glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it is friday june 5th, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. crews in china's yangtze river have started to work to upright a chinese cruise ship. they say there is little hope anyone will be found alive. the ship overturned on monday night in a storm. 456 people were on board. 77 are confirmed dead and just 14 have been rescued. the state-run xinhua news agency quoted an official with the ministry of transport. he says the decision to hoist

the wreckage will help find the missing in the shortest time possible. thousands of people gathered in the center of the county near the accident site. they lit candles and offered prayers for the dead and missing. >> translator: my heart is heavy. i feel the same grief of the families of the dead and missing. i just hope the victims are blessed in heaven. >> translator: i hope this kind of tragedy will never happen again. >> authorities in china forbid or control any gathering depending on its purpose. participants say they were able to get together using a mobile app called "we chat." the leaders of japan and the philippines have expressed concern over china's land reclamation projects around the spratly islands in the south china sea. japanese prime minister shinzo abe and visiting philippine

president benino aquino held talks in tokyo. the leaders issued a joint statement saying they share deep concerns over unilateral attempts to change the status quo. observers say this is an apparent reference to china's reclamation activities in the south china sea. abe and aquino confirmed the importance of settling maritime disputes in accordance with international law. >> translator: we once again confirm that we share serious concerns about large-scale land reclamation, and we oppose any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo. >> we reviewed the security challenges that confront both our nations and pledge to cooperate in sharing advocacy for members of the international community to act responsibly. >> japanese and filipino officials will start talks toward signing an agreement on the transfer of defense

equipment and technology. they'll also strengthen security cooperation such as holding more joint drills between japan's self-defense forces and the philippine military. china continues to expand its land reclamation work around the spratley islands. the islands are also claimed by the philippines and other southeast asian neighbors. people who follow the markets have been wondering when the u.s. federal reserve will raise rates and a powerful international organization is weighing in on the timing. ai uchida joins us from our business desk. give us the details. who is saying what? >> just recently officials at the fed implied that a rate hike this year could be appropriate under the right conditions. now people at the international monetary fund have spoken up urging them to wait until 2016. the imf says the first half of next year would be the right time for rates to rise from the current near-zero level.

>> higher u.s. policy rates could still have financial stability consequences that go well beyond the u.s. borders. we believe that a rate hike would be better off in early 2016. >> le guard urged for signs of wage or price inflation are stronger than now. she was commenting on the imf review of the u.s. economy. it revises downward the forecast of u.s. growth this year citing the effects of a cold snap that dented gdp growth in the first quarter. the report also mentioned the stronger dollar. the currency touched its highest level against the japanese yen in 12 and a half years. there is a risk that a depreciation of the dollar would be harmful. greek officials say they

will skip their next debt repayment. they told the imf that instead they want to make all their repayments for june in a lump sum by the end of the month. greece was supposed to repay $336 million by friday. the total debt repayments to june 30th come to $1.8 billion. the imf allows bundling payments if their due dates are in the same month. this is the first time for the country to ask for a postponement since its economy plunged into crisis five years ago. greek officials have been in talks for additional loans but angela merkel remains cautious. >> translator: they are still far from reaching a conclusion. therefore any detailed comment now would be wrong. >> greece erequest came just after prime minister alexis tsipras said that his country

can continue making the payments with no problems. the setback in greece triggered losses in key european stock markets. and over in the u.s., with the imf calling for a delay in the fed's rate hike the dow jones industrial average fell almost 1% and the nasdaq fell almost .8%. ramin mellegard joins us live from the tokyo stock exchange. how are we starting off this friday morning? >> a negative start. but christine lagarde sparking volatility in the financial markets. investors caught in two minds whether to sell or buy but the negative sentiment has prevailed and continuing here. let's look at the nikkei and the

topix for this friday morning. both in the negative. now that sentiment continues here adding also to the uncertainty, ai i have to mention we are approaching the key opec meeting in vienna. more are expecting to hear about output targets and we are waiting to hear about the main jobs number in the u.s. and weekly jobless claims which came out on thursday seemed a little bit supportive of job growth. we'll see how the main numbers come out. domestically, investors are watching the nikkei very closely. it does remain resilient with some saying it could remain higher. however others saying that it may be overheated. and the nikkei is down 100 points right now. >> and in currencies the dollar keeps going up.

what is going on there? >> the dollar/yen continues higher. 124.38. words from christine lagarde was a warning that the dollar may have risen too fast and aggressively especially if you look at the data out of the u.s. meanwhile, the euro is down a touch after a sharp rally. investors uncertain about greece's ability to repay its debts. that's a big focus for financial markets globally. asian indexes may reflect uncertainty. between surges and falls lower. we will be watching that index and others in asia for any other relations to japanese shares as well. of course, japanese shares highly exposed to china markets as well. so we'll track.

that i'll have another report in a few hours. that's all for me, back to you. >> thanks for that. we'll check in with you in a few hours' time. the owner of a small company in japan has found a way to make fuel from waste but selling energy is not his prime motive. if his business takes off parts of africa could be saved from deforestation. >> reporter: the seven trainees from africa are part of the company's global vision. they recently came to japan to learn about a machine that creates fuel from waste. a by-product of rice production. rice husks. it's the part people don't eat. the machine grinds the husks to powder. it then solidifies the powder at high temperatures transforming

it into solid fuel. company officials say these rice logs burn several times longer than firewood and if they're kept in a dry place they can be scored five to ten years. this man set up the company eight years ago. he says he wanted to do something to protect the environment. so he turned his attention to rice husks, a material normally considered waste. rice husks are as tough as nails. hashimoto had to use advanced metal processing to coat the surface of the grinder. >> translator: most japanese eat rice so rice husks are the type of waste that's most consistently produced here. we regard it as raw material and

convert it to fuel. >> reporter: word of hashimoto's innovation started to spread. the first overseas inquiry came from tanzania farmers here grow 200 million tons a year generating mountains of husks in the process. so far, hashimoto's firm has shipped four machines to tanzania. rice husk logs make an appealing alternative. they're ideal for cook or heating. the challenge at present is how to reduce the cost of the machine, making it in japan is expensive.

hashimoto is exporting machine parts so it can be assembled locally. that is why the trainees have come to japan. >> i think the machine can help account minimize the cutting the trees in the forest. >> reporter: machine assembly starts in tanzania in august. africans may not be the only ones who stand to benefit. hashimoto hopes to promos his rice grinder in indonesia as well. >> and that's the latest in business. here's a check on markets.

members of an environmentalist group have given japan an award that doesn't have bragging rights. the ngo climate action network international announces the annual award to the country it deems reluctant to address global warming. this year's recipient was revealed today. they are working on creating a new framework to address the issue. >> what we think is that japan needs to rediscover that leadership if it wants to be heard on the world stage. >> japan decided on tuesday that it will aim to cut its emissions by 26% from 2013 levels by 2030. the group thinks the target is

not sufficient and that japan funds coal projects in dpep developing countries. some teenagers in japan can look forward to casting a ballot from next year. the voting age is set to be lowered from 20 to 18 after lower house members passed a bill on thursday. the legislation is expected to be approved by the upper house by mid june. >> reporter: the governing liberal democratic party and the key opposition democratic party are among six parties that made the move to revise the current electoral law. [ speaking foreign language ]. lawmakers passed a bill unanimously. the amendment is expected to

raise political awareness among japan's young people. it's also hoped politics will better reflect the opinions of the generations that forge japan's future. the national diet library studied election systems in 191 countries and regions. 92% give voting rights to citizens aged 18. some of those give the right to vote to children when they turn age 16. only 14 country don't allow voting until age 20 or higher. 70 years ago it was lowered from 25 to 20. the latest move will see the country's voting population increase by 2.4 million as 18 and 19-years-old including high school students, take to the polls. this high school near tokyo has

begun classes on current political issues. here the topic is pacifism one of three major principles in japan's constitution. >> translator: i'm in face-to-face of lowering the voting age to 18. it's a good thing to think about our country's social structure and voting rights from our age. >> translator: i feel the need to educate high school students so that they understand their responsibility. i want them to have opinions on what's happening in society. >> reporter: an expert says the legislation may change the society and deepen the democracy. >> translator: it's important for not only teachers but families and community members to give young people more chances to think about political

issues. >> reporter: he also says that policymakers should do more to explain their policies in words that are understandable to young people. keiko yamamoto, nhk world. four asylum seekers that tried to enter australia illegally have arrived in cambodia on thursday. this comes as part of australia's efforts to deal with a flood of boat people. the move is the first under a settlement reached last september. the program is receiving criticism from the international community. the four one rohingya and three iranians were moved from an australian detention center to the cambodian capital. australia has been dealing with a seemingly endless flow of migrants, arriving by boat from asia and the middle east. in 2013, more than 20,000 such

people found their way to the country's shores. they're placed in detention centers set up in papua new guinea. last september, australia struck a deal with cambodia to accept these asylum seekers in return for development assistance worth $35 million. the agreement is drawing criticism from human rights groups as well as the opposition parties in both countries. they say the refugee issue should not be passed on to another country. debate is growing about the ethics of turning these people over to a developing country. a group of volunteers in syria are risking their lives to save others. they are caught in the middle of a bloody civil war. and they have taken a job that puts them on the front lines of the fighting. more from nhk world's yu kobayashi. [ speaking foreign language ]. >> reporter: a baby can be heard

crying under this rubble. the baby is pulled out alive. he's just two weeks old. the rescuers are from a group called the white helmets. they rush into action immediately after a bomb explodes. the assad regime is targeting all areas with the anti-government forces. there are no police or ambulance services. there are about 2300 white helmet volunteers. since 2013 they have saved almost 18,000 lives. [ speaking foreign language ]

they rescue anyone they can, whether they are civilians, assad soldiers or islamic state militants. sometimes they get caught in air raids as they work. >> translator: i'm okay. go help those people over there. >> reporter: almost 90 white helmets have lost their lives so far. last month, a team traveled to neighboring turkey for training. this pile of defree recreates something that has become familiar to syrian people. the member of the white helmets are being trained about how to save lives of those caught up in the civil war.

although the white helmets are unpaid volunteers, their numbers are growing. >> translator: i used to be a barber. i volunteered because i had seen women and children getting killed in front of my eyes every single day. >> translator: my own family is now safe in turkey but there are syrian people who need help. i consider everyone in syria as members of my family. >> reporter: many of the volunteers are in their 20s. but one is 44 years old. he used to work at the hospital but then, his son ahmed was killed working as a white helmet. ahmed died last october in air raid while trying to rescue a bed-ridden woman from building. he was only 22.

>> translator: i'm proud of my son. i volunteered because i want to continue the mission that he gave his life for. >> reporter: mohamed trained hard with the younger members to acquire skills he will need during real operations. >> translator: i'm fed up with the situation. so many syrians are killing each other, losing their homes and becoming refugees. the one thing i can do is help save as many lives as possible. >> reporter: hundreds of days after fighting and the white helmets vow they will continue their dangerous mission, yu kobayashi, nhk world. it is time now for a check of the weather with people in western russia are seeing extremely dry weather in

the region. river levels have dramatically dropped. robert speta has more. >> what we are seeing right now is these drought conditions and the big thing that we have been looking at over the past several months is really these areas of low pressure. they have been drifting down across the balkan peninsula over through the eastern mediterranean. and also looking at passing fronts towards the north. but here in southwestern portions of russia, specifically there in volgograd, you have been looking at a very lack of rainfall. now, typically for the entire month, you only see about 40 millimeters, so, even less than that is definitely causing these rivers to dry out. let's take a look at some video we have coming out of this area. that just shows you right there the dry river bed. this is threatening the survival of fish and uncommon birds, some people saved the remaining desperate fish, trying to carry them to larger waters. wells dried up as well, residents have to travel kilometers far away to neighbors to try to get some water.

if this heat wave does continue, the big fear is that furthermore, these lakes that are remaining are going to dry up some more. now the big thing, what we are seeing at least now is this passing front. that is bringing some scattered showers and we are going to be looking at a few rain pockets on friday into saturday in this area but by sunday, it clears back up. the big thing with droughts is that this is going to be an ongoing problem. so even though we are looking at passing showers, you can see the river levels are well below normal. it's going to take some time to replenish that and you need some persistent rainfall to start that to kick in. definitely an ongoing story on here, look to the west, dry conditions, where you want it, they are in central europe, we have a passing front farther to the west, that is going to pump in some warm air from the south. temperatures on the rise, high 20s, low 30s most of you. this front is going to bring showers there in paris and low push across northern portions of the british isles, could see

high winds out there for us 70 kilometers per hour as we head through your weekend. see what's going on here in the america a little bit of a low off the mid-atlantic states, a few passing showers, all the severe weather, back here toward the west, across the high plains, tornado watches and warnings have been issued here on your thursday evening. this low is going to continue to track farther toward the east, so, large hail and damaging winds still a threat, even the possibility of some tornadoes, i think the hail is going to be the bigger issue with this. where you need the rain is here into the southwest. fire weather conditions still dominating, have a little bit of a low that's going to come on shore. that's going to pump some moisture in with it. unfortunately that will combine with this low to the east and bring more unsettled weather in the high plains as we head through your weekend. talk about the tropics as well, hurricane blanca out here, that is tracking off toward the north. right now it is staying relatively weak. main reason is we are seeing upwelling underthis and that is bringing up cool sea surface

temperatures and thus causing this to weaken. once it moves away, we will restrengthen as it heads up there toward baja, california, before weakening again, i don't think it is going to make landfall as a strong hurricane, more of a tropical storm, big thing with this is the dangerous surf up and down the coastline. across the northeast asia the rainy season. so once again, we are talking about more rain one low after another developing here. and going to push across western portions of japan, scattered showers, 150 millimeters expect there had in your forecast and by friday night into saturday morning, tokyo as well, looking the those showers, have an umbrella ready, at least toward the west. still expecting showers in hong kong and more toward taipei. i will leave you now with your extended outlook.

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

steves: the dramatic rock of cashel is one of ireland's most evocative sites. this was the seat of ancient irish kingfor centies. st. patrick baptized king aengus hen about 450 a.d. in around 1100 an irish king gave cashel to the church, and it grew to become the ecclesiastical capital of all ireland. 800 years ago, this monastic community was just a chapel and a round tower standing high on this bluff. it looked out then as it does today over the plain of tipperary, called the golden vale because its rich soil makes it ireland's

best farmland. on this historic rock, you stroll among these ruins in the footsteps of st. patrick, and wandering through my favorite celtic cross graveyard, i feel the soul of ireland. stacey thunder: on this edition of "native report," we attend the veteran's pow wow and a memorial dedication in lac courte oreilles. we'll learn about the traditional harvesting of wild rice. and we learn about astronomy from the ojibwe perspective. we'll also learn something w about indian country and hear from our elders on "native report." announcer: production of "native report" is made possible by grants from the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community and the blandin foundation. [music playing]

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