hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's friday, june 19th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. hong kong legislators have voted to reject a china endorsed bill to select the territory's top leader. the chinese government is showing no sign of conceding. the legislative council voted down the bill on thursday which would allow direct election of the territory's chief executive. two-thirds majority was required for passage. 40% of the council voted no. pro-democracy groups criticized the bill for effectively preventing people critical of the chinese government from

being selected as candidates. as a result, hong kong's chief executive will continue to be chosen by a select group of people consisting of industry representatives and others. pro-democracy legislators say the no vote is a starting point for a new democratic movement. they say they will continue to demand true universal suffrage without preconditions imposed against those who stand for office. china's national people's congress standing committee issued a statement saying the direction it set must continue to be upheld. health authorities in thailand say they've confirmed the country's first case of mers. they discovered the respiratory virus in an elderly man visiting from oman. ministry officials say the 75-year-old man flew into bangkok on monday with his family members for treatment of a heart condition. he tested positive for the virus at a hospital in the capital,

and has been quarantined at another facility. his condition is reported as stable. authorities say they're now checking the health of 59 people who may have come in contact with the man. they include passengers who sat near him during the flight to thailand and hospital staff. mers is now in south korea, china, malaysia, the philippines and thailand. in south korea, the virus spread from a man who returned from the middle east. the patients in malaysia and the philippines had visited saudi arabia before being confirmed to be infected. officials at the world health organization say more than 1,300 people around the world have been infected with the virus. the fatality rate is about 35%. the head of the w.h.o. has attended an international conference in south korea. margaret chan says the outbreak in the country can be stopped but it may take some time. chap says an inefficient initial response from government

leaders in seoul has led to the spread of the virus. but she says officials have been effectively tracking the infection routes, and based on their investigation, they're isolating those who have come in contact with the infected. >> the mers outbreak in rok can be stopped, although it may take a little longer than everyone would like to see. >> health authorities have confirmed 165 infections and 23 deaths in south korea. they've put 6,700 people under quarantine at home or in hospitals, and they say they want to stop all new infections by the end of this month. officials say they've also confirmed a radiologist they've been monitoring was infected when he x-rayed a mers patient. they say it was the fourth transmission from the initial patient in the country. >> this is also the situation we observed in the kingdom of saudi arabia with large hospital associated outbreaks where some third generation and fourth

generation cases occur. but, there was no consequent, you know, further transmission. and did not affect the overall outbreak. >> chan says there's low risk the virus will spread to the wider community. police in the u.s. arrested a man suspected of carrying out a deadly attack on an historic black church. they say the shooting in charleston, south carolina, was a hate crime. nine people are dead. authorities say they caught dylann roth after a manhunt in north carolina about 400 kilometers way from the crime scene. the 2 is-year-old is from a suburb from charleston. roth is suspected of carrying out a premeditated shooting at one of the oldest churches in the country, who killed three men and six women attending a bible class. a pastor and state senator,

clementa pinckney are among the victims. police released security camera photos of the suspect entering the church and a car he used to get away. witnesses say roth was criticizing african-american at the church and posted discriminatory comments online. community leaders in charleston asked people to come together to pray for the victims and at the white house president barack obama expressed anger over the shooting, calling it senseless. >> any death of this sort is a tragedy. this is a place of worship that was founded by african-americans seeking liberty. this is a church that was burned to the ground because its worshippers worked to end slavery. >> obama said americans must deal with the fact that mass violence involving guns doesn't happen in other advanced countries with such frequency. finance ministers from eurozone economies met to

discuss whether to extend greece's monetary rescue. ai uchida joins us from the business desk. it seems the talks didn't work out. >> that's right, the ministers are split over greece's fiscal reconstruction measures including a cut in pension payouts. this means the country is just one step closer to a default. eurozone leaders will meet monday for an emergency summit. greece has less than two weeks left to repay $1.8 billion to the international monetary fund. prime minister tsipras has been calling for debt repayment conditions to be eased. after the meeting, the chair of the euro group said he asked greek leaders to submit a new set of reform plans. >> as we stand now, twooo little measures have been put forward that have been assessed to be credible and serious, to be put in a new axwreemt. agreement. >> he said a deal is still possible but he said the ball is in the greek court to seize that

last opportunity. greek finance minister yanis varoufakis said all political leaders have a responsibility to work on a solution. >> we are dangerously close to a state of mind that accepts an accident and i urge my colleagues not to fall prey to this state of mind. we can forge a good agreement. >> but he argues his government has already reduced pensions and further cuts could threaten the livelihood of low income pensioners. still despite the deadlock in the bailout talks for greece the mood on wall street was actually upbeat. analysts say many investors already factored in the agreement. the tech savvy nasdaq surged to a record high. the dow jones industrial average added 1% to reach the highest level in three weeks. let's see how markets here are starting the day, we go to ramin mellegard, who is standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, what are you seeing this morning? >> very good morning to you, ai. as you said there, you touched

on there, there's a huge question over greece and its debt repayment schedules, but the fact that the fed signaled that it's in no real hurry to raise rates really boosts ss sentiment in a lot of global stocks. eight less let's see how tokyo stocks are reacting as well for this friday, june 19th. both indexes into the positive almost up 1% for the nikkei and back above the 20,000 level, just a reminder of viewers, the nikkei closed below that level yesterday for the first time in a month as a weaker dollar put the brakes on the gains of exporters. today we might see a very he reversal of that. the next focus will be the bank of japan which wraps up its meeting later today and really no change expected for rates or for the pace of quantitative easing that the boj's going through right now. however, a lot of analysts investors may want to hear what bank of japan governor kurodas

says about the yen. it will probably not lose more ground against the dollar. after that traders heavily sold the dollar against the yen and a lot of volatility since that point. >> no kidding. when he said that last week the dollar was at the mid 125 yen level and then it fell to the mid 122 yen level at thun point this week. where do we stand this friday morning? >> exactly from the 125 yen levels to mid 122, look at it now, 123 spot 7 to 12. the dollar actually fell significantly after the fed announcement and adding to the weakness was the may cpi data that came out lower than expected implying that consumer prices are still not high enough for the fed to consider raising rates. cpi rose 0.4% but many were expecting a bigger rise still weekly jobless claims showed a fall in unemployment insurance on thursday. lot of focus on the euro as well, one stage surged to a one-month high against the dollar following a report saying greece was given a partial

extension on the loans but lost ground after that turned out to be false. in the asia-pacific region we'll continue to monitor the likes of the shanghai composite and hong kong kong's hanseng which traded lower on thursday a series of initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions activity seem to have zapped a little bit of market liquidity. we shall see how that develops today. i'll have another wrap wrup in a-up in a couple of hours. for now the nikkei is nearly up 1% in the first few minutes of trading. >> we'll check in with you in a few hours' time. the u.s. house of representatives has passed a trade promotion authority bill or tpa, aft removing companion legislation aid american workers. now the tpa would give president obama more authority on trade deals, such as the trance pacific partnership. house members passed the so-called fast track bill on thursday with a vote of 218-208. it will now be sent to the senate. the tpa was separated from trade

adjustment assistance or taa, it provides help to workers who lose nair jobs due to foreign competition. the separation was needed to ensure the passage of the fast track bill. republicans supporting the tpp hope that the senate will pass the bill by the end of next week, and send it to president obama for signing. japan's birth rate is falling, and the population is getting older, and that is bad news for the country's toymakers. so finding new customers is key to expand the market. right now, they are showing off their latest products at the international tokyo toy show. nhk world's akiko okamota went to check out the latest trends. ♪ >> reporter: nearly 170 toymakers from japan and abroad are featuring more than 35,000 products. major trend this year is digital technology. i.t. is changing the way toys look and operate. sega toys has come up with this wearable device for girls. kids can play games on its touch screen. it also has a pedometer.

as kids wrack up mileage, they e rewarded with games and features. the idea is to get the kids to move around rather than just playing games. in 2014 japan's toy market hit its highest level in ten years, boosted by a boom in products based on cartoon characters. now the manufacturers are striving to come up wh new trends. one approach is to market toys to adults. bonsais hoping to rekindle parents' childhood memories with a robot figure. the $450 product is based on a hit abmated show of the '70s. the figure is made of zinc alloy, operated by remote control, it makes soundsnd lights up. >> translator: we want men in their 40s who grew up watching the show to buy our figure. >> this company is targeting train enthiasts. their new toy is a replica of

the maglev train scheduled for launch in japan in 2027. like the real train, tomi company's version is powered by magnets, though it's a different design. magnetic propulsion makes the train float about two millimeters above its track. another set of magnets pulls the cars along. the toy will sell for about $300. the real maglev train has been in development for more than 50 years. it broke a world speed record of 603 kilometers per hour in a test run this april. the train has attracted worldwide attention. tomi company will welcome its first non-japanese ceo in its history, a move aimed at growing global sales. he wants to sell products not just to adults in japan, but overseas. >> no matter how many good products we develop, we cannot double or triple the company by selling just in japan. we must become global. that's where the market potential is. >> reporter: toys can bring happiness and fascination to people of all ages.

japanese toymakers plan to continue to roll out innovative products that fire the imagination of their customers. akiko okamoto, nhk world, tokyo. >> that is the lacest in business news for this hour. i'll leave you now a check on markets. japanese police have arrested toyota motors first female executive on suspicion of smuggling drugs. they detained american julie hamp at a hotel in tokyo. she denies any wrongdoing. tokyo police allege hamp smuggled 57 pills into the country by international mail. they say the package arrived at narita airport on june 11th. police claim the pills contain a substance known as oxycodone which is used in some countries to relieve pain. japanese authorities define

oxycodone as a narcotic drug, but they say doctors can prescribe it as a painkiller. the 55-year-old american became toyota's first female executive in april. she oversees public relations. before joining toyota, hamp had served as communications executive at pepsico and general motors european division. >> i have a deep love for toyota and i have for many years, because helping society is in our dna. >> toyota offered an apology for causing a stir. the firm's executives say they believe hamp will be found to have no intention to break the law. leaders in sri lanka say they're reviewing the country's china dependent foreign policy. the foreign minister is visiting japan for the first time since the current government came to power in january. >> sri lanka's foreign policy has moved back to the center, and china, too, remains a very good friend of ours, but we also

want to win back the other friends who have also been traditionally very close to sri lanka since independence. >> samaraweera says economic aid from china led to rampant corruption under the previous government of ma had indhra rajapaksa. they are considered a port project in the largest city of colombo. the president has shifted from his predecessor's pro-china foreign policy since taking office in january. he chose india as the destination of his first overseas trip, trying to balance diplomatic ties with other nations as well. leaders in beijing had said china would always place sri lanka in an important position in the region. china overtook japan in 2009 as the country's biggest source of financial assistance. people in japan and south korea will commemorate on monday the 50th anniversary of an agreement to normalize ties between their nations. about 20 years ago the leaders of both countries worked hard to mature the friendship. nhk world's hiroki yajima spoke

with two figures who were in the background of those efforts. >> reporter: kazuo ogura was japan japan's am bassbassador to south korea in the 1990s. he worked to improve advertise. >> obouchi was committed to sitting down and talking about historical issues with south korean president kim dae-jung. at the time they were moving forward with a future oriented approach. that worked well. >> reporter: this man worked as a professor of modern history at the university in tokyo. he returned home in the early 1990s and became a close aide to then president kim dae-jun. >> translator: president kim said we should build relations between japan and south korea but we need a consideration of anti-japanese sentiment among our citizens. >> reporter: he met kim in japan in the early 1970s. most men this fled the

dictatorial regime of president pack chun-hye. they discussed the hopes for reform. >> translator: we thought that if south korea achieves democracy, kim dae-jun could be the right person to lead the country. those expectations steadily increased. >> reporter: kim was elected president in 1998 in the middle of the asian economic crisis. he believed closer relations with japan would benefit south korea, both economically and culturally. one step was to over time a ban on japanese music and movies. >> i believed people would be able to learn many things from japan if we opened up. some people thought korean culture would get trampled. i had some confidence that wouldn't happen.

>> reporter: ogura says the initial turning point in bilateral relations came in 1983. then prime minister was hee conakasone chose seoul for his first official overseas visit. he even made an effort to make a speech in korea. >> translator: people were excited when he began speaking in korea. he wasn't just saying hello either. he went on for several minutes. >> reporter: prime minister obouchi inherited this eagerness to improve relations. he and kim issued a historic joint declaration, vowing to build a new partnership towards the 21st century. it declared determination to face the past and develop future oriented relations. >> translator: obouchi hosted a dinner for kim, featuring special cuisine. i believe it included korean

mushrooms and korean ginseng sher bets on purpose. >> reporter: he gives high marks to kim for his policies toward japan. he cites the address the former president gave to japanese lawmakers. >> translator: kim told the diet he highly values japan's contributions to democracy and development the. this was the first and last time a south korean president officially recognized japan's contributions. >> reporter: for his part, he says obucouchi was a key person for deepening bilateral relations. >> translator: he said japan had made mistakes in the back. kim responded to thank him. i believe it was an era when two leaders talked openly and agreed on how bilateral relations should be and how relations should be throughout east asia.

>> reporter: they say politicians can long learn lessones from this kind of dialogue. they say leaders should show mutual respect and have the courage to address issues directly. hiyoki yagima nhk world. it is time for a check of the weather. many people in tokyo woke up to the sound of heavy rain early this morning. meteorologist robert speta joins us with the latest. >> i do want to mention i, as well, who woke up pretty early this morning with that rain. it's a nice alarm clock but unfortunately if anybody is caught out in that, it is quite wet and we're still going to be expecting more showers through the rest of the day. now i think the heavy rainfall that we've seen in the early morning hours in tokyo for the most part that's over with, but we're still looking at light to moderate into the afternoon hours and that's really because our rainy season we've been talking about farther towards the west kind of lifted a little bit farther here towards the north during the overnight hours so we're seeing scattered showers, take a look at our accumulation outlook and while we still have some showers

pushing by, mainly throughout the day, and even into saturday in the afternoon hours, there may still be some instability around the kanto area so you're still looking at afternoon thundershowers even along the pacific coastline, but it's really going to remain that light to moderate until it starts to clear up. now, what we're going to be looking at as far as the forecast is concerned with temperatures as well as we're still looking at those cloudy skies so it's going to keep things rather cool in the tokyo area with those light rainfall. now back towards the west also looking at a stationary boundary there into southeastern china, and some areas out here really could see upwards of about 40 to 80 millimeters in the next 24 to 48 hours because of that rainy season front continuing to linger. north of that, still got those thunderstorms, even some thunderstorm advisories there into northeastern china. 26 for your high, thunderstorms there in your forecast, seoul with a high of 30 and 21 there into tokyo. where i do want to take you next is down towards the southeastern portions of asia, into manila, bangkok. you still have thunderstorms in

your forecast, main reason for this, we're talking about the southwest monsoon, it's starting to work its way into the picture and what that means, it means rainy season really starting to kick in for the philippines. on top of that, what we have going on is a little bit of a low forming up here, monsoonal jire there toward the west of the philippines, pumping in the moisture i think throughout the week in some areas here could see as much as 150 to 200 millimeters of total precipitation along the west coast of luzon before it works its way north by next week. something to watch out for if you are here, if you're visiting that area of the world. let's take a look over towards the americas now. actually tropical depression bill what's left of tropical depression bill still kind of spinning, combined up with a passing cold front but it's been bringing the rainfall. that's one of the big issues here. take a look at this image. this is out of texas and this is not an uncommon sight here. it's poor drainage in a cul-de-sac and piles up the water and unfortunately you have been seeing reports of flooding just like this. as far as the forecast is

concerned you still have flood watches and warnings in effect, severe thunderstorms are possible as it drifts towards the northeast and really just continuing to dump that rainfall. north of that separately is also another area of low pressure, which is still bringing some thunderstorms there into the northern plains and across the northern rockies. denver with a high of 34, though, sunny skies there for you but if you like hot weather, las vegas 43 there for your high. there's some areas of southern california and the desert, that is, into death valley specifically above 50. that is just absolutely hot. let's take a look at europe here. what we got going on is some cooler weather, we have a cold front actually diving in across the low countries and on the tail end of that, i think as we go ahead into friday and saturday, might see some thunderstorms flare up for you, even some damaging winds possibly. back toward the east in the balkan peninsula, thunderstorms, even a waterspout off the coast of greece, and large hail. that's a look at your world weather. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for staying with us.

stacey thunder: on this edition of "native report," we attend the opening night of a photography exhibit by the late david barry.

we go into the kitchen to learn about fry bread. and for this week's archive segment, we learn about the spirit little cedar tree. we also learn something new about indian country and hear from our elders on this "native report." announcer: production of "native report" is made possible by grants from the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community and the blandin foundation. [music playing]