. glad to have you with us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo with the latest at this hour. we begin in indonesia where foreign ministers from the association of southeast asian nations and other global powers have wrapped up their summit. they're said to have heated face-to-face discussions on pressing global issues. the east asia summit was held friday in jakarta.

the participate wants included the asean ministers as well as top diplomats from the united states, japan, china, and russia. >> some say the indo-pacific is experiencing symptoms of a war in a hard place. the indo-pacific should not be another -- >> an indonesian government official said the attendees talked about respect for international law in the east and south china sea. beijing has been increasing its maritime activities there. the participants are also believed to have spoken about russia's invasion in ukraine. the diplomats took part in the asean regional forum later in the tay. representatives from 20 foreign countries and regions attended that meeting. north korea was among them. and on the side lines of the asean meetings on friday japan's foreign minister sat down with china's top diplomat. he explained the basis for

japan's plan to released treated and diluted water from the fukushima daiichi plant into the ocean. they were made after a day wang called the water contaminated huyaugsy explained the planned water release as consistent with international safety standards. he urged china to respond to the plan from a scientific perspective. the japanese government plans to dilute the treated water to about one seventh of the world health organization's guideline level for drinking water quality. then it'll release the water into the ocean. hayashi expressed great concerns about the joint military actions china and russia have been stepping up. he also expressed support in peace and stability in the taiwan strait. hayashi demanded strict release

of a japanese man. now, north korea's missile program another regional issue hanging over the asean talks. in new york pyeongyang defended its latest launch saying it was justified in test firing what it says was an intercontinental ballistic missile. u.n. security council delegates released an onslaught of condemnations. tay say wednesday's launch violate u.n. resolutions but north korea is unlikely to face consequences. china and russia often use their veto powers to prevent any reaction. still the u.s. representative called on the members to deal with the matter unanimously. >> as council members we all have the mandate and responsibility to confront the dprk's unlawful and unjustifiable development of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. >> north korea's u.n. representative criticized the u.s. accusing it of increasing regional tension.

this was the first appearance at a security council meeting on north korea since 2017. kim song reported pyeongyang's view the missile launch. >> their provocation with the united states are growing as never before. >> china's u.n. ambassador defended north korea. he condemned the u.s. and south korea saying they've helped raise tension around the korean peninsula through their joint military drills. japan's space agency has suffered an explosive setback, a test of the new epingine has end

in failure. agency officials say they were experimenting with the rocket engine's second stage. the blast sparked a fire and destroyed part of the testing facility but no injuries were reported. it was a dramatic moment for people who gathered to watch. >> translator: failure is the foundation for success, so i hope they will succeed next time. >> the epsilon series is one of the japan's space aww space main rockets. the agency is hoping the new will expand japan's presence in space. it could eventually be offered to the private sector for use in sustainable and autonomous space transport. but recently the rockets have struggled to take flight. this latest hiccup comes after an epsilon 6 which is the

precursor of an epsilon s suffered a failure to launch in october. the wagner rebellion last month appears to have ended and now "the wall street journal" reports it may have had repercussions for some top military russian officers. the newspaper cites multiple sources who say over a dozen senior commanders were detained by russian security authorities following the wagner mutiny. around 15 were suspended from duty or fired. one of those questions was the general. the paper says he was nicknamed general armageddon for his bombing campaigns in syria. now he's russia's deputy commander in ukraine. he reportedly had prior knowledge of wagner's plans but chose not to intervene. the journal quotes a source who said the journal has not been

charged, but his whereabouts are unknown. a russian parliamentary official recently claimed he's currently resting. now the alleged shakeup in russian military leadership comes as ukraine's counter offensive continues. earlier this week president volodymyr zelenskyy attended the nato summits in lithuania where he received promises of more support as the fighting drags on. the german government has published its first ever strategy on china. europe's largest economy is signaling a shift from its heavy reliance on beijing. china became germany's biggest single trade partner under chancellor olaf scholz predecessor, angela merkel. the concerns have prompted a reevaluation of relations. the document describes china as a partner but highlights its strengthening ties with russia and its aggressiveness in the indo-pacific.

it says china's conduct has caused increasing rivalry and competition in recent years. in a speech in berlin the german foreign minister encouraged businesses to take action. >> translator: companies that depend heavily on the chinese market will face greater financial risks in the future. >> the documents said the country's looking to decrease dependency on china in sectors critical for the economy such as rare earths. hollywood's actors union has voted to go on their first strike in 43 years after contract negotiations with studios and streaming services broke down. actors are joining screen writers who have been on the picket lines since may. the president of the actors union announced the decision on thursday. the organization represents about 160,000 union members including 65,000 actors.

>> the entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, a.i. this is a moment of history that is a moment of truth. if we don't stand tall right now we are all going to be in trouble. we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines. >> both actors and screen writers unions are demanding increases in base pay and residuals in the streaming era. they also want assurances their work will not be replaced by artificial intelligence. the deadline to reach a new contract expired on wednesday. hollywood studios are facing their first dual work stoppage in 63 years forcing them to halt many productions across the united states and abroad.

next, china is hoping some international cooperation can help revive its post-pandemic economy. many chinese companies are looking abroad for opportunities, and japanese experts are taking the lead. nhk world reports. >> reporter: here in china's sichuan province a new medical project is under way. the initiative is a collaboration between a group from japan and a startup from chandu. the japanese researchers offer up their expertise while the

chinese side provides the funding. this japanese researcher is helping to teach his chinese colleagues. the goal is to find new treatments for lung cancer. he says there were concerns about a lack of students and funding in japan. now he can continue his work in china. >> translator: i'm really grateful to be here. i want this project to move forward. >> translator: china needs innovation and new treatments. we want to ease patients pain and get new drugs on the market as fast as we can. >> reporter: china is also looking for japanese expertise in other fields like elder care. a japanese company teamed up with chinese firms to build several of these nursing homes.

the facilities specialize in helping those with dementia. >> translator: not many companies in china know how to provide proper care for dementia patients, but there's a lot of demand. >> reporter: more than 15 million people are believed to have dementia in china, and that number is expected to rise. this home cost about $2,200 per month, but the families are willing to pay for quality care. the company's hoping to take lessons from japanese care homes and pass them onto its chinese staff. >> translator: japan's population started aging before china's, so they have a lot of experience. together we can work quickly to improve our care. >> reporter: those on both sides say it's a win-win situation for

china and japan. joint efforts like these hope to not only promote international cooperation but also encourage the economic goal. nhk world.

a wide area of western japan saw devastating downpours this week. our meteorologist jonathan oh explains the outlook into the three-day weekend here in our world weather report. >> hello, as you go through the holiday weekend looks like we're going to be dealing with the possibility of more heavy rain, but the focal point will be just a little bit different. earlier we were talking about the heavy rain impacting western and central areas of japan. now we're going to be seeing the rainy season front is slightly moving toward the north as the focal point more towards the east and north as you go especially into saturday. because of that we have to look into the possibility of flooding and landslides for the north eastern portion of japan.

as high pressure strengthen, we're seeing the front move up toward the north, which means for areas back towards the west we may be talking about the end of the rainy season sunday. and the korean peninsula also getting hit with more rain. and notice the temperatures all ticking upward as you go into sunday and monday. tokyo may hit 38 by monday, so let me repeat for those of you who are going to try to be outdoors a lot of people maybe heading to beach on monday, make sure you take frequent breaks and get some shade and be indoors from time to time. that's highly recommended because these temperatures you may say, oh, it's hot earlier this week. this is quite hot, much hotter than what we saw earlier this week, so be on the lookout for that. meanwhile keeping an eye on the tropical system as you go through the day on saturday. meanwhile it's been stormy across portions of of canada and also montreal. take a look at this video coming

out of the area as severe thunderstorms struck eastern ontario and southwestern quebec. the tornados toppled trees and ripped roofs off homes and did cause serious problems. the weather is going to be focusing more towards the east and toronto looking at hot weather but 25 on friday. hope you have a safe day wherever you are.

that's all for now on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo.

coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard, so stay right there. ♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. japanese auto maker isuzu motors says it's withdrawn from production in russia. it news comes as the war in ukraine drags on and follows similar moves from japan's other major car makers. isuzu said on wednesday it transferred its russian business

to a local auto firm. the japanese company's plant produced 3,700 trucks in 2021 but executives suspended its operations in march last year following moscow's invasion of ukraine. toyota, nissan, and mazda have already said they are exiting russia. and mites beegsy motors have stopped production in the country. sources say mitsubishi is in talks with its local partner over the pullout. and a japanese government survey has found there is a cap on wages in the nursing care industry. service providers are not raising salaries above a certain level even if they're holding additional assets such as reserve funds and deposits. the finance ministry surveyed more than 6,000 service providers on their annual wages. it divided them into five categories based on the size of their assets. the survey found firms and organizations in the lowest group paid an average of 4.1

million yen or $30,000. those in the second lowest offered more but the survey found the top three categories did not offer higher salaries. their annual wages were also $31,000. ministry officials suspect the firms and groups are withholding reserve funds and deposits. they say a system must be put in place that compels them to offer pay hikes. low wages are believed to be a factor in causing an intense labor shortage in the nursing care industry in japan. companies have instead opted to hire farm workers with more than 12,000 holders of special skilled worker visas currently employed in the industry. the japanese government says it will provide up to 75 billion yen or over half a billion dollars in subsidies to chip material maker sumco. the funds will go towards construction to two new plants

in saga prefecture. industry ministry officials are aiming to secure a stable supply of semiconductors which are seen as increasingly important for economic security. the two plants in western japan will build silicon wafers essential for making chips. >> translator: we want sumco to continue to lead the world in cutting edge silicone wafers. >> production at the plants is scheduled to begin in october 2029. and the operator of a japanese clothing giant uniqlo has projected strong numbers. fast retailing says its sawn solidated revenue for the period rose earlier to about $15

billion. net profit also increased 0.3%. in china sales for the three months through may were up more than 40% from a year earlier. the company cited a post pandemic recovery in consumption and greater brand recognition as factors. revenue and profits also increase in north america and europe. looking at domestic performance sales for the nine month period rose, but operating profit fell 3% year on year. this was partly due to the weaker yen as it pushed up raw material costs. the company raised its net profit forecast for the fiscal year from august to 260 billion yen or $1.8 billion. it expects a strong overseas performance to continue. the chinese government says it will enforce measures to regulate generative artificial

intelligence services next month. beijing said on thursday that texts, images, video, and other a.i. produced content for the chinese public must reflect the country's core socialist values. the measures go into effect from august 15th. officials say the content must also exclude subversive material and expressions that are discriminatory or infringe on privacy. they added service providers must delete illicit material and stop its spread. violators will be punished and could even be held criminally liable. chinese authorities have rigorously regulated online services. in 2017 major i.t. company ten cent had to suspend its a.i. chat bots after they apparently criticized the chinese communist party. companies such as i.t. giants baidu and alibaba are stepping up artificial intelligence

services. next is biz picks with nhk world's john ladue. >> every friday we bring you the latest in business with biz picks. let's go straight to the numbers for this friday, july 14th. the nikkei average ended the day at 32,391. the index treaded with less momentum this week. investors sold export related shares as the yen appreciated against the dollar. traders had been speculating the bank of japan would tweak its ultra-loose monetary policy at the meeting to be held at the end of this month, and this could narrow the difference in interest rates between the yen and dollar. let's take a look what's happening in the week ahead. on monday chinese authorities are set to announce the gdp growth rate between april and june. some analysts expect the economy will grow faster than it did in the first quarter, which stood

at 4.5% year on year. and on wednesday the consumer price index for june is set for release in the u.k. now, prices surged 8.7% in may from a year earlier. the inflation ratio is the highest among the g7 countries. and on friday japan's cpi will also be announced. the index excluding fresh food rose 3.2% in may from the year earlier. the pace of increase slowed as electricity rates dropped due to government subsidies and overall energy costs stabilized. but analyst saito tarro expects the index for june to rise to 3.3%. >> translator: the inflation index slowed in may, but electricity prices rose from june after a government approved

rate increase. i expect the hike to raise the cpi by 0.1 points. >> saito also points out that the structure of inflation will change going forward. the current inflationary trend has been led by price hikes in foods and imported items. he expects the import-related inflation to slow, but service sector costs to rise gradually. >> translator: the prices of goods fluctuate easily, but this is not the case with services which tend to rise moderately. this year wage hikes have made considerable progress, so when labor costs rise, the prices of services are largely determined by labor costs. this puts upward pressure on service prices.

>> saito says japan's central bank will need to tighten monetary policy if the inflation in services continues faster and further in the long run. i'm john ladue, and that was this week's biz picks. okay, let's get a check on the markets.

>> that's it for "newsline biz" from tokyo. i'm ramin mellegard. thank you very much for watching.

mohammed: iranian president ebrahim raisi is on an african tour, hoping to forge new alliances. as iran's academic struggles -- as iran's economy struggles under western sanctions, what can africa offer? and does iran have any influence on the continent? this is "inside story." ♪ hello and welcome to the program. i'm mohammed jamjoom. some have called it a new beginning for relations between iran and african nations.