>> hello there. welcome to "newsline requests. it's friday, july 18th. a malaysia airlines plane has crashed in eastern ukraine. ukraine authorities say it was hit with a surface to air missile. all of the 295 people on board are believed to have been killed. the plane went down in an area along the russian border where ukraine forces have been fighting pro-russian militants. this amateur video shows an explosion in the area where the plane went down. then, a plume of black smoke. search and rescue crews rushed

to the area. they found debris covering the crowd. they had to be careful because of the fighting in the area. the boeing 777 took off from amsterdam headed for kual kuala lumpar. most of the 280 passengers were dutch. flight 217 left shortly after noontime on thursday. officials say they lost contact four hours later. the last-known position was over eastern ukraine, about 50 kilometers from the eastern border. officials at malaysia airlines are dealing with their second major disaster this year. another flight disappeared. this time, airline officials will have to manage under different circumst >> reporter: broken pieces of the wings are skaterred around

the vast field. the red and blue malaiysia insignia and dozens of bodies littered the ground. some debris is still in plains. this is the scene of a sudden catastrophe. an emergency worker at the site found countless corpses and the debris was spread over 15 kilometers. the cash occurred near theville annual about 15 kilometers near

the russian country's fourth large many ethnic here. it share some people made effor in m. ethnic russian res anth ne th in t. the region has pro-russian militant g earlier this month in the same area a ukrainian military transport plane was shot down and three were found dead. that was followed by the downing of a military jet in the same region on monday, killing the crew and dozens of soldiers on board. the ukrainian government said both were attacks carried out by pro-russian activists. after the malaysia airli tragedy, president petro poroshenko strongly condemned the act. >> translator: this plane was brought down. it's not an accident, not a catastrophe, but a terrorist act. >> reporter: prime minister of the self-proclaimed people's republic of donetsk, on the other hand, blames the government side. >> translator: a passenger aircraft has been shot down, shot down by the ukrainian air

force. to tell the truth is a provocation on purpose. this is not the first time for ukraine to shoot down a passenger aircraft. >> reporter: international calls for a thorough investigation are already pouring in from around the world. mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world. >> apparently, shot down. shot down. not an accident. blown out of the sky. >> biden said he had spoken over the phone with poroshenko.

the israeli military announced on thursday evening that it started a ground offensive in t te the temporary tr thing of the past as f between israeli forces and hamas milita intense. an nhk reporter in g fierce attacks appear to be under way and big explosio be heard in the israel had earlier resumed air raids over gaza, in response to hamas offensive. the islamist militant group has fired rockets into israel after the five-hour cease-fire expired on thursday afternoon. palestinians had only a brief moment of peace during the temporary truce. many had gathered outside a bank in gaza city, hoping to withdraw money. some said they were worried about their safety. still one man said he was glad to have a chance to get out. >> translator: the cease-fire is very good. we can go everywhere.

without this cease-fire, you wouldn't see me here today because i'm so scared. they targeted the young and the old. the israelis can do anything they want. >> people had rushed to markets to buy food and supplies, and some hurried home to pick up belongings. many palestinians are st united natio escape israeli raids on hamas. >> translator: we sleep on blankets on the floor, and cov diarrhea and are t. >> aide workers are about hygiene at s along with the available of clean drinking water and food. for the past ten days israeli forces have been hitting what they call terror targets in gaza, the territory hamas controls. hamas fighters have fired hundreds of rockets at israel. israeli troops shot down most of them with what they call the iron dome aerial defense system. the conflict has left more than 230 palestinians answer one israeli dead. hamas leaders and others have criticized israel for killing civilians.

>> people are shuffling their investments around, putting their money into investments they feel are safer. the situation in gaza only ax accelerated the trend. the dow jones industrial average had its worst day in two months. let's go to ramin with a full update for us and joins us from the tokyo stock exchange. ramin wharks are you seeing over there? >> yes, indeed. given the events k4 have unfolded here, investors really moving out of stocks and we're seeing that definite lid here in the first few minutes of trading. the nikkei is down over 200 points. and the broader topix down by 1.4%. japanese shares ended thursday pretty much flat without any clear indication.

let me just go through a few of them. stocks began running into heavy selling in europe. we also saw moscow's benchmark index shedding almost 4%. gold is usually an asset that investors pile into. the price has jumped. and the yield on the u.s. 10-year treasury note fell below 2 1/2% nearing the lows for the year. quite a clear cut reaction. >> ramin, it looks like

investors are getting out of the dollar. what do you think of that? >> the dollar-yen pair is a very big focus. the dollar-yen i'm talking about. investors selling to buy the yen. 101. 101.18-to 21. and the sharp drop in the yield on the u.s. treasury noets, which i just touched on, also weighing on the dollar. and worse-than-forecast new housing numbers. the yen rose to a five-month high against the euro, as well. 136.76-87 right now. political extents, u.s. banks such as morgan stanley reported solid profits. still, investors are going to be waiting for more earnest results.

a big one later today is general electric. >> ramin, thark also lot for that update. as you mentioned, home builders are seeing a decline in their business. over the past two months, they've started work on fewer houses. u.s. commerce department officials say housing starts 234 june fell 9.3% from may to an annually adjusted pace of about 890,0 0. analysts were expecting the figure to be above one million. building permits also fell. they were down about 4% to about 960,000. permits are regarded as the best indication of what con strurks will be like in the months ahead.

executives at it giant microsoft are preparing to make the biggest layoff in history. they plan to eliminate 18,000 jobs. the executives say over the next year, they'll cut 14% of their work force. they plan to make most of the cuts to their nokia mobile business. ceo conducted a review of microsoft's alliance on its mainstay product, the windows operating system. he says he wants to focus more on tablet devices and cloud come butting dices. the shift will be difficult, but he says microsoft has to evolve in order to survive. more headlines in business for you next hour. here's a check on markets.

japanese leaders are putting the pieces in place as they prepare to implement a sta secrecy law. it gives t authority to designate certain information as spe legislators passed the law in december, and now members of a government panel have approved a set of rules for cla information. nhk world's tomoko kamata has more. >> reporter: the draft released by members of the panel lists 55 types of information that qualify as state secrets. they include classified information provided by foreign governments and information

gained through the self-defense forces information gathering and surveillance activities. data on the capabilities of submarines and aircraft, and how they are used would also be secret. and so would certain information gathered using radio waves and satellites. >> translator: the draft contains an approach and system for the law's appropriate application, and i believe it will allow administrative offices to deal with secrets objectively and transparently. >> reporter: and it says government officials will respect the im freedom of the press. it says only the heads of 90 administrative agencies will have the power to classify information. they include the foreign and defense ministers. the draft says officials must first gain security clearance. that process will include an examination of their criminal and financial records.

but it says the government will respect the privacy and will not scrutinize their beliefs, political activities or involvement with labor unions. the authors of the draft are also planning for a system of checks and balances. they're calling for the creation of two bodies within the cabinet office to determine whether information has been classified appropriately. the people in charge of those bodies would be authorized to demand documentation on secret information from the heads of ministries and agencies. and they will be able to declassify any information if they think it does not merit protection. experts are divided on the

draft's contents. >> translator: there was no active discussion about the issue of secrets for a long time. so there weren't any firm rules or systems for dealing with them. but we've held many discussions on the issue and gradually developed a proper set of rules. and i think they meet global standards. >> translator: this is the first time for japan to have this type once it goes into effect, some parts may be deleted and others may be added. my concern is that the legal framework for the law is quite vague. >> reporter: people outside japan have also voiced concern. members of the u.n. human rights committee say japanese leaders must make sure the law does not infringe on people's right to know. protesters rallied in front of the cabinet office as panel members met. they were demanding more

>> translator: even today's meeting was not open to the public. and i think openness is a fundamental issue. >> reporter: the law is set to take effect before the end of the ye. but japanese leade convince some members of the public that it's needed. tomoko kamata, nhk world. japanese prime minister shinzo abe is trying to improve relations with south korea. i said once again he wants to hold talks with president park geun-hye. he shared his views on bilateral ties. >> translator: some difficult problems exist between japan and south korea. that's precisely why i believe

we should have a frank exchange of views. >> abe also said the two countries share strategic interests. he said he'd like to develop their relationship further. song hee-yong is editor in chief of the daily newspaper "chosun ilbo." he said his time in tokyo had shown him lots of japanese want to build better relations. he said he hoped the visit by south korean media chiefs would be a starting point. police in tokyo have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing customer data from an education company. investigators suspect a systems engineer illegally copies information on more than 10 million people. he admitted to copies names, addresses and birth dates of customers. he confessed to selling the information to a company that compiles lists of names for about $25,000. the information is believed to have been resold to other brokers. competitors of benesse bought

information on about 2.6 million people and mailed them directly. a senior executive with benesse group says the company will put aside about $200 million to compensate customers. >> translator: a panel of outside experts will look at what happened and we will fully cooperate with the investigative authorities. >> he also apologized to economy trade and industry minister. motege said it's extremely regrettable that benesse took more than half a year to notice the leak.

>> now, those players are competing in an international competition in the birthplace of the game. nhk reports. >> reporter: it started gaining popularity 12 years ago when the first videos of nifty tricks and combinations were up loaded online. >> this simple toy is attracting players from around the world. >> reporter: 108 players from around the country compete for the title. >> it's nervous because you're going up against everyone at once. but it's very fun.

>> asokas is only 14, but he's very competitive in the top skills in hawaii. he watches his rivals closely to see what kind of moves they've got. ace took this up about a year ago. he decided to participate in the world championship. >> i want to show people my sty style. >> reporter: in the first round, contestants are given three minutes to complete five tricks. they are awarded points based on the difficulty of each trick. ace chooses a moderately

difficult combination of tricks. he completes them successfully. the best 20 contestants will advance to the final round. was ace's strategy the right one? ace came in eighth place. now, he has to get ready for the next stage. >> i'm going to practice tonight and we're going to see tomorrow. it's time for the final. now, it's ace's turn. the pressure seems a bit too

much for him. he's unable to complete what he's chosen to perform. he now knows he will have to train much harder to complete the best of the best. they're taking a traditional japanese game to a new level and everyone's really having fun. they're all really good. >> people who don't know it might dismiss it very easily. that it's much more easy than it seems. >> the final results are announced. the winner is a 19-year-old from the united states. ace came in 15th place. >> lower tricks so i can add up my points. but it didn't work. >> what do you want to do?

>> i want to show everything i learned. for centuries, this toy has captured people's imagination. nhk world, hiroshima. >> it's time now for a check of the wetser. people in western europe are dealing with unusually hot weather conditions. >> yes, good morning catherine. many holidaymakers in france and spain must be surprised at an extreme heat. we have video to show you how hot it was in the french capital and spain. 26 provinces were under alert upon thursday. temperatures toward to 40 degrees in some locations, outdoor cafes were empty in some regions during the day. traditional spanish fans came in handy for some. meanwhile, sun and heat were welcomed back in paris. temperatures are up to 32 degrees celsius paris, above the monthly average. the summer heat replaced nearly

three weeks of bad weather with long spells of heavy showers and storms in many parts of france. very hot conditions. you can see there's almost no cloud cover over the western parts of the continent. heat is also affecting germany, your high in berlin could be 29 degrees, even rising to 32 on saturday. 30 degrees in london on friday. we have a heat health alert posted. nighttime lows are going to be quite hot, too. meanwhile cooling down to 26 degrees on saturday in london because a cool weathermaker is approaching. this is the system. it's packing cooler air back behind it, but hot ahead of it, so in between severe weather could be happening over the british isles, france and the iberian peninsula through your friday. watch out for frequent lightning, thunderstorms, and

even hail. severe weather is also happening over the black sea region and most of the balkan peninsula. now, across asia, we are watching a couple of tropical systems. one here is a typhoon named ramussen and this is a newly formed tropical storm named matmo. matmo means heavy rains. let me first talk about this one, starting to affect the south coast of china. about 300 millimeters of rain has fallen in the hong kong area and this system will likely make its way towards the west, probably reach the northern parts of hainan island by this evening as a very strong typhoon. now this place, this haiko, capital of the province many people are living and then the system will likely make the third landfall in north vietnam by your saturday night. winds are going to be very, very strong, especially in the northern parts of hainan and the southern coast of china. mudslides are going to be a concern.

across the philippines you're receiving rainfall to the west coast due to the enhanced southwest monsoon. rain is on the menu for the east coast because of a tropical storm sending moisture to the coastal areas, but this system is not going to make landfall. it is expected to move up to the northwest, so that's at least good news for people in the philippines. now across japan in the korean peninsula, rain is popping up in many parts of japan, but most of the rain is daytime thundershowers. across the korean peninsula yesterday heavy rain fell and numerous lightning as well, but conditions will be gradually easing today, and cold air actually located here that will be moving into japan as we go into tomorrow. so daytime thundershowers could be popping up once again in most of japan tomorrow. due to the rainfall, temperatures will be down to the 20s in tokyo bu 35 in beijing as well as chongqing. here is your extended forecast.

>> that wraps up this edition of "newsline." thanks for joining us.

vote counting could take weeks, but indonesia's economy needs urgent attention. opportunity knocks in china. western leaders are lining up to talk business. and hong kong homebuyers are looking for something affordable, and they're looking in tokyo. hello. you're watching "asia biz forecast." i'm yuco fukushima. indonesians went to the polls. the winner will take charge of southeast asia's most populous country and its largest economy. election officials expect to release the final result in two