Also detained four South Koreans on charges including spying and illegal entry. Three of them have been sentenced to hard labor for life. Pyongyang tried to win concessions in negotiations in exchange for the release of detainees. Chinas communist party has decided to revoke the Party Membership of its former top military officer for allegedly taking bribes. The party will hand military prosecutors the case of guo boxiong. Hes the former vice chairman of the Central Military commission. Last year, the party expelled another former High Ranking Army officer. Xu caihou died of illness while under investigation for corruption. Attempts to bring former high ranking military officials to justice are unprecedented in china. Analysts say president xi jinping is trying to demonstrate his ability to push forward his Anticorruption Campaign as well as maintain his grip over the military. A belgian based Graphic Designer is asking the people organizing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to change their emblem. He says the design closely resembles the logo he created years ago for a belgian theater. It would be awkward for him and the theater if a similar design is used for the games. He said he plans to send a letter to the organizing committee in tokyo through a lawyer. Translator i hope the Tokyo Olympic emblem will be changed. We want our logo to be unique. Belgian media is highlighting the similarities between the designs and people are stating their opinions. Translator we have pride in the theaters logo, so i dont want it to be imitated. Translator the designs of the logos look alike but i think its a coincidence. Members of the Tokyo Organizing Committee say they dont believe theres any problem. They say they spent a long time checking trademarks across the world and they gained approval from the International Olympic committee. Workers at the crippled Fukushima DaiichiNuclear Plant have completed a major undertaking. Theyve finished removing highly radioactive water from underground tunnels connected to the facilitys reactor buildings. More than 10,000 tons of contaminated water flowed into the tunnels connecting reactors number two and three. Experts feared the water might flow into the sea. Last november workers started draining the tunnels and filling them with cement to prevent them from refilling. Officials at the plants operator say workers finished draining the number two reactor buildings tunnels late last month and they say similar work has been completed in tunnels connected to the number three reactor building. The workers will continue the tunnels with cement until some time late next month. The original plan was to freeze radioactive water in sections of the tunnel, but that was unsuccessful. French Atomic Energy giant areva says it will sell a majority stake of its Nuclear Reactor units to stateowned electricity company. Areva has been in the red for four straight years. Officials there announced on thursday they have agreed to sell up to 75 of the stock of its nuclear arm to the edf group. In march areeve na reported a record loss of 4. 8 billion euro for 2014. Thats 5. 2 billion. It blames the lower prices of uranium and japans decision to take Nuclear Plants offline. The french government is the major shareholder in both areva and the electricity utility. It has more than 80 stake in each company. The government apparently put in motion the rescue of areva by edf. Officials say they need 7. 6 billion to turn the company around. The entire value of the nuclear arm is less than half of that. The firm is planning to procure the needed funds over the next three years by selling more assets and issuing new stock. It will also cut as many as 6,000 jobs in france and overseas. Top negotiations with the labor union are expected. Japanese officials have just come out with a handful of economic indicators. The data gives us a snapshot of the economy. Ramin mellegard from the business desk has all the numbers. So what are you seeing . Well, catherine, a lot of figures coming out, a lot of figures for economists and analysts to pore over. At the end of every month we get a look at the things like the cost of goods, peoples spending habits and their job situations. Lets start with the prices of goods. Shoppers in japan paid a bit more at the checkout counter in june. Officials at the internal Affairs Ministry say the Consumer Price index was up slightly by 0. 1 from the same month last year. Now, the leading gauge of inflation rose for the 25th consecutive month, but the pace slowed to well below the bank of japans inflation target of 2 . The index doesnt factor in fresh food because their prices tend to be volatile. Now, Ministry Officials also say those shoppers were keeping a tighter grip on their wallets last month. Household spending in june was down 2 in yen terms from a year ago. The figure marks the first downturn in two months. Households with two or more members spend an average of more than 269,000 yen or around 2,200. They cut back on clothes and spent less on their housing. Keeping in data, u. S. Officials say the countrys economy grew over 2 in the april to june quarter. They say Consumer Spending and exports picked up, lifting the figure. U. S. Commerce Department Released data showing the preliminary rate for the quarters gdp growth was 2. 3 , slightly lower than Market Expectations of about 2. 6 . But its an increase from 0. 6 in the prior quarter. The number was revised up from the minus 0. 2 that was announced previously. Officials say Consumer Spending increased nearly 3 . It accounts for about 70 of the u. S. Gdp. Exports grew over 5 and Housing Investment was up more than 6 , but Business Investment dropped 0. 6 . Analysts say the latest data shows the economy is back on track after a temporary slump in the winter. And lets get a check on the markets for this friday. U. S. Stock prices ended rather flat after the gdp figures. So to see how markets here are reacting, lets go to mayu yoshida who is standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. A lot of numbers from the u. S. And japan. How is that affecting trading at the end of this week . Good morning, ramin. Japans gpi was higher than estimates. This was japans june unemployment data which stood at 3. 4 . This was worse than expectations. After that mixed data, were seeing a mixed open here in tokyo markets as well. Here are the opening levels for this friday morning. Its also the last trading day of the month. The nikkei is opening down 0. 25 . 20471, but the topix is opening flat, but in the positive. On the week, the nikkei is headed for a rather flat weekly finish, though. Now, looking back at the month, Global Equity markets were extremely volatile in july and tokyo is no exception. There were fears about the roller coaster ride in the chinese markets. Now, earlier this month the nikkei plunged to as low as the 19,100 level then soon bounced back to 20,800 now that overseas uncertainty has faded, theyre looking for a higher close for the month. Were also in the middle of earnings season here in japan. Strong numbers are pushing up the japanese markets. Yesterday sony said that its operating profit for the april to june quarter rose nearly 40 beating estimates. Its smartphone business was weak but image sensors and playstation are doing well so analysts see this as a positive step for sonys comeback. Net profit for Japan Airlines doubled in the latest quarter. Increasing number of tourists and cheap oil pushed up Japan Airlines. Numbers are coming out from the three mega banks. As well as struggling sharp. So lets see how that goes. A quick check on wall street which closed a few hours ago. The dow ended flat, but the techheavy nasdaq outpaced its peers of 0. 33 backed by rosy earnings. So mayu earnings keeping investors really glued to the new york and tokyo stocks. But we have to look at china as well. Its still pretty volatile. What can we expect today . Exactly, ramin, it was very volatile. Although the volatility is not as bad as the one we saw in june, the shanghai composite is still very unstable. Yesterday it jumped 2 it still lost ground and closed down 2 . We have chinas official manufacturing data tomorrow, so theres a lot of focus on that. I guess china will continue to be a negative factor in august. Lets see how currencies are trading right now after the u. S. Gdp, the dollar jumped to the highest against the yen. The dollar slightly lower right now, just around 124 yen. Growth in american gdp raised speculation of a september rate hike in the u. S. Prompting dealers to buy back the greenback. Thats it for now. Ill be back with the morning wrapup in a few hours. Looking forward though that. Mayu yoshida reporting for us live from the tokyo stock exchange. Now, cats are increasingly the pet of choice in japan. There are now 10 million of them in japanese homes. Its not hard to figure out why. Cats are low maintenance. Unlike dogs, they dont need to be walked every day, theyre easily cared for by single and the elderly people. And a growing number of businesses are really taking note of this fact. In june about 3,000 people attended a funeral in wa came ma frsk. The deceased was a beloved cat. She was put in charge of an unmanned station on the local railway line eight years ago. Visitors flocked from across japan to see the adorable cat in station masters costume. She was responsible for 360,000 rides in annual passenger numbers. She was 16 when she died. About 80 in human years. Cats are living longer in japan. Most are kept at home so they dont get the Infectious Diseases that killed off their ancestors. This has not gone unnoticed by japans largest petfood maker. It has focused on making products for growingline thesfood pellets are for cats over 20 years old. The pellets are 30 smaller than normal. The older the cats get, the weaker their jaws become. Similar products have been sold to the u. S. Since last year. There are plans to sell them in china as well. Translator as cats live longer, more cat food is consumed. And the food becomes more expensive. So i believe the Business Opportunities are growing. The growing market is not just for food. How about a place where your pet cat is cared for like a member of the family . This hotel for cats opened in tokyo this month. Pet owners seem undeterred by the price tag of 40 a night. Popularity is growing by word of mouth. There are no cages here. Each cat has a room of its own equipped with a bed, a toilet and a special carpet thats easy on their claws. A camera connected to the internet allows owners to peek at what their pets are up to any time they want. Translator we aimed to make a place where owners could keep their cats without any concerns. Weve been getting reservations and inquiries from around japan. As japan increasingly takes cats to its collective heart, a growing raft of businesses are helping them live longer, happier lives. And thats it for Business News for this hour. But ill leave you with another check on the markets. The japanese eel is a popular delicacy and an endangered species. Scientists are doing their best to protect it but dont know enough about its mysterious life cycle. Might help theelurvi. Ergin that nhk world reports. Reporter japanese people love a midsummer feast of high calorie eel. They believe its good for their stamina. The japanese eel used to be plentiful, but catches have dropped radically in recent years. International conservationists have put it on the red list of endangered species. Scientists blame the decline on changes on ocean currents, overfishing and degradation of habitats, but they admit they dont know the exact cause. All thats known for certain is where the eels spawn and their migration route. In 2009 researchers learned that the japanese eel laid their eggs off of gooum. They ride currents flowing to northeast asia and they grow to maturity in rivers or estuaries. The mature eels find their way back to guam to spawn. Its not clear how they do that. This is a scientist at the Fisheries Research agency. Some eels he caught off the coast of guam in 2008 were found to be carrying eggs. They were the first eels to be captured in such a condition. His discovery had a Significant Impact on eel studies. Hes working on a new project to track eels. Translator this is an ultrasonic transmitter. Reporter he implanted transmitters into 11 adult eels and follow them by ship for one week. The result shows that the eels some ot at the depth of 500 to 700 meters during the day and at night they are just 100 to 200 meters from the surface. The eels follow this routine every day. They swim in the deep ocean perhaps to evade predators and then in warmer surface waters after sundown. Translator the eggs take longer to develop in the cold deep sea, so the eels swim in warm water near the surface when its safe. I was surprised to discovehow each eel follows this daily routine as its eggs mature until it reaches its spawning site. Reporter the next question is where do the eels live while theyre in japanese rivers . This man and his team at Tokyo University have conducted a series of experiments implanting transmitters into eels and releasing them in the river. They have tracked them for one year. Each eel lived within a radius of about 150 to 250 meters. They stayed close to the river bank and maintained a distance between each other. Also eels will swim a few thousand kilometers across the ocean. The researchers discovered they hardly changed location after settling in the river. Translator our discovery that eels stay in one area has led us to believe their survival and propagation depends on their immediate environment. Reporter such discovers provide new insight for ecologists. For the sake of the endangered species and eel eaters of summer. Reporting for nhk world. Stories from world war ii are resurfacing this year as the 70th anniversary of the conflicts end approaches. The plight of thousands of filipino japanese is sometimes forgotten. Their japanese fathers migrated to the philippines before world war ii, and in the chaos that followed, the children were left behind often in a state of limbo. A group of them came to tokyo in late july seeking japanese nationality for unrecognized filipino japanese. Translator we came to ask the japanese government for a complete resolution. Reporter an estimated 3,500 filipino japanese were left in the philippines after world war ii. About 800 of them have no official nationality because their fathers identities are unproven. This man lives on an island in the western philippines. His father from japan married a filipino woman. But the war tore the family apart. Translator my father was captured by filipino guerrillas who killed during the war. I was only 7 when he died. Reporter after the war, people with japanese heritage like him were discriminated against, even having their possessions confiscated. Those without official nationality could be denied full access to education or medical services. Many have lived in poverty. Translator all my life i held on to the belief that im japanese. I want to go to japan. Reporter the aging group came to japan believing the 70th anniversary of the end of the war would be their last chance. They met with japanese government officials seeking recognition for them and the others back in the philippines. They brought a petition signed by 27,000 people including Second Generation filipino japanese and their families. They urged the government to help them create a list of filipino japanese in the philippines, confirm the identities of their fathers and grant those people japanese nationality. Translator this is our last request. Please help those of us who were left in the philippines. Reporter with help from supportive groups and lawmakers, they secured a meeting with Prime Minister shinzo abe. It was the first time in 30 years of campaigning that the group could meet with the japanese Prime Minister. Translator the Prime Minister said he would do his best, so we are keeping our hopes high. I hope that the problem will be resolved before we all die. Report many of these filipino japanese are advancing in age. They hope the japanese government will finally resolve their status as soon as possible. Time for a check of the weather. People in many areas of south asia are dealing with monsoon rains. Now theres a cyclone in the mix residents in myanmar and bangladesh are getting especially hart hid with severe weather. Robert speta joins us. What were seeing out here has been the topic all week. The heavy landfall coming in with the monsoon. All this cloud cover being pulled in off the bay of bengal. But now we have a cyclonic storm, this isis cyclonic storm komen. Im not going to show you the track with this, because the reality is it is rather stationary. And the winds and the intensity of this storm is not the big factor. The big factor is the fact that it is stationary and it is really in the worst possible location. Just off the coastline. This whole entire area here is very vulnerable to flooding. Its just been pumping that moisture on shore. Take a look at this. This is the past seven days. Rain totals. Some areas saw 900 to 1,000 millimeters of precipitation. Absolutely staggering amounts out here. Lets go to some video out of myanmar. This is one of the other things. It is some stormy conditions, too. Winds are kicking up. Many villages have been inundated. There have been casualties reported with this. As far as the forecast is concerned, its not improving. Lets look at the 72 hour rain totals. Some areas additional 200, 250 millimeters of precipitation on top of what youve already seen. The grounds are waterlogged. Were seeing the flooding. This is an ongoing story. Really feel for everybody out here because flooding is definitely going to continue as long as this stays in place and it really doesnt look like its going anywhere any time soon. Back towards the north also seeing heavy rainfall in the southwestern china. Separate area of low pressure but still across the indochina peninsula youll continue to see that threat of flooding. Now all this is in the tropics with southwest monsoon. I want to take you to another area way off here towards the east, thats soudelor and tracking towards the west. Actually expected to cross just north of saipan and the Mariana Islands as we head through the weekend out here. You want to keep an eye on this. The extended range, it could impact taiwan or southern japan. Were talking about the extended range late next week but nonetheless, time to keep a little bit of an eye out there towards the east out into the pacific ocean. As far as japan is concerned for the time being, it is hot and muggy. And thats the problem. Youre is going to be seeing the threat of heat exhaustion and heat strokes and also in the afternoon hours could see isolated summer time type thunderstorms flare up. A frontal area over the Korean Peninsula triggering up some thunderstorms for you there and in northeastern china. Take a look at your three day forecast. Tokyo, staying on the hot side. Not including the humidity. It is going to feel rather muggy out here. Take a look at kyoto as well. 37 degrees there for you. And basically down towards the south hot temperatures. Do want to show you this as well. Ill take you some video out of manila. I know that we often talk about cyclones and volcanoes out here and really all these natural disasters that hit this area. Japan often prepares for these earthquake drills. Manila a big event on thursday. Tens of thousands of filipinos rushed out from shopping malls. Theyre preparing for a 7. 2 magnitude earthquake that could hit the city. Last year actually found a fault out there. Rescuers going out there and prepping. Definitely a very good scenario to be preparing for. In japan they do these drills the tsunami drills. That was probably a big event. Weather did cooperate. 32 degrees for your high. Partly cloudy skies. Ill leave you now your extended outlook. That concludes this edition of newsline. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Thanks for joining us. Stacey thunder on this edition of native report, we view the celebrated artwork of sculptor cyrus dallin, we interview stephen pevar, author of the rights of indians and tribes the congress and the courts have recognized that Indian Tribes have inherent powers. Stacey thunder and we continue to celebrate our 10th season by revisiting the great oak of the pechanga nation. We also learn something new about indian country, and hear from our elders on this native report. Announcer production of native report is made possible by grants from the Shakopee MdewakantonSioux Community and the blandin foundation. [music playing]