welcome to nhk world newsline. i'm gene otani. egyptian authorities crack down on supporters of the country's ousted president leaving a number of people dead and injured. japan's prime minister says he'll stay away from a controversial shrine in tokyo to avoid provoking the leaders of neighboring countries.

and u.n. experts are examining a cacheof arms that authorities found on a north korean ship. egyptian security forces are coming down hard on supporters of ousted president mohammed morsi and using force to clear two sit-in camps. spokesperson for the muslim brotherhood say more than 100 protesters have died. state run television says at least 20 people are dead. security forces moved in and fired tear gas into the crowds. then they started to clear out the protest camps. local tv broadcast show many wounded people being carried on stretchers. >> translator: security forces have used tear gas as well as live ammunition. that is not dealing with peaceful demonstration.

>> interior ministry officials are stressing they use tear gas but not firearms. they say 200 demonstrators have been arrested for carrying weapons or ammunition. spokespersons say that security forces shot at them and they saw snipers on rooftops. ministry officials say authorities cleared one of the camps but the muslim brotherhood is organizing fresh protests in different parts of cairo and other cities. egy replaced the government with one of their own choosing. supporters call that that they've been on the streets ever since they reinstated the military backed leadership issued warnings for them to

disburse. japanese prime minister abe skirted controversy and decided not to go to a shrine in tokyo to observe the anniversary of the end of world war ii. the shrine honors the war dead. those remembered include leaders convicted of war crimes by an international military tribunal after the war. abe himself has not disclosed whether he will visit the shrine. but government sources say he'll stay away. they say instead he'll pay for a custom honored at the shrine and make an offering of the branch of a sacred tree. chinese and south korean leaders condemn visits to a place that honors war criminals and government sources say abe wants to avoid any further strains in foreign relations. but he says the 18 other members of the cabinet are free to visit the shrine. the deputy prime minister and foreign minister and 12 others say they won't go on the anniversary. the other four members of the

cabinet have not said what they'll do. a member of the u.s. senate foreign relations committee praised abe's decision, senator ben cardin says increases tensions would not help. >> i applaud the leadership of the prime minister in trying to establish a better relationship between the republic of korea and japan. it clearly -- the tensions between the two countries are not helpful. >> cardin says he hopes other members of the japanese cabinet do not inflame the situation. a group of south korean opposition lawmakers say they are planning a protest against prime minister abe. they say they'll visit the shrine and criticizing his views on history. four lawmakers say they'll read their statement on thursday, the anniversary of the end of the war. they plan to accuse abe of denying japan's aggression.

>> translator: the japanese government's policies have been veering to the right since abe became prime minister. >> the legislators said some people are urging them to exercise self-restraints for safety reasons but they say they want to warn japan not to turn to the right. people in south korea and taiwan are using the anniversary of the end of the war to o press the japanese government on an old issue and demanding an official apology in compensation for so-called comfort women. many of them were forced into prostitution to serve japanese soldiers. about 1,000 people gathered in front of the japanese embassy in seoul on wednesday, a day before the an verse of the world war 2 surrender. some women at the rally said they were made to work in japanese military brafles. one of them called on japan to quickly resolve the problem. officials in tokyo maintain the

compensation issue was dealt with in 1965 when japan and south decrkorea normalized relations. a protest was organized in front of the japan's liaison office with taiwan. they handed a statement to the staff at the office calling on the japanese government to offer a clear apology and provide official compensation. organizers say they'll work with groups in south korea and others to stress a response to their demand. united nations inspectors have started combing through a cache of arms discovered last month on a north korean ship. panamaa vessel as it tried to a the canal from cuba. now the investigators are want to know if the cargo violates

u.n. sanctions. here's the report from panama. >> reporter: this is the north korean ship captured by panamanian authorities over a month ago and remains detained at a port in panama. it was heading from cuba to north korea. panamanian official ceased it and uncovered two jets anti-aircraft missiles and other arms hidden in a container with bags of sugar. officials admitted they were sending the weapons to north korea for repair and called them obsolete. the u.n. sends a team of six experts to panama. they are examining the ship's cargo. the investigators will look into whether the shipmen breached a 7-year ban of transfer of arms

to north korea. an american expert says north korea may have more interested in money than weapons. >> it really needs currency very badly and one of the expertise that north koreans have is repairing these old soviet style weapons. not many places can do this anymore. >> reporter: north korea diplomats reportedly asked panama to resolve the issue diplomatically but panama officials made it clear the case is now in the hands of u.n. security council. nhk world, panama. delegates from north and south korea are back at the negotiating table, trying to agree on what to do with a jointly run industrial zone. the kae song complex has been closed for four months. it's considered a rare example of inter-korean cooperation. delegates are holding the

seventh round of talks in kaesong in north korea. those from the south have said these discussions are the last they'll take part in. it has been closed since april when north korea pulled out its 53,000 workers. delegates had wanted to resume operations in july but they didn't make a breakthrough in six rounds of talks. north korean authorities agreed last week to this latest meeting. they suggest they are eager to restart kaesong and will send workers back there and say they'll lift restrictions on access for south korean business people but officials in seoul are pushing for certain conditions to be met. they want the north to admit responsibility for closing the plant and guarantee it won't close it again in tensions rise. north korean authorities say both sides should promise to work toward preventing another shutdown.

israeli and palestinian negotiators will sit down on wednesday to try to map out a path to peace. the u.s. brought the sides together last month after three years of deadlock. israel's leaders have made concessions but they provoked anger too. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: the palestinians have waited for decades to see this moment. the israeli government released 26 prisoners on tuesday, as part of a deal to bring palestinian negotiators back to the peace talks. prisoners were released from israeli prisons have just rearrived on the west bank. it's after 1:00 a.m., but still more than 1,000 people are gathering and celebrating the return of who palestinians consider as heroes. most were in prison for more

than 20 years. >> translator: i'm very happy. i have spent so many years in prison away from my children and family. i hope all of the prisoners get to enjoy this moment and hope peace will prevail. >> translator: we'd always hoped to see him again. thank god our dream has come true after 25 years. it's such a big joy. >> reporter: palestinian president abass reminded people that this was only the beginning. >> translator: these prisoners are just the beginning. the rest of the prisoners will come and you will see them here. >> reporter: some israelis are unhappy with their government's decision and taken their protest to the street. >> we feel very sorry a victory

for the terror organization in israel and its victory for people who achieving political achievement by violence. >> reporter: on monday the israeli government approved a building of nearly 900 homes in east jerusalem. this infuriated the palestinians. john kerrie has called the settlements illegitimate but said the talks will go ahead as scheduled. with israel's leaders announcing new settlements on the eve of the talks, it's likely to be a rocky road. nhk world.

economic growth in the eurozone moved to positive territory for first time in 21 months. some market players are saying that the region's economy may be bottoming out. the european union's date at a announced that the gross domestic product for april to june grow 0.3%. positive growth was shown for first time in seven quarters. germany poeflted a 0.7% expansion an increase in auto production supported the upswing. france logged a half percent rise. but a contract gs was seen in italy at 0.2% and spain, 0.1%. mainly due to recovery in industrial output. time to check on market stock. investors had a fairly dull day

as they found very few incentives to trade. starting in tokyo, japanese shares added to tuesday's game, the nikkei index claimed 1.3 to finish 14,050. they got support from upbeat caters in the u.s. and europe. it included growth figures from france. over in seoul, rose over half a percent to 1,923. the advance was due to bargain hunting on large cap shares in high tech and auto sectors. they will be closed on thursday. meanwhile, markets in china declined, shanghai composite ended down 0.3% at 2100. profit taking kicked in following three straight days of

increases through tuesday. the hong kong was shut due to a typhoon. china's economic slowdown has weighed on trade with japan. bilateral trade in the first half of the year declined. the first drop in four years. officials at the japan external trade organization says that trade between the two nations stood at just over $147 billion. that's down more than 10% from the same period last over. a decline in exports from japan to china was the main factor. they fell nearly 17%. lower demand for semiconductor and auto shipments was largely to blame. japan's imports from china also declined and they dropped about 6%, sluggish demand for chinese-made clothing and liquid crystal tvs was a factor. as a result of japan posted a record trade deficit with china for the january to june period. the figure stood at over $24

billion. looking ahead, officials say exports to china may fall further as the country is unlikely to introduce any major economic stimulus measures and say china is focusing on structural reforms instead of economic growth. tensions are high after a u.s. helicopter crashed last week. the same model of helicopter has been grounded since the crash. but now the u.s. military says it will resume flight training for the craft. the helicopter went down in the compound of the u.s. marine corps camp hanson on august 5th leaving one crew member dead. the military has told the prefecture and relevant municipalities it will resume flight training on friday for six hh-60 helicopters deployed. the model has been grounded since the accident. the military showed the

helicopter to the media and confirmed the safety of the aircraft but did not explain what was behind last week's accident. camp hanson is located partly within the town limits of the village. the mayor of the village criticized the resumption of the deployment. >> translator: we cannot agree to the resumption of training for the helicopters. without the cause of the accident being clarified. >> japan's defense ministry called on the u.s. military to take thorough steps to ensure the safety of its flight training. a play depicting a sad chep ter in american history made its debut in hiroshima. japanese american actors have performed the play for nearly three decades but wanted to bring the story to the land of

their an ses tors. here's the report. >> reporter: who do you want to win the war? with your mother and father having a fight, do you want them to kill each other or do you just want them to stop fighting? >> reporter: 80 years old and the eldest cast member. he's from the second generation of japanese americans. his parents inmigrated from hiroshima to the u.s. and made prisoners in their adopted home. now he has returned to hiroshima. >> translator: we are probably the last generation of people that experience this story ourselves in our personal lives and family and if we don't tell that story, who will?

>> reporter: breaking silence, draum tiesed the hardship that three generations of japanese americans endured and overcame. actors have performed the play more than 200 times over nearly three decades. the showing will be first premier abroad. >> like most newcomers early japanese came to america full of hope. >> reporter: 340,000 japanese went to america before the second world war. many worked on farms but laws prohibited them from owning land or even becoming american citizens. >> go home, go home! >> reporter: he lived in seattle with his parents and brothers.

the u.s. entered the war in 1941 after japan attacked pearl harbor. the government sent 120,000 japanese americans to internment camp in deserts and swamps. hisamil was among them. he was 10. >> we were imprisoned by barb wires and armed guard watch towers and so we lost our freedom. >> reporter: after the war, the japanese americans were released. many of them found it difficult to talk about the war. they chose to be silent. it was he from the third generation that broke the silence. the civil rights movement which started in the late '50s,

prompted the younger generation to speak out. >> we will have no more of this silence! >> the silence is broken. >> the silence is broken. >> reporter: finally in the 1980s, a congressional commission found the camp were not justified by -- the government said the program was a result of racial prejudice and issued an apology. >> and yet it did not devour me. >> and yet, it did not humble me. >> and yet it did not break me. [ applause ] >> reporter: there are many things i don't know. this play taught me a lot.

we know that war is wrong but this play helps us understand that even more. >> we cannot let this happen again to another group of people, no matter what their race, what their color of the skin is, what the religion is. >> reporter: he and other cast members believe that the play will serve as a message to younger generations, even after they are gone. they want people to learn the importance of creating a world without war and discrimination. nhk world, hiroshima. hiroshima, nagasaki, the atomic bombings killed thousands in an accident and left survivors suffering in the ruins. "newsline" is looking back at

what's happened since. don't miss our special coverage, war to peace, lessons of 1945, through thursday. a large typhoon has made landfall on china. robert speta has been following the storm for us. robert? >> yeah, typhoon utor is already over land right now. winds are still gusting up and over 100 kilometers per hour, up to 180 kilometers per hour at this time. really the main threat now that it is over land is that we'll continue to see this heavy rainfall from it from where you saw rain reports of 174 millimeters in the past 24 hours, out towards hong kong, we're actually earlier on today a ship sank 80 kilometers southwest of hong kong. the crew was rescued by helicopter but it shows the strength of these winds.

kicking up winds 8 meters high. now the storm overland and decreasing during the overnight hours. the main threat is going to be river flooding further inland. it won't be going too far inland. high pressure is keeping things dree across central and eastern china. the rain is concentrated in southeastern china. you see that looping back around the 72-hour outlook, that next storm system could be impacting by the weekend or early next week. we'll keep a very close eye. mainland japan and china, high pressure is in place and the records are hot. record breaking back on monday. not much changed since then. it's a little bit cooler relatively, still above average across most of the area but the high pressure combined with the

tibetan high is remaining in place. temperatures are reflecting that, shanghai with 31. tokyo cooler, not getting up to the 40 degree mark but 35 here into thursday. let's look towards the americas, what's going on here. the cold front that has been diving from the northwest down towards the southeast, that's still bringing heavy rainfall across the gulf states there into portions of the carolinas as well. still about 50 to 100 millimeters can be expected as it draws moisture out of the gulf of mexico. you see that big area in blue, that is a tropical disturbance and this front draws it north. serious flooding across the florida peninsula and gulf states as well. high pressure is setting in. we'll see a little storm system to go down towards nebraska and kansas. that could bring rain showers there. for the most part if you're in the great lakes or northeast, cooler temperatures, chicago high of 23.

it will be warming back up though going into next week. now here in europe, really the main topic has been this high pressure down towards the south and been keeping things dry across central and eastern europe. italy is seeing rain showers and further north there's a band of low pressure. we have one over the scandanavian peninsula. towards moscow we saw rain showers on wednesday. going into thursday, it's still going to be expected. 55 millimeters the next 24 hours across the british isles. we have a new low pressure keeping things come if you are in london, paris, 23, 27 for you. it will be warming back up though here as well. similar conditions in the americas. we have high pressure working in from the south and that's going to bounce temperatures back up to more summerlike. that's a look at your world weather. here's your 3-day forecast.

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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