hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." it is friday, june 17th, 9:00 a.m. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. a british member of parliament has died in a violent attack. labor party lawmaker jo cox was stabbed thursday in northern england. a 52-year-old male suspect was arrested near the scene of the crime. >> jo was attacked by a man and died of her injuries. >> the attack occurred just after cox left a meeting in west yorkshire. prime minister david cameron expressed his condolences. >> we've lost a great star, she was an mp, a great campaigning

mp with huge compassion, with a big heart and people are going to be very, very sad at what has happened. >> cox had been campaigning for britain to remain in the european union in an upcoming referendum. groups on both sides of the referendum have suspended their campaigns following the attack. what's the latest. >> investors have been concerned. it has taken stage. the british pound has been battered but after the tragic event, it jumped. on wall street, we saw relief rallies snapping a five-day

losing streak. the nasdaq inched up. we'll see how markets are opening this friday morning. we'll go to ramin. good morning. tell us what you're seeing this friday morning. >> very good morning to you. >> the theme is dominated by the whole news about britain's possible exit from the eu and the caution really being played into by central banks. we saw the fed policy meeting wrapping up. the bank of japan meeting wrapping up. some showing concerns. we're seeing a bit of a bounce here. we'll see how that develops. it fell to a four-month low on thursday after a dramatic fall in the dollar and reaction to the bank of japan leaving the

policy unchanged. that was on concerns. >> tell us how the yen is trading. >> exactly. we saw the move. dollar yen 104.68. that said, analysts still say they expect the fed will at some point raise rates this year. yields are still higher compared to german or japanese government bonds. the sudden move in currency markets have surprised japanese government officials and boj policy makers. they worry that storing yen could delay their goal of beating deflation here in japan.

talk of market intervention also. a little bit of a sensitive one but many traders are talking about it. energy related shares, some of the worst performance this week. let's get a picture of some of the indexes open now. seoul's kospi is trading higher. we're seeing a bit of a rebound after the dramatic falls yesterday. the nikkei is being hammered this week. bond yields sitting record lows. quite a volatile month so far. back to you. >> all right. thanks a lot for that update.

>> the japanese government has kept its overall assessment the same. the cabinet office says the japanese economy is on a moderate recovery path even though weakness has been seen. the report says private consumption is flat while consumer confidence appears to have levelled off. the assessment was downgraded. the roreport says profits are hh but appear to stop growing. they revised assessment from describing them as moderately to a slowdown. all eyes are on britain's

referendum next week. jack lew hopes britain will remain in the european union. >> i've made clear i see a strong case for the uk to remain in the european union. i think the idea of putting walls back up and creating friction only leads to negative outcome. >> he said the outcome will not affect the relationship between britain and the united states. toys tend to be loud, but there's a quiet revolution happening in the toy industry in japan with a new entertainment that appeals to the creative side of kids. >> reporter: at this year's

tokyo toy show it's a tiny submarine to cardboard armor. about 35,000 products were on display from 160 companies around the world. they included the usual array of high-tech options but many of the newest toys were designed to unleash the user's inner artist. in line with one of the themes with this year's show, making things. this may look like an ordinary pen but when the ink is close to light, it gets hard. >> it was easy. >> reporter: many of these new creative toys are geared toward younger children like this sewing machine that doesn't require thread. it uses a piece of felt to bind

them together. children at this booth are making pictures out of beads that stick together when they are wet. this kind of toy has become wildly popular thanks in part to the internet. >> translator: people want to show off creations online. others want to do the same and that's how toys like this catch on. >> reporter: it's spread beyond toys to an amazing park in tokyo. the job experience area took seven years to develop. each attraction was created in collaboration with manufacturers in related industries. visitors to the fashion factory mount bicycles for vigorous

pedaling. they can take the finish product for a spin. >> driving it around was fun. >> translator: we thought people would respond well to these hands on experiences. being able to be in a creative process and build something unique has turned out to be popular. >> reporter: igniting the spark of creativity can help them keep

up with changing pace. >> all right. that's latest in business. i'll leave you with a check on markets. he said he was seized by chinese authorities in october. he's one of five who have been detained or questioned by

chinese authorities. he said he was confined to a small room for five months. >> it's not a problem to own books and publish. the chinese government is putting so much pressure on hong kong citizens. >> he revealed details about his february televised confession. he said chinese authorities gave him a script to read. he said he was released because he agreed to bring back a list of his clients. he said he'll ignore the order and speak out on what happened to him. the operator of the crippled

fukushima daiichi plant has been criticized for failing to acknowledge the multiple meltdowns in 2011 for two months. now a panel of experts has concluded the company president instructed his officials not to use the term "meltdown" saying the order came from the prime minister's office. the meltdowns occurred at three reactors following the march 2011 earthquake and tsunami, but tokyo electric power company did not admit they happened until may of that year. but a recent inquiry has found that tepco could have determined that the reactors were in a state of meltdown as soon as three days after the disaster if it had followed its own in-house manual. in a news conference on march 14th reporters asked the vice president about the possibility that meltdowns had occurred. then an official showed the vice president a memo.

>> translator: we cannot clearly explain what might be happening to the fuel in the reactors at this moment. >> muto did not call the condition meltdowns. a panel of experts commissioned by the company has been examining for three months what was behind the delay. >> translator: the memo stated that the president was giving orders not to use the word melt minister's office said not to. >> but the panel members say they could not track down who in the prime minister's office issued that order. tepco officials say they have revised their manual and that

they will promptly announce such situations in the future. japanese prime minister shinzo abe and close aide to russian president vladimir putin have greed to prepare for a still unscheduled visit by putin to japan. abe and russian lower house speaker met on thursday in tokyo. they reaffirmed the importance of cooperation in a wide range of areas, they discussed the results of abe's meeting with putin last month in sochi. in the southern russian resort of sochi, and they talked about abe's planed atendance at an international economic forum in vladivostok in september. after the meeting, narishkin told reporters that he and abe addressed issues of importance to the two nations and their people. japanese scientists say they've made a discovery that could give them insight into how the first stars and galaxies

formed. they found the earliest oxygen ever seen in the universe. they use the the world's largest radiotelescope in chile to make their discovery. akio inouye leads the researchers from osaka science university and the astronomical observatory from japan. >> translator: we discovered oxygen from more than 13 billion years ago. it's likely these are the first oxygen atoms in the universe. >> that means oxygen existed 0.7 billion years after the earth's burst of the universe 13.8 billion years ago. the researchers plan to carry out more observations to better understand this early galaxy. today's eye on asia starts in south korea. the discovery of a ferry that sank will take more time than

planned. it was scheduled to be raised on sunday and completed by tend of july. around the clock salvage work was suspended due to high waves and other safety concerns. the ferry will likely be raised in august or later. they pledge to add manpower and equipment. 295 people died and nine others remain unaccounted for. government officials and private sector experts will finish their investigation into the cause of the accident this month, and reach a conclusion in three months' time. officials attending the u.n. climate change conference in paris last december agreed to expand the use of renewable energy sources. they see that as a way to prevent global warming. but that presents challenge.

leading japanese end prenuur has come up with a bold plan to deal with those challenges. softbank's ceo son dreams of creating a renewable energy in asia. nhk world's aki shibuya reports. >> reporter: i asked sohn to explain the basic idea behind asia's super grid. we're eager to learn about your vision for the asian super grid. can you give us a big picture? >> in india, for example, lots of sunshine. in japan, lots of land so solar energy suddenly becomes a very, very attractive in india. in mongolia, wind is humongous and in one good wind all the time. we are providing internet business, mobile business, telecommunication and we are always connecting internationally through the under the sea cable, so if we can connect the communication line under the sea cable, why

not power cable under the sea? basically the same thing. >> reporter: son plans to build a major solar power plant in india to take advantage of the abundant sunshine there. he also believes the gobi dezert in mongolia has great wind power potential. the plan is to generate electricity there, equivalent by 100 nuclear reactors. son wants to connect these renewable energy sources across borders using a high voltage dc power grid. experts say that will limit the amount of electricis lost every 1,000 kilometers to around 3%. the idea is to use a computer controlled smart grid that can

pinpoint demand and supply electricity where it's needed. son came up with the concept after the earthquake and tsunami triggered the nuclear meltdown at the fukushima daiichi power plant in 2011. >> there was the fukushima accident and then japan has a major crisis on energy. i was so sad, because we have been providing the mobile network and our network system totally was disabled because of the failure in power, so i thought, wow, energy's so important. i came up with the vision and idea. everybody called me crazy. i admit, i am a little bit crazy, but you know, something big, well something new happens with some kind of craziness. >> reporter: although it's called a crazy idea the plan is

starting to take shape. official also china's state-run power company, south korea's power utility, mongolia's energy ministry and others met last month in seoul to talk about the asia super grid pro posal. but the super grid plan faces many hurdles. one concern is that energy tie-ups with other countries could lead to security problems. but son says he's not talking about transmitting energy by the super grid alone. he sees it as just one option. >> it is safer to have a ring, so it's not dependent on one side and if this ring becomes like internet, worldwide web, if it's interconnected between different countries from different routes, all around the world, then that's the safest. >> reporter: in japan major power companies long operated as regional monopolies. that made it difficult to connect power lines between regions. ♪

[ applause ] the situation is starting to change following the long awaited liberalization of japan's retail power market in april. son wants to take advantage of this opportunity. >> the first tests connection i hope will be done in the next ten years. >> reporter: okay, so in our lifetime? >> in our lifetime we will at least connect the pilot cables and 50 years, 100 years from now it will be all connected globally, and we will have a better us. >> reporter: what if japan doesn't get involved now? >> japan will be left out.

japan will stay most expensive country of electricity cost, most unstable country in electricity in asia, which shouldn't be the case. we shouldn't choose that course. >> reporter: son says if japan does not want to be left out it's better to take initiative rather than being a follower. his ambitious work will continue. aki shibuya, nhk world, tokyo. rescue teams have been working against the clock to help stranded whales. they were beached at low tide in east java province. local villagers joined a mass rescue operation on thursday. >> translator: we don't have this type of whale in this area.

so our first assumption is that they were stranded because they got tired while swimming with their colony and drifted here. >> some of the whales became trapped in a mangrove swamp. rescuers hurried to help them back out to sea while the tide was high. officials said nine of the whales died but most of them were eventually returned to the deep ocean. people reading books are an -- people in southern china are experiencing severe weather conditions. robert speta joins us with the latest. >> yes, actually, this has been some significant flooding out across much of this area, and what we have been seeing is basically our frontal area stretching back toward the west a cross much of southern china. you see our stationary front

here on the map, and definitely along that line, some of these areas have seen upwards of about 400 to 500 millimeters over the past seven days now and that's really here concentrated around parts of guangdong, extending back toward the west there, and hunan province and also into myanmar we've been seeing heavy precipitation associated with the southwest monsoon and kind of feeding into this. i want to show you video first we have coming out of hunan province here where we have been seeing the heavy rainfall taking place actually it's left at least one person dead and at least three others missing out here, over 230,000 people have been impacted by this and water flooding streets and surging in

the villages here. at least 32 people actually in guizhou provinces had to be rescued because of the swift water rising. definitely this story is continuing and still more rain in the forecast across much of the area. the good news is that there is still more rain but it is going to be improving as far as the intensity. it's slowly lifting off toward the north with the seasonal transition and overall, this is starting to weaken out a little bit here as the bulk of that precipitation actually starts to shift a little bit further toward the east. some good news as far as that, but still an ongoing situation. now as far as japan is concerned, throughout the day on thursday, we had widespread rain showers out here. some of the areas rather heavy, toward hokkaido remnants of the low pressure continuing into the impact and definitely unstable weather, strong thunderstorms could be flaring up in a few of these locations. temperatures are on the rise. once this pulls toward the east, this weakens and going to be shaping up rather beautifully across much of japan, even extending over there towards the korean peninsula. look at seoul actually, cloudy skies throughout the week and temperatures into the 30s. tokyo pushing out to the 30s as well. we're in the middle of the rainy season across much of central japan but it is a nice refresher to see the weekend turn out with

partly cloudy skies and some rather warm temperatures. by next week, though, you can see the rain starting to work its way back in first there for those of you into kyoto. let's take a look what's going on out here across the americas as well. actually the central u.s. rather decent weather for the time being, a little break from the severe activity you have been getting. you want to look at the cloud cover pulling out there across the northeast. now this is going to flow towards the mid-atlantic states, and really stir up the oceans just off the coastline here. definitely going to be seeing some high surf right along the coast and gusty winds especially for areas around d.c., extending toward new york as well, this could cause some travel delays for some of you. if you are in the southwest, completely opposite story

though, big story out here is going to be the temperatures, this coming weekend it will be surging and dangerous in some areas. look at the forecast here, san diego a little bit further to the south you're along the coast, get modifying. still around 30 degrees. look at yuma and phoenix, 47, 48 degrees for your high on monday. stay inside, stay cool. all right, i'll leave you now your extended outlook. and that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for staying with us.

rita aspinwall: on this edition of "native report," we attend a unique fashion show displaying the beautiful creations of delina white and her daughters. ernie stevens: learn about the mdewakanton washington life program, whose purpose is to create greater awareness, availability, and knowledge in cpr and automatic external defibrilators. and we meet the very talented multimedia artist jonathan thunder, and learn about the personal themes that influence his art. you'll also learn about what we can do to lead healthier lives, and hear from our elders on this "native report." narrator: production of "native report" is made possible by grants from the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community, the blandin foundation, and the duluth superior area community foundation. [music playing]