. here in japan it's a monday evening. welcome to "newsline." here are some of the stories we're following this hour. japan's prime minister has just wrapped up a visit to bangladesh and sri lanka. but the goal of strengthening economic ties and boosting security. japanese managers are having difficulty finding workers so they're coming up with novel ways to get the help they need. tokyo! >> and rising costs and environmental concerns are forcing officials in tokyo to

re-examine their plans for the 2020 olympic and paralympic games. prime minister shinzo abe talked to the leaders of bangladesh and sri lanka over the weekend about important issues, including the economy and security. he is now on his way back to japan after his three-day visit to south asia. japan has long been the top donor to the two south asian nations but china is increasingly flexing its economic muscle in the region. so abe is playing catchup. >> reporter: abe's visit to sri lanka on sunday was the first by a japanese prime minister in 24 years. the nation is close to sealing a pact with gentlemayea japan. crude oil is shipped along this route. abe and president paxar agreed

to launch government talks to ensure safety and uphold the freedom of navigation in the indian ocean. >> translator: sri lanka and japan are both nations that share values. we've agreed to extend our friendly relationship to a new partnership between maritime states. >> translator: i thank japan and its people for the support, understanding, cooperation, and friendship it extended when sri lanka was in a difficult and challenging period. >> reporter: abe earlier visited bangladesh where he met prime minister sheikh shena. they confirmed that japan will

extend economic assistance worth up to $6 billion over the next four to five years. this is to help bangladesh build roads, ports, power plants, and other infrastructure. japan's bid to win a nonpermanent seat at the u.n. security council also received a huge boost. bangladesh had made a competing bid to win a seat next year, allocated for one asia-pacific nation. but hashina told abe that her country will pull out of the race and support japan. abe held talks a week ago with india's new prime minister 94 ren dra modi who was visiting japan. the leaders confirmed closer

bilateral cooperation in economy and other fields. abe's diplomatic push comes as china increases its economic aid and gains influence in south asia. abe promised to reinforce japan's ties with the nations in the the region by underscoring what they have in common. as democratic states. japan coast guard officials have taken steps to protect the country's exclusive economic zone in the east china sea. they say the crew of a chinese ship appeared to be conducting an unauthorized survey near the senkaku islands and they ordered the chinese to stop. japan controls the islands. china and taiwan claim them. japan coast guard officers spotted a patrol boat early monday in the waters around the islands. they say it was dragging what

appeared to be a wire. they ordered the crews to stop the apparent survey. they say the chinese crew was doing the same thing on sunday and they also observed a chinese ship operating in the zone in april and may. japanese foreign ministry officials have lodged a protest with china over the incident. they called on the chinese government to immediately halt such activity in the area. russia's prime minister medvedev has warned the european union against imposing new sanctions, specifically in the financial and energy sectors. he said leaders in moscow will have to respond by closing the country's air space to western airlin airlines. a russian business daily carried the interview on monday. the prime minister said if the eu proceeds with additional sanctions his government will take strong counter measures. medvedev noted if western airlines cannot fly over russia, many carriers would go bankrupt. the warning came before eu members decide whether to impose further sanctions in such fields

as finance and defense. major european carriers now fly the shortest routes over siberia to connect europe and asia. if russia does close its air space, european carriers will face longer flight times and higher fuel costs. definitely bad news for us air travelers. stories about japan up ahead on "newsline." but first, the latest on the business and financial fronts with ron madison. ron? >> all right, thank you, james. starting in china this hour, where the trade surplus hit a record high of just about $50 billion in august. that's the sec straight monthly record. some analysts say it may actually be a sign that the economy is slowing. customs officials say the august surplus was $49.8 billion. exports were up but imports were down on the back of shrinking domestic demand. exports totaled $208.4 billion, up 9.4% from the same month last year. that is the fifth consecutive year-on-year increase. the key export growth was in

jewelry, ceramics and sundries to the united states and europe. august imports fell 2.4% from a year ago to $158.6 billion. imports of iron ore, coal, and copper led that was the second straight month of decline. a fall in real estate investments and government stimulus measures is behind the drop in domestic demand. one treasured chinese product is experiencing decreased demand and that is mooncakes. chinese people celebrate the midaudience actual day festival with these traditional sweets and exchange them as gifts. sales are down this year due in part to government efforts to stop corruption. the government has forbidden public officials to buy mooncakes with public funds. violators face pretty strict penalties. the move comes after a series of incidents in which cash was hidden in the sweets and used to bribe government workers. some used public funds to buy hundreds of dollars worth of mooncakes. a beijing foodmaker says moonwake sales have dropped 15%

since last year. in response some manufacturers are offering products featuring designs of japanese animation characters. others are hoping to spice up sales by making mooncakes flavored with hot peppers. let's get a check of the markets now. investors in hong kong were not all that impressed by the chinese trade data we touched on earlier. they were especially disappointed about a second month of import declines. the hang seng index fell 0.2%. finished at 25,190. traders not all that eager to take large positions ahead of a public holiday there on tuesday. taking a look at other markets in asia, major benchmarks mixed. some markets including mainland china and south korea closed today for the mid autumn day holidays. tokyo's nikkei average rose.23%, 15,705. leading the advance was soft bank which owns more than 30% of ali baba group holdings.

expectations are growing the giant will raise a record amount of capital in its upcoming public offering. yeah cart sta finished higher than more than half a percent, 5246, that is a record level. investors remain upbeat by economic reforms by the country's incoming president. they believe he will cut fuel subsidies and green light more infrastructure projects. consumers and business managers across japan have been spending less. officials at the cabinet office are seeing the aggregate necks of that on the economy are economy. they say gdp shrank faster in the may to june quarter than estimated. gdp fell 1.8% from the previous quarter, an an annual contraction of 7.1%. officials estimated gdp would drop 6.8%. managers pulled back on reinvesting in their businesses. corporate investment fell more than 5%.

personal spending was down by the same margin. housing investment fell by more than 10%. and exports were down .5%. officials at japan's finance ministry have released the latest glimpse at how the economy is doing. they say the curt account showed a surplus of just about $4 billion in july. the current account is japan's broadest measure of trade and investment with the rest of the world. the positive figure comes despite a trade deficit for july, up nearly $7.9 billion. exports rose 8% from a year ago with strong sales overseas for japanese cars. imports were also up, though, more than 7.5% with all of japan's nuclear plants offline the amount spent on fuel is growing. utility companies have to import more lick ra guide natural gas and crude oil to power homes and businesses. ministry officials say the difference in the trade and current account fig use ures was made up by overseas investment. the primary income account

reflects how much japan earns from those investments and that hit a record surplus of -- hit a surplus rather of more than $17.5 billion. managers are having a tough time filling some of those positions as well. the ratio of job offers to job seekers has hit 1.1, that is a 22-year high. that means for every 100 people looking for a job, there are 110 positions. in the first of a two-part series we'll find out how managers are trying to tap into overlooked areas of the workforce. n. >> reporter: tom is a student from vietnam. she works part-time at this convenience store in tokyo while studying economics at university. she's been working here for about a month. >> translator: i enjoy serving customers. >> reporter: many franchise store owners are struggling to secure workers.

so the company executives launched a staffing agency to recruit foreign students and refer them to the stores. >> translator: gwen is a brilliant person. she's been a terrific help here. >> reporter: the agency helps prepare foreign students for service work. it has written a manual in vietnamese and three other languages. each trainee goes through a 30-hour instruction course, learning japanese customs and other skills. >> translator: it's very impolite to hand things to customers with one hand. please use both. >> reporter: many foreign students are eager to learn japanese management skills. the thinking behind the training program is that one day, the students may become part of the business. >> translator: if we can map out strategies to open new stores or make inroads into foreign

markets with them, the value of the company will surely rise. and more foreigners will feel they want to work for lahsen. >> reporter: other company managers are turning to nonregular workers closer to home. at a major transport firm, truck drivers deliver packages door to door. as online shopping grows more popular in japan, deliveries to residential areas are rising. but the industry faces a shortage of drivers. so this firm has introduced an innovative new system. the packages are handed over to a woman who lives in the neighborhood. mihoko is a mother of two. the company transfers the final leg of the distribution chain to people like her.

she's assigned to an area within two kilometers of her house. she delivers about 30 packages a day before noon, while her kids are in school. the work suits her just fine. >> translator: i'm always close to home while i am working so i can rush to my house for school if my kids get hurt or something.or school if my kids get hurt or something. >> reporter: in june the company decided to expand the system nationwide. in two years' time, there will be 10,000 couriers like this. >> translator: we feel that we have to quickly put into place infrastructure to satisfy our customers' needs. i believe this new system will be a huge help.

>> reporter: many other industries in japan are facing a shortage of workers. if they are to survive, they too will have to come up with creative solutions. okay, and we will have the second part of the series on tuesday, taking a look at what companies are doing to secure the best young talent. that is going to do it for biz this hour. let's check in now on the markets. tokyo!

>> preparations are well under way in tokyo to host the 2020 summer olympics and paralympics. last year members of the international olympic committee chose to give the games to the japanese capital for the first time in more than 50 years. tokyo beat out madrid and istanbul by billing itself as safe and secure. ioc members commended japan on its reconstruction after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. japanese officials promised a compact plan for the games. they designed most of the venues to be within an eight-kilometer radius of the olympic village. but they have since said they are reviewing that idea. nhk's kazaki hirama has been following the preparations and yuko aotani asked him earlier about the details. >> what is changing with the plans for the venues? >> the officials of the tokyo metropolitan government are re-examining the facilities such as for canoe slalom, basketball and badminton.

the tokyo governor made the announcement in june. >> translator: i will review the original plan considering how the games affect people's lives and the city deals with the higher costs. >> so how are the plans moving forward now? >> yeah, well, the organizers are now trying to cut costs to stay within budget. they're also considering the environment. the original plan was to renovate the facilities for the basketball and badminton competitions, but the officials realized that would be too expensive. they've been discussing moving the competitions into the suburbs of tokyo. officials are also rethinking their plans for the swimming and volleyball venues. they say it would cost about $5 billion to build the ten new venues they proposed. and that's three times what they estimated last year. and this park was originally slated to be the venue for the canoe slalom, but it's a stopover for migratory birds.

a local environmental organization voiced concerns about the possible ecological effects. so officials decided to change the venue. >> do you think the ioc official will approve those changes? >> before getting approval from the ioc, officials need the agreement of sports associations inside and outside japan. if there are no objections, then ioc members will accept the changes. they have already informed the ioc members in various sports associations. tokyo's coordinating committee members will meet the ioc counterparts in november. and that's when they will report their progress. and they will submit the basic plan to the ioc by february. >> so how ready is tokyo? >> yeah, japan is preparing for an influx of people. the organization committee emphasized the japanese people want to offer a warm welcome to the competitors and visitors. taxi drivers are learning english. and there's also been a big push to nurture athletes. >> thank you very much.

two japanese wheelchair tennis players are dreaming of becoming paralympic champions in front of the home crowd in six years' time. they inched closer to their goals at the u.s. open in new york on sunday. komiji won the women's turnal and kunieda the men's. kamiji defeated the defending champion of the netherlands 6-3, 6-3. the 20-year-old japanese rising star broke the dutch dominance of the tournament at flushing meadows and became the youngest champion in the event. number one seed shingo kunieda held off gustavo fernandez of argentina 7-6, 6-4. it's his fifth u.s. open crown and he completed the grand slam of all major tournaments this year. >> translator: i want to continue to win so that more people will know about wheelchair tennis in the tokyo paralympics.

>> kunieda has won the beijing and london paralympics and he wants to maintain his winning streak in the 2016 rio and 2020 tokyo games. they're both ranked as the world's number ones. they will compete in next month's asia paralympics in south korea to qualify for rio. japan's new reconstruction minister is promising to revive the northeastern part of the country that was hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. takeshida took on the portfolio after prime minister shinzo abe reshuffled his cabinet. >> reporter: takeshida wants the government to secure a long-term budget to fund reconstruction projects. >> translator: japan experienced one of the world's biggest disasters in 2011. but we must overcome the difficulties and show that we can rebuild. >> reporter: a magnitude 9.0

earthquake struck in march 2011, triggering towering tsunami that swallowed coastal communities. more than 18,500 people were killed or went missing in the disaster. and as of june, more than 220,000 people were still living in temporary housing. reconstruction of the region is among the top priorities for the government. >> translator: the areas hit by the earthquake and tsunami were local regions where the economy was not that active. restoring life in disaster-hit areas is not only about reconstructing ports, roads and homes. we need to restore a countryside where people can have jobs and live decently. >> reporter: takeshita visited fukushima prefecture right after hi inauguration. >> translator: we politicians must continue making all-out efforts to revive fukushima,

even if we can't achieve it immediately. >> reporter: evacuation orders remain in place for ten municipalities around the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. >> translator: even if we lift evacuation orders, residents can't go back home if there's no shops or hospitals around. it's the job of my ministry to figure out how people can make a living in their hometowns after they return. we must create an environment where residents can think of their and their children's future. >> reporter: takeshita believes reviving industries is important to rebuild affected areas. >> translator: my ministry has set up a panel of experts to discuss how to restore the economy, industries, and vitality in the affected areas. we'll do our utmost so people can return to live and work in their hometowns.

now weather-wise a powerful storm is heading toward the izu islands in southern japan. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us now to tell us why they're seeing so much rain. sayaka? >> yes, james. because we have a severe tropical storm named fenchen and a frontal system. the combination is causing heavy rainfall for the southern islands of japan like izu and parts of honshu as well as shikoku. south of honshu, it's moving toward the east at 30 kilometers' power. wind gusts right now are 144 kilometers' power. it could intensify even more and get close to the ogasawa and izu islands by tonight. will likely move away into the eastern areas as we go through the next several days. up to four or five-meter waves are expected plus strong dusts and heavy rainfall, probably more than 150 millimeters of rainfall. so more heavy rain will likely

fall. that will raise the potential for flooding as well as landslides. if you remember last fall, izu island was hit by a deadly mudslide/landslide that killed about 40 people. across honshu, lots of rain is falling for the south of honshu and we'll likely see more heavy rainfall as we go into the next 24 hours. looking dry for hokkaido at this moment, however, things will turn wet because a low pressure system is approaching. the system is located at northeastern parts of china bringing a risk of thunderstorms. if you look at the south we have a tropical depression over the island of hainan. it has dropped about 130 millimeters of rain. that's 50% of normal rainfall for september. more heavy rain could fall in haiko as we go into the next 24 hours. but the system will likely weaken and move away from the island, will likely move away into the next 24 hours. as for temperatures, 32 degrees in hong kong as well as taipei, with plenty of sunshine. cloud cover but temperatures are

quite high for this time of year in chongqing up to 35 for the high. as for tokyo, 26. that's a couple of degrees lower than average on tuesday. 28 in seoul with partly sunny skies. across the americas, california has been contending with the worst drought in more than a century are but on sunday heavy rain fell that caused severe floods. let's go to video coming out of riverside county.fell that caus. let's go to video coming out of riverside county. tropical moisture caused headaches in southern california during the weekend. residents in riverside had to keel with flooded roads, fallen trees, and broken power lines sunday. a major freeway east of los angeles had to be closed down and some of the stranded drivers were rescued. thankfully no injuries were reported. it certainly improved the drought conditions and the rain is now affecting the four corners region. because of heavy rainfall we have flash flood warnings and

watches widely posted there. gusts affected the city of phoenix. it caused this dust storm named haboob, it caused very low visibility at that moment, that was on saturday. to the north there's a line of thundershowers. to the north quite cold areas coming in that is causing the first snowfall of the season for most eastern parts -- excuse me, western parts of canada. a line of thundershowers are affecting the southern parts of the u.s. sunny weather is expectationed in new york where the u.s. tennis tournament is taking place on monday. your high's going to be up to 26 degrees. across the west, chilly for this time of year in winnipeg, 25 for the high. 20 degrees for the high in vancouver. here's the extended forecast.

and that was this hour's "newsline" coming to you from our studios here in tokyo.

i'm james tengan. thanks for watching.

i love there. it is 1:00 p.m. in paris -- hell o there. it is 1:00 p.m. in paris. the headlines this monday -- barack obama is to outline his strategy for data when the islamic state organization -- thats in the french press there was a plan for an attack in paris on the fourth of july. there are no elements of that in