glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's monday, september 5th in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. tropical storm talas is heading northward after hitting western japan. it has left 24 people dead and 54 missing. more than 100 people have been injured in 20 prefectures. wakayama prefecture, a man was

found dead in a submerged call and three people killed when a house was destroyed. four others confirmed dead and 13 are missing in the town. in gojo city in nara prefecture, a woman in her 60s was killed by a mudslide and 11 other people are missing. in totsukawa village, waters rushed away a house saturday night. four people were taken o the the hospital. one was confirmed dead. seven are still missing. some parts of nara have had nearly 1800 millimeters of rain since tuesday. the meteorological agency is having people remain on the lookout for floods and mudslides in the area where the rain has been heavy. after its inauguration on friday, prime minister yoshihiko noda's cabinet is getting down to business. the government aims to submit to

the diet a third budget for fiscal 2011 by mid-october. its purpose would be to finance disaster reconstruction and take measures against the strong yen. on monday the government will hold a cabinet meeting to decide parliamentary sec tars and other officials. noda is set to express his resolve to reconstruct areas. he'll also exchange views on decontamination work. noda said his top priorities will be speeding up the recovery from the march 11th earthquake and tsunami and containing the nuclear accident in fukushima. he also pledged to tackle japan's economic crisis including the valued yen and fiscal deficit. the government will look into a tax increase to rebuild areas devastated by the march

disaster. the first task facing the new government is to quickly compile the third supplementary budget for the current fiscal year. the government hopes to raise about 10 trillion yen or roughly $130 billion from a temporary tax hike. the government's tax commission is expected to meet on wednesday at the earliest with new finance minister jun azumi chairing the panel. to increase income and corporate taxes. he will also consider raising the taxes on tobacco and alcohol and possibly the consumption tax. in a meeting on sunday, japan's new economic and finance ministers agreed to take immediate steps to curb the negative impact of the stronger yen on the country's economy. finance minister jun azumi, yos

yoshiyakaemo. they concurred the government needs to ease the impact of the unfavorable funds or to deal with the issue in the third extra budget. >> translator: there is no doubt that ministers need to share their views on the economy before drafting policies. time now for our weekly segment "the road ahead" where we take an in-depth look at japan's recovery from the march 11th disaster. today we turn our attention to the national effort to get the economy back on track. ron madison had a chance to speak with the chairman of the

business federation about the strategies for recovery. >> hi there. pleased to meet you. i want to talk about what's been going on since the march 11th disaster. particularly in terms of reconstruction. what's your assessment so far of what's been done? >> on business side, i think the chain has been restored very fast in a quick way. also government has not designated for attacks. >> since the disaster we've seen a fairly significant shift in the nation's energy policy. what direction should the nation be headed in terms of energy policy both short and long term? >> the nuclear power plan i think we have a very important

position. we urge the government to show us to secure energy supply in the five years. and also we have to think about government to show us the mix including nuclear power plant and renewable energy. so government has to formulate the basic energy plan as soon as possible. we have a new nuclear power plant in 40 years. that we will not have any nuclear plant in japan. so during this 40 years, we should have an arise of the study of renewable energy sources at a competitive price.

we need the research and development. >> still struggling with the effects of the march disaster, japan now has to cope with the stronger yen. by contrast, china has overtaken japan to become the world's second largest economy. meantime south korea's fast growing manufacturers are increasing their competitive edge globally. as japan finds itself in this tough environment, we ask mr. nakamura what strategies are needed. >> especially high-tech areas. where innovation is key to the japanese industry. so we should spend more money on research and development. own those strategically we should participant ttp as soon as possible. it's a very strategically important message.

japan should participate with the framework of free trade. so government has to declare we will demonstrate tpp as soon as possible. >> the country certainly faced with a lot of uncertainty at the moment in terms of a politically economically and all that's going on with reconstruction. give us now your vision for the road ahead for japan. >> japan faces lots of difficulties at task including the ageing population and so demand is -- will not be so strong. so how to cope with these japanese situation, we have the very strong -- very high tax burden of corporation. we have high labor costs.

lot of things we have. i think we drew a picture how to conquer this task. the march 11th disaster. the september 11th attacks. two anniversaries, one source for in-depth coverage. join nhk world for "japan: six months on" and "9/11: defining a decade." beginning september 5th. then on sunday, september 11th we'll mark the anniversaries. 2:30 p.m. japan time for the 3/11 disaster. 9:40 p.m. for the 9/11 attacks. in other news, the iranian organization says their first nuclear plant was attached on saturday. they will send electricity for

the time being, low flow. it's scheduled to go into full operation at year end. the plant is located in the southern city of bushir. >> translator: it's great that the plant is now up and running. it's beneficial for iran. >> the plant was built with russian help. russia will help with fuel rods and retrieving spent fuel. and it needs to enrich uranium to procure fuel on its own. iran has maintained it's for peaceful purposes. but israel and western countries are concerned that the opening of the bushir plant could pave the way for the nation to develop nuclear weapons. the group of seven finance ministers and central bank governors will be gathering in france on friday to discuss ways to stabilize the global economy. the meeting comes amid concerns

about fiscal conditions in the countries. also growing looks on the united states due to its huge deficit. u.s. and european officials will explain responses to their fiscal problems and steps for economic recovery. attention is focussed on whether countries can stabilize a world economy with limited public spending. an organization of former soviet remembpublics has held a summit to mark the anniversary of its founding. but some leaders were absent showing the diminished importance to its members' states. the commonwealth of independent states took place on saturday. participants exchanged views on the achievements of the cis and debated its future. russian president medvedev said the organization is no longer

active. but he stressed there is no alternative to the cia noting its role in maintaining the stability of the former soviet republics should not be undervalued. he proposed inviting the leaders of member states to moscow in december to mark the 20th anniversary of the cis. now, the summit had aimed to strengthen the organization's functions. but the presidents of other countries are said to have not turned up on the grounds of economic problems at home or apparent disapproval of the policies. relatives of japanese citizens abducted by north korea have urged the government to make sure the north reinvestigates the fate of their loved one bs. about 500 family members of abductees and their supporters made a rally on sunday. north korea agreed three years ago to take a fresh look at the fate of the people who were

kidnapped in the 70s and 80s. soon after the agreement the north said it would put off the reinvestigation. it cited as a reason, the resignation of the japanese prime minister at that time. the minister for the abduction issue, kenji yamaoka addressed the participants. >> translator: i pledge to give our best effort to deliver the abductees. the abduction issue is high on the agenda for our country. even if the government is reformed. >> yamaoka also said additional economic sanctions against the north would be an option if the country fails to address the matter. the leader of the relatives' group iizuka said the republaso still valid. >> translator: our government should send a strong message to

north korea that they must keep their promise. after the high-speed train crash in china that killed 40 people in july, criticism of the way the chinese government has handled the accident has been spreading over the internet. authorities are unable to fully regulate this online criticism and its impact can no longer be ignored. here is more on that. >> reporter: a reporter for shanghai newspaper has covered a large number of social issues. after the train accident he went to the crash site. he wrote an 8,000 word article conveying the grief and anger of the victims' families.

but his story was not published in the next day's paper. because the authorities told the newspaper not to run it. >> translator: we received the notification at 10:00 at night just as i'd almost finished writing the article. if we'd gone against the government's directive, we'd have been punished. my boss told me not to push lish. >> reporter: he used weibo, the chinese form of twitter to vent his frustration. >> translator: the chinese media are just a tool of the government. i often become pessimistic and wonder if we'll ever get to the truth. >> reporter: he is an active user or weibo and has more than 100,000. he expresses his opinions in online commercials which are widely viewed.

>> translator: one single voice may not be powerful, but many voices can be heard on the internet. i believe these online opinions will create the momentum to move society in a better drex. >> reporter: after the july train crash, there was another example of distrust of government spreading controversy over the internet. on august 14th, a large protest was held in the northeastern city to demand the relocation of a chemical plant. because of the risk of harmful discharges. most of those participants were weibo users. in an unusual move, the government had to promise to move the factory. >> translator: the rise of weibo may be a large threat to the existing media. but it will bring a major change to china. the internet will create a new

china. >> reporter: in china, the government has impose ed rigid control of freedom of speech in public. but now weibo allows people to express their views with relative freedom. and it may be changing chinese society which some people feel is stagnating. nhk world. earlier geno talks to our commentator on the spread and the impact of the internet in china. >> we saw in that report how journalists tweeted on weibo and drew massive response on the internet. do you think the high speed train accident has changed chinese media as a whole? >> yes. the publicity part of the communist party repeatedly

ordered domestic media said not to use independent coverage of the accident in their reports. but some media organizations defied. they focused on the rallies that called for a thorough investigation and the press conference wenzhou. even news outlets that didn't report on the accident filed the stories on liberated topics. a newspaper showed a survey on the dismissal of spokesperson for the rail ministry. presenters of popular tv shows and chief editors of newspapers and magazines openly criticized the government for the risks they faced. it seems to me that chinese media no longer are the

government's propagandists. and they're now aiming to be true news organizations. >> what i've learned from the past and heard from the past, i assume is rare for chinese media to disobey the government's instructions. why do you think they are so openly -- especially some of the journalists acting on their own defying the authorities now? >> well, i think growth in internet access is the key factor. the country has almost about 500 million internet users. china has restrictions on the internet prior to the olympic games in 2008 to promote the image that it's an open country. but it tightened its grip on the internet again after the games were over. the government restricted access to social networks such as google, youtube, facebook, and twitter where china's people can share information with internet users outside china.

but the public frustration say chinese verses of those networks. today about 300 million chinese have their own logs. and 200 million users use weibo, the chinese verse of twitter. some people call 2010 the first year of weibo. the chinese began using social network sites to state their opinions throughout their d dissatisfaction. it became for difficult for the chinese government to sensor the internet. at the same time, conventional media have feared that the public may retake them if they simply pass on the information from the government. they realize that they cannot survive unless they reflect people's opinions. i think this fear and the desire to improve the journalistic

standards are the main reasons behind unusually frank reports and the criticism of the government. >> censoring 300 million users is going to be difficult. >> right. >> thank you very much. and welcome back to your weather update. we're taking a look at conditions across east china. the biggest concern has been the stormy weather across japan. it was a stormy weekend. deadly storm system, talas moving through. it's now heading out to sea. the center of the storm at least is out in the sea of japan. but still looking at tropical storm-force winds impacting parts of central to northern areas of japan today. we are talking about a very, very wet system. it did bring record-breaking rainfall across again. since the end of last week in fact. so totals are reaching almost

two meters in kamikitayama. that's just a lot of rainfall. it has proven deadly. we're still talking about a lot more of this rain. now not quite so heavy. the bulk of the heavy rain is moving out. hokkaido looks like you may see heavier storms develop tonight. then the core of the rain is going to head up north in towards southeastern parts of russia. some more heavy rain headed your way. we'll be talking about a heightened risk of flooding as well as landslides today. meanwhile, looking at another storm system in open waters. looks like it's going to stay out in the sea. not a concern. meanwhile, looking at dry concern in china toward the north. inland areas looking at the wet day today. with heavier falls possible. as for highs on monday looking at 30 degrees in tokyo.

still a bit of that humidity lingering about. looking at 29 in shanghai. it's going to be heating up in chongqing. over towards the americas and here, too, talking about a stormy weekend for the gulf coast states. tropical storm lee in the area. this has been a slow-moving system. and it's still a tropical storm system. slowly moving through louisiana. going to head through mississippi and alabama over the next couple days slowly weakening as it does. but there's still plenty of rainfall headed your way. even in the next 48 hours we're talking about 200 millimeters or more possible in parts of the south. and heading up towards north, more flooding concerns will remain as that rain heads more into upper elevations. a higher risk of flash flooding as well as landslides. we'll need to keep an eye on the area still. meanwhile across europe looking at pleasant skies for much of

eastern europe. lot of lows coming in from the west. they're going to be spreading rain and thunderstorms across central sections of europe tonight as well as scandinavian peninsula. things will be on the drying side. but still looks like it's going to remain wet across the british isles. it is going to be on the cool side for london remaining at 17 degrees on monday during the daytime. paris too should get some scattered showers as well as a mix of sunshine. highs up to 21 for you. 26 degrees in vienna. looking at 22 in kiev. here is your three-day outlook.

our lead stories this hour. tropical storm talas is heading northward after hitting western japan. it has left 25 people dead and 53 missing. more than 100 people have been injured in 20 prefectures. in wakayama prefecture, a man was found dead in a submerged car and three people were killed when a house was destroyed. four others confirmed dead and 13 are missing in the town. in gojo city in neighboring nara prefecture, a woman in her 60s was killed by a mudslide and 11 other people are missing. in totsukawa village, an

overflowing river washed away two houses on saturday night. four of the 11 people who lived on the premises was taken to the hospital. one was confirmed dead. seven are still missing. some parts of nara had nearly 1800 millimeters of rain since tuesday. the meteorological agency is telling people to keep lookout for floods and mudslides. we want to take a minute to tell you about some special programming we'll bring you this week. "japan: six months on" will feature analysis leading up to the six month anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. the quake hit off the northeastern coast of march 11th. moments later the tsunami barrelled inland. the monster waves swamped towns and cities. nearly 16,000 people died and about 4500 are still missing. the survivors lost almost everything and many of them are

still facing challenges. six months on will bring you stories from the hardest hit areas in iwate, miyagi, and fukushima prefectures. find out how the support of a community in tokyo helped encourage people in the port city of miyako as they work to rebuild a vital industry. on tuesday we'll head to miyagi prefecture. a group of volunteers is helping clean up the town of ishinomaki. we'll then travel to fukushima prefecture on winz. the spread of radiation is hurting the spread of the economy. on thursday and friday we'll bring our segments "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" so you can stay updated on the nuclear crisis and how japan's energy policy is changing. so do stay tuned for those specials. that wraps up this edition of

"newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.