you're watching nhk "newsline" i'm ross mihara in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. >> betrayal of trust. transport ministry officials are conducting their own fuel efficiency tests after mitsubishi admitted to cheating on results. grim statistics, one quarter of the kumamoto quake victims

left emergency shelters to return home, where the second major tremor took their lives. and a cold competition. investing in property and business overseas. mitsubishi sales were down 14% from the previous year. after they falsified fuel economy data for some models. mitsubishi sold about 3600 new vehicles last month. it's down 14.8% compared to the same year. mitsubishi stopped selling two mi minivehicles. the group's minivehicle sales fell 44.9% last month. nissan motor stopped selling two mini vehicle models made by

mitsubishi. nissan's new car sales fell 22.2%. many vehicles accounted for 60% of mitsubishi's new car sales in japan and 30% of nissan's. japanese government officials are conducting their own tests to measure fuel efficiency of vehicles made by mitsubishi motors. automakers' admission that it manipulated data on more than 620,000 cars. nhk world's kurando tago reports. >> reporter: transport ministry officials are taking matters in to their own hands. they say mitsubishi has betrayed the government trust. >> we had been thinking the measurement method was so simple that carmakers could never make a mistake. but we were too optimistic. >> reporter: tests set by the transport ministry measure running resistance of vehicles

based on air resistance and road friction. the lower the value the better the fuel economy data. but workers at mitsubishi calculated values without taking any measures and then admitted them to regulators. the scandal was revealed last month. >> translator: customers bought our cars based on false fuel economy data. i'm sincerely sorry for this. >> reporter: mitsubishi officials said it had been manipulating data since 1991. u.s. authorities are taking a hard line. the environmental protection agency has ordered mitsubishi to conduct new tests of u.s. vehicles. the scandal is expected to have

a serious financial impact on the carmaker. and mitsubishi's president says it will be critical to the future of the company. the future could be clearer in june. transport ministry officials are matching data from their tests and have new ones conducted by mitsubishi and will release the results mid month. kurando tago, nhk world. nhk has revealed a grim statistic of last month's earthquakes in southwestern japan that left 49 people dead. at least one quarter of the victims had returned home from emergency shelters before the second major tremor. on april 14th, a powerful quake struck kumamoto. officials with the meteorological agency thought subsequent tremors would get smaller. but they now say a more powerful quake that hit two days later was the primary one. both jolts registered the highest on the japanese intensity scale of 7. nhk reporters surveyed police as well as families and friends of the victims. and they learned ten people died

as their houses collapsed. two others died in mudslides that engulfed their homes. yoko noda was one of the victims. she went to the evacuation center after the first earthquake but then returned home. her body was found in the wreckage of her house after the second quake. her daughter said she insisted her mother return to a shelter. >> translator: i'm very sad about what happened. my mother would not have left home, even if she was asked to. >> reporter: some of the victims told friends they went home believing there would be no more powerful quakes. they also said they were fatigued from sleeping in their cars at night. experts point out that two strong quakes in such a short period of time is extremely uncommon. they advised residents to wait for their homes to be deemed safe before returning. the meteorological agency is warning people in the devastated area of further powerful quakes. tokyo stocks plunged at the start of the week. gene otani joins us with more.

the downward momentum from the continued into this week. the nikkei dipped below the 16,000 level for the first time in three weeks. for the details we go to our business reporter at the tokyo stock exchange. >> reporter: the nikkei fell 1%. it was the fifth straight session in the negative. the index more than a thousand points. broader topix fell more than 3%. it touched the highest level

against the dollar since 2004. the exporter toyota lost 3.8% and murata tumbled more than 13%. the company projected softer earnings for the current fiscal year citing a higher yen shares fell 7% at panasonic. sonny down 4% after it reported an annual loss. but ana holdings doored 2.5%. tokyo will be on a holiday for the next three days. returning to trading on friday. >> giang, thank you. moving on to other markets. let's take a look at south korea. declining.80%. manufacturing data out of china

on sunday was weaker than expected. dragging down shares in south korea. let's take a look at australia sp 200. 5242 the final number. many other markets in the region were closed for holidays, including shanghai, hong kong, taiwan and singapore. creating a flexible market for natural gas. >> reporter: ministers agreed to cooperate for the international lng market initiative. >> the ministers issued a joint statement on monday wrapping up two days of talks in the western japanese city. it calls on countries to review existing practices for international trade and lng. contracts often ban relling t ird parties.

japan is the world's largest importer of the fuel. it has been asking the ban be eased in order to help reduce prices. the g 7 welcomed the plan to set up a international lng market in the country for the first half the 2020s. analysts in japan released the growth estimate for the january to march period of 2016. in the previous quarter the country marked negative growth. this time nine out of 12 think tanks believed the nation's gross domestic product has grown slightly. forecast for the first quarter range from 0.2% to positive.4%. analysts note that personal consumption was pushed up by the leap year day in february. exporters sold more vehicles and manufacturing machinery to the u.s. and europe. most of the analysts agreed that

consumption and capital investment lack strength due to a murky outlook in china and elsewhere. they're pessimistic about new worries over the earthquakes in southwestern japan hurting tourism and manufacturing. the government will announce the gdp data on may 18th. here is a look at some of the other business stories we're following. sales fell at four out of five major department stores in april. the second straight monthly drop. clothing sales lead the decline along with other goods. a sign of reduced spending by the wealthy and foreign tourists. company officials blame lower stock prices at the start of the year. japanese business leaders looking to forge ties with israeli companies. the japan association of corporate delegates. they met with business leaders

in tel-aviv. they visited a pharmaceutical firm and anti-collision system for cars meeting. let's take a look at the business calendar for the week. on tuesday australia central bank will meet to discuss monetary policy. they are under pressure to make a rate cut following an unexpected family in consumer prices. analysts in china will announce the cia xin manufacturing index for april. it provides an overall view for factories across the country. u.s. will release the trade balance for march in wednesday. and jobs data are due out in friday. in march nonforeign payrolls added 215 jobs. every month we ask specialists to discuss view of the week. now we hear a economist from

daiichi. here is what he to say about the u.s. economy. >> translator: there was a slow down in the january to march quarter. the main reasons were the stronger dollar of oil prices and weaken foreign economies. there was an adjustment in business inventories. the reasons growth slowed. the negative factors may subside gradually from the april to june quarter or later. >> he gave he thoughts on the fed's decision to leave rates unchanged and what is likely to happen next. >> translator: fed policy makers won't consider an interest rate hike until they're sure the economic slow down is over. their position will be that by putting off a hike, they can give share prices a chance to rise. gdp growth will probably improve in the latter half of the year. so it's possible a rate increase

could come in september. that would be the earliest time. if the expectations for a rate hike grow that may cause turbulence in financial markets. you have to consider the impact of the presidential election in november. as it becomes clearer who is likely to win, the markets may overreact. so i think the safest time to start thinking about a hike will be after that. in december. >> that's it for business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets.

officials in taipei are protesting japan's seizure of a taiwanese fishing boat. they sent two vessels to patrol waters near japan's southern most island. the officials dispatched a ghost card ship and a fisheries training vessel another okinotorishima island. >> we will defend the rights of taiwanese fishing boats to operate in these waters. >> it's made up of coral reefs and has a coastline of about 11 kilometers. no one lives there. japan's exclusive economic zone covers roughly 400,000 square kilometers around the island. the waters are believed to be rich in resources. last week members of japan's coast guard seized the taiwanese

fishing boat from the zone, and they accused the captain of illegal operations. he was later released on bail. people in taiwan say detaining the boat and crew was illegal. taiwanese president ma ying joe says okinotorishima is a rock, not an island, and that japan cannot claim the exclusive economic zone around it under international rule. japan says it is recognized as an island under the u.n. convention on the law of the sea. people in the philippines will go to the polls next week to choose their country's next leader. four major candidates are locked in a neck and neck race trying to replace the outgoing president benigno aquino. former interior secretary manuel roxas is backed by aquino. vice president jejomar binay once belonged to an opposition party. the independent senator grace poe was almost disqualified over

a residency issue. and mayor of debau rodrigo duterte made headlines for a controversial comment about women. no candidate has yet emerged as a clear front-runner but the latest polls suggest duterte has a slight lead. support rates are constantly changing over candidates' inappropriate remarks and allegations of corruption. a territorial dispute in the south china sea is a hot button issue in the race. roxas and poe say they'll strengthen the alliance with the u.s. to deal with china. duterte and binay, on the other hand, say they want to build ties with china through dialogue. japan's foreign minister has laid out a development assistance plan worth billions of dollars for some southeast asian countries. kishida is currently touring the region. he laid out japan's policy in a speech in bangkok, pledging to set up a new framework for the

so-called five mekong states. they include thailand and myanmar. kishida said it's aimed that helping them build infrastructure, improve customs procedures, and develop workers skills. the day before kishida met with his thai counterpart and they agreed to develop areas along the mekong river. >> translator: thailand holds the key to developing and linking areas along the mekong river, because of its location in the center of the river's basin. >> kishida noted the rapid economic growth projected for the region. his thai counterpart called for japan's support for his military government. it plans to transfer power to a civilian government sometime next year.

the city of seattle is one of america's gateways. more than 20% of the here come from china. it was a stop for president xi jinping when he visited the u.s. last year. the chinese demand for the company's timber is shrinking. >> all of these logs will be going to china. >> most of the logs are destined

for housing construction. the housing boom there hit a firm hold cutting exports by about 30% over the past two years. >> it's very challenging in china. the economy has stabilized and not as vibrant as before. >> reporter: this is equipment. the 30 workers are seeing orders flying from their overseas clients. projects have been stopped. >> it's declining every month. i'm sure part is back of the lang of consumption of energy. >> reporter: some say china is still strong. a hong kong iestment fund

build the city's highest skyscraper last year for hundreds of millions of dollars. some say chinese have bought the high end real estate. sending video often leads to an instant discussion with a chinese client. she moved here from beijing last year after her husband went to the city. the family bought this house for nearly $2 million. they say many of their friends

back home have suffered massive losses in china's stock markets. >> i really think it's a good decision to buy the house here rather than put my money into the stock market. >> reporter: she said the real estate sector could lose steam soon. >> there are changes in china to the economy and the government recently, you know, make it harder for people to move money overseas. >> reporter: people on the u.s. have seen many ups and do you understand over the years in the relations with china. it appears the latest can only get worse. nhk world. it's time now for world

weather with our meteorologist sayaka moore i are. people in parts of japan are experiencing summer-like temperatures. why is that? >> yeah, it's been quite warm across western japan. especially in the kyoto area. the mercury hit 31.4 degrees and about 30 degrees in obama. the high pressure system this is bringing sunny weather and also warm air from the south of that is causing high temperatures across western japan. tomorrow is going to be a different story. it's going to be wet and a little cooler. there's a developing low pressure system located over eastern china. the system will likely develop even further. the central pressure down about 20 heck tow pascals in 24 hours. winds will be strong across western japan. gusty winds probably up to 110 kilometers expected across the kyushu area.

heavy vafl expected. additional 150 millimeters in kyushu. rain is not good fuse. the rain will move into western and central japan as we go into wednesday. now it's going to be a wet and windy day, as i mentioned, on tuesday. and wednesday the rain should reach the tokyo area. sunny weather should return by thursday and it's going to be hot on thursday as well as friday. the average tvrm for this time of year is about 22 degrees. across china due to a developing low pressure system in france. heavy rain is falling. more heavy rain is anticipated for central portions of china and korean peninsula may see up to 200 millimeters of rainfall. flooding will be a concern. seoul will see a high of 16 degrees behind it beijing 27

degrees. and shanghai 20degree sand m cov the sn tuesday. let's go to noh americ we're eing qui a lot of precipitation across the southern portions of the united states. we have some pictures coming out of texas to show you. the flooding situation. a powerful storm unleashed heavy rainfall for the central and southern united states saturday resulting in serious flooding for some areas. a grandmother and four of her grand kids in the city of palestine were killed when waters poured into the house sweeping them away. the city reported receiving 190 millimeters of rain in less than an hour. sev seven tornados were reported on friday. we have the risk of flooding and thunderstorms across the southeastern portions of the united states. due to a slow moving low pressure system and a front. across the west sunny and hot. temperatures up to 28 degrees

for the high in seattle. the warmth will peak on your monday. hot in atlanta as well as the u.s. capitol. let's go to europe, then. there's a cut of low pressure system bringing rain and risk of thunderstorms across italy and the belkan peninsula. watch out for tornados, heavy rainfall, and large hail. it's the holiday for the british isles but an unsettled day. watch out for rain and strong winds. minor traffic delays may happen. temperatures are quite warm for this time of year in many parts of the continent. here is the extended forecast.

bust out the hawaii shirts. japanese officials are dressing more casually in an effort to save energy as the summer approaches. >> i feel cool. i can work comfortably. >> it will soon get hot. i hope people enjoy dressing casually. >> it's the first day of the annual cool biz campaign and government workers in tokyo were seen without jackets or ties. the environment ministry program calls for setting air conditioners no lower than 28 degrees celsius. the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. some people were sporting traditional open-neck tops and others in colorful aloha shirts. warmer wear can stay on the

hanger until end of september. that's all this hour on nhk news line. i'm ross mihara in tokyo. thanks for being with us. °c

♪ >> you are watching france 24. time for 60 minutes live around the world. these are the headlines. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in geneva to try to revive the feeling cease-fire in syria. more than a week of -- of fighting has left hundreds of civilians dead. in the with a massive heatwave. living0 million people in areas with almost no water at all.