welcome back to "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo with the latest at this hour. swrshgs. >> prime minister kan indicated the government and bank of japan will not hesitate to intervene in the market in the yen continues to strengthen. >> kan said excessive currency

fluctuations would have a negative impact in efforts to stabilize the policy. kan revealed he would meet with the bank of japan governor as soon as he returned from a trip to the united states monday and would take additional credit-easing steps. kan went on to say the government would map out basic guidelines next tuesday to deal with other pressing issues and work out specific measures based on these guidelines as soon as possible. kan's government is concerned about how the rising yen is impacting manufacturers. a survey suggests some businesses are thinking about moving key units overseas. the economy ministry surveyed about 200 firms in the manufacturing sector nationwide. this follows the currency's climb to a 15-year high earlier this year. 65% said earnings declined. 45% replied they would ship

their factories overseas if the yen stayed strong. 70% fear their products might be displaced by cheaper ones made by foreign rivals. a major u.s. newspaper has said the upcoming race for president of japan's ruling democratic party could lead to political confusion and hurt the japanese economy. former dpj secretary-general ichiro ozawa announced on thursday that he will challenge prime minister naoto kan for the position. the winner will most likely become japan's next prime minister. "the wall street journal" said that ozawa's bid could mean more turmoil for the dysfunctional political system he spent years pledging to fix. he added that the move could further undermine japan's ability to address it's deepening economic problems. the paper said ozawa in recent years has upset americans with his blunt talk. the paper was referring to his comment on wednesday, that he likes americans, but finds them rather simple-minded.

it also cited ozawa's remarks last year that the u.s. navy's seventh fleet would be the only u.s. military presence needed in japan in the future. >> tokyo police arrested two women for fraudulently receiving national pension funds. the two are the eldest daughter and granddaughter of a man who died more than 30 years ago, but was registered as still being alive. the police found the mummified body of sogen kato at his family's home in tokyo last month. he would have been 111 years old. a total of around $100,000 in widower benefits have been paid to kato after his wife, a former teacher, died six years ago. the police say his 81-year-old daughter and 53-year-old granddaughter defrauded the government by arranging to receive the payments for more than 20 years after his death. the daughter and granddaughter have reportedly admitted to committing fraud and spending

the money. an nhk survey found that pension money has been paid to at least 20 of 280 missing centenarians across the country. the welfare ministry plans to use health care records to identify the whereabouts of pensioners. welfare minister akira nagatsuma told reporters on friday that people aged 75 and older generally go to the doctor at least once a year. he said the ministry will try to locate elderly people who fail to visit their doctor for long periods of time. if they can't be found, the ministry will stop paying their pensions. >> translator: the issues revealed cases involving elderly people who are isolated and neglected by their families. the ministry will promptly deal with the issue.

north korean leader kim jong-il is believed to be holding talks with a chinese leader in china. the agenda is thought to include his possible successor among other issues. kim, who has been in china since thursday, left a luxury hotel in jilin city in the northeastern province of jilin on friday morning. kim's motorcade of about 30 vehicles arrived at the site of the meeting, a guest house in chung chun, 90 kilometers away. a reliable local source said a chinese leader also flew into changchun on friday morning apparently for talks with kim. china's government made no announcement about the matter. a view is spreading among diplomats that the issue of kim's successor was the main purpose for his meeting with chinese officials. a top-level meeting of north korea's ruling workers party is scheduled for early september. they also speculate that kim and the chinese official are also talking about stalled six-party talks on north korea's nuclear development.

the agenda is also thought to include economic assistance to help the north recover from damage from recent heavy rains. kim last visited china in may. it is the first time that kim has visited china twice in the same year. in all his past visits, kim met with chinese leaders in the capital beijing. this time he is reportedly having talks with one of china's top leaders. kim began his visit to china while former u.s. president jimmy carter was in north korea to secure the release of a u.s. citizen who had been detained in the north since january for illegally entering the country. in august last year, north korea released two other detainees.

observers were expecting kim to meet with carter as part of efforts to ease strained relations between north korea and u.s., but the two did not meet. carter left pyongyang friday with the pardoned american. japan's government will develop a space probe hybusa. they aim to launch the next probe in 2014. the unmanned craft will travel to a different asteroid and take rock samples that could contain organic matter. this could shed light on the origin of life. a government task force made the decision friday. the task force reported that technology developed for the mission will help japan take the lead in plantry exploration.

>> the task force decided japan will extend its participation in the international space station project for five years until 2020. japan's justice ministry allowed the media to film and photograph one of the country's execution chambers. the justice minister ordered the media tour to encourage debate on death penalty. on friday, journalists were guided through the facility in the tokyo detention house where executions are carried out. the reporters were first shown a room where the inmate is given a chance to say any last words. in the execution chamber, they heard that the condemned are taken to a trapdoor outlined in red where a rope is put around their necks.

then they opened trap door. three prison guards push the button at the same time so they don't know who is responsible for the death. the entire execution facility was air conditioned and smelled of incense. the justice ministry had until now declined to disclose information on executions partly out of consideration for the families of death row convicts. chiba decided to open the chamber after becoming the first justice minister to witness an execution. she opens it will let others make decisions. those who welcome the latest move say it's natural for the state to disclose where and how the death penalty is actually being carried out, but opponents say the mere release of today's images is not enough to help the public decide whether to scrap or retain capital punishment.

south korea is working hard to attract investment from china. they relaxed visa from chinese tourists and is expected to double their numbers in the next two years. they are especially interested in getting chinese to come and move there. it's spending a lot of money to turn the resort island onto a popular destination for china's rich. nhk world reports. >> reporter: cheju is south korea's largest island. it's a famous tourist destination that hosts 6.5 million visitors yearly, ten times the local population. last year the number of chinese topped the list of foreign visitors for the first time.

>> reporter: it's not only tourists arriving from china. they bring chinese interested in buying real estate on the island. participants are mostly private business owners. agents show them modern rooms, luxury apartments and the construction. this residential complex has over 900 housing units, ranging from 450,000 to $1.7 million. more than half have already been sold to chinese nationals.

participants on the tour are briefed on the facilities and surrounding environment. they may start negotiating with agents. >> reporter: during the two-day stay, most members of the group purchase an apartment. on this day alone, the real estate company brought in 30 contracts. >> translator: the scenery is good and the air is clean. i think prices will go up. >> translator: a luxury apartment like this costs more in shanghai, so this is a bargain.

>> translator: the project has just begun. we have expectations of a dramatic increase in chinese real estate investors and tourists. >> translator: cheju depends on tourism. its per capita income ranks the lowest in south korea. the national government is seeking to develop the island into a cosmopolitan island city. >> translator: we're happy that tourists come from abroad and we'll welcome them if they decide to live here. >> reporter: in february, the cheju government starting giving permanent residency to foreigners to invest over certain amount in real estate and live on the island for more than five years. it's also working on project

designed to attract chinese businesses. they have companies and hospitals in chinese so they can work on the island. >> translator: generally it's a two-hour flight for a population of 750 million. we would be working hard to create an environment suitable for chinese people and businesses. >> what's your take on the south korean's government plan to lure southeast money to cheju. >> economies currently driven by exports, but the government is concerned they may dwindle in the future because of lack of technology and innovation and rapidly aging population. >> so it wants to develop a free throw flow of people, goods and investment to draw in foreign capital and human resources.

for the development of cheju, the government will apply $5.8 billion in six areas, not only for tourism, education, medical care and the development of a high tech industrial complex. it might take a few years for the completion of the project, but i think it's noteworthy that south korea is strategically trying to reap the benefits of the booming chinese economy. >> tell us about the other competition south korea is facing and how do you think it can stay at the head of the pack? >> reporter: yes. i think it's not going to be easy because south korea has many rivals. japan has relaxed visa requirements for chinese visitors right before south korea made a similar move. in japan visas were only issued to certain chinese people.

on new conditions, access is widened to mid-income business. they have set up with chinese credit card companies. department stores in metropolitan areas in japan have some staff that can speak chinese. in singapore, a casino opened for the first time this year, ending long-standing government ban. there are no casinos on mainland china so singapore is trying to boost tourism from china with casino. right now, the main desnations for thinesere in n, but tte th weste companies in years. wi gain anowt

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it has 30,000 loomrars and textile dyers working around the oc some overstretched tailorsrtlyt orders. isnd week of september. hi there, time for the weather. and let's begin in east asia. lots going on across the we have two tropical depressions that we are monitoring at this mont. and both of them have the -- are likely to become a tropical storm in fact. so this is aerious matr. let's talk to this one right here just southwest of the korean peninsula. this one is going to be actually making landfall in northern ininhe next couple of days. so we're monitoring that.

and then we have another one just to the west of the philippines, lots of rain with this one. and then the remnants of our tropical storm that landed days ago across indochina. so it's just very, very wet across much of the region. now thisne pnt beusthrafall is going to be quite significant. check out the next 48 hours with this system. over 120 millimeters possible. especially in parts of southern japan. the islands here, liwa these s e toet soaked with an additional 100 millimeters or more in the next day. let's look at the temperatures, 34 in tokyo, warm across the on 33 in shanghai, 34 for new taipei. and 31 with showers in manila. ne inoh era,nder we also have two hurricanes we're looking at as well. hurricane frank, that is going to be movingwafr mic still bringing a lot of showers in its wake. and then hurricane danielle, a very large one, but this one won't be making impact on land. just a lot of rough seas in the ar. still seeing a front line draped across the southeast, a very messy here. high pressure across the eastern half of the u.s.

so quiet for you. t u n e these isobars, very close together, very windy conditions and very dry, low humidity and very good fire weather, in fact. so we're going to beonorg this. this is how it looksor the rain in the next couple of days. a lot of it across western canada and into alberta and mato. temperatures cooling off as well. 20 degrees in vancouver. seeing 32 in winnipeg ahead of the front and 36 in houston. kingf warm weather across the southeast and south of spain, we have some temperatures erth a vy gh but i do need to point out this system here. very rough weather across continental europe. or, potentially severe at times. to the north, a little bit more quiet, but it is still definitely drizzly and gray. and let's talk about the temperatures i was talking about across southern spain. here's some of the footage coming out of parts of madrid, parts of -- there we go. soe' g a heat wave

persisting across spain here. and some places got up to over 40 degrees celsius. so pretty unbearable heat unless you can get to a fountain, go to a park, stay in the she peapgeto the beaches. i think most residents in the south managed to do. i think we have some footage there. look at that, flocking outdoors in the heat.luil tug aosth north, say southern areas of spain, north of the mediterranean it's going to cool down, but seville will still stay warm and we'll be warm across the balkans as well. across europe, it looks like wel be in the mid teens from stockholm to vienna. that's all from me, here's your three-day.

that's all we have for this edition of "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo. we'll be back in 30 minutes. thanks for joining us on nhk world.