South koreas Prime Minister says the deadly mers outbreak is coming to an end and has urged people to go back to their normal lives. And entertainment firms from around the world are looking to take their roller coasters and Service Experiences to china. Prime minister shinzo abe has stressed the need to change the nations security policy. He says the proposed legislation would demonstrate the strength of the japan u. S. Alliance as china increases its maritime presence. The set of bills would expand the role of the selfdefense forces and allow the country to exercise its rights of collective self defense. Abe says leaders in beijing have been carrying out largescale reclamation work in the south china sea. He says theyre not abiding by the 2008 agreement with japan to jointly develop gas fields in parts of the east china sea. He also says Chinese Government vessels have repeatedly entered japans territorial waters around the senkaku islands. Japan controls the islands. China and taiwan claim them. Translator it is important to make the other side understand that they cannot change the status quo by force and promote Peaceful Development together. We will be able to protect our countrys peace and safety including those marine areas, by enacting the security bills and demonstrating that our alliance with the u. S. Is unwavering. The Prime Minister also spoke about a statement he plans to issue to mark the 70th year since the end of world war ii. Translator we must not spare efforts to maintain the peace of japan and the region based on the feelings of deep remorse over the war. I want to send out a message that our nation will work more proactively together with other countries to contribute to the peace and stability to make the world a better place. Abe says the japanese people set out on a path of a peaceloving nation 70 years ago with Firm Resolution to never again bring about the ravages of war. Japans opposition parties are denouncing remarks by an adviser to Prime Minister abe on the proposed bills. Yosuke isozaki is abes adviser in charge of security issues. He said at a lecture on sunday the point people should consider is whether the measures are necessary to defend the nation. He says the bills legal stability is not an issue in terms of how the constitution is interpreted. Isozaki said the government hopes to wrap up upper house debates on the legislation by midseptember. The opposition lawmakers objected to isozakis remarks on monday at an executive meeting of an Upper House Special Committee in charge of the bills. When the committees executives meet again met again, rather on tuesday, members of the governing liberal Democratic Party said they had checked the facts with isozaki. They quoted him as saying the upper house should follow its own judgment on debating the bills and that its important for the lawmakers to fully discuss the content. Isozaki reportedly expressed remorse and apologized for causing trouble to the public and the committee, but opposition lawmakers were not happy with his response, accusing him of showing too little regret. The committees chair asked the governing party to renew its warning to isozaki. A senior official whos been in charge of controversial plans for a new stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and paralympics is stepping down. The design for the project was scrapped this month after an uproar over ballooning costs. Kimito kubo, chief of the sports and youth bureau at the education and Sports Ministry will resign early next month. He has about 20 months left before his mandatory retirement. Kubo was in charge of the construction plans that are now being reviewed from scratch. The project drew fierce criticism after the cost rose to over 2 billion. Reporters asked the sports minister whether kubo was forced out of the position over the stadium issue. Translator the resignation comes as part of a regular personnel reshuffle and is based on comprehensive considerations including his age. Shimomura is also under fire over the project. He said hell respect the decision made by a panel that will soon be launched to review the project. Now, ministers from a dozen countries are about to enter the final stages of talks on a multinational free trade deal. Gene otani has details from the business desk. Gene, will they be able to iron out the remaining differences . Well they are definitely trying hard james. Starting tuesday, theyre meeting in hawaii for four days of intensive negotiations. Japans minister in charge of the Transpacific Partnership talks said hes determined to achieve a broad agreement, but he said japan and the u. S. Might not be able to close the gaps until the last minute. These bilateral negotiations will likely affect the tpp talks as a whole. After arriving in hawaii he told reporters he believes substantial progress has been made after some rather heated debate among the chief negotiators. Translator i will talk with u. S. Trade representative michael frohman. It will be difficult to resolve our differences in one session. We will need to exchange views several times on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting. Amari said there are still some outstanding cases that involve products that participating countries consider sensitive as well as unresolved bilateral tariff negotiations. Negotiators from the two countries want to eliminate japans tariffs on highend pork products over ten years. They are also discussing a deal to maintain japans gate price system, which imposes higher tariffs on other pork imports. Japanese officials want a tarifffree import quota of about 80,000 tons for american rice but their u. S. Counterparts are calling for 175,000 tons. Time for a check of the markets across the asiapacific region. Forces are still reeling from the whiplash caused by the deep drop in chinese shares monday. Chinese regulators have promised support measures to stem the decline, but investors were cautious and showed concern over a slowdown in the chinese economy. Stock prices in shanghai were volatile plunging more than 5 at one point in the morning session. At closing the shanghai composite lost nearly 1. 7 on top of yesterdays more than 8 decline. In hong kong the hang seng defied its mainland counterpart to finish in the positive. It was up 0. 6 . Other markets in the asiapacific region show a mixed picture. In australia, the s p asx 200 index close lead slightly lower, down 0. 1 . Worries about chinas economy were mitigated by a Strong Performance in chinas energy sector. The south korea kospi remained fairly flat as the drop in the shanghai composite wasnt so big as monday. Index heavyweights Like Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor helped pull the index back. Tokyo was no exception to markets being tossed around by the selloff in china. Our Business Reporter gives us the details from the tokyo stock exchange. Benchmarks in tokyo were pretty volatile tuesday as many investors became worried about a slowdown in the chinese economy. The nikkei 225 ended down 0. 1 at 20,328. At one point, the index sank to a twoweek low but recouped some losses in the afternoon as the shanghai composite began to recover to some extent. The broader topix index fell about 0. 5 so the losses were limited, but the appetite for bargainhunting wasnt strong either. Domestic marketoriented sectors, such as telecoms or transportation supported the indices today. Ntt rose about 1. 5 . Tokyo electric power or tepco ended up 4. 7 . Ana holdings rhodes on the back of media repor of strong operating profits in the first quarter, but the china selloff is evident. Companies that rely heavily on the Chinese Market such as Construction Machinery makers lost out. Komatsu lost 2. 7 and Hitachi Construction lost 2. 3 . Both hit the lowest level during the day. And nissan motor fell more than 4 over concerns over the slowdown on chinese sales and a stronger yen. Another thing investors were de los closely watching were the defensive sectors. Sectors such as pharmaceuticals generally do well when the rest of the market is falling, but they were also being sold off. Daiichi sankyo Ono Pharmaceutical and Otsuka Holdings all ended lower, seen as a sign that investors are pulling money out of stocks to avert risk. With so much uncertainty in a global economy, especially china, investors want to convert stocks to cash before taking their summer break. Aika nanao from the stock exchange. Toyota motor has maintained its position as the number one automaker in global sales for the last three years, but they have failed to hold on to it in the first half of the year being overtaken by german rival volkswagen. Toyota executives say the firms worldwide sales in the First Six Months of this year stood at 5. 2 million vehicles. The figure includes sales by group firms dieats you and hino. Volkswagens group sales were about 20,000 vehicles ahead of toyotas. They made up for the declining china sales with brisk business in europe. Toyota sales were down due to weak domestic sales and in emerging markets. Competition between the two rivals for this years top spot is expected to heat up. A japanese Regional Gas Company is investing in a power utility in thailand to expand its business abroad. Other companies are likely to follow suit as government officials are aiming to deregulate the retail gas industry by 2017. Sources say executives at shizgas have agreed to buy a utility firm for tens of millions of dollars. They say the executives will join hands with the governmentbacked Development Bank of japan for a deal. They operate a gaspowered thermal generator and the firm sells to thailands National Power authority. Thats it for business news. Ill leave you with the markets. Workers at Fukushima Daiichi have taken another step toward decommissioning the nuclear plant. They have started removing a protective cover from a reactor that was badly damaged in the 2011 accident. They say its time to get on with the task of cleaning up what lies below. Nhk worlds juneo sumoto explains. Reporter workers controlling a remotecontrolled crane carefully lift off one of the six panels. They put the panels there to stop Radioactive Materials escaping into the air, but now theyve sprayed chemical agents over the building. Tepco Officials Say that will ensure no dangerous particles spreads. They say workers can now safely get on with the job of removing debris. And later, they can tackle a more delicate job, extracting about 400 units of spent nuclear fuel from a pool below. Fukushima residents are concerned that Radioactive Materials could leak into the atmosphere. They know a similar thing has happened before in 2013 when workers cleared contaminated debris from another reactor. Workers were meant to start dismantling the cover from number one reactor last year but tepco officials postponed the job when locals spoke out. They put off the work again in may after discovering a problem in the building. Local officials and experts came to the site to watch. They urged tepco officials not to make any mistakes. Translator i really want them to put the right measures in place to stop Radioactive Material spreading into the air. I hope they understand this job is just the first step in a process that will continue for 30 or 40 years. Reporter the Officials Say the most challenging task will be the removal of the nuclear fuel. They believe its melted through the bottom of the reactor and into a containment vessel below. In april, they sent in a remotecontrolled robot to survey the scene but couldnt find out exactly where the fuel is. They say they still dont know how far it has spread. Government officials and tepco managers revised the plans for the decommissioning process. They say in their new plan it may take up to three yrs longer than they originally thought to remove the spent fuel from storage pools, but they will keep their initial target of beginning the removal of melted nuclear fuel within six years. They also want to look at new ways to remove melted fuel from reactors. But they say new methods will require new technology. Tepco Officials Say theyll watch radiation levels and keep the public informed every step of the way, right up until they have decommissioned the reactors decades from now. Jun yotsumoto, nhk world. Thanks for those updates, jun. Japanese officials want to help International Couples stay in touch with their children even in cases of divorce. Theyre introducing an online conferencing system that makes it easier to keep in contact. The plan comes on the heels of a treaty governing crossborder custody disputes. The Hague Convention on International Child abductions took effect in japan in april of last year. It governs cases where a parent takes a child to his or her home country without the consent of the other. Officials have spent the past year trying to facilitate meetings between separated parents and their kids but many people find it difficult to meet because of the costs and distances involved. The conferencing system is expected to ease those concerns. Parents and children would make contact through computers or smartphones. Thirdparty welfare experts would monitor the communications. Officials plan to introduce the system by the end of the year. Translator the presence of monitors will help parents and children communicate more smoothly across National Borders and increase the options for holding the meetings. Officials in 93 countries have signed on to the Hague Convention. Suga says japan will be the first to introduce the conferencing system. People in south korea have gotten some good news in the fight against middle east respiratory syndrome. Government Officials Say that the disease is no longer a threat. Local media say the announcement means the outbreak is essentially over. Translator after making a comprehensive assessment of various sectors, government officials and medical experts believe the south korean public can now feel safe. Hwang called on people to resume their ordinary lives until it comes to a complete end. The first reported mers case in south korea involved a man who returned from the middle east in may. 186 people contracted the virus. 36 of them died. No new cases have been reported since july 4th. The last person being held in quarantine was released on monday. Authorities at the World Health Organization say the outbreak will be declared officially over 28 days after the last patient recovers. If no new cases are reported during that time. Some patients are still being treated. The official declaration is not expected until late august at the earliest. North koreas ambassador to china says his country wont follow in the footsteps of iran. He says pyongyang wont join international talks on freezing or abandoning its nuclear program. Ji jae ryong spoke to foreign journalists at the north Korean Embassy in beijing. He defended his countrys Nuclear Development. Translator our Nuclear Development is a means to protect the countrys sovereignty and survival from the Nuclear Threat and hostile policy of the u. S. Referring to irans recent nuclear deal with six world powers ji said north koreas situation is different. He said his country is a Nuclear Weapons state, both in name and reality, and wont discuss a unilateral freezing or dismantling of its program. Jis remarks underscore those made by the North Korean Foreign Ministry last week that the country will not abandon Nuclear Development. North korean staterun media reported that the country summoned its overseas ambassadors to a Foreign Policy meeting on july 15th. Observers say jis News Conference could be a followup to that meeting. Entertainment companies are rushing to china to open theme parks. Theyre trying to cater to the growing middle class in the worlds second biggest economy. A hello kitty park made its debut in the Eastern Province of jojong this month. Disneyland is set to launch its resort complex next year. And a tokyobased company has also waded into the Chinese Market. It plans to offer the kind of entertainment its Officials Say is seldom seen in the country. More from nhk world. Reporter people are flocking to a newstyle indoor theme park. A joint japan china venture opened in the coastal city of jintao. Locals have a big smile on their faces faces. Translator their services are pretty good. Translator theyre very enthusiastic. Im sure Everyone Wants to come. Reporter people in china are used to whatthis. At this local amusement they are busy checking their phones. They arent paying any attention to guests nearby. But introducing Good Customer Service to china is easier said than done. The tokyo firm has started a training session. Its employees are learning how to smile. This woman has joined the company as head of human resources. After her previous company, she learned how to do business japanese style. Jao has been hired locally. She has no experience in dealing with customers and has trouble smiling naturally. Today, they are going to a preopening trial op. The park has invited some local people. Jao struggles to smile. She cant find a good timing to speak to the guests. Translator we Chinese People are a bit embarrassed about putting on a big smile. Our staff is shy. Reporter jao keeps on trying to give a natural smile. The opening day has arrived. Translator reporter visitors come flooding in but few people show up where jao is working. Then she starts calling out to visitors nearby. Reporter her effort is rewarded. Jao learns a new way of getting customers, by putting her heart into it. Translator im thrilled. Ill work hard so ill be able to serve our guests with passion, like im doing now. Reporter Chinese Workers with the japanese style are ready and eager to meet intense competition to lure children their parents and grandparents in the country. Watami nhk world, jintao. Thank you, wataru. Service with a smile will go a long way in china, for sure. Always brimming with smiles is seiko murie with our weather update. The rainfall updates are quite a lot. Pasco county had about 287 millimeters of rainfall with 280 millimeters of rainfall over the past 72 hours. Thats much more than the rainfall for july and ft. Myers set the record hourly rainfall. Flooding is taking place. We have some video from pasco county. Continued heavy rainfall has led to flooding for parts of florida. A river in pasco county burst its banks, sending water into the street. Residents were advised to evacuate as the flood moved into homes. Officials also told people not to enter the water because of the contamination along with snakes and biting insects. Well unfortunately, there is a lingering low pressure system so more rain is anticipated for the rest of the workweek across the florida peninsula. So flooding is going to be a continued risk. Meanwhile, Severe Weather is happening across the Northern Areas of the United States and the canadian prairies. One tornado was reported in the southwestern parts of manitoba on monday. More tornadoes could happen across these areas as we go into tuesday. Watch out for large hail heavy rainfall and thunderstorms as well. To the south of this system very hot. And across the west of this system, dry and windy. So, fire weather for you. In fact fires are happening over california. Take a look at this footage from the state. Wildfires scorched thousands of acres in the Western State on monday. Firefighters are battling new wildfires across montana and california. Residents were forced to flee their homes in a town in california just south of Yosemite National park. A local firefighter said that the weather was not expected to aid their efforts. Now, california actually had the wettest may on record thanks to el nino but because it has been dry since 2011 they need rainfall. In fact, 40 of the state is under severe to exceptional drought, so rain is much needed. But for the foreseeable future not heavy rain is anticipated. California will be seeing quite high temperatures too. Los angeles at 30 degrees for the high and very hot across the southern areas of the United States, in the mid30s for both Oklahoma City as well as washington, d. C. Now, flooding is taking place across the eastern portions across the western portions of asia. In fact the south of bangladesh, you had much more than the monthly rainfall. Chittogong had about 9 millimeters of rain over the last five days much more than the monthly rainfall for july and more rain is expected because a lingering low will continue to enhance the southwest monsoon. So lots of heavy rain is on the menu for bangladesh, northeast india as well as myanmar and across the continent well see lots of heavy rainfall over northwestern portions of india as well. Lingering low is dropping heavy rainfall over the south of china once again and heavy rain is also affecting the north of vietnam. Severe weather is happening over the beijing area and more rain is expected for the rest of the workweek. Temperatures are quite hot across the Northern Areas, and that will continue into the rest of the workweek. Heres your extended forecast. Dont forget to tune in to newsroom tokyo at the top of the hour. For all of us here on newsline, thanks for watching. Q . Q . Q . Q . Q . Q . Q . He first ever u. S. Resident to address the african union. A discussion with the u. S. About the possibility of reviewing that of removing Islamic State fighters from the syrian territory along the turkish border, effectively setting up a safe haven. A libyan court passes death sentence on Muammar Gaddafi pass most prominent son, site eval islam