hello there, welcome to nhk "newsline." it is tuesday, august2nd, 9:00 a.m. i'm catherine kobayashi tokyo. a prom nebts chinese human rights lawyer has confessed to subversion. but some supporters say chinese authorities may have pressured her to do so. in the interview, she says she feels ashamed and regrets what she has done, including posting inappropriate the messages on the internet. she is one of those who has been detained by police since july of

last year. some others have given similar confessions. she also criticizes a former law firm colleague. she says the chief lawyer used human rights lawyers and retired government officials to instigate people to attack the government. her colleague was arrested at the time she was. she was released on bail before doing the interview, but her supporters say they haven't been able to confirm whether she's actually being released. the chinese navy has conducted a live ammunition drill in the east china sea. it was held to mark the 89th anniversary of the founding of the people's liberation army. but observers think there's more to it than that. the large scale exercises were held in a 16,000 square kilometer area of the sea on monday. the drill involved about 100 vessels and several dozen combat aircraft of two groups of

participants tested sprajs and equipment and fired several different times of missiles. they say the drill is a regular military exercise, but the sea is also home to the senkaku islands, controlled by japan. the japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japan's territory. championsh china and taiwan claim them. some think the drill would be a message to japan. it could be beijing's opposition to north korea. the chinese navy conducted a similar drill in the south china sea a few weeks ago after the hague rejected their claims to the waters. a panel of japanese experts is studying how to prepare for a terrorist bombing ahead of the

2020 games. the fire and disaster management agency doesn't currently have specific measures to deal with such threats. the group will study where to guide units, how to guide people away in danger and how to share information. they will consider the month of -- possibilities soft targets like restaurants and sporting venues. >> translator: i can't tell if japan will spears a terror attack like other countries have. but we should be prepared knowing that such incident kos happen at any time. >> the group is aiming to compile a report by february. on august 6, 1945, an

bomb was dropped on a city for the first time in history. as we near the 71st anniversary, we're bringing you stories of the legacy left by the attacks. president obama's visit to hiroshima in may was the first by any sitting president. he spoke about the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, but today's reality is nowhere close to that hope. nhk's benjamin marks reports from washington. >> reporter: when president obama visited hiroshima, he reaffirmed the importance of creating a world without nuclear weapon, though admitting the difficulties of reaching this goal. >> we may not realize this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe.

>> reporter: the u.s. and russia own a combined total of more han 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. so for any meaningful reduction of stockpiles, both countries have to be on board. in 2010, obama signed the new stark treaty with his russian counterpart to further the arms down to no more than 1550 warheads on their deployed delivery systems. but since then, the two powers have collided over the conflict in ukraine and syria, bringing bilateral disarmament talks do a stand still. modernizing its nuclear weapons. the u.s. is also pushing for modernization. the pentagon completed tests last october on a new weapon called the b-61 model 12.

defense officials say it has a new guidance system for precision strikes. its nuclear yield can also be reduced to up to 1/50th the size of the bomb dropped on hiroshima, which means less nuclear fall out. one estimate puts the total cost at nuclear modernization at $1 trillion over the next 30 years. officials say it's necessary in order to keep up nuclear deterrents. >> disarmament is clearly the gold standard. but as president obama noted, we may not get there during our lifetimes. and along the way, we must ensure our ability to deter. >> reporter: but some experts point out that having smarter nuclear weapons might make it easier for u.s. leaders to choose the objectiption of usin. >> if you can do it with a much smaller yield, say 5 kilogram and get it much closer to the

target, you get less radioactive fallout. the attack becomes less controversial. that might change how a president is willing to order the use of nuclear weapons. >>reporter: with a race to modernize nuclear weapons on the way, the goal of ridding the word of these weapons seems a distant hope. president obama only has a few months left in office. and time for meaningful action is growing short. benjamin marks, nhk. a story of children who survived the a-bomb continues to resonate with people around the world. we now continue with business news. the negative interest policy has weighed down financial groups. ai uchida joins us. give us the details. >> we are talking about a drop in the earnings of all three

major banking groups in the april to june period. that is the start of the fiscal year here, and it's also the first time in two years that we've seen declines during that quarter. while managers say that after the bank of japan introduced its negative interest rate policy in february, lending rates fell and squeezed the banks' margins. executives at mitsubishi ufj say the bank's net profit dropped 32% year on year in mitsui say they also saw a decline. miz u hoe's fell also. their officials say lower interest rates account for about one third in the drop of their profit. the three groups cite another factor, lackluster prices put a dent in the sale of mutual

funds, leading to lower income from fees. now let's see what's happening with markets. a drop in crude oil prices weighed on overall market sentiment. the dow jones closed slightly down, but the nasdaq inched up by .4%. we're going to see what's happening with stocks here in tokyo this tuesday morning. for that, we're going to ramin mellegard. tell us what you're seeing over there. >> you touched on oil markets there. that's likely to be a drag here as well. we did see energy stocks lower on wall street, and the stubbornly strong yen against the dollar may also hold back a little bit of sentiment. and of course you touched on earnings reports from three of japan's megabanks. we'll go into that in a second as well. but let's have a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and the broader topix this tuesday, august 2nd. the three kay's down, broader

topixs down by almost the same margin. the nikkei climbed .4% on monday as investors paused after the volatility scene following the decision by the bank of japan on additional easing. investors felt short changed by the central bank for not doing more. still the markets will be looking at earnings reports. as you mentioned earlier, the three major japanese financial groups reported declines in profits, that's amid boj's negative interest rate policy, which is crimping their profit margins. that's not helping. another concern, of course, as we've been talking about is the drop in crude oil prices. wti crude futures briefly fell below $40 a barrel for the first time in about three and a half months. and that's on worries that the global supply glut may expand after the number of oil rigs increased in the u.s. now one positive factor, it may

actually come from the steel sector, and we did see metal shares rising. iron ore prices or futures rallying after that private pmi day tra showta showed an expans. copper hit a one-week high. nickel, which goes into the making of stainless steel. and iron ore futures in china rose 4%. that's one sector we will watch out for this morning. >> tell me about currency markets. as you though, wea-- as you kno we've seen choppy moves. >> we've seen some choppy moves. it's holding steady against the yelp aft yen. let's get a look quickly. seoul's kospi is in the

negative. the china markets open in an hour and a half. we'll see if there's any improvement following that private pmi data in china. back to you. >> thanks a lot for keeping us up to date, and we will touch base with you in a couple hours. test runs for a high-speed rail system have begun in india. and officials are hoping the test runs can reach 200 kilometers per hour. the train left new delhi for the biggest commercial city, mumbai, about 1,500 kilometers away. the engine is pulling new passenger cars supplied by spanish company. the tests will run for several days. officials hope the train will be the fastest in the country. >> we are curious to see whether the claim is correct, can we

really reach in that time, a substantial saving in time is anticipated. and secondly, can we reach safely. >> india has been working to bring in a high-speed rail service as its rapid economic growth requires people and goods to be transported more quickly. the company will introduce bullet train technology from japan in the coming years and is also trying to increase the speed of existing routes. the jap. japanese diners are notoriously fussy about ferb. and businesses are seeing a opportunity. >> reporter: tokyo haneda market lies on these grounds. workers sell fish from all over japan. until recently, they have always

handled seafood near the point of catch, then again near its final destination across the country. it request take up to two days for fish to reach dinner tables. but that's not the case here. a worker reads out the name of the fish, then puts it on a machine which prints a label showing the weight and region. >> translator: there's no better place than an airport for sorting and processing fresh fish for distribution. it's never been done this way before. i think this is a big change. >>reporter: fisherman pull a net. the biggest prize is this type of bream. they bypass a local auction and head to the nearest airport.

the market has agreed to take it all. seven hours later, the bream are in haneda. >> translator: bream. >> reporter: staff sort them as soon as possible and dispatch them to a supermarket. by 3:00 in the afternoon, the fish are packaged and on store shelves. eight slices go for about $12. the fish quickly sells out. >> translator: the idea is to get really fresh products into the big cities as soon as possible. japanese consumers are fussy about fresh fuss, ness. so this will add to our business. >> reporter: the internet is also making a big difference in the way distribution works.

this firm does what p men can't. these grouper are from mammograp . the firm in tokyo ensures nothing feneed go to waste. >> translator: with a bit of effort, we can get a good price for these and help the fisherman make a little extra. >> translator: here is the carfaccio. this is grouper from nagasaki. >> reporter: staff at this tokyo restaurant have included the fish on their recommended menu. >>translator: it has a crunchy texture. >> translator: i've never had

fish this firm before. >> reporter: more than 4,000 restaurants have registered with the site. >> translator: we're sharing information about catches people previously didn't know were out there. we're making it much easier to sell rare fish. i think there's a lot of potential. >> reporter: fishermen and retailers are breaking with tradition to get fish faster to market. next, they'll be looking abroad as they try to get seafood from japan more quickly to tables around the world. >> asian markets are down this morning. i'll leave you with a check on markets

a legend of sumo as died of the fans across importa importanting his death.coffin i making its way tru the streets. he paid his debut at the age of

15, and he earned the nickname "wolf". throughout his career, he won championships. he won the ii. and he won the highest award for civilian accomplishment. in 1990, he reached a milestone, his 1 thousandth win.

a year later, after losing to a 18-year-old o had -- who had become yokozuna grand champion, he paid thmade this announcemen. he started training young wrestlers. in his hometown, people reacted to the news of his death. >> translator: he sure was a strong wrestler. i remember watching him on tv. it's a big loss.

>> translator: he was my hero when i was a kid. >> reporter: he learned many techniques from the legendary wrestler. >> translator: i can't find the words. it's too early. all i can say is it's so sad. >> reporter: last year, he performed the ring-entering ceremony, celebrating his 60th birthday of the birthday. a short while later, he underwent surgery for pancreatic history. his wins are the second

s sumo history. and the new governor will accept the flag for the 2020 games at the and in london, pele generated excitement. he wants to deliver the message that japan is recovering from the 2011 disaster. it plans to present a video from children in the devastated area to thank them for support. >> translator: the rio olympics will be our first and last opportunity to learn how to run the games. we want to make use of what we

learn here for the tokyo games. it is time now for a check of the weather. people in southern china are getting impacted by a typhoon. >> it came on shore to the east of 2:30 hong kong time. it's track to the north. high winds if the higher elevations, upwards of 145 kilometers. i want to show you these max

wind reports. this is what you're kind of feeling if some of the high rise buildings in the downtown area. the higher up you go, the stronger the winds are. you are still rolooking at wind wrapping around. this came on shore just to the east of hong kong. still expecting gusty conditions tru t through the rest of your important. schools have been canceled here into hong kong and many businesses have been crlosed. so this entire area towards macau at a stand still. it area is

typhoons. it extends over, and if to 350 pimillimeters of rainfal. we have been seeing a rlow pressure area. to produce strong thunderstorms. you can see the thunderstorms flaring up. and, as we go in through tuesday, much like we've seen on upo monday, we're expecting

precipitation, frequent light finger lightning. and the potential of a tornado. the let's take a look at the temperatures. tokyo. 36, partly cloudy skies lawn bator. and back towards the west, showers working their way into the r low country. here's your extended outlook

and at that wraps up it edition of nhk fenhk

announcer: "euromaxx highlights." and here's your host, louise houghton. louise: hi, everyone. welcome to the show, and thanks for joining us today. we have a lighthearted, fun, and fancy edition for you. here's what is coming up. fancy two-piece -- we take a look at the history of the bikini. painted movie -- a team of artists pay homage to vincent van gogh. and delicious treat -- how to make an original viennese apple strudel. happy birthday to the bikini. the summertime two-piece that many of us, i'm sure, wish we