gan in tokyo. welcome to "newsline". prime minister shinzo abe says the japanese city of shima will play host to next year's summit of major nations. seven isis and one town were in the running to host the event. >> translator: i chose shima because it's a place where the world leaders can enjoy the beautiful nature and the rich cultural heritage of japan.

>> shima is a city facing the pacific ocean. the area is famous for it's natural beauty and historical sites. the shima summit is likely to beld on a small island. local officials say it would be easy to secure the safety of the leaders there. abe made the announcement just before he embarked on a tour to ukraine and germany. he'll attend the group of seven summit in germany on sunday and monday. g7 leade are set to discuss everything from climate change to the global economy. nhk sat down with this year's chair person to discuss what progress she hopes to see on key issues for japan. >> reporter: german chancellor spoke with nhk.

she said finding a way to resolve the conflict between ukraine and russia is at the top of the agenda. >> translator: we'll discuss how to address the situation in ukraine. japan is located beyond russia but we're close on this issue. we'll also discuss other important issues including efforts to eradicate terrorism. >> reporter: merkel gave her thoughts on another dispute, issues of sovereignty over islands involving china and its neighbors. >> translator: we're facing lots of wars and military conflict such as the war in syria so i expect all the parties involved in the south china sea disputes to find a way to resolve them peacefully. >> reporter: but she says this meet cigarette about more than crisis diplomacy. nhk obtained a draft of the summit declaration. it said the global economy is on a path to recovery but faces

challenges. so the leaders will create reliable sustainable and viable conditions for economic growth. and they will strive to wrap up negotiations on free trade agreements including the transpacific partnership deal. merkel also spoke about this year's 70th anniversary of the end of world war ii. >> translator: germans have dedicated themselves to confront their past and we've also made a lot of effort to be a good partner to our neighbors. i think japan has been following similar steps. >> reporter: the leaders will meet in the southern german resort on sunday and monday. thanks for that report. top officials with japan's ruling liberal democratic party are defending security bills that would expand the role of the country's self-defense

forces. some scholars have called the bills unconstitutional. opposition members are grilling the government over the issue. >> translator: given the fact three academics called the bills unconstitutional at the lower house panel yesterday i think the government should withdraw them. what do you think? >> reporter: the right to self-defense will be limited to the extent necessary to protect the country and its people. it would never be used for the sole purpose of defending other countries. >> gen nakatani said the proposed legislation will remain within the boundaries of the constitution. the ldp's vice president defended the bills. he claimed constitutional law scholars tend to be too strict

about the wording of japan's basic law. >> translator: the right of collective self-defense is allowed solely for the protection of our country. it falls within the legal principles and logic set down by the supreme court. >> the coalition will try to enact bills during the current diet session. lawmakers heard opinions from three academics on thursday. the scholars said the proposed legislation is unconstitutional because it would allow japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense. one of the professors was invited to speak by the ruling coalition. cruise on china's yangtze river has righted the cruise ship. they want to search for hundreds of people still missing but officials say there's little hope anyone will be found alive. the ship overturned on monday night in a storm. 456 passengers and crew members

were on board. 90 have been confirmed dead. and 14 have been rescued. state-run china central television says cranes have managed to bring the vessel to its regular position. the upper floor of the four story ship is now above water. authorities want to raise the ship even higher before they begin to search inside. officials are planning to collect dna samples from family members to help identify bodies. our reporter is covering the story on site and from beijing. he has more details about the recovery efforts. >> reporter: the government has deployed a large number of police around the recovery site. the area has been declared off limits to ordinary citizens including the families of the passengers. at a "daily news" conference officials haven't been forthcoming with information about the disaster. they merely stress they are

doing all they can. they apparently hope to keep on top of the situation by tightly controlling every piece of information. the chinese public is counting on an increasingly critical eye towards the government. public distrust was fueled by a high-speed train collision in 2011 that killed 40 people. suspicions increased after it was revealed that the authorities had ordered that train cars be buried. saturday marks the 26th anniversary of the crackdown on pro democracy protesters in tiananmen square. authorities are alarmed at this time of year in anticipation of the spike for anti-government activities. about 1,200 family members have gathered in a town near the accident site. they are frustrated and are becoming increasingly critical of the government's response.

the authorities have brought in nearly 100 psychiatrists to provide support for the families. officials are also said to have started processing compensation. these efforts show how carefully president xi jinping is trying to hand tell situation so that the families and general public do not become more critical of the government. the investigation into the off field conduct of the governing body of world football is expanding. the head of ireland's football association says fifa shelled out millions of dollars to stop legal action over the country's defeat in 2009 world cup qualifiers. the chief executive of the football association of ireland says the deal was worth $5 million. john delaney made the claim in a

radio interview on the irish state broadcast. he said the payment was a good deal for his association. >> it was a payment to the association not to brode the legal case. >> fifa officials say they provided the money as a loan for the construction of a stadium and they say the debt was later written off. ireland was knocked out by france in a qualifier for the 2010 world cup in south africa. the irish association protested an illegal hand ball by a frerj striker that set up the decisive goal in extra time. the referee did not call a foul. irish official asked for a rematch but it was rejected. soccer fans gear up for this weekend's kick off of the women's world cup in canada. japan's national steam there and they are getting down business to defend their championship.

>> reporter: a plane arrived in vancouver on monday and the japanese team landed. about 70 japanese fans welcomed the team at the airport. the japanese team has grabbed the attention of international media, including the host nation canada on their upcoming games. >> i saw some of the players play so i think they will have a good chance to go very far in the tournament. >> reporter: in the last world cup four years ago the team was

led to victory. but the world's powerhouses have been carefully studying japan's techniques. that means they will face some challenges in the upcoming tournament. japan team is fourth in the world. the players have to keep a watchful eye on germany in first place, u.s. in second and france in third. the coach said he wants his team to get better against a strong opponent. the japanese players are known for their quick passes and domination of the ball. the coach is aiming to supplement these strengths with a more offensive strike. the player who holds the key to

possible victory is a veteran playing in her sixth world cup. she was the top scorer and most valuable player in the last world cup. in many ways she will be the driving force behind japan's win. this is her first time on the field in a year. but she has a strong presence and there are high hopes for her in both defense and offense. >> translator: we're honored that people are paying special attention to japan's team. we hope we can meet high expectations. >> translator: we want to play to the best of our ability, and we're confident in our

preparation. we shouldn't rest on our laurels following our success in the previous tournament. we're hoping for a good result. >> reporter: the japanese women's team said the first match will be important. they want to make a good start by winning the game. so this year too, they can lift the world cup trophy up high. the dampening effect on japan's consumer effect from last year's tax hike is dissipating as gene otani tells us in this hour's business update. >> one of the data showing some positive signs right now a key indicator of japan's economic health rose in april for the first time in three months. the index is based on corporate production employment consumer spending and other data. officials at the cabinet office said preliminary figure for april stood at 111.1.

officials say sales of cloth, food and beverages improved from a slump after the consumption tax hike in april last year. shipments of smartphone parts to other asian countries were also strong. the officials left their overall assessment of the index unchanged at improving the leading index which projects the health of the economy a few months ahead was at 107.2 in april. that's up 1.2 points from march. japanese officials have unveiled plans to double the amount of spending by foreign visitors. the government aims to achieve that target with the number of tourist from overseas hits 20 million a year. cabinet ministers have outlined a goal at a new tourism action plan. >> translator: the number of foreign visitors to japan so far this year has risen more than 40% from the year early federal republic government has decided on the action plan to maintain this trend and bringing tourists to regions across japan.

>> a record 13 million foreign tourists visited japan in 2014. the government aims to hit the 20 million mark by 2020 when tokyo hosts the summer olympics. the action plan calls for increasing spending by foreign visitors to 4 trillion yen. it recommends increasing tax-free stores 20,000. the government plans to select high quality and local services and products to promote them overseas as special regional brands. also plans to improve the quarantine system to make it easier for visitors to take home food and agricultural products. checking the markets the nikkei average ended the week lower after the longest rally in 27 years. the index was down 0.13% on friday. a downward trend triggered by concerns about greece. market players were cautious

ahead of u.s. jobs report. in china the shanghai composite hit the key 5,000 mark. it closed up 1.5% at 5023. the benchmark index has soared more than 50% this year. some pundits point to the risk of a plunge. they say margin trading has inflated share prices. sidney's s&p/asx 200 dropped to its lowest close in two months. in other markets in asia-pacific region seoul's kospi shed 0.2% and finished the week down more than 2%. concerns over the mers outbreak weighed on market sentiment. hong kong's hang seng extended losses ending down 1%. manila ended down 0.36%.

and jakarta's composite index gained by just a fraction. japanese tire maker says it will scrap its alliance with a u.s. partner. the company says its 16 year relationship with goodyear tire and rubber was producing limited results. their joint ventures have been selling goodyear tires in japan and dunlop tires. its president says changes in the business environment make the break up unavoidable. >> translator: we will now have greater flexibility in developing our business strategy. >> officials say they will turn their joint ventures in japan in north america to wholy own

subsidiaries. >> toshiba delayed some bonuses. officials say the bonus cannot be calculated because settlement of accounts for the last business year has been delayed. they say the electronics maker will defer performance based bonus pay to rank-and-file employees. payments to executives will also be withheld. the third-party panel is investigating alleged padding of profits. the owner of a small company in japan has found a way to make fuel from waste but selling energy is not his prime motive. he says if his business takes off parts of africa could be safe from deforestation. here's the story. >> reporter: the seven trainees from africa are part of the company's global vision. they recently came to japan to learn about a machine that

creates fuel from waste. a by product of rice production. rice husks, it's the part people don't eat. the machine grinds the husks to powder. it then solidifies the powder at high temperatures transforming it into solid fuel. company officials say these rice logs burn several times longer than firewood and if they are kept in a dry place they can be stored five to ten years. this man set up the company eight years ago. he said he wanted to do something to protect the environment. so he turned his attention to rice husks. a informationally considered waste. rice husks are as tough as

nails. he had to use advanced metal processing to coat the surface of the grinder. >> translator: most japanese eat rice. so rice husks are the type of waste that's most consistently produced here. we regard it as raw material and convert it to fuel. >> reporter: word of his innovation started to spread. the first overseas inquiry came from tanzania. farmers here grow 2 million tons of rice a year. generating mountains of wasted husks in the process. so far his firm has shipped four machines to tanzania with little access to electricity people still use firewood and charcoal as fuel. that's a leading cause of deforestation.

rice husks logs make an appealing alternative. they are ideal for cooking or heating. the challenge of the president is how to reduce the cost of the machine, making it in japan is expensive. his solution is to export machine parts which can then be assembled locally. that's why the trainees have come to japan. >> i think the machine will help us. we can minimize cutting the trees. >> reporter: machine assembly starts in tanzania in august. africans may not be the only one whose stand to benefit. the president hopes from most his rice grinder in parts of asia as well. and that's it for business

news. i'll leave you with the markets. lots of worrisome news coming out of southern china even on the weather front as we find out in this hour's update. >> it's the rainy season.

in the south rain is falling heavily over southern portions but where the accident occurred looks at sunny weather. but humidity is high. we have fog post sod could lower visibility. the system will make its way towards the north as we go into sunday. that could hamper the recovery efforts because we expect moderate rain as well as strong winds. in the northern half of china looking quite dry and getting wet across many parts of japan. now we're looking at rain coming out across the pacific coast of the country and move to central japan including tokyo by tonight. the rain will not last long by saturday morning or by saturday afternoon rain will be clearing up in tokyo and nicer weather will come back on sunday and continue into monday.

record breaking rain fell in hokkaido. drier conditions over the weekend and temperatures hitting 26 degrees on monday. let's go europe then. we're talking about drought conditions over the south and, in fact temperatures have been high and also precipitation has been low over the past several years. so severe drought is happening over this area. take a look at this video. disastrous drought hit southwestern russia in and around the volgo river. it's threatening survival of fish and birds. a forest lake ran out of water where some people saved the real estate manger fish and carried them to bigger waters. wells have dried up so residents have to travel kilometers in order to get water. if the heat wave continues the lake will completely dry up. now there is a frontal system right here so we'll receive rain on friday as well as saturday so that's always good news but not enough to make a dent but it's a

welcomed sight. now heavy rain thunderstorms are happening over turkey and the black sea region. one person was killed due to a lightning strike. across the west multiple systems are causing wet and rainy conditions over many parts of the british isles. in north france and lower countries into friday. temperature are much higher than normal in the iberian peninsula and central europe. rome at 35 degrees for a high and 32 degrees in paris. that's about 10 degrees higher than where it should be. across the americas we have hurricane blanca that is expected to get close to the baja peninsula, california. as a tropical storm it may make landfall over the peninsula, so that's causing strong winds and very heavy rainfall across this area and high surf and dangerous currents expected across west coast of mexico. several reports of tornadoes

from colorado on thursday and hail the size of a grapefruit in kansas. the system is still sitting here causing more severe weather across the mid-portions of the united states. temperatures are going to be as follows. denver at 25 degrees. quite high across the southern plains on your friday. here's your extended forecast around the globe.

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o be closing in on the town of hot sec a -- of hasakeh. if captured, it would be yet another capital to fall into jihadist hands. we cross to our regional correspondent, adam platz, who joins me from beirut.