welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. media says members of china's weaker ethnic minority may have been involved in a deadly car crash in beijing. u.s. officials say they're conducting a review of their intelligence gathering methods as new abuses come to light. and people in turkey are marking the 90th anniversary of

their republic's founding, and japanese leaders are reflecting on ties that date back nearly as long. people in china have more questions than answers about a deadly crash in beijing. a vehicle plowed through a crowd in tiananmen square. five people died. media in hong kong are reporting members of the weaker ethnic minority may have been involved. the allegation has come to light as fresh images of the crash have surfaced. nhk world has the report. >> reporter: the video was shaky, but it clearly showed the aftermath of the incident. people across china are talking about it. a sport utility vehicle plowed into a crowd of tourists in monday in tiananmen square. it crashed into a low bridge and burst into flames. the driver and two passengers died. so did a chinese man and a woman from the philippines. this is where the crash

occurred. one day after the incident, the area is crowded with tourists, as usual. but police have blocked off part of the square. they're asking visitors for identification. >> translator: this incident is a threat against society. it's made me feel anxious. >> translator: there are so many people in beijing. many of them have complained. someone could have taken things to the extreme. >> reporter: tiananmen square is close to key political institutions. pro-democracy students stage protests there in 1989 that ended in a military crackdown. but responsibility for the crash is being pinned on another section of society. a hong kong newspaper reports that two of the three people who

were in the suv are ethnic weekles, the minority weegels have lived for years in the autonomous region. they said they're fed up with being dominated. arrests over the past few years have left hundreds dead. it appears chinese investigators are examining the possibility of weegel involvement. some deposited a document said to be from public security authorities in beijing. it mentions the crash. it shows the names and addresses of two men from the weegel autonomous region. it also lists the license number of a car. they're asking for people to come forward if they have information about the men. some in the chinese media say authorities released the document to gauge public reaction.

right now, government officials are only talking about the crash in vague terms. >> translator: the relevant ministry is now investigating the incident. we are also taking strong measures to secure the safety and stability of the capital. >> reporter: analysts say chinese leaders may be growing worried about the possibility that the crash may trigger unrest. nhk world, beijing. a former jab knees prime minister has stepped in to help improve relations with china. he met the country's foreign minister in beijing. they discussed the territorial dispute over the senkaku islands in the east china sea. there is no sovereignty issue because the islands are an inherent part of japan's territory. the islands are controlled by

japan. china and taiwan claim them. the foreign minister reiterated china's stance. japanese leaders hope meetings at various levels will help improve damaged relations with china. one source of tension has been china's growing military activity in the region. chinese bombers and other planes carried out three days of fly-byes near japan's southern island chain. the japanese defense chief said he will respond by bolstering surveillance. they passed between the main island of okinawa and miyako island. they didn't violate japanese air space, but commanders with japan's self-defense forces scrambled fighter jets as a precaution. defense minister said the

flights were a rare event. >> translator: it's the first time this many chinese aircraft have flown between okinawa and miyako. we know it's part of china's expanding activities over the open seas. >> he said japan needs to strengthen its air surveillance over the southwestern islands in response to the increased activities by the chinese military. the chair of the u.s. senate intelligence committee is looking for answers following revelations american agents have been spying on world leaders. democratic senator diane feinstein said she's launching a major review of all intelligence collection programs. feinstein released a statement saying the national security agency didn't keep her committee properly informed of certain surveillance activities. the committee is responsible for overseeing the work and budget of the intelligence community.

she says that oversight needs to be strengthened and increased. feinstein went on to say it's a big problem that president barack obama was not aware agents were monitoring german chancellor angela merkel's communications since 2002. she said she's opposed on gathering intelligence on leaders of u.s. allies. they face questions after questions regarding the nsa's work. they say the u.s. does not and will not monitor merkel's communications, and they say they're conducting a review of their intelligence gathering methods. >> we're acknowledging the tension this has caused. we understand this has caused concern in countries that are -- that represent some of our closest relationships internationally. and we're working to allay those concerns and to discuss these issues. >> carney said last summer president obama ordered a

comprehensive review of how the u.s. gathers intelligence. he said the investigation should be completed by the end of the year. japan's financial regulators plan to inspect three major banking groups next week. they include mizuho bank that has admitted to providing loans to organized crime groups. officials at the financial services agency say they have already notified the three banking groups of the upcoming inspections. they are tokyo mitsubishi jfk, and mizuho. it will begin next tuesday. the inspections will focus on the legal compliance systems of these banks, including measures to prevent transactions with criminal syndicates.

major japanese brokerages reported strong earnings for the first six months of their business year. behind the gains are booming stock markets in the country. nomura posted a profit of norn $1 billion. in yen terms, this is about 22 times the amount from a year earlier and the biggest profit in 11 years. another firm daiwa jumped to around $950 million. japan life insurance plans to expand into the indonesia market. the major insurer will be the latest company in the industry to make inroads into southeast asia. sources say sumitomo is to agree by the end of the year to enter into indonesia. it's likely to buy a 40% stake in the firm for $300 million to

$400 million. japan's domestic market has been shrinking and this has prompted insurers to eye southeastern asian countries. here are the latest market figures. residents of turkey are celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of their republic.

dignitaries in istanbul are marking the occasion by opening the world's first undersea tunnel linking two continents. they'll open a subway line to connect europe and asia. engineers took nine years to build the subway line. it runs for more than 13 kilometers and sits about 1.5 kilometers below the surface. the subway will take commuters to and from istanbul. they'll be able to cross the strait in four minutes. bridges already connect the continents. the japan international cooperation agency provided financing with loans of about $1.5 billion. in a japanese construction company managed the project. >> translator: i like everything the japanese make. i'm sure the subway built with japanese support will be wonderful. >> city officials hope the tunnel will ease traffic on the bridges and open up space for

ferries on the bhosphorous. abe spoke at a party attendejap part in the construction project. he said his country is proud to have served as a partner for turkey and realizing a 150-year-old dream. >> translator: i hope the bhosporous subway will become the tie between turkey and japan. >> prime minister abe's previous trip to turkey produced tangible results. he hopes the latest visit will further strengthen relations. >> this partnership is signed by the two prime ministers, that is

aimed at increasing the excellent level of relations between the two countries. and the granting of exclusive negotiations rights for the nuclear power plant that is going to be constructed in turkey. and the intensification of the signing of the partnership agreement between turkey and japan. and this very visit of his excellence to turkey are solid steps taken towards the establishment of strategic partnership between turkey and japan. >> that partnership has evolved over the decades. nhk world looks back. >> reporter: on october 29th, 1923, the republic of turkey was declared after the fall of the previous empire. they embarked on reforms to

modernize the state into a new secular republic. japan recognized the country the following year. 90 years later, the leaders of the two countries are working to forge stronger ties. >> tokyo. >> reporter: tokyo and istanbul were both candidates to host the 2020 olympics. when the ioc declared tokyo the winner, turkish people posted as many as 150,000 congratulatory messages a day on twitter. surprising the japanese public. abe visited turkey last may and signed a strategic partnership agreement with prime minister aldor. the two oversaw the signing of a $22 billion deal by japan's mitsubishi heavy industries, and the french conglomerate aribe to

build turkey's second nuclear power plant. friendship between these nations began 123 years ago, with the tragic sinking in a typhoon of a turkish naval ship off the coast of japan. local villagers pulled 69 turkish sailors from the raging sea. since then, japan and turkey have been there to help each other in times of distress. during the iran/iraq war, turkey sent its flag airliners to tehran in 1985 to help evacuate japanese people stranded there. when the earthquake and tsunami struck japan's northeast, turkey sent a rescue and support team. that same year, a magnitude 7.2

earthquake hit turkey's eastern region. japan provided humanitarian assistance, including $10 million in cash. but it's not just about friendship. for japan, turkey represents a growing economy and a gateway to both the middle east and europe. turkey's economic ties with china are becoming stronger. but, as a nato member and a key ally of the united states, it's important for turkey to strike a strategic balance in east asia. that means japan will remain an important partner. nhk world, tokyo. a japanese research team says most of the radioactive cesium that fell on the forest floor after the accident at the

fukushima plant is still in the same place. researchers from the japan atomic energy agency installed monitoring equipment in woods near fukushima prefecture in may 2011. that was two months after the accident. they hope to learn how cesium moves from fallen leaves to soil. the results show that rain washed it off leaves six months after the accident. the researchers say that as the leaves decomposed, the cesium moved into the soil. after two years of research, they say that only about 0.1% to 0.2% has reached a depth of 10 centimeters. >> translator: the results suggest that the cesium has not penetrated deep into the ground. i think the findings will be useful to decontaminate affected areas. >> they concluded it's unlikely underground water has probably carried radioactive cesium from the soil to nearby areas. japanese leaders are looking to the outer reaches of their

territory to launch a new anti-global warming strategy. they want residents of remote islands to one day rely on renewable energy for power generation instead of diesel. >> translator: we want to start establishing a low carbon society from remote islands. a society that can produce energy locally, and then store it. >> officials with the environment ministry say residents on about 100 islands rely on diesel to feed energy to their homes and businesses. they say natural disasters could disrupt fuel industries leading to blackouts. they want to use renewable energy resources to reduce the dependence on diesel. and store electricity to be used in case of disasters. they're discussing the floating wi

wind. seeking about $80 million for the project in fiscal 2014, which starts in april. japanese leaders are looking abroad to promote the country's pop culture. they've signed up students from 33 countries to act as volunteer ambassadors. some of them are already at work. they help pitch japanese games, music and film at a trade show here in tokyo. here's nhk world's reporter. >> reporter: at this year's festival, a record of over 26 countries and regions, and 300 organizations. this is different from the year before. the events were divided by content. cartoon producers went to the anime events, pop industry scouts to music events, and so on. overseas buyers can see all these cultural offerings in one place. >> the japanese are so much -- i

would say intellectual property here, as far as the possibility of remake rights. >> reporter: the economy ministry selected 151 people from 33 countries to be ambassadors. they are international volunteer students and fans who will evaluate japanese pop culture. these new recruits came here to share information with overseas buyers. randy became interested in japan in animation as a child in indonesia. so much so, he came to japan six months ago to learn japanese. randy runs a website called journal otaku. on it, he wants to introduce japanese pop culture, such as anime and manga to his own people. as part of the effort to spread japanese music abroad, popular

musicians performed. the ambassadors were also invited. as an ambassador, randy gets access to interview famous musicians. >> translator: why did you challenge yourself to become a dance musician? >> translator: when i was in the group duo chemistry, it was mostly ballad music. i love dance music. and i hope to show this new side of me as an artist. >> reporter: randy's interview and a review of the show will go up on his website. as internet users in indonesia see the article, japanese music will be able to spread. >> the interview was to tell people in indonesia, this is what you can expect. especially it's coming to

jakarta next month. so that's why we want to tell people as fast as possible. >> reporter: the ambassadors make their knowledge available at trend seminars. so they can use the information to sell their cultural products. >> the japanese, it costs a lot just to follow what's happening in the global market. when they talk with the ambassadors just talking through each event, then it's just -- it comes as a very useful information for them. >> reporter: as cool japan continues to branch out, ambassadors feed back to the creators. it's a cycle that could make for better art and happier customers. nhk world. there's a severe storm in australia. rachel ferguson from the weather team has an update.

rachel? >> hi there. yes, australia is right in the swing of the storm season. let's go to some video coming out of sydney today. things were looking really unstable today. southeastern australia battered by more high winds and severe weather. last week, the winds fanned fires which destroyed over 300 homes west of sydney. a squall line pushed through sydney area bringing winds up to 100 kilometers per hour. what you're seeing here is a couple of people being rescued from a car. a tree fell on their car and trapped them inside. emergency services there came to rescue them. numerous trees were uprooted, damaging homes, and over 600 calls for assistance from the emergency services. very busy day for the emergency services today in southeastern australia. well, it's going to be another night, tuesday night, for very unstable for the coast here. wednesday looks a lot better. you can see the storm system starting to move offshore.

but unfortunately, it's heading straight to new zealand. it's going to be on wednesday some very severe weather for you in new zealand, potential for flash flooding with those strong storms coming through. and some very high winds, too. from one storm to the next one, it's going to be focusing attention on the midwest in towards the south of the united states. and into the northern tier of mexico as well. severe weather, anywhere from nebraska, or just out of the great lakes, i should say, really a strong thunderstorm from nebraska down in toward texas, with flash flooding possible for the lower mississippi valley. upwards of 100 millimeters is possible of rain in the next 24 hours. that can cause flash flooding. very dangerous stuff. in addition to that, ping-pong ball-sized hail and tornadoes not out of the question. on the other side of the jet stream, we've got snow from metropolitan down to the four corners. one degree in winnipeg for your

tuesday high. further towards the south, temperatures in the upper 20s. miami 29. even up to 30 degrees in houston. a lot of that heat funneling into the storm system there, spreading out through the midwest and the south. we go to another storm, this time in europe. we've been tracking this one for the past couple of days, swept through the british isles, up through scandinavia in towards the northeast now it is. we'll find that front there impacting finland, down in through the baltic states, and into northwestern russia. that's where the wind is going to be strongest today. but you can still see it looks very gusty through germany, denmark, down into southern portions of the united kingdom, and parts of germany, astonia as well. on wednesday it's going to be a bit of a clear day. you get a break. then this next round of precipitation, strong winds with that, too, is coming straight in from the atlantic and rolling across the british isles. so there's not going to be much time for a break unfortunately.

in terms of your thunderstorms down toward the south, still seeing the northern portions of italy being affected by that. flash flooding is possible here, too. it's just inching a little bit further toward the east as we head on into our wednesday. down towards the southeast, looking good. lots of sunshine for you in athens. 25 degrees for your high. things are settling down on wednesday. bright sunshine in london, paris, madrid. here's your extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this

hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. until next time, good-bye.

in the valley the oppressive summer heat has finally lifted. the soft, early autumn sun rays envelope kyoto.