Korea have indicted the captain of a sunken ferry for homicide. Japanese Prime Minister shinzo abes Advisory Panel has submitted a report that says the government should reexamine japans interpretation of the constitution. The report says the government should enable the country to exercise its right to collective selfdefense. That would enable japan to use armed force to defend countries it has close relations with under attack. Now, the japanese government has traditionally interpreted the war renouncing constitution to mean the country cannot exercise that right. Now, in the discussions, the panel took into account security and defense issues in the region. The report points out chinas rising maritime assertiveness as well as north koreas development of its Nuclear Capabilities and missiles. It says the japanese government cannot respond adequately to those threats under the current constitutions interpretation to maintain peace. The key issue, the right to collective selfdefense, is a nations inherent right under the u. N. Charter. The japanese government says when a closely related country is attacked, they possess the right to use force to defend that country. Even if japan is not under fire. Previous government leaders have said japan cannot exercise its right to use such force. Theyve said theyre abiding by article 9 of the constitution, which renounces war. Translator the constitution doesnt allow the use of collective selfdefense. Panel members also say there are a number of conditions. A country that has that japan would support must be in close relations with japan. As well, the attack on that country must be a significant threat to japan. They say requests for help from that country are also essential. Prime minister abe has just held a news conference. He says japan needs to be able to exercise its right to collective selfdefense to secure the lives of the people in the country. Translator in order to protect our lives and enable ourselves to maintain peace, we should always be ready to deal with any circumstance. We must also deepen our cooperation with other countries. That would strengthen our ability to deter attacks and prevent japan from being involved in war. Abe went on to refer to criticism that the policy change might lead the nation to war. He clearly denied the allegation, saying his government will uphold the pass fichl which the constitution stipulates. Abe says he wants to start discussing the issue within the ruling parties. A maritime dispute in the South China Sea is sparking violent protests in vietnam. Antichinese demonstrators have attacked foreignowned companies, factories, killing two chinese workerses. Vessels from both nations have been facing off around the disputed paracel islands. Chinese state run oil company deployed a drilling rig earlier this month. This video posted on youtube is believed to have been taken near a taiwanese field plant under construction in ha tinh province. The formosa plastic groups say rioters damaged and set fire to the factory. One chinese worker was killed and 90 others injured. The company says no vietnamese or taiwanese workers were hurt. Some vietnamese demonstrators have attacked other foreign factories in the southern part of the country. Protesters appear to have targeted factories with signs using chinese characters. But the damaged buildings included those owned by taiw taiwanese, japanese and south korean firms. A taiwanese bicycle parts worker says the body of a chinese engineer was recovered from its factory that was burned in a demonstration on tuesday. Police have detained over 600 protesters and say they will take tough action against those who engage in violence. The vit na meez government is using staterun media to call on people to remain calm, stressing that it will peacefully resolve all territorial disputes with china. South korean prosecutors have indicted the captain and three crew members of the ferry that sank last month. Theyve been charged with homicide through willful negligence. Captain lee joonseok and three other crew members were among the first to flee the ship and board coast guard rescue boats. They had repeatedly told passengers to stay in their cabins as the ship began to list. Prosecutors say even though the crew could have broadcast an ev Evacuation Order they did not give that order. 11 others are indicted for leaving passengers unattended to die. Prosecutors also point out that heavy overloading and insufficient securing of cargo weakened the ships ability to recover its balance. They say a mistake by the crew member at the helm to turn too sharply also contributed to the accident. Prosecutors also arrested the ferry companys president. They suspect he knew the vessel was overloaded and unstable and did nothing about it. South korea rescue teams are still hard at work. Search operations have been hampered by strong currents and poor weather in the area. More volunteers are joining efforts to find those still missing. Nhk worlds anna jong has the latest from jindo island close to the site of the accident. Reporter its been a tough month for everyone in south korea since the ferry accident in the morning of april 16th. Especially those directly involved in the tragedy. As of now, 280 people have been confirmed dead, while 23 still remain unaccounted for. Most of them school children. However, the rescue operations have been badly hampered by the poor weather conditions. On may 6th, a 53yearold diver died after venturing into the rough waters. This has come as a blow to many people who are dissatisfied with the pace of the government rescue efforts. They were counting on outside divers to speed things up. Meanwhile, the residents of jindo county have been taking matters into their own hands. Many are volunteering their time to provide support for relatives of the missing people. In this county, almost 1 in 5 people make a living from fishing or related tourism. The accident has changed their lives significantly. Almost every day theyve been going out to the area where the ferry sank, searching for bodies or personal effects. Park kay oh owns boats. He reach one of them to reach the scene of the accident that day. He still feels sorry that he wasnt able to get there earlier. Park has joined in the search efforts in the hope of speeding it up. Translator i do feel regret. If only id arrived on the scene 10 or 20 minutes earlier that day. Words cant describe the feelings of a parent who has lost a child. I go out because i want the children to be found as soon as possible. Every day counts. Reporter its not just the fishermen who are helping the search operation. This local gym is still being used to house relatives of the missing who gathered here after the accident. Local volunteers have been providing support for them and for other people involved in the search. Some take time to help prepare food before heading off to work. Hi yung jao works in the kitchen of a nearby school. She says as a parent and someone who works with children she wants to do all she can to help the relatives. Translator in my job im close to kids. So when i think about the sadness and pain this accident has caused these families, i feel i just want to use whatever time i have to help. Reporter one month after the accident, the local community of jindo continues to play a key role in helping the rescue efforts. The search has continued for longer than anyone expected. And the government is now providing Financial Support for the local people who are playing an active role in the search operation. Until everyone is accounted for, South Koreans will be unable to move on from this tragedy. So the willingness of the people in jindo to sacrifice their time and efforts is greatly appreciated throughout the country. Anna jung, nhk world, jindo. Rescue crews in turkey are searching for miners still missing after an explosion at a coal mine. Authorities have confirmed that more than 280 people were killed. Crews are trying to save dozens of miners still trapped underground. But their efforts are being blocked by fire. Almost 800 miners were underground at the time of the explosion. Fire knocked out power and shut down ventilation shafts and elevators. About 450 workers made it out alive. Translator heavy smoke is keeping us from entering the mine. Its frustrating that we cannot reach our friends more quickly. Prime minister resepp Tayyip Erdogan visited the mine to declare greetings of national mourning. Translator the government will do all it can to rescue the miners. Cars carrying the Prime Minister and his staff were kicked and hit by angry crowds who called for the turkish leader to resign. Erdogans opponents blame government officials for privatizing mines and ignoring repeated warnings about safety. Thousands of protesters also joined in istanbul. Police tried to disperse them with tear gas and Water Cannons. Two people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in the thai capital in an apparent attack on antigovernment demonstrators. Police say people heard explosions and gunfire at around 2 00 a. M. They were reportedly set up by protesters in bangkok. Authorities say the protesters killed were both men. One had been guarding the camp. Demonstrators have been stepping up pressure on the government. Theyve grown increasingly vocal since a Constitutional Court last week ordered the dismissal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and some members of her cabinet. The protesters have been staging a sitin near the Prime Ministers office and theyre calling for the ouster of the entire cabinet. Supporters of the government have been fighting back. Theyve held massive rallies on the outskirts of bangkok. Representatives of 61 countries and International Organizations have gathered in tokyo to discuss support for afghanistan. The u. S. Led Coalition Troops are scheduled to withdraw from the country by the end of the year. Now, in his opening speech, japanese senior vice foreign minister nobuo kishi promised support for afghanistan. Translator japan is willing to cooperate in making afghanistan and its neighbors prosper with the support of the International Community. Afghanistans Deputy Foreign minister Ershad Ahmadi called for support for the nation when the predecessor to President Hamid karzai is named in the president ial runoff. It is crucial that the International Community maintains its support and engagement in afghanistan at this critical period. He said the main priority for afghanistans new government is peace and reconciliation. But taliban militants are stepping up their activities and undermining security around the nation. Lets now get the latest business stories from ron madison. All right. First, clues to how Major Economies around the world are doing. Lets start in the eurozone where the economy was in recession just a year ago. Now growth in the single currency bloc is holding up. Gross domestic product from january to march expanded for a fourth straight quarter. But the number is lower than market expectations. The European Union Statistics Office announced that gdp across the 18 nation zone grew 0. 2 in the First Quarter compared with the previous three months. Germanys gdp rose 0. 8 while france reported no growth. Eu data officials have also released inflation data for april. The index rose 0. 7 from a year earlier. That was unchanged from the preliminary figure announced two weeks ago. The pace of increase is up 0. 2 Percentage Points from march. That was far below the European Central banks inflation target of 2 . The japanese economy has also regained some momentum. Gross domestic product is the broadest measure of goods and services. It surged in the First Quarter of an annualized straight of 5. 9 . Figures show how the economy has grown over the last six quarters p p the pace slowed sharply toward the end of last year. Gdp from january to march grew in real terms by 1. 5 . That translates to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5. 9 . People across japan rushed to buy goods before the consumption tax went up last month. They drove up demand for autos, Home Appliances and other goods. Consumer spending rose 2. 1 . Managers reinvested in their businesses as well in a sign of confidence about prospects for more growth. Corporate investment grew 4. 9 . Investment in housing was up 3. 1 . Business owners across japan benefited from spending a spending binge. But now many are finding that the party is over. Nhk worlds kyoko fujita reports. Reporter managers at this auto dealer in tokyo say between january and march they were swamped. Customers rushed to buy before the consumpti sumts tax went up april from 5 to 8 . Then april arrived. And sales dived. They were down by 20 compared with last year. Translator we found that many customers were simply not coming in to our car dealership anymore after the con sumts tax went up. Reporter and theyre not the only ones feeling the pinch. This town is known as the home of many famous sake makers. Makers are also feeling the impact of the tax hike. The people at the sake brewery are carrying on a business thats been going for more than 260 years. They ship their liquor all over the country. They say sales in march jumped by 20 compared with last year. But then the tax rise took effect. The brewer had to lift the cost from its most popular drink from about 23 to 25. The change had an immediate impact. Sales plunged by 20 from the previous year. Translator im now choosing a cheaper variety of sake thats made by the same brewery. Reporter its a difficult time for the brewery. The cost of its package materials went up by 15 . Oil prices soared, and that made transporting bottles of the liquor 30 more expensive. Brewery managers say they had no choice but to pass on the costs to consumers. Translator sake is a luxury item. So consumers might consider cutting down on that first. We need to figure out a way to win back our customers. Reporter the brewer got together with six people who own sake shops. They talked about what they can do to cope. Translator we have to build value to convince customers that its worth paying the higher price. Translator younger people who shun traditional sake could potentially become our customers. Reporter they agreed to put on events to promote the drink to new consumers. The hike has been taking its toll on many sectors. Sales of refrigerators and washing machines in april fell 30 . Sales at Department Stores declined up to 15 and at supermarkets up to about 9 . Managers hope the slump will end soon. But one expert is warning that shoppers may tighten their pursestrings even more in the months ahead. Translator wage growth so far hasnt compensated for the increase. And now prices are starting to go up because of the spike in the cost of oil and raw materials. So the question is, will wages continue to grow . Reporter consumers wont spend money while theyre worries about their finances. Analysts are watching to see if the economy can recover and encourage people to go shopping again. Kyoko fujita, nhk world. Lets get a check of the markets now. Investors in tokyo really not taking positive cues from japans gdp data. The nikkei average declined. 57 . Finished at 14,298. We had a stronger yen hurting market sentiment. That prompted selling of export related issues. Sony especially saw a heavy decline. Thats after it forecast a net loss for this fiscal year. Across the rest of the region shares ended mixed following a pullback from recent record highs on wall street. Shares in hong kong were higher but the shanghai composite fell for a Third Straight session. That index, in fact, ended down another 1. 1 today. 2,024 for the close. Investors took profits on recent advancers such as property shares. Also resourcerelated stocks like coal miners fell on a sluggish outlook for demand. Meanwhile hong kongs hang seng index finished higher nearly. 7 . 22,730. Chinese internet giant enjoy add robust gain after earning a stronger than expected profit in the First Quarter. The governor of the bank of japan says hes concerned that a labor shortage might have a serious impact on the economy. Kuroda says the country must boost supply capacity to secure growth. Kuroda said supply has been declines partly due to japans ageing population. In the past year or so, with increasing demands thanks to large scale monetary easing, fiscal spending and the rejuvenation of private sector activities, the supply capacity constraints that were lurking below the surface have now become apparent. Kuroda went on to say that officials must have a broader discussion about how to raise growth in light of the labor shortage. He hinted at some measures for increasing growth in the medium and long term. They include boosting production through deregulation and increasing the presence of women as well as the elderly in the workforce. That is going to do it for business hour. Lets check on the markets. Dry and windy weather has led to wildfires in Southern California. Our meteorologist jonathan oh joins me now. Jonathan, how serious is the situation there . Hello, shery. The situation is pretty serious. The santa ana winds have really kicked off because of a High Pressure system thats sitting right off the coast of california, and thats really driving up the winds. We have some video coming out of Southern California. Here it is. You can see the dramatic pictures coming out of san marcos, california, where thousands of people have been forced to evacuate across Southern California as several wildfires continue to burn out of control thursday. Now, san marcos, thats located in san diego county, hit hard by the fires as high winds fueled flames, pushing them over hills and near homes in the town. Now, most schools were closed in the area and cal state san marcos was forced to evacuate wednesday. The governor of california has declared a state of emergency in response to the fires. Now, back here on the map, i want to tell you how windy the situation is. 140 kilometer per hour gusts reported in Southern California. Thats very dramatic. Very dry weather, very warm weather. So the combination is creating that very dangerous fire weather situation. On the flip side, we have the opposite situation, very wet conditions as this trough slowly makes its way eastward and thats creating the possibility of some Severe Weather. Were looking at the chance for some hail and maybe an isolated tornado. But the main threat are the strong windy conditions anywhere from columbia, south carolina, up into virginia. Severe weather conditions is definitely something youll have to look out for. As we look forward into the future see the front pushing slowly to the east. A lot of rain associated with this line of rain with the cold front. Also some snow into parts of ontario and into quebec. But continuing to see dry conditions over on the west coast. And very warm. 38 degrees. Eventually the ridge will shift to the east, allowing the winds to relax later on this week. Its going to take a little bit of time. Meanwhile, the rain will affect most of the east coast with temperatures anywhere from 18 in atlanta, thats a big cooldown, to 28 degrees in d. C. Lets take a look at europe. We have been tracking this system down toward the Balkan Peninsula where up to 126 kilometer per hour wind gusts were reported. It is a stationary system. It is continuing to intensify but its dumping a lot of rain into this area as well. Those of you in vienna into warsaw, looks like youll see plenty of rain. And dealing with the possibility of some Severe Weather when it comes to heavy rain, also thunderstorms as we go throughout your thursday. 11 in vienna. 17 in warsaw. Seeing some rain and thunderstorms in kiev with temperatures up to 20 degrees. Meanwhile, the western portions of europe seeing drier conditions. London, you will top off at 19 degrees for your thursday. Finally, we take a look at east asia. Plenty of rain to talk about. We do have the rainy season continuing to affect southern china. The kwang gong province during the past 24 hours saw 112 millimeters of rain. Thats a lot of rain. Thats continuing to cause flooding problems down there. Meanwhile we did have the rain moving through japan now moving into hokkaido. Youre going to drop from the 20s from thursday into the teens on friday. Big cooldown for you. Meanwhile the northern portions of china seeing some drier conditions and some warm conditions as we go through the weekend. Heres a look at your threeday forecast. Notice we are seeing the nice springlike temperatures as we look at tokyo, seoul and also into beijing. Definitely if you have any outdoor plans this weekend looks like it will cooperate. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Heres a look at your extended forecast. And thats all for me today. Gene otani will be here at the top of the hour with more updates. Thank you for watching. A7gucen police in turkey fired tear gas and Water Cannons at thousands of protesters angry over that deadly mine explosion. The death toll is now at 282 and time is running out for dozens of miners still underground. Say at least 20 people are killed in vietnam as a mob of angry protesters storm a steel mill in the south. Thats the first deadly violence in a series of protests against china, prompted by its oil rig set up in disputed asian waters. And the Cannes Film Festival kicks off with b
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