hello there, welcome to nhk "newsline." it is thursday october 6th, 9:00 a.m., i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. antonio guterres is pledged to become the next united nations secretary general taking over for ban ki-moon. 150 member u.n. security council has been informally judging support for candidates behind closed doors. >> today, our clear favorite, his name is antoinio guterres ad we're excited to go for the formal vote tomorrow morning at 10:00 and hope it can be done. this is what we're looking at. >> guterres is 67 years old and

was a front-runner in all the security council's polls. on wednesday he received 13 favorable votes and 2 expressing no opinion. guterres served as u.n. high commissioner for refugees for a decade. he worked on issues in iraq, myanmar, somalia, syria and elsewhere. the general assembly held public hearings in april to select the next u.n. chief. during them, guterres expressed his resolve to tackle refugee problems. russia's vitaly churkin is serving as council president this month. he said the security council will meet thursday morning to formally approve guterres and recommend his candidacy to the general assembly which must give final approval. u.n. officials released satellite images of the latest situation in the northern syrian city of aleppo. the photos show heavy destruction of houses and a school caused by air strikes. on wednesday, u.n. agencies released the images of seven locations in and around aleppo.

the photos were taken from the middle of last month into early this month, both during a cease-fire between the syrian government and opposition forces and after it collapsed because of continuing fighting. one photo shows damage in a residential area in the east of the city which is mainly held by the rebels. others show wreckage and heavy destruction of buildings apparently caused by an air attack. mediation efforts toward peace in syria have been bogged down. the united states announced on monday that it had broken off talks with russia on further cease-fire efforts, accusing it of not fulfilling its commitments. italian authorities are dealing with a fresh wave of refugees and migrants crossing the mediterranean. the coast guard says they rescued about 11,000 people in just 2 days this week. they're coming from the middle east and africa. among the ships making the dangerous crossing were four spotted off libya carrying about

1,000 people. the migrants rescued on monday were mostly from eritria and nigeria. more than ten pregnant women were among them. three of them gave birth on coast guard ships and were hospitalized after arriving in sicily. they're all in fine health. the international organization for migration says more than 300,000 migrants and refugees have made the journey across the mediterranean sea from january to october. it says 3,500 people have either died or gone missing. the number heading for europe by ship tends to increase in autumn when weather conditions are favorable in the mediterranean. now, a major japanese electronics maker is streamlining its personal computer business. with help from the world's leading pc manufacturer. ai uchida joins us now from our business desk with the details. ai, good morning. what do you have for us? two companies here. >> exactly, catherine. we are talking about ja fan's

fujitsu and china's linovo group. struggling with a decline in mobile pc demand as smartphones and tablets gain in popularity. fujitsu executives seem to have found a way to cut costs and improve efficiency. sources say they're in the final stage of negotiations with lenovo managers to integrate their pc businesses by the end of march. the sources say the chinese firm is considering taking a majority stake in fujitsu's pc subsidiary. lenovo purchased the pc business of u.s. giant ibm in 2005, six years later the chinese firm integrated its pc business with that of japan's nec. fujitsu holds the numberjapan's. global shipments fell below a million units in fiscal 2015, less than half of the peak level in fiscal 2007.

managers plan to maintain the two factories in japan etven after the integration but thinking about transferring pc m manufacturing to lenovo's controls. shave manufacturing cost and streamline their pc business by utilizing lenovo's overseas sales network. and checking on markets now. wall street closed up, higher oil prices and strong u.s. data boosted investor sentiment and the dow jones industrial average actually marking a triple-digit gain. the tech heavy nasdaq closing up half a percent. let's see what's happening in tokyo now. we're going to go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning, tell us what you're seeing at the open. >> reporter: very good morning to you, ai. according to some analysts, good news is being taken as good news. the markets you just mentioned some robust data out of the u.s. and the dollar is higher as well and, of course, the higher oil prices boosting a lot of energy

sector stocks. keep track of those. let's take a look at the opening levels. first of all, for the nikkei and the broader topix for thursday october 6th. both well into the positive there as you can see, the nikkei up 2/3 of a percent. the nikkei, a quick reminder, ended higher on wednesday. in fact, a three-week high on that weaker yen and there was a considerable amount of corporate news rippling through the markets here as well. these include a possible alliance of honda and yamaha scooter divisions and of course you were touching on it there, the news of lenovo and fujitsu's integration into the pc business which i'll track those shares and the sectors related to has well, of course. suzuki motor rose about 4% on wednesday as many bet on further gains for suzuki india. investors are hoping the reserve bank of india surprise interest

rates will help boost japanese busine businesses in india. crude reached $50 a barrel, that's after u.s. government reports that energy stockpiles shrank last week. now, that could also boost japanese oil-related companies. we shall keep track of all of that as well. ai? >> and ramin, currencies and the bond market also seem to be affecting stock markets. tell us where we are in other markets. >> exactly. the two obviously go really hand in hand. with higher bond yields, stronger dollar. right now, u.s. -- the dollar/yen, 103.49-53. it actually gained against the yen after ism nonmanufacturing jumped to an 11-month september, after the yeelt yield on the u.s. treasury note hit the highest level in more than two weeks. a slew of fed officials are speaking this week and many have already voiced their opinion of an early rate hike.

many in the markets believe this will come after the u.s. elections. the jobs data on friday will also help clarify that. let's get a quick look at markets that are open right now across asia-pacific region. very quickly, seoul's kospi is up, sydney's index up just a quarter of a percent. bond yields are higher. the dollar is higher. stocks are higher. so looks pretty good so far and a lot of the fears have been allayed according to investors so we're seeing pretty positive start. back to you, ai. >> all right, ramin, thanks a lot for that update. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. analysts at the world bank are forecasting slightly slower growth for emerging economies in the asia pacific region. they cite the slowing chinese economy as a major reason. the analysts predict that 14 of the economies will grow 6.4 % this year. that's down from last year. they say china's moderate slowdown is expected to continue

this year. lower pri eer prius eer proois s will take steam out of the malaysian economy. indonesia expected to expand thanks to brisk demand. those countries' governments have been actively investing in public works. world bank analysts warn the economic slowdown in industrialized nations and slump in world trade could hamper growth in emerging economies. they're calling on the countries to strengthen fiscal discipline. the japanese government is hoping to get more fuel cell vehicles on the road, but there are not enough filling stations in the country. a company has developed a product that could make things easier for ecofriendly cars. nhk world reports. >> reporter: for 70 years, this company has been making rubber products. president takayishi has a staff of 80 employees.

the company makes seals to connect things like water pipes. now he's making inroads into a new field. ecofriendly vehicles. >> translator: this is used in hydrogen stations. >> reporter: vehicles powered by fuel cells run on hydrogen. the gas is pumped at around minus 40 degrees celsius. under high pressure, joints could cause an explosion, so the pipes must be made as safe as possible. his company has developed a product specifically for this purpose. it's an "o" ring used to secure the joints. it took many rounds of trial and error to make a product that's durable enough. >> translator: "o" rings can break down when exposed to high pressure in the pipes. >> reporter: the extremely low temperature of the hydrogen can cause the rubber to crack. so it has to be strong and flexible, too.

staff members tried mixing chemicals searching for the right combination. all in all, they tested about 60 different kinds. after 5 1/2 years, they finally succeeded. his "o" ring is now used at about a third of japan's hydrogen stations. his next move is to sell the product overseas. >> nice to meet you again. >> reporter: his meeting with the representative from a leading fuel cell manufacturer from canada. >> does hydrogen make the rubber material more brittle, too? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. we see the flexibility, minus 40 degrees. >> we'll see you in hanover. in our exporters -- >> reporter: things have gotten off to a good start.

>> translator: he really understood that the knowledge we've built up over many years led to the development of our "o" ring. i hope future negotiations lead to a good result. >> reporter: he plans to travel to canada in november for another round of talks. a small company is taking a new path in helping to open new roads for ecofriendly fuel cell vehicles. nhk world, osaka. >> that's the latest in business for this hour. tokyo markets higher this morning. i'll leave you with a check on those numbers.

on to other stories. a committee looking at how to cover costs from the 2011 fukushima daiichi nuclear accident has held its first meeting. panel members say more money may be needed and that government support for the operator should be limited. the government has earmarked about $87 billion for compensation and decontamination work. plant operator tokyo electric power company has set aside about $19 billion to scrap the crippled reactors. but the committee members said those funds could fall well short of the amount needed. many participants said the utility should bear the increased financial burden through business restructuring and management reforms. that way, the government doesn't have to shell out even more money. tepco president warned that his company could become insolvent if it's forced to post the ballooning costs as a debt.

he argued a special accounting rule should be created to avoid the risk of bankruptcy. before the next meeting, the government plans to map out how much the cost of decommissioning is projected to grow. a japanese woman who sent a set of traditional dolls to u.s. president john f. kennedy more than 50 years ago has died. a home for the elderly in japan says she died last week at the age of 94. she sent dolls to kennedy at the height of the cold war in 1962, along with folded paper cranes and a letter appealing for peace. she was deeply moved when she received an unexpected reply from the president. she had decided to send the dolls after learning of his 4-year-old daughter, caroline. caroline kennedy is now the american ambassador to japan. she said she was also deeply moved by the dolls as a young girl. kennedy wanted to thank her and send her a doll and a handwritten note of thanks.

she was reportedly in tears on receiving the message. the two were never able to meet in person. after learning of her death, kennedy posted a twitter message. she wrote that she's glad to have had a chance to thank her for her gift of friendship decades ago. security and economic development in afghanistan go hand in hand. developing the agricultural sector where 80% of afghan's work is an economic priority. but most international experts cannot visit farms and villages because of security concerns. instead, a group of afghan farmers has traveled to pakistan for training. nhk world reports. >> reporter: this is the agricultural center in the capital islamabad. agricultural engineers from

afghanistan have come here for training by the japan international cooperation agency, or jica. he is from eastern afghanistan. >> we try our best to learn much more here and then to implement in afghanistan. >> reporter: japan has been supporting the pakistani research center and sending experts to teach there. ongoing terror attacks and kidnappings in afghanistan make it almost impossible for japanese agricultural engineers to safely travel there. so japan invited the afghan trainees to come to islamabad instead. they learned how to cultivate cells from healthy potato seedlings to increase yields. jica hopes to distribute these seeds in afghanistan to boost the potato crops. the participants visit a

training facility on the outskirts of islamabad to learn more techniques. a ceremony marked the end of training. each participant received a certificate. >> we have learned much more things here and can implement these things in afghanistan. as we conducted the experiments here so we can implement that in afghanistan. >> reporter: the organizers hope the returning afghan trainees will help improve the development and security of their communities back home. nhk world, islamabad. korean pop culture or kpop is winning new fans across asia all the time. nowhere is that more true than

in china. puson, south korea's second biggest city. it wants to be the country's number-one destination for k-pop fans from china and other parts of asia but a political spat could put that dream on hold. nhk world reports. >> reporter: tourism is booming, mainly because of the growing number of visitors from china. more than half of the tourists are chinese. k-pop is one of the main reasons they visit the country. they end up splashing out on korean food, shopping, and sightseeing. many visitors arrive on cruise ships. busam is one of the world's biggest ports. the city hosted more than 40,000 foreign tourists in just one month this year. busan is attracting many chinese

people. especially from inland areas. but south koreans in the tourism and l ereisure industries are concerned this trend may be slowing. that's because politics could get in the way of improving grassroots ties between the two countries. seoul and washington recently decided to deploy a missile defense system in south korea by next year. the idea is to make the country better able to defend itself against unpredictable military action by north korea. but beijing has reacted harshly to the plan. >> reporter: a newspaper affiliated with the chinese communist party warned that damage to the k-pop industry is inevitable if seoul doesn't

change its decision to deploy the thaad system. the political spat has dealt a severe blow to south korea's entertainment industry. stock prices of two major companies plunged after the announcement. they haven't recovered. the country's cosmetics industry is also feeling the pinch. one company in 2014 launched a brand containing natural ingredients that became a hit with chinese customers. that helped sales of such products reach $4 million last year in south korea. but they have fallen about 30% since the decision to deploy the missile system was announced in july. >> translator: we plan to expand distribution to southeast asian countries like the philippines, indonesia and vietnam instead. >> reporter: people in the tourism industry are working

hard to lure back chinese visitors. they are doing their best to make sure politics doesn't affect business. but a security expert in busan says it's inevitable that china's reaction to thaad will hurt economic and cultural activities. he suggests a way of solving the problem. >> translator: south korea and china have to make efforts to understand each other's position to get past the thaad issue. and full-fledged cooperation between the countries would promote the cultural industry and economy and finally solve the issue. >> reporter: kim says the south korean government should use careful diplomacy to stop china from taking countermeasures against thaad. nhk world, busan.

all right. we now turn our attention to hurricane matthew. it wreaked havoc in haiti and parts of cuba. now it's blowing through the bahamas and heading north. quite a serious situation there. our meteorologist robert speta has more. >> indeed. a very serious situation out across much of the caribbean right now. we are continuing to pick up the pieces in the bahamas, yes, taking the brunt of this still severe storm system. it's moving exceptionally slow as it does track off toward the north, but down toward the south, this made its initial landfall here and western haiti as a major hurricane. show you some video actually coming out of that area. just look at this. widespread devastation. the mayor of this city actually stating just catastrophic damage throughout the city here. 21 people have been killed in haiti at this time. according to reports. another four died in the dominican republic after a wall collapsed, but there's so many locations. there's communication down and

recovery still ongoing. then this made another landfall here into cuba just a little bit farther toward the north. still as a major hurricane. a category 4 coming on shore. widespread swaths of damage around guatemala there in eastern cuba. now, if you look ahead, this is heading toward the bahamas. the entire country, about 400 islands out here, under hurricane warnings at this time. really, the winds are a big threat. we have winds of 195 kilometers per hour. has downgraded to a category 3, but these are very shallow and very warm waters out here so we're expects this to reintensify back up to major hurricane status as it moves off toward the north, over toward nassau has well. then we're talking about that threat of this pulling into the florida peninsula and already hurricane warnings are in place. that is why we have evacuation advise aories and warnings in pe across these areas and eventually off toward the north. as far as the bahamas are concerned, the rain is a big issue. 380these damaging winds. but you have shallow gradients

leading up to a lot of these islands which many of them are very shallow in themselves. one to two meters above sea level. a three to five meter storm surge is possible. that is really one of these grave situations and hopefully everybody is continuing to heed these warnings and hunker down with this storm. just gives you an idea, the damage we've seen with matthew further down toward the south, why people need to be taking this seriously back toward the north across the southeastern u.s. as it does move through. right now it's sunny skies there, but things are going to deteriorate with that landfall likely as we go head into your thursday morning into the afternoon hours and throughout the day on friday. chaba now moving toward the northeast. this is an extratropical low. it's no longer a typhoon. swaths of damage there in south korea. i'll show you some video we have coming out of this area there in usan where, well, just take a look at that. this is the first typhoon to hit this country of the year. at least five deaths have been reported. widespread swaths of damage. look at this car just getting swept away.

actually the korean meteorological agency reporting 120 millimeters of rainfall was reported in this area in just a one-hour period. it's quite incredible images, and it really, i don't think that video does it justice of really the seriousness of what was going on out there. behind this, we got cooler air settling in, maybe even some snowfall across parts of hokkaido as we look ahead over the next 24 hours. and then i know it feels like the tropics are nonstop right now. we have another one. this one not as intense as our last typhoons out here but could be a big rainmaker across the philippines, maybe even some flooding there just south of manila. so another storm to really watch. all right. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook.

we have one more story to share with you before we go. craftspeople in tokyo have pooled their skills on and likely project. they built an olympic bobsled for the national team of jamaica, aiming for the 2018 winter games in south korea. two jamaican athletes joined japanese engineers at the sled's unveiling.

the advanced vehicle has been dubbed the bobsleigh after the working class area where it was built. that part of tokyo is crammed with factories famous for their skilled machining. the new sled is painted in jamaican colors. it has a low center of gravity and advanced aerodynamics for acceleration and cornering. >> the craftmanship from all who participated with the bobsleigh project is the best in the world. >> translator: we're confident of our sled-making skills and that will help win an olympic medal. >> the engineers say they'll make the sled more compact over the next few months. they say they'll refine the design together with the athletes. we'll have to see how that bobsled does. that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." thanks for joining us.

>> welcome to "in good shape." coming up -- losing your hearing. when does an operation make sense? free climbing -- how good is bouldering for your health? and diagnosis burnout -- the best ways to get out of the stress trap. and here's your host, dr. carsten lekutat. dr. lekutat: hello and welcome to "in good shape."