welcome to "newsline." it's thursday, september 5th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the world's of the leading economies are fathering to confront the financial challenges they share. they can find themselves debating a military strike on

syria. u.s. president barack obama is expected to push for military action at meetings of the group of 20 nations in st. petersburg, russia. he laid out the case in talks with the swedish in stockholm. >> the prime minister and i are in agreement in the face of such barberism, the international community cannot be silent and failing to respond would increase the risk of more attacks. the possibility that other countries would use these weapons as well. >> sweden believes that serious marries concerning international peace and security should be handled by the united nations. i also understand the potential consequences of letting a violation like this go unanswered. >> obama believes syrian forces used chemical weapons were used to kill humans of civil knowias.

they need to confront actions to violate common humanity. obama is expected to build his case for action at the g-20 summit in public and private meetings. he is scheduled to meet on the side lines with french president hollande and the chinese president. hollande has been making a push of his own, trying to persuade french lauers about the need to act. they have been allied with the syrians for years and chinese president is expected to oppose any strike. the russians served if are allies for the syrians. obama is expected to meet with putin, but they did not rule out the possibility that the two might talk. the u.s. president is expected to meet during the summit with the japanese prime minister abe. members of the foreign relations committee passed a resolution approving a military strike.

>> a resolution is agreed to and reported favorably by the committee. >> members agreed that the action should exclude ground troops and not exceed 90 days. they go on to the full senate. members are expected to vote on the measure next week. members of the house of representatives are debating the merits of the strike too. secretary of state john kerry testified before the house foreign affairs committee which is dominated by republicans. >> if we don't take a stand here today, i guarantee you we are more likely to face far greater risks to our security in a far greater likelihood of conflict that demands our action in the future. >> kerry said u.s. inaction would allow iran to use new agents and develop nuclear weapons. he said forces would not act on their own. the leaders of at least countries indicated their

personnel would take part in a strike. some house members expressed caution and asked about u.s. interests in syria and the possibility that military action will be extended. the deputy foreign minster said his government will not change its position even if there is world war 3. he spoke with the asean press news agency in damascus and said the administration of al a sass took every measure to retaliate against aggression. the prime minister met with members of the ruling baath party and asked them to cooperate with the government in protecting sovereignty and independence. human rights campaigners say the regime is using weapons that are banned under an international treaty. officials at human rights watch said they had firsthand information that last year cluster bombs killed or wounded

165 civilians. the organization released the annual cluster munition monitor. they said worldwide 190 people were killed or wounded by cluster bombs. that's the highest number since an international treaty banning the weapons took effect in 2010. most of the casualties were in syria. cluster bombs scattered a number of smaller bombs over a wide area increasing casualties. they site a case in which at least ten children were killed by cluster bombs. they were playing in a square near the capital. the campaigners say government forces were responsible. time now for the latest in business news. investors are looking at the u.s. central bank's latest report on the economy. trying to decipher what thi will do at the next meeting. joining us from the business desk with more, ai?

>> they are wondering if the fed will taper as early as next month. they are none the wiser. that is something they have said before. the u.s. central bank said the count rae's economy continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace. that aseszment is unchanged from the bank's previous report in july. the federal reserve released the latest beige book report on the economy on wednesday. it is based on surveys in the 12 regional districts. it shows consumer spending rose in most districts thanks to strong sales of cars and housing-related goods. higher demand for travel contributed to growth. the report said manufacturing activity modestly expanded among automakers and others said hiring improved in many industrial sectors. the report notes that home purchases picked up in several districts, rising prices and mortgage rates prompted the

buying. with the economy recovering, attention is focused on whether the fed will go ahead with their plan to start scaling back credit easing later this year. jobs data coming out on friday could affect discussions at the bank's policy meeting in mid-september. investors in new york ponded positively to the report. they rose for a second day on wednesday. the dow jones gained 2/3 of 1%. for more on japanese marks, we go to the tokyo stock exchange. how are the markets opening this morning? >> good morning, ai. investors seem to be encouraged by the gains on wall street. let's look at the opening levels for thursday, september 5th. the nikkei is higher by 0.34% at 14,101 points. rising from the key 14,000 level. this comes after the index

managed to extend to a third day on pedestrian as the yen weakened against major currencies. the topix is higher by about 0.3% as well. for today, the focus will be on the bank of japan as they will conclude the policy meeting. many market players expect the bank to maintain the monetary easying policy or rather they will be looking to what boj governor has to say about the japanese economy at a press conference after the announcement of the bank of japan's decision. let's take a look at currency starting with dollar yen first. it's at 99.72-77 approaching the key 100 level which has not been seen since the end of july. the fed will report shows an expansion in the u.s. economy just like you mentioned. this may be support for the fed

to buy the program which has an effect on reducing the supply of the dollar and increasing the value. let's take a look at euro yen. euro yen at the bottom of the screen is at 131.64-69 with the euro higher against the yen. traders will be looking to the central bank's meeting later today. the bank is also expected to maintain policy, but we will see what the president will say about the eurozone's economy and whether he will provide outlook for the ecb's policy. a lot of focus on central banks today and we will be keeping track of developments at the g20 meeting in russia and see how that place into the markets here in japan. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that update. the japanese government has announced the ministries made record high budget requests for the next fiscal year starting april 2014. the main reason for the giant

budget is ballooning social security costs. finance ministry officials say the requests total over 99 trillion yen, nearly $1 trillion. the request for social welfare costs came to nearly $290 billion, up $10 billion from this year. this is to finance pension and medical care. such costs are expanding as japan's population ages. requests for debt servicing rose by about $30 billion to over $250 billion. the requests do not ease a shortage of daycare for preschool children because the government plans to finance these projects with revenue from a proposed consumption tax hike. the decision on whether to raise the tax or not from next year has yet to be made. that's all for now on business. i will leave you with a check on markets.

>> japanese leaders are moving to control a contaminated water leak at the fukushima it's part of a test to stop ground water from seeping into reactor buildings. get officials estimate about 400

tons of ground water is flowing into the contaminated buildings every day. the inflow is adding to the problems of toxic wastewater on site. tokyo electric power company released video of the ground water for the first time. it shows water flowing into the number one turbine building. engineers planned to drive steel pipes 30 meters into the ground near the reactors. then they'll will pump liquid calcium chloride to freeze the soil creating a wall. they want to start the tests by mid-october at the earliest. they are planning to check any impact on the surrounding soil and ground water as well as how best to replace pipes over the long-term. members of the ruling party in south korea are concerned about the effects of the leaks. they are pushing government leaders in seoul to consider an import ban on japanese farm and marine products.

the head of the party asked the government to take further measures to ensure the safety of food imports. he said government officials should consider banning imports until they can confirm the products are safe. south korean officials have asked their japanese counterparts to provide them with information about the leaks. fish dealers in south korea are testing imports for radioactive contamination. a member of japan's nuclear power regulator said he stans firm that faults underneath a nuclear power plant in north eastern japan are active. they just completed a second survey at the plant. nra commissioner was speaking to reporters after a two-day survey at the plant. the panel investigated a crossing section of a trench dug by the operator. nra officials compiled a report

in number based on the first survey made two months earlier. they said the faults appeared to be active. they maintain the faults are not active. the utility has been conduct their own additional survey. >> emerging economic powers struggling with poverty. emboldened citizens demanding democracy and the threat of violence and the push for peace and the shadow of conflict. news and insight on south and southeast asia. every weekday live from bangkok only on "newsline." >> territory yell tensions between the philippines and china are heating up. philippine officials have accused china of building structures on the disputed scar borrow shore in the south china sea. the spokesperson said on wednesday that there is nothing to be sorry about.

>> translator: china has a right to operate vessels in the waters to protect sovereignty and water. china has done nothing to warrant blame. >> the star bro shore located near the west shore. they found evidence of building work on the shore. they showed photos of what they say are concrete foundation and 30 concrete blocks. the secretary raised the issue with other levels of government. >> i got the report. we had this sent to the department of foreign affairs and also informed the president about this. it will now be the move of the foreign affairs secretary to lodge a complaint. >> china has been increasing patrols and sending surveillance

vessels to the shore that the philippines also claims as its territory. the japanese defense minster indicates that the country will closely work with other nations to cope with naval activity in the east and south china sea. they referred to china's building on the disputed shore. >> translator: defense chiefs of asian countries including china agreed@meeting the territorial disputes should be settled through international laws and dialogue. what does that mean if china is in fact building a structure? is. >> he added japan will deal with activities by exchanging opinions with will the philippines, vietnam and other countries. he made the remarks with the east china sea in mind. china claims the islands.

officials say last month's crash landing is a class a mishap. the most serious type of accident. they were on a training flight from a base when it was forced to make a landing near a base in nevada. they caught fire, but none of the four crew members were hurt. officials said the crash landing damaged the aircraft beyond repair. the military sorts accidents into four degrees. a class a crash applies when an aircraft is destroyed or damage tops $2 million. the crash landing is fueling safety concerns about people in okinawa and southern japan. they are deployed at a base there. they routinely fly over residential areas. >> ariel castro who kidnapped and held three young women captive for nearly a decade at

his house has been found dead in his prison cell. he was sentenced to in prison without parole and an additional 1,000 years for abduction, rape, torture and other charges. local media say prison officials found him hanged in his cell on tuesday night. the 53-year-old was transferred to a hospital and soon pronounced dead. castro's crimes shocked americans. his victims were chained, beaten and repeatedly raped. castro's house in cleveland was a short distance from where the three women disappeared. in colonial times, a large japanese population lived on the korean peninsula. when japan lost control afterworld war 2, the remains of 20,000 japanese who died in the aftermath were left in what is known today as north korea. more than 70 years on, japanese and north korean researchers

found most of the remains still don't have a proper resting place. nhk world reports from pyongyang. >> the japanese delegation is 7 locations. the japanese citizens were believed to have been buried. they will be more than 70 across north korea that contain japanese remains. this is the north eastern part of north korea. afterworld war 2, about 1,600 died of illness or hunger. they said they found remains of japanese victims. >> i found many human bones

here. >> they said they gathered bones that have been unearthed and buried them. but the majority of the remains are still abandoned and lay in these fields. this is the head of north korea's team of investigators. they told nhk he was a resident in japan and moved ba being to his home country about 40 years ago. he found the documents were in the whereabouts of the remains in 2008 and his experiences in japan allowed him to launch the study to find the remains. the team visited the north eastern town. it's a remote village, but 900 kilometers north of the capital of pyongyang.

>> a witness could said there is a depressed area here and that's where remains are buried. >> a flood in the 1960s washed away many hill sides and unearthed human remains and we didn't know who they were. >> do you think we can dig up remains even now? >> sure. >> 600 japanese soldier are believed to have died and are buried in this area. they have checked documents with local people's accounts. 3,300 japanese were possibly buried on the left side of this. they are in one resting place and building a memorial.

>> translator: it's not normal for farmers to be fining human bones in their fields. we need to address this problem quickly. >> this is the responsibility of the japanese government. as well as the entire japanese society. we should give serious consideration to it. >> although the researchers have been able to identify areas believed to have contained the remains of japanese citizens, they face difficulties in retrieving and in turning them. just because north korea's government has directed the team from some areas and have yet to allow it to start the investigation. nhk world, pyongyang. >> a citizens group in japan is planning to send about a dozen surviving family members to north korea in late september to

pay respects to their deceased loved ones. the group is making arrangements to send another delegation in october. time now for a check on the weather. tokyo residents are seeing dark skies this morning. we see what to expect up ahead in world weather. >> good morning. i hope you didn't catch that thunderstorm this morning, but a lot of people are under the cats and dogs conditions especially here in the metropolitan tokyo region as well as a wide range of the area. this is due to the front that shows a lot of moisture and pounded japan yesterday. it's moving towards eastern japan. let me show you pictures just near our studio. take a look at that. cloud bursts and lightning strikes were observed. it brought rain and snow to western japan. this is a scene near our studio.

rail way services have been disrupted and the weather agency is warping of possible landslide flooding as well as swollen rivers. as you pull back, the coverage pulls up towards the north. we have the low pressure system and this used to be the tropical storm that we had been monitoring. now a feeding moisture to the area. that is pulling a cold front. as the system passes, lots of thunderstorms are happening across the area. that's due to the combination of the upper cold air and the surface temperatures summer-like. this is the typical picture and that's going to be found throughout the day today. about 50 fill meters of rainfall will be found in knowa hour. a sudden burst of showers and urban flooding and hail and severe thunderstorms and tornadic activity cannot be ruled out.

today across the region. but the western areas of japan are looking clear and fine and that includes the korean peninsula and north eastern areas of china due to the system bringing low humidity and dry conditions. here across southern areas, the low pressure system lingering in the areas. yesterday they is you 200 millimeters of rain. additional amounts could easily cause flooding and landslides. hong kong 28 degrees. taipai 29. 30s in the tropics and cooling down at 17 degrees with partially sunny skies. let's move over to the americas. it's september, but we have frost advisories and freeze warnings. this is due to a cold front. take a look at the morning lows. especially on your friday. that will be dipping into your

single digits. 17 degrees down to nine. this is your low. it's not your highs and still do bundle up in the morning and overnight hours. down to three here. toronto is only looking at 11 degrees. do bundle up. here across the south europe corner, damaging lightning and hail and thunderstorms are still going to be possible. widely spread is the monsoonal showers. it will be a sporadic effect. this is due to the ex-tropical storm moisture as well as a lot of moisture from the pacific moving in. that will be widely spread in the mountain areas. that can be as much as 100 millimeters. take a look at the interior with these soaring temperatures in denver at 35 degrees in los angeles. i will leave you with the extended forecast.

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

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> my credibility's not on the line. the international community's credibility is on the line. >> woodruff: president obama took his case overseas today, to bolster support for a military strike on syria. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, a key senate committee backed the use of force. we talk with white house deputy national security advisor tony blinken and republican senator deb fischer of nebraska. >> i have many concerns.