test. . welcome to "newsline" i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. israeli authorities have stop fighting temporarily to allow supplies to arrive in gaza. oyster farmers who lost their lively homici lalihoods three y rebuilding with the help of modern technology. >> temporally take a five hour

pause on thursday in response to a request by the united nations. the leadup to this truce has been deadly. nhk world is covering developments. >> israeli target forces have hitting targets for days now. israeli gun fired on a beach where the boys were playing. the victims and officials call the deaths tragic. israeli troops have been pounding gaza from the air in response to rocket attacks. these attacks have killed more than 200 palestinians. fighters fired hundreds of rockets at israel and some landed and caused damage.

both sides have agreed to halt attacks between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. local time to allow much-needed humanitarian supplies to get into gaza. u.n. officials say many have taken shelter in u.n. run schools. >> translator: we are thirsty. when there is water we fill bottles and finish it quickly . >> translator: we sleep on blankets on the floor and cover ourselves with our clothes. children are now suffering from diarrhea and are throwing up. >> as you heard the availability there of clean drinking water and food. the israelis have allowed some aid to trickle into gaza during

the conflict. israeli commanders aren't letting their guard down and say once the window closes thousands of people who live in gaza should not go home for their own safety. >> nhk world's craig dale. syrian president bashar al assad has been sworn in for a third term. he's held on to power for 14 years and through three years of civil war. but he's promised to go on fighting. assad delivered his inaugural speech at the presidential palace in damascus. he said he'll continue to fight what he calls terrorism until order is restored. assad spoke about islamist militants who have crossed over into neighboring iraq and seized a number of cities. they've declared an islamic state in areas of syria and iraq under their control. assad said members of his government warned this would happen. he said arab and western leaders would pay a high price for the support of terrorism. assad is said to have won 90% of the votes in the presidential election last month.

he faced off against rival candidates for the first time. but his critics say the election was a sham. >> good morning, catherine, cake provider comcast rivalled by the heads of brazil, russia, india, china and south africa want a greater role on the world stage but don't all agree on how that should play out. nhk world reports. >> reporter: at the summit brazil city chinese president was out to strengthen cooperation between the economies and other developing countries. russia, which is becoming increasingly isolated, gave strong support to xi's push for a global realignment. it left a group of eight major countries after sanctions were levied against it for annexing crimea in southern ukraine.

at the meeting, russia sided with china to voice opposition to the existing world order led by the united states. a joint statement issued after the meeting stressed the important of multi-lateralism with united nations playing the central role. it also includes wording criticizing unilateral economic sanctions. this reflects the views of both china and russia. participants also agreed to set up a new development bank based in china's economic hub, shanghai. with $100 billion, it's designed to pave the way for new world order led by emerging economies. it appears china wants to exert

greater influence over other economies through the bank. >> translator: i'm grateful to everyone for supporting setting up the bank. we'll work closely with all parties to start operations as soon as possible. >> reporter: but it's unclear whether everything will go as china hopes. xi met with indian prime minister narendra modi on the sidelines of the summit. they agreed to cooperate on infrastructure building and other areas. at the same time, xi invited modi to a meeting of the asia pacific economic cooperation forum in beijing in november. but modi brought up a bilateral border issue, underlining the gap between the two countries. india, in an effort to rebuild its economy, has been placing greater importance on ties with japan, whose relation with china has been cold. although differences among the

brics nations remain, xi is making his push to establish a new world order, both politically and economically. akihiro mikoda, nhk world, brazil. sources says the japanese government plans to allow a company to transport missile components. related technology under license by the united states. the japanese government made the decision after considering a request from raytheon. the company asked

the new policy requires importing company to obtain approval from tokyo if the company wants to transfer defense related technology to countries. in this case the government decided raytheon doesn't need the approval. in a related development the government will decide to work with britain to develop missile technology that detects and tracks targets. the technology is expected to be used on fighter jets that japan's self-defense forces plan to

japanese and chinese officials struggled to overcome differences over the islands. japan controls the islands in the east china sea. china and taiwan claim them. he met with former chinese foreign minister suggested both sides put discussion about the islands on the back burner. >> translator: i think we share the view that people in both countries must try to avoid any incidence over the islands. >> he also brought up the cabinet's decision earlier this month to allow for the use for the right of collective self defense so japan can help closely related countries under attack. and said other neighboring nations are concerned that may erode pacifist principles and said politicians in both countries need to speak frankly

with each other if they are to solve their problems. the people at the u.s. central bank have taken a snapshot of the economy and they like what they are saying. we have details on that and other stories from the business side. >> officials at the u.s. central bank put out their latest beige book. the title may sound colorless but the book illustrates the different shades and hues of the economy. from june to early july all regions expanded and say people are optimistic about the prospects for growth and divide the country into 12 districts and interviewed people to compile the book. the report says overall consumer spending rose in every region. americans spent more on tourism and cars and trucks. auto workers were busy as were metal workers helping to drive

an expansion in manufacturing. the report improved, too, with slight moderate growth in employment. the report provides a mixed picture of real estate. people have seen more buyers and prices have gone up but respondents in other areas saw less demand. the chair of the fed has returned to capitol hill to update lawmakers on her plans. janet yellin has heard warnings that valuations of stocks and bonds are too high but prices are in line with what she has seen in the past. >> the federal reserve doesn't take a view as to what the right level of account or asset prices should be but we try to monitor to see if they are rising outside of levels consistent with historic norms. >> yellin testified before the

house of representatives financial services committee. she and her colleagues have kept the key interest rate near zero. she addressed concerns that it could lead to an asset bubble where prices of stocks and bonds become overinflated but said she and her staff are looking out for investors taking too many risks. and the dow jones industrial average finished at another record high. the positive momentum carried to tokyo. it is still in the positive. analysts say the upside may be limited. investors are waiting to see business results for japanese -- the euro is at a five-month low against the yen. people who check the markets say traders are selling the euro against major currencies. the outlook for the region's economic growth remained $1 moving in a narrow range against

the yen. dealers will be waiting for u.s. housing data later today and looking for more clues on the pace of the recovery. looking at other asian markets. in china shanghai's key index down more than 0.4% and in hong kong up slightly about 0.1%. media mogul rupert murdoch has launched a bid to expand his empire. the people who run murdoch's 21st century fox made an offer for multinational media giant time warner. the advances were rejected. time warner owns warner brothers movie studio, hbo and cnn. executives at fox offered $80 billion but wasn't enough to convince rivals. officials from both companies say they are not discussing the matter.

but reports out of the u.s. say murdoch may come back with another offer to help transform the american media landscape. executives at cable provider comcast offered in february to buy time warner cable and in may the people at at&t made a bid to acquire directv. myanmar is opening up and japanese companies are moving in to fill the demand. they are teaming up to launch cell phone services in the country. executives of the two companies said they will form a joint venture with the state-owned post and telecommunications. npt is currently the sole carrier. the japanese firms will set up base stations and provide technical and other support.

>> translator: we see little prospects for growth in the japanese market in view of the shrinking population so it is very important for us to do business in myanmar where mobile phone penetration is still low. >> only 10% of the people in myanmar have mobilehones due to lack of infrastructure. oyster farmers in northeastern japan are looking into the water and seeing better times ahead. many of them saw their boats get swept away in the tsunami three years ago. now they are working to rebuild what they had with a little help from modern technology. nhk world reports. >> reporter: for generations

fishermen made their living fishing for oysters. the tsunami swept away 42 boats and more than 70 oysters farms were destroyed. the disaster left layers of rubble and sand where farmers cultivated their oysters. about a third of the fishermen gave up their jobs. some marine biologists started a group and are working together through their research data. he leads the group. he knows oysters only grow under certain conditions. so last october he installed a censor to monitor what was happening under water. the device takes readings under the surface to track temperature, salt and oxygen.

>> translator: fishermen here have a lot of experience farming oysters but our data can [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: the censor takes readings every 30 minutes and then sends the data to a computer. and the scientists don't keep the information to themselves. his entire oyster farm but is back in business and now he checks his cell phone all the time to see whether everything is all right. he used to grow his oysters near the surface. like others he didn't understand why many of them would die. he learned many could not survive temperatures of more than 28 degrees celsius.

he moved the oysters to deeper water where the temperature is about ten degrees cooler. >> translator: i think it will be a great source to boost productivity. we need to fish oysters more efficiently. >> the scientists believe many oysters could still die if conditions get worse so he is researching other species, too. he has taken samples of creatures that live on the bottom of the ocean. he wants to know if they can serve as a food source for other marine life. he sees potential in clams, too. he says clams and oysters eat different things so they can live side by side. >> translator: the fishermen's

income slumps when the oysters grow slower or die. by farming other products the fishermen can receive steady earnings. >> he is planning to share what he finds with marine biologists overseas and says research can serve as a model for other fishermen trying to recover from disaster. nhk world. and that's all for now on business news. i will leave you with a check on markets.

every morning investors turn our attention to asia, the tokyo market leads the way and markets around the world follow. >> from the decisions that could change the course of an economy. >> to the companies at the forefront of change. >> up to the minute by specialists from around the world. >> get all the latest business news and insight every day here on "newsline." wednesday marked three months since the ferry disaster in south korea. lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties are attempting to reach agreement on a special bill to support bereaved families. but the families are demanding more. relatives and friends of the victims offered prayers

wednesday morning at a port near the site of the accident. the sewol sank off jindo island on april 16th, leaving 293 people dead and 11 missing. a search for the missing continues but no progress has been reported since a body was discovered on june 24th. relatives and their supporters insist that a proposed investigative team be given the right to look into the disaster and they've put together a petition that 3.5 million people have signed and they're putting pressure on parliament. president park geun-hye's support rate has declined sharply, and she's also failed to appoint a new prime minister. the current prime minister had offered to step down to take responsibility. park has not been able to keep a hold on the situation in the face of public frustration. chinese police have detained a man for arson related to a bus explosion in the southern city of guangzhou. two people were killed and 32

others injured. the bus pulled overa stop in the city's center and then exploded. police are investigating the case as arson. they're holding a 25-year-old man who told them he was frustrated with gambling losses and set the bus on fire. police responded to a string of attacks on buses. more than 30 people were wounded two weeks ago in a fire on board a bus. it's time for a check of the weather. >> battered the northern parts of the philippines. this was the scene yesterday. typhoon rammasun forced

evacuation of 400,000 residents, a wall crumbled down and 11-month-old died. it caused a serious power outage in manila. the typhoon is moving away from the country, however, a new system has formed on the right side of the screen. this is a tropical depression at the moment but could become a tropical storm within the next 24 hours and could aim for the philippines once again. let's continue to talk about typhoon rammasun with wind gusts of 180 kilometers per hour. it cld make landfall by friday and then the third landfall in northern vietnam by saturday. lots of rain is in the cards for you along with strong winds.

meanwhile looking messy in many parts of japan. rain is falling heavily across. just to the south quiet weather is continuing and temperatures could be popping up in many areas. tokyo's high 32 degrees today. nagoya 35. watch out for heat stroke. across the americas typically mid july is the hottest time of year but it is more like early september in many places because cold air is maintaining record low temperatures in many places in the u.s. kansas city low was 13 degrees previous record was 14 degrees is the lowest temperatures for the day. meanwhile, a little bit warming

up on thursday and friday but cooler than average as we go into the next couple of days. stay warm. across the western areas of the u.s. quite hot and weather affecting the central rockies as well as southern parts of the plains. oklahoma city rain is on the menu on thursday and your high is going to be only 22 degrees that could be the lowest temperatures for the day on record. meanwhile, denver at 25 degrees with thunderstorms and boise up 37. it should be around 32 degrees during this time of year. watch out for heat stroke and across the eastern seaboard 13 degrees and sunny weather coming back on thursday. here is the extended forecast.

we have one more story to

share with you before we go. chinese fans of japanese culture have plenty to browse at the annual hong kong book fair. japan central and local governments are promoting japanese manga and novels at the fair for the first time. the annual show is hosting a record 570 companies and organizations from 31 countries and regions. the japanese booths display about 200 novels and scientific texts translated into chinese. organizers are expecting a million visitors during the week-long fair. >> translator: i look forward to seeing even more exhibits next year. >> japanese business and government look at hong kong as a gate way for cultural works to enter mainland china. and that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. we'll be back at the top of the hour.

good evening. from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. the second of two nights with joan rivers. at 19. h her book is already on the bestseller's list. night two of the incomparable joan rivers coming up right now. ♪ >> contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.