welcome to "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. first a look at the headlines. members of japan's cabinet have approved a policy to enable the country to collective self-defense and some people are voicing opposition. the leader of iraq kurdish autonomous region says the country is already effectively partitions and plans to hold a referendum on independence. and more and more yap's women are putting up their hands to take on positions in corporate management. we are this story just breaking into us. north korea has launched what

appear to be two rockets toward the sea of japan. south korean officials say they were launched from north korea's east coast. the officials say the first took off at around 6:50 a.m. and the second at 8:00 a.m. they say the devices traveled about 180 kilometers and then plunged into the sea of japan. three days ago, north korean authorities fired ballistic missiles into the sea of japan, the latest launches come a day before chinese president xi jinping is scheduled to visit south korea. more details on this story as they come in. japan's cabinet members have approved the country's new national security policy. they've reinterpreted the constitution to enable the country to use its right to collective self-defense. so personnel will now be able to help allies under attack. >> translator: japan has consistently followed a path of peace.

we're not changing the country's course, rather, we're trying to further strengthen our stance. the cabinet decision shows our resolution and commitment. >> past administrations maintained the constitution would allow the use of force only if japan was attacked directly. the new interpretation will permit the use of a minimum amount of force to defend a closely related country under attack. cabinet members say the right should be limited to when there are clear dangers that japan's existence is threatened and the rights of the citizens are fundamentally overturned. the cabinet says japan may use force when there is no other appropriate means to repel the attack to protect the country some japanese are upset about the new policy. thousands headed to the minister's office to protest.

the demonstrators started gathering on tuesday morning. they stayed there until late afternoon when the cabinet gave its approval. some pointed to article 9 of the constitution which renounces war. they held up banners that said "don't destroy article 9 of the constitution" and "don't go to war". >> translator: it's a very bad situation. the government is trying to change the policy through a cabinet decision without any debate on the constitution and without amending it. >> some lawyers are calling on the leaders to retract their decision. >> translator: we're extremely concerned about what will happen once the reinterpretation of the constitution takes place how each government will interpret it and how they will exercise the right to collective self-defense. >> the bar association point out the government is bound by the constitution. they say the cabinet has effectively changed article 9 without thorough discussion among the people.

they say this runs counter to the principles of constitutionalism. the national security secretary is joining us. we heard prime minister abe say he is making this shift to strengthen japan's stance. why after all this time is this necessary? >> well, the japanese government until today considered that the use of force is permitted under the constitution only when japan is you should attack based on individual right of self-defense. however, if you look at the security environment surrounding japan, it has been transformed fundamentally. if you compare that from the time when the constitution was made or even from the time the cold war ended.

and for instance, there has been the shift -- the major shift of the power balance and also the rapid innovation in the technology and also there exists some cross border threats, such as proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles or the cyberattack or the international terrorism. so under such situation, no one country can secure its own peace by -- only by itself. so against such background, the japanese government has reached the conclusion that not only when japan is attacked but also when some foreign country is attacked, the use of force could

be permitted under the constitution under the so-called new three principles, including that this armed attack against foreign country occurs, which threatens the survival of japan and also there's a clear danger that the right of the japanese people may be fundamentally overturned. and this use of force which will be permitted under the constitution in some cases, when looked from the international law, is based on the collective self-defense rights. >> as you're well aware, the abe administration is facing much criticism about the change. some say the prime minister moved too quickly and some people say there should have been more thorough discussions in some scenarios in which japan

would exercise force. how would you respond to that? >> the advisory panel submitted the report to the prime minister on the 15th of may. on that same day, prime minister presented the basic orientation in the press conference. and ever since there has been a very intensive discussion that took place in the ruling parties and the government presented some scenarios to the ruling party discussion and that -- that has been very thoroughly examined. so if you look at those process it is not really the case that the whole procedure proceeded too fast. taken you look a way forward there should be still further discussions as we proceed to legislation the government will

now start drafting the legislation. and once the preparation is completed, we will submit the draft legislation to the diet for its deliberation. >> so you feel there has been enough discussion? >> there has been sufficient discussion and will be further discussion on the way forward. >> leaders in neighboring countries, south rhea and china have expressed concern. how do you address that? >> well, the japanese government has been maintaining the so-called exclusively defense oriented policy as its basic policy. and the government of japan will maintain that policy. and also the course japan has been taking as peace-loving nation will remain unchanged. and prime minister abe has repeatedly expressed in the diet session that the dispatch of the self-defense forces to the

country easter tour generally speaking is not allowed in the case of individual collective self-defense right. and that same principle applies in the case of the collective self-defense right. he also mentioned that the self-defense forces will not participate in wars like gulf war or iraq war. that is to say, that the self-defense forces will not take part in major operations such as major air raid or bombardment or invasion of the enemy territory. so i don't think there should be such concern. and what i want to stress here is that one important purpose of this cabinet decision which was made just yesterday is that japan is going to more proactively contribute to the peace and stability of the international community based

upon the sew call proactive contribution to peace based on the international principles of cooperation. >> thank you for joining in other news, iraqi lawmakers opened their first session of parliament under pressure to form a national unity government but the meeting soon ended. sunni and kurdish lawmakers walked out. they blamed nuri al-maliki for helping to plant the seeds for the insurgency. the lawmakers want someone else to take his place. the acting parliamentary speaking began the session with a call for unity to restore

security all over the country. the session ended after one and a half hours because of the walkouts. the speaker said lawmakers will meet again in a week. maliki's won the highest number of seats in the parliamentary elections. they say he is responsible for letting islamist militants gain an increasing foothold in the north and west. the leader of iraq's kurdish autonomous region plans to hold a referendum on independence in months. sunni fighters have taken control over the last several weeks of a number of cities across northern and western iraq. kurdish leader, masoud barzani said the country is already effectively partitions. barzani made the comments in an interview with the bbc. he said kurds would play a part in a political solution to the fighting.

but he said independence is their right. in the past month, kurdish fighters have moved into areas abandoned by iraqi forces. including kirkuk. the city has one of the country's largest oil fields. the kurds have argued with iraqi leaders for years about sharing oil revenues and they have long pushed for an independent state. the u.s. treasury secretary is look toward china and encouraging leaders there to make some changes. ai uchida joins us with that story and more from the business desk. >> a lower yuan keeps exports competitive and spurs growth but hurts american exporters. jack lew will push them to do more. lew was speaking in washington to members of the u.s.-china business council. he said the yuan needs to rise.

>> we need to keep making progress getting toward a market-determined exchange race. >> lew will meet with financial officials at the u.s.-china strategic and economic dialogue. they will discuss regulatory reforms and an investment treaty, among a number of other issues. managers at japanese are looking ahead and planning to invest more at their businesses. officials at the bank of japan have released a report showing that managers share that sense of optimism. bank officials check sentiment every three months. managers have revised their investment plans upward from three months ago. the officials say that is true for companies of all sizes. . they say higher corporate earnings are making business people more positive about prospects for growth. major manufacturers plan to invest 12.7% more than what they invested in the previous fiscal non year. leading non-manufacturers plan to increase 5% more.

tokyo shares opened higher. japanese stocks are extending a month-long rally. car makers are among the biggest gainers. the nikkei up .5% at this hour. currency traders are buying the dollar and selling the yen on signs the u.s. economy is recovering. the euro is straightly stronger. and let's see where the yuan is trading against the dollar. the dollar has been weaker against the chinese currency but is stronger this year. as for how china's stocks are starting the day. shanghai is trading higher and hong kong is up more than 1%. and over in south korea we are seeing a gain as well. japanese and u.s. trade officials are still trying to find common ground over tariffs on farm products.

they have been talking about safeguard measures. they allow japan to reinstate tariffs on beef and pork if imports surge. the two sides have not been able to bridge the gap between them but the talk have been candid. >> translator: we were able to talk about how we could make concessions and what kinds of ideas we could come up with to do that. >> the discussions are part of the negotiations for broader transpacific partnership free trade pact. officials will meet in tokyo on wednesday to talk about deregulating american auto imports. they will sit down again in washington on july 14th for two more days of discussions. top consultants suggest that companies with more women in management positions perform well than their competitors.

prime minister abe says by 2020, the ratio will rise to 30%. some business leaders are already making changes. >> reporter: a website for female professionals was launched in may and is gaining popularity. so far, about 17,000 women hoping to land management positions have posted their educational backgrounds, language skills and career history. companies then directly contact applicants who have the skills they are looking for. the website has received a flood of inquiries from companies needing capable female managers. why aren't there more female managers in japan? one reason is that 60% of women quit their jobs when they have their first child.

this major i.t. firms develops games and other online services. the number of women in management positions can be counted on one hand. for the past two years, female workers have been leading an effort to encourage women to stay on the job even after having children. they have drawn up criteria. among these are allowances to cover a portion of child daycare expenses and to help hire babysitters at low cost. this woman's ambition is to become a manager and raise her two-year-old son. thanks to the company's new system, she was able to hire a babysitter whenever her child became ill. >> translator: the system has been very helpful even when my child suddenly becomes sick, i don't have to miss work.

>> reporter: another company has been trying to increase female managers by changing the mind set of male leaders. this major consulting firm decided that nurturing female leaders is an important task for male managers who hold 90% of supervisory positions. but even senior managers will admit it's not easy to train female sbort nats. >> translator: i can naturally understand my male subordinates but to be honest there are some things about female workers i just don't understand. >> reporter: the company has set goals for the development of female managers and progress is closely monitors. an evaluation includes whether female manager candidates are assigned suitable clients, are

given proper roles and whether they have the right sponsors who can guide them. green means 80% or higher. too much yellow and red indicates the division chief will have to submit an action plan. with this method the company intends to double the ratio of female managers from the current 10%. this woman has been studying the characteristics of companies that have many female leaders. >> translator: many advanced companies evaluate the performance of male managers by how they guide their female subordinates for promotion to managerial positions. this helps men to identify female workers who have aptitude to become supervisors by giving them challenging tasks.

>> reporter: how best to promote more female workers has been a long-standing challenge facing japanese firms, not only women, but investors as well are closely watching whether this time drastic change will be made. >> more headlines for you in business next hour. here's another check on markets. ukrainian forces have targeted pro-russian separatists in eastern ukraine with air and artillery strikes.

they struck after president petro poroshenko announced he would not renew a ceasefire. he said government forces would go on the offensive. he said they would rid the country of what he called parasites. the speaker of the parliament oleksandr turchynov confirmed security forces were once again targeting the bases of what he called terrorists. and he said lawmakers are considering imposing a state of emergency in the east. pro-russian activists there have blown up rail lions. some fired shots at a bus. ukrainian leaders fear security conditions will only get worse. it's time now for a check of the weather. people in many areas of paraguay are dealing with unseasonal severe floods. >> calm weather is a main feature in the summer of paraguay but they have been dealing with severe rain and severe weather in the last couple weeks. a rare tornado hits the area and

the days of heavy rain have caused widespread flooding in several areas. this was the scene. flooding from torrential rain. crops have been damaged and roads have been blocked in remote areas. residents are desperately waiting for food supplies and normal rain is welcomed, however more rain is on the menu. on thursday you are expecting some daytime thunderstorms, wednesday as well. and on your friday, thunderstorms and heavy rain is in sight. flooding rains continue. so lots of things are happening in paraguay. the flooding rain is also affecting countries like argentina and uruguay. look at the north. we are expecting heavy rain to fall in several places in north america. we have three tropical systems two of them are other the

pacific ocean and the rest is located just to the east of the florida peninsula. it's the first tropical storm for the atlantic basin this year. the name is arthur. it's packing winds of 85 kilometers per hour. it's a stationary system. so stormy conditions will continue in the florida peninsula at least into your thursday morning. the system could become a hurricane on thursday and may skim the east coast of north carolina by your friday morning local time. that's your independence day and past eastern parts of the eastern u.s. over the weekend. while causing rough seas, storm surges and gusty conditions for the coastal locations. on wednesday these threats are expected in the florida peninsula. gusts could reach up to 100 kilometers an hour. and rainfall of 125 millimeters which is enough to cause flooding and waves up to 3 meters and isolated tornados cannot be ruled out. to the north we have another batch of rain over the

northeastern corner of the u.s. due to a significant cold front swinging through eastern canada down through the mid part of the u.s. this has history of causing tens of tornados the other day. it is still packing a lot of energy to cause more tornados. now back behind it, dry weather continues and temperatures are quite soaring. las vegas at 44 degrees for the high. meanwhile across the eastern seaboard, 35 degrees in washington, d.c. and staying that way for the next couple days. and humidity. lots of humidity. so oppressively hot across these locations in the next couple of days. and across parts of asia looking unsettled over central areas of china. especially the shanghai area is experiencing the worst of it. and the seasonal front will be extending into western japan by your thursday. much of japan will be under rainy weather on thursday going into your friday, which is not

necessarily bad news especially in kobe. you had the driest june in 111 years. beneficial rain is in sight on your thursday. and rain could fall in the tokyo area on your friday. here's your extended forecast.

we have more details on our lead story. north korea has launched what appear to be two rockets toward the sea of japan. south korean military officials say they were fired from north korea's east coast. officials say the first took off

at around 6:50 a.m. and the second at 8:00 a.m. they say the devices traveled 180 kilometers and plunged into the sea of japan. north korea also fired rockets last week. south korean government officials believe the north koreans are trying to develop guide missiles with an extended range. they fired short-range ballistic missiles into the sea of japan. the latest launches come a day before the chinese president, xi jinping is scheduled to visit south korea to meet with park geun-hye. the latest launches appear to be an attempt to pressure china's leaders. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the hour.

good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight, first a conversation with ron capps director of the veterans writing project about his memoir serious li not lrt fooy not all right five wars in 10 years which takes a look at how the trauma of war continues to plague our soldiers. a veteran of afghanistan. then we will talk to arturo sandoval, from north america and we're pleased he will join our studios and a performance from arturo sandoval coming up right now. ♪ ♪