Crews have faced off against each other out on the water. And vietnamese have staged repeated protests against what they see as chinese aggressiveness. But now theyre leaders say theyre committing to negotiating the disputes. President xi jinping hosted special envoy in beijing. The staterun Xinhua News Agency quoted xi as saying that it shows that vietnamese leaders are wanting to improve ties. In may a Chinese Oil Company set up an oil rig near the parcel islands. Chinese and vietnamese crews converged on the area. Some rammed ships against those from the other country and votes demonstrators staged a number of protests against china. Last month the chinese removed the oil rig one month ahead of schedule, helping to ease tensions. Leaders in the philippines have their own complaints. They suspect chinese authorities have started Building Military installations in another part of the disputed south china sea. Both countries and others claim the separately islands. Last month Philippine Military officials took aerial photographs of a rocky area called johnson reef. Nhk obtained the photos. The photos show the chinese have pushed more earth into the water, expanding the area of reclaimed land. Workers have put up a long and thin building surrounded by what appears to be a seawall. Philippine officials also took photos in february and they say since then, the chinese have done a lot of work. Photos of another area at gavin reef show the chinese have done more reclamation work there and philippine Officials Say a large ship that appears to be a tanker is anchored in deep water. Commanders suspect the chinese have started Building Military ports, runways, and radar facilities on the reefs. Many people in the philippines and vietnam are expressing outrage at chinas assertiveness in the south china sea. They are demanding that their governments take tough responses but that comes at a co. Nhk worlds reports on the difficult choices that people in vietnam are now face. Reporter these patriotic vietnamese wear tshirts emblazened with their national flag. They are workers at a private company in hanoi. They gather every week to voice their anger at china. [ speaking Foreign Language ]. Reporter vietnam was ruled by china for more than 1,000 years. Antichina sentiment now has more students turning to their history books. 164 students at this high school apply to take history this year, five times more than the number of places available. Across the Country University entrance exams took place in july. The test included a question that appeared to reflect antichina sentiment. It asks, what significance does it have for National Security for vietnamese fishermen to operate in waters around the parcel and other islands. The question was part of the geography exam. It was the first time on an essay question that sovereignty appeared in any test. Translator this sort of question closely reflects current circumstance. It was an appropriate question to gauge students awareness of the issue. Reporter the antibeijing mood is starting to affect everyday lives of ordinary vietnamese. The shelves of this Convenience Store are lined with products from japan and south korea. But the shop is boycotting goods made in china. Translator i support that. As a vietnamese citizen, i respect the policy of refusing to handle chinese products. Translator initially some customers were surprised at our approach. But once they knew why were doing this they were very vocal in their support. Reporter china is vietnams largest trading partner. So it will be hard to cut ties completely. Textiles are one of vietnams main industries. Than ducviet is a Vice President of a garment manufacturer. The company depends heavily on china for raw materials. Viet i president of a garment manufacturer. The company depends heavily on china for raw materials. One of its products is made using 40 chinese materials. An Industrial Association is asking viet to switch to a nonchina suppliers. He would like to but he is worried it could make his products less competitive. Translator it takes a long time to change suppliers. If we run short of raw materials, 10,000 workers can lose their jobs. Reporter vietnam must work out how to cope if public sentiment with china keeps worsening. Without a dramatic improvement in bilateral ties over their maritime dispute there could be more storms ahead. Nhk world, hanoi. A leader of separatists in ukraine says hes in favor of dividing the country even further. People in the prorussian areas in the east should seek independence. Is a leader of the separatists in the donetsk region. He spoke in moscow about the fighting with ukrainian forces. Said innocent civilians have become victims so he is against the idea of a united ukraine. The leaders of ukraine and russia met in minsk, the capital of belarus. It was the first time that Petro Poroshenko met oneonone with Vladimir Putin to discuss the crisis. They failed to narrow their differences but agreed to keep talking. Russian foreign minister, lavrov has urged ukrainian leaders to Start Talking with the separatists as soon as possible. Two main separatist groups are operating in eastern ukraine. Their leaders say they want to unite to form an independent state called or new russia. The fighting is leading more ukrainians to flee their homes. More than 600 ukrainians arrived wednesday at vladivostok in the far east. Im afraid i wont be able to go home again. Russian leaders have set up more than 530 shelters and more than 57,000 refugees are living in them. Executives at amazon. Com, facebook and sony have their eyes on a new market and its in the sky. Ai uchida has more from the business desk. They are looking up at the sky. They want to utilize it. They all want to use flying robots, or drones, to expand their business. And the Japanese Electronics maker is the latest to get on the trend. Sony holds a market share for sensors that work like human eyes and are used in devices like digital cameras. Executives want to use the technology in drones. Sony is considering drones equipped with these sensors to inspect infrastructure such as age tunnels and bridges. The drones can also be used to check how agricultural crops are growing. Analysts say the economic effect of drones will be more than 76 billion in the u. S. Alone by 2025. The new project may help sony rebuild its finances as its tv business has been in the red for the past ten years. In the i. T. Industry there has been a global move to use drones for commercial purposes. U. S. Based online retailer, azom. Com announced in december a plan to deliver goods using drones. Facebook announced a plan to beam internet signals to various parts of the world as a way to expand connectivity. And the firm began the development of solar powered drones that can fly for longer. Developers are coming up with other things that seem straight out of science fiction. Robots that can hold their own in a conversation, selfdriving cars and engineers are racing to do even more with Artificial Intelligence. But some of what theyre building could put people out of a job. [ speaking Foreign Language ]. Reporter this robot developed by leading Electronics Company greets visitors as they arrive. There are two cameras installed in its head allowing it to identify and name objects that it sees. What is this . [ speaking Foreign Language ]. Reporter the robots brain is controlled by Artificial Intelligence. It searches the internet for images similar to the objects spotted by its camera. It then guesses what the object is and responds. In conversations, emiwe can express the meaning of a sentence even if it is expressed in different ways. What is the height of mt. Fuji . [ speaking Foreign Language ]. How high is mt. Fuji . [ speaking Foreign Language ]. Reporter the robots key feature is that it can learn on its own using its data and experience. It doesnt have to be taught. We hope it can be introduced at hospitals, Shopping Centers and other places. Reporter Artificial Intelligence is already being used by some businesses. This Company Conducts research to find corporate wrong doing and provide legal support. It checks emails and document files for evidence and materials that might indicate wrong doing. One large computer can store over 1 million files. So Artificial Intelligence is needed to sort through large volumes of data. At most law firms the staff have to go through every single file and email one at a time to check for any wrongdoing. To program the Digital Brain, documents relating to both legal and illegal acts are first inputted, roughly 100 each. It can then scan documents and sort them into two categories. It sorts documents 4,000 times faster than people and as it gains experience, its accuracy improves. In this demonstration, the Digital Brain was able to sift through about 300,000 items of data in 30 minutes. It was able to identify requests for money that use the code word alpha. It found the word alpha was being used to ask for money in exchange for something. We would never pick that up unless we had input it first. Artificial intelligence is gaining greater accuracy than people in making judgments. Humans sometimes make errors. But Artificial Intelligence doesnt. So i trust it. And use it. Reporter this trend could have major implications. A u. S. Research firm, gardner warns that over 50 of jobs will be taken over by Artificial Intelligence by 2020, putting 17 of the work force out of their jobs. Before long, humans may find themselves facing off against robots and Artificial Intelligence in the workplace. The japanese government gradually plans to reduce the Corporate Tax rate starting in fiscal 2015. But at the same time they need to secure funds to finance this cut. The government plans to achieve this by scrapping part of a tax incentive for capital investment. The Industry Ministry decided not to seek an extension of a current tax break for firms that increase investment in plant and equipment by more than 10 over the previous year. Ministry Officials Say scrapping this measure will result in a revenue increase of about 100 billion yen or 960 million. The government will lose about 4. 5 billion in revenue if the Corporate Tax rate is cut by 1 . Beginning in fiscal 2015 it plans to start lowering the tax rate from the current 35 to below 30 over the next few years. The governments guidelines for economic and fiscal reforms call for securing the funds to finance this cut. Observers say government officials may also review special tax breaks granted to investing in research and development or smaller businesses. Trade ministers from 16 Asian Countries have discussed free trade issues but failed to draw up a framework that will be used as abe sis for further negotiations. The 16 nations gathered for talks. The delegates from asean member nations and japan, china, india and other countriesed me in myanmars capital on wednesday. It was the second round of talks on the arsep since last august. The ministers agreed to accelerate goraks to lower tariffs but failed to draw up a framework. The arsep participants are hoping to reach an agreement by the end of 2015 but there is a big gap among them over the issue of lowering tariffs. After the meeting, japans minister told reporters that negotiations have been tough as each country has a different opinion. But he emphasized the importance of the trade liberalization framework. Translator its extremely important to establish a free trade deal in the east asian region which will become the center of global growth. We will try to move negotiations forward to reach an agreement by the end of 2015. Lets check on markets now. Tokyo stock prices trading lower this morning amid a lack of Fresh Trading cues. Some are taking profits from the recent rally and the yen is a bit stronger against the dollar. Lets take a look at currencies. The dollar trading below 104 yen. Some are selling the u. S. Currency as yields on u. S. Long Term Government bonds are lower and thats after bond yields in European Countries hit record lows. And the yield on the japanese tenyear bond has also declined. It went down to 0. 845 . A 1month low. Looking at other markets the kospi is up more than. 4 . Lets see what is happening in china. Shanghai up by more than. 3 . And the hang seng in positive territory. But a mixed picture with tokyo stocks down this morning. Ill leave you with a check on some other markets. Theres no shortage of advice on how to live a better life. But one young japanese woman speaks from experience. A latestage cancer patient, she shares her message of hope with others. Translator do you feel happy just to be alive right now . Reporter Hiroko Yamashita is giving a lecture at her old high school. Just 21 years old. Shes here to talk about her fight against liver cancer. When doctors diagnosed her disease, they told her she had six months to live. That was nearly two years ago. Translator we dont have unlimited time. Our time is limited. I think its best if we spend that limited time in a meaningful way. Reporter yamashitas cancer was already at an advanced stage when the disease was identified. The tumor in her liver weighed two kilograms. It was removed but the cancer had already spread to her lungs. Her doctor told her there was no hope of a cure. Yamashita fought off grief and despair. She was determined to make the most of what time she had left. She started giving lectures and launched a blog. Translator we never know when our time will come. Did you all smile at your parents as you left the house this morning . Is there anyone youve had a fight with and arent speaking to any longer . Reporter students write letters to her after her lectures. If my life ended today, i would be full of regrets. I will treasure each moment of my life. Translator i think most of us live our lives without giving it any particular thought. But our time is so limited. I think the important thing is not to live a long and meaningless life, but to use the time we have in a meaningful way. Reporter yamashita knows the odds are against her but she wont give up the fight. Shes searching for a cure. In july, surgeons in tokyo removed cancer that had returned to her liver. The day before the operation, yamashita received messages of encouragement. Translator may tomorrows operation go without a hitch. Translator wishing you the best. I hope the operation is successful. Though i accept that i am going to die, i really love this world and if i can live for even a second longer, i want to. And there are other people who want me to live too. So i really should put all my effort into living. I grow stronger each time i overcome a challenge. Reporter yamashita continues to blog and lecture around the country. He is living the message she preaches. Pursuing a life without regrets. Translator id be so happy if my words and what ive been through helped or inspired anyone. I cant think of a happier way to be than this. Im so glad ive had this opportunity to feel truly alive. Cancer has taught me so many things. Yamashita continues to make plans for the future. Her next project is setting up an organization to support People Living with cancer. Its time now to get a check on the weather. People in the central u. S. Are wondering whether or not the weather will look up in time for labor day weekend. Theyre dealing with severe thunderstorms. Meteorologist robert speta joins us with the latest. We are seeing a new low pressure area that is threatening to bring strong thunderstorms and delaying travellers heading out and about across the Central Plains and the midwest over the next 48 hours ahead of the long holiday weekend. You can see it here on the satellite imagery. The low spinning up. Ahead of it we see a threat of stronger storms that could be producing damaging winds, hail, and a potential for flash flooding especially in parts of nebraska and kansas and south dakota as this one develops and pushes off there to the east moving in to wisconsin and michigan by friday and saturday. So something you want to watch out for. Now down to the south we are looking at that humid air coming in from the gulf of mexico. Some thunderstorms flaring up around houston, a tropical disturbance there. And temperatures are on the rise. If you in chicago or toronto it has been relatively cool but with all the warm air ahead of low coming in from the west, the temperatures will be climbing. But unfortunately if you have outdoor plans on saturday for example, thunderstorms are in the forecast. This is something you want to be careful for if you are in detroit, cleveland and chicago. Lets look just off the coastline at this well, its a hurricane and relatively weak hurricane. Just barely holding on to the intensity. 120 kilometers per hour. The good news with this storm system for anyone heading out to the beaches you could be seeing rip currents but it is staying well out to sea. It will become extra tropical moving off to the north. It could impact western europe or even iceland. The weather though in iceland is not the only thing that people are worried about. Lets talk about the geology and the volcanonology going on here right now. We are seeing large earthquakes which could potentially lead to an eruption. Ill show you the latest video we have up here. The volcano in and around that area saw its biggest earthquake in about 22 years. It struck that same area around the volcano. The quake measured 4. 5 on the richter scale. And experts are saying its not a sign of an immediate eruption coming out from this area. We havent seen magma. We have seen fissures opening up on the glacier. This is something were looking at as we look ahead. Weve also been seeing these swarms of eruptions really starting since last week. It is something we are keeping an eye on if that does develop. A few years ago we had an eruption that caused problems in europe as far as traffic is concerned. Lets wrap up in eastern asia. We still have this front thats bringing some rain showers across china. But its south of that, a tropical depression is spinning up here. This is not expected to become a named tropical storm. It is bringing rainfall to hainan and vietnam and the indochina peninsula. Enhancing the monsoon effect through there. Also across the philippines, showers kicking up there for you. From another low pressure area moving overhead. Taipei with a high of 31. This is what i want to put an end note on. Tokyo with a high of 23 and this is below your average. Take a look at that. 23 for your high on your thursday. Typically, average around 30 degrees. Same thing to the north. We had recordbreaking low temperatures in hokkaido. And then as we look over at yokohama only 22 there going ahead through your thursday. Heres your extended outlook. And thats all for this edition of newsline. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Thanks for joining us. Good evening from los angeles. Im tavis smiley. First a conversation with the biographer of stokely carmichael, peniel joseph. It draws on fbi files to paint a complete picture of one of the civil rights movements heroes who drew fire from some for his support of the black panther party. Then to a conversation with one of the most honored singersong writers, Martina Mcbride about her new cd called everlasting. Glad you could join us. Those conversations are coming up right now