Translator a new generation of people in hong kong has new opportunities overseas provided by chinas onebelt, oneroad Economic Initiative that connects asia and europe. Prodemocracy groups are skeptical of beijings one country, two systems policy. A demonstration in the afternoon drew tens of thousands of people. Theyre demanding a resignation and universal suffrage in hong kong and china and calling for the Chinese Government to release all Political Prisoners in the country. A book seller who is due to lead the protest march has dropped out saying he feared for his personal safety. Chinese president xi jinping stressed the snead to protect what he calls the countrys core interests. He was speaking at a ceremony marking the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist party. Chi said china will play an active role in what he called a fair and reasonable world order and suggested beijing wont compromise on its activities in the east and south china seas. Translator no foreign country should count on us trading away our core interest and suffering national sovereignty, security and development. Xi made remarks aimed at the u. S. Washington has been carrying out freedom of navigation operations in the south china sea. Beijing has built artificial islands there. Translator muscle flexing cannot be used to threaten others. Xi said china will never tolerate activities aimed at an independent taiwan. A key survey by japans central bank shows a mixed mood among companies. Gene otani joins us with that story and business headlines. Japans central bank has released one of the closed economic reports. The Tankan Survey shows Business Sentiment was unchanged at large manufacturers but fell for major nonmanufacturers. Bank of japan officials reserved more than 10,000 companies. Most of the responses were made before britains eu referendum. The reports headline index sentiment was plus 6 for the manufacturers. The nonmanufacturers down 3 points from before. The drop came as spending by Foreign Tourists loses steam. The index expresses the difference in the percentage of firms that say business is good versus those that say its bad. More companies are optimistic. Pollsters expect the large manufacturers mood will be unchanged for the coming quarter but predict a 2 point decline for the nonmanufacturers. My colleague talked to chief economist at Banking Corporation for more on the Tankan Survey and also asked about sentiment after the brexit vote, not included in this boj survey. The numbers of the tankan data gave us very good indication for our focus for japanese economy. Given that the yens appreciation and continued decline over the nikkei index gave us some impression that Business Confidence has been had been deteriorating over the last three months but tankan did reveal that the pace of the deterioration is not that compared to the expectation. Anything stand out from todays report . Here, we would like to focus on the debt trend of the Business Sentiment and also the how the corporate sector is assessing the condition in japan. Todays tankan data includes information telling that the pace of the improvement of the labor markets has slowed over the last three months, so given that, considering that japanese economy has been relying on the continued recovery of the labor market, over the last two or three years, i think that the government and the boj will need to think about another stimulus to how to achieve the target or how to achieve the 3 of the growth rate. I see. Now as you know, this survey was conducted before we saw the outcome of brexit. Yes. Do you think sentiment is reflected correctly in todays report . Well, its very hard to tell, but i think its quite reasonable to say that the Business Confidence is likely to deteriorate for the coming next Tankan Survey which will come out september this year. So the pace of the deterioration is not that severe as expected, but i think that it will have a justification for the boj to rethink about further easing in the coming few months. Okay. And i wanted to talk about that next. What are you expecting in terms of Monetary Policy . Well, the yens appreciate and the continued declining of the nikkei index will prompt the boj to rethink about easing policy f for the coming policy meeting in july. Later july. Later this month. The likely option for the bojs Monetary Policy is further reduction of the policy rates from the current minus 0. 1 to minus 0. 3 and also we had expected that the jgb a pac of the jgb will likely increase from the current 83 yen per year, but i think that the condition is becoming difficult for the bank of japan because the demand and s supply on the market is becoming more tight. I see. So well have to see what happens. But youre expecting a move in july, this month, later on this month. Yes. Now what is your outlook, considering all this and the recent turn of events, what is your outlook for the japanese economy . Well the Second Quarter and Third Quarter gdp will likely remain very low level, close to 0 in our view. Even we see recovery for United States or the asian countries, the sluggishness of the domesesc demand will likely pull down the overall Growth Numbers for japan. Okay. Any estimates . Anany numbers you can throw out there for us . We are expecting 0. 4 of the Growth Numbers for Second Quarter this year, which will come out august this year. Checking the markets tokyo stocks have extended their winning streak for a fifth day. We go to our Business Reporter at the tokyo stock exchange. Weve seen a rebound this week following the selloff of the brexit result but were not out of the woods yet and mixed Economic Data on friday remains investors are to remain cautious. The nikkei closed at 15,682. The nikkei average has closed back half of its postbrexit losses. Turning to individual stocks, weve seen buying in domestic demand driven stocks. Given the Global Economic climate investors consider them safer than exporters. Pharmaceutical Companies Led by sumitomo and daiichi, were all up. But Energy Related shares were down on lower oil prices. Oil distributors showa and jx fell. Yamaha motor fell almost 2 , recalling 900 motor bikes in india with defective parts. Investors bought government bonds as safer assets. The jgb fell to another record low. Following the turmoil of last weeks brexit shock weve seen a positive mood this week but investors are watching the uk and eu relationship and brexits wider economic impact. Reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. And moving on to other markets in the asiapacific region in china the shanghai up by a fraction finishing at 2932 following a global rally but the gain capped on weaker than expected factory data. Taiwan, gaining by almost 1 , 8738. Hitting a three month high. Investors cheered by the Central Banks decision to cut its key interest rate. Looking at the markets, the kospi index adding 0. 1 . Indonesia retreating down by almost 1 after hitting a oneyear high on thursday. Hong kong closed due to holiday. Japans public pension fog logged big losses on its investment last fiscal year when stock markets saw a steep plunges. The fund changed the policy in 2014 and increased holdings of domestic and overseas stocks while shedding its japanese bonds. Sources say losses for the pension fund topped 5 trillion yen, about 48. 6 billion. At Current Exchange rates. The losses are the first in five years. The sources say the results came as Global Stock Markets tumbled last august amid worries over chinas slowing economy. The Welfare Ministry official told nhk that pension payouts are made on a longterm basis, so the funds must be managed from that perspective. Tax Officials Say the average land price in japan has risen for the first time in eight years. Analysts attribute the increase to brisk spending by foreign visitors in both major cities and provencal areas. The National Tax Agency released the list of land price assessments as of january 1st. The prices are used to calculate inheritance and gift taxes. The list shows the National Average was up 0. 2 from a year earlier, the first uptick since the 2008 Global Financial crisis. 14 of the nations 47 prefectures logged year on year rises. Tokyos shopping district maintained its record for japans most expensive land plot for the 31st year. The price per square meter shot up to about 310,000. A spot in okinawa was priced at almost 100,000, up almost 20 . Heres a look at some of the other business stories were following. Japanese government Officials Say the Consumer Price index for may was down 0. 4 from a year earlier mainly due to Lower Crude Oil prices. Thats the Third Straight month of decline. All types of energy and f food e excluded. Figure rose for 32 straight months. New auto sales in japan have fallen for the second month in a row. Year on year. About 420,000 new units were sold in june, down 4. 9 from the year before. Mimitsubishi motors saw sells fl nearlyly half. And data out of china show Manufacturing Activity is losing momentum. The governments purchasing manager index or pmi stood at 50 in june. Thats down 0. 1 point from the previous month. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. Meanwhile, the private purchasing managing index fell to 48. 6 off 0. 6 points. Analyst says new orders dropped while factory orz cut production and laid off workers. And thats a look at business news. Im going to leave you with the markets. What could be japans first local ordinance to combat hate speech has gone into effect in osaka. Officials can disclose the names of people and organizations ep gajds in acts of discrimination. A group of ethnic korean residents were the first to file a complaint and say they have been hurt by online v videos o the expulsion of koreans from japan. Translator extremely derogatory and violent hate speech needs to be deleted from the internet as soon as possible. The definition of hate speech in the ordinance is specific. It is defamatory or threatening activity that aims to exclude a certain racial or ethnic group or stir up hatred against its members. S. If officials determine the actions in the video meet that definition, they will disclose the names of people involved and ask websites to delete it. Hate speech is a growing problem here in japan. But some say that regulations to control it should recognize the right to freedom of expression. Japans diet passed a hate speech bill in may, but it did not include penalties for offenders. Police say a japanese teenager arrested for a computer hacking earlier this week held a grudge against the school and thee teachers. E 17yearrold had previously beenen detained for uploading illegal software. Police believe he accessed the boards Computer System and a high schools internal network many times without permissssion. They say the h hacking began mo than a year ago. Investigators discovered more than 200,000 digital files on his personal computer. The data included students academic records. The suspect reportedly said he was bullied at junior high school, so he began skipping classes. Investigators believe he was upset about how the school handled the bullying. U. S. Electric car maker tesla motors has revealed up with of its selfdriving vehicles was involved in a fatal crash. Its thought to be the first time anyone has died while riding a car in auto pilot mode. Tesla says one of its model s vehicles collided with a tractor trailer at an intersection in florida two months ago. The company says both the software and the driver failed to spot the vehicle against a bright sky, so the brake wasnt activated. Tesla introduced selfdriving features last october but warned that the system was not perfect, and drivers should remain alert. Transport safety regulators are investigating the design and performance of the auto pilot function. The accident comes as carmakers worldwide are scrambling to develop selfdriving vehicles. Millions of people in beijing use electric bikes to get around and to make a living. The high numbers have caused traffic problems and safety concerns. But steps taken to reign them in are causing a headache for some small businesses. Nhk World Reports from beijing. Reporter motoring through the capital of heavy traffic are scooters and bikes almost all of them powered by electricity. Some 4 million residents have turned to this easy to get licensefree ebike. Translator i always use an ebike. I can avoid traffic jams so its quick. Reporter but they have banned ebikes from certain streets, a central thoroughfare, because electric bikes were involved in nearly 40 of traffic injuries last year. They succeeded in eliminating ebikes from some areas but the problems shifted to nearby streets. People have not stopped using electric bikes to. They are using this road instead. Its several blocks away from the main road. Now this has become a danger zone. Locals say ebikes have been in accidents. Translator theres lots more bikes now. People are riding here to avoid banned roads. Translator the riders are pushy. Theyre a menace. R reporter this company relis on local a army of a thousand ebibikes. The drivers give them rides to stores. It is highly popular, but the company is pacining travel. It d didnt really work. His current solution to shrink the Company Service area. With ebikes ban. But i its not easier as he expects the ban to grow. Translator if there are further restrictions on ebikes well need to deal with the impact by cutting more of the delivery areas and streamlining stuff. Reporter Companies Using the ebikes have been thriving in the regulations. Under the tough new rules they are looking for other ways to keep the wheels of business. Earlier we spoke with daisuke. Do you think electric bikes are risky to ride in the city . Hi. Actually, i use an ebike to commute. It makes my commute convenient, but yes, there is a risk. Others can go twice as fast, so im constantly aware of the danger of being hit by another ebike. And when i walk, i also fear a risk. Ebikes are quiet. You cant hear them coming. The main road behind me is now electric bikefree, so there is no danger of accidents involving the ebikes. So as far as this area goes, the strategy is working. Are there any environmental concerns, daisuke . People are so far riders are coping by using a different route. Officials did not expect the ban to make the citys notorious lane any worse. I hear other cities have the same problem. How are they dealing with the issue . They began tightening regulations. They are considering a bike law that will ban bikes citywide fined 7,000 for violations. But there are economic concerns. Chinas growing economy might be further affected by uncertainties in the global markets. A big crackdown on electric bikes may dampen the mass consumption. Companies rely on them more and more and one expert said authorities need to find a way to minimizize the economic i im. Translator the current stopgap meaeasures wont solve the problelems long term. Privivate and commercial bikes need to be regulated separately. Delivery ehp bi hebikes shoul licensed. He also points out that many people tend to ignore the traffic rules. He says manufacturers need to double up several bikes. He says that would be good for road safety and economic growth. He looked at home riding that ebike. Nhk newsline comes to you live from tokyo where its partly fair. The current temperature reading is 27 degrees celsius. Or 80 degrees fahrenheit. This hours update with the raging wildfires in eastern russia. A wide area off siberia has been buffeteted by raging wildfires because of dry and windy conditions. We have video coming out of and in and a around lake bicacal. Hundreds of hectares have burnt in the same area earlier in june. Drones are being used to find the flames followed by water dropping planes along with parachuters and ground crews coming in to contain the firere. Typically july is the wetettest month but we dont expect heavy rainfall to fall in the area. Take a look at the satellite imagery. These are clouds, but you can see some brown areas. Ththis is the smoke. The smoke is covering parts of siberia. Now, according to the authororities, fire alelerts ha been taking place because dry conditions will likely persist in parts o of siberia and again hazy conditions are a affecting many partsts of the region, so r ququality is low as well. Across the other side of the world, fires are actually scorching the ground over thehe western United States. This time boise has been affected by raging fires. Take a look at this footage. Firefighters have been busy in boise, idaho, battling a wildfire early thursday morning. The blaze started after midnight local time north of table rock. More than 300 hectares have been impacted and at least four structures were destroyed. Residents in the area were asked to leave, but evacuations are not mandatory at this time. There have been no immediate reports of any injuries, so thats good news, however, theres a chance for more fire weather across boise and areas because dry thunderstorms are expected. Dry thunderstorms are thunderstorms without precipitation, so lightning could strike more wildfires across the same area. Dry and hot conditions could continue in boise. It should be around 30 degrees in europe. Take a look, 36 degrees, expected on your saturday and staying hot as we go through the next three days. Washington, d. C. , sunny weather will continue. Honolulu you will see sunny weather and looks like sunny weather with a chance for thunderstorms or Rainy Weather on your Independence Day in hawaii. Lets go to japan and alsoo the rest of asia. Lookoking quite wett across par of key y you shu, 70 millimeter of rain has fallen one hour in kagshima. Rain is falling across the korean peninsula. A developing low pressure system in france still located here and rain should continue into Early Morning hours. Watch out for flash floods. The tail end of the frontal system is dumping tremendous amounts of rainfall inn eastern chinina as well. The province had ovever 230 millimeters of rain in 12 hours. Flooding is taking place. More rain is still anticipated. Now temperatures are going to be as follows in tokyo. We had a very hot weather in tokyo today and sunny weather. Tomorrow dry conditions will persist. Take a look at sunday. 33 degrees. Midsummer like conditions expected that should persist into next week. Kagoshima we have been talking about heavy rainfall but starting saturday drier conditions are expected to continue. In shanghai, sunny weather not expected until monday but temperatures will be high. Thats it for now. Heres your extended forecast. 33 degrees. Temperatures will be high. Be sure to watch news room tokyo at the top of the hour. For all of us on nhk newsline, thanks for watching. n;ucucucucun the franceome to 24 newsroom. Here are the top stories is our. Top court throws out the results of the president ial election after a far right challenge. Irregularities cited as the reason for the do over. Local turnover in written after Boris Johnson quits. The new favorite. 100 years to the day since the