To find relics of the bombing in his effort to let the souls of the victims rest in peace. A top scientist in japan who supervised internationally discredited research has died Police BelieveYoshiki Sasai committed suicide. He was found hanging near the niken center for development alibi ol in kobe where he was deputy director. Sasai apologized in april for the doubt raised on research on socalled stap cells initially hailed as revolutionary. He oversaw the compilation of papers by a riken scientist haruko obokata. Their work suggested the existence of a phenomenon known as stimulustriggered acquisition of pluripotency. They said the method could reprogram mature animal cells into embryoniclike stem cells and that those cells could be turned into any type of tissue. But scientists elsewhere began to raise questions about the findings. And riken investigators said they found fabrication and falsification in the study. They criticized sasai for not properly supervising his teams work. Sasai said he was deeply ashamed he was not able to spot the problems, but he insisted that the existence of stap cells should be considered a rational hypothesis worth verifying. Associates say he wrote three letters before he died. One of them is addressed to obokata. Sasai was 52 years old. A riken spokesperson says workers at the institute are shocked. Translator sasai had taken a lead in researching in the fields of regenerative medicine, stemcells, and neurology. I think losing his presence will have a big impact. He said sasai was deeply affected by the stap cell investigation. Obokata is also upset about the death and riken staff are providing her with counseling. Israeli forces have spent the past month firing into targets in the gaza strip. Fighters with hamas have been firing back with rockets aimed at israeli towns. Now an uneasy calm has settled over the region as a 72hour ceasefire has gone into effect. Reporter the israelis and palestinians had agreed to a number of previous truces. But they all broke down. As each side accused the other of violating the agreements. This time egyptian officials brokered the ceasefire. They met in cairo with representatives of hamas and other palestinian groups. Translator hamas has informed the egyptians that it agrees to a 72hour truce. The Israeli Occupation forces should withdraw to outside the border. Israel will honor the ceasefire as agreed to and negotiated through the egyptians. Well be watching hamas very closely. Reporter the agreement follows a sevenhour truce that israeli leaders declared on monday. They said it was to allow aid workers to deliver supplies. They said israeli troops have almost completed their main objective, thats to destroy the network of tunnels used by hamas fighters to carry out crossborder attacks. And they say they will launch more strikes if the palestinians continue the violence. The latest fighting began in early july. Israeli forces launched air strikes in response to rocket fire out of gaza. Then they expanded the operation by sending in ground troops. More than 1800 palestinians have been killed. And nearly 10,000 wounded. Israeli Officials Say theyve lost more than 60 soldiers as well as three civilians. The announcement of the new truce has not stopped the tension from spreading to jerusalem. A man rammed a bulldozer into a bus on a city street. Several people were injured. The man was shot and killed by police. A Police Official said he was palestinian and described the attack as an act of terror. A few hours later a gunman shot and wounded an israeli soldier. Translator i saw the soldier standing there. Someone came up and shot him twice in the stomach and fled. Reporter authorities have not established a connection between the two attacks. But reuters reports that a hamas spokesperson praised them as heroic and courageous. It remains to be seen if the new truce will bring calm to the israelis and palestinians. Chiaki ishikawa, nhk world. Emergency crews are struggling to rescue the survivors of an earthquake in southwestern china. But aftershocks and fear of possible landslides are disrupting their efforts. The magnitude 6. 5 quake hit yunnan province on sunday. At least 398 people were killed. More than 1800 hurt. Military personnel and police fear many more people may be trapped. They are searching through the rubble. Survivors have felt frequent aftershocks. Some camped out for the night in tents right outside their homes. Volunteers have set up their own tents to use as a base. Theyre taking relief supplies to survivors in the hardesthit areas. The staterun Xinhua News Agency says landslides have dammed up rivers, thats created 19 of what are known as quake lakes. More rain is on the way and experts are warning of more landslides and flooding. Survivors near the quakes epicenter say the delivery of relief supplies has been slow. A family in this village says the quake caused the walls of their home to cave in. They say theyre now living outdoors with their relatives, 18 people in all. Theyre living in a tent they made themselves using materials pulled from the rubble. Translator the local government should be making sure that were safe. He says no officials have come to see the damage firsthand. Officials with the world of catastrophic consequences if an outbreak of ebola is not controlled. They say the number of people in west africa who have been killed has shot up by more than 150. 887 people have died. People in guinea first saw signs of the virus in february and the disease spread to liberia and sierra leone. Now authorities in nigeria have confirmed a second person there has been infected, a patient who flew in from liberia died last month. The doctor who treated him was also infected. The outbreak is one of the main topics of discussion at the u. S. africa leaders summit. Government and business delegates from 50 african nations are in washington to attend the. Officials at the world bank are offering help. They authorized up to 200 million in Emergency Assistance to guinea, liberia and sierra leone. They say the funds will be used for medical supplies and to help regional economies. Corporate executives in japan seem to be getting more optimistic about the economic outlook. Their Companies Plan to boost Capital Investment in fiscal 2014 at the fastest pace in 24 years. The study was conducted by the Development Bank of japan. Officials say Domestic Corporate investments are expected to increase 15. 1 from the previous year, reflecting the countrys economic recovery. That would mark the third consecutive yearly increase if the investments are implemented as planned. Capital spending in the Manufacturing Sector is expected to climb 18. 5 . Investment in the nonManufacturing Sector are seen to rise 13. 2 . Automakers are spending more to produce fuelefficient cars while retailers plan to set up more stores. The survey also shows 27. 3 of the manufacturers are allocating their investment money for the maintenance and repair of existing facilities. The results show that Companies Still remain cautious about increasing their existing production capacity. Bank Officials Say that while the uptrend in overseas investment remains unchanged comes are getting more positive about Capital Spending here in japan. The latest Earnings Results many Market Players have been waiting for are out. Toyota motor reported gains both in sales and profits for the april to june quarter. Toyota officials said that sales rose more than 2 in yen terms from a year earlier to 62. 3 billion. Robust u. S. Sales made up for weaker demand in the domestic market. Japanese consumers bought fewer cars after the consumption tax went up in april. Operating profit grew 4 to 6. 75 billion. Sales at mcdonalds japan plunged in july following a food safety scandal in china. The fast food chain had been buying chicken from a Shanghai Firm which had been which has been reported to have processed expired meat. Mcdonalds Officials Say sales fell 17. 4 last month from a year earlier. This marked the sharpest drop since 2002 when cattle were found with mad cow disease. The officials note that consumers have become worried about eating chicken products following reports on the scandal. The company has switched its chicken supplier to thailand but has been unable to secure all the meat it needs. Some stores had to stop offering certain products. The sharp drop reflects the sales only for the first ten days following the food scare. That means the impact will continue to dampen sales for this month as well. Investors in asia sold stocks following some weak economic data. The latest figures show that chinas Service Sector grew at the slowest pace in nine years. Market players dumped shares in chinas real estate and banking sectors. The shanghai composite fell 0. 1 . Analysts say early declines on many asian markets hurt Investor Sentiment here in tokyo toward the end of the afternoon session. The nikkei shed 1 , sinking to its lowest level in a week and a half. Indonesian stocks were hit by weaker than expected gdp numbers. Jakar jakartas benchmark index ended down 0. 2 . The countrys april to june growth rate was the slowest since the financial crisis in 2008. Government officials in japan are wrestling with an issue thats common to countries with big populations. They want to increase the output of their farms so consumers will rely less on imported food. But their efforts to boost the selfsufficiency rate are failing to take hold. Agricultural Ministry Officials measure the rate by looking at how many calories people consume. They say for the past four years, japanese have taken just 39 from local produce. The officials are aiming to increase that by fiscal 2020 to 50 . They say production of rice has been rising. Again, they credit an increase in demand before the government increased the consumption tax. But they say bad weather caused a decline in crops such as soybeans. Officials have been trying to ramp up production of feed for livestock they say will help boost consumption of locally farmed beef and pork. Theyre also aiming to increase harvests of soybeans and wheat. Japans food selfsufficiency rate is at the lowest level among developed countries. Canadas rate is 258 and the u. S. Stands at 127 . Both nations ship Agricultural Products overseas and even smaller countries than japan boast higher food selfsufficiency. Germany has a rate of 92 . And the uk, 72 . Japanese government officials plan to review their target around next march. Trade officials from japan and the u. S. Are wrangling over some details that could have big implications. Theyre trying to work out a deal on agricultural tariffs to clear the way for free trade pact for the asiapacific. Japans deputy chief negotiator is spending two days in washington with trade representative wendy cutler. Theyre trying to work out a deal so they can push ahead with negotiations over the transpacific partnership. The americans have been pressuring the japanese to cut tariffs on beef and pork. The japanese want to put a safeguard in place. They say if they cut the tariffs they should be allowed to restore them temporarily when imports surge. The two sides are discussing when and how this would happen. Some u. S. Lawmakers have called on president barack obama to exclude japan from the tpp talks if the japanese dont eliminate the tariffs. This is a week of remembrance and reflection here in japan. People are marking the end of world war ii 69 years ago and taking stock of all that was lost. Some will attend ceremonies honoring those who died when u. S. War planes dropped atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki. Nuclear weapons had never been used in an attack before and have never been used since. Ahead of the memorials on august 6th and 9th, remembering hiroshima and nagasaki will look at how people in these cities are keeping memories and campaigns for a nuclearfree world alive. The skeleton of the building that became the Atomic Bomb Dome is a reminder of the brute power of the blast. But smaller relics can be found all over hiroshima. Pieces of bone, shards of glass. A graduate student believes retrieving them will help the souls rest in peace. Nhk worlds fumio kanda has his story. Reporter the river flows by hiroshima Peace Memorial park. On sunday you can see a figure crouched on its banks. Rebun kayo is digging into the past. Something he has done for more than a decade. Hes searching for the remains and the possessions of victims of the atomic bombing. Reporter the forensic medicine student visits the river in between graduate School Classes at hiroshima university. He often finds pieces of porcelain and glass. Ordinary Household Items that were shattered in the blast. Kayo and his family are from okinawa. Some of his relatives died during the battle there in 1945. Their remains have still not been found. His grandmother often told him bones are said to contain souls. We have to find them and put them to rest. Translator i understand the sadness of not having anything to remind us of our loved ones even if there are no remains or personal items, if there are symbolic items, it is better than nothing. It will provide emotional support. Reporter kayos work has taken him to ninoshima island, about four kilometers from hiroshima. 10,000 people who were hurt in atomic bombing came here. Many died and were buried in various locations. The number of victims is unknown. But the remains of 700 people have been found so far. Kayo is working to find more. During this search, he unearthed a bone fragment. He took it to the lab and examined it with anatomy professor takahiro satoda. Translator its hard to say if its from the right or the left leg, but judging by its size i think its highly likely this is a human bone. Reporter residents of ninoshima are starting to appreciate kayos dedication to the search. Children from a local Elementary School paid him a visit. Translator in the past many bones were found about 70 centimeters below ground. Translator i was surprised to learn the bomb affected our island too. Reporter educators hope kayos mission and his dedication to it will encourage children to learn more about their history. Kayo says even tiny clues could help the families of the deceased. Translator i believe digging up bones and remains, we can console the wandering spirits and respect the dignity of souls. And i want to show that younger generations like us still remember all those who lost their lives during the atomic bombing. Reporter kayo says he will keep searching to try to bring peace to the dead and those they left behind. August 4th. Japanese researchers have made a breakthrough with something that was long thought to have no purpose. They found that a sequence of dna is the key to turning ordinary cells into a kind of stemcell. And those cells have potential to develop into various types of tissues or organs. Kyoto University Led the team. Hes worked for years under his mentor yamanaka, who won a nobel prize two years ago for producing what he named plenni poe terrible stem cells. But how the genes function afterward has been a mystery. The researchers found they attach to and activate a part of dna known as hervh. Scientists had always believed that the dna sequence had no purpose. Translator the sequence we long considered useless junk dna actually plays a crucial role in producing ips cells. At least for humans. Yamanaka says further studies may lead to the development of a new method for creating ips cells. Officials at japans Welfare Ministry have shone a light on some of the most vulnerable members of society. They say in the year that ended in march, welfare workers handled a Record Number of cases of child abuse. Ministry Officials SayWelfare Centers opened nearly 74,000 cases where they took custody of children or looked into situations in the home. Thats up 10 from a year earlier. Ministry officials have seen the number of cases increase steadily since they started keeping track in 1990. They say in the last year they responded to three times the number of cases they did ten years ago. And they say they see more problems in big cities, including osaka and tokyo. Researchers say these days parents have less interaction with their neighbors and have few people to ask for help. Tsuneo yamamoto of the japan child and Family Research institute calls on government officials to identify parents who feel anxious and provide them with more support. Residents of naples, florida, are bracing for more rain after widespread flooding monday. Our meteorologist jonathan oh is here with the details. Hello, gene. Yes, we had a cold front that moved through the eastern side of the united states. And that sblkted with what is now Tropical Storm better that, bringing in that moisture and dumping large amounts of rain. Let me take you to the scene. Heres a look at the video coming out of naples, florida, where record rainfall hit the area causing widespread flooding monday. The city had more than 165 millimeters of rainfall in 24 hours. That made it the wettest day, august day specifically, in history. Roads were flooded causing traffic disruptions. Authorities are advising home to just stay off the roads until the water levels subside. And i want to show you whats going to be happening as we go forward in the forecast. So theres that cold front that is responsible for bringing that heavy rainfall. Bertha, because of its counterclockwise flow, is pushing up against that bringing all that moisture into the area. But once this front clears the area we should see some improvement. I think we have to wait until wednesday before that actually takes place. We also have some rain coming into the upper midwest. We have a frontal system thats going to be bringing that moisture anywhere from chicago and also into parts of the dakotas. I also want to draw your attention to the western portion of the united states. We do have the Desert Southwest monsoonal setup. And because of that heavy rainfall taking place, in fact for those of you in idaho, utah, nevada, you need to look out for the possibility of seeing downpours popping up from time to time. Las vegas dealing with a heavy amount of rainfall on monday. It looks like its going to be sunny. Again, these things pop up really quickly so be prepared for that type of weather setup. Rain and thunderstorms in denver, chicago, also into d. C. Coming up for our tuesday. Were going to take a quick look in the eastern pacific. We have two systems to talk about. One of these systems, hurricane ezele, a very powerful system, you can tell by the clearly defined eye. This is first moving toward the west and heading toward hawaii. Then behind that julio, currently a Tropical Storm, it is expected to also become a hurricane. So timing of the system, were looking toward thursday, friday before ezele arrives in hawaii, then julio right behind it as we go into friday, saturday, sunday. When the impacts start to increase. So heavy rainfall expected as we go toward the end of this week. We have another tropical system to talk about in the western pacific as we take a look at east asia. It is a very slow mover moving toward the north at 15 kilometers per hour. It is setting its sights for western japan. We are looking out for the possibility of seeing some heavy rainfall and strong withins going to thursday and friday for okinawa, into kyushu. You do not need more rain in western japan. Youve already been saturated with heavy amounts of rainfall this past weekend. With the interaction of the front over the area and this moisture coming in youre going to be looking at the possibility of seeing some more rain. Seoul at 30. 32 in taipei. Manila youll be keeling with monsoonal rain. Tokyo hot once again. Mid30s coming up for wednesday. We wrap things up with a look at europe. We do have an extended frontal system from the Scandinavian Peninsula into central europe. That is pushing up against warm air ahead of the system. That clash brings heavy amounts of rainfall. We may be dealing with waterspouts and possible hail and strong winds. So be prepared for that. The eastern side of europe dealing with very hot temperatures. High of 32 degrees in kiev for our tuesday. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Heres our extended outlook. Thats newsline for this hour. Im gene otani in tokyo. npgsws welcome back to the france 24 newsroom. A10s column in after one month of fighting. In gaza afterm one month of fighting. The World Bank Urges more than 200 million in emergency aid to help contain the deadly ebola virus that left close to 900 dead. Controlling the ebola viruses on the table as the first ever u. S. Africa summit is now in washington. Trade and investment between the two side is top priority