hello and welcome to this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo with the latest at this hour. we begin why china where the communist party is celebrating its 100th anniversary. the world power is facing growing backlash from countries concerned about chinese increasing assertiveness toward its neigors.

the president used the advantages of one party rule and pledged to oversee reunification with taiwan. a 100-cannon salute kicked things off in tiananmen square in beijing. xi watched the military march before taking the podium. ♪ his speech focused on unity. xi said the chinese people have achieved unparalleled success thanks to communist party rule. >> translator: the chinese communist party has achieved the goal we've had for 100 years. we have built a moderately prosperous society. this means that we have brought about historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in china. >> xi said the party will build

what he called a great country in the years ahead. he we were on to stress the leadership's determination to upgrade the country's military. xi said solving the taiwan question and bringing about its complete reunification are unswerving historical tasks with which the communist party is tasked. regarding hong kong, xi said china will implement the national security law there and carry out enforcement when necessary. >> translator: we have nothing to do with those ceremonies held in beijing. it is regrettable that hong kong is losing its liberties. >> july 1st is the anniversary of hong kong's return to china in 1997. but the authorities have banned

the usual pro democracy rally citing coronavirus restrictions. a u.s. expert says new satellite imagery suggests china is building what appear to be underground silos for missiles in its inland desert region. geoffrey lewis of the middlebury institute of international studies at monterey confirmed construction activity at 119 locations based on an analysis of satellite photos of the desert in gansu province. the silos are apparently for intercontinental ballistic missiles. lewis said the icbms will likely be placed only at some of the silos to avoid detection. a swedish research institute that studies global power estimates that china has 350 nuclear warheads. the silo construction signals china is stepping up its nuclear capability. the latest development of the country's build-up could become a new point of dispute between china and the united states.

a heat wave this week with the hottest temperatures ever recorded in canada is now spawning dangerous wildfires. one village in the western province reached almost 50 degrees on tuesday. only a day later that se community is going up in flames. people in the village of liten north of van koour ordered to flee on wednesday. residents shared video online showing many structures engulfed in flames. canadian public broadcaster is reporting wind of over 70 kilometers an hour that pushed the fire into the community although authorities don't know what sparked it. it is one of many wildfires in the provens this week. western canada and the united states brokal-time high temperatures. canadian officials link the heat to sudden death of more than 100 people. most in the region do not have

air conditioning because summers are usually much milder. former u.s. defense secretary rumsfeld died at 88. he served for six years under george w. bush playing a main role in the fight against terrorism. rumsfeld's family said in a statement wednesday he was surrounded by family in new mexico. rumsfeld was a two-time defense secretary both the youngest and the oldest to hold the post. he first took the job at 43 under president gerald ford in the 1970s during the cold war. in 2001 rumsfeld became the defense secretary again under bush. the former naval pilot led military operations in afghanistan and the ike i can war in th mdle o wt the bush administration called the

war against global terrorism. but the u.s. failure to find weapons of mass destruction in iraq and the prolonged fighting led to the ruling republican party's serio midrm election losses in 2006. rumsfeld resigned from the post and remained a divisive figure in the u.s. bush called rumsfeld a man of intelligence, integrity and almost inexhaustible energy and never flinched from responsibility. staying with the united states, search crews in florida are racing against time and weather. they've found the bodies of 18 people in the rubble of a condo building that collapsed. 147 are still missing. the crs haveeen diggg da nowver sincthe beh rain andeat have hampered worriea weathesystem ere ofhore cou turn in a tropical srm. thr leaders worrsome of e respd to thaemergenc so

theye reested exa help frombroad. >> we' trying find ne places to penetrate and to find, you know, maybe there is a confined space that somebody left and somebody is alive in there. >> president joe biden is scheduled to visit on thursday. he's expected to tour the site and meet with families. the british government plans to offer a coronavirus booster vaccines to vulnerable people before winter. so far 60% of adults in the country have received two doses. officials hope the booster will prolong the protection built up from the first two doses as well as help to fend off variants. front line health workers and everyone over 70 will be

eligible. the program is set to begin in september. it comes as authorities plan to lift most coronavirus restrictions on july 19th despite a surge in infections. >> vaccination remains the absolute key out of this nightmare that we have been in for for well over a year now. we all want to see this nightmare come to an end. that means get out there and get your vaccine. >> meanwhile health authorities in scotland have reported nearly 2,000 coronavirus cases linked to fans watching the european football championship last month. nearly 2/3 of those cases were people who traveled to london for scotland's game against england on june 18th. at least 400 of them were inside the stadium to watch the match. fans who did not have tickets were told not to travel to london because of coronavirus restrictions. but many gathered in large groups in the city ahead of the game prompting police to disburse them. japan is donating more than

$7 million in financial aid to palestinians to help with their coronavirus vaccination drive. the japan international cooperation agency, or jica, and the palestinian authority signed a deal on wednesday. the aid will be used to purchase vaccine related equipment including refrigerated vehicles and portable freezers. >> translator: we want to help palestinians continue to improve the quality of their health services. >> palestinian health officials say about 500,000 people in the west bank and the gaza strip have been fully vaccinated. research group our world and data says that accounts for about 7% of its population. vaccination efforts have been slow in rural areas due to the challenges of delivering vaccines while complying with temperature guidelines. in other news, a member of uganda's olympic team who tested positive for the coronavirus

upon arrival in japan has completed his ten-day quarantine. the member traveled by bus on thursday to osaka prefecture where his team's training camp will be hosted. he tested positive upon arrival at narita airport near tokyo on june 19th. one other team member also later tested positive. health officials have asked the rest of the team not to leave their hotel until next tuesday. officials say they will conduct more tests before deciding when the team can start their training. researchers in japan say they're making progress in finding a way to treat spinal cord injury just they're accepting patients for a clinical trial using stem cells or ips cells. professors have been leading a team of researchers. four patients abled 18 or older

who lost mobility and sensory functions receive cells within four weeks of the accident. >> translator: we want to keep up our work so patients with damage can use this regenerative medicine as soon as possible. >> patients will be closely monitored for 2 months. the team says there's about 5,000 new injuries every year in japan. members of a task force at the pentagon have gotten together to discuss something they can't explain. they've released a report detailing hundreds sightings of unidentified aerial phenomenon. >> reporter: this is a meeting of ufo enthusiasts in

pennsylvania. they believe the government is hiding the truth and that they want answers. >> i definitely think it's a first step but disclosure is a process so it's not just any one thing. >> reporter: these videos form a basis of the report being prepared by the department of defense. they were released in april 2020. all were recorded by cameras on u.s. navy aircraft. this one was taken in 2015. it shows an object moving quickly above the clouds. but what exactly is it? we asked someone who saw it with his own eyes. gabe was a combat systems technician on "princeton."

he had a mysterious encounter if 2004 off the west coast of the u.s. his ship was conducting training exercises with the aircraft carrier "nimitz." he saw several unidentified objects moving slowly across his radar screen. >> and then all of a sudden it would just disappear. i mean, just faster than you can even react. >> reporter: the "nimitz" launched a fighter jet to investigate. this is a video taken from the plane. the object was captured by an infrared camera which detects heat. >> the thing you need to notice is when you're looking at the actual object it is not -- you know, it doesn't have any heat coming off of it. how is it moving? it's got no propellers, no wing.

>> reporter: in 2017 a former senior defense official secretly obtained the videos and leaked them to the media. he believed that the mysterious object in american air space could pose a threat to national security. three years later the department of defense confirmed the authenticity of the videos and then published them. it launched an investigation into the flying objects. >> how can this happen? it could be chinese, russian. it was almost unbelievable to me. i said we've got to somehow inform the leadership so they know this is happening. when the pentagon did that, all over the world attitudes began to change because now the government was officially saying, yes, it is true. >> reporter: the american public still doesn't know if then identified objects are a new kind of weapon or something

completely different. but now that the government has confirmed their existence they're eager to learn the result of the investigation. nhk world, washington. and it is time now for a check on the weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. it was a wet thursday here in tokyo. i guess more rain is on the way for friday? >> hello. you want to pack an umbrella, especially if you're anywhere from tokyo back to osaka in between there because we are seeing some more rain going through the day on friday. we have that rainy season front continuing to move up toward the north and notice we had some heavier bands rolling through and under them we saw 80 millimeters of rainfall in one hour and here 161 millimeters in 12 hours and it was a wet day and we are looking at more rain coming up with this rainy season front staying nearby with a low

pressure system walking across here and ushering in additional moisture. the story doesn't change for friday for a lot of locations though places to the south not much in terms of rain. seeing clouds. big point is tokyo where we're talking about heavier rain possible. forecast for tokyo and osaka, umbrella action for a few days. you need them. naha a break. things are calming down as we expect a little bit more in terms of sun shun. meanwhile we were talking about some snow that rolled through portions of brazil. here's a look at video coming out of the area as unseasonably cold weather battered the country bringing rare snow to the state. the area received snow for three consecutive days. many areas blanketed with white

stuff and people were delighted. a cold front will continue to swing through the area many week but no more snow is in the forecast. you probably saw earlier that frontal boundary rolling through the area but not in terms of precipitation and mainly the rain up toward the north. thursday's highs in brazil. keeping an eye out for tropical storm elsa. formed and moving to the west. staying over the open waters for a bit but need to look out for those of you in the path of the storm. as the storm moves through. not expecting to get too much stronger for the moment but bringing heavier rain later on as we go into the weekend. that's a look at your forecast. hope you have a good day wherever you are.

and we wrap up with news on japan's highest peak. mt. fuji was closed to climbers last year because of the pandemic. now it's back open and people are heading back up to the top. >> translator: it's been raining so i don't know whether i'll make it up, but i would like to try to get to the summit. >> everyone who wants to climb

has to help avoid spreading the coronavirus. they begin in a parking lot where they show a health checklist or have their temperature taken. the road from there leads to the climbing trail. climbers undergo more health checks further up. cabins offer a place to sleep during the climb. operators are helping prevent infections. they are only accepting climbers with prior reservations, they are running at half capacity for social distancing, and they are using partitions and ventilation. mt. fuji is a unesco world heritage side. advisers to unesco said it's essential to control the number of climbers to prevent over climbing. the local government and cabin operators plan to work together to welcome climbers through september 10th. and that concludes this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard so don't go away.

this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin melligard. a closely watched survey in japan shows business sentiment among big manufacturers continues to improve. the mood among large nonmanufacturers is brighter, turning positive for the first time in five quarters, although just slightly. the bank of japan's tankan report came out thursday. it shows the confidence of the manufacturers has risen nine points to 14.

that marks the fourth consecutive quarter of improvement. it comes on the back of growing exports. the mood of general purpose machinery rose 22 points to 34. and among those involved in electrical machinery, 10 points to 28. the auto industry worsened seven points to three, due to a global shortage of semiconductors. the results paint a different picture for many nonmanufacturer just confidence among the major players slightly improved to plus one. providers of accommodation of eating and drinking services stand at minus 74. the figure for services for individuals, such as amusement parks and theaters, remains at minus 31. the boj composite the tankan comes out every three months, showing the difference between percentage of firms saying business is good and those saying it's bad. the tankan survey shows managers

at restaurants and other businesses in the service sector are still pessimistic. one of their major worries is rising prices. the survey indicates they're paying more for goods, which could further squeeze earnings for businesses already struggling due to the pandemic. >> reporter: this restaurant chain serves up sizzling steaks and hamburgers with beef from north america and australia. soaring prices for imports have cooled the firm's outlook. >> translator: here we have a north american ribeye steak. the price of this meat has gone up about 40% since the end of last year. it's unusual because the surge was so sudden. we expect this tough situation to last until the year end. >> reporter: beef prices are increasing, partly due to rising cattle feed costs. another factor is greater demand in the food service sectors in countries such as the u.s. and china.

in japan, however, customers have been slow to return to tables. this restaurant chain has seen sales fall 24% year on year between january and march. its problems are being compounded by higher purchase costs. executives want to keep a high level of quality without charging customers more. they plan to buy more beef from countries with smaller price increases, such as south america. >> translator: if we make too much of a compromise on quality or raise prices to cope with the current situation, it could turn customers away. this would bring greater risk over the long term, so we plan to keep prices where they are. >> reporter: it's not just food that's been affected. purchase costs for a wide range of items, such as lumb and crude oil, have gone up.

the increases have pushed the producer price index 4.9% higher in may. that's the biggest year on year gain in over a decade. meanwhile, prices for consumers have remained flat. the consumer price index for all items stood at minus 0.1%. this shows that businesses have been unwilling to pass on their higher costs to customers. senior economist warns that the situation seems unsustainable. >> translator: even if the vaccination rollout progress and consumption recovers, companies are unlikely to see a big increase in profits because their sts have already soared. businesses feel pressured to keep paying more without charging more. this means smaller profits, which could lead to declining wages for workers. that would weaken the household purchasing power and eventually weigh on the economy.

>> reporter: it is hoped that as vaccinations increase in japan, consumption will grow and the economy will gradually recover. analysts warn this scenario could be at risk until prices change for companies and consumers. seven and i holdings says it expects the first increase in net profits if two years. they released the earnings forecast on thursday saying they expect net profit of 190 billion yen or $1.7 billion for the year through february 2022. that's up 6% year on year. they're banking on record sales as the economy recovers from the pandemic and expabds the operations overseas. the japanese retail giant purchased the u.s. speedway chain of gas stations with

convenience stores. the former chair of japan's biggest business lobby has died. he stepped down from the post in may due to illness. he took the helm of the group in 2018. he used the position to call for a rethink on japan's lifer time employment system and promoted green energy pom sys and was a strong advocate of making the shift to digital work practices. he headed the industrial conglomerate hi that she and became president in 2010 and chairman from 2014 until may this year. he helped hitachi to bounce back from heavy losses. he was battling lymphoma since 2019. sources say he died on sunday. china's largest ride hailing company has debuted on the new york stock exchange. the initial public offering by didi global was the second biggest of the year, following

that of south korean e-commerce giant coupon. didi shares finished the first day at $14.40, one percent higher than the ipo price, putting the company's worth at about $68 billion. analys say my investors are hoping ride hailingn china sees a return to popularity as the economy recovers from the pandemic. didi was founded in beijing in 2012. japan's softbank group is its largest investor. okay. let's get a check on the markets.

that's it for "newsline biz" from tokyo. i'm ramin melligard. thank you so much for joining us. ■úcñsñ arrested.

time for a quick check the headlines. on monday, rebels captured the regional capital. >> the cease fire itself was not something agreed, something the if the opening government unilaterally declared when they appeared to be on the back foot.