. welcome to "newsline." here are some of the stories we are following this hour. emergency crews in hiroshima are trying to find people missing in the mud after several hillsides gave way. islamist militants say they executed an american journalist in retaliation for u.s. air strikes in iraq. scientists at fukushima daiichi are using new technology

to see what's happening at the nuclear plant without going inside. the rescue workers in western japan are rushing to find people trapped in landslides. record amounts of rainfall at hiroshima loosened the ground sending several hillsides thundering intoes residential areas below. 32 people were killed, nine others are missing. the torrential rains started out in the morning and it just kept coming. more than 200 millimeters fell in two hours. that's more than the average amount for the entire month. all that rain made the ground unstable, then hillsides gave way, sending mud sliding into homes and leaving a trail of debris. firefighters and police are trying to find people swept away. the ground self-defense force has also joined the rescue

operation. prime minister shinzo abe cut short his summer break to respond to the emergency. >> translator: my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this tragedy. i'd like to extend my sincere sympathy to all those who are affected. >> abe has dispatched keiji furuya to hiroshima. he'll lead the relief and rescue work there. to learn more about how the weather led to this disaster we turn to meteorologist jonathan oh. >> hello. i can show you the radar returns from earlier in the day and you can see here some of the really darker shades of red and purple indicating rainfall rates at 80 millimeters per hour. when you have that type of rain situation on an already saturated area of moisture on the ground, you will see this type of problem and i want to show you some of the rainfall reports for three-hour periods

up to 217.5 millimeters of rain and other areas again soaked with even more rain. it looks like that we're going to be dealing with precipitation as we go into thursday. look at this, we do have the stationary front located to the west of japan and so while the peak of the rainfall may be weakening off just a bit, we're still looking at rainfall up to 100 millimeters in northern kyushu, and so unfortunately it does not look like that dry weather will be in store as we go into thursday. more in world weather in just a bit. let's now turn to the latest in biz with ron madison. >> well, investors around the world certainly have been watching closely to see if prime minister shinzo abe can live to his promise to, as he puts it, bring japan back. the man largely responsible for jumpstarting the economy and fulfilling that pledge is the economic revitalization

minister. he is juggling a number of challenges from economic reform to negotiations to reach a free-trade pact with asia pacific nations. a renowned business magazine has chosen him as one of the world's 50 most influential leaders. he's the one tasked with making abe nom micks work. we had an exclusive interview with the minister and he stressed even though japan posted negative growth of 6.8% in the june quarter due to the consumption tax hike there's no need for undue pessimism. >> translator: it's important when identifying actual economic trends to look at the average growth of a certain period. so from january to march and then april to june, when you see this big jump and a dip, you have to make sure to look at the average and compare that to what happened, for example, the year before. the key is what happens from july to september.

many analysts predict we will see 4% growth in that period. we have not given any official projections, but we do believe we'll see a good recovery. i think we should not be too worried. >> translator: the administration is facing a crucial decision by the end of the year. whether to further raise the consumption tax from the current 8% to 10%. he says the best scenario would be to hike the tax as planned, but the government needs to take a closer look before going ahead with the initial plan. >> translator: if we raise the conshunl tax and the economy slumps this, of course, is hazardous. so what we must do is, we must look at what kind of impact any increase in the tax will have on the japanese economy. at the same time, we have to bear in mind that this additional tax money offers a

steady revenue source, so if we decide not to raise the tax we will then have to come up with another approach toward rebuilding our financial health. we need to do this in order to maintain the confidence of the market in japanese bonds. and if we decide to postpone the tax hike we will need to then show when we will increase those rates. >> translator: lowering the corporate tax rate is one of the main pillars of prime minister abe's growth strategy. amari says the administration is determined to lower the corporate tax rate to a level that allows companies to be globally competitive in a five-year time frame. >> translator: we've decided to lower corporate tax rates to less than 30% in the next few yea years. in order to achieve this we've been discussing a gradual cut. in other words, we would reduce the tax rate by about six percentage points over the next

five-year span. however, if the economy starts looking better than expected, the change may be brought forward, meaning we may move more quickly. but we're still undecided on the pace of the tax reduction. this will depend very much on how the economy recovers. we plan to discuss this towards the end of this year. >> reporter: the abe administration has been pushing to reach a free-trade pact with 11 other asia pacific nations. but ministers of the negotiating countries have not been able to meet this summer. amari says it's crucial that countries keep moving forward and do not rehash issues that have already been decided. >> translator: the important thing is that among the 12 countries, japan and the u.s., which cover 80% of the gdp of this group, should reach a firm basic agreement. on top of this, we also need to

make sure that anything that has been decided is not reopened again. if we restart discussions on issues that have been resolved, it will totally upset the confidence and trust toward our agreements. of course stakeholders of each country will have their say, but we should not go back to discussing what has been agreed. i think this is the responsibility of the leaders, to explain and persuade the interest groups within their countries to help make the deals work. >> all right. on to the markets now. investors in asia were not actively trading. they were sidelined ahead of a symposium in wyoming which kicks off on thursday. most benchmarks showed minor gains following overnight rallies and global stock markets. investors will be keen to hear what janet yellen has to say, especially about the future of u.s. monetary policy. here in tokyo the nikkei average inched up a touch,

finished at 15,454, holding on to a two-week high in what was a tepid trading session today. some participants bought shares on a weaker yen. others, though, chose to lock in profits on the recent surge. taiwan's benchmark index climbed a half a percent, finished at 9,288, a second straight session of gains there. financial shares led the advance on a brighter business outlook for local banks. in shanghai the composite index seeing declines a quarter of a percent. 2,240. chinese regulators approved 11 additional companies to list and these firms are scheduled to start accepting subscriptions next week. investors nervous about possible fund outflows for allocation to new issues. month after month finance ministry officials have seen more goods coming into japan than going out. the trade balance has been in the negative for 25 months in a row now. exporters believe demand from overseas may be starting to

recover. the trade deficit for july came to about $9.4 billion. the figure narrowed by 6.6% in yen terms over a year earlier. but the balance has been negative since july 2012. still, exports rose for the first time in three months. they're up 3.9% from july of last year. ministry officials point to an increase in auto exports. imports meantime increased 2.3%. utilities in japan have had to bring in more fuel for thermal power generation since the nuclear accident three years ago in fukushima. the number of foreign visitors to japan in july hit a record monthly high. a weaker yen was a factor and an easing visa requirements for people from some nations in southeast asia gave a boost. officials at the japan national tourism organization estimate almost 1.27 million people from overseas visited japan last month. that's up 26.6% from a year earlier. the number of visitors from mainland china and indonesia,

more than doubled. while the figures for travellers from malaysia and the philippines were both up more than 63%. foreign visitors exceeded 10 million for the first time last year. the number continues to rise this year as tokyo's airport is increasing its international flights. more cruise ships are also calling at japanese ports. and there's some good news for travelers flying out of japan. officials at japan airlines and all nippon airways have decided to cut fuel surcharges on international flights for tickets issued in october and november due to lower fuel prices. it's the first cut that we've seen in 14 months. the surcharges are added to international airfares based on the price of fuel and are reviewed every two months. jal and ana will slash fuel surcharges for one-way flights connecting japan with north america and europe by 16% to about $200. fees for flights connecting japan with hawaii and india will be lowered by about 15.5% to

roughly $130. chinese authorities say they have fined ten japanese auto parts makers for violating the country's anti-monopoly law. state run media say the penalty is the country's largest ever for anti-trust violations. officials of the national development and reform commission say they have ordered the companies to pay a fine of about $200 million. the ten suppliers include electric industries, yazaki and den so. the commission claims the firms have fixed parts for automotive bearing and components. officials say two other japanese makers charged with price fixing are exempt from the penalty because they've cooperated with investigators. the authorities say they're also looking into u.s. and german automakers on suspicion of violating the anti-trust law. electric industry officials say they will consider whether to pay the fine.

officials from yazaki and denso have accepted the order and say they'll do their utmost to prevent a recurrence. and that is going to do it for biz this hour. let's check in on the markets. the family of a missing american journalist has confirmed he was killed by muslim militants fighting in syria and iraq. members of the islamic state released a video showing the beheading of a man they called james foley. they said the death was in

revenge for the u.s. air strikes against their group in northern iraq. nhk world is following developments for us. >> reporter: james foley was abducted in syria nearly two years ago. he worked as a freelance journalist for the on-line news site global post and for the wire service afp. the 40-year-old had also reported from iraq, afghanistan, and libya. foley's family asked for privacy so they could mourn his death, but did confirm he is one of the latest victims of islamic state. the group released a video titled "a message to america." it shows a man in a location kneeling next to a masked man who identifies his captive as james wright foley and the captive also speaks. >> i call on my friend, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the u.s. government, for what will happen to me, is only a result of their complacency and criminality. >> the masked men then criticizes the u.s. air strikes

against his fellow militants in iraq and he says attempts to defy the islamic state or call fate they established across iraq and syria will result in a bloodshed of americans. after the beheading the masked man shows another captive he called steven soughtlove who disappeared near the syria/turkey border and says the man's fate depends on obama's next decision. u.s. government officials have briefed the president on these developments. obama has resumed his vacation but is expected to deliver some sort of statement. foley's mother diane posted a message on facebook. she said we implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages. like jim, they are innocent. they have no control over american government policy in iraq, syria, or anywhere in the world. obama ordered the air strikes in iraq earlier this month. since then u.s. forces have hit dozen of islamic state targets from checkpoints to weapons and equipment. the president says they're trying to protect american personnel and facilities and

stop islamic state from massacring members of the ya ziedy minority group. the campaign has saved thousands and helped iraqi and kurdish forces push back against the militants. the islamic state controls parts of syria and iraq. more than 90,000 square kilometers according to some news agencies. they are sunni muslim and enforcing a strict brand of islam, killing or raping people who refuse to convert. obama calls them a savage group that must be contained. it's not clear how or when foley fell into their hands. he's one of a number of journalists who have disappeared in syria. foley was abducted in 2011, covering the conflict in libya. despite that experience, he went to syria. his mother says he gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the syrian people. now although the family says he's dead, we're still waiting for confirmation from the u.s. government that james foley is the man who was beheaded in that video. one official says if true they

are, quote, au pauled by the brutal murder of an innocent american journalist. >> that was craig dale. the man tasked with leading the u.n.'s response to the ebola outbreak has been discussing the challenges ahead of him. david nabaro was appointed senior coordinator for elow ba last week. he says the disease isn't just a humanitarian problem. he says it's impacting politics and economies and may have security ramifications. >> a really comprehensive support operation is necessary that involves all the different assets, tools, capacities, in our united nations system. >> nabarro will travel to west africa this week to assess the situation. he'll visit the four countries affected by the outbreak, liberia, sierra leone, guinea

and nigeria. world health organization officials say the ebola outbreak is one of the largest everp. they say it's claimed the lives of an estimated 1,200 people. demonstrators in pakistan are demanding the prime minister's resignation. they've marched into a heavily guarded government zone in the captain islamabad to make their case. tens of thousands of supporters of the opposition party pakistan movement for justice have been staging rallies since saturday in the capital. they were joined by members of an islamic organization. they are accusing prime minister nawaz sharif of committing massive fraud in last year's parliamentary election. they've demanded that he leave office by tuesday. but sharif says he's staying in his post. on tuesday night, protesters staged a sit-in in front of the parliament building. they forced their way past bare

ra cads around the government office district. the government allowed the protesters to enter the area to avoid bloodshed. there have been no reports of violent clashes. the sharif administration has instructed security forces not to use any weapons and it's calling for talks. so far the opposition is showing no signs of wanting to compromi compromise. workers have begun the difficult task of decommissioning the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. one of the biggest hurdles they ares facing is how to remove melted fuel from the crippled reactors. first they need to know the condition of the fuel. experts believe the fuel has cooled down and turned into debris. but engineers with tokyo electric power company have not. able to check the actual state of the debris because of the high levels of radiation.

now they might have figured out a way to measure the highly toxic materials. today's nuclear watch focuses on efforts to overcome this problem. >> reporter: these flashing streaks show the passage of elementary particles called muons. the particles rain down from space. every minute 10,000 muons per square meter land on earth. scientists have relied on this particle to probe materials that are beyond our reach. one example is volcanic magma. the technique is called muon imaging or muon tomography. when the particles hit a high density object, such as magma, they lose energy or are absorbed. by measuring these changes, scientists can determine the shape of the magma in a way that resembles an x-ray.

researchers are now hoping to use this technique to gain a better understanding of the situation inside the damaged reactors of fukushima daiichi. >> translator: by using muons we expect to be able to look for the presence of heavy materials even if radiation levels are so high we cannot approach the area. >> reporter: one of the studies is being conducted by scientists from toshiba and researchers from los alamos laboratory. their plan is to place detectors on opposite sides of the reactor. the detectors will be used to track the behavior of muons as they pass through the concrete walls and the shielding of the reactor in a bid to determine the status of the fuel. this image shows the results of

as test on uranium fuel. the longer the measurements take place, the more accurate the image becomes. tests are now underway to develop the equipment needed at fukushima daiichi. nhk world has been covering the story. explains what lies ahead for the scientists. >> team members face big challenges. the first is installing the equipment. the detectors are very large and heavy. the molten fuel inside the reactors is believed to have sunk to the bottom of the containment vessels. so scientists must place the detectors around the vessels deep underground. the job is made even more difficult as the area is cluttered with pipes and cables. it's also flooded with contaminated water.

an engineer i spoke to expressed some concerns. >> translator: the detectors need to be big to observe something as big as a nuclear reactor. taking them to the site and assembling them in a radioactive environment will be tough. we need to do more work. >> another is the extremely high radiation being emitted by the surroundings. this creates noise that could disrupt the study by affecting the devices. if this happens, researchers want to be able to correctly grasp the situation inside the reactors. these are just some of the issues the studies must address. meteorologist jonathan oh, is back with a look at the rest of the world weather. jonathan? >> hello. let's begin with a look at the weather in east asia and you

notice here, lots of cloud cover into southern china because we do still have the monsoonal front along with a stationary front that is poised right over the korean peninsula. what used to be a tropical depression has converted into a standard low pressure system and that's going to move along this particular frontal boundary as we go into thursday. when that happens we're looking at a lot of rainfall, up to 200 millimeters of rainfall possible in the next 24 hours. western japan may also be dealing with a little bit of moisture from that particular system. we also have high pressure located over in the western pacific. that's bringing in warm air, but we do have colder air aloft. we may be seeing showers and thunderstorms on thursday. 33 in tokyo, 24 in seoul. we are going to see some drier conditions in shanghai and taipei. still seeing heavy rainfall in manila. temperatures topping off at 34 on thursday. let's take a look at forecast now for europe. we do have this massive low pressure system. no real forcing mechanism to move this out of the way and so

it will continue to bring a lot of wet weather. we do have a cold front also associated with this, so because of that, some thunderstorms possible for northern italy, also into the balkan peninsula. we may be dealing with some severe weather from here from time to time. in fact, four water spouts were reported on tuesday in italy. in the meantime wet weather for the northern portions of the continent and colder weather, talking about teens in europe, as we go into wednesday. look at the temperatures for the high. 18 for london, 19 in paris a little wet over there, 18 in berlin and stockholm. a little warmer towards the east, toward the southern balkan peninsula 34 degrees under sunny conditions. let's wrap things up with a look at north america. a low pressure system that was responsible for some intense weather earlier this week is now weakening, continuing to push toward the east. we have this wrap-around moisture that also may be bringing some strong weather, possibly coming up for our

wednesday. so look out for maybe some thunderstorms over in denver with a high of 32 degrees. 35 in oklahoma city. the deep south, dealing with that unstable weather pattern, so chance of rain and thunderstorms in d.c. and in atlanta and we do have a low dropping in los angeles, we may also be seeing some rain coming up for our wednesday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook.

and that concludes this

edition of "newsline." on behalf of our team, thank you for staying with us.

>> time for 60 minutes around the world on "france 24." these are today's top stories. the fragile cease-fire in the middle east collapses as new fire breaks out. palestinian rocket fire from gaza is met with a heavy israeli response targeting a hamas military chief. clashes break out again in ferguson, missouri, after another night of mostly peaceful protest. after much criticism over their tear gas tactics in recent days, the police seem to be keeping a much lower profile. a horrific online video shows beheading of