"newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. democrats and republicans in the u.s. congress have reached a compromise to avoid a debt default and end the government shutdown. emergency crews are working in the mud after a typhoon slammed into eastern japan, covering one community in a landslide. and japan's prime minister has decided to hold off on

visiting a war-related shrine that has been a source of tension with china and south korea. u.s. lawmakers have passed a bill to avoid a debt default just hours before a thursday deadline. democrats and republicans have been arguing for months over the country's borrowing limit. but members of both ho of congress voted to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government. >> the motion is adopted. without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. >> the republicans control the house of representatives. many of them joined the democrats, voting to raise the debt ceiling. the government can now borrow additional funds for the next four months. that's a shorter period of time than president barack obama had hoped for. the lawmakers also approved a stopgap budget to end the partial shutdown of government services that began two weeks ago. the white house instructed federal employees to return to work on thursday. the bill calls for setting up a

panel to discuss deficit reduction over the long term in response to republican demands that the deal only calls for slight revisions to obama's health care reforms. a number of republicans are opposed to the affordable care act. house speaker john boehner said his party fought the good fight, and he said the republicans will continue to work toward cuts in spending. senate majority leader harry reid said averting the crisis was historic. >> let's be honest. this was pain inflicted on our nation for no good reason and cannot make -- we cannot, cannot make the same mistake again. >> president obama signed the bill into law. he said the agreement could lift the cloud of uncertainty that's been hanging over the country. obama also said lawmakers need to get out of the habit of governing by crisis. the political showdown didn't do much to help the united states' reputation abroad. nhk world's chie yamagishi reports.

>> reporter: the u.s. congressional stalemate has drawn criticism from around the world. an expert on japan/u.s. relations says the political turmoil symbolizes divisions in the country between democrats and the republicans and within both parties. >> american society has been paralyzed and the extremist views now are becoming more and more influential on both sides, right wing and left wing. so it has continued to be very difficult to make a consensus among americans. >> reporter: the crisis forced president obama to cut short his week-long trip to asia this month. he missed the asia-pacific economic cooperation forum in bali, and the east asia summit in brunei.

he also didn't have a chance to meet leaders from nations negotiating the transpacific partnership agreement, even though it is a u.s.-led initiative. they say the president gave the impression that interest in the asia-pacific region is declining. >> if the perception of decline in this region expands, more countries in this region may have stronger will to strengthen the relations with china instead of the united states. >> reporter: the congressional deal only offers a temporary solution. in the fight to reach it, they only have to widen the political division in the united states. there will likely be another showdown between democrats and the republicans, meaning the united states risks losing even more credibility abroad.

chie yamagishi, nhk world. analysts at ratings agency stnd standard & poor's says they've slashed the gdp growth through the december period. analysts said they cut their growth from an annualized rate of 3%. they said that the government shutdown and the wrangling over the debt ceiling have badly affected people's lives and their economic situation. they said consumers are likely worried about another standoff among lawmakers as the deal to reopen the government is only temporary. emergency teams are sifting through debris on an island south of tokyo. they're looking for more than 20 residents on izu oshima who disappeared after a powerful storm.

typhoon wipha turned up the pacific coast. >> reporter: emergency teams are looking for the missing wherever they can. more than 1,000 people have joined the search, including firefighters, police, and self-defense personnel. they're covered in debris. they've had to work with their hands. more than 800 millimeters of rain hit the island in 24 hours. that's more than double the monthly average. and the worst downfall since people started keeping records 75 years ago. the rain sent part of the mountain sliding down toward one community.

more than 30 homes collapsed, or was swept away. a professor is an expert on landslides. he visited the site. mountain mihara is in the center of this ocean and has erupted repeatedly. the professor said the top layer is made of organic ash that's settled on lava about 800 years ago. he believes the rain loosened the layer causing it to slide away from where it had come into contact with the lava. >> translator: the top layer could have moved down the slope at 36 kilometers per hour or faster when it was saturated by rain. it might have reached the bottom almost instantly.

>> reporter: the mud drug down trees that had covered the slope. he believed that made the damage to houses more serious. experts have warned there is still a risk of landslides on izu oshima. the rebuilding effort on this island will take much longer. nhk world, tokyo. on thursday, vietnamese authorities raised the death toll of typhoon nari to 9, and said 6 are still missing. the storm flooded tens of thousands of homes in the country and wreaked havoc in other parts of southeast asia. nari hit the central coast of vietnam on monday, and weakened to a tropical depression after

making landfall. over 34,000 homes were flooded. state-run media made an initial damage estimate of $71 million. authorities are warning flood victims of possible outbreaks of diseases that often occur after flooding. nari also brought torrential downpour across the eastern and northeastern regions of thailand. several of the affected provinces has already been inundated by heavy rains when nari arrived. according to thailand's disaster prevention and mitigation department, continuous flooding since mid-september has killed 68 people, and affected 3.7 million people nationwide. the department of irrigation previously said floodwaters would recede in october. but now says flooding will continue into november, due to the ongoing downpour. the death toll for the 7.1 earthquake that struck the other than philippines has surpassed 160. residents are calling for swift action. boha island was at the center of the quake. around 3.4 million residents of

boha and neighboring sabu island have been affected. 97,000 people have evacuated. many remain in tents. we have the report from bohu. >> reporter: the island accounts for 90% of the total casualties. landslides and collapsed buildings caused a large portion of the fatalities. two days after the initial quake, rescuers reported more fatalities. driving up the death toll. collapsed bridges, landslides and open ditches make it difficult for rescue teams to deliver supplies and get a total picture of the damage. >> translator: when the aftershocks come, we evacuated this place. we live near the shore. i'm afraid tsunami will come. we need water and food. >> reporter: tuesday's

earthquake is the largest on record for the region, including bohol and sabu. the quake completely toppled a 400-year-old church. it had long served the community and was the oldest church in the country. >> translator: it was a massive tremor. i couldn't keep standing. city hall collapsed, and the church, too. i thought it was the end of the world. i was so scared. >> reporter: the area is popular with tourists. as is neighboring sabu island. the earthquake has damaged the region's image as a tourist destination. with the busy season approaching, many travelers have canceled their plans. as residents work to overcome the shock of the earthquake, they feel uncertainty over the economic impact to the area. >> translator: it's sad, because if tourism does not come back, then it will revert to its old

self. the people here heavily rely on tourism. >> reporter: the collapsed bridges and damaged roads in the area are hindering rescue operations, and has begun to affect tourism and other industries. many parts of the surviving infrastructure needs to be repaired. residents are hoping the government will take swift action. nhk world, bohul, philippines. emerging economic powers still struggling with poverty. emboldened citizens still demanding democracy. the threat of violence. the push for peace. the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia every weekend day live from bangkok, only on nhk world "newsline." nhk has learned japan's prime minister will not be making a visit that would have

invited criticism from china and south korea. sources close to shinzo abe tell us that he will refrain from attending the autumn festival at the shrine in tokyo. the shrine honors japan's war dead, including individuals convicted of war crimes after world war ii. abe has sent a traditional offering as prime minister instead of attending the festival in person. he did something similar in april during the shrine's spring festival. then in august he sent an offering as leader of the liberal democratic party to commemorate the end of the war. abe says he intends to continue paying his respects to people who sacrificed their lives for their country. a spokesperson for the chinese government is urging japanese leaders to properly deal with the issues the shrine visits raise. >> translator: japan should regret what they did to asia and respect how people in neighboring countries feel.

>> a south korean government spokesperson criticized abe's actions. >> translator: we express concern and regret over his repeated offerings. >> he called on japanese politicians to humbly reflect on history and try to build trust among neighboring nations. a u.s. electric power company has taken a step to demand damages in connection with the affected steam generators made by the mitsubishi heavy industries. southern california edison, or sce, filed a request for arbitration with the paris-based international court of arbitration on wednesday. the u.s. utility is asking for about $4 billion as compensation. executives at sce say breakages and abnormal wear and tear in the generator piping at its nuclear plant forced the

operation to come to a halt. they say the stoppage made the operation of the plant no longer profitable and forced the utility to decide in june to shut down the plant. sce had been in talks on the financial impact caused by scrapping the reactors there. but the talks failed. executives at mitsubishi heavy are set to make their case against sce. a statement released by the japanese firm says the u.s. utilities demand allegations are factually incorrect and inappropriate. more foreign firms are reconsidering doing business in iraq. violence has increased because of the civil war in neighboring syria. but some companies, especially those from asia, believe the rewards outweigh the risks. here's our baghdad correspondent

nhk world's takashi ichinose reports. >> reporter: products such as cars and washing machines caught the attention amid the rising number of consumers. >> translator: iraq does have security issues, but we see huge potential here. >> reporter: terrorist attacks have increased. influenced by the civil war in neighboring syria. the consulate has given sectarian division in europe. still, the economy is steadily expanding. gdp is expected to grow by 14% this year.

forecasts say the population will be a 50% increase. that's why despi violence, companies are vying for a place in this market. asian firms are among the most prominent. chinese companies also. those from south korea are following closely behind, overtaking u.s. businesses in the total amount of investments. this south korean company is developing a new residential complex in baghdad. complete with roads, water supply, and electricity. >> this project is first and biggest city development project in history of iraq. >> reporter: japanese business managers are trying to catch up. and they are hoping to gain

ground by focusing on consumers. japanese products are still part of life for people in iraq. they're confident in the technology remains high. so is the demand for it. >> translator: i have a japanese calculator that i've been using since the '80s. it hasn't failed me even once in 30 years. >> translator: people here still remember when the markets were full of japanese products. japanese firms need to keep safety in mind, but we hope they'll send more people to this country. >> reporter: iraqi leaders are counting on this growing interest. they believe foreign investment will diversify the economy, and help them improve basic services. >> iraq has a number of advantages. it's the size of the population, the number of well-trained people, and also availability of

resources. >> reporter: the future of iraq will have a significant impact on the future of the whole region. and an economic recovery and prosperity will be essential in bringing stability to the country. nhk world, baghdad. here are the latest market figures. people in beijing have remembered late political leader who pushed for reform, but paid the price.

thursday would have been his 94th birthday. he once held the top job in the communist party. family members and former aides held a quiet ceremony at his home in the chinese capital. he spent 50 years under house arrest there until he died in 2005. the people who worked with him praised his ideals. >> translator: he strenuously pushed reform and an open-door policy. he always worked for the general public. his downfall is a great loss to the nation. >> he was the communist party's general secretary in 1989, when the military used force to end protests in tiananmen square. party officials criticized him for expressing sympathy with the student-led democracy movement. they removed him from his post. authorities kept an eye on the memorial gathering outside his house, talking about the late politician remains taboo in

china. but other figures are revered. state-run television covered memorials marking the sen ten area of the president's father two days earlier. they aired special programs praising the achievements of xi who was once vice premier. protests and clashes erupted between townspeople and ultra-rightists in italy over the funeral of a nazi war criminal. former ss captain erich priebke was arrested for carrying out crimes in world war ii. he died under house arrest in rome last week. he was 100 years old. he was given a life sentence for the massacre of 335 civilians in caves outside rome during the war. the german national was captured in argentina after nearly 50 years on the run. priebke reportedly never repented for his or any of the

crimes committed by the nazis. the vatican disallowed a funeral for him in rome. a french catholic group was at odds with the vatican planned a service outside rome on tuesday. the argentine municipality pr priebke's family lives and hometown in germany both refused to accept his remains. his body was taken to a military base until a decision can be made on his burial. there's a new typhoon near guam. meteorologist robert speta has been keeping an eye on that. robert, how serious is this one. >> right now, let's first start off by talking about typhoon francisco, working off to the north. at first slowly, but now winds are gusting up near 200 kilometers per hour at this time. about 180 kilometers per hour. but right just towards the west of guam, we're going to be seeing these waves push onshore, could be up to about seven meters high in some coastal areas. so definitely it's going to be a

rough day going through the day here on friday. also tropical storm warnings are in effect at this time. and we're continuing to see that risk of heavy rainfall, to about 70, 80 millimeters across the mariana islands. as it tracks off to the north and the west, we'll start see it gradually intensify, up to a fairly strong typhoon before it starts to approach japan. now, where exactly is it going to be going? well, still undetermined at this time. we're looking out to a possible impact here, somewhere in japan by tuesday and wednesday of next week. so a lot of time to watch this out over open water. i do want to say, everybody from the southern japanese islands through western japan, you want to keep a very, very close eye on this storm system. let's talk about japan right now. we have the high pressure ushering in cooler temperatures. frost advisories over towards hokkaido. what this will be doing, as it moves to the east, it will start to bring in warmer air around the southern periphery of it.

also rain showers towards tokyo by sunday, you'll be seeing rain showers out here as well. northeastern china and korea, dry weather in place for much of this area. i want to talk about the tropics into the indochina peninsula and vietnam. we have seen heavy showers out here. about 160 millimeters in vietnam here in the past 24 hours. you've been looking at flooding out there after typhoon nari came onshore back on monday. still some pretty serious conditions. over toward the americas, one system is moving off to the northeast, another one coming in from the west. this one is actually bringing snowfall in toward the rockies, and the northern plains and western portions of the great lakes. that's going to push through, work its way toward the east. behind it, cold air is ushering in from the north. we'll see temperatures drop down with snow flurries in a few areas. frost advisories as well. and also, it does look like the highs will be dropping going into friday and saturday.

chicago, 14. in the single digits, denver just a high of 11. look at miami, partly cloudy skies, 31 on your thursday. over towards europe, we have one storm system down to the balkans. that will bring in rough weather in romania. still could see gusts around this area up to 90 kilometers per hour. up north, we do have another system as well. that's moving through the scandinavian peninsula into the baltic states and western russia. the winds up to about 40 kilometers per hour. also the snow that's kicking up, about 5 to 10 centimeters in some areas out here as it continues to move off to the east. high pressure into central portions of the continent. decent weather in place. it's not lasting very long. we are still watching the storm system coming across the british isles in western europe and that will usher in foul weather toward the latter part of the week. paris at 17. even in berlin, rain showers. mid-teens there for you. the cold spot on the map is

stockholm, just 5 here on your friday. that's a look at your local weather. here's the extended forecast. finally, movies from around the world are lining up screens in the japanese capital. the annual tokyo international film festival is under way. the 26th edition began with its

signature green carpet opening nshe actors and directors from japan andabroad recycled plastic bottles.d it reflects the festival's ongoing theme of ecology. >> translator: i think the tokyo international film festival is growing bigger and bigger, because emphasizes the environment, as symbolized by the green carpet. >> francis ford coppola led the parade down the green carpet arm in arm with his daughter, sophia. 15 fil selected from more than 1,400 entries are competing for the top prize. two japanese movies are in the running. onis t sto of 18-year-old japanese girl studyi for her uversy entrance exams. the winners of the tokyo international film festival will be announced on friday of next

week. and the final day of the event. that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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♪ our theme today is cutting. many japanese designs are born from the act of cutting. this is edible design that focuses on seasonality. the act of cutting is honed into an art of light and lines.