it's a wednesday evening here in japan. i'm james tengan in tokyo. here's the stories we're following at this hour. a set of bills that transforms japan's security policy are nearing a vote, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are digging in. japan launched a protest against

china over natural gas in the east china sea. analysts in the u.s. may be building in a disputed area in the south china sea. they are set for a final showdown over a key package of security bills. members of the governing liberal democratic party may push for a committee vote on the legislation on wednesday. they want to make it law by the end of the week, but the democratic party is pledging to do erything possible to block the bills. prime minister shinzo abe is attending the final question and answer session of the upper house committee, hoping for a possible vote soon after that. the legislation would expand the role of ja fan's self-defense forces abroad and allow personnel to come to the aid of a closely related countries under attack.

they agreed to support the bills, and they met with the prime minister abe agreeing to ensure a greater role to send the self-defense forces abroad, but democrats say they'll use various tactics to try to block the passage including submitting a no confidence vote. >> translator: there's no doubt history will prove them wrong. we'll fight this to the last minute at any cost. >> they plan to enter a motion of senture against abe in the upper house. officials launched a protest in beijing over the east china sea. it's likely china is ramping up production of gas fields there. japanese leaders say they had an understanding the countries would develop the site together. >> translator: it's extremely e regrettable that china is going ahead on its own with

development of gas fields in waters where boundaries he not been agreed upon. >> he says flames were lit at two platforms and highly likely production has started. the gas fields are in an area where japan and china are yet to draw boundaries for exclusive economic zones and continental shelf. in july, japanese government officials urged counterparts in china to suspend activities and released photos showing 12 new structures built in 2013 in addition to four already there. a u.s. think tank says leaders in beijing appear to build three astrips in the disputed spratlys islands. they compiled analysis from photos this month. photos show, seven shuls they are reclaiming, and a runway is nearly complete on fiery reef.

they completed a 3,000 long meter area, and crews are likely to construct a secondary strip there and they say a third runway may be built on mihief reef where walls surround a 3,000 meter long area. officials call for an immediate halt to the work. their chinese counterparts in august said they suspended the work. the spratly islands are claimed by the philippines, vietnam, and other parts. the president of china set to make his first visit to the u.s. as tensions between the economic powers rise. xi will hold talks with president obama on september 25th at the white house. officials in washington announced the schedule in a statement. they said xi's visit reciprocates obama's trip to china last november offering a chance to cooperate on some issues and constructive ly

address issues on others. they want to work on climate change and discuss reclamation projects in the south china sea and suspected involvement in cyber attacks on the u.s. government. foreign officials say president xi will visit the u.n. in new york to attend a general assembly. u.n. delegates try to find a solution to the world's humanitarian crisis and discussing other pressing issues. they just opened a session of the general assembly in new york. the session at the u.n. headquarters marks the world party, and the danish foreign minister is the session's president. u.n. secretary general ban ki moon at the meeting said more people than any other time since world war ii suffer from conflict, violence, and natural disasters. >> it is critical to make the changes that are needed to address pressing humanitarian

challenges. >> delegates are expected to thoroughly debate the conflict, ways to cope with islamic mill tonights and migrants and refugees from the middle east and africa. a u.n. submit this month aims to get new goals for sustainable world development. shinzo abe, president obama, and russian president putin, and chinese president xi are expected to be among the leaders to attend. officials in hungary struggling to deal with the influx of refugees, asylum seekers stream the border with zserbia. they declared a state of emergency in two regions. the number of people crossing over has at times exceeded 9,000 a day. the southern border area is already heavily guarded by

police. now authorities have deployed military troops. th also pushed through new legislation to deal with the crisis. it calls for penalties for anyone who damages a newly built border fence, and it lays out tougher punishment for human traffickers. authorities detained more than 170 people. the crackdown left many migrants stranded in serbia, some are staging protests, and serbia officials demand the border be reopened. a spokesperson for a migrant advocacy group expressed concern. >> these incidental decisions taken by various countries to shut borders will have a domino effect. >> officials at the group say more than 460,000 my grants and asylum seekers crossed the mediterranean to europe this year. about 340,000 of them reached the greek islands from syria and other countries, that's ten times as many as last year.

the journey is perilous, and more than 2800 people drowned this year attempting to cross the mediterranean. on tuesday, a wooden boat capsized on the way from turkey, and 22 people died including four children. german chance already merkel called for an emergency e.u. submit as early as next week meeting with our austrian counterparts. >> translator: all members of the european union share responsibility on this issue. german and austria cannot handle it by themselves. >> merkel said e.u. leaders should discuss boosting aid to syria and other countries torn by conflict and talked about opening up processing center for asylum seekers in greece and italy to help them transfer to other e.u. nations more quickly. chinese authorities released

new figures on foreign investment in the country, and there's some good and bad news. our business desk has the details, gene? >> thank you, james. china's slow down is a matter of global concern, but it's not all gloom. the latest data shows total foreign investment in the country increased year on year in the first eight months of 2015, however, investment from japan declined sharply. direct investment from japan stood at 2 .25 billion, down almost 29% from the same period last year. the rate of decline has been increasing each month since may. analysts say china's rising labor costs and slowing economy may be making japanese dpifirms cautious about investing in the country. in eight months, it rose more than 9%, the total more than $85 billion. tourism officials say the number of foreign visitors to japan

sets an annual record. the figure last month was the highest ever for august. the national tourism organization say over 1.8 million people from overseas visited the country last month, up nearly 64% from a year earlier. visitors from mainland china more than doubled from a year ago. those from south korea rose over 55%, and visitors from taiwan up about 37%. officials say a weaker yen and increased calls for large cruise ships helped boost the figure. officials estimate the number of foreign visitors from january to essential september totalled 13.42 million, more than the record of ten months last year. the year's total could reach 19 million. tokyo shares rose following a bullish trend on wall street. investors watched for a rate hike from the u.s. central bank's policy meeting. our business reporter has the

details from the tokyo stock exchange. aika? >> reporter: everyone in the market is trying to predict what the members of the omc will decide at the end of the two-day meeting that starts today. one money manager says there's too much uncertainty for investors to take position, so for now, the market is dominated by short term traders. let's look at today's closing numbers. the nikkei gained .8%. the benchrk was up 1.5%. the topix was 1.7%. it climbed to positive territory for the first time in three days. big caps picked up by bargain hunters, toyota up 1 .9%, and on the other hand, defensive stocks that had been performing well took a hit including pardon me suit calls like ono and shionogi

at 2.8%. they were moved by short term traders looking to lock in profits. now, there's a lot of speculation ahead of the fed's rate decision. this usually mea chopping trading, but today, bargain hunters was the driving force in tokyo. >> aika, thanks. moving on to the shanghai deposit, rebounded after two days of losses. the index soared 5% closing at 3152, the biggest gain in weeks, sayi they were buying stocks to push up the market. hong kong jumped 2 .4%, and the sub sectors ended in positive territory, the kospi climbed 1.96, the highest close in a month after a u.s. upgraded the country's government bonds. sidney gained 1 .6% recovering

from a three week low on tuesday, but indonesia bucked the trend ending the day down by a third of a percent, and malaysia was closed for aho holiday. here's a look at the other business stories we're following. a government survey shows land prices in japan continue to fall, but the rate of decline slowed for the sixth year in a row. officials surveyed prices as of july 1st at over 2 1,000 locations. the average price of residential land dropped 1% from a year earlier, marking the 24th straight year of decline. the figure for commercial districts fell .5%. executives at america's biggest maker, hp, say they'll cut up to 30,000 jobs or 10% of the workhor force. they plan to split the firm in two companies in november. one unit focuses on making consumer pcs and printer, and

the other targets corporate clients offering clouds and other services. indonesia leaders launched ambitious program to reform the fishing industry. they believe the sector could help drive economic growth, and the person they chose to lead the program is a woman determined to do everything in her power to get things done. nhk world has more. >> reporter: a chinese fishing boat pays the price for trespassing in indonesia waters, one of two vessels blown up by the coast guard in may. they were sunk on the orders of this woman, marine afishery's minister. she took office last october promising tough action against illegal fishing, and she's kept her word. she ordered the sinking of another 35 foreign boats last month. >> it's been established and on

cronyism and corruption and whatever, and the numbers are beyond that you can even think. there's nothing you can do unless we think the boat we captured while they are doing illegal fishing. >> reporter: illegal fishing is a problem because offending boat owners do not report their catches meaning they are not paying taxes. the other problem is over fishing. the intruders from china, thailand, and other neighboring countries exploit marine stocks already in danger of depletion. experts estimate illegal fishing is costing the country $30 billion a year. blowing up illegal vessels is not the only hard line measure by the chief. this is indonesia's largest port and known for ships hauling in tuna, but the catches here have gone down by a big margin. this is because of fisheries

ministries stopped issuing licenseso foreign vessels and banned the transfer of fish catches on the sea. a typical tuna boat goes out to sea for a month or so on loading its catch on to big carrier vessels, allowing the boats to stay out longer, catch more fish at less cost. something else is going on. some fish are captured straight to foreign boats, depriving the government of revenue. she's cracked down on the shadow export market, but foreign vessels are not the only ones affected. the ban on triedi intrading at hurting the local fishing industry because local boats, legal or not, now return to port every day or two to unload fish. catches are down, costs are up.

>> translator: the ban caused a 30% decline in catch volume between november and may. >> reporter: he's one of those snared by the ruleped operatingn boats, and says his profits are down by half in two months. he's laid off 60 crew members. >> translator: the workers keep calling from their hometowns asking when they can go back to work. >> reporter: she's traveling around the country to explain her policies to local fishermen, but there's frustration in the ports and it's growing. >> translator: our fishermen's associate requested a meeting with minister, but so far, nothing. >> reporter: she claims she's got illegal fishing boats on the

run. her challenge now is to convince local fishermen they can ride out the storm. nhk world. >> that's all for business news. i'll leave you with the markets. m . families in south korea traditionally share meals together whether dining at home or eating out, but parents find more and more restaurants refuse to admit their young children.

>> reporter: people come to this cafe to enjoy a cup of coffee and peace and quiet. you won't see any young chirp. this cafe on the outskirts of daegu is one of the first to refuse children. it's banned children under 6 for entering for the last three years. the owner says when he opened the cafe, the customers were mostly parents with children. some showed no consideration for other people. they used tables to change diapers. others got angry when kim asked their children to quiet them down. he began to feel his cafe had to become a very different place to the peatful sanctuary he envisioned, so he decided to make a change. >> translator: i can concentrate on my conversation. it's not noisy. there are no kids running

around. >> translator: my profits dropped 20% in the first few months, and began improving after the customer base changed. i'm happy now because my original idea was to create a space where adults could relax, not a place for children. >> reporter: other restaurant and cafe owners across south korea are following suit so, too, are managers of saunas and movie theaters. the mother in this photo is helping her son relieve himself in a restaurant. people shared similar images of bad mannered parents online. demand for child free space surged after 2012, a mother claimed someone poured scolding hot soup on her son.

the mother said the culprit ran away. the child suffered severe burns. the boy bumped into a customer who was carrying the soup, and the woman suffered burns too. the mother came under attack for trying to shift the blame. >> translator: people don't seem to care about their children's behavior recently. they don't discipline them enough. >> translator: i have a baby too, but i think more child free zones are inevitable. i see man parents with no common sense. many places still welcome children. this new restaurant is a big hit

with parents and their young ones. the owner tells the employees to keep an eye on the children to ensure there are no accidents. >> translator: it's much better to eat together. >> translator: i don't want to exclude children from the restaurant. the ideal situation would be if customers without children could be a bit more toller ra eer ran for parents to keep a closer eye on their children. >> reporter: but until more parents start to control their unruly kids and improve their own behavior, more child-free spaces are inevable. nhk world, seoul. >> give kids an inch, and they take a mile. thank you for that report. now you know where i stand on this issue. the weather in seoul now is partly cloudy with current temperature reading of 26 deees celsius or 79 degrees

fahrenheit. parts on the other side of the pacific, though, are far from pleasant as the weather desk tells us. >> james, we are talking about this very different weather pattern between two different states. you mentioned, yes, dry overin california because of the drought situation, so the fires are raging there, but then we have the opposite side of the equation where we are seeing moisture entering into the area, but, unfortunately, bause of the setup and where the rain fell, we have flash flooding. in fact, with a low pressure system running over the rocky mountains was dropping enough rain that it all flowed down from the mountains into the valleys, and because of that, we have these serious flooding problems in utah on tuesday. in fact, in this particular town, a car was swept away and more than a dozen people were killed because of these floods. this is not a severe thunderstorm that rolled through. it just happened to be a bad

location where the moisture and the rain fell through down the mountains and into a low lying area. look at the damage that the rain caused because of the flash flooding that took place. now, the dynamics for this type of setup are likely to continue for wednesday. we have a low pressure system that continues to remain over the rocky mountains, driving in the moisture from the north, and we also have the interaction from the south from the desert southwest due to the american monsoon setup. as long as the interaction takes place, and this is not a very fast moving system. we're going to see the possibility of more rainfall as we go through the day wednesday. now, fther west, the low pressure system comes on shore, hopefully helping out with this particular situation. the big drought that continues to remain over california and even parts of eastward into idaho and arizona and new mexico where we are seeing the drought conditions. we will see the moisture coming onshore.

hopefully, that helps the firefighters out as we continue to deal with those wildfires in the northern portions of california. now, let me remine you, going back to utah, that we are not expecting a high amount of rainfall, but depending on your location, there's enough rainfall falling and flowing down the mountains, we may be dealing with the another flash flooding situation as we go true the day wednesday. meanwhile, east, dry conditions, high pressure is controlling the weather. sunny skies from new york into atlanta with highs near 30 degrees as we go through wednesday. now, a look at what's happening over east asia. there's a stationary front bringing rain into japan and also clouds into south korea. we will see the rain chances increase as we go into thursday. meanwhi meanwhile, we do have a severe tropical storm moving to the north and west, and it is approaching the islands towards the weekend. this is going to be a big rainmaker, and expected to be a typhoon at that point. we have to look out for this.

as this moves continuely to the north and east, we have to watch how it impacts the tokyo area by next week. rain expected with cooler temperatures on thursday with a high of 21 degrees and rain also down towards the southern portions of china as a low pressure system continues to bring in moisture for the region. quick look in europe. rain for the western portions of the continent, a low pressure system onshore, another day of rainfall for the region from paris down to madrid. you'll need your umbrellas further towards the east. i hope you have a good day. here's your extended outlook.

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announcer: "france 24," history in the making. genie: thank you for joining us on "france 24." i'm genie godula in paris. these are the headlines. migrants who cannot get through hungary are now walking around it toward croatia. that is after hundreds cap doubt in therbia -- camped out serbian hungry border. the question now is where to put them. that is being debated in the french parliament.