to "newsline." a ferry capsized off the central philippines on thursday. the country's coast guard said that 36 people were killed and 19 remain missing. rescue operations are underway. the ferry capsized in the camotes sea. it was found on its way to the camotes island. 140 people were on board when it

capsized. authorities say 118 people were rescued. ferries are a major means of transportation in the island country of the philippines, but many of them are in bad repair and regulations governing them are poor. the country has been the scene of quite a number of ferry-related accidents. u.s. military chiefs have come up with a new plan of action for protecting their country's interests. they say american forces should work more closely with allies to maintain deterrence and fight extremism. wednesday's report, the first issued by the joint chiefs of staff since 2011 serves as the basis for u.s. troop operations based on pentagon strategy. the updated report says china's actions are causing increased tension in the asia pacific region. it says the country's claims to nearly the entire south china sea are inconsistent with international law. it adds that china has responded to international calls to settle these issues cooperatively with aggressive land reclamation

efforts. the report also criticizes russia for not respecting the sovereignty of its neighbors and its willingness to use force to achieve its goals in apparent reference to ukraine. the report adds that violent extremist organizations such as the islamic state militant group are undermining in the middle east and africa. the report says the united states will step up its alliances with japan and other partners of the asia pacific region as well as with nato to achieve these aims. u.s. researchers have been monitoring china's reclamation project in the south china sea. they've released new satellite photos which appears to show construction work on a runway is nearly complete. researchers with the center for strategic and international studies published images of fiery cross reef. they say the pictures were taken sunday.

the reef is part of the spratly islands. they're the focus of territorial disputes between china and several southeast asian governments. the researchers estimate the airstrip is about 3,000 meters long and shows a taxiway and apron is making headway. they also have satellite antennas, a radar tower, and a vessel at port. the latest photos appear to back up claims made by a spokesperson for china's foreign ministry. she said reclamation work on the reefs was completed and she said china will now build military and other facilities. s. defense secretary ash carter is warning americans the islamic state group could target them on their independence day holiday. he says government organizations will work together this saturday to keep them safe. >> we're always vigilant at holiday time. we're always vigilant about

protecting our people and isil is another reason. >> carter said he's alarmed by the influence of social media. he said some people who are not under the islamic state group's direct control radicalize themselves. americans also heard a warning from general martin dempsey. he noted the islamic state group had urged members to step up attacks during the holy month of ramadan ramadan. he said the u.s. will keep pressure on militants by launching more air strikes on their positions in iraq and syria. a u.s. human rights group is advising churches around the country to be on alert for arson. several fires in the south have been set on fire since a shooting that killed nine african-americans. a fire station in greeleyville, south carolina, was alerted to a fire thursday night. the building burned to the

ground. investigators said the cause of the fire is unclear and that they would not rule anything out. a white man shot and killed nine black men and women last month at a church in charleston, south carolina. the shooting is believed to have been racially motivated. u.s. media have since reported seven fires at churches mainly in the southern states. they say two of the fires are being investigated as arson. in women's world cup soccer japan has advanced to the final. the defending champions beat england 2-1. japan will play the u.s. for the title, the same opponent as four years ago. nhk world's kanerko sachno reports. >> reporter: i come to the british school in tokyo to watch the match with children. there are also a lot of japanese children here and children from

over 50 countries. it's a very international vibe. as you can see the children are very excited about the match. >> well i'm supporting england. >> and i'm supporting japan. i think it might be something like 2-1 to japan. >> go england! >> reporter: japan had more of the ball early on. defender had a shot but went wide. in the 33rd minute japan won penalty. midfielder miyama converted. football fans throughout japan went crazy as their team took the lead. but seven minutes later, england was awarded a penalty.

midfielder williams drove her shot home. well, it's now half-time. the score is still 1-1. both on penalties. it's a really really close match. coming from an english and japanese background i'm finding it difficult to know which team to support. it's such a close match. i'm just really looking forward to the second half. although the scores are level now, fans at this i.t. company have an extra incentive to support japan as they'll get a half day off if japan wins. their ceo is a devoted football fan who delayed working hours s staff could watch the match. >> translator: it's good for the company, too, to get together as a group to cheer on japan. >> reporter: in the second half japan struggled to score.

the breakthrough came in stoppage time. an own goal from england. japan winners by two goals to one. >> reporter: what do you hope japan is going to do in the next match then? >> win. >> beat america. >> reporter: newspapers printed extra editions. >> translator: it's the second time in a row to go to the final. i hope they'll do their best. >> reporter: well, that's the end of the match. after a shocked own goal by

england, japan has won the match 2-1. they'll be striving to win their second consecutive world cup at the final. kanerko sachno nhk world. now let's find out what's happening on the business end with gene otani. >> japanese officials are making arrangements to resume talks on the transpacific partnership. the twoway discussions on a free trade deal could get underway as early as next thursday. japanese officials say the two biggest economies at the table should ramp up their negotiations as soon as possible so the tpp can be concluded earl japanese officials plan to short list divisive issues such as rice ahead of the meetings by chief negotiators and trade ministers of all nations involved. the japanese and u.s. officials hope these talks will take place by the end of july. the u.s. trade representative

says he is confident washington and tokyo will find common ground. >> i think we made very good progress with japan over the last year and a half. i don't really see that as an obstacle to other progress at the moment. i think all the other countries that recognize that even though we may not be finished with japan, we've made quite good progress. >> froman called for accelerated talks on other sticking points. these include access to canada's dairy market and the protection of intellectual property. executives at a major japanese food producer say they have no choice but to pass on the price of rising materials. ajinomoto bosses say they'll start charging more for household condiments for the first time in seven years. the executives say they'll raise prices for two kitchen staples by up to 12% per gram starting in august. they say the cost of raw materials such as sugar cane and tapioca has surged due to global

demand. they say the weaker yen is forcing them to spend more to import the materials and they blame labor in japan. a bank of japan survey shows japanese companies expect consumer prices to rise on average around 1.4% over the next year. that's lower than the boj's inflation target of 2% by the end of the next fiscal year. the boj asked about 11,000 firms to predict prices one year from now. about one-trd expect inflation of around 1%. one-fifth put the rate at about 2%. roughly the same percentage say prices will remain unchanged. 7% of the companies predict inflation of about 3%. eurozone finance ministers have broken off bailout talks with greece until after a sunday referendum. they say they'll wait to see which way greeks vote on proposed austerity measures.

policy makers at the european central bank are also taking a tough stance. they've agreed to keep supporting greece with emergency funding, but they won't increase the limit. checking the markets, some seem to be sidestepping concerns over the greek crisis. they took their cue from better than expected employment data out of the u.s. the nikkei average added nearly 1% at close at 20,522. automakers saw gains on robust sales in the u.s. last month. in other markets in asia pacific region, most the indexes raised. seoul's kospi was upy nearly .5%. hong kong's heng sang index rose about .1%. australian shares added 1.5%. but stocks in inland china lagged far behind the pack.

the shanghai composite fluctuated wildly over the course of the day briefly dipping 6%. it finished down nearly 3.5% to 3,912, the lowest close in three months. investors seemed up unable to shake off their bearish mood even though authorities have stepped up to halt selling. officials at japan's main international airport say they're having problems with people who ignore limits. people say people with too much carry-on baggage are slowing down to china. people low up after their check in. they say that forces staff to spend time moving bags into cargo departments. people at one airline say in march about 30% of all flights to china were behind schedule. airport officials will post

notices at duty-free shops to passengers to keep their hand luggage within airline limits. japan's biggest automakers want to see more fuel cell vehicles on the streets. toyota nissan and honda will invest a total of $40 million to support the stations' operators. fuel cell vehicles run on electricity generated by hydrogen that reacts with oxygen and emit no greenhouse gases. toyota started selling the first fuel cell models for the general public last year. but fueling stations are expensive to build and maintain. there are only 23 of them in japan. so the automakers hope to e leave alleviate some of the burden. the companies announced the five-year alleviate some of the burden. the companies announced the five-year plan on wednesday. >> translator: we have to work

together to promote fuel cell vehicles. by growing the number of hydrogen stations, we want to increase sales of our products. >> the automakers plan to give about $90,000 a year per station. consumption of some traditional japanese food has fallen for years. nhk world's sac ya koi ya ma reports. >> reporter: this farm is in gumma prefecture north of tokyo. gunma is the top producer of these yams. the yams are ground up to become konnyako. it's low in calories and rich in fiber. but check in consumption has fallen by more than 60% since the 1970s. so gunma communities are working with local manufacturers to

boost exports to the u.s. the prefecture government opened a special cafe in new york city last year. the cafe offers an experiment to find out what americans like. but many people are put off by the spongy elastic texture of the food. still, konnayako noodles are a hit. she's reporting her findings to the maker of the noodles. when mixed with sauce, the noodles are less chewy and go down smoothly. new yorkers seem to like their appearance and texture. but -- >> translator: the noodles are too long. the customers have difficulty eating them.

>> reporter: unlike many asians americans don't suck noodles so the noodles are a bit of a struggle. >> translator: it's a rare chance to get information from on the ground so i was really interested in today's briefing. this will help us make further progress. >> reporter: another company that's inno slating in saitama. it has developed a healthy salad dressing. the dressing looks and tastes like mayonnaise but it contains no eggs. instead it uses fiber from konnyako yam. the fiber has another health benefit. it helps discharge extra cholesterol from the body.

last month the dressing's flavor was also recognized when it won the superior taste award in belgium. the award has triggered a rise in foreign orders. the company ships the dressing to australia, singapore, and two other markets. and is now getting orders from europe too. >> translator: business negotiations with france are now underway. our firm is very small. we are eager to promote konnyaku worldwide. >> reporter: it has a long tradition in japan. but interest abroad is forcing difference in appearance and texture. sayaka koma nhk korld. and that's it for business. i'll leave you with the markets.

it's the start of the mountain climbing season in japan. many people gathered on mt. fuji on wednesday to celebrate its opening to climbers. even though the volcano is quiet now, some others across the country have become active so local officials are stepping up

safety measures. nhk world's chi ya yam gee chi reports. >> reporter: held on the country's highest peak last month ahead of the start of the climbing season. it was based on scenario that the mountain had erupted. mountain guides and workers took part. >> translator: no information is available on areas above huts so we need to check the conditions on our own. >> reporter: they would have to communicate with each other and what role each of them will play in the role of evacuating climbers. >> translator: the drill made me realize again that weeed to prepare many things. >> reporter: more than 3 million people from around the world visited the unesco world heritage site last year.

as volcanoes across japan have become active in the last few years. in september mt. ontake erupted killing about 60 people. recently a minor eruption was reported at mt. hakone. this has prompted local government officials to prepare for possible reaction of mt. fuji. >> translator: we should take various measures to minimize damage. >> reporter: they are drawing up a map showing evacuation routes. but officials found problems when they visited these routes. the incline is too steep to pass. >> translator: oh, what's this? >> reporter: the mountain has driving routes for tourists. many people go halfway up by car or bus. in many cases, they're lightly

dressed without climbing shoes. if the roads are cut off due to an eruption they'll have to flee on foot. ensuring safety of these people are a major challenge. >> translator: we need to take time to address issues one by one. >> reporter: in order to protect many from around the world, officials are trying to take every measure needed. chie yamagishi, nhk world. we're having overcast skies here in tokyo with temperatures around 20 degrees celsius or 75 degrees fahrenheit. people in europe however, are having to deal with unusually high temperatures as sayaka mori tells us. >> summer in europe is typically

mild, but this year it's different. record-breaking temperatures were set. london had a high of about 37 degrees. that's the warmest july day for you. and about 40 degrees in paris. people in western europe are dealing with the heat. we have some video coming out of several places. people in germany enjoyed the warm summer day on wednesday taking to rivers and lakes to surf or simply relax in the sun. temperatures in munich reached 31 degrees and warmer weather is expected for the coming weekend. this week took the water to cool off as mercury rose into the high 30s in geneva. hundreds of residents rushed to the lakes. and in spain, people sweltered under the sun in madrid. at midday the thermometer marked 36 degrees. so extreme heat is still taking place, but we may see some showers and also severe thunderstorms throughout the western area.

so that could cool things down a little bit, but still much higher than that. paris, your high will be 33 degrees and warming up once again on friday. it could heat about 40 degrees in geneva. we have a high of nearly 36 degrees in london. down to 22 degrees with rain coming in on thursday but still hotter than average temperatures will continue into the weekend in london. across the americas record-breaking high temperatures were also set across the western united states. seattle had had 32 degrees on wednesday. that's the hottest temperatures for you. and portland had warmest and also driest june on record. and temperatures will remain about 10 degrees higher than normal into the weekend. so wildfires occurring across the western united states. different story across the eastern side of the united states. lots of heavy rain. we have reports of large hail damaging winds, and tornadoes across the eastern portions of the united states from the texas

panhandle into the mid-atlantic coast. conditions will stay the same into thursday. and heavy rain once again that will provide the risks of large, damaging winds. and also landslides as well as flooding. now, flooding is taking place across the northeast and the north of india. we have some video from the country. take a look. bridge collapsed due to heavy rains in the eastern state of west bengal on wednesday. local media reports 20 people have died from landslides that took place in darjeeling district. heavy rains led to the close of a major highway. trees and rocks have fallen on the roads and many tourists were stranded. it's the monsoon season and the monsoonal rain will continue to grip for the next several months across india. then we have a severe thunderstorm that is headed towards guam. this place will be battered by

stormy conditions on your saturday. so please watch out for that. and then we have a tropical depression just to the east of the philippines that is expected to intensify and probably move across luzon as we go into the weekend. that's it for now. here's your extended forecast.

and with that we wrap up this hour's "newsline."

be sure to tune into "newsroom tokyo" at the top of the hour. in the meantime, stay with us here on nhk world.

' eece braces for more chaos as people line up outside of banks that have been closed for days now. the prime minister tells people to vote no in the referendum. the united states asked switzerland to extradite seven fifa officials involved in the corruption scandal. eight people are in custody in tunisia, thought to have direct links to a deadly