hello. welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. south korea says north korea fired three ballistic missiles on tuesday morning. it says it's analyzing the flight path and is on alert for further launches. the country's joint chiefs of staff say the missiles were launched into the sea of japan from western north korea. they say the missiles flew between 500 to 600 kilometers which they say is far enough to attack any part of the south. south korea's yonhap news agency says they are believed to be scud short-range ballistic missi missiles. japan's defense minister

gen nakatani and other officials were meeting at the defense ministry in tokyo to analyze the situation. officials say multiple missiles were fired from the western side of the korean peninsula and may have landed into the sea of japan after flying hundreds of kilometers. the world anti-doping agency says organizers should consider banning all russian athletes from competing in next month's rio olympics. the agency was responding to an independent report that was released on monday. the report found that russia carried out a state-sponsored doping program at the winter sochi olympics in 2014. >> the moscow laboratory operated for the protection of doped russian athletes within a state-directed failsafe system. >> the report confirmed allegations made by the former head of moscow's anti-doping laboratory. he alleged urine samples were switched for certain russian athletes competing in the games. in response, ioc president

thomas bach issued a statement saying the body would not hesitate to implement the toughest available measures. russia's president vladimir putin reacted sharply. in a statement he says there's been a dangerous relapse of political interference in sport. he says individual athletes should take responsibility for their own actions, but he also says that russian officials named in the report will be temporarily suspended until the investigation is complete. turkish authorities are continuing to round up suspects connected to a failed coup against president recep tayyip erdogan. they say more than 7,500 people have been detained. they include members of the armed forces and their judiciary. authorities carried out a massive raid on a military academy in istanbul on monday. officials say more than 10,000 public servants including police officers have been suspended. commercials calling for country unity under the president are

airing repeatedly on tv. erdogan appears to purge dissident forces amid forces for quashing the uprising. turkish officials are blaming islamic cleric fete hull la gulen for the coup attempt. gulen lives in the u.s. but has a lot of support in turkey. he denies any involvement. ankara is demanding that gulen be extradited. washington says it will hand him over if proof is provided. the incident is straining relations between the two nato allies. european union foreign ministers have condemned the attempted coup, but they are also calling on the country to respect human rights as it deals with the plotters. the ministers are in brussels for meetings of the eu foreign affairs council. they are concerned turkey will reinstate its death penalty as it punishes those it believes responsible for the coup attempt. >> translator: we have to be vigilant so that turkish

authorities don't put in place a political system that turns away from democracy. turkey made a lot of progress and proved a lot, undertook a lot of reforms in the past few years. the danger would be going backwards. >> in a joint statement, ministers urged the government of president recep tayyip erdogan to guarantee a fair trial for suspects. they also called for restraint to avoid further violence. >> democratic or legitimate institutions of the country is not only the president's, the government, it's the parliament, there is a system of institutions in turkey that has responsibilities now to exercise. and we are the political dynamics and debate that is starting. >> turkey has been in talks to join the eu for over a decade now but it's been warned it cannot join the bloc if it reintroduced the death penalty. the eu needs cooperation from

turkey in its efforts to curb the flow of refugees and migrants into europe. the head of japanese telecom operator softbank group has announced that the company is acquired uk-based chip developer arm holdings. this will be one of the biggest deals for a japanese company in buying a foreign firm. the chairman says he wants to take the lead in the so-called internet iot. >> translator: since our company was set up first, i think this is the most exciting day for me in its history. >> son said the acquisition will help the group advance into the iot market. iot technologies link a wide range of products through the internet such as electric appliances and automobiles.

>> arm is a market leader. and next big paradigm shift is coming on iot. so i believe the iot will be so big opportunity. >> the estimated size of softbank's investment will be over $30 billion. softbank aims to purchase all of arm's shares by the end of september after winning the approval of the firm's shareholders and the british courts. arm designs and licenses chips mainly for smartphones and tablet computers. the low energy consumption of its products has helped the cambridge-based company to win overwhelming market share across the globe. softbank has also pledged to double the employee head count in britain over the next five years, preserve arm's independence within the group and enable the company to continue to develop leading edge technology in britain.

arm has about 4,000 people on its payroll. softbank faces a big challenge in making the arm buyout profitable given its huge price tag. softbank executives say they've secured about $17 billion after selling some stockholdings. these include shares of chinese online retail giant alibaba group. but the firm plans to take out new bank loans worth $9.4 billion for the arm deal. in march, softbank's interest-bearing debt exceeded $110 billion, that's due to acquiring other firms including a u.s. telecom operator. softbank chief executive son says the company has a stable income coming from its core business of mobile phones. he says the firm's overall debt will not change much. iot can create a huge online network linking all kinds of items that come loaded with sensors and communication functions.

one major application will be self-driving cars. vehicles will be able to discover the location of other cars as well as road signs and traffic signals. this could help prevent accidents and congestion. microwave ovens like this can also be equipped with iot technology. it can check the weather forecast and suggest a recipe using voice technology. in the world of iot, appliances will need semiconductors to control their sensors and communicate with other devices through the internet. softbank is aiming to take advantage of arm's strength in the global semiconductor market. >> translator: from telephone poles to street lamps, the internet will connect all sorts of things. the network will also take in industrial equipment including

jet engines and cars. i believe we'll all be able to look back on the deal ten years from now and think that we made a good purchase. >> others are watching to see whether the results will justify softbank's huge buyout cost. softbank's buyout deal helped to lift the high-tech sector on wall street and stock indices hit record highs once again as investors were cheered by further central bank easing. the dow jones industrial average inched up 0.1% to 18,533. and the tech-heavy nasdaq ended at 5055, 0.5%. to see how markets are reacting, let's go to ramin mellegard who is standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. stock prices keep on going up. how are tokyo markets kicking off this morning? >> yeah, pretty positive stuff,

keiko, all around. as you mentioned there, encouraging start to the u.s. earnings season, especially for the banking sector. i'll keep track of that, of course, and key data was pretty supportive as well. retail sales, industrial production and encouraging signs from central banks that they're ready to support their economies. let's have a look at how the nikkei and topix are kicking off monday, july 19th. and the nikkei is up 0.8%. broader topix up 0.53%. just a reminder for our viewers, the nikkei actually had its best week last week for 6 1/2 weeks, rising 9.2%. the dollar rose 5% against the yen during the week which lifted exporters, but really solid earnings from jpmorgan chase and citigroup boosted overall sentiment for the banking sector. last week's china gdp showed a growth of 6.6% year on year for

the three months of june, although flat for the first quarter. so that was rather encouraging as well. now, expectations here in japan that the government's going to be increasing its monetary easing measures to boost growth and to reverse deflation. it's also a big focus and really pushing investors to more of a risk on mode. so that's a big focus we'll be keeping track of that. keiko? >> and ramin, as you touched on, that jump on the dollar helped. it went up even more on monday. tell us about key levels this morning. >> we have seen that steadily rising, keiko. it jumped just over 1% on monday. investors focus on possible moves by the boj to announce further easing measures. dollar/yen 106.12. the euro against the dollar 1.1067. we'll have the european central bank meeting on thursday with the brexit vote's fallout and

inflation outlook. the key items investors are going to be listening out for. let's get a check on asian markets that are open so far today. seoul's kospi is in the negative. australia's s&p/asx 200 just up 0.1%. we'll watch out for softbank shares that will be a big focus this morning following the story that you just covered there. so it will be on the lookout for a lot of investors for not only softbank shares but for that sector as a whole. back to you. >> thank you for that report, ramin. that was ramin mellegard reporting for us live from the tokyo stock exchange. a big week for shareholders coming up. many japanese companies start releasing their results for the first quarter of the business year. an economist has been crunching numbers for 200 blue chip firms. he expects average profits to decline about 30%.

>> a major factor for the drop in profit will be the yen's appreciation. yen/dollar rate on average was 108 yen and for the first quarter compared with a year earlier 121 yen appreciation. and that's decreasing exporters' profits. from now on we'll likely see the recurring profit decline for the next couple of quarters toward the end of this year because the yen/dollar rate last year remained around 120 yen. >> but not all profits are heading down. takashi expects to see bright spots in the nonmanufacturing sector. >> trading houses have been improving their profitability

compared with the last quarter, january/march, when they booked large losses from overseas operations, commodity prices, especially crude oil prices, are now recovering so the improving profitability for resources companies. here's more stories making news around the globe. china says it recently sent a bomber aircraft on patrol from the scarborough shoal in the south china sea. the chinese air force spokesman made the announcement on monday. he said they will conduct patrols over the sea on a regular basis. the uninhabited scarborough shoal has been effectively under the country's control since 2012.

on tuesday last week in a suit filed by the philippines, an international tribal-of-tribunal in the hague ruled that china's claim to most of the south sea has no legal basis. china rejected the claims as illegitima illegitimate. the deployment of two large supply ships to the area. beijing says its closing off part of the south china sea for a three-day naval exercise that begins on tuesday. the national convention of the u.s. republican party started on monday amid bitter divisions. donald trump will be officially nominated as the party's presidential candidate along with vice presidential running mate indiana governor mike pence. about 50,000 people are expected to attend the four-day convention. make america great again, trump's campaign slogan, is the theme of the event. politicians, actors and athletes are among the scheduled speakers. the party has adopted an official campaign platform. trump will give his acceptance speech to kick off the final day.

but the tycoon's nomination has divided republicans. former president george w. bush and 2012 nominee mitt romney will not attend the convention. the trump campaign is hoping that pence, a former member of the house of representatives, can help win over the mainstream of the party. authorities in the u.s. state of louisiana are investigating the motive of a gunman who killed three police officers. u.s. media is reporting that the suspect may have made a phone call to lure the police for an ambush. the shooting comes after the recent killing of a black man by a white police officer in baton rouge. gunfire erupted as soon as the officers arrived at the scene on sunday. they showed up after a call alerting authorities to an armed man in black clothes and a mask. three others were wounded in the shooting. >> it's awful. it's really bad. >> we can't control those that

are angry and got hatred in their hearts, for whatever reason. but it's sad to see these cops that got killed. >> the suspect, a 29-year-old african-american and former marine, was shot dead. major u.s. media outlets have shown videos apparently uploaded by the suspect. he repeatedly says that black people are being suppressed in u.s. society. >> let's go with the history. 100% of revolutions have been successful through fighting back, through bloodshed. >> on july 5th, a white police officer in baton rouge shot dead a black man. that sparked protests mainly by african-americans. president barack obama has called for focus on actions that unite rather than divide. >> we as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement. attacks on police are an attack

on all of us. >> police are searching the suspect's house in the midwestern state of missouri. the rainy season brings out the humidity in japan. the damp does spirits of people but not the colors of nature. >> reporter: rain hugging moss makes itself at home on the surface of rocks and land. japan's high humidity climate allows it to flourish. about a tenth of the 20,000 kinds of moss that exists around the world are found in japan. you don't have to be a professional to make an artistic statement with moss.

moss balls combine simple gardening techniques with aesthetics. many people in japan live in compact spaces, but just about everyone should have enough room to accommodate a terrarium. it's a moss garden in a container. gardening stores are enjoying growing demand for the materials to make the moss balls in terrarium. >> even though it is tiny like a bons bonsai, it has a variety of elements. >> over the past years many people have found an affinity for moss. >> reporter: one of the largest moss habitats in japan is an area of aomori prefecture. in the midst of a national park it's this hotel which offers many moss-related experiences. the moss room comes with a bed cover and cushions made of a material that gives a moss-type

feel. a sweet treat is shaped like a moss ball. it's green apple jelly covered with green tea flavor ice cream and covered with spinach powder. guests can also sample a moss-colored cocktail. the place is full of surprises. customers are invited to create original moss balls at a shop adjacent to the hotel. they're asked to put on moss-colored hats to get a sense of communion with the moss itself. >> translator: we first wrap the plant root with these. >> reporter: this type of moss is highly absorbent. it keeps the root moist. vivid green moss comes next. finally, the ball is wound with thread to stabilize it. the whole process start to finish takes just ten minutes. >> my very own moss ball.

it's so cute. >> reporter: some 1800 moss species can be found in japan. roughly 300 in this region. a tour organized by the hotel takes guests on a moss-hunting expedition accompanied by an expert guide. a loop is an essential tool to zoom in on moss. the loupe provides a closer perspective. an actual micro world comes into view. this moss is thread-like and glossy. another type is distinguished by its red coloring, another has a fluffy texture. >> a closer look at this small universe reveals its lester and its many charms. people find themselves drawn to

it. >> participants say the tour exposes them to a beauty they've never noted before. >> everything is so nice green, then the moss. so this is very beautiful. >> good harmony. >> reporter: and a good touch of artistry courtesy of nature. hikers on mt. fuji can now stay connected with free wifi. the new service comes amid an increasing number of foreign visitors in the summit and a growing demand for complementary internet. the mountain is the tallest and is on unesco's heritage list. hikers will be able to enjoy wifi at 49 locations including all lodging facilities en route to the peak and at the summit. the service will provide information on safety and

evacuation in the event of a disaster including volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. an older limited service was available but required an i.d. and password. the free internet access is available now until early september while the mountain lodges are open. time now for the world weather update. flooding continues to plague those living along the rain-drenched areas of eastern china. our meteorologist robert speta has more. >> you can't get much of a break out here. around the yangtze river basin just off to the south and north as well. you take a look at the past week and the satellite picture. just have that rainy season really just continuing to dominate. it is still bringing more rain showers and especially back here towards the west. i want to show you some video out of hunan. dramatic footage here. this is a hillside just giving away and just moving right

through a bulldozer through several homes there. shows you the power of these events. 14 homes are located there, they were destroyed. no casualties were reported, though. residents fled ahead of this disaster. you can see the flash flooding that was also taking place there this past weekend. pretty incredible footage coming out of that area. the last thing you want, of course, is more rainfall. more rain is in the forecast. we're actually looking at some areas just south of beijing, looking about 150 to 180 millimeters of total precipitation. as this does continue to develop and pull off there towards the east. definitely we'll be watching over the next several days. just towards the south of this, we also have a small tropical depression just north of the southern japanese islands that will bring scattered showers there into parts of kyushu. remember we had landslides there recently as well. it still could be causing some localized problems. tokyo with a high of 32.

much of mainland japan, temperatures will be remaining into the mid-30s. you do want to be staying cool and hydrated out there. actually over towards seoul as well. high of 32. shanghai thunderstorm even into beijing you'll see a high of 26. let's take a look at the americas. in parts of quebec extending down through new england we have been seeing some rather severe weather, actually widespread reports of hail out there and even a tornado in northern spain was reported all due to this cold front diving through. some relatively cool air but i think down towards the south, in the deep south, that's where we've been seeing this heat dome. it's been kind of fueling up our storms here. it will trigger thunderstorms into parts of the western great lakes extending down into the midwest, but really the topic will be the heat dome. even fire warnings because of the heat and dry air back towards the rockies. but temperatures continuing to soar out here.

houston at 34. take a look at the three-day forecast for some of you. minnesota, you're going to be looking at -- excuse me, minneapolis, minnesota, i should say. thursday high of 36. even into oklahoma city, 39 out there. absolute scorcher. all right. here across europe in eastern europe as well we're looking at some thunderstorms across the baltic states. some have already been rather severe looking at winds about 60 to 70 kilometers, even extending down into the balken peninsula. this is moving into western russia and getting rather warm. some of the warmest temperatures expected across the uk thus far this year. london pushing up to 32 degrees there. paris had 35, madrid, 39 here on your tuesday. all right. here's the extended outlook.

that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. thank you for watching.

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euromaxx highlights. >> hello there friends. we bring you up to date with some of the latest european culture news of the past week. here's a preview of her subjects. water walk. floating peers in italy are attracting crowd. sa berlin artist and his exceptional inventions. a thatched house on the german jetset island of silt. if you have been following the news, you will know british voters have decided to leave the european union. what does that mean?