hello there and welcome to "newsline," it's friday, september 5th, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >> nato leaders have descend on a kousht in wales to discuss the militant islamic state. they were eager to hear from the country's president. >> reporter: described as one of the most important nato meetings

in history. the leaders held discussions on the issue for more than two hours on thursday. nato military alliance stressed that it stands with ukraine in the face of russia's destabilizing influence. the leaders called on russia to step back from confrontation and take a path to peace. nato's secretary-general rasmussen and poroshenko held a press conference side by side. >> while talking about peace, russia has not made one single step to make peace possible. instead of deescalating the crisis, russia has only deepened it. >> every single head of state and head of the government stressed the importance of unity and solidarity in ukraine. with ukraine. nato should demonstrate today. >> earlier, poroshenko sat down

with u.s. president obama, uk prime minister david cameron and three other european leaders. a white house official said the leaders condemned russia for its continued violation of ukraine's sovereignty. they agreed on the need for russia to face increased cost for its actions. >> nato leaders have offered ukraine $20 million in financial assistance, to strengthen the country's military. nato is also planning a joint military exercise in ukraine later this month. the tension between western powers and russia appears to be at the highest point since the end of the cold war. nhk world, new falls, wales. negotiators from russia and ukraine are among those trying to arrange a cease fire.

russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov warned that ukraine's efforts to join nato would not help de-escalate the crisis in the eastern part of the country. lavrov's warning came prior to the nato summit in a meeting with the secretary-general of the council of europe. >> translator: this kind of action will derail all efforts aimed at arranging dialogue between the ukrainian government and pro-russian groups. >> lavrov referred to the ukrainian government's approval on wednesday of a draft bill that allows the country to join military blocs. observers say lavrov's comments are meant to emphasize russia's objection to ukraine joining nato. professor yu hasumi is an expert on international relations. he thinks the nato summit could open the possibility of a cease-fire in ukraine. >> translator: more than 2,000 ukrainians have died in the conflict. and the number of refugees has risen to 1 million. the nation's economy has also been hit hard. so there's a growing war wariness in the kiev administration. the same is true of russia. economic sanctions are affecting

russians' daily lives. if additional sanctions are imposed, they will affect russia's resource development plans and put the country at great risk. >> hasumi explained the parties involved will need to carefully plan their next steps for achieving a truce. >> translator: the root cause of the turmoil in ukraine is the discrepancy in the first reactions from europe and the u.s. if we want to see even a fraction of compromise now, nato members should have one voice to put sufficient pressure on russia. i may be exaggerating if i say europe and russia are in the same boat, but both are deeply related in economic terms. european nations will exert further pressure, but at the same time they will be showing

some form of cooperative stance on russia. putin is looking for ways to reach a truce without harming the sentiments of nationalists in his country. so he wants to make sure that the lives of russians in ukraine are protected. to make sure this happens, i think it is necessary for both parties to agree on an immediate cease-fire and to keep it. about 200 u.s. troops will take part in multinational exercise in western ukraine later this month. forces from nato members will work with the ukrainian military. defense department spokesperson steve warren says the exercise will run from september 15th to the 26th. he said it will focus on countering bombs and surveillance activity and involve live fire drills. warren had earlier said u.s. and ukrainian naval vessels will take part in separate maritime exercises next week in the black sea. state department spokesperson jen psaki says the war games are preplanned and are not being held in response to current events. the united states is seeking a u.n. security council resolution that calls for action against foreign fighters traveling to join terrorist groups. >> we will encourage international cooperation to prevent foreign terrorist fighter travel and underscore the centrality of countering violent extremism through positive narratives and programs that give would-be fighters alternatives to violence. >> u.s. ambassador to the united nations samantha power said that on september 25th, president

barack obama will convene a security council summit on the issue. power said more than 10,000 foreign fighters have joined the militant group called islamic state in iraq and syria. she said many of them are from western countries. ambassador power said the resolution would set an international standard for dealing with the threat shared by all u.n. member states. the last summit-level security council meeting was in 2009 when obama called for a discussion on nuclear disarmament. well, it's time now for the latest in business news. yi uchida joins us from the business desk. >> good morning, catherine, the people at the bank of japan and the bank of england, they didn't change their policies. but those at the european central bank surprised with another interest rate cut. investors bought stocks across the euro zone and then the sentiment carried over to wall

street. the rally lost some momentum ahead of today's key monthly jobs report. well, let's get all the details from ramin malagard. he joins us from the tokyo stock exchanged. >> a very good morning to you. that is all about the euro, isn't it? in fact, why don't we go straight to currency levels first, for friday, september 5. now, teuro, 134.42-52. now, how does all of this affect

stocks? let's look at how japanese shares are reacting for friday, september 5th. 15,783, almost up .7% for the nikkei. however, on thursday, it did retreat after three days against. never theless, analysts say the stronger dollar will improve stock market sent lt here and the nikkei is likely to end the week in the positive. let's not forget, of course, global investors remain focused on prime minister shinzo abe's plans to battle deflation and to boost growth here in japan. yi? >> so what's the main focus, ramin, for investors when they look at japanese stocks the

blank of japan did not come up with anything new. so many investors looking more mid to long-term scenarios for companies and how they're being run as far as their earnings forecast. if last big event is for the u.s. which will come out later today in the u.s. also, i'll check asian indexes to see how that affects japanese shares. but, for now, a pretty positive start. >> all right, ramin, thanks a lot for that update. japan's new agriculture minister says he's hopeful negotiators can strike a free trade deal for the asia pacific soon. the people representing japan must ep hold a commitment to

their famplers. japanese and u.s. leaders should be considered exemptions in the u.s. negotiations. he said they consider ag cull which you remember products for japan and industrial products for the u.s. >> translator: i believe economic partnerships are essential for the global economy. nations should collaborate. i hope to conclude the tpp deal as soon as possible. >> negotiators from japan and the u.s. will meet next week in tokyo to discuss agricultural tariffs. the people in charge of the fukashima daiichi power plant are seeing their costs go up and up.

so they put together a committee to discuss ways to save money. they say they may everyone have to charge their customers more. tepco executives and corporate management experts are going through every department at the utility. they have a plan to slash costs by about $45 billion. now, they're looking for ways to make extra cuts: delays have forced them to rely on thermal power generation, instead. the cost of importing fuel has soared. the executives say if they can't hit their tar kbet, they'll raise electricity bills again. here's another check on markets.

>> members of tie lapd's interim cabinet have taken part in a political right of passage. >> the general has upped the army and led a coup in may. 12 of the ministers are active. the former army chief will serve as defense minister. the armed forces supreme commander general patagron will

serve as foreign minister. cabinet members will hold their first meeting next week. many south koreans are worried for their safety. they saw the ferry "sewol" go down in april. they've seen bus and train crashes and other accidents. and many are worried about another safety problem -- more than 500 sinkholes have opened in seoul since the start of the year. more from nhk world's anna jung. >> reporter: people are shocked when this sinkhole opened up last month in a major highway in a district near downtown seoul. this area in seoul is reported to have the largest number of sinkholes in the city. more than 60 sinkholes have been found this year alone. city officials investigated the

accident, found six cavities under the highway. the larger ones were over 80 meters long. the survey concluded the cavities were the result of mistakes in construction when a subway was built nearby. this district has a population of 700,000, the most densely populated part of seoul. >> translator: i'm really worried. it's like the ground could open up at any time. >> reporter: people called an emergency public hearing last week. engineering experts and city officials attended. anxious residents said they were worried about more sinkholes appearing. they asked how to prevent them. the experts suggested the problem was mostly man-made. >> translator: we think 80-90% of sinkholes in south korea are

caused by leaks from broken sewage pipes. which flow into the soil and wash it away. >> the hearing failed to reassure many about what the authorities are doing to prevent future accidents. residents are now taking it on themselves to raise the alarm over potential trouble spots. when they find an area that looks dangerous, the residents push the city to make a detailed

investigation. >> this is our home. we started a movement to put our safety first and foremost. >> sinkholes appearing across south korea one after another. misu gon a professor at the university of seoul says what makes the problem worse is that south korea as a hole does not take this seriously. he said when a sinkhole appears, authorities prefer to repair it quickly rather than investigate what caused it. >> translator: we tend to prioritize speedy progress, this has given us an advanced society, but given us negative consequences. progress is important, but it's also important to take time to reflect.

>> the problem of sinkholes continues. as officials respond with little more than stop-gap measures. against the backdrop of major accidents, including the "sewol" ferry disaster, pressure is mounting for those in power to take responsibility for ordinary people's safety. anna jung, nhk world, seoul. military units with south korea and the united states are teaming up. they say they want to be prepared for any contingency on the korean peninsula, so they're establishing a combined division of their troops. officials with south korea's defense ministry said the new unit will begin operations early next year. they said the u.s. proposed a move and will head the unit. they said that in the event of a conflict, the division would destroy north korea's weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear and chemical weapons. a south korean official said teaming up will improve combat

capabilities as their countries' troops are familiar with the north's geography and language. experts on north korean media say power may be moving to a younger generation of leader kim jong-un's family. they say kim's younger sister may have advanced in the country's hierarchy. state-run korean central television reported that kim jong-un and his wife attended a concert. it said they were accompanied by the leader's sister. kim yo-jong, then senior officials of the military and korean workers party. the announcer read out the sister's name before mentioning the party's first vice director. experts say this is the first time she has been given priority over the key party figure. yo-jong has reportedly been accompanying her brother on inspection tours since state-run media first introduced her by name in march.

two senior chinese diplomats have expressed hope for better relations with japan. china's ambassador to japan cheng yonghua spoke on thursday at a ceremony to mark the 35th anniversary of tokyo and beijing becoming friendship cities. >> translator: i hope beijing and tokyo will promote science and technical cooperation, human and cultural cooperation, and expand bilateral exchanges. i would like people on both sides to enhance happiness through those activities. >> the event was hosted by the tokyo-based japan/china friendship association and other groups. chung said relations are at a low point due to serious mutual distrust over issues of history and territory. he pledged to work toward putting them back on track. in addition, chinese foreign ministry spokesperson qin gang held a news conference on thursday. he touched on the reshuffled leadership of japan's main ruling liberal democratic party. >> translator: if the appointments have any influence on japan's china policies, i hope it will be a positive one. we hope the japanese leaders in any field will help sustain and develop the two countries'

relationship. >> china's officials have been sending mixed messages to japan. we asked a china expert for his take on the situation. >> translator: president xi appealed to people in china, saying the government will not bend to japan, and they will continue criticizing japan over historical issues. the public supports this attitude. but this alone could result in sending a wrong message to japan that china doesn't want to promote relations with japan. that is why xi mentioned friendship with japan in his speech. the two messages seem contradictory, but he has

reasons to appeal to people inside china and to japan at the same time. one reason he changed his attitude is because the domestic political situation has been changing. xi tries to be a hardliner domestically and diplomatically to establish his authority. he also tried hard to diminish his political rivals. but when he looked around, the relations with vietnam and japan are strained and its relations with north korea and the united states also aren't good. in a way, china is surrounded by enemies. xi hopes to calm tensions diplomatically. he believes the apec meeting in china in november is a good opportunity to create better relations between other countries. i think it's possible that he will have a meeting with prime minister abe at that time. china's economic growth has slowed and investment from japan has declined. the xi administration wants to receive investment from japan and to boost its economy. but sino/japanese relations have been unstable due to domestic reasons on both sides. it's possible that china will change its attitude if a

domestic political struggle occurs. so it is uncertain if the two countries can maintain a good relationship after the apec meeting in the fall. military units with south

time now for a check of the weather with mai shoji. people in western japan are dealing with torrential rain, tens of thousands of residents in the city of kyoto have had to evacuate their homes, what's the latest? >> that's right. good morning, katherine. we are still talking about the very heavy rain, it's a slow moving frontal system that is now tracking across japan. it's dropped 100 to 200 millimeters of rain across japan. let's show you the pictures coming out from this situation. over 30,000 people have been advised to evacuate kyoto prefecture due to the threat of rising floodwaters. following a deluge of rainfall friday morning. the city was hit with 82 millimeters of precipitation in one hour. and over 200 millimeters of rainfall in the past 24 hours. heavy rainfall warnings remain in effect through kyoto, shikoku and warnings across the city will continue to bring a stretch

of flooding into the weekend. i'm afraid this system will still be likely to hang on a little while longer as it pulls in towards kanto region over the weekend. but in the next 24 hours, we're still looking at 150 millimeters on top of what we've already seen from the picture coming out from kyoto and kochi prefecture. and up to hokoriku region as well. rain advisories posted. hokkaido has been seeing 100 millimeters. and into the next 24, into just several hours, or even one hour time we could possibly see about 70 to 100 millimeters of rainfall. so that sudden burst of showers on top of the very well saturated land could trig further landslides in bern japan. the system is not bringing any precipitation in towards tokyo for now as we speak. you can see the rain will be on its passage throughout the week. so saturday we'll still have another increased chance of

thunderstorms. which could get severe even in kanto region. behind it, high pressure system dominates mongolia, northeastern china as well as the korean peninsula. we have one system out towards the water. this could make its way towards the southwestern islands as a tropical depression. we'll keep a close eye on it more of the low pressure system here that's feeding the moisture towards the philippines and indochina peninsula. 134 millimeters of rainfall has fallen across thailand. bangkok at 34, chance of thunderstorms. beijing hitting 30 degrees, ulan bator still above the norm, but your morning low on sunday could drop as much as just 3 degrees. now here across the american continent, we'll be looking at another system. which is a hurricane still. it's a category 1, it still has tropical storm warnings in place for southern tip of baja, california.

as hurricane moving parallel to the peninsula. and it's already packing maximum winds of 150 kilometers per hour. so of course the storm surge, life-threatening rip currents will be bringing rough sea conditions. try to be not venturing out in these waters and 100 millimeters to 150 millimeters of rainfall will be falling across any of these locations and that surge of moisture will continue to move its way up to the four corners and the texas panhandle. so even out towards further north, flash flooding will be possible. flash floods could be possible around the great lakes region, but the temperatures will be dropping on the cooling trend. chicago down to the high 20s. i'll leave you with your extended forecast.

and that wraps up this edition of "newsline," i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

vietnamese are shunning their top training partner from shoppers to factory managers. and three months into office is india's prime minister on the right track to revive the economy? hello, you're watching asia biz forecast. i'm yuko fukushima. managers of japanese companies have a fight on their hands. people have been reluctant to spend money since the consumer tax hike in april. household spending was down more than 5% last quarter. the auto industry has taken one of the hardest hits. car sales plunged in april and they hav