Of the island in the pacific ocean. People in japan are expressing disappointment after north korean officials said on thursday theyll postpone the release of the longawaited results of an investigation. The probe into the fate of japanese citizens abducted by north korean agents decades ago began one year ago. But officials in pyongyang have not released any details and the families of the missing are growing frustrated. Nhk worlds Jun Yotsumoto has more. Translator its regrettable north korea is putting off the results of its investigation. Ive told foreign minister Fumio Kishida and yamatani to further press pyongyang to return abductees. Reporter north korean officials pledged a full scale negotiation with japan in may of last year. About one year later, officials in pyongyang set up a special committee to oversee the probe. In return japan partially lifted economic sanctions against the country. Japanese officials expected the north to report preliminary results within a couple of months. But that never happened. At the end of october, a Senior Foreign Ministry official visited pyongyang for talks with the committee chairman. The chairman said the committee couldnt file any detailed reports as the investigation was still in the early stages. Now a year has passed since the launch of the committee, but no progress has been reported despite repeated called by the abductees families for the government to take action. Shigeo iizuka is the brother of abductee abductee yaego. Translator weve been waiting beyond patience. Now they are saying it will be delayed even more. Its all about whether the government is really serious about solving this. We dont need a report. We want the government to work out a method to get the abductees back home immediately. Reporter experts say north korean officials may be trying to bide their time before japans government decides to reimport sanctions. Japanese Officials Say they will make their efforts to get action from the north. Jun yotsumoto, nhk world. Debate is heating up in greece whether the country should accept fiscal austerity measures. The European Union is proposing the package for bailout funds. But the greek government says it wants a better agreement. Both the yes and no camps are stepping up their campaigns in athens the government plans to hold a referendum on sunday. Others say they do not support it. They will wait for the outcome of the poll. A group of prominent people including professors and actors attended a press conference and appealed a yes vote. People with the no camp also staged rallies. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he looks to ensure the peoples dignity until the end. The two sides are planning large rallies on friday amid ramifications of the deadline. It includes a cap on the amount of money people can withdraw from banks. A Senior Member of the Islamic State militant group has been killed in an air strike in syria. He reportedly helped recruit fighters. The official says tariq bin al tahar was killed on june 16th. Washington had a 3 million bounty on his head. American Officials Say he helped smuggle weapons into syria. He also helped coordinate suicide bombings in iraq. Al harsis younger brother was killed in a u. S. Led air strike st month. The brother was suspected of involvements on the u. S. Benghazi consulate in 2012. His death will have an impact on the ability to recruit foreigners. The u. N. Says the number of foreigners joining the militants between 2014 and march of this year increased by 70 . U. S. Diplomats have again urged china to halt reclamaon work on reefs in the south china sea. This comes a the release of new at satellite images shows its progressing rapidly. We dont find these outputs to be helpful to Regional Security and stability. In fact quite the contrary. And were going to continue to impress upon china as we do with all claimants. The latest photographs come from the u. S. Think tank the center for strategic and international studies. They show that workers have nearly completed the construction of a 3,000 meter runway on fiery cross reef. The group also says work is progressing on what appears to be ataxiway as well as an area to park planes. But china is unlikely to comply with the request. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have said that the country will continue to build facilities for military and other purposes on the reefs. Chinas uygur region has been hit by an earthquake. Four confirmed dead at least 48 others are injured. The National Earthquake bureau reports that it struck shortly after 9 00 a. M. Local time on friday. The epicenter was in the county of gunma. The focus was estimated to be ten kilometers below the surface. The state run Xinhua News Agency said many homes have collapsed. Strong jolts shattered windows, but didnt witness toppled building. He also reported power outage ageagesoutages. Gunn man is gunmas population is mostly made up of ethic uygurs. Now in a bid to tackle a spike in corporate espionage, japan has come up with a set of measures as gene otani from our business desk tells us. Stiff penalties are definitely in the horizon. Japan is set to roll out tougher penalties for leaking corporate data and technology. The move follows a string of such leaks. A man was convicted this year of stealing Research Data on toshiba conductors and giving it to a south korean firm. Members of the upper house of the diet have passed a bill. The maximum penalty for a company that illegally auires leaked secrets is raised to 500 million yen or about 4 million. Companies that use illegally acquired business secrets overseas can expect penalties of up to roughly 8 million. The law further allows authorities to seize corporate earnings that stem from knowingly using leaked data or technologies. The legislators have also enacted the revised patent law. That allows a company to own the patents on new technologies invented by its employees. But the firm must set corporate regulations on the matter. It also guarantees the right of employees to receive payments as fair compensation for their work. Summer holidays in japan are just around the corner. Travel Agency Officials expect to see a rise in the number of japanese tourists heading to destinations at home and fewer going overseas. Major travel operator jtb says more than 78 Million People will go somewhere on a vacation from july 15th to august 31st. Thats up 0. 1 from the same period last year. The agency attributes a slight rise to workers getting higher summer bonuses. Jtb says over 75 Million People will travel inside japan. Up 0. 2 from last year. Popular destinations include the hokuriku region where a bullet train route opened this year. The number of people going to destinations abroad will shrink by nearly 2 . The jtb Officials Say the drop is due to the weaker yen and the mers outbreak in neighboring south korea. Thai and chinese officials have agreed on the construction of a High Speed Railway in thailand starting this october. China will assist in building the new line as part of its Distribution Network in southeast asia. The planned railroad will extend roughly 860 kilometers. It will connect the cap bangkok and the eastern seaside. They agreed to finalize their Railway Route by august and begin construction by october. Thailands National Rail operator will receive chinese knowhow on driving trains and controlling traffic. Thai officials will continue to negotiate the Interest Rate on funds needed for the project. They say chinas proposed rate is too high. The president of myanmar has been making a pitch aimed at japanese investors. President thein sein is in tokyo to attend the japan summit that starts saturday. Nhk interviewed thein sein on thursday. He said he has been successfully guiding myanmar towards democracy. He said the country is in transition to become a market economy. He acknowledged it suffers from a low level of economic development. Translator i hope japan will invest actively to improve infrastructure and create jobs in our country. Myanmar is expected to hold a general election as early as november. The president indicated he will seek reelection. Well present the full interview with the president of myanmar in our newsroom tokyo later on friday japan time. And checking the markets, tokyo stocks had a bumpy ride taking a dip before closing out the day. Up 0. 08 at 20,539. Early on investors responded to weaker than expected u. S. Jobs data by selling stocks. But some traders started buying back shares as the dollar regained ground against the yen. In china the shanghai composite closed down almost 5. 8 a threemonth low. Margin trading restrictions have been hammering the index. They stripped 30 from stocks since midjune. Australia fell about 1 at 5,538. This came after lower than expected retail sales data in may. In other markets in the Asia Pacific Region hong kongs heng sang index fell. Many investors are taking a cautious approach. Theyre waiting on the outcome of the sunday referendum in greece. Tokyo offers plenty of ways to plenty of ways for people to have fun and relax. But its also one of the most crowded cities where space is at a premium. We find out about businesses that take their customers to new heights. Reporter entertainment is the name of the game in Tokyos Shibuya district. One of the latest offerings is a rare sight in the big city. A barbecue on the roof. This is Tokyo Department store. Customers pay a few to use the cook grills. They can buy food prepared by the store or they can bring their own. Translator we dont often have this chance. Normally have to travel a long way to barbecue. Doing it on a rooftop is convenient. For me i think its kind of strange. I mean its kind of a new experience with japan. But i would never do this in the states. Its fun. Reporter cooking under the open shibuya sky has turned out to be a popular activity. Last years opening season attracted 40,000 people. Store managers say many of them were firsttime customers. Translator most of our customers were in their 50s or 60s. But after introducing the barbecues, we started drawing more young people. And theyhop here as well. Reporter a few stops at the train line another Department Store is also taking business to a higher level. That store stands soefrother sabu station. Until recently, few people made it to the top of the building. Now theyve got a reason. An outdoor pond inspired by a masterpiece water lilies. When they are got gazing, patrons can wine and dine. Food stalls and a restroom. Translator it doesnt look like a rooftop at all. Its beautiful. Fantastic. Its my first time and i like it very much. Translator this could have been made into a commercial space, but instead they created a natural space and thats whats attracting me. Reporter store managers say renovating at the top level has paid off. The roof garden has attracted 7,000 people a day since it opened three months ago. Transforming empty space into customers. No ren no vags was needed at this shopping complex. It opened last november and planners made rooftop traffic a priority from the start. They had a specific crowd in mind. The residents of nearby condominiums. People were complaining about the lack of places for children to play. Not anymore. A park on the roof. The owners said they wanted to create an oasis for urban families. Translator it was fun. Translator this is almost the only place around here where my kids can play and it has various things that they can enjoy. Reporter parents say they appreciate the safe environment. More than 6 Million People have visited the complex since it opened eight months ago. And almost half of them have come up to the rooftop. Translator we want to attract more customers by organizing events in this natural environment. And also by making continuous improvements. Reporter new horizons are opening up for tokyo businesses. With more retailers taking advantage of rooftop space, future success will depend on coming up with creative ways to use it. Toem you key kohase nhk world. Thats it for business news. Ill leave you with the markets. South korean President Park geunhye has been facing a series of scandals. Now prosecutors have indicted a former Prime Minister on bribery charges. He stepped down as Prime Minister in april. He was facing accusations of receiving around 20,000 from a construction company. He had been in the post for less than two months. President parks Approval Rating plunged after the scandal emerged. She tried to dispel public mistrust by appointing a minister with a clean image as the new Prime Minister. But her administration is coming under fire for its handling of the deadly ferry accident in 2014 and this years outbreak of the respiratory disease mers. Japanese coast guard Officials Say three chinese patrol ships have entered patrol waters off the senkaku islands. They left about two hours later. The vessels entered the water around 9 00 a. M. On friday. They say the patrol ships then moved out to the contiguous zone just outside japanese waters. And theyre warning the ships not to enter japans territory again. This is the 19th day this year of such intrusions off the senkaku island. Japan controls the islands. China and taiwan claim them. For the past few years japanese officials have been keeping a close eye on a volcanic island about a thousand kilometers south of tokyo. The reason for their interest is the island has been growing cause of continuing lava flows. Now members of the coast guard have conducted their firstever survey around the island to find out what exactly is taking place. Nhk worlds Mitsuko Nishikawa reports. Reporter a Research Vessel approached nishinoshima island. Smoke can be seen rising from the crater. Volcanic eruptions in the area began two years ago, the first in about 40 years. Since then there have been intermittent eruptions. At night, red lava can be seen flowing into the ocean. The island now measures about 2,000 meters across. It has grown more than 12 fold since the eruption two years ago. This is what happened. A new island formed near nishinoshima following an undersea eruption in 2013. The continuing lava flows eventually linked the new island to phish know shee ma. The unmanned vessel approaches to 200 meters off the island. The researchers want to record the topographical features of the seabed and collect sea water samples. Professor kenji nogani of Tokyo Institute of technology was with the survey team. Translator the water is different from normal sea water in the pacific. Reporter the sea water samples have lower ph levels than normal sea water which is alkaline. He says thats probably because volcanic gases are dissolving into the sea water while magma is coming up from under the seabed. Nogami says when magma rises from deep underground, pressure increases and caused potential eruptions. But in the case of nishinoshima the gases have the dissolved in the sea water and pressure has dropped. Nogami says this has probably staved off a massive eruption and has instead caused the continued lava flows. Translator the lava is currently continuing to flow going southward. We need to research how this magma system is working since there are still many unknowns. Reporter the researchers says they plan to carry out further surveys in the hopes of shedding light on the mechanisms of other sea eruptions. Mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world. Yes, its time for world weather. Several tropical systems are brewing in the western pacific. Sayaka mori is here with the details. Yes. The western pacific has been very active so far this year. We have four tropical systems to talk about. One is located near the philippines and the other a severe Tropical Storm is now heading towards guam. And then a tropical depression near the marshall islands. This one may become a Tropical Storm by tonight. It will be the 11th named this year. And then raquel is now a tropical low and is expecting heavy rain over the islands over the weekend. Now, lets talk about linfa. It is now a severe Tropical Storm and expected to become a typhoon and then move over the north of luzon as we go into the weekend. Also early next week. It is a very slowmoving system so stormy conditions will continue and it could enhance the west coast of the philippines also seeing torrential rain and strong winds for the next several days. And about 2,000 kilometers east of linfa theres chanhon. It is expected to move to a typhoon and move over guam over the weekend. As a typhoon. Strong winds of nearly 200 Kilometers Per Hour likely along with 300 millimeters likely. Stormy conditions expected over the weekend especially on your saturday. And this system may hit or may head to south of china as well as the southwestern islands of japan. Very bad news because this region is experiencing lots of heavy rainfall because its the rainy season. The rain band has dumped nearly 170 millimeters of rainfall and 200 for the south of kyushu. More heavy rain is expected due to this frontal system for the next couple of days. Very bad news because the south of kyushu, you experienced the wettest june on record. 1700 millimeters of rain fell in one month. So flooding and landslides have been reported. More to come for the next several days because kagoshima, more rain expected next week. Naha is located just to the south of kagoshima, but you experienced the hottest june on record. These are close to each other, but the weather has been extremely different. Tokyo, Rainy Weather sunday as well as monday. Now lets go to europe then. Excessive heat still taking place over western portions of europe. Not just people but also animals are coping with the heat. Animals at antwerp zoo were offered relief from the heat thursday with food frozen into ice blocks. Food was all covered in ice. Frozen treats also helped them beat the heat in madrid. With the heat wave gripping spain, they were chilling off with ice popsicle. Heat will continue in paris and western portions of europe. Also heat will shift towards the east as we go into the weekend. Now lets go to the americas. Saturday is july 4th. I know Many Americans are waiting for this date. Enjoy the holiday. All right. Thats it for me now. Heres your extended forecast. And that concludes this hours news and weather from tokyo. More to come here on nhk world so stay with us. Ilence is being held as a week ago today 38 people were gunned down in the tunisian resort town. 30 of them were british nationals. These are the latest images we are getting of commemorations in tribute to those victims. Now we will be able to listen in for a moment
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