hello, and welcome back to "newsline." i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the headlines. u.n. schools in gaza are no longer safe haifbs. more than a dozen people were killed when the school used as a shelter came under fire. >> investigators in taiwan are trying to piece together the final moments before a plane crashed during landing. and authorities in ukraine are looking through the debris of a downed malaysian aircraft for victims' remains and to

identify who's responsible for the crash. the israeli military offensive in gaza has forced thousands of palestinians from their homes. many have sought shelter in places under u.n. protection, including schools. now even those places are failing to keep the evacuees safe, and it's the most vulnerable who are paying the pric nhk world's noriko okada reports. >> reporter: it's being bri described as one of the worst scenes of the israeli offensive goo gaza. an elementary school filled with hundreds of palestinian women and children came under heavy fire. when the shells stopped falling, 16 evacuees, including a 1-year-old child, were dead. almost 200 others were wounded.

israeli troops engaged in a fierce battle with fighters from the islamist organization hamas in the northern town of be beit hanoun on thursday. a spokesperson for the u.n. relief agency says it informed israeli military officials of the exact location of the shelter. >> they knew exactly what was going on there. and in spite of that, this has happened. >> reporter: the number of civilians killed in more than the two-woke-long israeli offensive has reached 784. officials with the united nations childrens fund have expressed strong concerns. among the dead have been at least 181 children. u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon has called for all sides to ensure that u.n. safe havens

remain places where people can find safety. >> he once again says all sides must abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law, to respect the sanctity of civilian life, the inviability of u.n. premises, and to honor their obligation to humanitarian workers. today's attack underscores the imperative the killing to stop and to stop now. >> reporter: women and childree price in the conflict. an immediate end to the fighting is needed to make sure that no more innocent people are killed. noriko okada, nhk world. investigators in taiwan are examining the remains of a passenger plane that crashed this week on a remote island. they're trying to find out why the plane went down while attempting to land. more than 400 police officers and soldiers are come combing through the wreckage on penghu island. the flight was carrying 58

people. 48 of them were killed and 10 were injured. five residents on the ground were also hurt. investigators are examining the scatter of debris of the twin engine turboprop aircraft. they've also collected the passenger's personal belongings. the flight data and cockpit voice recorders have already been sent to taipei for analysis. the families of the victims are gathering at the island. one man who lost six relatives says he still hasn't come to grips with his loss. >> translator: it's so hard for all of my family. we want to know who is responsible for the crash as soon as possible. >> aviation officials are trying to find out if the weather conditions had something to do with the crash. the flight was delayed for more than an hour and a half because of a storm. officials with the french president's office say the wreckage of a missing algerian passenger plane has been found

in mali. flight ah-5017 had 116 people on board. it was operated by air algerie. the plane went missing after leaving ouagadougu, the capital of burkina faso. it was bound for algiers. the wreckage was found near mali's border. 51 french citizens were among the passengers. a french military unit has been dispatched to secure the area around the crash site. burkina faso officials confirm the wreckage has been found along with several bodies. there appear to be no survivors. investigators working to identify the remains of passengers and crew from the downed malaysia airliner are facing difficulties. bodies are being flown out of ukraine, but they believe more are still at the crash site. >> reporter: ukrainian authorities said the remains of

114 people have been transferred to the netherlands. many of the victims were dutch. investigators from the netherlands are leading the identification process. people pay tribute at the military facility where the work is being carried out. >> you see things like that on tv, and then suddenly all those bodies are coming to holland, and you see them on the plane and all the coffins. >> reporter: all 298 people on board malaysia airlines flight 17 were killed last week. the plane was shot down and crashed in eastern ukraine. the crash site is in an area where government forces have been fighting pro-russian activists. those activists are hampering international investigators from reaching the site. some bodies are still believed to be unrecovered. >> it's very hard for us to get to the bodies, to get to the remains. you call it terrorists.

to me, it's criminals. >> reporter: the dutch prime minister said his country's forensic experts will keep searching until the last remains are recovered. he said he's also sending 40 unarmed military police to ensure their safety. he discussed the situation over the phone with u.s. president barack obama. white house officials said they agreed the investigation should be transparent and not disrupted. they also said the leaders agreed russia is still providing weapons to the activists, and there's a need to impose more sanctions on russia. officials from the netherlands and ukraine are also discussing the investigation. they're trying to determine the safest way to proceed. sachiko takeda, nx healthcare world. the prime minister of ukraine has designed. he told lawmakers he's lost the support of allies. some fear his resignation could

further delay the investigation. he made the announcement after two parties said they would leaf the governing coalition and push for elections. he said the government can no longer exercise its leadership. the vice prime minister will take over for the time being. volodymyr groysman leads the investigation of the shooting down of the malaysian airliner. let now turn to the latest business stories with ron madison. >> thank you, shery. people across japan are starting to realize they're paying for more the things they want. government officials h released data showing consumer prices went up in june by 3.3% from a year ago. the consumer price index has been rising for 13 months. it excludes the cost of fresh food, which tends to jump around and skew the numbers. people paid more for television sets, electricity, and gasoline. analysts believe prices in tokyo are an indication of what's happening across the country. those figures are up this month by 2.8%. the 15th straight monthly increase. policymakers at the bank of

japan say the increase in the consumption tax is partly responsible. the sales tax went up in april from 5% to 8%. officials at the central bank say the cost of corporate services is also going up. it increased in june by 3.6%. the officials pointed to a labor shortage. they said it was becomin for ma hire temporary workers. they said the government is spending more on public works and redevelopment projects, and they said that's adding to labor costs. prices for corporate services have gone up for 11 straight months. and the labor shortage is hitting restaurant chains in japan. sales fell in june for the first time in four months. some pubs were forced to close because they were unable to find enough staff. officials of the japan food service association say sales at major restaurant changes last month slid 1.8% from a year earlier. pubs and taverns reported a decline of 7.6%, and fast food restaurants a 3.2% drop.

bad weather in early june also contributed to falling sales. japanese government officials have released a report saying the country's economy is recovering moderately, even after the consumption tax hike. the cabinet office has just compiled this year's white paper on the nation's economy and public finance. the report notes that business investment is rising thanks to improved corporate performances. wage increases and government stimulus measures are also keeping the economy on track for recovery. the report also discusses the challenge of overcoming a shrinking work force due to the ageing population and falling birthrate. an internal affairs ministry survey shows as of last year, there were more than 3 million women wishing to join the labor force. one-third of them said they were unable to work because they're raising children. the report calls for steps to support these working mothers. it says that potentially about 1 million more women would be able to go to work. well, investors in tokyo pushed the benchmark index higher today. the nikkei average reached the

strongest level in six months. a weaker yen helped to boost a wide range of shares. the index there up more than 1% at 15,457. that's a level that we haven't seen since late january. investors picked up stocks that released solid earnings, and these include robot maker. looking at other asian marks, shanghai extended recent rallies to mark the highest close in more than three months. meanwhile, some other markets did pull back from recent highs, and this was due to profit taking. shanghai composite seeing gains of more than 1%, prirising for fourth straigh day. investors continue to take heart from recent signs of improvement in the chooi neesz economy. meanwhile, taiwan seeing declines of just over 0.9%. investors booked some profits today as the benchmark approached the highest level in nearly seven years on thursday. the high tech sector led the decline. well, chinese leaders may be

seeing the results of their efforts to stimulate the economy. a gauge of manufacturing activity has hit its highest point in a year and a half. the hsbc purchasing manager's index focused on small and medium sized firms in the private sector. a reading above 50 suggests business is picking up, and in july the index ticked up to 52. economists watch manufacturing to gauge the strength of the overall economy. we spoke earlier with steven shung. >> we weren't really excited or surprised by the improvement in the pmi. when you look at other economic indicators reported earlier in the month, there has been pretty consistent and broad-based improvement in terms of the chinese economy. that has been the result of the chinese government's policy activism since mid-april. but in terms of equity markets, we belief that improving pmi will continue on for the next

couple of months, so analysts will be revising positively in terms of their earnings estimates, and that should be positive for the equity markets. >> so is pmi an active reflection of the state of manufacturing in china? >> no, not necessarily. recent growth picked up in the past couple months has drichb by more government infrastructure projects. that has been the growth driver again. some have criticized that as old tricks. we believe this will not be sustainable in the long run. the traditional manufacturing sectors, which we all know is generally -- or is mostly low value and labor intensive, these are not competitive in china right now. you look at industrial production and industrial profits, these are the top-line economic figures that haven't improved much in the last couple months. unfortunately, we believe this trend will continue on for the next three to five years because what you can expect is that minimum wages in china will be increasing by around 10% or more in the next couple of years

while at the same time top-line gdp will gravitate towards the mid-single digits. that's going to make these traditional sectors even less competitive and they'll continue to struggle on. >> so the costs of running a factory are rising. meanwhile, the economy is slowing down. china has been known as the world's factory. is that stat tus changing? >> it is certainly changing. what we believe is in the medium term, china will be running a more hybrid economic model, so it will still be the global factory. again t will also be a global consumer as well. that's the whole point of the structural economic reform that's been going on. what china really needs to do right now is build their new growth engine, which will be the domestic consumption sector. that's going to help expand a higher value added and it's going to create more jobs in that area. that's going to help the job market in china as well when we see millions of university graduates every year struggling to find these higher value added jobs. so that's what we see in the long run.

and on the other hand, low value added labor intensive traditional sectors will be moved offshore to lower income countries such as south africa and some countries in south asia. >> all right. that is going to do it for biz this hour. let's see how things are looking on the markets. tokyo governor yoichi masuzoe visited seoul this week to deliver a message. he met with south korean

president park geun-hye. masuzoe first expressed his con low lenses to the families who died in the sinking of a passr ferry in april. he then said prime minister shinzo abe is eager to improve bilateral ties. park expressed regret that political difficulties are causing a rift between people in japan and south korea. >> translator: i hope our two countries can improve our relationship by sharing correct views of history. >> park brought up the issue of the so-called comfort women. she called it a human rights matter and said she hopes it will be dealt with sincerely. >> translator: i conveyed prime minister abe's desire to buiuila better relationship with south korea. >> mast sue zoe said he and park worked together to ensure the 2018 winter olympics in pyeongchg and the 2020 summer

olympics in tokyo are successful. now, japanese prime minister abe has left for latin america. he'll tour five countries during his trip. it's the first multination visit to the region by a japanese prime minister in a decade. abe says that with the trip he will have visited all the inhabited con innocents. he's pursuing what he calls diplomacy overlooking the globe. >> translator: i want to strengthen ties with latin american countries. the potential for cooperation is unlimited. >> he will visit mexico, trinidad, and tobago, colombia, chile, and brazil. around 70 japanese corporate executives are traveling with him. he says he's looking forward to exploring business opportunities in the region. the prime minister will promote japanese infrastructure. he will call on leaders to open the door for japanese firms to latin american markets. the region has a combined population of 600 million

people. he also hopes to secure a stable supply of natural resources for japan. a post office on a small island in japan is capturing people's imagination with a service unlike any other. it accepts postcards sent to unknown destinations or even to those who are missing. >> the island of awashima lies in the quiet waters of the seto inland sea. this half-century-old building used to serve as the post office. it closed down 23 years ago, but today the mailman is back. the post office is experiencing a revival as the destination for

a very special kind of mail. these postcards are written by people seeking solace or courage. since opening in october of last year, the missing post office, as it's called, has received more than 2,000 postcards from around japan. the postmaster is 80-year-old katsuhisa nakata. nakata used to run the original office. after his retirement, he acquired the building with the aim of preserving it. last year a visiting artist convinced him to embark on this new adventure. the postcards are on display in a small gallery. twice a month visitors can come

to read them. >> translator: we preserve them with great care. >> in some cases, the simple act of writing can provide relief from complex emotions. >> translator: dear shin, it's been almost three years since you went missing. i was devastated to hear you were taken by the tsunami while driving your delivery truck. >> the author of these lines is this man from northeastern japan. >> translator: we were such good buddies. we visited each other and played baseball together. we had so much fun, didn't we? i think about you every time i drive past your place, but i never stop because i can't sort out my feelings.

>> the intended recipient is shin ichisaigo. he worked for a seafood processing company. his truck was swallowed by the tsunami of march 11th, 2011. >> translator: at first i thought it was a bad joke. i told mys it was a pack of lies. i just couldn't believe it. >> when he learned about the missing post office, ouchi decided to put together all the feelings that had remained unsaid. it took him two days to complete the message. >> translator: shin, i want you to know that you remain my true friend. may this message find its way

over to you. >> translator: writing this letter helped me sort out the unbearable emotions that had accumulated inside me. now i think i may be able to start moving on. >> every day brings a new load of special postcards. messages to someone somewhere or simply to eternity. heavy rains are causing serious problems in the balkan peninsula. our meteorologist jonathan oh is here with the latest. jonathan, we have been talking about this storm for the past few days. when will it finally leave the area? >> shery, looks like the storm

will start to relieve of its presence as we go into the weekend, but it looks like as we go through friday and part of saturday, this upper-level low will continue to bring heavy rainfall in parts of europe. in fact, extending from france all the way into the balkan peninsula. i wanted to take you to romania. let's take a look at some video out of the balkan peninsula, where we're talking about serious flooding. people in much of that country dealing with severe flooding after days of heavy rains. hundreds of homes are inundated with multiple localities left without power wednesday. you just saw some video of people trying to wade through almost waist-deep water. the heavy rain has also caused landslides and traffic disruptions. like i mentioned, looks like we'll be dealing with rain for friday. as we head into the weekend, we may start to see this system dissipate. here's a look at the current system. low pressure down toward the italian peninsula. the influence from france all the way into the balkan peninsula. so the precipitation will be a part of the story.

and it looks like when it comes to accumulation totals, some area may see 50, 60 millimeters of rainfall. that's certainly possible. make sure you're taking precautions if you're already in an area heavily flooded. meanwhile, different story into the aye beer yan peninsula. high of 35 degrees coming up for friday under sunny skies. and stom home and the scandinavian peninsula seeing very warm temperatures. about 10 to 15 degrees warmer than what's normal for this time of year. let's take a look at the americas now. i wanted to point out to you this line of clouds located on the eastern side of the united states. unfortunately, this cold front produced a tornado in virginia that ended up killing three people. now, the system will eventually move out of the united states and eventually high pressure will move in and start to cool down the temperatures. meanwhile, a very different story back toward the west. high pressure already controlling the weather, but it's driving up very hot air. so temperatures are moving to near 40 degrees in some places.

that's also fueling a low-pressure system that's bringing in storms for the western an central portions of canada. here's a look at the forecast. 31 in l.a. and 38 degrees in oklahoma city. we're still seeing instability into denver, winnipeg, and also into chicago. so expecting rain and some thunderstorms, and like i mentioned, very hot weather for the western half of the united states. look at this. death valley looking at 51 for the high on friday. 50 on saturday. this is not -- these are not temperatures you want to spend time outdoors. you need to be indoors in this type of situation. please make sure you take precautions as we go into the weekend. let's wrap things up with a look at asia. over japan, high pressure with drier conditions. maybe seeing a scattered shower or were to because of slight instability. but what was matmo now is just a low-pressure system. it's interacting with a front. that's going to bring a lot of rainfall into the korean peninsula. some areas may see up to 160 millimeters in just a 24-hour

period. so flooding is of some great concern. that will eventually spread into hokkaido and the northern portions of japan going into the weekend. so wet from shanghai, taipei, into seoul. temperatures anywhere from 27 to 34 degrees. again, tokyo, you'll be dealing with dry conditions, but the heat will still be a big part of the forecast going into the weekend. look at this. above-average temperatures for tokyo, nagoya, fukuoka, where these sunflowers are located. temperatures above average into saturday, sunday, and monday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook.

and that's all for this hour on "newsline." i'm shery ahn. thank you for watching. gg99ññww

>> it is 1:00 in the french capital. the headlines this hour. france confirms there are no survivors in the downed algerian flight. 116 people were on board. officials say the crash could be weather related. we get an update from our correspondent on the ground in mali. gaza rockets are fired at israel's airport as the west bank braces for more palestinian protests. demonstrators angry over the ongoing violence. the u.s. says russia has fired artillery across its border with ukraine. the state department says it has evidence of moscow's