and south africa is becoming a new destination for renewable energy producers. leaders there hope the green industry can fuel the economy. g-7 leaders have issued a joint statement wrapping up the first day of a summit in brussels. heads of the world's leading industrialized nations are covering a lot of ground. they're discussing disputes around the world. it's the first summit meeting since russia annexed crimea in march. the leaders renewed their commitment to stand by ukraine, and they said they're ready to intensify sanctions against russia if necessary. >> translator: g-7 leaders have agreed to support the new ukrainian president and to try to reach a diplomatic resolution to the situation through continued dialogue with russia. >> the leaders expressed deep concern over tensions in the east and south china seas.

chinese and vietnamese crews have been facing off over an oil drilling rig in the south china sea. the chinese rig is in an area which both countries claim. the leaders said they oppose any unilateral attempts to restore territorial or maritime claims through the use of force. they also criticized north korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and they urged officials in pyongyang to comply with their obligations under u.n. security council resolutions. the turmoil in ukraine has dominated much of the g-7's discussions. some participants are trying to strike a balance between pressure and dialogue with russian leader. nhk world's jun yots mo toe reports. >> reporter: g-7 leaders regularly juggle a number of pressing issues. but their dispute over russia and ukraine has proven to be a particularly difficult one. still, they say, they stand united in the face of this

crisis. >> translator: we were seven and not eight. we were seven united on the same position, and i stress this. speaking with one voice, explaining the same principles coming up with the same proposals and reaching the same conclusions. and everyone must listen, especially the one who isn't here. >> reporter: it's a clear message for russian president vladimir putin. the leaders were supposed to hold a group of eight meeting with him in sochi. they canceled the summit and put the g-8 on ice to punish putin for annexing crimea. but the leaders of france, britain and germany are scheduled to meet one on one with him later this week. all are scheduled to attend the 70th anniversary of the d-day landings on friday in france. they'll take part in commemorations of the allied

invasion of normandy during world war ii. in recent weeks, putin appears to have softened his stance. russian troops have been camped out along the border with ukraine for months. but now it seems that two-thirds of them have withdrawn. alleviating tensions. putin has also accepted the result of last month's presidential election in the ukraine. and g-7 leaders want the president to use his influence to end the conflict in the east. pro-russian separatists have taken control of several towns and cities and have declared independence. ukrainian soldiers are trying to put an end to the unrest. one leader who hasn't scheduled a meeting with putin is u.s. president barack obama. but both will be at the d-day ceremonies.

and putin says he's ready to talk. >> translator: it's up to president obama whether there will be a meeting or not. i'm ready to talk. dialogue is the best approach to relationship building. >> reporter: the g-7 leaders have distanced themselves from putin over the turmoil in ukraine. but both sides recognize that efforts to reach a diplomatic solution are needed to move forward. jun yotsomoto, nhk world. u.s. officials have waited on a maritime dispute between china and the philippines. a state department spokesperson says the two sides should allow a u.n. trooi bunal to hear their competing claims in the south china sea. >> we are concerned about china's actions there. about an increasing pattern, it seems, of destabilizing actions

there and, again, believe that this kind of dispute resolution mechanism is a good way to handle these things. >> harf said the philippines and other states have the right to international arbitration under the law of the sea convention. the philippines last year submitted a request with the u.n. court in the hague. philippine officials said china's claims to jurisdiction over virtually all of the south china sea have no legal basis. china's leaders have refused to accept independent arbitration. and china rejected a request from the u.n. court to submit evidence in support of its claims by december. leaders in beijing are also at odds with their counterparts in tokyo. members of the a private panel from the two nations are discussing how to improve relations. the two-day meeting began on thursday in nagasaki, western japan. the new japan-china friendship committee for the 21st century was scheduled to meet in 2012. but the talks were postponed due to strained relations between the two countries.

the 14 participants are trying to find ways to improve bilateral cooperation. they include the president of japan post holdings, taizo nishimuro and former chinese foreign among minister tang. it's not limited to the government level. he worned that people in both countries are beginning to harbor ill feelings toward each other. >> translator: we should break the cycle of mutual distrust and open a path to improved relations. >> tang criticized japanese leaders' positions over historical issues and islands in the east china sea when he indicated they could work together for the future. >> translator: our bilateral relations have faced difficulties. but such tensions are temporary. >> nishimuro and tang will announce the outcome of the talks on friday.

people are reacting to the result of syria's presidential election with praise and protest. officials say bashar al assad has won a third term in office, even as a civil war rages in his country. his supporters are happy, but his critics consider the vote a sham. more from nhk world's craig dale. >> reporter: syrians celebrated in the streets after hearing the results of the presidential election. the parliamentary speaker declared bashar al assad the victor, saying he won more than 88% of the ballots. criticism came quickly. french president francois o land said the vote has no value. u.s. secretary of state john

kerry called the results meaningless on a visit to neighboring lebanon. >> you can't have an election where millions of your people don't even have an ability to vote, where they don't have an ability to contest the election, and they have no choice. >> reporter: few considered this a true exercise in democracy. assad was up against two candidates his critics called relatively unknown and state approved. authorities pegged turnout at 73%, including syrian refugees and ex-pats. but before and after the vote, the three-year-long civil war continued. anti-government forces fired off missiles, military jets prowled the skies, and more civilians paid the price. people in parts of the north and east controlled by the rebels couldn't cast ballots and some of the nearly 3 million refugees dismissed the entire process.

>> translator: we refuse to accept these elections. these charade and mockery. we left our homes and were displaced by force as a result of the shelling and tyranny of the regime. >> reporter: before john kerry railed against the results, he said the u.s. would do more for syrians. >> another $290 million in humanitarian assistance. >> reporter: the money will also help the millions of people displaced inside the country. at the same time, western leaders are trying to eliminate a risk syrians face in the form of chemical weapons. but u.n. officials admit they'll miss a june 30th deadline to destroy them. they can't move the last 7% of the stockpile declared by the assad regime because of security concerns. >> what is important, however, that all the materials are out of harm's way and the destruction can start as soon as possible. >> reporter: once the weapons leave syria, experts will destroy them using equipment on a retrofitted u.s. ship. the process is scheduled to take

60 days. bashar al assad will start his third term in office before then. he's expected to be sworn in on july 17th. president for another seven years. craig dale, nhk world. let's now turn to the latest business stories with ron madison. >> all right. starting with corporate news this hour, japanese telecom giant softbank is ready to further boost its presence in the u.s. market. u.s. media say the company's subsidiary sprint is close to a deal to buy t-mobile u.s. sprint is the country's third biggest mobile carrier. t-mobile is number four. media report the parent companies of the two mobile carriers reached a general agreement that sprint will pay $32 billion for t-mobile. that cost would go up to $50 billion when debts are included. the reports say executives at the carriers are now working out the details and are likely to wrap up the deal as early as next month. softbank's top executive says

the merger would create a firm that could better compete with the top two u.s. carriers, verizon wireless and at&t. he says this would give americans better access to faster and cheaper broadband services. some u.s. regulators, though, are reportedly reluctant to give the go ahead. they're worried the merger could lead to a market where only a few major firms dominate. the ambitions of softbank's -- apparently have no limits. he says his company will start e selling human-like robots early next year. this robot named pepper is 120 centimeters tall and weighs 28 kilograms. it was introduced to reporters. >> hi. >> it can carry on conversations with people by analyzing their facial expressions and voices with a camera and microphone. the robot is linked to the internet and can answer questions about the weather as

well as other subjects. softbank plans to use prototype robots at its stores and start selling them for about $1,900 next february. all right. let's get a check of the markets now. many investors in asia were reluctant to make aggressive bets before the european central bank officials are said to announce their policy decision. major forces in the region finished mixed. some investors turned cautious after the latest data showed that china's service sector produced slower growth in may compared to the previous month. the data initially hurt sentiment in chinese markets but the shanghai composite moved higher toward the close fiblly closing higher .8%, 2,040. buying picked up after china's central bank said it will add liquidity to the money markets for a fourth consecutive week. tokyo's nikkei average edged up to 15,079 extenlding a winning streak into a fourth trading session. still the gains were capped as some participants sold. they're thicking that the nikkei looks a bit overheated due to a recent runup. in seoul the kospi shed more

than .6% to 1,1995. investors took profits from two straight sessions of advances. south korean markets will be closed on friday. researchers in japan have taken another step in advancing fuel cell technology. they've create add new type of electrode that's cheaper to make and generates electricity more efficiently. researchers at kyushu university announced the development in collaboration with nagoya university. the researchers applied an enzyme on to the electrode to act as a catalyst for producing energy. they say their test showed the electrode general rapts 1.8 times the power of a conventional one made from platinum. prices of platinum are high, so researchers around the world have been trying to find materials to replace it. the lead researcher says their electrode is less than half the cost of a platinum one. >> translator: we have confirmed that power generating capability is possible for at least 12 hours. we expect to be able to produce

fuel cells without platinum in the near future and be ready when platinum supplies dry up. >> experts say problems such as durability still have to be resolved before the new electrode can be put to practical use. south africa is known as a big exporter of coal. but people in the country are finding potential in other types of resources. that's wide open spaces and stable climate. many producers of solar, wind and other green energy are finding just the right combination in south africa. government leaders hope these new businesses can fire up their economy. nhk world's nishikawa takes a look. >> reporter: 700 kilometers south of johannesburg, 40 turbines make up one of the largest wind farms in south africa. strong winds blow across this area year round. they allow turbines to generate up to 100 megawatts per hour. that's equivalent to providing

power for 80,000 households. the plant is a joint venture between local companies and japanese trading house sumitomo corporation. it costs about $200 million to build. >> we saw that this country has very good conditions for the wind and solar and has a large land. and it's very feasible and reasonable to construct such an energy power plant. >> reporter: a norwegian firm built this massive solar plant in the north of the country last year. it's just one of many european energy companies looking to south africa. they're faced with declining power con sumgts at home as the region's economies idle. >> south africa was attractive mainly because of the timing. it came when the european renewable was falling.

and south africa took the rising. >> reporter: south africans currently get 85% of their energy from coal-fired power plants. but the economy is rapidly growing, and demand is rising faster than supply. people and businesses have been suffering from chronic electricity shortages. so government authorities set a target of doubling the power supply by 2030. and they want nearly half that increase to be renewable energy. they say they've got the land to build large scale facilities and bring down the cost of renewables. >> the cost is very low. but the operational costs are very high because it needs coal, coal, coal, coal. you know, and coal is not an infinite energy source. >> reporter: the government's providing a variety of

incentives for companies to enter the renewables market. they're offering tax breaks and state-owned utilities have to buy electricity from renewable sources at fixed prices. the policy has already produced results. more than 60 renewable energy projects have begun during the past three years. many foreign firms are grabbing the opportunity. officials hope the focus on renewable energy will also cut south africa's high unemployment rate. they say their policies will create 50,000 new jobs. most workers at this wind farm are from nearby towns. >> before it was a little bit difficult because i didn't have a job to work. but now it changes from this -- from the start of this year that they come and give me a job. >> reporter: officials say wind farms and other green energy

projects have the potential to revitalize entire communities. >> the economic stimulation of those, you know, those areas has proven to be very valuable for job creation. you know, in the direct sectors. >> reporter: government officials are taking bids for more renewable energy projects. and investors are hoping the authorities continue to support the industry and make the green energy boom sustainable. mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world, johannesburg. >> that is going to do it for business hour. let's see how things are looking on the markets. southeast asia

weekday, live from bangkok, only on nhk world "newsline." south korea's ruling party has avoided a major backlash from voters on its handling of a recent ferry diser aster. the sewol sank in april leaving over 300 people dead or missing. results are in for local elections widely seen as a referendum on president park geun-hye's administration. candidates from the ruling party won in 8 of 17 major polls. they include closely followed races for mayor in incheon and governor in key yonggi province. in seoul the incumbent mayor from leading opposition party new politics for democracy defeated the candidate. the government was heavily

criticized for its handling of the ferry tragedy. candidates clawed back support toward the end of the campaign. the presidential office says it humbly accepts the will of the people and will work hard for national reform. german prosecutors are investigating an allegation that chancellor angela merkel's phone was tapped by u.s. intelligence. german magazine deshbeagle last year reported her mobile phone was likely monitored for more than ten years. it cited internal information leaked by former u.s. national security agency contractor edward snowden. prosecutors said preliminary investigations produced sufficient factual evidence. they say it suggests unknown members of u.s. intelligence services spied on merkel's mobile phone. the german government has urged the u.s. to overhaul its intelligence activities, but washington is not willing to comply, leaving the germans distrustful of the u.s. posture. u.s. state department spokesperson marie harf said

president barack obama discussed the alleged tapping in depth with merkel last month. harf underscored the importance of handling the issue through diplomatic channels. let's now bring in our meteorologist robert speta for a check of the weather. robert, a wet day here in tokyo. i guess the rainy season has begun. how long will it last? >> shery, it typically actually lasts for about a month here into the tokyo metro area. you're right, it really is starting to rain out there. the next 24 hours showers going to continue to come down. as far as the rainy season is concerned we see those showers day in and day out. typically it's quite heavy, but not as heavy as what we've actually seen in the past 24 hours for kochi prefecture. record breaking rainfall into shokoku. mia prefecture say 50

millimeters in a one hour span. we actually have videos coming out of there. that's what 50 millimeters looks like for a one hour span. heavy rainfalls in owasse. during the rainy season japan becomes very accustomed during the heavy rainfall continues to occur. let's take a look at the forecast. next 24 hours we'll take a look at those showers continuing to push off there towards the northeast. tokyo metro area, you could see as much as 100 to 150 millimeters of rainfall going through your friday. that rain on top of already saturated grounds, there is that threat of flooding, even some landslides here. also strong winds, lightning and the possibility of tornadoes. not as large as a threat as flooding as we're going to be seeing out there. don't be surprised if we do see a report of at least a small tornado coming out of this storm system. extend that back towards the west and we are looking at the rainy season continuing to impact those of you in southern china. southwestern china, some significant flooding already occurring out here earlier this

week. in the next 24 hours still 150 to 200 millimeters in gongdong towards fujan province. that threat continuing to linger. landslides could occur just north of hong kong. temperatures look like this. hong kong with a high of 23. taipei, 21, relatively cool. still have that cloud cover in place. tokyo, 23 on your friday. seoul soaring all the way up to 30 there with some partly cloudy skies. do want to talk about severe thunderstorms erupting across the u.s. today as well. you can see right here that cloud cover pushing through the ohio river valley. this storm system has already brought some rather intense thunder cells out here. actually back toward nebraska a barn just reported blown down there due to some strong wind gusts. now all that's shifting off towards the east. several reports of tornadoes into kentucky, also into tennessee. that threat is still going to be here going through your wednesday into your thursday. you can see anywhere, actually, into the yellow, that is where you're seeing the highest risk

of some severe thunderstorms. so if you have travel plans into wichita, over towards memphis, just be ready for the possibility of some delays or even cancellations as far as any flights are concerned out of this. eventually that's going to shift off towards the east, though, bringing in the heavy rainfall with it. then back towards the west staying dry and hot. into the southwest, los angeles, high of 26. oklahoma city you're going to see some thunderstorms in your forecast, 35 there for your high. staying warm and pleasant in miami. sunny skies with a high of 30. do want to talk about what's going on here in europe as well. the balkan peninsula, you have a few thunderstorms continuing to erupt out here. actually some of these could become rather severe. heavy rainfall occurring with these. so localized flash flooding. but in the northeastern europe, staying relatively dry at least for the time being. actually warm. we see a it willle warming trend mu nick, moscow. all the way up to 31 there on your friday. here's the extended outlook.

and that's all for this hour on "newsline." i'm shery ahn. thank you for watching. 1x1xa7guc

>> these are the headlines for you this hour. the g7 meet for the first time in 17 years without russia. warning tors give a the russian president, vladimir putin, that more sanctions could be on the way over the crisis in ukraine. voters in the central england town of new work to the polls to elect a new member of parliament ukipthe euro skeptic party hoping to capitalize on recent success, they want to secure their first british mp. a manhunt underway in canada for a man believe