hello welcome to "newsline" i'm mickey yamamoto in tokyo. here are some of the stories we're following this . the u.n. chief is urging world leaders to unite to tackle global threats, as they begin their general assembly mee. japanese clothing retailers are using innovative ways to ensure their customers get the righ and japan's newly appointed health and welfare minister says he'll reform the social security

system to make it more delegates from around the world have gathered at united nations headquarters in new york. they kicked off the 69th session of the general assembly. they'll debate a range of pressing issues from conflicts around the globe to climate change and disease. nhk world has more. >> reporter: more than 140 leaders are scheduled to take part in a meet one issue at the top of their agenda will be the militant group islamic state. fighters with the group have seized broad stretches of territory in syria and iraq. they have been torturing and executing people whose views differ from u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon called on delegates to work together to protect innocent p

>> i therefore urge the international community and those with the means to act decisively, and after sober reflection it is critical to keep at the forefront of the protection of civilians. >> reporter: u.s. president barack obama last week set out his strategy for defeating the group. he will host a meeting of the u.n. security council next wednesday in a bid to build international supp the newly elected president of the general assembly praised obama's efforts to create a unified offensive. >> but i'm delighted to see that there's an attempt by the actors and coalitions rather than act unilaterally. >> reporter: delegates are expected to examine the conflict in ukraine pitting government forces against pro-russian

and they will discuss the recent fighting between israelis and palestinians in the gaza strip. the ebola outbreak spreading in west africa will be another area of focus. officials with the world health organization say nearly 5,000 cases have been reported. nearly half of those infected have died. delegates will also look at ways to tackle global warming. representatives from more than 120 countries and regions will sit down on tuesday for a climate summ. and world leaders will step up to the podium to address assembly members. obama is due to speak next wednesday. japanese prime minister shinzo abe is scheduled to deliver his address the following day. nhk world. president obama is urging other world leaders to do more

to keep the ebola outbreak from getting even worse. he announced plans to step up u.s. efforts to fight the di >> here's the hard truth, in west africa, ebola is now an epidemic of the likes that we have not seen before. it's spiraling out of control, it is getting worse, it's spreading faster and exponentially. >> obama spoke after meeting with officials at the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention. he says he's sending 3,000 military personnel to west africa to help control the outbreak. white house officials say the troops will help build facilities for ebola patients and for training health care workers. u.s. personnel will also distribute medical kits to residents, and teach them abas officials with the u.n. food agency have looked at how many people around the world are they say the numbers are down, but out of nine people still do

not get enough to eat. the u.n. food and agriculture organization issued the findings in an annual report. it says more than 800 million people worldwide are chronically undernourished. but the number of those going hungry has fallen by more than 100 million over the last the agency credits improvements in latin america and other places. officials say parts of africa have lagged because of conflicts and natural disasters. they say in sub-saharan africa more than 25% of the population suffers from hun and they warn of a threat to food security in some areas. they blame the ebola outbreak in west africa, and military conflict in the mid. u.n. officials are aiming to cut the number of undernourished people in half by next year compared to 25 years earlier. officials say that goal is within reach if world leaders do more to battle hunger.

the u.n.'s envoy to the middle east has brokered a deal for rebuilding in the gaza stri robert serry says israeli and palestinian leaders have agreed to allow needed building materials into the war-torn region. serry told the u.n. security council members that officials with palestinian authority will >> we consider this temporary mechanism, which must get up and running without delay, as an important step towards the objective of lifting all remaining closures and a signal of hope to the people of gaza. >> fighting broke out in july between israeli forces and members of the palestinian islamist group hamas. the two sides reached a cease-fire last month. but since then, israeli officials have refused to let building supplies into gaza. they're concerned they could be diverted for military purpos.

serry said u.n. monitors will make sure the materials are used for civilian purposes. the palestinian authority estimates reconstructing and repairing buildings and infrastructure will cost $7.8 billion. now for the latest in business news, more negative numbers have been announced from japan's electronics giant. ron madison has the latest. ron? >> yeah, that's right, miki. sony has announced a downgrade in its earnings forecast for this fiscal year and that's largely due to sluggish demand for its smartphones. sony's president and ceo said the company expects to suffer a net loss of $2.15 billion. that's more than four times their previous forecast of $467 million net loss. he also said that sony will not pay a dividend this fiscal year. that's the first time that's happened since the firm went public back in 1958. he also announced a 15% urkforce reduction in the

>> translator: i apologize to the shareholders. i take this situation very seriously, and promise to undertake structural reforms this fiscal year. and i hope to improve earnings next year to ensure we can quickly resume paying dividends. >> sony has been conducting a fundamental overhaul of its mobile business since it failed to achieve its sales target for smartphones. chinese rivals have entered the market and are offering cheaper alternatives. rebuilding the tv business had been sony's top challenge. that division has been in the red for ten straight years. but turning around the mobile business has now become an urgent task. investors in asia are waiting for the outcome of the federal reserve's policy meeting. it's scheduled to be released later on in the day. most major benchmarks across the region finished higher. investors took heart from renewed speculation that the fed

will keep its interest rates low for a considerable time. chinese equities ended higher. media reports say the people's bank of china is injecting 100 billion yuan. that's about $16 billion, into each of the country's five major state-owned banks. this action follows some recent lackluster economic data. and in hong kong, shares of these banks, including bank of china, and bank of communications, rose sharply. the hang seng index climbed 1% finishing at 24 sshs 376. the first raise in nine days. also indonesian shares showing a strong performance. the key index finished up by 1.1%. foreign investors were optimistic about the country's reforms under the incoming en they poured money into select shares such as telecom indonesia. tokyo's nikkei average shed more than a 10th of a percent to finish at 15,888. that makes for a second straight day of declines. investors took profits on perceived market overheating.

the yen's recent slide against the dollar is drawing more foreign visitors to japan. their total for august posted a record for. officials at the japan national tourism organization say more than 1.1 million tourists visited last month. that's up more than 22% from a year earlier. and marked a sixth straight month which exceeded 1 million visitors. the number from mainland china topped 253,000. the highest in the month. that's up about 50% -- 56%, as well. visitors from the philippines and vietnam also surged. tourism officials say the rise is due to more international flights at tokyo's haneda airport as well as more charter flights going to regional airports across japan. an increase in the number of incoming large cruise ships from china is also supporting the trend. the officials say this year's total visitors could reach 12 million. citing more travelers from mainland china and south kor. well, two american companies about to take a giant leap into outer space.

u.s. space agency nasa has chosen boeing and california based venture firm spacex to build transport shuttles for the international sp >> today we're one step closer to launching our astronauts from u.s. soil on american spacecraft, and ending the nation's sole reliance on russia by 2017. >> under its commercial crew program nasa is helping u.s. companies develop spacecraft to replace the space shuttle fleet which was retired back in 2011. nasa will award $4.2 billion to boeing and $2.6 billion to spacex to certify, test and fly their crew capsules. nasa says each contractor will complete up to six missions. the u.s. is using the russian soyuz spacecraft to shuttle astronauts to the sp but with the u.s. and russia at odds over the crisis in ukraine, nasa is facing mounting pressure to quickly find a replacemen officials in japan and other advanced economies have seen one

corporation after another try to gain the international tax system. they say managers at apple, amazon and others shaved billions off their tax bills, and they want to put a stop to it. officials at the organization for economic cooperation and development have proposed new international rules. they want to take a tougher stance against companies that shift funds among countries to reduce their bil. for example, some accountants move profits in countries with high income taxes to subsidiaries in places that have no tax. they want such firms to report their income to authorities in all countries where they do business. and they say the reporting needs to be done at two levels for the overall group, as well as for subsidiaries. oecd officials also plan to review tax rules on global firms that distribute music and other content online. they plan to compile a report by the end of next year. clothing retailers in japan certainly know that giving customers the chance to try on their products means better business. but now they're facing a slump

in sales so they're finding new ways to offer customers the right fit. >> reporter: young people browse in the branch of a low-priced fast fashion bra. its fitting rooms are attracting almost as much attention as its cl they offer nine times the space as normal. you can even bring in your family or friends. and there's a stylist inside to give you advic research shows that shoppers who use these super spacious fitting rooms purchase, on average, eight items. four times as many as people who use ordinary fitting rooms. >> translator: it's wonderful that i can try on clothes in a big space, rather than a cramped one, and then show off with

>> translator: customers come again and again. they also tell their friends about these amazing fitting rooms, and that helps draw cu >> reporter: a mail order company adds a human touch to its online orders. the company targets women in their 40s and 50s. a group less likely to use computers, including the when an order is received, the operator retrieves the actual item. and talks to the customer with the product i. the operators tries on the garment herself, and tells the customer how it fits. >> translator: i'm a size "m" but it feels a little tight over a blouse. it's long enough so i can bend down without showing anyth >> reporter: if an operator's measurements differ from those

of a customer then another staff member is summoned. the company credits the service for higher s. one customer agreed to speak with us. >> translator: we have shown that a mail order service can give customers the same shopping experience as in an actual store. >> reporter: another company uses the latest computer technology in a fitting room. the booth is equipped with a 3-d screen developed by an apparel brand targeting young people. first the shopper chooses an item she would like to try on. without actually changing, she looks at the screen where she sees an image of herself wearing

the outfit of her choice. the colors can be altered in an instant. the garment moves in time with the body. it looks so real you can even get a sense of the fabric's texture. >> translator: it's very convenient, because you don't have to go in to the fitting room with an arm full of clothing. >> reporter: the retailer's considering setting up 3-d fitting rooms in busy areas, such as train statio. >> translator: the biggest advantage is that you can keep an unlimited stock of items in the smallest space, without having to physically hold the >> reporter: the clothing retailers are hoping their strategies, that give customers the assurance of a good fit, pay off with higher sales. in such a low growth market, it seems success will go to those who can innovate the most.

>> okay. that is going to do it for biz let's see how things are looking on the marke. every morning investors turn their attention to asia. the tokyo market leads the way. and markets around the world fo >> from the decisions that could change t a >> to the companies at the forefront of >> up to the minute market reports.

>> and analysis by specialists from around th >> get all the latest business news and insight every day here on "newsline president xi jinping is visiting sri lanka. he's the first chinese head of state to visit the country in nearly three decades. and he's getting more support for his plan to link china with europe in a 21st century silk road. several thousand children greeted xi in a welcoming ceremony along with a herd of elephants. then he and president mahinda rajapaksa got down to work. they agreed to cooperate on security and maritime affairs. that includes building more ports and industrial parks along the coast. and they agreed to conclude a free trade agreement as soon as possible. xi suggested chinese officials were ready to offer more assistance to improve infrastructure in sri lanka. they've already provided aid to

develop a southern port. japanese prime minister shinzo abe visited sri lanka earlier this month. he and president rajapaksa also agreed to work more closely on maritime security. health authorities across asia have been battling outbreaks of dengue fever. the mosquito-borne virus has been spreading in japan for the first time in about 70 years. now, officials in india say they found one way to tackle it using tropical freshwater fish. indian authorities say the number of dengue infections has soared over the last five ye mainly because of rapid urbanization. last year, they confirmed more than 75,000 cases. nearly 170 people died. but scientists have found that fish known as guppies can help prevent the disease from spreading. guppies feed on the larva of

mosquitoes and they breed fast. authorities in new deli have been releasing the fish into areas where rainwater accumulates. >> it's very effective. very effective. and we get 100% result. we're not using chemical. it's not harmful to th. >> scientists in cambodia and laos have been studying the technique, and they say their experiments show the methods works. japan's new health, labor and welfare manster yasuhisa shiozaki has set his sights on reforming the social security system. he says he wants to do more to support families and revealed the faltering pension service. in april the government raised the consumption tax from 5% to 8% and promised the revenue would all go towards social shiozaki will be in charge of

making. >> translator: we have to make sure the social security system is sustainable. that's the most important th we'll do everything we can to support the system. and we need a system that the people can trust. to gain that trust, we must explain convincingly the system will last for a long time. we will conduct the reforms in a comprehensive manner >> reporter: shiozaki says he'll introduce measures next april to help people who are raising fa. parents say there's a shortage of quality child care and other forms of support. >> translator: we'll introduce measures to address various one is for stay-at-home mothers who are isolated in societ we'll create more kinds of day care, including small-scale, and

local oriented we'll make more public day care .laces, where children can stay >> reporter: shiozaki says the pension system is another priority. he wants to change how the government manages. he's looking to diversify investments to minimize risk. >> translator: the pension system is the most important pillar of social security. we have already started reforming it. but not everyone is convinced. we will work hard to fully explain what we're doi. protecting the people's lives, jobs, and social security is a wide-ranging, profoundly important task. i will do all i can to reassure people.

>> it's time now to check on the weather. southern china and the northern indochina peninsula are dealing with serious flooding and powerful winds. our meteorologist jonathan oh has the details. jona? >> hello, we are continuing to monitor as it crosses into land and continues to dump a lot of rain fall. it made landfall during the overnight period in the northern portions of vietnam. you can see the clouds that are really covering the southwestern corner of china, all of vietnam, and a good portion of the indochina peninsula. and i want to show you some video of the area. what happened on tuesday. havoc in south china's hainan province. extremely rough seas left boats stranded several fishermen had to be rescued. the storm also brought strong winds, and heavy rains triggered serious flooding. more than 200 flights were

canceled. in gaung shi province, two women were killed by a falling tree. more than 25,000 people were evacuated. with the saturation of the ground, that's when the trees are not able to stay stable and that's why you have those types of problems. it looks like this system is losing its tropical characteristics very quickly. so we will see it weaken into a tropical depression during the next several hours but it will still have a lot of rainfall with it and that is a problem because this area already hit with so much moisture for the past few months. not just weeks, but months, because of the southwest monsoon, and it looks like we'll be dealing with up to 150 millimeters of rain during the next 24 to 48 hours, and it will continue to linger. that's the problem. along with the southwest monsoon. so we'll be continuing to monitor that. we are also watching out for tropical depression east of the philippines. it is going to be something we have to watch closely because not only is it close to the phil but also with the

continual heavy rainfall that has been reported in east asia, it could be the next problemmaker as we continue to track that. meanwhile the northern portion of japan seeing a low pressure system that's causing instability, heavy rainfall at times, and also some water spouts reported from this particular low. and then now the instability also moving in to the central portions of japan, and so we are seeing cloud cover and some possible downpours as we go throughout the next couple of days. 25 in tokyo. 27 in seoul. and again, seeing some rain for southern china, as we go throughout thursda also keeping an eye on odile. this is pumping moisture into the u.s. desert southwest. yes it is weakening but still causing flash flooding concerns and i think we're going to continue to monitor that while we also watch out for a new tropical storm polo that's further south, already tropical storm watches posted nearby. this system will intensify into a hurricane very soon, and then it will be something we'll have to also monitor closely because

of the rainfall that it will also bring to the same areas that just saw rain from odile. and again look at this, possible flash flooding into arizona and new mexico because of this particular system. elsewhere, though, look at this beautiful conditions for the northern portions of the united states, and the southern portions of canada as we go through wednesday with s wrapping things up, we're watching out for this stubborn low pressure system near the balkan peninsula. still causing problems. and it looks like it's going to bring even more rainfall going through wednesday. and another low from the western side of the iberian peninsula bringing in some rain. madrid with 26 for the high. 22 in lisbon for wednesday, and also rain and thunderstorms in athens, a high of 27. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended

that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm miki yamamoto.

thanks for joining us on nhk ggç

>> you are watching "france 24." boosts u.s. aid for the ebola outbreak in west africa. plan is to deliver up to $1 billion to contain the disease that has killed 2500 so far. scotland votes on independence, the polls are showing a slight lead for the no campaign. both sides are out in force to try to sway undecided voters. the prime minister of ukraine says government forces are on full battle alert as new gunfire ck