hello and welcome back to "newsline." i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the delegates from ukraine, russia and european security organization will try to arrange a truce in the fighting that is blocking investigators from the malaysia airlines crash site. people in gaza are lacking food, water and electricity as fighting between israeli forces and the palestinian islamist group hamas disrupts supplies. and tensions are increasing around japan with north korea

missile launches and china's maritime activities. we ask japan's defense minister about the future course of the nation's defense international investigators are expressing growing frustration over their lack of access to the site where a malaysia airlines plane crashed. the passenger jet was shot down earlier this month over eastern ukraine. representatives of russia and ukraine are set to hold discussions to try to find a way forward on that issue and the conflict in ukraine. nhk world's craig dale is covering developments. >> reporter: those representatives will meet in belarus with a delegate from the organization for security and cooperation in europe. they want to be able to get investigators access to that crash site. and to do that they need to find a way to get a truce between russian -- pro-russian separatists and ukrainian forces who are fighting in the east. a missile brought down flight mh-17 two weeks ago, killing all 298 people on board. more than half of them from the

netherlands. international team of investigators led by the dutch have tried time and again to access the site, some remains of along with debris.ll in the forensic experts need to go through the evidence to figure out what happened to the plane and give families of the victims some closure. but investigators have feared for their own safety because of fighting nearby between ukrainian soldiers and the separatists. and in some cases the rebels themselves have blocked them from going to th. >> unfortunately we don't expect the security situation to improve enough over the next days to make it possible. this makes it less likely that we will reach the site in the immediate future. >> reporter: ukrainian leaders say they ordered their troops to stay 40 kilometers away from the area and accuse the separatists of bombing the site. leaders in the u.s. and european union blame russian president vladimir putin for helping the separatists behind the scene. that's something he denies. and they accuse the rugs of providing the rebels with the

weapon used to hit the plane. we should note here both the russians and the separatists blame ukraine forces for bringing down mh-17. now, by extension to all this, leaders in the u.s. and eu blame putin for not using his influence to reign in the separatists, allowing investigators access to the site. all of that is behind their decision to implement a wave of new sanctions targeting different parts of the russian economy and people close to putin. russian banks, for example, are cut off from european capital markets aand on top of that restrictions are in place on the weapons trade with russia and on the trade of technology with the country's oil industry, which could hurt future projects. members of the group of seven industrialized nations say the remove of the sanctions is up to russian leaders. they say president putin should stop trying to undermine the integrity and independence and they say the russians must stop

their support for the separatists in eastern ukraine. if president putin takes no action, they say we remain ready to further intensify the costs. now, some experts say those costs could have a tremendous impact in the short-term and could stifle development down the road, but the russians as they have been before in the face of these sanctions, they're standing their ground. foreign minister officials called the measures destructive and shortsighted and say they'll push up energy prices in europe and damage cooperation between russia and the u.s. on international affairs. >> nhk world's craig dale there. diplomats have pushed israelis and palestinians over again to agree to a cease-fire. but they refuse to come to a truce and keep trading fire into and out of the gaza strip. now, israeli forces have hit a crowded shopping area. 17 palestinian civilians were killed. shells landed in an area around a gas station, hit people walking in the street. israeli forces launched their offensive three weeks ago.

health authorities in gaza say more than 1300 palestinians have been killed. israeli soldiers have been trying to demolish tunnels used by fighters with islamic militant group hamas. three soldiers were killed when a bomb in one tunnel exploded. 56 israelis have been killed in the fighting. israeli commanders had announced plans on wednesday to seize fire in some areas for four hours. but a spokesperson for hamas said the pse was aimed at pleasing the media and claimed the israelis had not given medical staff access to areas where many palestinians have been wounded. the fighting is taking a toll on the lives of gaza's residents. most of them lost electricity this week. israeli attacks on tuesday destroyed fuel tanks at gaza's only power plant. those who bake bread at home formed long lines at the few bakeries that have backup generato >> translator: i had to wait for 2 and a half hours to buy two bags of bread.

>> translator: our house was in the north. it was destroyed and we had no place to live. we don't have flour, electricity, or bread. i want to get something for my family to eat. >> residents of upper floors in apartment buildings also lack water because the pumps have no power. to the latest on business now, argentina officials have watched the clock tick past a deadline. they had to make interest payments on the national debt adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars, but were unable to reach a deal with their creditors. analysts at standard & poor's cut their rating of government debt from triple c mins to sd, standing for selective default. the argentine economy minister dismissed the decision. argentine officials had already deposited the necessary fund in a bank account.

and he said his government had proposed a compromise but investors rejected it. the trouble stems from another default in 2001. after that, some creditors agreed to reduce payments, but u.s. hedge funds insisted they be paid in full. and last month the u.s. supreme court ruled argentina must pay those investors first. officials argued they could not afford to do that without changing their agreements with all bond holders. investors and economists are trying to understand what all of this means. we asked martin schultz, a senior economist in tokyo for his analysis. >> the overall impact on argentina itself is immediately negative. in argentina, people were hoping that the economy is normalizing again. we have very low growth right now. it is almost zero percent right now. we have very high inflation and we have much too little investment, in particular from overseas investors, into

infrastructure, into new factories. and this is now getting even worse. inflation will pick up because there is less money around. it will get much harder to get international investors to invest into the country. money will flow out. so the economy will deteriorate and that is very bad news. the most problematic point of this situation was this negotiations have been going on for so long is that the u.s. is now increasing interest rates gradually from here. so global monetary policy is getting more restrictive, which means dollars are not flowing into emerging countries anymore. they are flowing back into the u.s. and anybody who is vulnerable, having a weak economy, having weak currencies, is now at the edge of getting into even more difficulties. we already are seeing a situation where the dollar has been comparatively weak because of monetary policy. now it is getting much stronger which means many emerging countri

currencies, will get weaker from now. some countries may get under heavy pressure. we had such a case in turkey last year already, in indonesia, we are in a difficult situation in asia as well. so a case in argentina, with default, is very bad news in the current situation. >> well, he went on to state situation has changed and now argentina officials and crede entering a new phase of negotiations. let's get a check of the markets. chinese investors continue to push their stock benchmarks higher. the shanghai composite climbed just over .9%. finished out the day above that key 2200 mark. that's the first time that's happened since december of last year. market players are expecting that july's official manufacturing data is likely to improve from the previous month. those figures due out on friday. now, the key index marked the best month since december 2012, gaining 7.5% in july. many investors recently shifted their money into the chinese markets due to improving signs

in the nation's economy. taking a look now at other markets in the region. some took their cues from higher chinese equities. others, though, have made good gains from recent rallies and refrained from buying any further. tokyo's nikkei average finished at 15,620, that snapped four days of gains. a weaker yen lifted overall sentiment in early trading but the buying was not enough to offset profit taking. taiwan's taiex finished at 9,315, investors dumped shares of technology companies as several giants in the sector released disappointing profit forecasts. south korea's sam electronics reported earnings for april and june. they say sales fell from a year earlier for the first time in nine samsung's sales stood at about $51 billion in the three months. that's down almost 9% when calculated in juan and first drop since 2005. operating profit tumbled more

than 24% to about $7 billion, that's the third straight quarterly decline. the officials say the depreciation cut into earnings. they also note that sales of smartphones and tablets were slow in china, pointing out that cheaper local products were more popular in the giant market. samsung executives say they will roll out new smartphone models to try to push up sales. well, the corporate group in japan that provides educational services has withdrawn its earnings forecast for the current business year. this follows a leakage of about 23 million items on customers' personal information. benesse wrote down about $250 million as an extraordinary loss. and this is to cover compensation payments to customers and to boost data security. the firm had earlier estimated about $210 million in after tax profit for fiscal 2014, but the managers now say the forecast for the year remains uncertain. news about the leakage is

prompting many customers to cancel membership of the firm's services and they include education programs by correspondence. the vice chairman and director in charge resigned on thursday to take responsibility for the data leakage. that is going to do it for business hour. let's get you caught up with the japan's cabinet decided earlier this month to change the interpretation of the constitution to enable the nation to exercise its right to collective self-defense. the decision comes at a time of heightened tensions over north korea's missile launches and china's stepped up mahre time

activities. today we take a look at japan's defense policy. ♪ >> reporter: japanese officials worry about a number of things as they look out around them. north korean missile launches, china's maritime activityies. last november, china declared an air identification zone over the east china sea. it includes the senkaku islands in okinawa prefecture, which japan controls and both china and taiwan claim. >> translator: the new zone is designed to protect china's sovereignty and the safety of its territory and air space. >> reporter: china says aircraft in the area had to obey instructions from the chinese defense ministry. and the country may use force against aircraft that fail to comply. this has put the japanese

government on high alert. in may, a chinese warplane flew dangerously close to two japanese self-defense force aircraft near the median line between the two countries. similar incidents occurred in june as well. amid the tension, prime minister shinzo abe visited australia and met with his counterpart tony abbott in july. they signed a pact to jointly develop defense equipment. the two nations plan to hold joint defense drills with united states after miyagi prefecture to strengthen defense ties. japan's maritime and self-defense force also took part in a joint drill between the navies of the united states and india in july. it was the first time in five years that japan has taken part. defense minister boarded a u.s. nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

he's the first japanese cabinet minister to do so during the drill. japan is trying to establish ties with several countries. >> japan's defense minister joined us earlier in the studio. nhk world's senior political commentator asked him about japan's defense policy and where it's headed. >> thank you very much, today, for joining us. you boarded an american aircraft carrier yourself, rather unusual thing to do for japanese defense minister. what is the aim of this inspection? >> this time japan joined the united states and india in the naval exercise. the joint exercise was conducted in waters near japan. at the center was george washington, american nuclear

powered aircraft carrier, which was the best place to inspect the entire situation. that's why i landed there. and i met japanese american and indian commanding officers and received a briefing from them. i also observed the capabilities of the carrier itself, and fighter jets take off and landing exercises. it was intended to strengthen the ties between japan and the united states. japanese defense minister was able to visit american aircraft carrier operating in exercises. that was possible because of the alliance relations between japan and the united states. this alliance is a long-standing one. it is important to strengthen the alliance for the stability

of east asia. >> at this time, not only the united states but also india joined in this drill together and you have a plan to have exercises together with australia. some say they are intended to check china. what is the objective of having this multilateral exercises? >> we conduct these exercises not only -- not to check some other countries, specific and indian oceans are important lines of communication for japan and all other countries to transport oil and other supplies. joint exercises with countries with close relations are important to ensure freedom of navigation. japan, the united states, and australia are also planning to

conduct another joint drill in november this year off the coast of miyagi prefecture, based on our experience with the grid east japan earthquake, it will be a disaster response joint exercise between japan, the united states and australia. not only bilateral, but also multilateral exercises are important. for example, with the united states host rimpac, joint exercise in which china joined, these are examples of military, military joint exercises which help promote mutual understanding amongst militaries, reducing the risk of unintended collisions. this is an important contribution to maintaining

peaceful environment. so i believe that military exchanges should be promoted further on with any countries, so you plan to expand this, before this japan/u.s./india joint exercises, japan joint exercises with the united states and south korea, it is important to continue these joint exercises, assuming various situations. >> now about our relations with china. japan/china relations are tense today. how are you going to deal with china specifically? >> this is relevant, not only to japan. i attended the other day the dialogue where asian, european and defense minister and top military officials participated

in it. the focus was the maritime issues in the east china sea. problems are growing involving the philippines and vietnam, with the increasing maritime activities on the part of china. we have difficulty with china in the east china sea. growing maritime activities of china must not cause tensions to neighboring countries. that would be unacceptable. territorial issues and the seabed resource issues must be resolved through dialogue according to international rules. change of the status quo with force is not acceptable. this is a consensus of asean nations and asian countries as a whole. that is why we believe that we should deal with china through dialogue in close coordination with other countries concerned.

>> you mentioned a mechanism of dialogue between japan and china. at sea or in the air, between militaries, unintended collisions, unalerted encounters, if they occur could escalate. that be wiwould be a great conc. so communication lines should be in place between crews and top military officers to quickly respond to any unintended incidents. and that is the maritime communications mechanism that we intend to establish with china. the first administration agreed with then chinese president hu jintao to establish such a mechanism, but unfortunately two years ago our discussions on this stopped.

we repeatedly urged china to resume our discussion in order to establish this hot line so that we can avoid unintended consequences in the east china sea and the south china sea. this is relevant to incidents between fighter jets, for example, in the air. if something happens, hot lines should be used. we know that to avoid escalation we will continue to urge china to work on this. >> what is the prospect of this? >> i believe that china has a similar intention, but unfortunately china says that we have a problem of the senkaku islands between china and japan. but this single issue must not come in the way of our effort to

establish a hot line. a constructive path for us to take. so we will continue working on china on this. >> thank you very much. tropical storm na is impacting the southwestern islands of japan. our meteorologist is here with a look at what's happening there and around the world. >> tropical storm na is approaching the okinawa islands. this area already experiencing lots of winds as heavy rainfall. not just okinawa but kyushu is experiencing stormy conditions. we have some video from kagoshima. this is the scene in southern kagoshis ago. it is already bringing gigantic waves and strong winds. the outer rain band is covering miyazaki prefecture as well. 22 millimeters of rain has fallen over the past 24 hours in

the town of kushima. authorities are advising hundreds of people to evacuate. conditions will get even worse as the system approaches. the windiest conditions are happening in the okinawa islands at this moment. gusts exceeded 100 kilometers per hour in several places including naha and things will get even worse into thursday night as the system approaches. we don't think it is going to intensify to a typhoon, but will stay over the waters, while intensif intensifying. we're expecting lots of rain to fall as well as heavy -- strong winds for western parts of japan and the korean peninsula as well as eastern china for the next several days. now, we have another tropical storm to talk about. this system affected guam and saipan over the past couple of days and is moving away from the islands but still bringing rainfall in the islands. this one will likely intensify to a strong typhoon by your saturday, and probably move up to the north aiming for the

mainland of japan as we go into the mid part of next week. we'll keep you posted on the progress. to the north, a heat dome is blanketing the northern half of china, the korean peninsula and most of japan bringing higher than average temperatures in many places. xian, 40 degrees on your sunday. six degrees higher than normal. tokyo staying quite hot into the weekend with hig all right, across the americas, mostly rains are quite active over the four corners region as well as the rockies. so the flooding going to be high risk. and some heavy rain will likely move over the southern plains today. so flooding is going to give a big risk here. and then across the northwest, scattered heavy rains likely because of dryness. we have dry thunderstorms in inland, oregon, that would spark more wildfires. temperatures are quite heating up over the west, reaching the 30 degree mark in seattle with abundance of sunshine. los angeles up 32 degrees. and across the east, heat will return to the u.s. capital on

your thursday at 31 degrees for the high in d.c. and finally over europe, we have been talking about severe weather the past several days, and still this system is intense and after causing more flooding rains, thunderstorms and even the risk of a tornado for the balkan peninsula and this system will likely continue here into your friday at least. to the north, things will get stormier across the british isles starting on friday, but staying sunny in london on thursday with high of 24 degrees. and still in the hot side across the east at 32 in kiev and 31 in moscow. all right, here's the extended forecast aro

and that's all for this hour on "newsline." i'm shery ahn. th

welcome back. first, israel is calling up some 16,000 extra reservists to bolster its military offensive as fighting continues in gaza. is really prime investor pitch test is really prime minister has said they will dismantle be hamas tunnel network in the gaza strip with or without a cease-fire. it comes as a israeli officials are pledged to investigate a strife on a u.n.--- a strike on a u.n.-run