hello there, welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday september 30th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. rescuers are struggling to reach climbers still trapped on mt. ontake in central japan three days after the volcano erupted. their search operations have been slowed in fears of the volcano could become more active. police say 12 have died and 9 others injured. as of tuesday morning, it was still spewing smoke as high as 400 meters of the craters. 800 firefighters, police and ground self-defense force

personnel are taking part in the rescue. they're trying to reach 24 climbers found with cardiac and respiratory arrest near the summit. a hiker on the mountain posted this video on the internet. it shows rocks and ash raining down. the hiker hid behind some boulders then took shelter in a nearby hut. one of the victims, 23-year-old asi took this picture two hours before the eruption. he was severely injured by flying rocks and later died from his injuries. his friend is still missing. his father has been calling his mobile phone. he has hope his son will be found alive. >> translator: i don't mind even if he's seriously injured. i just hope he survived. >> rescuers believe some people are still unaccounted for on the mountain. prodemocracy demonstrators

in hong kong are refusing to leave the streets. they spent the night blockading the city's financial district. they're protesting a plan by leaders in beijing to screen candidates for the city's next chief executive. clashes between protesters and police on sunday left 52 people injured. on monday, more than 10,000 people blocked main roads and thousands more occupied two entertainment districts. elementary and junior high schools were closed and banks shuttered some of their branches. the number of protesters is increasing in the lead-up to wednesday's national day celebrations. >> we have a simple message, is that we just want our democracy and fair voting of choosing our chief executive, just simple and nothing more. >> white house press secretary josh ernest said the u.s. government supports the protesters' objectives. >> we have been very consistent in voicing our support to the

people's republic of china for universal suffrage and for the aspirations of the hong kong people and we're going to continue to do so. >> he indicated that the issue will be on the agenda at a u.s./china summit meeting in november. syrian's foreign minister has suggested his government supports u.s.-led air raids against militants in syria. he says a military campaign is necessary to combat international terrorism. walid al moallem addressed members of the u.n. general assembly. >> translator: fighting terrorism is achievable through implementation of u.n. resolutions and certainly possible using military strikes. >> but moallem said the attacks must be carried out while respecting syrian sovereignty and international conventions. a u.s.-led coalition force is conducting air strikes against bases belonging to the militant state militant group. they began last monday without the permission of syria's leaders.

the u.s. and syrian governments have been clashing with leaders asking for president bashar al assad to resign. afghanistan inaugurated a new president, former finance minister ashraf ghani will lead the country. we'll govern alongside his former rival abdullah abdullah. the former foreign minister will take on a role similar to prime minister as the country's chief executive. ghani and abdullah had been locked in a fierce political struggle. the tension is now focused on whether they can overcome the deep rift to jointly run the government. in monday's inauguration ceremony, they agreed to share power to try to end the turmoil. >> translator: all people of afghanistan are heroes and the national unity government will represent everyone. >> translator: as a team in the form of the national unity government which is based on political agreement, we are committed to taking important

steps in bringing change to all levels of the political and governmental infrastructure of the country based on cooperation, mutual trust, honesty, and acceptance. >> ghani beat abdullah in the runoff election in june, but abdullah raised the allegation of mass fraud and threatened to establish an alternative administration. a possible split in afghanistan prompted u.s. secretary of state john kerry to mediate between the two sides. kerry proposed the formation of a unity government based on the result of a u.n. monitored audit of all ballots by the election committee. after his inauguration, ghani called for dialogue with the taliban to tackle afghanistan's biggest challenge of improving its security situation. the top priority of the new administration is the security challenge. the taliban has exploited the

electoral standoff to intensify its attacks. as most international combat troops would pull out by the end of the year. nhk world world reports on the challenges that lie ahead. >> reporter: the taliban is capitalizing on the chaos in afghanistan. the local police chief says the situation is making his work more difficult. >> translator: because of the confusion surrounding the election, our arms supply stopped. if this situation continues, fighting the enemy will be very difficult. >> reporter: nearly 1,000 civilians have died in the last 6 months, caught up in the rising number of terrorist incidents and fighting. the family of shah gul lives in the north of the country.

her husband died in august, shot in a crossfire between the taliban and security forces while walking in his field. >> translator: we didn't know there would be fighting here. we would have fled had we known that. >> reporter: with the family breadwinner gone, shah gul is raising five children by herself. she cannot afford to buy fuel to boil water, so she burns cardboard instead. her family lives with danger every day. while her children were praying at their father's grave, they heard shooting. >> translator: my husband was killed, and i don't know how i can go on living with my children. i cannot live this way.

it is terrible. >> reporter: there may be worse to come. fighting between the afghan government and the taliban is expected to intensify with most of the international forces scheduled to leave by the end of this year. radical islam surged in iraq after the withdrawal of the u.s. troops there. the united states is trying to ensure the same does not happen in afghanistan. it is hoping the new afghan government will sign a security pact that will allow some of its troops to stay on. ghani has made security his top priority. >> translator: you voted for me wishing for peace and stability. i will do my best to build a safe society. >> reporter: will the president bring stability to afghanistan and stop it from becoming a terrorist safe haven?

the new government is burdened with very heavy responsibilities. masaki suda, nhk world, kabul. more and more people across japan are finding work. government officials say in august, the labor market showed signs of recovery. officials at the internal affairs ministry say the unemployment rate fell by 0.3.235%. it's the first time in three months it has gone down. the number of people with jobs rose by 530,000 from the year earlier to more than 63 million. that figure has been climbing for 20 months. the number of people without jobs fell by 400,000 to about 2.3 million. it's been fall iing for 51 mont.

labor ministry officials say the ratio of job offers to seekers was unchanged at 1.1. that means there were 110 positions available for every 100 job seekers. there have been more jobs than job seekers for ten straight months. the officials say there were more positions available in the hospitality sector as well as medical care and social services. other other important data coming out in japan, industrial output in august fell 1.5% from july. that's the first time it's fallen in two months and household spending in august was down 4.7% from a year earlier. the fifth straight monthly decline. let's see how tokyo markets are reacting to these data. we go to ramin. how is the market looking this morning? >> yes, indeed, the data you just mentioned, industrial production and household spending, coming out week ethan

market expectations. so let's have a look at how the nikkei and topix are opening up for this last trading day of the month. september 30th and as you can see, the index just well into the negative in the first few minutes of trading. we'll see how that develops throughout the rest of the day and the nikkei's taking its cues from wall street and there's caution among investors, key data, china, euro zone and the tensions in hong kong surrounding the protests and the disruption to business activity there is also a big concern. and preying on investor's minds. hong kong's financial hub has been occupied by thousands of protesters. let's have a look at some of the charts here for hong kong. down nearly 2% on monday. investors watching closely to see if this continues. now, in japan, there may be some focus on the auto sector after eight major automakers saw

production falling in august for the second straight month. that's due to a slowdown in demand after the april 1st tax or consumption tax hike rate from 5 to 8%. car production was down nearly 7% in august, so, big focus on the auto sector. let's have a look at currencies. doll lehr wen,.39-42. pu pushing it to 174, 175 levels. it's weakest after august 2008, that was after abe reiterated his determination to beat deflation and prioritize is economy over everything else, but we did see the yen gain a bit against the dollar as the yield on u.s. treasuries fell. traders buying u.s. treasuries as safer assets because of the concern about global issues and for example, the protest in hong kong. now, the euro remains under pressure. some investors think the bank

could ease monetary policy further on thursday. analysts say european inflation data will be a guide for investors and finally, a note regarding chinese marketings. the country begins a series of mabele holidays from wednesday, but investors are going to be watching closely to see if ev t events in hong kong will escalate or see if there is a compromise seeing if markets come back next week, but for now, the nikkei and topix trading well into the negative for today. back to you. >> thanks very much. the people at one of japan's biggest convenience store chains are looking to expand. lawson executives are preparing to buy the high-end chain. executives will pay about $500 million for the all of the shares in the firm. they specialize in imported and

outmarket goods. executives launched their own chain of small supermarkets this year, but have a handful of outlets. japan has more than 50,000 convenience stores. but they've seen their earnings slow down since the consumption tax went up in april. executives plan the cut costs by combining buying and shipping operations across all outlets and hope to boost their earnings by expanding their customer base. here's another check of markets.

the decommissioning of the fukushima daiichi plant is stepping up. the number of workers on the prokt and related work has doubled in the past year. there are over 500,000 people on average at the site each day. the battle to deal with contaminated water required increasing manpower. tokyo electric power company says there's no labor shortage at present. its contractors have over 10,000 workers on their books, but analysts say more workers will be needed when work gets underway to remove fuel from the damaged reactors. they plan to improve working conditions by reducing raid riyadhuation around the plant and simplifying hiring procedures.

japanese lawmakers have gathereded for the first diet session this month. prime minister abe has laid out his policy agenda. he says he'll revitalize communities to give hope to young people a >> translator: one of the cross japan. important missions of my cabinet is to have people across the country feel the economic recovery. we'll continue to put our first priority on the economy and aim to drag japan out of deflation. >> abe says his government will assist utilities to restart nuclear reactors that clear the requirements of the nuclear regulation authority. currently all of japan's 48 commercial reactors are offline. abe also reiterated he will work to improve relations with south korea and china. >> translator: i will work to hold a summit with china as soon as possible and promote our mutually beneficial strategic relation through dialogue so japan and china can develop stable and friendly relations.

>> japanese officials have proposed that abe meet in with xi jinping on the sidelines of the apec meeting. abe also spoke about his determination to get all japanese citizens abducted by north korean agents back to japan. and the prime minister says he'll promote security legislation to protect people's lives and livelihoods in any kind of situation. his government decided in july to allow japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense. earlier, our senior political commentator joined us in the studio. he gave us some insight into abe's long list of policies. >> abe wants to achieve summit talks with china to establish a friendship between the two countries or friendly relations he said. this is the first time the prime minister has used the word friendship or friendly relations in the major speech when talking about china since he took office

at the end of 2012. president xi jinping also mentioned friendship with japan this month. abe seems to have responded to this by sending out the message the that he hopes to achieve face to face talks with chinese leaders. prime minister shinzo abe emphasized in his policy speech the key to maintaining economic growth is to steadily achieve measures to realize two main pillars, the first is regional revitalization. and the second is increasing women's participation in society. the government and the ruling bloc are placing priority on quickly passing relatable bills for these two things both of which opposition parties are also expected to approve. but at the same time, the government and ruling bloc are expected to put off bills that opposition leaders strongly enforce such as reforming current labor laws.

diplomats from japan and that was nhk's world's senior political come tmentator. more and more american rs turning on their taps. they're being shown the impact bottled drinks have on the environment. made better beverage choices. >> the broken bridge is -- tourist spot ch t. this summer, new water faucets told here. they prove popular with adults and children and of course, with dogs. the faucets were part of a campaign to promote drinking water. they were set up in places around the city.

crea creating places for past city dwellers. >> it tastes fresh. >> americans are not known for drinking tap water, so why is it suddenly becoming so popular? one disease, a growing awareness environmental impact for producing the bottles consumed in the u.s. each year could -- new york wants to cut down plastic bottle use by promoting tap water. attitude toward health are also chan changing. in a country where where obese, people are beginning to accept this water is healthier. there has been a change, too. the city has a station to test the water quality. samples are taken and analyzed

for around 50 different components to check that water is portable. new york has some of the strictest water stan dartds in the dards in the world and its drinking water is now -- >> this is the best alternative is healthy. it is cheaper. trz and it is more sustainable. the bottled water or sugary drinks. everybody enjoys the high quality drinking water in new york city. >> the tap water trend is catching on in colleges, too. the university was one of the first campuses to ban the sale of bottled water. instead, it's installed water stations. about 30 around the campus. students have their own bottles, which they fill with tap water. >> it was just an easier way than having to buy each new water bottle every time. also, i like my water bottle.

>> every time a bottle is refilled, a display shows how many plastic bottles are being saved. this system has proved so popular, it's spread to about 60 other campuses around the country. meanwhile, san francisco has become the first local authority to address the issue of water packing. it has passed a declaration -- around the cities starting october. be fined up to $1,000. >> people have a lot of pride in the drinking water in san francisco. so, i think people are largely supportive of it. but the citizens of san francisco see the environmental problems with bottled water. >> the tap water trend is spreading. u.s. cities are now competing to provide the best water.

even starting to send tap water to their customers. its movement away from bottled drinks and back to basics. it's time now to get a check of the weather. people in southern france are dealing with severe flooding and drivers are seeing highways and expressways blockeded. >> forecast it's all due to the rainfall. there has been some heavy amounts falling across the border of spain as well as southern france, especially around montpelier. 290 millimeters half the annual rainfall, in just 24-hour span. well, let me show you the picture coming out from where residents are deal iing with th. it has been inundated by record

breaking floods. of the nearly 300 mill heaters that occurred in the past 24 hours, nearly 250 millimeters o f that fell in just three-hour period. roads vk blocked by flooding in the region, but levels have also been issued for the city of 260,000 people. that's highest alert level for weather warnings in europe. the latest flood event comes one week after five were killed due to an overflowing river in france, so not a -- that event, well, unfortunately, i can't really give you great news. as for spain, things are tapering awe, but the rain is still going to be falling across montpelier and the region where the flooding just occurred, so any additional rainfall could link the situation even worse. we're likely to see more rain coming into your tuesday. high pressure dominates much of the rest of the continent. we're likely to see a wet, windy event in and around northwestern russia, that is and moscow, your temperature is going to be very much dipping into the freezing

point on your morning rows. especially into your thursday. areas where the temperatures will really fall, so bring out your warmest jacket and be aware of the huge cold spell. out here in the tropics, things are still brewing and it's very warm, so things are going to be moving into the mary ann islands here. it will be moving through these islands if it maintains its intensity, to the gusts could be as much as 100 kilometers per hour. it could become a strong typhoon as it moves towards the north. making its way towards japan into the next few days, but either way, these islands will see blustery conditions, high waves and really stormy weather, so watch out for that. as for japan, the summit on ta

taipei, you're not going to be seeing huge amounts of rainfall, but any small amount could hinder it. wet and windy across hokkaido and nasty weather in for the western areas of japan starting noon hours, but rest of the country looking quite dry. look i looking at dry skies across northern areas of china and thing rs tapering off here in southern locations, but hong kong, you're likely to see the rain coming into for your week. throughout your week. and manila, 33 and a chance of thunderstorms and that's likely to continue for the next few days. especially for your afternoon and evening hours.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

>> here is your host. >> hello, and welcome to our highlights show. let's power straight in with a look at what we have in store. body and soul. performance artists turn themselves into human sculptures. music mania. we bring you the glam rock at the world air guitar championships. and the city cinematography. mons in belgium is artistically documenting their streets. richard schechner is one of the leaders in performance studies. his theories lie in the concept that if one person is watching another then it becomes a performance. "le mouvement" is the name of a perfromance art festival that took place in the swiss city of biel this august. one of the groups there didn't even move during their artistic