hello. i'm james tengan in tokyo. welcome to nhk "newsline." japan says for the first time a chinese naval ship came close to its territorial waters in the east china sea. russian naval ships were also spotted in the area. though neither country violated international law. japanese government officials are on alert. >> reporter: it happened early thursday morning. a chinese navy frigate sailed

just outside japanese waters. hours before, three russian vessels also entered the same area. it all took place near the senkaku islands, which are controlled by japan. the government maintains they are an inherent part of its territory. they're claimed by china and taiwan. chinese coast guard vessels have often sailed near them but it's the first time a navy ship has come so close. >> translator: china has been making an independent claim to the senkaku islands. japan is deeply concerned that china sailed a naval ship in a zone connected to japan's senkakus for the first time. the action raises tensions unilaterally. >> reporter: prime minister shinzo abe instructed officials to stay on guard and called for close coordination with the united states. japanese officials say, in light of china's claims, they see the

actions by both countries differently. >> translator: china has been unilaterally claiming territorial rights over the senkaku islands, but that hasn't been the case with russia. we have been dealing with these types of actions by china separately from russian ones. >> reporter: he summoned china's ambassador to protest. yonghua said his country wants to avoid raising tensions but in beijing the defense department reiterated china's claims, saying the actions of its ship are legal. it said other countries have no right to complain. the russian embassy in tokyo says its navy was conducting regular training and the incident was unrelated to china. still, japan is investigating whether they are related and is monitoring the situation.

yuri ito. nhk world. police in okinawa have served a second arrest warrant to an american base worker suspected of killing a japanese woman. he is already under custody for dumping her body. the case has triggered major protests in the southern prefecture. >> translator: we arrested the suspect at 1:25 p.m. thursday on suspicion of trying to rape and murder the woman. >> kenneth franklin shinzato is suspected of straggling and stabbing the woman to death in april. after being arrested he admitted to doing that but has since remained silent. the murder has sparked public outrage over american forces stationed in the prefecture. okinawa hosts more than 70% of their facilities in the country. the incident led the u.s. military to impose a curfew and other restrictions on all

personnel in okinawa. japanese police are working with investigators overseas to crack a nationwide atm heist, the crime, using forged credit cards, was international in scope and me titiculously plann. they say the robbery took place early on a sunday morning when banks were closed. the thieves were quick. they used fake credit cards to withdraw cash from bank machines across the country. police say they may have gotten away with more than $17 million. the chief of the national police agency said the cards were forged using data from about 3,000 accounts at a south african bank. >> translator: we're cooperating with authorities in other countries through interpol to find out if there are any links to a crime syndicate outside japan. >> police have arrested three suspects so far in tokyo and aichi prefecture. managers across japan are

putting less money back into their businesses. gene otani has the details on that and all the other main business headlines. officials at japan's cabinet office say firms are spending less on equipment. they say orders for new machinery shell sharply in april following a spike the previous month. figures show orders tumbled by 11%. that's the fourth biggest fall since the government started compiling figures the current way in 2005. the numbers don't include data from the ship-building and power sectors. both are subject to fluctuations. orders by manufacturers were down more than 13%. that comes after a surge in requests from companies in the chemical industry in march. orders from non-manufacturers were down nearly 4%. checking the markets. tokyo stocks ended lower after japan's machinery orders came in much weaker than expected. for more, we go to feebi amaroso at the tokyo stock exchange.

>> the weak machinery data took a toll on shares in tokyo. orders in april were down 11%. analysts had been expecting a decline of 3%. the nikkei finished 1% lower at 16,668. the broader topix fell by about the same margin. the dollar weakening against the yen was bad news for exporters. farm machinery maker kubota fell 3.7%. ntn declined 5% and nissan does juan 2.5%. global bond yields dragged down the financial sector. japan's three major banks ended lower. a standout performer was toshiba today, shares hitting a six-month high. one of the company's subsidiaries, westinghouse electric. signed a deal to build six power plants in india. with the recent weak data from the u.s. and japan, investors

are anticipating moves from policy makers. they'll watch meetings from the federal reserve and bank of japan next week. thanks very much for that. other markets in the asia-pacific region ended lower. indonesia slid 0.8%. sydney down by .15%. higher commodity prices failed to prop up the resource heavy index. shanghai and hong kong closed for holidays. kospi edging downwards by 0.1 at 2024. the bank of korea cut its key interest rate to a record low 1.25%, driving the index to a seven-month high but profit-taking pared the gains. shares in philippines dropping. shares sold off an the index reached its highest level in a year on wednesdaday. here are some of the other business stories we're following.

honda motor announced a japan-wiwide recall of more tha 780,000 vehicles fitted with takata air bags. the firm says the recall applies to 14 models including the odyssey and fit. all produced between 200003 and 2009. inflators in the takata air bags in rare cases can explode and shoot out metalalc parts. automakers have recalalled 13 million cars with ththe air bag in japan alone. chinese officicials say in y the producer pririce index was down 2.8% from a year before. a minor improvement from the decline in april. consumers saw prices rise by 2%. analysts say many chinese are worried about job security so they're spending less and that's holding back inflation. japanese foyiniofficials asked world trade organinization to review whahat they call infair tariffs by south korea.

they say they're being singled out by seoul for extra tariffs ranging from 12 to 23%. visitors to this year's traditional tokyo toy show are getting a close-up look at some exciting new products from around the world. a virtual reality headset attached to a smartphone immerses the user in an outer space-like environment. anotherr device teaches childre basic programming. and robots made out of blocks can follow directions delivered from a computer. shrinking population in japan has businesses scrambling to fill jobs. retailers and service providers outside major cities struggled to attract younger employees. some have found a solution by hiring older workers. >> reporter: the opeperator of e supermarket chain in western japan has 17 outlets. a quarter of the employees at this store are over 60.

>> translator: i am 61 years old. >> translator: i am 63. >> translator: me? i'm 65 years old. >> reporter: company officials found the younger workers they once south weght were harder to. they added the words "open to all ages" to recruitment flyers which led to a flood of applications from people over 60. >> translator: many young people don't like to work early in the morning or on sundays. so we have a rely on seniors. >> reporter: this 60-year-old starts his shift before 4:00 a.m. he works in the fish department. he has over three decades of experience in related fields which has proven to be a real asset. he teaches younger colleagues the finer points of buying fish.

>> translator: the flesh should be firm and the skin shiny. >> reporter: skills like this cannot be acquired overnight, and younger workers are grateful for the expertise he brings to the job. >> translator: he teaches us how to tell which fish are freshest and which ones can be grilled or used in sashimashimi. he makes it easy to understand. >> he also teaches fish slicing techniques. >> translator: keep the fish clean and don't let the knife slip. >> translator: we may be older but we have plenty of enthusiasm and lots of knowledge to share. the young ones follow our lead. that's the strength of this store. >> reporter: the energy these older workers bring is paying off in other ways too. overt ov over the past three years sales have increased around 50%.

a supermarket chain is finding that employing senior workers is giving its business new vitality. that's it for business news, james. i'll hand it back to you. >> gene otani from our business desk. thanks, gene. paper cranes made by u.s. president barack obama for the children of hiroshima are now on public display. obama viewed several exhibits at the peace memorial museum during his visisit last month to the atomic bomb city, among them the paper cranes made by a girl who died of leukemia after the bombing. the folded cranes were her plea to get better. obama presented f four paper cranes he had folded himself. he also wrote in the museum guest book saying, "let us now find the courage together to spread peace and pursue a world without nuclear weapons." the cranes and the guest book

were on exhibit at the museum on thursday and visitors flocked to the site to get a look. >> translator: it's moving. >> translator: i really felt his wish for peace. >> president obama's cranes and the guest book can be seen at the museum through august 31st. japanese scientists are making history. they've named the element they discovered. itit's the first one found in asia. now nihonium could soon be added to chemistry's most important chart. >> reporter: we are doing fundamental research, and this research is funded by the taxpayers. so wee kept that support in min when we chose the name. >> reporter: professor morita led a team of scientists from riken institute. they coined the name from a word

meaning japan in japanese. it was recently added to the 7th row of the periodic table under the temporarary name element 11. an international chemistry organization recognizes it as a new synthetic and gave the team naming rights. students of the university say they are inspired. >> translator: i think it's good because it shows that a japanese found it. i am proud of it. >> translator: the element will appear in a textbook and that professor is teaching at our university. i can't believe it. >> reporter: it was a long road for morita and his team. he says the chances of making the element is one in a hundred trillion. >> translator: it didn't happen today, so maybe tomorrow. the point it can we keep doing this for hundreds of days. >> reporter:r: they expxperimen usining a particle accelerator

smash ions. he says he relied on more than just science. >> translator: i have many pouches with 113 yen in m my house. i prayed to god and said i was ready, and i will do my best and let god do the rest. >> reporter: finally, there was a breakthrough. they produced the element in 2004 for the first time. and again in 2005 and 2012. >> translator: youngng japanese students w will recognize the ft that the element was produced by japanese when they see the chart. i think that encourages students to get interesested in science. >> reporter: if the name nihonium and the symbol nh pass public review it will officially

be added to the periodic table around the end of the year. a japanese boat has returned home more than five years after it went missing following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern japan. a homecoming was held for the boat. [ applause ] >> translator: it's amazing. the boat did pretty good. >> a fishery laboratory in the city owns the boat. the lab suffered severe damage and lost the boat in the disaster on march 11th, 2011. fishermen discovered the vessel last month drifting in waters about 2200 kilometers to the south. the boat's name, painted on its side, had faded away, but it was intact. >> translator: i am speechless to see it again. it looks better than i had ever imagined. >> officials at the lab say the

boat likely drifted over the pacific passing hawaii and nearing the u.s. west coast before it made its return. north korea says it will hold a parliamentary session this month, the first since the ruling workers' party congress in may. the state-run korean central news agency said it would begin on june 29th in pyongyang. north korean experts say the agenda will likely include structural changes to state organizations and personnel affairs. some say change could be made to the post of the first chairman of the national defense commission. it's currently held by kim jong un. at the may congress kim assumed the newly-created position of party chairman. also at the meeting, the policy of pursuing nuclear and economic development together was incorporated in the party platform. observers will be watching to see if ne decisions will be made on that policy. they say north korea's leadership could use the session to take specific steps to

further solidify pyre. power. the country's nuclear program was criticized at a meeting of the international atomic agency over signs it's reactivating a nuclear facility. the iaea discussed the issue at a board meeting wednesday in vienna. earlier the agency saiaid it detected signs that pyongyang had reactivated a plant in nyongbyon to reprocess spent fuel. the board members criticized the north for the move which leads the extraction to plutonium an ingredient in nuclear weapons. the delegation said it points to the importance for all nations to abide by u.n. security council resolutions. a japanese representative called on countries to unite and send a strong message to pyongyang. the iaea says it will compile a report in time for its annual general meeting in september. in washington, u.s. state department spokesperson

addressed the issue. >> north korea has continued provocations which raise serious concerns about the security of the korean peninsula. >> he said the usa will discuss the situation with countries involved. he said they'll continue to try to enforce sanctions to bring pyongyang to the negotiating table. japapan and south korea are not always on the best of terms politically speaking. on the business front people from both countries are working closely together. in this case it's two very different joint ventures that have pushed aside politics for profits. >> reporter: thehe people in charge are a long way from home. here in this rain forest on the indonesian island, business people from japan and south korea are working together. they are producing for their

countries some 5,000 kilometers from here. everything produced at the plant is shipped to japan and south korea. most will be used for generating electricity. the project was led by japan's mitsubishi corporation and korea gas corporation. they contributed about 60% of the project's capital. japan is the world's top lng importer, producing and supplying gass to be relied on y major oil producers is their long-term goal. >> translator: w we're directly involved in lng production, and the operation of the plant. i believe this is a very good experience for both parties. >> reporter: running the plant is no easy task.

engineers from both countries have to work closely together. even though they are from different countries, engineers say communication is not a problem thanks in part to a similar corporate cultures. >> translator: the successful cooperation between the southth korean and japanese firms has made me believe we'll also be able to work with japanese firms in many other areas. >> reporter: at this restaurant in sydney, australia, the products of another joint venture is being served up. more and more customers are enjoying japanese sake. >> sake goes well with it. >> it's delicious. >> reporteter: but it's not the

japanese farms. it's the south korea liquor company. it snnow sells more than 200 kis of sake in more than 40 countries. >> translator: we're aiming to become a maker dealing in varirious alcoholic beverages. we want to include japanese sake into our lineup. >> reporter: this plant says it came to them with a plant to work together to sell sake abroad. >> translator: i wish people outside japan would discover how good japanese sake is. i hope they will enjoy sake more. >> reporter: if these business models can be successful, more joint ventures should be possible. and at a time when the global economy is looking for a boost, perhaps working together makes good business sense.

nhk "newsline" comes to you live from our studios here in tokyo. jonathan oh joins us with this hour's weather report starting with storm ravaged nigeria. >> it looks like the recovery efforts will take some time. this is an area where it's one of the poorer d districtsts off city of lagos. because of that it's going to be a while before everyone is able to really recover from this devastation. but the problem is we also have storms approaching the area. let me show you the video. it's a little bit heart-breaking once you see some of the damage here because the storm hit the slumhouses in a lagos lagoon tuesday. the school, which became a beacon of hope for the nigerian people was damaged heavily by intense rain. the school had room for 100 students and was built with locally s sourced woods and

hundreds of recycled barrels. it offered free local education to kids most of whose parents fish for a living. yes, the school had a very important t role in helpingng t students get the education that they need. it looks like they'll be without a building for some time, and we have more rainfall and thunderstorms approaching the area as we go throughout the day on thursday, friday and even into saturday. this area is located on the intertropical convergence zone, so we have a lat ot of instabil. as the line gets over the central portion of africa we see the instability and it looks like we'll see more thunderstorms over the next few days. along that line further to the east, that's also going to be a source for rainfall throughout the rest of the week. north to europe, we're looking at finally some drier conditions over paris. it has been very wet over france over the past several days.

the low pressure system that is responsible for this finally moving to the south and east. unfortunately, that means all of that rainfall, along with thehe coldld front i interacting from north will bring even momore rafafall for o other areas suchs italy and going toward the balkans. you may need to pay attention to this weather scenario because more rainfall is in the forecast. rain for rome. thunderstorms into vienna. warsaw also looking at wet weather. moscow and kiev also. dry for stockholm. highs around 16 on thursday. paris seeing some sunshine. hopefullyy they'll start to recocover from the floods that d been in place for the past several days. looking at the forecast for india, the southwest monsoon, which is really, really needed, is a little bit behind. so it's showing up in an area where it should have arrived at the beginning of the month. that's where the front is currenently located. as this moves to the north and west, we are going to see more moistuture coming into the picte which will hopefully start to

damp down some of the hot and oppressive weather. for the south, much needed rainfall is finally coming into the picture. as you look at east asia. it's been a cloudy and wet day over japan because of a trough running through the area with a low pressure system, also interacting with the rainy season front. toward fridahihigh pssssure comeme intnto the picture which will bump temperatures up near 30 with sunny skies and a few clouds in tokyo. a bit warm. looking at a high around 31 for friday. thunderstorms in beijing. also seeing more rainy season patterns toward taipei and hong kong going into friday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here is your extended outlook.

with that we conclude this hour of nhk "newsline." be sure to

>> you're watching france 24. i'm genie godula. these are the headlines. ♪ some 80,000l blocks palestinians from visiting during the holy month of ramadan after two gunman from the west bank shot four is released in tel aviv -- israelis in tel aviv. barack obama will sit down with bernie sanders