welcome back to "newsline." here are some of the stories we are following this hour. the president of ukraine says russian troops have entered his country and more russian arms have crossed the border. health authorities in tokyo say three students have contracted dengue fever, the first people to be contracted in

japan in 70 years. as the ice bucket challenge raises awareness about als a japanese sufferer hopes the campaign will help end the fight for a cure. the nato military alliance is backing up the claim with satellite photos. western leaders say despite denials there is no doubt the russians are involved in this conflict. nhk world has more. >> reporter: the president of ukraine called an emergency meeting of his security council. poreshenko says

petro poroshenko says they have invaded donetsk with weapons to rescue what they described as gangs of terrorists. security council members released video of what they call a russian tank. they say a joint brigade of pro russian separatists have taken control. nato officials say recent satellite images show more than 1,000 russian soldiers are indeed on ukrainian soil. one photo shows more than ten military vehicles and another artillery units in firing position. >> they are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the overall scope of russian troop and weapons movements. >> reporter: u.s. president barack obama left no question as to who he blames for the unrest. >> the violence is encouraged by russia. the separatists are trained by russia. they are armed by russia. they are funded by russia. >> and at the u.n. security council, more accusations against russia. >> it is manipulated.

it has obfuscated, it has outright lied. >> reporter: the russian ambassador says any russians in eastern ukraine are volunteers, a claim supported by the separatists. he accused ukrainian leaders of directing a war against their own people. but the ukrainians have been asking the u.s. and the european union to ramp up diplomatic pressure on russia. the russians are accused of deepening their involvement in this conflict as the separatists are facing the possibility of defeat. german chancellor angela merkel says e.u. leaders will discuss further economic sanctions against russia at a summit this weekend. nato ambassadors are holding an emergency meeting on friday and nato leaders will address the crisis next week at the summit.

president obama though has ruled out military action. and so it is up to the ukrainian forces to continue to deal with an increasingly complicated uprising. president poroshenko calls the situation unusually difficult. the government is reintroducing compulsory military service to increase its fighting power. it is said more than 3 million people registered in neighboring countries of syria and are calling for more international assistance. the office for the united nations released the numbers. the highest concentrations are

in lebanon, turkey and jordan. officials say the actual figure can be hundreds of thousands higher. they say they will need about $2 billion by the year end. the officials expressed concern that many refugees have been required to pay cash at check points set up by militants. japan's liberal democratic party has met shinzo abe. it is the first time he will renew his team since he launched his government in december 2012. abe wants ishaba to resume a

post to allow japan to exercise the right to collective self defense. but ishaba declined the office and indicated he wants to stay on as the party's secretary general. >> translator: i will fully support prime minister abe and will keep in close contact with him. >> abe still wants to give ishaba a key cabinet post to boost unity. people in japan are seeing the first locally transmitted cases of dengue fever in 70 years. three students contracted the disease. it is rarely fatal but it can be severely painful. >> reporter: visitors to this area don't often see sights like

this. authorities believe the students were infected in this park so they blocked it off temporarily and started spraying with insecticide. >> translator: i'm scared. >> translator: i'm afraid because there are still mosquitos at this time of year. i will try to keep up with the news so i won't get infected. >> reporter: the students started feeling sick earlier this month. one had a high temperature. the other two are reported to be in stable condition. they have never been overseas. this park is one of the most popular in central tokyo. people when here to exercise, meet friends or just to watch others pass by. now many are staying away. infected mosquitos transmit dengue fever. symptoms can start appearing three days later, high fever, a skin rash, severe joint pain. outbreaks are common in tropical

and subtropical areas of asia and latin america. every year about 200 people in japan come down with the disease after returning from trips overseas. the last time someone caught it here was in the 1940s. two types of mosquitos transmit most cases. the asian tiger mosquito and the yellow fever mosquito. the asian tiger is found in japan. experts say over the decades it's moved further and further north. they blame global warming. >> translator: it's not that mosquitos carrying the virus are always in japan. so please do not panic. >> reporter: the disease cannot be transmitted from person to person so experts say don't worry. >> translator: if the fever lasts and you have joint pain, muscle pain or a rash, get to a hospital right away and get a

check up. >> reporter: health ministry officials say because of global warming more areas will have potential risks. but they say a large scale outbreak of dengue fever is unlikely. nhk world, tokyo. let's now turn to the latest in biz with ron madison. shopkeepers in japan have more time on their hands. they've had fewer sales than last year for four months in a row. officials with the internal affairs ministry say in july, families of two more, two or more spent an average of about $2,700. that's down nearly 6% in yen terms from the same month last year. consumers went on a spending spree before the consumption tax went up. government officials raised the tax in april from 5% to 8%. since then, people have put their wallets back in their pockets and kept them there. gimt officials say people spent

almost 40% less on air conditions and 20% less on package tours. >> translator: unexpectedly bad weather such as heavy rain over several weekends last month had a major impact on household spending. >> prime minister abe must decide whether to raise the consumption tax from 8% to 10% this fall. the government says it is carefully monitoring the economy before deciding on the hike. land ministry officials say it is down more than 14% from the same month last year.

built to order houses were down more than 25% while condominiums and rental housing fell nearly 8%. officials say some condo builders postponed production but say there are signs of increased starts in the tokyo metropolitan area. executives at big banks are preparing to cut fixed interest rates to the lowest levels ever. executives at tokyo ufj and mizuho say it fell from 1.3% to 1.2%. they will cut their rates at the same time from 1.05% to 1%. executives at resona will reduce theirs. japanese bankers look at yields before setting their mortgage rates. they see yields drop below 0.5%.

executives want to spur more investment in housing. home sales have been pretty stagnant since the government raised the consumption tax. they reported a turn-around in industrial production in july after experiencing a slowdown the previous month. the government officials released data showing factory output rose 0.2% from june. it was the first increase in two months. the officials say there was a spike in overseas orders for conveyors and equipment to make semiconductors. and they say japanese factories produce more diesel oil for asian markets. in june they reported the biggest slump in production since the earthquake and tsunami that struck japan more than three years ago. the officials expect output to rise by 1.3% in august. then by 3.5% in september.

15,424. some brought back shares to try to adjust positions ahead of the weekend. here is how major benchmarks in asia finished the day. some investors remained cautious due to renewed concerns about the situation in ukraine. in taiwan closed down to 9,436. some locked in profits for recent gains. others sold shares to adjust for holdings at the end of the month. the banking sector among the worst performers. the shanghai composite did see gains of just about a percent. investors brought back bell weather banking shares. officials at south korea's

central bank released new data for their current account. those figures provide the broadest measure of trade and investment for their economy. the officials say the balance was $7.9 billion and has been in surplus for 29 months. officials point to strong experts of cell phones and cars. economists study the numbers to gauge south korea's financial relationship with the rest of the world. we ask about the pros and cons of such a prolonged surplus. he is a professor at the catholic university in seoul. >> the pros is that korea is experiencing currently an economic slow down and the surplus helps mitigate some of the slow down effect. second, the surplus allows us to build up foreign exchange reserves which helps us avoid financial crisis. having a surplus gives korea a certain type of confidence in

korean economy. now, the konz of it is that first because we have a surplus for a long time trading partners may accuse us of doing exchange rate manipulation. also, the surplus may be a recession-type surplus where you have a low export but lower import which causes the surplus. this current surplus doesn't seem to be the recession type. if you look at the current account trgs and the trace figures korea's imports for domestic consumption has risen by 20% which is quite a lot compared to june and may. i think this can signal the beginning of a recovery. i don't think the recovery is going to be that strong for the second half but there will be sort of a recovery. also, i think the exports may

not rise as quickly as a lot of people desire but still we will have a fairly good surplus for the rest of the year even though the size of it may be falling in the second half of the year. well, japanese government officials from all ministries and agencies have put in their applications to the finance ministry which controls the budget. they have asked for a record amount. it speeds 101 trillion yen, just over $970 billion for the next fiscal year. the finance ministry received through friday and will allocate to projects that drive economic growth. the health and welfare ministry asked for about $305 billion to fund its programs up 3% in yen terms from the current fiscal year making it the biggest

request ever. officials say they need the money to cover pensions and medical costs. the infrastructure ministry requested more than $64 billion to improve roads. the aim is to make it easier for people to get around before the tokyo 2020 olympics. the money is needed to boost preparedness for disasters. officials from all parts of the government asked for about $730 billion to cover policy spending. finance ministry will set up $250 billion for repaying debt. executives at google have developed a prototype of a drone to deliver goods. it is 80 centimeters high and 1.5 meters across and equipped with four propellers. the company says it aims to put the technology into practical use in a few years.

the commercial use is banned in the u.s. for safety reasons. amazon leads the development of delivery aircraft. sony has launched a drone project, as well. that will do it for biz this hour. let's check in on the markets.

. by now many have seen these images online or on tv. just about everyone seems to be doing the ice bucket challenge. it is a campaign to raise awareness about als and to call for support for those suffering from the disease. people who are challenged are encouraged to douse themselves in ice water or donate. the campaign has raised millions of dollars but sparked criticism. still few argue with the results. people around the world are talking about als and its deadly impact. one sufferer in japan says that is a good thing. >> reporter: residents of well known companies and tv personalities in japan got together last week for a now familiar ritual.

>> translator: it's very important that more people donate to help als patients and fund therapeutic research. >> reporter: they took part in the ice bucket challenge, a charity event that is going global. he organized the gathering which raised about $40,000 in donations. the 34 year old has als. he is the founder of the nonprofit organization and als. he had been building a successful career as a planning director at an advertising agency when doctors diagnosed him four years ago. als is a neurological disease. it causes motor neurones to die and muscles to degenerate over time. an american institute estimates

about 450,000 people world wide suffer from it. there's no cure. fujita started using a wheelchair soon after his diagnosis. he lost his voice last year. still he goes to the office once a week. and this equipment helps him communicate. it translates his eye movements into written or audio messages. fujita says the system has helped him keep working and stay socially connected. >> it helped being a planner because we have to come up with solutions. it helped that i work with this company in advertising surrounded by people who care. >> reporter: fujita has been giving lectures and organizing events to inform the public

about the challenges als patients face. pharmaceutical companies don't often invest in drugs to treat diseases that affect a minority of people. als has been making donations to one organization studying ways to combat the illness. fujita and his team also submitted recommendations to the japanese welfare minister calling for the government's support. not everyone believes the ice bucket challenge is the best way to tackle als but fujita says he will do whatever it takes to inform people. his lip reader conveyed his message. >> als is killing us slowly. this is torture. please help free us.

thank you. >> fujita's condition worsens every day but he says he will continue his fight to end als for as long as he is able. nhk world, tokyo. fires have been scorching the ground in northern california for days. our meteorologist has the details. >> california has been contending with the worse drought in more than a century. that is causing wild fires in several places. we have video coming out of northern california. about five dozen firefighters were fighting a brush fire. the blaze came dangerously close to homes and highways. moderate winds were blowing in the area, fuelling the inferno.

the grass fire spread to as many as 4 hectares. california needs rain to cease the fire. as you can see the rainfall forecast for the next 72 hours there is no rain in sight. so fire conditions will likely continue. across the four corners region it is clear that you are dealt with heavy rainfall. monsoonal rains on wednesday. we have gorgeous combinations of a rainbow and showers on that. there is another rainbow right here. beautiful scene out there. however, weather is not beautiful over the mid part of the u.s. we have intense and slow-moving system over the u.s. from the northern areas and southern plains. this caused hail in texas and five tornadoes in kansas and south dakota. this will likely continue to move across the east at a slow

pace. quite warm air is coming in raising temperatures once again. atlanta 33 degrees. houston at 33 degrees with high humidity it is going to be like a steam bath. to the north cooler temperatures. 23 in winnipeg. down to the teens in seattle it is more like september. across the indochina pencea. as it continues to move to the west monsoonal rain will intensify. lots of rain is on the menu for a lot of areas. the heaviest rain is found. more than 200 millimeters likely. across china we have intensive rainfall across the eastern areas who will be affected by drenching rains and a line of

showers extending. 15 millimeters of rainfall in an hour and heavy rain will likely continue over the pacific coast of japan. cooler air is dominating much of the country so temperatures are quite low. tokyo tomorrow is 25 degrees. same into your monday. hiroshima quite chilly but starting tuesday summer heat. across europe we have intense system affecting the british isles and low pressure system. more intense rain and thunderstorms are on the cards for you. rain is finally on the weakening trend in eastern parts of europe. temperatures on the chilly side in moscow. the high is 17 degrees. temperatures across many locations. here is your extended forecast.

and that concludes this edition of "newsline." on behalf of our team, thank you

for staying with us. gg99ññwçç

>> ukraine wants to become a full member of nato. this after reports that thousands of troops have entered ukraine. kiev calls it in invasion. moscow says it is not true. the civil war in serious has forced a 3000 --3 million people out of the country. insect invasion in madagascar. a swarm of locusts have taken over the capital and swept across the country. ♪