here in japan it's 7:00 p.m. on a thursday. i'm james tengan in tokyo. nhk "newsline" starts off with a quick look at some of the stories we're following this hour. working for change. japan's prime minister strikes an agreement with saudi arabia's deputy crown prince to reform the oil rich country's economy. the search goes on. rescuers in northern japan continue to look for the missing

after 11 people were killed when a powerful storm swept across the region. and marking disaster prevention day. nearly 1 million people across japan took part in the annual drills responding to a simulated massive earthquake. japan's prime minister has pledged to help transform saudi arabia's economy while reducing its independence on oil. shinzo abe struck a deal with the deputy crown prince as he visited tokyo. >> translator: the world is keeping a strong eye on your leadership and drastically changing saudi arabia's economy and society. >> prince mohammed replied he highly values the relationship with japan. he's seen as a key figure in the oil rich nation and is in charge of economic policy. the two leaders confirmed a conference of ministers would be set up to discuss reorganizing

the saudi economy. the first meeting will be held in saudi arabia in october. rescue efforts continue in parts of northern japan that were hit by a powerful storm on tuesday. 11 people are dead and 3 others missing after typhoon lionrock devastated the area. nearly 1600 people are stranded because roads are cut off. they're working on repair ones that lead to isolated districts. they're also working with people to provide supplies. officials from the town of iwazumi say they haven't been able to contact 18 residents. on wednesday nine people were found dead in a flooded care facility. authorities had not issued an evacuation order for the area. an elderly woman and man were also found dead near two different rivers. on the northern island of

hokkaido, rescuers are looking for three people who went missing after bridges collapsed and their cars fell into rivers. south korea has confirmed that japan has contributed about $10 million to a fund aimed at those as wartime comfort women. the foundation now has a basis for activities. he says it will illicit the opinions of the women and provide them with the help they need. the governments of japan and south korea decided to settle the comfort women issue finally and irreversibly. japan agreed to supply the funding to support the women. but not all former comfort women approve of the move. this week 12 people filed a lawsuit against the south korean government. they say the agreement has caused them distress because it does not address japan's legal

responsibility. officials at the japanese olympic committee or joc says there was nothing illegal in connection with the 2020 olympics. french prosecutors have been looking into a $2 million transfer from the japanese bank account to a singaporean firm. they suspect bribery. the prosecutors say the firm was linked to the son of diak, the former head of the international athletic association. he was also a board of the international olympic committee. he's suspected of receiving bribes to cover up russian doping. a joc team has been investigating. it says the singaporean firm had experience in organizing sporting events and that there is no evidence showing the contract was fabricated. >> translator: the committee fully recognized the ioc code of ethi ethics. we found no illegality in the

contract or its process and found nothing amounting to a crime under french law. >> but the joc team points out that communication between the bidding committee members were not sufficient. they also say there was problems with transparency in the procedure. the joc's president who headed the bidding committee told reporters he's relieved by the team's finding. but he added that more communication and transparency was needed. now to business news. competition is fierce among japan's convenience store chains who are vying for their slice of a crowded markets. executives at two of the bigs decided it makes more sense to team up. gene otani has the details and all the other business headlines. >> officials with the family marked con convenience store chain have -- operator of circle

k and sankus chains. merger to create the bigger con convenience store operator. executives attended a ceremony in tokyo to open family mart holdings. it was the third largest chain. circle k and sankus chains were fourth. the company has 18,000 stores. it also operates a supermarket chain concentrated in central japan. the president of the n new firm says he'ss confident the merger will lead to better products and services. farmers in japan are counting the cost of a series of storms. they were powerless to protect their crops as typhoons and crops bararrelled throuough hoko and parts of the nonortheast.

agriculture minister has set up a task force to assess the fallout. >> t translator: i've instructe officials from the minisistry t do everything they can to help farmers s and fishermen get bac to work k as sooooas possible. >> the officiaials s say lossesm three severe storms totals about $240 million. they're still assessing the impact of typhoon lionrock but they say it caused damage to crops in hokkaido. operators of japan's biggest department stores are feeling the effects of weak spending and bad weather. they say sales in august were down from last year as people bought less clothing and a series of storms kept customers away. officials at five department stores have released preliminary figures for their consolidate sales. isetan reported loss of 8.6%.

daimaru 7.4%. demand for clothing and sales weakened. and foreign tourists were down. they say typhoons and storms also kept customers away. checking the market shares, prices in tokyo edged higher ahead of the release of key u.s. job figures. for the details, giang nguyen reports. >> investors waited for a critical jobs report out of the u.s. on friday. shares got small lift from data showing a rise in the capital expenditure for the april to june quarter. let's take a look at the levels here for thursday. the first day of september. the nikkei gained 0.23%. the e topix rose 0.6%. megabanks traded higher.

sumitomo and mitsubishi rose more than 1%. investors sold energy related stocks after falling prices showed a glut. shares of exporters were mixed as the rising dollar took a breather. nissan motor added 1.6% but sony fell 0.0.7%. in all a lackluster trading day here in tokyo. a report from u.s. payroll processer adp has already shown solid job growth and that's raising expectations for a rate hike. i'm giang nguyen reporting. economic data out of china showed a mixed picture of the chinese government purchasing managers index for manufacturing came in at 50.4 for august. that's up 0.5 points from the previous month. meanwhile, pmi data fell short

of expectations. the figures had little effect on mainland markets. the shanghai composite dropped by. 0.7%. property shares weighed on the index. but hong kong reacted positively to the pmi. the hang seng gaining by 0.8% to finish at 23,162 finishing at the highest in more than a year. shares in indonesia slipped nearly 1%. that's after consumer prices in august grew at their slowest pace since 2009. and sydney down by 0.3%, a sharp fall in oil prices weighed on the index pushing it to its lowest close since mid-july. here's is look at some of the other business stories we're following. executives at japanese firms have increased spending on buildings, equipment, and other fixed assets for 13 quarters. government officials sayay apri to june capital expenditure by

about 30,000 companies topped $90 billion. that's up 3.1% in yen terms. the growth came largely from automakers which increased production capacity for new models. another set back for mitsubishi motors. the decline was six months and further evidence of the fallout from the fuel economy scandal. mitsubishi sold a decline from last year. revelations they used inappropriate methods to calculate fuel efficiency widened this week. mitsubishi said it would suspend the sale of eight domestic models out of eleven. this week we're bringing you a special feature on beating the heat. focusing on three traditions that highlight how people work and play this time of year. the japanese like to enjoy ghost stories when it's hot out because a good story gives

people goose bumps that cool them down. business people are capitalizing on that by setting up horror attractions across the country. jenny lin has the details. >> reporter: the undead roamed the mountains of shizuoka. a summer camp puts these people face-to-face with zombies. those who sign up for the camp are given tasks to complete during their stay. they have just five minutes to locate something hidden in the woods. but on the way back, they must not be tagged by a paint staned zombie hand. this man foraged enough food for a barbecue dinner. >> translator: i managed to

survive. >> reporter: a small video production company started the camp two years ago after noticing the rising popularity of zombie films and halloween in japan. the company combines horror with the outdoors in a bid to lure customers. >> translator: i plan it like a film scenario with the participants as the characters. people can enjoy the horror in an environment shut off from the outside world. that's something you can't get in a normal haunted house. >> r reporter: an overnight sta is $270 per person. still the organizers say hundreds of people apply for the 80 mace places available in each event. it's not only zombies that draw crowds. ghosts are working on people's imagination. people are gearing up to go into

this haunted house. inside we're greeted by the slit mouth woman. legend has it she comes from this area. the organizers use the home grown ghost to draw people to the arcade. this area was once the heart of the local shopping experience. but newer shopping malls outside town have pulled customers away in the past few decades. four years ago business leaders came up with the idea of using local resources to create this haunted house. >> translator: we want to use nostalgia to rerestore the livelihood of this area. >> reporter: the interior is inspired by past scenes of the town. the props include used items

collected from around the arcade. the actresses are all local residents selected from auditions. in an unusual feature, they come out into the streets to greet their fans. this tourist attraction pulls in about 20,000 more visitors to the arcade every summer. >> translator: the kids really love it. we want to keep it open until they become adults. until it becomes an established summer tradition here. >> reporter: the horror business remains a much-loved form of summer entertainment in japan. judging from the number of people who are spending their time and money on it, it's clear that there's plenty of room for new and creative takes on the spooky tradition. jenny lin, nhk world. >> you can catch our report again online together with a full transcript. look for nhk world and business wrap.

that's a look at business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets. japan has marked its annual disaster prevention day with a number of drills across the country. in the city north of tokyo, a drill totook place to respond ta simulated massive earthquake. about 10,000 people including firefighters, police, and self-defense forces took part. for part of the scenario,, resce pepeonnel helelped people escap

frfrom a collapsed building. in tokyo, government officials also went through drills. prime minister abe spoke with local governors by video link to get a mock assessment of the situation. >> translator: i request everyr minister to collaborate closely with local government and to make full preparations for the secure evacuation of all citizens by closely monitoring for earthquakes and tsunami. >> nearly 1 million people are believed to have participated in the drills. disaster prevention day commemorates the first kanto earthquake. it left more than 100,000 people dead in and around tokyo. authorities are also thinking ahead to 2020 when tokyo will welcome the world for the olympics. and they're expanding their emergency preparedness to ensure everyone stays safe.

>> rescue crews race to the scene of an emergency. and they waste no time putting their skills into practice. here in tokyo's bustling business district, many workers are reviewing what to do in an emergency. more than a thousand people took part. they tested their knowledge, learned new techniques, and prepare for worst case scenarios. and they take stock of life-saving supplies. there's enough food and water in this warehouse for 3,000 people. but one of the organizers said there's one area that needs improvement. >> translator: we're considering how to guide visitors from other countries by preparing signs or pictures in various languages.

>> reporter: this woman from the u.s. could have used those signs. she was living here in japan when the earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast. >> not really knowing of where an evacuation was because i never really thought of b being put into that situation. >> reporter: officials in her tokyo ward developed this mobile app that provides emergency information in various languages. and she used it to practice getting to a shelter. >> i immediately thought this is extremely useful to me being able to have most of my offices here. now i feel more comfortable knowing that. >> reporter: more drills will be held in tourist areas in tokyo this weekend. preparing businesses to tell people from countries that may not be used to dealing with

earthquakes. ayako sasa, nhk world. brazil's first female president dilma rousseff has also become the first to be impeached. she was voted to be thrown out of office for manipulating governmentnt accounts. she is appealing and vowing to make a a political comeback. >> translator: this is not how the story ends. i'm certain that the disruption of this process by the coup d'etat is not final. we will return. >> more than two-thirds of the senate voted i in favor of t th dismsmissal but rousseff manage to have a different vote. barred from a government job for eight years. senators voted to allow her to keep the right to hold public office. rousseff was suspended in may after being accused of mishandling the budget. she has denied any wrong doing.

michel michelle temur will serve out rousseff's position. he will have to deal with the political chaos that has engulfed brazil. south korean prosecutors are questioning a prominent member of a retail giant on suspicion of embezzling funds. he had been removed from lotte holdings earlier last year. he is the eldest son for the founder of lotte group. he was summoned to a prosecutor's office on seoul on thursday. prosecutors are questioning him on a range of charges. they claim he received large salaries from lotte group despite not working for them. a family feud over controlling

led to criticism last year. what was widely viewed as an opaque management style. allegations followed that the group created slush funds by transfer i transfsferring. late last montththe group's vice chairman lee in-won was found dead in an apparent suicide. south korean media say a younger son of the founder who is also the group's founder shin dong-bin may also be summoned for questioning. nhk "newsline" comes to you from tokyo where it's 28 degrees celsius or 82 degrees fahrenheit. for more on weather, here's jonathan oh. >> hello. this particular system in one aspect thankfully for those living in the northeastern portions of japan, looks likee it's headed to the western side of the country. unfortunately, this is not good

news because of the earthquakes back in april and also because of the soft ground in the area. this is the tropical storm that we're watching right now. it is headed towards kyushu at this point moving at 25 kilometers per hour. packing winds of 72 and gusting to 108. it is expected to become a severe tropical storm in the next 24 hours. by the time we head into saturday, it is potentially going to become a strong typhoon. already the waves are starting to get picked up near le okayth okinawa islands. then we'll see potenential landndfall into kyushu towoward weekend. and once again especially for those living in kumamoto and for those in kyushu, those are really impacted whihich actuall saw another quake on wednesday, we're concerned that this very soft area is going to be impacted by heavy rainfnfall whh can lead to landslides along

with those strtrong winds. this is something we have to watch closely as we go forward throughout the next few days. that is really the big story right now happening over east asasia. we have lionrock remnants hanging over china. you may be dealing with some possible showers from time to time along with some cloudy skies. seoul 27 with rain on friday. then we're still seeing some rain towards hong kong and taipei through friday. keep umbrellllas handy. gogoing to the central pacific, two named storms. one is already impacting the big island. madeline is a tropical storm now moving to the southwest at 24 kilometers per hour. but packing winds of 95. we do have a tropical storm warning in place for the islands here. it is expected to go toward the south when it comes to the center of circulation, but it is bringing all the rain and winds with it. because of that, it's going to

be a rough couple of days from that storm. then we have a category 3 storm named lester. this hurricane is expected to continue to move to the west, weaken a bit, and move slightly north of thehe islands. but still bringing with it the intensity of hurricane-forced winds. as we go toward the weekend, expecting madeleline to go towa the south, lester toward the north. so hopefully you were prepared. we talked about this during the past several days. wet and windy into friday. lester's impact on saturday and thatat rain is e expected to continue as we go into sundayay. one more storm that we're going to talk about. this is a tropical storm named hermine. it is intensified with winds at 95 kilometers per hour. it is expected to move over the florida coaoast and moving alon the carolinana coast. expect a lot of heavy rainfall possible. potentially huhurricane forced

winds. we do havee hurricane warnings already posted in the gulf coast of florida. wiwith hightotorm surges and tornadoes, this is going to be a bit of a wet weekend and a stormy weekend with this system moving through. so hopefully you are starting to get prepared now because it's expected to really bring in rain and thunderstorms along the eastern coast toward the weekend. be safe out there and hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook.

a japanese overseas youth volunteer program was among the winners of this year's ramon mcsisi award based in manila. the award known as asia's nobel prize was handed out on wednesday. japan oversees is one of three individuals to receive this year's honors. the group sends young japanese adults with specialized knowledge in areas such as education and agriculture to developing nations. more than 12,000 volunteerss hae been dispatatched throughout as since the program began in 1965. >> translator: i believe the recognition went to volunteers who can blend into local communities by acquiriring thei language and culture and cooperating with the people there. >> the award is given each year to individuals and groups for contributions to peace and development in asia.

it's named after a former philippine president. congratulations to all the members. that's it for this hour's nhk "newsline.

>> you are watching france 24. around the world, these are the headlines. violence breaks out in gabon after ali bongo is declared the winner. trump talks tough on immigration. he promises to build the border wall and make mexico pay for it. just hours of what seemed to be more cooperative talk with the mexican prent