. glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. people in japan have remembered the end of world war ii. they gathered to honor those who died and reflected on the contributions the fallen made. about 6,000 people attended a government sponsored ceremony in tokyo. including the emperor akihito and empress michiko. they mourned the more than 3 million war dead. prime minister shinzo abe said the peace japanese people enjoy now was built upon the sacrifices of those who died. >> translator: we will carve out the future of this country for

the sake of the generation that is alive at this moment and for the generations of tomorrow facing history with humility and engraving its lessons deeply into our hearts. >> the participants paused at noon on friday for a minute of silence. >> about 80% of the relatives of the war dead who attended the ceremony this year are 70 or older. now prime minister abe has

chosen not to visit a shrine that honors the war dead. those remembered at yasukuni shrine included leaders convicted of war crimes after the war. an aide delivered an offering made in abe's name as leader of the ruling liberal democratic party. koichi hagiuda said abe asked him to pray for those who died for their country and for eternal peace. abe did not visit last august either. then too he made a similar offering. but he visited in december, a year after he took office for a second time. a group of lawmakers did pay a visit to the shrine on friday. the 84 diet members included senior members from both ruling and opposition camps. three cabinet ministers visited the shrine separately. people in tokyo rallied for and against the visits to yaskuni by political leaders. former supreme court chief justice toru miyoshi represents

a group of more than 1,400. they reject the view that the shrine glorifies war. >> translator: it's a universal sentiment to want to express gratitude and honor to those who died for the country. it transcends religion and ideology. >> and a group of about 90 gathered to oppose the visits. some say japan should never forget its history of aggression in other parts of asia. >> translator: i'm aware that my brother, in a way, was one of the perpetrators against people of asian nations during the war. when we talk about peace, i think both perpetrators and victims should forgive each other in order to move forward. >> meanwhile, officials from china and south korea criticized abe's offering to yaskuni shrine

and the visits by cabinet ministers. a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson released a statement. it says beijing is firmly opposed to acts that demonstrate the japanese government's wrongful attitude toward historical issues. it says bilateral ties can only develop when japan honestly faces up to and deeply reflects upon its history of aggression and makes a clean break with militarism. the ministry did not summon the japanese ambassador in beijing to lodge a protest this year, as it did last year. a south korean foreign ministry spokesperson also issued a remark saying his government deplores the offering and the visits. but this year's commentary stresses the possible development of ties. it says japanese politicians should realize that they need to renounce attempts to revise history and demonstrate genuine remorse through action to improve relations. now, japan's ties with south korea and china have been strained, but there are new

signs that seoul and even beijing are changing their stance. nhk world's kurando tago has the details. >> reporter: south korea and chinese leaders met in seoul in july. a spokesperson for the south korean government said the two leaders shared concerns over japan's policies. >> translator: both leaders were in agreement on their concern over japan's historical revisionism and its plan to expand its right to collective self-defense. >> reporter: but some south korean media are critical of their government. an editorial writer for a major economic newspaper is calling for a policy shift. >> translator: it was wrong for south korea to have sided with japan and to make people think they have hostile relations with japan. >> reporter: the united states

has made moves towards strengthening unity with japan and south korea to counter china's growing presence. jung is concerned that south korea siding with china could tip the regional security balance. he says president park should not stick to criticism of japan but send a message calling for improvement in bilateral ties. >> translator: we're proposing through various means that south korea should take flexible approaches. it should hold a summit with japan without any preconditions. >> reporter: other major south korean media organizations have started calling on the government to explore opportunities for dialogue with japan. south korea made a move last saturday at an asean meeting in myanmar. south korean foreign minister yun byung-se and his japanese counterpart fumio kishida sat next to each other.

yun offered to shake hands with kishida, and they held talks for the first time in about 11 months. yun also met with a foreign minister from china. the chinese minister said he's taking a concerted stance with south korea on historical issues involving japan. but yun said the two ministers merely laid out their respected positions, underscoring a gap in views toward japan. signs have also emerged for a change in china's firm stance against japan. the former japanese prime minister met with chinese president xi jinping in beijing last month. and foreign minister met with his counterpart in myanmar. it was the first talks between the two nation's foreign ministers since prime minister abe took office in late 2012.

but china remains firm on its position that there are preconditions with improving ties with japan. chinese government officials say they want abe to officially recognize that a territorial dispute exists over the senkaku islands, and they don't want him to visit yasukuni shrine. for the second straight year, abe did not visit the shrine on august 15th, the day japan marks the end of world war ii. but the move hasn't eased china's concerns. chinese government officials will be closely watching to see if abe visits yasukuni during the autumn festival. a summit is slated for november. the focus will be on whether two leaders will hold talks on the sidelines to try and improve japan's soured relations with its neighbors. kurando tago, nhk world.

staff with the world health organization are battling the deadliest ebola outbreak in the history of the disease. they now say the magnitude of the infection in west africa could be much more serious than reported. w.h.o. medical workers say the number of recorded cases and deaths vastly underestimates the scale of the outbreak. >> i think we have to realize that the current situation is really one of historical importance. we have never before seen an outbreak of ebola virus infection as large as this. >> the u.n.-led agency is tracking cases of the illness in guinea, liberia, sierra leone, and nigeria. they say more than 1,100 have died, and they expect that number to rise. the governments of the four west african nations have declared states of emergency. that gives them more power to control the movement of people.

the w.h.o. is preparing to build facilities to quarantine more patients and host medical workers. and the head of a nongovernmental medical group says the ebola epidemic will take six months to control. joanne lieu leads doctors without borders. she reported what she had seen during ten days in countries hit by the virus. >> i really had the feeling that it is like a wartime in terms of fear, general fear, all over where you are. nobody not understanding what's going on. >> she said ebola has changed people's social habits. she said they don't shake hands for fear of catching the virus. she also said more workers are needed to track people who have come into contact with patients. ukrainian government officials are inspecting a russian aid convoy. they're checking 280 trucks

before letting them cross the border. russian leaders sent the aid for ukrainians affected by fighting between government troops and pro-moscow separatists. residents of the eastern cities of luhansk and donetsk are short of water, food, and medicine. ukraine's military says the trucks arrived on thursday in a russian town about 40 kilometers from the border. about 60 officials from the ukrainian border patrol and customs office crossed the frontier on friday morning to start the inspection. leaders in kiev are worried that the convoy could be carrying weapons and soldiers. the trucks are scheduled to carry the aid supply under red cross supervision. still analysts say heavy fighting there means it's not clear whether they'll make it through. two leaders of the pro-russian rebels have stepped down. a separatist source in the city of donetsk told nhk that igor girkin resigned on thursday because of battle wounds. officials with ukraine's

security service claimed girkin belongs to russian military intelligence. they say he played a major role in moscow's annexation of crimea. and another separatist leader resigned the same day also because of wounds. valery bolotov was based in the city of luhansk. he led attacks on government security installations and organized a referendum on independence. ukrainian government forces began stepping up their offensive last month. they're trying to reclaim territory that the separatists have been holding since april. indian prime minister modi is getting ready to visit japan. he chose tokyo for his first bilateral talks outside south asia since he came to power. modi is due to make a state visit from august 31st to

september 3rd. he'll hold talks with japanese prime minister abe and meet the emperor. modi sees investment by japanese firms as a key to rebuilding india's economy. he'll likely stress his efforts to improve his country's infrastructure and business environment. another issue probably on modi's agenda is security. india took part in naval drills last month with japan and the united states. the country has a territorial dispute with china. indian leaders are also concerned about beijing's growing influence on neighboring countries such as sri lanka. north korean media say the country's leader, kim jong-un, directly supervised the testing of what appears to be a new type of rocket. analysts say the report may be aimed at keeping in check a joint u.s.-south korea military exercise scheduled to start next week. the korean workers party newspaper said the test was of a tactical rocket.

it says kim ordered the launch and that the rocket's capacity was confirmed. the paper did not specify when the tests took place nor its location but is believed to refer to the test-firing of five missiles on thursday from wonsan in the east of the country into the sea of japan. meanwhile, south korean president park geun-hye has again urged north korean leaders to give up their nuclear and missile programs. and she called on pyongyang to accept her proposal for talks. park said north korea's nuclear development and missile launches will only deepen its international isolation. she said the two koreas should begin with feasible steps and hold meetings to pry open small channels of communication. >> translator: this is my deepest wish that north korea sends delegates to the u.n.'s conference of the parties for the convention of biological diversity, which will be held this october. >> south korean officials have

proposed that seoul and pyongyang hold a high-level meeting next week to discuss the reunions of families separated by the korean war. the chairman of the asean regional forum has called for moderate behavior in territorial disputes in the south china sea. the chairman's statement urges all parties concerned to exercise self-restraint and avoid actions that would complicate the situation. but the final statement is not as strongly worded at the first draft made during the talks in myanmar. sources say the document initially expressed grave concern over routes between china and other countries such as vietnam. the earlier version also called for stronger measures than the self-restraint urged in the adopted statement. the philippines and the u.s. wanted to use the statement to curb what they regard as china's aggressive maritime ambitions. they proposed urging countries to stop any action that would affect territorial issues. but cambodia and other countries that have close relations with

china opposed. officials at tokyo electric power company are moving closer to choosing a partner to help rebuild its business. the move could trigger a realignment of japan's energy industry. sources say tepco is considering setting up a new company with chubu electric power company. they say the two utilities will use the new firm to jointly procure fuel and rebuild aging thermal power plants. soaring fuel costs and inefficient old plants are weighing heavily on tepco, which has been forced to take all its nuclear plants offline. sources say tepco may be leaning toward chubu electric because it expects significant cost reductions from the deal. the two companies buy nearly half of japan's liquefied natural gas. tepco officials are also reportedly negotiating a tie-up separately with tokyo gas.

the two firms jointly manage an lng terminal in tokyo bay. tepco is expected to choose a priority negotiating partner as early as september. officials with swedish appliance manufacturer electrolux have announced they're in talks to buy general electric's home appliance unit. the business includes refrigerators and washing machines. it was founded over 100 years ago but has been struggling for years. electrolux officials say the two companies are in negotiations, but ge has made no official comment. analysts say the takeover would help the swedish company expand its sales in the u.s. officials at ge have been trying to streamline their business efficiency. they want to strengthen growth areas, including its aviation engine division, and sell off the money losing appliance business. business. now, u.s. media outlets say several other appliance

manufacturers have also approached ge in hopes of a takeover. next, let's take a brief look at the market figures. people in japan have turned folded pieces of paper into art, and they've shared their love of origami with friends around the world. now, a colombian artist with a passion for the craft has brought her take on origami to the land where it began.

>> reporter: tokyo is no stranger to left-field fashion, but this show was really one-of-a-kind. all the garments were made out of paper fold ed in the techniques of origami. they are the creations of deanna kampur, an artist from colombia. she has been using origami for over 20 years. she was first introduced to or gauam origami as a young child from her father. he brought the techniques to immigrants from colombia. >> translator: the first thing i folded was a crane. i fell in love with origami because of all the ways it allowed me to express myself. >> reporter: gamboa was captivated by the endless possibilities of paper. to make it even more immediate,

she came up with the idea of an origami fashion show. gamboa began creating a fantasy world of clothing maetd from origami. she's known as an origamista, an origami specialist. she's also shown her works in europe. during a visit to japan, she held a workshop for origami enthusia enthusiasts. she told them she likes to focus deep inside herself before she starts to fold. to express this idea, she asks the participants to cover their eyes before they begin. if everyone had followed her instructions correctly, they would all have ended up with the same shape. but, in fact, the results were very different. >> translator: paper teaches us that we are all special.

by expressing our inner selves, we give richness to our lives. don't forget that. >> reporter: some of participates presented gambo with an original origami project they made. a week after arriving in japan, the garments for gamboa's show is in full swing. the designs are not planned in advance. they are spontaneous works, which only come to life when they are worn by the model. >> translator: it's no good. let's get rid of it. i want to show her face.

>> reporter: the show starts. here in the homeland of origami, many people have turned out to see gamboa's creations, which will only ever be worn once. the theme of the show is love. >> translator: it's an art form without words, just using pure white folded paper. i think it's very profound. >> translator: i want to tell the people of japan not to forget their tradition. i think it's very special, and i hope it's taught to children here. >> reporter: gamboa likes to call origami paper magic. through her work, she wants to spread its unique appeal around the world.

and now a new style of soccer is taking off in asia. the game puts each player in a giant inflatable ball and lets them bounce around. nhk world's yuji osawa shows us. >> reporter: this new sport has something in common with the beautiful game. the people here are playing the world's most popular sport soccer, except their version is a lot bouncier. the object of the game is the same, to score goals. but the players in this match bounce into each other a lot. and they roll just about as much as the ball does. people living in norway first got a taste of the sport when it was created for a tv variety program. from there, it spread to 20

countries. and next year germany will host the first bubble soccer world cup in frankfurt. the sport was introduced to japan five months ago. more than 2,500 people have already tried the sport. japanese youngsters suited up in smaller but just as bouncy bubbles, and they quickly learned the first rule. if you fall down, it's hard, very hard, to get back up. the players couldn't help bumping into each other all the time, even knocking their teammates to the gro

>> reporter: i couldn't resist giving it a try so, armed with a small camera, i suited up. it was a lot more difficult to play than i'd expected. being knocked down so many times, i quickly tired out, but i found the sport can be a bouncy good time for people at any age. judging by the smiles on their faces, the popularity of the sport seems unlikely to burst like a bubble anytime soon. yuji osawa, nhk world, tokyo. and next, here's the

three-day outlook on the world's weather. 00

. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. and from all of us at hk world, thanks for watching and have a good day, wherever you are.

company" -- >> republicans could come screaming out of the gate going forward and say we're the ones who will fight for the poor. we're the ones who will fight for workers. you might not agree how we're going to do it, but you will not doubt our hearts. >> funding is provided by ann gumowi gumowitz, carnegie, the ford foundation, working with visionaries on social change worldwide, the herb albert foundation.