hello there. it's wednesday, august 4th, 11:00 a.m. here in tokyo. welcome to this edition of "newsline." two shooting rampages occurred in the united states on tuesday morning leaving at least 11 people dead. in manchester, connecticut a 34-year-old driver for a beer distributor shot dead eight people ahis firm and then shot himself. local media reports that the gunman had been scheduled to discuss a work dispute with his employer that day.

in indianapolis, indiana a masked gunman opened fire on a barbecue party, killing two people and wounding six. police say the man fled the scene by car. tuesday's shootings are the latest in a series of gun attacks in the u.s. in february a professor shot dead three colleagues at the university of alabama. in june a man killed four people at a restaurant in florida. lebanese and israeli troops exchanged deadly fire on their countries' border on tuesday, killing five people including soldiers on both sides. the violence apparently erupted over a move by israeli soldiers to cut down a tree along the fence dividing the two countries. israel and lebanon have blamed each other for the eruption. the israeli military said they were working to maintain the

fence along the border which they did not cross. the military said the lebanese army is responsible for the incident. lebanese president michel suleiman held israel accountable and said it would complain to the u.n. security council. in the skirmish three soldiers and one reporter were killed on the lebanese side while one army officer was confirmed dead on the israeli side. the fighting did not continue for long as the united nations worked with both sides to restore calm. however, both armies are still on full alert as the tense standoff continues. now, the u.n. security council has expressed deep concern about tuesday's deadly clashes between israel and lebanon. the council's rotating chair, russian u.n. ambassador vitaly churkin held a news conference on tuesday after the closed-door meeting. >> the members of the security council called on all parties to practice utmost restraint, strictly abide by their obligations under resolution 1701, observe the cessation of hostility, and prevent any

further escalation on the blue line, which is to be respected in its entirety. >> the leader of the lebanese shia group hezbollah says his organization will retaliate if israel attacks. the remarks come after the gunfight between israeli and lebanese troops. on tuesday hezbollah held a large-scale ceremony in the lebanese capital of beirut. the event marks what the group calls its victory over israel in a month-long conflict in 2006. hezbollah leader sheikh hassan nasrallah made the statement via a video link. hezbollah believes israeli forces are preparing to attack them. israel says the group has links to iran and has hinted pre-emptive strikes against the

country over its continued nuclear development. pakistan's national disaster management authority says more than 1,000 people have been killed and 35,000 houses destroyed since catastrophic flooding started almost one week ago. the united nations children's fund, or unicef says 3.2 million people are homeless and are living in shelters or makeshift tents. flooded roads are hampering rescue operations, and food and supplies and relief supplies are not reaching those in need. nasa satellite photos show the indus river in northwestern pakistan has expanded since august last year and the surrounding areas are submerged. on monday about 300 people blocked a major road in the northwestern district of naoshara to protest against the government. one of them said they lost everything, but the government is not listening to people who are facing difficulties. sanitary conditions in the affected areas are worsening. there is growing concern about

the spread of cholera and other infectious diseases. the japanese cabinet is studying whether prime minister naoto kan should issue a statement on the 100th anniversary of japan's annexation of the korean peninsula later this month. the cabinet is considering a new statement on the centenary of the start of japan's 35-yearzat. it was to emphasize its stance of pursuing future-oriented relations with south korea. but some members of the governing democratic party have expressed concern about the move. they say such a statement could affect the discussions on whether japan should provide compensation to individuals for their wartime suffering. the japanese government takes the view that the issue has been resolved by the 1965 treaty that normalized relations with south korea. many south koreans have already expressed hope that the japanese prime minister will issue a statement for the occasion. they could react sharply if kan

fails to do so. senior u.s. officials have expressed hope that japan will work with the united states to take a strong stance against iran for its nuclear development program. the u.s. state department special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control, robert einhorn, and deputy assistant treasury secretary daniel glaser, arrived at tokyo's haneda airport on tuesday. einhorn told nhk that he's looking forward to having fruitful talks with the japanese government and he's sure japan will play a constructive role in putting pressure on iran. the u.s. official's visit follows the adoption by the u.n. security council of additional sanctions against iran this june. the u.s. and the e.u. are planning further steps to ban iran's export of oil and related materials. the japanese government was initially cautious about drawing up its own sanctions in view of its trade ties with iran. but it has recently held talks with the u.s. about its plan to impose sanctions against iran.

welcome back to "newsline" business. the yield on the 10-year japanese government bond fell to 0.995% at one point on wednesday. it's the first time in about seven years that the benchmark for long-term interest rates dipped below the 1% mark. bond buying gained momentum on expectations that the u.s. federal reserve may ease monetary policy further amid concerns over the u.s. economic outlook. many players say the bank of japan may soon follow suit. tokyo stocks opened lower on wednesday on a stronger yen. the nikkei 225 ended the morning session at 9,548 points, down 1.5%, or 145 ticks. export-related shares such as autos and electronics were among the main losers. market sources say that sell orders have prevailed after the dollar fell to the upper 85 yen

range in overseas markets. turning to currencies, the dollar's losing ground on wednesday amid growing concerns about the u.s. economic outlook. the dollar is trading at 85.54-59. the euro is at 113.18-22 yen. market players say the dollar is being sold on speculation that the federal reserve board may consider additional monetary easing. and here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield currently on the benchmark 10-year japanese government bond. in other asian markets hong kong's hang seng end opened up half a percent higher, is currently up 0.6%. the shanghai index for major blue chips is up 0.3%. and in shenzhen the sse composite is up just a fraction. unit sales in the u.s. auto market rose over 5% in july from a year earlier, marking the highest level in any term since last august. that's when the u.s. government

introduced a subsidy for replacing old cars with fuel-efficient ones. u.s. market research firm auto data said on tuesday that july's auto sales came to slightly above 1 million units, up 5.1% year on year. america's three major carmakers all saw a rise in sales at 6.4% for general motors, 5% for chrysler, and 4.8% for ford. meanwhile, sales fell for japanese makers compared with their unusually brisk sales last year after the subsidies' launch. toyota saw a 3.2% fall, while honda had a 2% decline. despite the drop, the figures were still better than forecast. the government-backed japan bank for international cooperation will help indonesia to develop infrastructure for generating clean energy. officials of the bank and the indonesian government signed a memorandum in jakarta on tuesday. the bank will advise the government on ways to raise

funds to build electric power plants. these would include facilities that use solar and geothermal energy and thermal power stations with low greenhouse gas emissions. the bank will also conduct a preliminary survey on constructing solar power plants. rich in natural resources, indonesia has been constructing thermal power stations throughout the country. but it has made little progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. the bank says it wants to help raise money for clean energy plants and export japan's technology to indonesia. a survey shows that a number of major japanese firms will increase capital spending overseas to beef up production in china and other emerging economies. the development bank of japan surveyed some 3,300 companies with more than $11.6 million in invested capital. about 70% of the firms responded. about 1,300 of the firms, mainly

in the electric machinery, auto, and non-ferrous metals sector, said they plan into crease overseas capital investment by 35% or more. the survey shows that firms will invest over 37% in asia to increase local production in rapidly growing markets such as china. overseas investment in plant and equipment is likely to pick up after it dropped more than 38% in the previous year. meanwhile, domestic capital investment is expected to go up 6.8%. a moderate rise but the first increase in three years. japan's largest mobile operator, ntt docomo, says it will start distributing digital content in the form of books to smartphones and other terminals. a number of firms have entered the business of creating and selling e books since apple's multimedia tablet computer ipad was put on sale at the end of may. sources say by the end of this year ntt docomo will likely tie

up with printing firm dai nippon printing to begin distributing books, magazines that can be downloaded to smartphones and other devices. the two companies will urge other printing firms and electronics makers to join the project. japan's domestic markets are expected to shrink along with a decline in its birth rate while other economies in asia are growing fast. japanese firms are urged to expand overseas, but in order to compete their employees have to master english, the language of international business. >> you may know -- >> reporter: japan's largest internet shopping mall surprised the public recently when it announced that english would be its official in-house language by the end of 2012. >> year 2020, 92% of the market is outside of japan, and this is the reason why we need to become global. i believe our goal is not to

just become number one internet company in japan but to become number one internet service company in the world. >> reporter: hiroshi mikitani used to work for a leading japanese bank. he founded rakuten 13 years ago and grew the company, mainly as a virtual shopping mall. now it has branched out into a variety of businesses, including travel and finance. in 2009 it posted annual gross transactions of about $20 billion. rakuten set up a joint venture with a chinese internet firm this year, and it bought two internet companies, one french and one american. it plans to increase its international business from the current 8% to 70% of gross transactions. some meetings are already held in english, including meetings of the board, even when the participants are all japanese. >> it's a very good idea to promote the local food, local

goods, local -- >> if a foreigner comes into japan as a traveler, sightseeing, and goes to a shop to buy souvenirs, there's like a label called you can buy this on rakuten when you go back to your country. maybe we can get retention if they like it. >> reporter: the cafeteria has also been affected by the transition to english. the menu and posted notices are written only in english. the firm hopes eventually to use english only at all its meetings by the end of 2012. >> i like to go out like for a walk or something. >> japanese economy is not expected to perform -- >> reporter: but the transition to english only is not easy for employees. currently, most of them don't understand english that well. >> last thursday it announced -- >> translator: i only understood about half. >> translator: i only caught about 30%.

>> reporter: the company is offering english lessons to help in the transition. employees have to pay their own tuition and take the classes outside working hours, but more than 200 have signed up. >> what do you feel like drinking now? >> i feel like drinking beer. >> beer. what do you feel like eating now? >> i feel like -- i am feeling like -- >> i feel like. >> i feel like noodle. >> noodle. ramen? >> yes. >> reporter: from now on an employee will not be promoted or get a pay raise unless they have a certain level of english. >> translator: the sudden switch to english took me completely by surprise. i hope i can keep up. >> it's a complete role reversal for me when my subordinate speaks better english than i do.

>> translator: all our employees have to be able to communicate with our global business contacts and staff. we can't recruit the best talent if everything at corporate headquarters is in japanese. we should go with the flow and do business in english. >> reporter: the number of japanese firms making english their official language is expected to increase as more firms expand abroad. >> fast retailing operator of the discount clothing chain uniqlo is increase its use of english. starting in 2012 all meetings with non-japanese attending will be conducted in english and all written internal communications will be in english as well. next is a recap of the latest market figures. ♪

♪ >> and that's all for now in biz news. a renowned japanese composer presented his latest opus this month, inspired by letters from people from many countries who died during world war ii. our reporter rod maiar met the composer and filed this report. ♪ >> reporter: a japanese choir sings messages inspired by

letters of soldiers or members of resistance movements who died during world war ii. composer shigeagi saegusa has been writing operas for the last 50 years, maintaining focus on promoting peace. at the age of 21 he discovered a book of letters written by 200 resistance fighters from 31 countries. all the writers died during the war. one letter especially touched him. ari ferte had written it to his parents. he was just 16. a member of the french resistance awaiting execution. >> translator: when i read it, i felt so much sorrow. i felt an urge to put it to music. young people dying before they could know about life. the way i see it, that's exactly what war is. >> reporter: almost 50 years later he chose 13 letters

written by soldiers and resistance members from different nationalities. their voices echo in the 14 peaces saegusa composed. his biggest challenge is conveying the horror of war while also expressing the hope and agony of the fighters. >> translator: the content is so difficult, but at the same time so wonderful. i didn't want those lyrics to be accompanied by simple music. i wrote draft after draft. it was really painstaking. >> reporter: to bring more life to the songs saegusa uses an amateur choir. a lot of members belong to the same generation and share some of his pacifist values.

some members have lost family in the war. takeshi tabira's father died in siberia. tabira has only one picture of him. >> translator: my father died full of regrets. war has to be avoided at all costs. i sing to express this idea and appease the souls of those who died. >> reporter: saegusa puts the 200 members through rehearsals every day for eight long months. the songs are extremely difficult to sing. fast and powerful lyrics that sometimes switch to an entrancing melody. the compositions are strong. each conveys a message of the letters. >> translator: i write so people learn about all these senseless

deaths, about how foolish war is. they didn't intend their letters to become a message for future generations. but by using their words i want people to reflect on what we must do to prevent war from happening again. >> reporter: the last message is presented for the first time at one of tokyo's biggest music halls. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the final selection

expresses saegusa's message. the death toll of the second world war is then revealed, country by country. >> i think the people received a very important message tonight. i saw a lot of people crying. >> translator: my generation was born after the war. and i hope no one will have to write letters like this ever again. >> translator: i did it. what i set out to do 48 years ago. i can't describe the

overwhelming joy and satisfaction that fills my heart. ♪ >> very moving work by shigeaku saegusa. he hopes to add more songs to his opus every year to remind us more of the voices from the past. now we take a look at weather forecast with saki ochi. hi there, and welcome back to your world weather update. now, japan today seeing a similar weather pattern all this week. it's going to be hot and steamy across a lot of the country. and that of course will lead to afternoon showers and downpours. really likely to pop up in any part of the country.

so that will be something to watch out for as we head into the afternoon and evening hours. now, across china really heavy rainy area started to show up in the northeast. so big area of concern here. jiling province has been reporting flooding. looks like there will be more rain in the next day. so that could really exacerbate conditions here. very heavy rainfall amounts could fall in some of these areas. so definitely keep an eye out on that. elsewhere across china, central, southern portions looking fairly dry. a couple light showers showing up in inland areas. but that should be about it. meanwhile, in the southeast, the philippines and then across the indo-china peninsula as well, monsoon rains are getting very active, and we are now hearing of flooding across the highland. and here's a look at some of the current situations. we are getting shots of widespread flooding across a lot of parts of thailand. roads of course are inundated. and as are homes and buildings. farmlands have been affected by

the floods as well. you can see a lot of muddy waters everywhere. mudslides have also been reported in mountainous villages, of course being cut off as the roads get worse. so not a good situation. and of course we have been hearing of widespread flooding in pakistan. massive flooding here. and here's the outlook for the next 72 hours. so even in the next three days more showers are set to develop across really the entire indian subcontinent. and of course pakistan too. and now the heavy rains are expected to start forming in the more southern areas. so really the flood situation could remain quite critical for another while longer. here's a look at highs, meanwhile, for wednesday. 33 degrees in tokyo and 32 for seoul. looking really hot in shanghai at 36. and 39 degrees for chongqing. over toward the americas, the united states will get a couple lows here, trekking across the northern tier. and that's going to produce some

light showers. thus stormy weather is also not out of the question. tonight also for quebec, parts of ontario too looking at the threat of severe storms to break out. either way, we're just going to continue to see light showers move eastward across the region in the coming days. down toward the south, pretty active showers showing up across the florida peninsula and down toward central america as well. we did have a tropical storm system briefly just off the leeward islands. and it has since dissipated. it's a remnant low now. but definitely keep an eye out that energy could start bringing more heavy rain to the islands. and definitely seeing a lot more tropical showers and downpours across the caribbean islands and central america too. as for highs today, looking really hot once again for the deep south, parts of texas. widespread heat-related watches, warnings, are in effect for you. do take precautions if you are going to be out and about. that's a look at your weather for now. and here is your three-day outlook.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that's all for this edition of "newsline." glad you could join us. i'm catherine kobayashi in

tokyo. we'll be back with more of your updates. úúú