And the people at sony are changing the picture of their business and are hoping to become more competitive in the hot market for smart phones. Nuclear regulators in japan have taken another step towards restarting power plants and approved safety reports for two reactors in the southwest. The plant becomes the first to meet regulations imposed by the government following the march 2011 nuclear disaster. All 48 of the reactors are offline. The operator of the plant submitted the safety plan to the Nuclear Regulation authority. Officials with the authority assessed the plan and collected more than 17,000 comments from the public. Many called for stricter measures against possible earthquakes, volcano eruptions and serious accidents. The authorities said those wont affect the conclusion. The plant is likely to be the first to restart under the new regulations but the operator must clear more hurdles. They need to gain consent of local municipalities before going back online and must get approval from authority on details of equipment design. The restart is expected as early as december. Four chinese coast guard ships temporarily intruded in territorial islands. China and taiwan claimed them in the east china see which japan controls. Japan coast guard Officials Say vessels entered the area tuesday morning. They say they are warning the chinese crew not to attempt another intrusion. They say the number of such intrusions rose sharply after the 2012 nationalization. Last year 188 incidents were recorded and this year so far more than 50 times. In 2011 there were only two. Earlier this week a chinese patrol ship was spotted in japans exclusive Economic Zone around the islands appearing to be conducting a survey. Leaders in tokyo maintain the islands are an inherent part of japans trade in terms of history and International Law and say there is no issue of sovereignty to be resolved over the islands. The u. S. President barack obama has threatened to degrade and destroy the militant Group Islamic state. Some of the people who work with him are trying to build a coalition to do that. Secretary of state john kerry sets off for the middle east to court skeptical allieallies. Almost every country on earth has a role to play in eliminating the isil threat. Kerry says for some that will mean military assistance and for others that will mean contributing to humanitarian relief efforts. Defense secretary chuck hagel is making similar efforts in turkey. White house Officials Say president obama spoke over the phone with u. N. Secretary general and australian prime minister. The two leaders are reported to have said they will cooperate in the effort. U. S. Officials asked japans leaders to support obamas coalition and want them to provide humanitarian support for iraqis and sunnis fleeing. U. S. National Security Council director for Japan Affairs riln green met in washington and asked japan to provide more aid for refugees and the countries they are fleeing to. Translator he acknowledged that japan has provided humanitarian aid and expressed hope that we will step up the effort. He said green did not mention any military role for japan. The wife of a chinese juvenile rights lawyer is asking president obama to raise the issue of her husbands medical treatment after his release from a chinese prison last month. She made the appeal in washington. He took up human recognizes violations. He was convicted of insighting some version of state power and served a threeyear sentence. She says his weight dropped dramatically and his teeth fell loose and he can barely talk and says her husband is under Constant Police surveillance and has no freedom. She says the persecution victimizes the human rights situation in china. Obama is scheduled to hold talks with chinese president in november on the sidelines of a meeting in beijing. Leaders in washington are demanding chinese counter parts allow him to channel to the u. S. Analysts at the bank of japan say prices of goods traded among companies rose in august compared with last year. They say the consumption tax hike in april is driving up the cost of a wide range of products. The analysts say on an annual basis price index is up. They measure against the base of 100 set in 2010. They point to a surge in commercial and public works projects as well as increasing prices for materials such as steel frames. They say even without the increase in the consumption tax the index would have risen 1. 1 . The analysts say the increase in the material prices and labor costs is impacting sales at many firms. Some managers are trying to back the trend. They are lowering their prices in an effort to draw customers back. But central Bank Analysts say they will keep a close eye on the weakening yen because that can drive up prices farther. Lets check what happened in asian markets today. The dollar traded well above 106 yen and hit the sixyear high. So the weak yen bolesteres stock markets in tokyo. The broader topix was up half a percent. The topix closed at the highest level since the summer of 2008. The weaker yen raised hopes for upgrades. But overall the asian region has trading in a negative tone because investors in the region are worried the u. S. Federal reserve will raise rates sooner than many had expected. Sidney hit the onemonth low at one point. Taking a look at taiwan, the main index dropped as investors sold tech shares to book profits following apples announcement about its new range of products. Negotiators from japan and the u. S. Walked away from trade talks empty handed once again. They say they are not giving up. They will keep trying to reach an agreement on their part in the Trans Pacific partnership free trade pact. Japans chief negotiator and u. S. Trade representative spent two days together in tokyo. They discussed tariffs on five categories of foreign products including meat and dairy goods. Japanese negotiators want to be able to restore tariffs on beef and pork. They talked about the conditions. He said afterwas that they werent able to make the progress they were hoping for. He said there is still a long way to go before the sides can bridge the gap. Translator we will need to have more oneonone talks at this level before there is any point in ministers from japan and the u. S. Getting together again. Japanese officials want to wrap up a deal with their u. S. Counter parts by early next month. Negotiators from the 12 nations involved in the tpp talks want to reach a broad agreement by the end of the year. The people at apple have put on another show to unveil their latest batch of i products. They introduced their first wearable computer, the apple watch, and rolled out the next generation iphones. It is the next chapter in apples story. Users will be able to make phone calls, send messages and listen to music with their apple watch by linking it to their iphones. They can check the state of their Health Including their heart rate, intensity of workout and number of calories burned. And they can use the watch to make payments at stores, too. The cheapest model will cost about 350. The newest iphones started just under 200. The people at apple have seen their competitors at samsung win over customers with larger screen smart phones so they increased the size of the displays on their iphones. The president of major japanese cell phone carrier kddi has he has high hopes for apples latest products. Translator iphones new lineup with large screen models will likely boost our sales. He says he is looking forward to selling the apple watch. Officials at apple have not revealed when it will be available in japan. Bigger screens are all the rage at the europes largest appliances fair. Officials from all over the world have gathered to display their newest products. Reporter Electronics Makers say korea and other emerging markets are grabbing the spot light here. China is showcasing a pilot. Samsung also unveiled the new large screen smart phone. And now mobile devices can be linked to a head set so that users can enjoy the world of virtual reality. Here at this Home Appliance store in berlin devices made by samsung are put on display. Chinas huwei smart phones are also popular. Translator i like samsung because of its high quality. Translator designs by japans sony are a bit dull. Reporter the global smart phone market is led by two giants, samsung and apple. The chinese are quickly catching up but japanese makers are not among the top five. Now sony is trying to change that. This is a smart phone that sony has just launched. It is thinner and lighter and has a longer laster battery. The ability to play with the play station 4. Gamers can play almost anywhere by attaching a controller to a smart phone. The fastest pace ever. Sony is hoping the consoles appeal will help boost cell phone sales. Nhk world, berlin. Smart phones are not traditionally sonys forte but for the last ten years its flagship tv business has been losing money and the president is well aware that the next decade depends on what he and his colleagues do now. Reporter kiri has headed sony for the last four years and says the new smart phone will help sony get back on track. We see ourselves as bringing uniquely sony products that brings Sony Technology and content to bring a different cell phone experience to that customer. I think including that experience together with other smart phone products i think will be a strong lineup as we compete in the very dynamic market. Reporter sony sold its personal computer business in july as part of its restructuring efforts. But the company is holding on to its moneylosing tv business. The biggest challenge facing executives is plotting a strategy for that business. First of all, its very important for us to be in the Television Business because of the very important interactions with the consumers that we have within the home from a branding perspective. We are not in white goods which means that a lot of the customers who interact with sony products within the home are either through television or play station products. We need to be in the business in a profitable way. That is why we have done a lot of cost restructuring measures and also made it a subsidiary and also make sure that they are bringing out quality products that the consumers can enjoy. We will keep all options on the table. For now it is important that we focus on making the business profitable. Reporter many japanese Electronics Makers are reporting better results except sony. Some analysts blame him. We asked him about that. I think the wow is created through our products and experiences. I think that is very important that we continue to innovate in the hardware space as well as in the Software Space and to make sure that we bring the wow experience to our customers. Obviously from a business perspective we need to dothat in a very profitable way. That is why we have been working hard on the electronics side of the business to turn the business around and i think we are in the right direction as far as that effort and concerned. Workers in south korea are taking on one of the Worlds Largest electronics companies. Former employees from samsung claim chemicals at one of their factory jobs has made them sick. Reporter Samsung Electronics turns out a range of products from high quality tvs to world dominating smart phones and semi conducters. Now its Company Heads are reeling from a lawsuit. In august Seoul High Court decision related to Samsung Electronics and recognized Health Problems by workers in the companys factory. This is what Samsung Electronics has been denying. The High Court Rule that a former employee developed leukemia which led to her death because of her working environment. He is representing his daughter. She died of leukemia seven years ago. She was 22. Translator my daughter told me that her job was to dip Semi Conductor parts in liquid containing chemicals and then to take them out. Reporter the court recognized the claims. It said she was possibly exposed to benzine, a chemical known to cause leukemia. The court did not specify the cause of her illness but it did say it is rational to conclude that some chemicals in the factory were to blame. Translator it was a fair ruling for yumi but there are more workers who deserve compensation. Reporter the court recognized the cases of two plaintiffs as work related but not for the other three. Rejected workers and their families rallied in front of samsung headquarters and demanded more information from the company. Among them was this lady who worked on a chip production line and developed leukemia ten years after quitting the job and is now receiving chemotherapy and volunteering in the church. She says she was exposed to multiple chemicals but the court says there is no evidence to support her claim. She laments the lack of information samsung disclosed as work prevented her from making a strong case. Translator i didnt even know what i was using was chemical substances. There was no explanation about chemicals in the factory at that time. Reporter Samsung Electronics provided a response to nhk about our story. We are deeply saddened by the loss of former members of the samsung family and are working with concerned parties to understand how we can best help these members of our family. Samsung closely abides by regulation on the use of chemicals and materials for industrial purposes. Reporter a doctor helping workers fight Occupational Injury claims and says the case is the tip of the iceberg. Those peoples are now more than 200. I hope samsung can change their attitude to understand better to communicate better what they should do now is to listen what the victims want. Reporter now, about 40 former workers at Samsung Electronics are propelling to go to court to seek workrelated compensation. They are calling on samsung for full disclosure of information. Nhk world, seoul. Extremely heavy rainfall is affecting hokkeido. Many people have been evacuated. Our meteorologist joins us for more on that. September is one of the wettest months of the year for western parts of hokkeido but the amount is too much. About 250 millimeters of rain in a span of 24 hours. They typically receive about 230 millimeters of rain during the entire month of september so more than a month of rain fell in one day. Because of that we are seeing flooding in many places. The reason is this low pressure system is packing cold air in the upper atmosphere and temperature is quite warm near the ground so temperature difference is causing quite unstable conditions for hokkeido and eastern areas. Quite unstable weather will likely continue into your friday. Rain is falling heavily in several places. Across the Korean Peninsula as opposed to japan no rainfall, beautiful weather. Good for you because i know many people are enjoying the mid summer holiday. Heavy rain is falling for southern parts of china with worst being at the mid part of the country. Heavy rain hitting the western side of the philippines. I know several people were killed due to flooding on monday and unfortunately more rain is expected for the next 24 hours. The heaviest rain will be found over the northern parts of the country. Temperatures in manila at 32 degrees. 34 in bangkok. Quite hot for this time of year. And across tokyo 27 degrees. That is actually a little warmer compared to what we saw today. Across the americas in september phoenix in arizona usually sees Severe Weather including high temperatures and flooding like you saw on monday. Severe floods affected many locations and because of that a state of emergency was declared. A dust storm also is a big concern during this time of year. We have amazing pictures coming out of the city. Time lapsed videos captured the big dust storm that rolled through phoenix, arizona on saturday. The storm covered cars, buildings and airplanes as it swept through the area. Some businesses and homes lost power during the storm. At times these storms can be up to 900 meters high. The good news, arizona and phoenix you are seeing some nice clear skies on your wednesday. As opposed to that quite Severe Weather is happening in the mid part of the u. S. And very cold air from the north and hot air coming in. In between quite bad weather is happening. In calgary heavy snow is falling. This is the scene coming out of calgary monday. Early season heavy wet snow has brought calgarys summer to an end. More than 10 centimeters of snow has fallen. Im afraid more snow to come as we go into the next couple of hours. The cool air meeting with warm air in the south so Severe Weather in the mid part of the u. S. As well as upper midwest. Temperatures in the north quite low for this time of year. 10 degrees in winnipeg on wednesday and calgary on hump day. Here is the extended forecast. And that concludes this edition of newsline. On behalf of our team, thank you for staying with us. France 24. Watching we are going to bring you uptodate with all of the latest news. In a lastminute drive to persuade scots not to David Cameron is in style and today, as are the leaders of the major opposition parties. Troops of them pulled back from eastern ukraine, saying 70 of russian soldiers have left. Moscow has denied sending troops there. Obama is gearing up