welcome to "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. people in western japan have been hit by torrential rains. three people, including one baby, have been left dead, and dozens of orts athers are getti caught up in landslides. rescue workers are rushing to those sites. residents of hiroshima have seen record rainfall, more than 200 millimeters came down in just three hours, that's more than the average for the entire month. daybreak revealed the full extent of the damage. the heavy rain has softened the

ground in some areas, and many people were trapped in landslides. firefighters are trying to find them. meteorologists say warm air flowed from the south toward western japan. they say that's caused the unstable atmospheric conditions. 2-year-old was rescued, but died later. officials say they're hurrying to rescue about 20 others who are believed to be trapped under the mud. the rain has stopped for now, but authorities are warning people to be on the alert for more landslides and flooding. we'll have more on this from our weather team later in the hour. the sound of air strikes and rocket-fire have once again echoed through the gaza strip. israeli negotiators pulled out of peace talks with hamas, and the two sides started fighting again hours before their latest truce was set to expire. three rockets were fired from gaza into southern israel. israeli commanders responded with air strikes. officials in gaza said three people were killed, including a

2-year-old girl. 45 others were wounded. the israeli military issued an order to open all bomb shelters within 80 kilometers of gaza, so residents can take shelter. negotiators had been holding talks in cairo over a permanent cease-fire. palestinian representatives issued a statement saying they made a final proposal, but they say they're still waiting for a response. israeli media quoted sources close to the government as saying the negotiations had failed. spokesperson for the u.s. state department called for an immediate end to hostilities and asked negotiators to return to talks. >> we hope that the parties can reach an agreement on a sustainable cease-fire or if necessary, agree to yet another extension of their temporary cease-fire so they can continue their conversation. >> harth blamed hamas for the breakdown in the talks.

the presidents of ukraine and russia have watched a battle play out for months for control of eastern ukraine. they plan to meet next week to discuss what they should do. vladimir putin and petro poroshenko will talk in the belarusian capital minsk. the leaders and representatives of the eu will join them. they're expected to discuss the crisis and trade issues between ukraine, the eu and an economic bloc led by russia. putin and poroshenko met briefly in june during commemorations in france marking the d-day landings. they've seen forces gain hands against pro-russian separatists. government forces pushed into donetsk and luhansk to drive the militants out. japanese diplomats are following a number of leads as they try to track down a japanese man missing in syria. they believe islamist militants took him captive. he says earl whier this year he

started a military and security company in tokyo. he went to syria late last month to do some research. senior member of an opposition group said yukao wanted to see firsthand what happened to him. he was traveling with his group near aleppo but they got separated and members of the group islamic state took yukwa captive. >> translator: the man is our friend and brother, and he's important to us. it's my duty to secure his release. >> he says he doesn't know where yukawa is or how he's doing. he says members of his group have proposed a prisoner exchange with islamic state, but he says they have not received a response. peru's government is auctioning off jewelry from a former intelligence chief. he allegedly bought them with taxpayer's money. vladimir montesinos was a close

aide to alberto s fujimori. his 152 items up for auction include gold rings and a diamond encrusted watch. the two-day auction began on monday in lima. peru's government expects to raise about $1 million from the sale. officials say the money will be used to tackle corruption and organized crime in the country. he is serving a 20-year prison sentence for corruption and human rights abuses. allegations surfaced in 2000 that he bribed opposition lawmakers. this led to the fall of his government. things aren't going in the direction they want and ai uchida join us from the business desk. what can you tell us? >> we've seen month after month are more imports than exports, and things weren't so different last month either. finance ministry officials say july marks the 25th month in a

row that trade has been in the negative, but the deficit has narrowed. the deficit for july came to about $9.4 billion. the monthly trade balance has been in the red since july 2012. exports rose 3.9% in yen terms from the same month last year, meanwhile, imports increased to 0.3 0.3%. pickup in auto exports continued to decrease in the deficit but higher demand for fuel for thermal power generation is keeping japan's trade balance in the red. let's get an update on how investors are reacting to those numbers, ramin mellegard is standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning, ramin. what can you tell us? >> thank you very much, ai. those numbers you just mentioned coming in a little bit wider than market consensus, but let's have a look at how the nikkei and the topix are reacting for today, wednesday, august 20th. both are in the positive, nikkei

up 0.25%. we'll see how that progresses. the nikkei hit a two-week closing high on tuesday and both indexes registered seven days of gains in a row. now investors may be prompted to continue buying shares here today, after inflation and housing data released in the u.s. on tuesday eased some worries about the u.s. economy, and helped push the dollar higher, and that of course should continue to support exporter shares here in japan. the dollar has risen even further from this time yesterday, so that bodes well also. ai? >> so where does the dollar stand against the yen this wednesday morning, ramin, and what are you hearing where the trading may be headed? >> the dollar/yen really is stuck in a range. let's look right now, 1 10 2.93-98, close to the 103 level. an analyst i spoke to this morning from new york said the

currency pair is stuck in a bit of a bat well positive economic fundamentals and then you have geopolitical concerns, strong data suggesting the u.s. economy is growing, which is supportive for the dollar, but then investors are also hesitant to leave the safety of u.s. government bonds, hence he said the pair has not been able to break out of the current range. we're getting very close to 103 right now. we'll see how that goes. the euro is also sold in new york to hit a nine-month low against the dollar so with that in mind, many will be very keen to hear what the federal reserve chair janet yellen says this friday in her speech at jackson hole, wyoming w a lot of other central bankers. many analysts are expecting her to refer to the labor markets and other issues. now i'm also going to be watching the airline sector here, oil prices fell sharply overnight to eight-month lows, which is a bottom line for the airlines and a full roundup of asian indexes and how that may affect japanese shares here as

well. positive start for the nikkei and topix, we'll see if they can end in the positive for an eighth day in a row. i'll have a full roundup of the morning session in a couple of hours. >> sounds good. we will talk to you then, that was ramin mellegard live from the tokyo stock exchange. citigroup executives are drastically reviewing strategy and considering pug pulling out of the business. citibank japan offers retail banking at more than 30 branches. its total deposits as of june stood at about $37 billion. executives are sounding out other banks about acquiring their banks and facilities. prolonged low interest rates in japan have made it difficult for them to boost earnings. citibank japan plans to continue with its wholesale banking

operations for businesses. and those are your headlines for this hour. it's back to catherine now. >> thanks very much, ai. people in many parts of southeast asia head to work in a tangle of traffic. breathing polluted air. residents of the indonesian capital jakarta complain they have it particularly tough. the city's governor is taking on a new job, president of indonesia. and jokua dodo is promising to ease the traffic jams before they put the brakes on economic growth. nhk world's fransiska renatta reports. >> reporter: the streets are packed with vehicles. most of them going nowhere fast. >> this is the daily traffic jam that people need to face almost every day. >> traffic congestion is more than just a hassle. it chokes productivity and causes delays to distribution, causing the indonesian economy an estimated $2 billion every year.

it's also a health hazard. idle vehicles purpose out emission and pollute the city's air. >> translator: the number of motorcycles and cars has been increasing by 1 million every year in jakarta, but the city's roads are only a few meters longer. the traffic jams are getting worse and worse. >> reporter: the jakarta government has tried all sorts of schemes to try and ease congestion. seven years ago it tested a water bus along old canals, but floating garbage jammed the bot boat's propellers, and the idea ended in failure. since 2003 private vehicles containing fewer than three people have been banned from central jakarta at peak times.

some people take advantage of this route to earn money. they're known as jockeys. a jockey is someone who gets paid simply to ride inside a vehicle, so you can enter the restricted zone. it's attractive work. enough to lure people from the countryside to the capital just become a jockey. >> translator: i can earn $5 a day only working for three hours. i can't find any easier job than this. >> reporter: indonesia's president-elect joko widodo is determined to solve the traffic problem. joko has been governor of jakarta since 2012. he's due to be sworn in as president in october. >> translator: i'm focusing on developing transportation systems that allow large numbers of people to move around efficiently.

>> reporter: work on indonesia's first subway line began in jakarta last october. the project is being financed with loans. the city has launched 11 new medium distanced bus routes to reduce the number of suburban commuters traveling by car. joko says as president, he'll address traffic problems not only in jakarta, but across the country. he campaigned with the promise to build 2,000 kilometers of new roads. his supporters have high expectations. >> translator: i hope joko will solve the traffic problem in all our cities. >> reporter: solving indonesia's chronic traffic problems is seen as a key test of the country's new president. commuters and investors alike are eager to be see whether he can open the road to continue economic success. fransiska renatta, nhk world, jakarta.

a number of photographers devote themselves to particular themes during their careers, some focus on landscapes, others on skill life. years ago, an american photographer started training his lens on parents and children, and he's made it his life's work. nhk world's takaki iwabu has his story. >> reporter: photographer bruce osborn has spent years shooting images of ueko, a japanese term for parent and a child. he assembled 100 last month for his annual photo session in tokyo. >> one, two, three, go!

we just have amazing support. every year it gets more and more people behind us. it's very exciting. >> reporter: osborn came to japan in 1980 to do commercial work. he always tried to give his photos a new twist. so when a magazine commissioned him to shoot a japanese punk rocker, he asked the musician to bring along his mother. >> seeing him with his mother, all the sudden my whole idea and feeling about him changed too. and i felt more of an in-depth feeling and i thought, that's really interesting. >> reporter: and so began a series. osborn has photographed more than 5,000 japanese ouyako over

the last three decades. one of them was soichi weta, who posed with his parents 11 years ago. he says the experience was surprisingly touching. >> translator: for a brief moment while we were photographed, i felt like i got closer to my parents, and i think that feeling was mutual. >> reporter: this year, ueda had a new reason to sit for a portrait. he and his wife of 14 years had their first child. the uedas wanted an image they could treasure. >> one, two, three. >> reporter: and they knew osborn would be able to give it to them. >> translator: my parents aren't going to be around forever. and my son will eventually leave home, so i realize that the time

we have now when all three generations can get together is a very precious thing. >> reporter: shigeo hujiwara is also keenly aware of time's passage. her daughter, chie, was born with down's syndrome. doctors warned she might not live to the age of 3. but she had beat the odds. and this year, she turned 41. shigeo wanted to commemorate how far they had come together. >> translator: i was really nervous, but i think i did very well. >> translator: we want to come back in ten years. how about that? why don't we do this again when you turn 50? >> parent and child relationship is the bond, the building block

for all future relationships. i think the world will be better off if we can take that bond, that relationship that we built on beginning, and create that to other relationships that we have. >> reporter: osborn is now advocating for the creation of an official celebration around the world. his photographs capture the joy and the laughter that transcend the bond between family members. takk aaki iwabu, nhk world. hotel owners in japan are how tell owners in japan are seeing more and more guests from abroad coming through their doors. more than 10 million foreign visitors arrived last year. the government wants that number doubled by the 2020 tokyo olympics. and with competition heating up, hotel operators are thinking outside the box.

>> a dragon poised to leak from the ceiling. sumo wrestlers looming over the bed. guests in this hotel are confronted with japanese culture and art at every turn. this arresting interior design has a real world function. to grab the attention of foreign tourists. since opening in 2003, visitors from abroad have accounted for an increasing share of the hotel's business, but a brief slump in arrivals after the 2011 earthquake got the managers thinking, how could they attract more guests from overseas? they came up with the answer last year when the hotel began remodeling its guest rooms. artists were invited to contribute graphic motifs. it's a way of standing out from the competition. and the word is spreading through the internet and foreign publications. >> translator: we have been successful in connecting with the foreign market, thanks to

international pr. we came to spread our brand name. >> since the japanese government kicked off a campaign to attract more foreign tourists in 2003, arrivals have risen by an average of 9% per year. the average number of hotel rooms has increased to match this. tokyo has seen a 20% rise. however, some analysts are concerned this may lead to a possible surplus of accommodation. >> there may be a time when demand stops increasing, particularly once the olympics are over. there's a risk there will be an oversupply of rooms. >> some of the newcomers are looking for ways to minimize their risk. one example is this company. this pickle producer was founded 120 years ago. with demand for its core business fading, the company

decided that hotel management could be a promising side business. so it converted its former headquarters. the building was renovated and last year it reopened for business. as a capsule hotel. the compact sleeping units can accommodate a large number of guests. that's not the only advantage. because the units can be removed easily, it will be relatively simple to convert the building for other uses. >> translator: if we fail in the hotel business, we can just remove all the capsules and turn this back into our headquarters. >> okay, we are a capsule hotel and your room -- >> already about 30% of the guests are from abroad. to meet the needs of customers with more baggage, number of wider capsules are available. >> this doesn't look like a capsule hotel at all.

oh, this is good. this is a hard one. i like it. >> positive responses like this are encouraging. >> translator: during cherry blossom season, over half our guests were from abroad. we'll need to open a second hotel and even a third. >> foreign arrivals are increasing, but so are their accommodation options. hotel owners know they'll need to get creative if they want to stand out from the crowd. it's time for a check of the weather, as we reported earlier, people in western japan are dealing with torrential rains and landslides. mai shoji joins us with more in world weather. >> good morning catherine, and yes, a deadly landslide occurred in hiroshima. in hiroshima prefecture over 200

millimeters fell in a three-hour period, doubling the previous record for this date. about ten people are reportedly dead annually but this single event has already caused a couple dozen missing. people are trapped in these houses and many are still missing. take a look at the digits in the three-hour span. this is how much rainfall it had accumulated, more than 200 millimeters in parts of hiroshima, a lot of these areas saw over 100 millimeters, the previous back-to-back heavy rain events have loosened the land to any additional amount could trigger flooding and landslides but this amount of rainfall in such a short span certainly unquestionably is the reason for this deadly landslide events. this is the reason why we have a stationary boundary stretching from northern japan into the south korean peninsula and into

southern locations of china and it is fed by a surge of damp tour and the moisture is providing much more rainfall. unfortunately the stationary boundary will be in a similar location. so similar areas will still be battered with very heavy amounts of rainfall. for example, northern kyushu, about 200 millimeters of additional rainfall on top of what we already showed you. sh shuguoka region, about 80 more millimeters. and now towards the south here across china, we have a low pressure system which used to be a tropical depression which traveled north along the southern locations of china. no matter the intensity, even though it downgraded, it's going to be bringing and has brought heavy amounts of rainfall. about 550 millimeters have been reported in hong kong and frequent lightning as well. thunderstorm warnings and heavy rain warnings are still in place.

guangxi province received about 208 millimeters. on top of that, likely to see about 180 millimeters more. where we want to see the precipitation is in the severe drought area but we're not really seeing any at all. ulan bator reaching 34. another issue across the central locations of japan is the heat. tokyo is reaching up to 35 degrees. nagoya about 36. this is another dangerous weather aspect. please watch out for heatstroke. across the american continent, we have a couple of systems to talk about. this one is bringing quite some severe thunderstorms, large hail, and heavy rain as well as strong gusts will be a threat in the eastern seaboards. another system will provide another round of hailstorms across southern saskatchewan, alberta and descend down to the midwest. the temperatures are as follows. likely to see thunderstorms in denver at 31 degrees. houston looking messy in the florida peninsula. looking messy, atlanta hitting 33 degrees and miami at 32. i'll leave you now for your

extended forecast around the globe. as we've been reporting, people in western japan have been hit by torrential rains. earlier, we reported three people including one girl have been left dead. now there are seven confirmed deaths and more than ten others are getting caught up in

landslides. rescue workers are rushing to those sites. residents of hiroshima have seen record rainfall, more than 200 millimeters came down in just three hours. that's more than the average for the entire month. daybreak revealed the full extent of the damage, the heavy rain has softened the ground in some areas, and many people were trapped in landslides. firefighters are trying to find them. 2-year-old girl was rescued, but later died. officials say they are hurrying to rescue more than ten others who are still believed to be trapped under the mud. the rain has stopped for now, but authorities are warning people to be on the alert for more landslides and flooding. we'll have more on this at the top of the hour. stay with us.

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>> hello and welcome to "global 3000," your weekly check on the global issues that affect us all. today we ask what those global markets are really all about. in ethiopia, we examine whether chinese investments should be welcome for creating jobs or whether there's also a hitch. here's what we have coming up. development chinese style -- we visit a shoe factory in ethiopia. clearing the air -- mexico city takes its worst smog offenders off the road. and role model copenhagen -- a capital goes green danish style.