hello there. welcome to nhk "newsline." it is friday, may 13th, 9:00 a.m. i'm catherine kobayashi in the group of is made of up 17 nations from around the world including the middle east and europe. it's discussed ways of working towards a cease-fire and lasting peace in syria based on u.n. security council resolutions. the three newcomers have been invited to the next meeting set

for tuesday in vienna. the gathering is likely to focus on,0 how to maintain peace afte fighting erupted in country's north. french prosecutors say large payments may have been made with connection to tokyo's bid to host the 2020 olympics. they released an interim report that looked into allegations raised by the independent commission of the world anti-doping agency. # prosecutors claim that in july and october of 2013, payments were made from a japanese bank to a singapore firm. believed to be linked to the son of the former head of track and field who's already broadband investigated for corruption. they were made within months of the city being awarded the games.

the prosecutors did not disclose who sent the money, but said they are looking into the purpose and timing of the transfers. the tokyo olympic organizing committee denying involvement in the alleged payments. officials say they believe the games were awarded because the nissan is set to become the largest stakeholder in scandal-hit mitsubishi motors. the head of nissan says the company will spend $2.2 billion to buy 34% of mitsubishi. the stake is more than the combined holdings of three companies within the mitsubishi group. >> nissan will become the single largest shareholder in mitsubishi motors and we will extend our existing partnership s into new areas. >> they're internal investigation has found one of their managers instructed an employee at a subsidiary to

fabricate the fuel consumption area. the company was hired to measure the vehicle's fuel economy. the inquiry discovered the employee did as instructed. he did raise questions about mileage targets being repeatedly hiked and knew from experience it would be difficult to achieve them. transport ministry officials are not satisfied. they believe the in-house probe is insufficient and are demanding it submit another report by wednesday. they also plan to launch another search of the automakers headquarters as early as friday. corporate japan amidst earning season. they posted higher profits durs the fiscal year. experts say this year will be a different story due to the higher yen. analysts say 766 firms reported

combined pretax profit of about $240 billion for fiscal 2014. that's up 2% from a record high mark in a previous year. they say a lore yen helped push up profits. the currency has risen sharply from early this year. the firm's pre-tax profits tumbled 26% year on year. as for the current business year the survey shows the firms expect a 1.6% decline in pre-tax profits. now we're going to go to markets. u.s. stock markets were lackluster with the dow jones ending the day flat up just about 9 points. we saw a decliechb half a percent on a tech heavy nasdaq. let's see what's happening in coke owe. he's standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning. tell us what you're seeing over there. >> very good morning. bit of a mixed session as just touched on there.

a bit of a negative sentiment for investors. we did see crude oil also recent sluggish earnings from department store sales. let's have a look at how the markets are open. the nikkei and topix in the positive. largely led by the swings that we have seen in the dollar yen rates dipping when the dollar weakened. the focus remains squarely on the plight of mitsubishi hoe tors. that follows the mileage data scandal we have been covering that surface last month. nissan announced earnings after

the market closed saying full year revenue was just up over 7% to just over 12 trillion yen from the previous year. it decided to raise its dividend. linked earnings on shares of toshiba after reporting an operating loss of $6 billion for the year that ended in march. the global giant makes everything from semiconductors to nuclear plant. it was put on security alert in september last year. >> you mentioned u.s. retail sales. how is the dollar trading? >> the green back touched a two week high. seclations that the bank of japan will expand monetary easing as early as next month. right now it's at 108.95. u.s. retail sales come later

today at a crucial junction after disappointing department store sales and a jump in weekly jobless claims that adds to investor concern over consumer spending in the world's biggest economy. we did see a volatile session on thursday. in the positive. just in the negative. china markets open in an hour and a half. we'll see how the shanghai composite kick off this friday. back to you. >> absolutely. sounds good. thanks a lot for that update.

>> there are fewer kids around due to the country's low birthrate. some of the small shops are not ready to write it up just yet. >> reporter: this shop has been this business for about 40 years. this elderly couple has run the shop but times are tough. >> translator: we barely live on our pensions and profits from the shop combined. >> reporter: specialty shops are on the way out. more than 100 kinds are sold. customers can eat all they like for a table charge of less than

$5. it initially targeted middle age customers looking for a nostalgic culinary treat. the owner was surprised to find that many young women are fans too. >> it's great because i can eat sweet and salty treats. >> reporter: yet they haven't forgotten about their main customer base. they figure a new generation of kids might like the cheap, old sweets. in november last year, a wholesaler opened a huge shop in an old warehouse. he's made it child friendly by attaching a price tag to every item. that way children can enjoy the shopping experience. >> i was surprised. so many of them.

>> i want to eat a whole bunch. >> reporter: last year he enlisted the help of makers nationwide. he once went to france. he was surprised to see how the excited local children. that got him started. >> translator: you don't see sweets like this outside of japan. people abroad love japanese chocolates and other items. i think japan is one of the best sweet makers in the world. it's cheap and yet so much fun. >> reporter: the challenge is to spread that enthusiasm and big up a new generation of new customers. nhk world. >> all right. i'll leave you now with a check

on markets. : today's eye on asia starts in the philippines. he's pinning his hopes on the new president. he says he wants to resume peace talks and end three days in exile. the new people's army is the party's armed wing. it's been fighting a conflict that's gone on for decades.

sison has been living in europe since the 1980s. he said in an online message he would return to the philippines if duterte fulfills his promise to visit him. and referring to chances of resuming the peace talks, he said the prospects seem to be bright at the moment. the party's armed wing, the new people's army, or npa, has been fighting the government for more than four decades. at least 30,000 people have died in one of asia's longest-running insurgencies. the npa's long campaign has created instability and disrupted development in some of the poorest parts of the philippines. the embassy in tokyo has held a memorial for one of its best in japan. week at the age 76. supporters and government officials from both japan and the philippines offered flowers.

he's known as a career diplomat with a wide range of personal relationships with japanese people and a deep knowledge. he studied at tokyo university as a japanese government sponsored student. after that he entered the philippine foreign ministry. one year has passed since a series of strong earthquakes devastated nepal. recovery efforts have made little progress, leaving survivors, especially children, still in peril. nhk world's yuichi tabata reports. >> reporter: the earthquakes struck areas at the foot of the himalayas. about 9,000 people died, 900,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. the home of this family was one

of those that collapsed. the family of five, including three children, are forced to live in a makeshift tent. i visited them again to see how the children were doing one year on. the family had moved to a nearby apartment. they live together in just one room. the father earns only about $7 a day doing demolition work. they sometimes have a hard time paying the monthly rental of $23. >> translator: the authorities pledged about $1,900 for rebuilding homes. but they don't seem to care about survivors. >> reporter: when the children get home from school, they stay near their mother. about 1,200 children are believed to have lost parents in the disaster nationwide.

with government aid stalled, nongovernmental organizations are playing a key role in supporting them. on this day, an ngo staff member visited the single-parent family in a hard-hit area. the family's home collapsed in the quake. the mother and daughter were pulled out three hours later, but the father was found dead. >> translator: it's very painful to recall that day. >> reporter: since losing the breadwinner, the family is surviving on one-fifth of what they once earned. it's getting support from the ngo, which is providing financial aid to children who lost one or both parents. the ngo is also offering another

type of support. the daughter was thinking about getting textile job training and going to work to support her family. but the ngo recommended that she focus instead on her school studies. >> translator: how about taking a computer class in addition to the classes you've already taken? it will be better for your future. >> reporter: the ngo also gave the family a pair of goats. they will be able to breed them and make money by selling their offspring. >> translator: i can continue my schooling with the ngo's help. i am all the family my mother has left. i will keep on supporting her. >> reporter: the ngo provides financial aid to more than 100 children. it hopes to increase its activities. however, the staff are having

difficulty, as it takes time to get permits from authorities. >> we wanted to do something but they're helpless. we have to wait until we get the signal from the government. >> reporter: with little assistance from the authorities, the survivors are doing the best they can with the help of ngos. yuichi tabata, nhk world, kathmandu. >> and that wraps up our bulletin. brazil's senate has voted to impeach the president and suspend her from office. dilma rousseff is accused of involvement in manipulating government accounts. following a marathon of speeches, 55 senators voted in

favor of impeachment and 22 voted against. since last december, the brazilian parliament has been debating whether the president should face a trial. rousseff will remain suspended for up to 180 days. the vice president, michel temer, became the interim president immediately after the vote. rousseff addressed her supporters and condemned the impeachment. rousseff said the crisis is a decisive moment for brazil's democracy and future as a nation. she said she'll fight with all legal tools available to exercise her mandate until the end of her term. observers expect the trial to overlap the olympics in rio de janeiro in august. there is growing concern over how this may adversely affect the games.

ethiopians who make leather wear are trying to tap into the market in japan. thee invited to show off their products in tokyo, and using lessons they have had learned from japanese businesses to create a brand that will sell here. >> reporter: historically selling leather hasn't been easy. people in the ethiopian industry are trying to establish a new image for their country by producing quality items.

they have flown all way to tokyo to show off their products at one of the japan's largest fashion exhibitions. this man is a product manager and a member of the delegation. >> we're starting the exhibition, and we are ready. >> reporter: the leather that comes from sheep raised in the country's highlands is considered some of the highest quality leather in the world. but they have also success exporting their products. so they decided to learn about japanese tastes from designer shunji, he has even visited ethiopia four times over the past year. >> translator: the first time i saw that products, i thought it would be difficult to sell them in japan. i was pointing out what must have seemed to them like minor

points, but i think they have come to feel that what they were making was becoming really good. >> reporter: at the exhibition he showed off the top products designed with input from nagai. some 30 japanese firms have shown interested about ethiopian leather items. >> the specification, the idea, everything. so even what would change -- works -- i mean it works, because they need different, geffen that the first time in the market. >> reporter: the ethiopians think in order to increase sales, learning brand management is essential. so the leather producers took a good long look at the successful example of a successful japanese regional brand. the city is a number one towel producer, but competition from china forced the towel makers to

change how they did business. some 100 towel producers decided to share the same logo to strengthen brand recognition. only products that have cleared strict quality standards can be labeled. since the change, the price for the most popular towels has almost doubled. now they sell at anywhere from 50 to $100. both our association and each maker were able to get results in a short period of time, because we succeeded in developing the regional industrial brand. >> reporter: for the eet i don't wantance, it was an eye-opening

experience. >> for us it's important. >> even the trend, the customer and the quality, everything, so we get to this knowledge. so for us, it's a big change. >> reporter: they plan to set up criteria for using their brand logo before adding any more producers to their group. their aim is to establish the brand as high quality and in high demand, so they can become leading examples for the industry. nhk world, tokyo. people in tokyo are enjoying a sunny, warm friday morning. robert speta will stel us whether this will last through the weekend. >> yes. sunny skies really dominated most of japan today. we have a big area of high pressure, it has moved in. clear conditions out there, temperatures definitely on the rise, feeling summer-like for a lot of you across much of the area. something that is kind of contributing to the warmer temperatures, this area of low pressure back toward theest. out ahead of it we have the southerly winds coming in. that is bringing some

precipitation across northeastern china, but this is one other thing i want to know. a tight pressure gradient, and out of mongolia over towards western china, you have the gobbi desert, the winds kicked up and it's bringing yellow sand. i'll show you some video coming out of this area. definitely a significant reduced visibility here in northwestern china on wednesday. traffic actually halted in some areas, as visibility dropped to less than 50 meters. that is just absolutely incredible. the air is just getting filled with the sand out here. definitely poor air quality. i feel bad for a lot of workers outside who just have to contend with that. as we look ahead, this is moving toward the east, won't be as intense as we've seen back towards the , a classic sign of spring, by the way, it does have adverse side effects, it shows stronger lows coming through, and that's just ramping up, the spring heading into the summer

season. really down towards the south, we have another low that could develop by the weekend, bringing precipitation across the indochina peninsula. taipei at 29, shanghai up to 25, and how about this, take a look at tokyo, 28. partly cloudy skies there to start off. let's move into europe, much of western europe. we have our storm system, still continuing to linger, bring us some thunderstorms across parts of italy. we've even had large hail reported there in morn italy also shifting, you have been looking at heavy rainfall, and the threat still of some hail coming out of this.

just quite unstable right along that frontal area, just another location, and into parts of poland, just a very messy picture here. one of the big things, because of we have this messy picture is the temperatures. vienna with a high of 15, it's cool there for you. war saw at 22, berlin getting up to 22 today. actually the decent spot on the map for once is into the british isles. london 20 there for your high, some sunny skies on your friday. as we move over towards the americas, severe weather has been ramping up out here. almost every day this week we have had reports of large hail or tornadoes, and that threat is even still there, going ahead through your thursday even. we have a cold front pulling over the appalachian mountains, heading off towards the eastern seaboard with it. that severe thunderstorm chance producing that large hail and potential for tornadoes still possible on the here, as it does continue to move overhead, and another pulling over the western plains and eventually the great lakes. i think that will -- a lot of you will feel this. look at the temperatures drop. winnipeg, just 6 there for your high.

here's the extended outlook. that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

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ernie stevens: on this edition of "native report," we'll meet dr. arne vainio and head into our studio to watch as he performs a science experiment. rita aspinwall: we visit the american indian cancer foundation and learn about its mission. ernie stevens: and we meet the honorable diane humetewa, united states district court judges for the district of arizona. rita aspinwall: we also hear from our elders on this edition of "native report." narrator: production of "native report" is made possible by grants from the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community, the blandin foundation, and the duluth superior area community foundation. [music playing]