hello there and welcome to "newsline." it is thursday, june 4th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. rescue workers in china's yangtze river are in a race against time. they are trying to retrieve people in a capsized cruise ship by cutting a hole in the hull. 26 people have been confirmed dead. only 14 have been rescued. hundreds are still 456 people were on board. the state-run xinhua news agency says that divers are struggling against fast currents. they are finding locked doors

and furniture blocking their way. the workers are considering using cranes to lift the ship. state-run television has been providing live coverage of the operation. relatives of those missing are expressing increased frustration. about 50 family members have gathered in a town near the site. they were blocked by authorities when they tried to get close to the area. [ speaking foreign language ]. authorities have detained the ship's captain and chief engineer. japan's prime minister has sent a letter to china's president and premier expressing sorrow over the accident and has offered to cooperate in the search and rescue areas. >> prime minister abe has extended to the chinese leaders his condolences for the victims. also the government has notified them through the

chinese embassy that we are ready to offer any support. >> suga says that the japanese government sincerely hopes that those unaccounted for are found as soon as possible. transport safety officials in japan are investigating a mix up that could have led to disastrous results. they're reviewing a close call between three aircraft at an airport in the southern prefecture of okinawa. footage from an nhk camera shows an air defense helicopter flying over the runway at naha airport. and all nippon airways jetliner comes into the frame from the right. it's accelerated for departure, but suddenly aborts the takeoff and comes to a stop. about ten seconds later, a about ten seconds later a passenger jet lands on the same runway. transport ministry officials say the helicopter flew over the runway without permission from air traffic controllers. officials at the air self-defense base in naha say

the helicopter was carrying sdf personnel. they say the pilot mistook controller's instructions as meant for his helicopter. >> translator: it's very regrettable that such an incident occurred. we'll work on safety measures to ensure something like this doesn't happen again. >> passengers on the ana jet say they were surprised when the plane came to a sudden stop. >> translator: it could have led to a serious accident. i was kind of shocked. >> the controllers ordered the japan transocean air jet to abandon its landing, but the plane failed to comply. officials at the organization for economic cooperation and development have released their outlook for the world economy. ai uchida joins us from the business desk. what was the view on the japanese economy?

>> officials did downgrade their projections for growth this year. they they said consumer spending is increasing and said corporate capital investment is weak. oecd officials said this japan's domestic product will grow 0.7% this year. but for 2016 oecd officials raised their growth outlook to 1.4%. cheap prices of crude oil will help the economy to recover. they urged the japanese government to carry out drastic -- the federal reserve released its beige book on the economic activity in the u.s. saying that it expanded from early april to late may.

it is based on interviews with people in the variety of business sectors. consumer spending increased across the districts and says more retailers were optimistic about the economic outlook. the report says manufacturing activity generally held steady or increased. autosales were positive but the stronger dollar had a negative impact on exports and lower crude oil prices had an influence on oil related industries. employment levels were up lightly across districts and a slight growth in wages was reported by most districts. and over in europe the central bank decided to keep its money-pumping policies in place. mario draghi sees no reason to adjust the policy stance in response the a recent rise in bond yields. key european indices ended

higher. then on wall street stock prices closed higher there too, the dow jones industrial average gaining more than a third of a percent. the tech-heavy nasdaq rising a fourth of a percent. ramin mellegard joins us live from the tokyo stock exchange. what are you seeing this morning? >> the indexes in the u.s. and europe are helping, ending in the positive. and we also saw the dollar rising against the yen which should help exporters. but let's look at how the nikkei and the topics are kicking off this thursday june 4th. up .27%. the highs were dented a touch after two days of declines. but with the dollar regaining the 124 yen levels that should

cheer investors here which it seems to be doing so far. another positive was the private sector jobs data which comes before the main jobs number friday in the u.s. and that showed an improvement from april and the u.s. trade deficit narrowed sharply in april as well which is giving hopes for second quarter gdp growth in the u.s. as well. watching out for japanese automakers honda many are gearing up to revamp a lot of the models sold in the u.s. aggressive moves by honda, shares sold in the u.s. adrs, american depository receipts rose on wednesday. tepco, a big attraction for retail investors. we have seen shares of tokyo electric power company which was hit hard after the 2011 disaster it soared 50% since the end of april being the third

biggest gainer on the tokyo stock exchange's first section. a lot of retail investors buying domestic shares sending prices higher. >> speaking of exporters and currency levels you said the dollar regained 124 yen levels. how are the pairs doing this morning? >> it had dipped below 124 yesterday but we are above that now. and the optimism there for u.s. growth. against the euro the dollar fell after optimism filtered through following mario draghi's statements. that sent the bond yields shooting up. ten-year german bond yields jumping, u.s. government bond

yields jumping .10 percentage points. that's all for me. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that update. that was ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. japanese businesses need lots of photos for online advertising. the stock photography industry is expanding to meet that need. nhk world's chie tanaka reports. >> reporter: he expects to sell these pictures too businesses looking for pr businesses. his models are dressed as construction workers. construction firms are advertising for workers ahead of the hot summer months. his photos sell well bringing in about $6,000 a month. last year he quit his job as a financial institution.

>> translator: it is important to consider what kind of photos potential buyers want for their ads. >> reporter: this accounting software company used some of his photos for its online pr. the company puts a lot of effort into its website. online articles are frequently updated. >> translator: photos help increase clicks and greatly effect the way information is spread. >> reporter: photographers want to sell images and businesses want to buy. stock photography agencies act as intermediaries. photographers ask the agency to post their work on its website. the businesses download the images for a fee. the agency pay the photographers based on the number of

downloads. this major stock photo company in japan has more than 10 million images on its website. just one search whether for nursing or a business meeting brings up plenty of choices. fees start at about $4 per photo. last year customers downloaded 850,000 photos, twice the previous year's figure. >> translator: the last decade has seen a double-digit increase in demand for photos and other visual images as their online use has become so widespread. >> reporter: one of the world's leading stock photo agencies organized a workshop last month in tokyo. more than 100 photographs from japan and abroad signed up. >> these lines right here make the eye move through the picture.

right. >> reporter: the firm provides information on photos in high demand. one of the more popular search terms on the company website is japanese seniors. company officials want to encourage photographers to contribute more images of japan amid growing overseas demand. >> you know the world is becoming more interested in health and you know sustainable living and design and japan reflects all of those different aspects. >> reporter: with growing demand for images of japan, the stock photography market is expanding inside the country and abroad. chie tanaka, nhk world. >> and i'll have more stories for you in business next hour. i'll leave you now with a check on markets.

a chinese lawyer has told a special u.s. commission that beijing continues to crackdown on political activists in the country. the commission is looking into the human rights situation in china. thursday marks the 26th anniversary of the crackdown on

protesters in beijing's tiananmen square. the chinese government says that 319 people died but critics say the real figure has not been revealed. a chinese lawyer in the u.s. said the human rights situation in china remains grim. >> the chinese government never stopped its crackdown on people's resistance since xi jinping came to power. >> this woman is a university student and the daughter of an activist who has been held in china for more than ten years. she says human rights issues are ignored. she says as a country that values democracy and human rights the u.s. should urge china to improve the situation.

a group of south koreans are trying to stop a growing problem that keeps washing up on the country's coastlines. government officials say the amount of waste in the ocean has increased by more than 20% in the past decade. volunteers are rolling up their sleeves to pick up what others are dumping in. kim chan-ju has the story. >> reporter: those who love ocean got together seaside. their mission is to clean up in the ocean. -- is the organizer of this event. he does about ten of these a year. he and some of his colleagues started the project in 2002. >> translator: the garbage piles up year after year. if you let it slide even momentarily it begins to build

up again. >> reporter: park works at a local newspaper as a photojournalist. his hobby is scuba diving. he covers issues that concern aquatic life and the environment. >> translator: while diving in my beloved ocean i found a lot of garbage. >> reporter: he says poor visibility in the polluted ocean makes it hard to collect waste and says sometimes he can't even see his hands. government officials estimate more than 180,000 tons of waste is dumped into the ocean every year. but they can only clean up about half of it. this is a port city in owner south korea. ocean waste has become a serious problem here. you can see styrofoam, bottles and plastic bags floating on the water's surface.

people in this fishing village complain that garbage flowing into the sea causes a lot of damage particularly in the rainy season. >> translator: when the rainy season comes, so much household garbage flows into the sea. they pollute ocean and cause fish to die. it's terrible. >> reporter: government officials decided last year to allocate $300 million to combat pollution in the ocean over the next four years. they say they'll deploy 19 new cleanup vessels and urge people not to throw their waste into the sea. >> translator: if you look at where the garbage comes from 70% is dumped by people from land.

we have to start working to reduce the amount of garbage on the land through separate collection methods and through recycling policies. >> reporter: on this day, park and a group of volunteers picked up about 800 kilograms of garbage from the seabed. >> translator: we recovered all kinds of garbage, tends, plastic bottles. >> reporter: park said the government's efforts are a positive step but they could do more to protect the oceans. >> translator: we're showing the recovered garbage to local people. it helps them understand what they throw away pollutes the ocean and will continue to do this in the future. >> reporter: park hopes his event will change people's minds

across the country and that the public will start to stash their trash elsewhere. kim chan-ju, nhk world. south korea is testing missiles and it can reach north korea. the missile was fired wednesday from a launch pad on the country's west coast. military sources say it has a range of 500 kilometers but plan to extend that to 800. they say the missile will allow them to launch a preemptive strike against north korea. president park geun-hye made a rare visit to the base to watch the launch. she called it a clear answer to threats from the north. south korea and the u.s. agreed in 2012 to allow seoul to develop longer range missiles to better cope with threats from the north.

the philippine president is on a four-day visit to japan. he's the first guest from his country to be given state honors in 13 years. japan's emperor welcomed him at the imperial palace in tokyo. crown prince and prime minister shinzo abe also attended. the emperor is reported to have said he is delighted with the president's visit. he said it will promote mutual understanding and friendship. he later made a speech in the diet. aquino implicitly criticized reclamation work by china in the spratly islands much the philippines claim sovereignty over part of the archipelago in the south china sea but aquino didn't mention china by name.

>> the process terraity -- prosperity of coastal trade in southeast asia which relies greatly on the free movement of good and peoples is being disrupted by attempts to redraw the geographic limits and entitlements of those clearly bestowed by the law of nations. >> aquino stressed the strong links between his nation and japan. >> ours is a partnership that can only grow stronger because it is based not on mere practicality, but on shared values and mutual respect amongst equals. >> aquino is scheduled to sit down with abe on thursday. he hopes to boost cooperation with japan on maritime security. a senior thai army office has turned himself over to police. he is the first military official to be arrested since the investigation into the crisis started last month. the lieutenant general of the royal thai army was detained

wednesday. he is accused of trafficking, detention and ransom. >> translator: we haven't discussed it in detail but he insists he has nothing to do with it. basically, he's denying the charges. >> thousands of migrants have landed in indonesia and malaysia. they include rohingya muslims facing persecution in myanmar. a mass grave was discovered in the country's south. the discovery led to the arrest of more than 50 people including politicians and police officers. officials at the united nations say about 2,000 people are still adrift at sea. they are calling on neighboring nations to help. it's time for a check of the weather. meteorologist robert speta.

joins us with more. >> yes, actually, in tokyo. we are going to be looking at a likely in the next week or two out here. now, it has officially started a little farther back toward the west, across parts of kyushu, we have seen the rainy season kick in about four to -- well, two to four days ahead of average out here. now, we are getting a little break for most of the country as we go ahead through our thursday here. you see a satellite picture, clear skies have moved in, as we head into the weekend, another bout of rainfall is really going to start to push in from the west. and that's going to bring in some more showers not only parts of kyushu but toward tokyo as we head through your saturday. but what i take you to is video coming out of kumamoto prefecture. there is report of a landslide here. an 84-year-old resident was a little bit worried because the

rain was just pouring down her backyard there on the mountainside. so, definitely kind of a scary situation. this is anything uncommon for japan, but those showers just definitely continuing to kick up out here. now as we take a look at the bigger picture though, we are looking at that stationary boundary continuing to inch farther off here toward the north but also bringing those rainy conditions there in southeastern china, still looking at that foul weather around the yangtze river basin, where that boat sank back on monday. weather's just not continuing to cooperate with rescue efforts and continuing to look at some low visibility out here and that threat of some more passing showers. as we continue to look ahead across much of this area. even see on the satellite picture, still have those thunderstorms continue to flare up farther down there toward the south with our 72-hour rainfall accumulation. let's look farther toward the north, in northeastern china, have those rain showers and thunderstorms kicking up, bring a few storms that could produce strong to severe weather. look at beijing, actually, 27 for your high. some thunderstorm there is in your forecast.

where you need the rain is here in india. i want to mention this. we have a delay in the monsoon. likely the cause for this is a little bit delayed behind. that's typical for el nino years. you have been looking at rain totals well below normal across much of this region and unfortunately, we are not going to be seeing any significant rain any time in the near future. closer to the coastline, a few passing thunderstorms out there for you but they are not going to be all that widespread, even farther inland, around new delhi. the good news, we take a look at the forecast here, the temperatures are not into the high 40s to the low 50s like we were seeing just a few weeks ago. that is the case farther toward the west but at least across india, even with the delay, the monsoon temperatures have dropped down slightly. severe weather also erupting off there into the northern plains, a few areas you are going to be looking at some of these storms producing large hail and even some damaging winds. i think the threat of tornadoes is there but it's not as high as the other aspects of the storm

systems. you have travel plans across this area, you do want to be watching out for that also over toward los angeles, a low coming onshore, bring much-needed rainfall for you, separately down toward the south and the tropics, we have our hurricane. hurricane blanca now. you can see it over here just off the coast of mexico. that is tracking off here toward the north. this one is now a category four hurricane. very well can make landfall as a hurricane still around baja california, something to watch out as we head into your weekend. i will leave you now with your extended outlook.

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

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♪ anchor: hello and welcome to "in good shape to get -- shape" your help show on dw. of all the diseases in the world, cancer is among the most

frightening ones. with all the research and advances in modern diagnostics cancer still kills more than 8 million people each year. let's get an update on what we know about cancer and how, if possible to prevent it. we will be talking with a cancer expert in studio today. here are some of the other topics on the show. harmful microbes, could bacteria trigger colorectal cancer?