 100 to 150 millimeters, so a very serious risk of flash flooding with this storm system as it cons to push overhead and you see that inflow

coming in. right now, making landfall here, winds about 108 gusting up to 144 kilometers per hour, so that is enough to knock down some trees and power for the residents out here as it pushes over head. then it's going to move back out into the water and then make a second landfall here into northern vietnam. possibly still a severe storm and dropping that rain and coastal flooding with this one. so really, it is a serious threat we're going to continue to monitor and even into next week, still going to be causing heavy rainfall. also bringing in that moisture with the southwest monsoon and taking a look at this accumulation model, you can see those high totals tallying up. bring heavy showers across central philippines. there is a risk of serious

flooding with that. high pressure is dominating china. you saw some reports of rain showers the first time in naha in several weeks, so good news with that, but it is still keeping things hot out here. a little bit of relief, but temperatures are well above average. in shanghai, much of eastern china, some of the warmest temperatures in years. well above average across much of the area. now over towards the americas, there into the central u.s., you see this big, bright area in the cloud cover. that is some supercells developing up here. eastern portions of kansas and missouri, that is the threat area going through friday here. especially through the evening hour, still seeing winds out of this system, gusting up to about 80 kilometers per hour. reported here in northern texas.

also, a flood risk into montana and portions of the dakotas. the tail end of this front causing heavy rainfall. the southern u.s. here, well, conditions are improving, but it is going to stay on the hot side and this is what i'm talking about. oklahoma city as well, feel like it's into the 40s combined with the humidity there. if you want to go somewhere cooler, toronto and new york, partly cloudy skies, temperatures into the 20s. europe, in the main topic is this high pressure that is dominating, but there is something coming in from west. it's this well developed system you can see here in the satellite picture. this cold front, that is triggering some thunderstorm activity there across portions of france. you have the cold front, you have warm temperatures ahead of the fron that's pushing through and a dip in the jet stream. at the base of it, that is where we see thunderstorm activity, possibly tornado and hail.

this is looking like the spring and the fall months, early august, when you get these big shifts in temperatures. london, you saw one of the warmest days of the year here on thursday, but paris, 33 here. once that cold front pushes by, lo that's going to cool off. here's the extended forecast.

and before we leave you this hour, take a look at what happens when managers of a botanical garden turn day into night. the garden in ko toe is showcasing about 20 varieties of plants including the dragon fruit and devil's trumpet. the plants usually bloom at night. the workers have been covering the exhibit room with curtains during the day and using lights after the sun goes down. they're essentially reversing nature, so the flowers come out while the sun's up. garden staff said it's the first exhibit of its kind in japan. they say that along with the colors, visitors will be able to experience some wonderful fragrances. that's "newsline" for this hour.

i'm gene otani in tokyo. have a great day, where ever you are.

xx.

♪ ♪ 35 years since introducing its open market policy, china has risen to become the second largest economy in the world.