And fushl officials estimate 500,000 japanese students are addicted to online games and messaging. Edward snowden has walked out of an airport in moscow that has been his home for more than five weeks. The lawyer representing the National SecurityAgency Contractor says russian immigration officials have granted him temporary asylum for one year. American authorities want snowden on charges of espionage for leaking details of the nsa Surveillance Programs. Snowden has been holed up in the transit zone at moscows airport since he arrived from hong kong on june 23rd. His lawyer gave an update on his status. Translator snowden has just left airport and has headed for a safer place. Snowden had been asking russia for temporary asylum until he could relocate to latin america. Some countries in that region have offered him political asylum. American authorities have been asking russian leaders to extradite him but the russians refused. Snowden told the Guardian Newspaper and other media that nsa agents collect vast amounts of private internet and phone data at home and abroad. U. S. Authorities defended the Surveillance Program saying they prevented terrorist attacks. Spokespersons for the russian president ial office say snowden entering russia will not have an impact on relations with the u. S. , and they say it will not affect summit talks between president s putin and obama scheduled for september. Japans deputy Prime Minister taro aso has had to retract some recent remarks. They can be seen as citing the nazis as an example japan could follow in amending its constitution. Aso said he regrets having caused the misunderstanding. Aso told a symposium monday he doesnt want to see a debate on changing the constitution conducted in a frenzy. He say germanys constitution was changed before anyone realized what had happened. Aso suggested that japan could learn from their tactics. He retracted those remarks on thursday. Aso said its extremely important to discuss constitutional revisions in a level headed manner. Translator i cited the way nazi germany changed the weimar constitution as an example of a situation where no sufficient National Debate took place amid a frenzied state of affairs. I understand that my comment has brought about a great deal of misunderstanding. I want to retract my citing of the nazis as an example. Japans chief cabinet secretary, yoshihide suga, said aso told him on wednesday night of his intention to make a retraction. Translator the government of Prime Minister shinzo abe does not endorse past nazi actions. Akihiro ohata, the secretarygeneral of the largest opposition democratic party. He said asos remarks are totally unacceptable. Ohata said that the comment could undermine Japans National interest. He demanded the government clarify stance on the remarks at the diet. A u. S. Based Jewish Human Rights Group has also criticized asos comment. The Simon Wiesenthal center based in los angeles issued a statement calling on aso to clarify his remarks. It quoted aso in asking what techniques could be worth learning from the nazis. It asked if aso meant ways to stealthily cripple democracy. The statement also suggested aso may have forgotten that the rise of the nazis engulfed humanity in the horrors of world war ii. South korea has also expressed displeasure over asos comments. Translator we urge japans government and political leaders to be more cautious about their words and actions. Earlier on tuesday, cho said the meaning of asos words is clear to sensible people and neighboring countries that suffered damage from japans invasions. Its not just words and action causing friction between japan and south korea. A dispute over territory in the sea of japan is also a sore spot. Japan claims the takeshima islands. South korea controls them. Now japanese officials are trying to find out how much citizens care. They polled nearly 2,000 people across the country. 95 said they knew about the takeshima islands. Those individuals then answered multiple choice questions on their knowledge. 63 chose the option that said south korea illegally controls the islands and has a Security Guard stationed there. 61 picked the answer that says the islands are an integral part of japan, both historically and under international law. 71 expressed some level of interest in the islands. 28 said they are not interested. Cabinet secretary Officials Say theyll try to raise awareness of the islands and japans position. South korean Officials Say the islands belong to their country historically, geographically, and under international law. Officials in Fukushima Prefecture have started internal radiation level checks for small children. They have adapted the measuring equipment for those under the age of 4. The checks cover children who lived in five municipalities designated as evacuation zones after the Fukushima DaiichiNuclear Power plant accident in march 2011. The equipment is designed for adults. Officials have added chairs so that small children can be tested. Parents have been waiting for this opportunity. Translator honestly speaking, i think it took too long. But at the same time, im also grateful that younger children have finally had the checks. An official said parents were frustrated because they didnt know the internal radiation levels of their children. Translator we hope to offer this test acrosssssssssssssssss prprprprefecture in cooperation other municipalities. Japan will be deal with the problems from Fukushima Daiichi for years to come. Engineers still have a long way to go before they decommission the reactors. Public and private groups have set up a joint Research Organization to figure out how to scrap the units. Industry minister handed over the organizations charter to Kyoto University professor yamana. Hell head the Research Institute for nuclear decommissioning. Translator we will bring together Japanese Technology and ideas in order to reach resolutions. More than 500 experts from 17 groups will be part of the institute. They plan to develop remote controlled robots to work at highly radioactive sites and technologies to remove melted nuclear fuel. It could take as long as 40 years to scrap the reactors. Zimbabwes Opposition Leader is calling this a huge farce. The outcome of the vote has been marred by administrative and legal violations. Hes challenging mugabe who has been in power for 33 years. Mugabe is rung for his sixth term. This is the third time hes faced off against his longtime rival. Tsvangirai is the rival. Mugabe has held power since 1980. His time has been marked by hyperinflation and economic turmoil. Mugabe lost the first round to tsvangirai. Leaders around the world pressured mugabe to form his administration. He cobbled together a unity government. Mugabe kept the presidency and tsvangirai took the office of Prime Minister. Their uneasy power sharing arrangement lasted five years. About 6. 4 million people, or half the population, are registered to vote. Nhk world spoke with some of them in the capital harare and rural areas. Reporter voters joined long lines outside polling stations as they prepared to cast their ballots. Some had to wait for hours. Some are hoping for stability under mr. Mugabe and others are hoping for change, but none of them want more violence and unrest. Robert mugabe has led zimbabwe for more than 30 years. Over and over, he reminds voters about his achievements, confronting the west as the liberator. To some, hes a hero who freed them from their colonial british rulers and led them to independence. Zimbabwe, which we fought for, died for, must never be a colony again. The only man that is going to give us our future. Reporter mugabes opponent tsvangirai has called for better ties with the west to shore up the economy. He says mugabe has to go. Prosperity is in our hands in our lifetime. I think the most honorable thing for mugabe to do is to respect the intelligence of zimbabweans. Reporter zimbabweans saw prices skyrocket through years of hyperinflation. The National Debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product has climbed to one of the highest in the world. Still, for years, mugabe has been able to count on voters in farming villages. Hes redistributed land, providing some to those who had none. But recently, more and more of those voters have become critical of their president. Many of our journalists, out of fear of angering mugabe loyalists, but this man agreed to talk. He lives with his wife, his 3yearold daughter, and his grandmother. He says zimbabwes rulers are living in luxury while the poor suffer. They have bigger stomachs. They are eating money. Reporter he is desperate for change, for the future of his daughter. He thinks change wont be possible as long as mugabe is in power. Reporter the growing use of the internet has worked against mugabe. Users have exchanged comments critical of him on social networking sites. Mugabe imposes strict censorship over the media, but he has not been able to tighten control online. I think the internet is a good source of information because it gives you balanced detail. Reporter the voting was carried out peacefully on the whole, but already the tsvangirai camp is claiming fraud. This has been a farce. Its been marred by administrative and legal violations which affect the legitimacy of its outcome. Reporter any wonder whether the peace will hold if the results are disputed. Nhk world, harare. I spoke earlier with a researcher on africa at the institute of developing economies here in tokyo and a former Embassy Official in zimbabwe. People in zimbabwe are frustrated about their sluggish economy and the gap between the rich and poor. How has mugabe been able to hold onto power . Zimbabwe used to have a very good economy. With good infrastructure and good products and capacity, it was much help to them. This is one reason. Another one is neighboring south africa provided the transport system almost by free for them and china is another very important country for zimbabwe. They provide various support for them, the mugabe administration. Mugabe supporters are claiming victory but members of tsvangirais party are accusing them of electoral fraud. How do you see the outcome . In this stage, i cannot say anything about the outcome. It is difficult to anticipate, but things seem to go not smoothly and turmoil will happen with much probability. This election is quite important. May i say this, a last chance for them, to their frail economy and the international position. As i say, zimbabwe used to have a good economic conscience and key country in the africa region. But the policy of the government destroyed almost completely that goodness. On the other hand, africa has enjoyed the Economic Growth and a very good economic environment. So if now they can establish a new regime, such kind of the good to help very much to rebuild the construction of the economic. Zimbabwe is under economic sanctions from the European Union and the United States and you earlier mentioned some of the support coming from south africa and china. Thats right. How will the outcome of this election affect Foreign Relations . I said if zimbabwe can succeed to establish a new regime, economic reconstruction whim will start very rapidly and with much support cane expectedromhenternaal community, including the u. S. But in case the mugabe and his party keep the power, things become much worse. This country will sink into the deep dependency on china. That will be the last resort to survive for them. That was katsume from the institute of developing economies. Pakistan has agreed to restore full partnership with the u. S. U. S. Secretary of state john kerry sees strong ties with the country as key to resting afghanistan. Kerry is visiting pakistan to rebuild ties. The u. S. Secretary of state is making spris vis to pakistan, his first since assuming his post. He was welcomed by Prime Minister nawaz sharif who also recently took office. Kerry used the meeting to ask for greater control over islamic extremists i northwestern pakistan. Insurgents with hideouts in mountainous region continue to launch attacks on american oops. U. S. Pakistan ties have been deteriorating. Pakistan opposes u. S. Drone strikes targeting insurgents o its soil saying it infringes on its sovereignty. The relationship with the u. S. Was a top issue in the general election in may. During his campaign, sharif spoke out against the drone attacks. Sartaz aziz spoke alongside kerry saying that drone attacks are counterproductive to the relationship between the two countries. Kerry says he has agreed with aziz to resume high level negotiations over security issues. He adds that he has invited sharif to come to washington to meet wh president barack obama. Washington is aiming for complete withdrawal of its combat troops from afghanistan by the end of 2014. Its apparently keen to mend the relationship with pakistan which has great influence over the security and reconstruction of its neighbor. The philippines and vietnam are both locked in territorial disputes with china in the south china sea. The Foreign Ministers met in manila on thursday. They agreed to aush asean member countries to speed up negotiations with china to establish a legally binding code of conduct that would prevent major conflict. Rosario of the philippines plan to ask for cooperation from other member nations. When the asean Ministry Conference is held in thailand later this month. At junes meeting in brunai, ministers agreed to hold talks in september, but member nations are not equally enthusiastic about the issue. Those which are not in territorial disputes shy away from confrontation and value economic ties with china. Other members worry that negotiations will drag on while china continues to increase its presence in the region. Since the beginng of negotiations, china has seemed reluctant to agree to a legally binding code of conduct. The agreement between the philippines and vietnam is a step towards stronger ties on the asean side of the negotiation table. Internet addiction is a growing problem for young japanese. More than 500,000 High School Students cant stop playing online games. A study group of the Health Ministry carried out a sixmonth survey of 100,000 children aged 12 to 18. Students were said to be addicted if they answered yes to at least five of the eight questions. Researchers asked if they tried but failed to spend less time online. They also wanted to know if Online Activity spoiled friendships. The group found that over 8 were addicted. That equates to 518,000 students nationwide. The figure is four times the estimate for people aged 20 or older in a similar survey. The addiction rate for junior High School Students was 6 and was higher for senior High School Students at 9. 4 . The rate for male students was 6. 4 and there were more females at 9. 9 . This man from hiroshima has been playing online games since high school. He began getting treatment two years ago. The man says he enjoys fighting monsters and exchanging messages with other players. Translator my friends on the internet became more important to me than those in the real world. I wasnt hungry for the game, but hungry for relationships. He says he only played the game for about three hours a day at first but his addiction got steadily worse. He sometimes sat in front of his computer for ten hours. A member of the survey team warns the problem can be harmful for young people. Translator children are only beginning their lives, so its a serious problem if they become hooked on internet games that can hamper their develop mement. He says there are very few medical institutions across japan that specialize in treating internet addiction. I think the Central Government and public organizations should try to speed up the introduction of preventive measures. He also believes its important to take comprehensive steps to tackle the problem. A Tropical Storm is heading toward southern china. Meteorologist robert speta has the latest on that, robert . A Tropical Storm jetty out here. And already weve been seeing winds in hong kong about 80, 90 kilometers. Also heavy rain across the philippines. As far as the center of circulation, its really broad at this time. You have this very deep monsoonal depression. So that means heavy rains over a widespread area as this does continue to work off there towards the northwest. Making landfall by friday afternoon going through the evening hours there in hanan province. 150 millimeters of rainfall toward guangdong and gaungxi province. So that just equates to some risk of flash flooding, even landslides that does continue to push off toward the northwest. Not just here in southern china. Over towards northern portions of the philippines. And then we have to watch a low pressure area coming in from the east. Very well could develop into a tropical depression here in the coming days. A lot going on in the tropics. We have a frontal area over japan. Really stationary boundary. See it here in the blue. That is really going to start the weekend out as we go into friday. Then eventually by saturday, High Pressure is reaching in the south. Thats going to make for fair weather. There is a new low pressure area, though, coming in from the west. That is going to have a cold front attached to it. What that really means is thunderstorm activity for you there into beijing over towards seoul. Especially on saturday going into sunday. The Korean Peninsula will be seeing widespread scattered thunderstorms. For now, though, temperatures rising up to 31 degrees there. 38 in shanghai. Really going to feel like into the 40s combined with that humidity. Now into the americas, we have a series of low pressure systems across the eastern seaboard from the great lakes extending down towards the florida peninsula. Here we have been seeing some rain showers, thunderstorm activity coming out of this. The good news, by friday afternoon, this is going to work its way out toward the east. Big High Pressure dominating, moving its way in from the northwest. What that is going to do is bring in fair weather, even cooler temperatures if you are here around the great lakes. 26 for the high in chicago. Winnipeg just up to 23. Overnight hours could feel a bit like fall. You may be seeing temperatures dip down into the teens into the midpart of the teens into southern ontario. Now over towards europe, the big topic here is this High Pressure dominating. You can see very little cloud cover just due to that suppressing anything from popping up out here. We have one area that is going to be producing some thunderstorms. This low pressure area, very mature and intense one coming onshore in the british isles. Across ireland into scotland, this frontal area pushing through. Also bringing in warmer temperatures ahead of it. Into london, above average temperatures going into your friday. But then its going to start to cool off after this pushes by. Still its going to bring that risk of severe weather, even large hail, damaging winds. As it moves by, that cooler air starts to dip in from the north. Things are going to cool off. Out ahead of it, its going to get hot. This seesaw effect, roller coaster of the temps. High of 30. Friday 32. Dropping rate down to 23. London at 31. That drops do to 25. Paris, you are going to be seeing similar conditions going into your weekend. Thats a look at your world weather. Heres the extended forecast. Thats newsline for this hour. Im gene otani in tokyo. A constant presence in every aspect of daily life. Japanese lettering. Japanese words are written by combining the largest number of characters of almost any language in the world