hello there. welcome to "newsline." glad you could join us. it's thursday, july 22nd in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. a shinkansen bullet train line in western japan suspended operations on thursday morning after two maintenance trains collided in a tunnel. west japan railways says the accident occurred in a tunnel in kobe. the train repairing the tunnel wall collided with another one that was inspecting the track, and the first train derailed. there were five workers on the

two trains, but no one was injured. shinkansen trains have stopped operating between shin-osaka and himaje stations. police are conducting an on the spot investigation. the railway company plans to put the derailed train back on the tracks after the investigation is completed. the company says it does not know when services can be resumed. it says 60 trains have been cancelled so far. police say a worker on the first train told investigators that the brakes were applied too late due to poor visibility caused by dust. the parents of megumi yokota, who was abducted by north korea more than 30 years ago, held a news conference after meeting former north korean spy kim hyun hee. they met kim for the first time on wednesday at a villa in nagano prefecture, central japan. shigeru yokota and his wife sakie spoke to reporters on thursday morning at a hotel near the villa.

>> translator: kim has no new information about the fate of our daughter. she said she met with megumi just once. she said her colleague, who was megumi's student, introduced our daughter to kim. >> sakie said kim told her that she had left her own family behind in north korea and has no information on their fate. >> translator: we told each other that we will carry on together and keep our hopes up. she encouraged us by saying megumi must be alive. >> the former convicted spy, who helped blow up a korean air jet

in 1987, arrived in japan on tuesday on a plane chartered by the japanese government. kim left the villa for tokyo on thursday morning. later in the day she'll meet the families of other japanese nationals who were abducted by north korea. megumi yokota was abducted by north korean agents 33 years ago, when she was 13. her parents are anxiously waiting for new information about their missing daughter. the picture was taken in 1977, a month before megumi was kidnapped by north korea. in january last year megumi's parents, shigeru yokota and his wife, sakie, spoke to junior high school students who are about the same age as their daughter was at the time of the abduction. >> translator: she's crying for help tonight as she looks at the moon. she must be wondering why she can't come home. who will rescue her? >> former north korean agent kim hyun hee gave an interview with

nhk last november. >> translator: yes, i will. i heard a lot about megumi. my fellow spy lived with her to study japanese from 1981 to 1983. in the vietnamese capital of hanoi foreign ministers from the association of southeast asian nations plus japan, china, and south korea have held a meeting on the sinking of a south korean warship in march. japan's foreign minister katsuya okada has called on the participating countries to condemn north korea. okada made the appeal on wednesday, saying that north korea's action threatens the peace and stability of the region. okada said the north should seriously consider the recent u.n. security council presidential statement that condemned the sinking. the united states, south korea,

and other countries say that a north korean torpedo sank the warship, while the north denies any involvement. north korea's foreign minister has arrived in hanoi to attend the final day of the asean foreign ministers meeting on friday. north korea takes part in the conference every year. at hanoi airport pak refused to respond to questions from reporters and went straight to his hotel. the north korean foreign minister is expected to stress the promotion of diplomatic dialogue, including the resumption of the six-party talks to end the controversy over the sinking. but he's likely to strongly oppose next week's scheduled joint military drills by south korea and the u.s. in the sea of japan and the yellow sea. a strong typhoon is approaching southern china. this follows tropical storm conson that hit just last week. we now go to saki ochi from the weather desk with the latest

information. >> we have been keeping an eye on the storm system. it's been gradually strengthening in the past 24 hours. it's now a strong typhoon with wind speeds well over 120 kilometers per hour and gusts much, much stronger. right now hainan island, parts of guangdong province already feeling the effects of those strong winds, and they will likely get stronger as the core of the system approaches in the next couple of hours. after that it is expected to head in toward northern vietnam. so all this area will be looking at those winds to get stronger. and of course there will be the rain. plenty of moisture associated with this system. heavy rains have been starting to fall across hainan island and parts of coastal china. that will then head in toward the hanoi region of northern vietnam. so really, a lot more rains to fall in the next couple of days. plenty of those damaging gusts as well to watch out for. on the other hand, hong kong well missed the majority of the really heavy rains and winds. but definitely outer rain bands will enhance thundershowers and downpours. so definitely do watch out for

that. all right, there will be more of your weather later on. >> thanks very much. well, over to the world of business now. let's go to ines matsuyama. ines. >> thank you very much, catherine. u.s. president barack obama has signed a bill to give the government new regulatory powers over financial institutions. it's the biggest overhaul of financial rules since the great depression in the 1930s. obama put the bill into law on wednesday. he wants to avoid a repeat of the global economic crisis triggered by the 2008 collapse of u.s. investment bank lehman brothers. the controversial bill took more than a year for the congress to pass it. >> because of this law the american people will never again be asked to foot the bill for wall street's mistakes. >> but obama added the economy still needs fixing and urged his colleagues to work tirelessly for their legislation to take hold. the new regulation include a uniform oversight of the financial industry, bringing major investment banks and insurance firms under the watch of the authorities.

the legislation will also create a new federal agency to protect consumers from complex financial products. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says he's prepared to take further policy actions to keep the u.s. economic recovery on track. he added the job market's rebound is taking longer than expected. testifying before the senate banking committee on wednesday, bernanke said the u.s. economy has grown at a moderate pace since mid 2009. but he said a full recovery will take longer as many remain jobless for an extended period of time. >> we also recognize that the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain. >> he said concerns over europe's fiscal crisis hit the monetary market and led to the fed's bearish projections. the japanese government is keeping the nation's economic assessment unchanged, saying that the economy is picking up steadi steadily. but it also says a possible slowdown in europe and the u.s.

is a down side risk. in a monthly economic report released on wednesday, the government says personal consumption is improving. exports overall are showing a modest increase despite a slowdown in auto shipments to neighboring asian countries and the u.s. the report also says that business investment is leveling off. but concerns are shown over the impact from a possible slowdown overseas as key data confirmed the u.s. economy became worse recently. the cabinet office says the recovery cannot be called self-sustainable and the economy could enter a lull. tokyo stocks ended lower on thursday morning. fed chairman ben bernanke's cautious outlook on the u.s. economy is pressuring the nikkei index. the nikkei 225 ended the morning session at 9,215 points, down 63 ticks, or 0.7% from wednesday's close. sources say investors are locking in profits before

results from the stress tests on european banks come out friday. bernanke's remarks are also pushing the dollar lower against the yen early thursday. the dollar is currently trading at 86.59-63. the euro is quoted at 110.54-57. and here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the benchmark ten-year japanese government bond. in other asian markets hong kong's hang seng opened virtually flat. it's currently down 0.4%. the shanghai key index for major blue chips is up 0.3% as well as the sse composite in shenzhen. we'll be back with more news later. now back to the main news catherine. >> thanks very much, ines. japan's space agency has signed an agreement with the asian development bank to cooperate in minimizing destruction from natural disasters in asia. many asian countries suffer annually from disastrous flooding caused by heavy rains.

under the agreement signed in manila on wednesday the bank will financially support disaster control programs across the region. the japan aerospace exploration agency, or jaxa, meanwhile, will supply affected countries with data on rainfall and topographic changes from its earth observation satellite. the data will help improve the accuracy of flood monitoring in bangladesh and determine the best sites for building embankments and dams in indonesia, just two proposed uses. an armed group attacked a hydroelectric power station in russia's north caucasus on wednesday, killing two security guards and blowing up generators. russian authorities suspect the attack was carried out by an islamic militant group from the

southern region of the country. the attackers broke into the baksanskaya power station in the kabardino-balkaria republic, shot two security guards to death, and wounded two others at the plant. they then blew up generators and transformers. the authorities say they have fires caused by the explosions under control and that major water pipes for power generation are safe. the plant operator says power supplies in the area are being supplied by other plants. islamic extremists in the north caucasus, including the kabardino-balkaria republic have been attacking police checkpoints, railroads, and other infrastructure facilities. toyota motor will cut output in japan by about 20% in october. the automaker's expecting a drop in domestic sales after government subsidies for

ecofriendly vehicles expire at the end of september. industry sources say toyota has notified its suppliers of the planned reduction. the company will produce about 11,000 vehicles a day in october, down 3,000 units from the previous month. the financial crisis had forced toyota to slash its daily output to as low as 8,000 units in march last year, but the subsidies helped boost demand for the automaker's mainstay hybrid models. toyota has been setting up assembly plants overseas to serve strong growth markets locally. but it faces an uphill battle in japan, where the auto market will likely remain sluggish for some time. china's economic growth figures, released last week, pointed to a mild slowdown. however, strong domestic consumption still raises concerns that the economy may be overheating. the government is tightening regulations on individual investment, but it still seems tough to rein in bullish consumption in china.

>> reporter: the price of this foreign-made car is about $2.3 million. the cruiser, $300,000. and this mobile phone, $8,000. a fair was held in wenzhou to sell high-end goods targeting the wealthy. the three-day fair booked sales of nearly $15 million, showing the power of china's booming economy. >> translator: many chinese, including myself, have become rich. i'll take my time to see the choicest goods today. >> reporter: the economy's driving force is the real estate market. housing prices have risen for 12 straight months. in the last few months they grew at a faster pace.

property values are rising, encouraging owners to spend more. but the government is becoming more and more worried that the advance in housing prices could create a bubble. it banned financial institutions from lending to people who are buying their third home or more for speculation. signs of change are starting to show in the urban housing markets since the ban was put in place. >> translator: i won't be doing anything for a while as i'm not sure how housing prices will move. >> translator: the frenzy that dominated the real estate market in march is losing steam because of the government's policy. >> reporter: but this does not mean that chinese investors have lost their appetite for real

estate. in smaller towns that do not come under the regulation many people are looking for properties, hoping prices will go up. on this day a real estate tour was held in the coastal province of guangdong. this 56-year-old man is looking for a condominium just for speculation. after seeing a show property of a resort condo and its construction site, he decided to buy. it took him only ten minutes to decide. >> translator: it's not bad. i'll buy it. it's like buying stocks. >> reporter: he bought an 80 square-meter apartment priced at about $56,000. he believes its price will rise. >> translator: the government's regulation might affect the market in some way.

but i'm not worried because china is attracting investment from around the world. >> reporter: experts warn of a possible downturn in prices, but at the same time they say it's difficult to apply the same regulation to trading in local areas. >> translator: if the government steps up the real estate regulation, the economy would falter, and high growth will come to a stop. this is not acceptable for the leaders. >> reporter: counting on china's high growth, japan and other major economies are watching to see how china will hold the reins to prevent the economy from overheating. next is a recap of the latest market figures. ♪

♪ >> and that's all for now in biz news. next is the weather forecast, with saki ochi. and welcome back to your world weather update. now, we continue to watch conditions across east asia. definitely looking at rain to move in toward southern china, of course.

but china's also dealing with another low in inland areas. and we're looking at rain all along the southern tier yet again today. it's been an ongoing thing for weeks now. any additional rainfall is not good news for you here. in the northeast the heavy rains are trying to ease a little bit more. instead moisture's now moving in toward northern japan. so hokkaido may be looking at a few showers today. otherwise, though, japan does stay in the dry for the most part. a lot of strong sunshine expected yet again today. temperatures are going to be quite high across east asia. 35 degrees in taipei, 34 for shanghai. and 36 degrees in chongqing. meanwhile, tokyo coming in at 35 again. and the heat's just been ongoing, very, very hot conditions have proven deadly. we're hearing of some heat-related deaths occurring in the past couple of days. once again on thursday tokyo's going to come in at 35. 36 in fukushima. 36 also in kyoto. and 38 degrees for gifu. very hot conditions. and they'll likely last for

another couple of days. now, for europe today a new system is moving into the british isles. so wet weather for you here. also we've got this frontal boundary producing showers from scandinavia in toward western europe. the rain, however, for continental europe should be nice, a welcome break, breaking down the heat a little bit more. however, berlin still going to be pretty hot on thursday. 32 for your high. and then 34 degrees still in vienna. paris still looking nice and much cooler. much, much hotter picture toward the east, meanwhile. 35 in kiev, and 33 degrees for moscow. so heating up yet again. it's been a pretty hot past couple of days, and it is starting to cause all sorts of problems. here's a look at some of the latest footage. strong storms erupted across moscow on tuesday night. they toppled trees, also damaging some buildings as well. the heat is also starting to warm up waters, and it's making jellyfish rather active. they're really enjoying the warmth. but on the other hand, it's proven deadly for trout, which

are starting to die in large numbers due to all the warm temperatures. and here's a look at conditions on thursday. 29 in st. petersburg. 36 in samarra. and the heat's not expected to subside anytime soon. we're looking at even warmer temperatures for the rest of the week. so definitely take precautions if you are going to be out and about. and i'll leave you with your three-day outlook. ♪

♪ ♪ a shinkansen bullet train line in western japan suspended operations on thursday morning after two maintenance trains collided in a tunnel.

west japan railway says the accident occurred in a tunnel in kobe. the train repairing the tunnel wall collided with another one that was inspecting the track, and the first train derailed. there were five workers on the two trains, but no one was injured. shinkansen trains have stopped operating between shin osaka and himeji stations. police are conducting an on the spot investigation. the railway company plans to put the derailed train back on the tracks after the investigation is completed. the company says it does not know when services can be resumed. it says 60 trains have been cancelled so far. police say a worker on the first train told investigators that the brakes were applied too late due to poor visibility caused by dust. the parents of megumi yokota, who was abducted by north korea more than 30 years ago, held a news conference after meeting former north korean spy kim hyun hee. they met kim for the first time on wednesday at a villa in

nagano prefecture, central japan. is shigeru yokota and his wife, sakie, spoke to reporters on thursday morning at a hotel near the villa. >> translator: kim has no new information about the fate of our daughter. she said she met with megumi just once. she said her colleague, who was megumi's student, introduced our daughter to kim. >> sakie said kim told her she had left her own family behind in north korea and has no information on their fate. >> translator: we told each other that we will carry on together and keep our hopes up.

she encouraged us by saying megumi must be alive. >> the former convicted spy, who helped blow up a korean air jet in 1987, arrived in japan on tuesday on a plane chartered by the japanese government. kim left the villa for tokyo on thursday morning. later in the day she'll meet with families of other japanese nationals who were abducted by north korea. in the vietnamese capital of hanoi foreign ministers from the association of southeast asian nations plus japan, china and south korea have held a meeting on the sinking of a south korean warship in march. japan's foreign minister, katsuya okada, has called on the participating countries to condemn north korea. okada made the appeal on wednesday, saying that north korea's action threatens the peace and stability of the region. okada said the north should seriously consider the recent u.n. security council presidential statement that condemned the sinking.

the united states, south korea, and other countries say that a north korean torpedo sank the warship while the north denies any involvement. north korea's foreign minister. pak chun has arrived in hanoi to attend the final day of the asean foreign ministers meeting on friday. north korea takes part in the conference every year. at hanoi airport pak refused to answer questions from reporters and went straight to his hotel. the north korean foreign minister is expected to stress the promotion of diplomatic dialogue, including the resumption of the six-party talks to end the controversy over the sinking. but pak is likely to strongly oppose next week's scheduled joint military drills between south korea and the u.s. in the sea of japan and the yellow sea. u.s. president barack obama has signed a bill to give the government new regulatory powers over financial institutions. it's the biggest overhaul of financial rules since the great depression in the 1930s.

obama put the bill into law on wednesday. he wants to avoid a repeat of the global economic crisis triggered by the 2008 collapse of u.s. investment bank lehman brothers. the controversial bill took more than a year for the congress to pass it. >> because of this law the american people will never again be asked to foot the bill for wall street's mistakes. >> but obama added the economy still needs fixing and urged his colleagues to work tirelessly for the legislation to take hold. the new regulations include a uniform oversight of the financial industry, bringing major investment banks and insurance firms under the watch of the authorities. the legislation will also create a new federal agency to protect consumers who purchase complex financial products. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us. we'll be back at the top of the next hour.