Styles. Residents of southern japan are watching water stream down their streets and pour into their homes. Typhoon neoguri has been down traded to a severe Tropical Storm but its still causing serious concern. It roared through the okinawan island chain. Weather officials lifted an emergency warning for heavy rain but then issued it again. The weather Officials Say its possible a major disaster could happen in okinawa. Theyve advised about 300,000 residents on the main island to get to safe places. Theyre telling people to move to shelters or to higher areas such as the second floor of their homes. Authorities say many houses and roads have been swamped with water and they say about 27,000 households across a wide area are without electricity. Weather officials are warning People Living on the main Southern Islands of kyushu to brace for heavy rain and possible flooding. About 1,700 households in kyushu have lost power. People living in Niigata Prefecture on the sea of japan coast have been dealing with extremely heavy rain too. A rain front is producing unstable conditions. Parts of the prefecture are seeing the heaviest rain in 50 years. All that water has caused mudslides in two cities leading to blocked roads and its inundated houses in other cities. Authorities say more floods and landslides are possible and have issued 2,500 households with evacuation advisories or orders. Lets now bring in our meteorologist, jonathan oh. Neoguri downgraded to a severe Tropical Storm. What does this mean and what can we expect here in japan . The weakening of the storm does not mean the impact will be significantly less. In fact, the greatest concern with the system now is the potential to bring a lot of rainfall and a lot of flooding problems. You can see here on this perspective already the influence of neoguri still covering kyushu, now moving to parts of southern portals of south korea. Now the clouds are starting to swirl in further north into japan. The concern again is the rainfall. Yes, the winds are going to be a part of the story but take a look at what we saw during the past 24 hours in okinawa. Up to 374 millimeters of rain reported in naha. So yes, a copious amount of rain has fallen over the area in okinawa. That will continue to spread north and eastward into the western portions of japan. Heres a look at the latest statistics for severe Tropical Storm neoguri. Moving northeast at 30 Kilometers Per Hour with winds up to 108 Kilometers Per Hour. So yes, it has weakened just a little bit but it is expected to eventually make an easterly turn spreading over kyushu and then eventually getting picked up by the rainy season front as it moves toward the north into the northeast. Let me show you what were expecting in terms of the rain by thursday at noontime. Shikoku, kyushu, rainfall totals up to 300 millimeters possible. With the rainy season front interaction, northern porings of japan seeing up to 150 millimeters of rain. Friday noontime up to 600 millimeters of rain boss nibble shikoku. Shery, back to you. Jonathan will be joining us later in the program for more on the weather. Now lets turn to storm preparations. Residents are racing to secure their homes and farmers are working to protect their produce. Reporter as the sea churned off the coast of the island in shikoku, Municipal Workers inland werent taking any chances. They took down a 400 might have kilogram statue of a famous samurai. They dont want fierce winds to blow it over. Translator we have to be wellprepared for this typhoon. Reporter residents are trying to be prepared too. Theyre boarding up windows and securing roof tiles. Translator the typhoon is big. We have to be ready. Reporter many are drawing lessons from past storms. A typhoon hit this part of japan in 1999. Fourmeterhigh storm surges ravaged the coast. 12 people died. Officials in the city of uki are calling on people to evacuate early, and they are using a network of loudspeakers to spread the warning. This man is a Community Leader whos helping to get the message out. He lived through the 1999 typhoon. Three of his neighbors didnt evacuate in time. And the storm surge swept them away. Nishida is warning his neighbors not to make the same mistake. One of them was already packing when he visited. Translator ive got rice and canned food. Translator dont forget your pills. Reporter weather Officials Say the typhoon may affect tokyo. Officials in one neighborhood are handing out sandbags to residents. People in northern japan are also taking precautions. Farmers among them. They expect to feel the effects of the storm later in the week. Translator i dont want the typhoon to come before the end of this harvest season. Reporter he says hell finish picking the cherries before the storm approaches. One of the strongest to hit japan this early in the season. We also have a view of that storm from outer space. A u. S. Astronaut aboard the International Space station has tweeted images of the system taken from 400 kilometers above. Reid weissman posted a closeup photo of the eye of neoguri and the clouds swirling around it. He attached a message, the interesting eye of the super typhoon. Weissman posted another photo capturing it from a side angle. In an earlier tweet he said he hoped neoguri would soon go away and that everybody would be safe. Ukraines leader is taking stock of his recent military success and planning his next move. President Petro Poroshenko made a surprise visit to slof yansing. Poroshenko spoke to spokens to took part in the battle. He said ukraines independence is at stake and he added hes ready to hold talks with whoever is willing to play down arms. Poroshenko also met residents of the town and promised to restore damaged infrastructure. Government troops have taken back at least six towns that prorussian militants used as strongholds. The militants are concentrating their forces in the central city of dons netting and luhansk. The National Security and Defense Council announced tuesday the military is preparing to encircle those cities. Chinese president xi gin being has urged the United States to respect chinas sovereignty and territory. Xi spoke at the opening of the annual strategic and economic dialogue in beijing. Top issues on the agenda are expected to include Cyber Security and chinas maritime activities reserve the talks began on wednesday at a state guest house and run for two days. Secretary of state john kerry and treasury secretary jack lu hid the u. S. Delegation. The chinese side is led by vice premier yung and the stitt councilor. Translator china and the United States should strengthen mutual trust through dialogue and build a new model of super power relations. Xi said the only path forward for the two countries is to respect each others sovereignty and refrain from imposing their will on each other. Kerry said the u. S. Does not seek to contain china. He said it welcomes a peaceful, stable china that contributes to stability in the region and plays a responsible global role. I will say to you that a new model is not defined in words. It is defined in actions. U. S. President barack obama released a statement at the start of the talks. He referred to the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties and said that two countries are now economically inseparable. Obama stressed his commitment to the shared goal of a new model of u. S. china ties. He said the two countries relations should be defined by increased practical cooperation and a constructive management of differences. Authorities in north korea have again fired projectiles into the sea. South Korean MilitaryOfficials Say early wednesday morning, two shortrange Ballistic Missiles landed in the sea of japan. There are no reports of damage. Officials say the North Koreans conducted the launch near the southwestern province of hwanghae. The missiles flew about 500 kilometers toward the northeast. They believe both were scuds. Officials in seoul say that North Koreans want to demonstrate their capability to fire missiles at any time and from any place. Over the last few months, authority in pyongyang have staged a series of launches. Japanese parens minister onodera says he plans to raise the issue with u. S. Defense secretary chuck hagel. Translator i think its difficult to understand pyongyangs actions as japan and north korea are trying to resolve the abduction issues and open the door for dialogue. Chief cabinet secretary suga said his government has launched a protest. Suga said the launches are against u. N. Security council resolutions. Israel is stepping up its offensive against the Islamic Fundamentalist Group hamas. Israels military launched a massive air raid on the gaza strip. At least 23 people have died and more than 100 have been wounded. Israeli troops bombed about 150 targets in response to recent rocket attacks from gaza. Palestinian Officials Say that civilians, including women and children, were among the casualties. An israeli raid in central gaza struck a car carrying hamas members. The attack killed three people. Israeli military Officials Say palestinian fighters in gaza have launched around 160 rockets since monday night. The Israeli Military intercepted one rocket over the major city tel aviv. Another landed in jerusalem. The officials also say that four hamas members were killed in a gunfight with Israeli Soldiers after making a seaborne landing in the south of the country. A spokesperson for the u. N. Secretarygeneral says ban kimoon condemns the exchange of violence. He reiterates his call on all actors to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further civilian casualties and overall destabilization. In washington a state Department Spokesperson expressed support for israels actions. No country can accept rocket fire aimed at civilians and we certainly support israels right to defend itself against these attacks. Psaki says secretary of state john kerry has been in close contact with israels prime minister, as well as other leaders in the region. Voters in the worlds Third Largest democracy have been going to the polls to elect a new president. The report on the latest from indonesias capital. Reporter indonesia is an enormous country, sprawling over three time zones. Potting stations have already closed in yejakarta in the westernmost time zone. The two candidates, widodo and suba subayanto were neck and neck going into the vote. 190 million indonesians are eligible to vote. They have been casting their ballots at 480,000 polling stations across the country. Police say the poll has been incidentfree so far. Translator i am proud to have voted and hope indonesia will become a better country under the new president. Joko is the highly popular governor of jakarta. Hes up against perbowo, a former general, who says the country needs strong leadership. Polls suggest joko narrowly leads. Indonesia is demographically and economically the largest nation in southeast asia. Its economy is growing by about 6 a year. Investors are looking to the country not only as a Production Base but also as a major potential market. The Election Commission plans to announce the official result in about two weeks. But private exit polls are expected to predict the winner well before then. The future of indonesia hangs in the balance. Well keep you updated on what is happening. One Japanese Firm is making the best of a byproduct of global warming. Ron madsen joins me with the latest. We know ice has been melting in the arctic ocean. Thats allowing one japanese shipping firm to be able to use it as a regular route. Mitsui plans to transport liquefied gas from russian through the ocean in 2018. Company executives say they will join a project now under way in the yamal peninsula, northern russia. Matsui will set up a joint venture to build three icebreaker tankers. To asia during the summer. The shipping firm expects to deliver around 3 million tons annually. A waterway through the arctic ocean is drawing high expectations. The arctic route would reduce shipping time between asia and europe by about ten days compared to the suez canal route. Lets check the markets. Investors in asia moved out of stocks today as declines on wall street hurt investor sentiment. Make indexes in the region finished lower. Shanghai, hong kong, and sydney suffered heavy losses of more than 1 . Jakarta closed today as the country goes to the polls for the president ial election. Chinese markets took a beating from the countrys inflation data. The Consumer Price index in june was up 2. 3 from a year earlier. Falling short of the market consensus. Investors now shifting their attention to trade data when will be released on thursday. Australias main index losing more than 1 , 5452, dropping for a Third Straight session. Major banking shares led the selling. Weak Market Sentiment across the region weighed on tokyo. The nikkei shed nearly. 1 , 15,302. Bellwethers ran into heavy selling amid a stronger yen. The crisis in iraq pushed up crude oil prices. Motorists in japan are feeling the effects as they dig deeper into their wallets when they fill up at the pump. The latest data from the Oil Information center showed as of monday the average retail price of a liter of regular gasoline was up 1. 3 yen from a week ago to 169. 7 yen, about 1. 67, and it is the 11th straight weekly rise. Analysts expect gas stations to continue passing on Higher Crude Oil costs to consumers. Japanese leaders have given a checkup to the Nations Health care system. They want to give people access to the worlds highest levels of care and theyve just released some ideas about how to make that happen. Next april policymakers plan to launch a version of the u. S. Governments medical research center, the National Institutes of health. The people who run it will be in charge of budgeting funds for studies and theyll allocate money to universities and research institutions. The policymakers also want to get new medicines into doctors hands. Theyre aiming to have drugs using ips technology in clinical use by around 2020. Ips cells can develop into any type of tissue. Policymakers are hoping by 2030 theyll have a vaccine that can fight any strain of influenza. Theyre pushing for the development of new cancer drugs. They want to see Clinical Trials within five years on more than ten kinds of medicines. U. S. Deposit mats are asking why chinese leaders want to provide an alternative to something thats been in place for decades. Chinese leaders plan to establish a new bank to invest in developing countries across asia. American Officials Say it could provide unwelcome competition to the Asian Development bank. Any proposal for new Development Financial institution should clearly explain how it will complement and add value to existing institutions. Chinese leaders have been promoting the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and have been trying to get leaders from other countries to promise funding. The Asian Development bank already funds Infrastructure Projects across the region. Japan and the u. S. Are the largest shareholders. The president has always been japanese. Some employers in south korea complain that they just cant find enough people to do all the jobs there. An aging society and low birth rate have led to a shortage of workers. A decade ago government officials changed their rules to try to attract more people from abroad. This update now on how thats been working out. Reporter about 70 people are working at this factory in a seoul suburb. Half of them are from foreign countries. Translator Foreign Workers are key to our operation. Without them, we couldnt stay in business. Reporter the government reformed its system for employing Foreign Workers years ago. The employment permit system means the hiring of individual Foreign Workers is no longer left to the private sector. Under the system, the governmentsecured foreigner is an officially recognized labor force. This means its easier for businesses to hire workers from abroad. Company officials visit an Employment Center and make a request for the gender and ethnicity of workers they need. Translator age . Translator we want young people. Reporter the Employment Center looks for candidates among Human Resources databases in 15 countries, including vietnam and bangladesh. The procedure takes only ten minutes. The Company Officials can get employment permits on the spot. Within three months, the company can bring the new workers to south korea and hire them. The government is also working to protect the human rights of Foreign Workers. For example, they are now guaranteed the right to tell jokes. Muhammad is from bangladesh. He came to south korea one year ago to work at the factory that makes parts for home electronics. He was forced to live in a shipping container on the factory ground. He says he was physically abused and sometimes wasnt paid for overtime. Translator i was kicked hard. I was in great pain. Reporter he visited a support center for Foreign Workers to get help. He could speak to a counselor in bengali. The government has been increasing concentration services in the native language of workers. The Government Service helped him move to another company this spring. His Living Conditions and salary improved. He has been able to double the money he sends to his family in bangladesh. Eve ever. Translator because the support system is functioning properly i was able to resolve my problems. Reporter the system adopted a year ago to accept Foreign Workers has helped stabilize the workforce. It has also helped south korea win the trust of other government governments with supply workers. Nhk world, south korea. That is going to do it for business hour. Lets get a check of the markets now. Lets now go back to jonathan for the World Weather forecast, jonathan . Hello, shery. Lets take a look at whats happening in asia. Yes, of course we are talking about neoguri and its effect, bringing rain for south korea and into japan. Dont forget the rainy season continues to be a big part of the forecast, bringing a lot of rain for the southern portions of china. Some areas reporting 70 to 80 millimeters of rainfall in a 24hour period. Definitely causing problems with flooding yet again. And looks like thats still going to be a big part of the forecast. Up to 120 millimeters of rainfall possible in the southern portions of china. Meanwhile also into the indochina peninsula and the monsoonal front in the philippines bringing even more rainfall. Forecast for thursday, 34 in taipei. 32 in hong kong. A chance of rain and thunderstorms during the day in manila with a high of 32 degrees for thursday. I do want to bring to your attention some of the strong weather patterns taking place in europe, in Central Europe we saw some reports of hail and also some very strong winds because of this low pressure system that is moving through europe past germany and also one down toward italy. Both of these creating some unstable weather. It looks like well be dealing with some of the rain pattern continuing throughout the next few days. Take a look at this. Berlin, zurich, many areas down into the teens with a chance for some rain, possibly even some storms all the way through friday. If you have any plans to travel, be prepared to have an umbrella handy because it will be a very wet forecast for the next few days. Also lets take a look at the americas. We are watching out for this cold front that is tracking its way eastward through the United States. We had some reports of some hail and some tornados into pennsylvania and ohio. And it looks like the system will continue to move eastward and the tail end of the system will be bringing the possibility of some strong to Severe Weather down into the Central Plains so be prepared for some thunderstorms into denver, oklahoma city, and also to houston. Highs will be in the low 30s. Drier in chicago with sunny skies. Much keerl, high of 22 degrees. The eastern seaboard dealing with unstable weather pattern as well in new york, d. C. , atlanta, miami all seeing a chance of thunderstorms with a high of around 31 to 32. Lets wrap things up with a look at the world cup weather forecast. You can see here clouds over sao paolo. Thats because of a disturbance that is moving through the area. Thats not only going to bring rain but much cooler temperatures. The netherlands playing argentina. The highs will be in the upper teens with rain as we go through the second semifinal match. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Heres your extended outlook. And thats all for this hour on newsline. Im shery ahn. Thank you for watching. A7guc welcome back. We are going to begin the other to begin to to be together for the next half hour. Israeli airstrikes on gaza intensify as palestinian rockets fired targets in tel aviv and jerusalem. Israel is considering a ground offensive that could deliver a decisive blow to hamas. Jordan has called on israel to stop the attacks on the gaza strip. France moves to beef up its antiterrorism legislation. People suspected of having been radicalized could have their passports taken away