it's 7:00 p.m. on a friday here in japan. i'm james tengan in tokyo. welcome to nhk "newsline." we start off with some of the stories we're following this hour. long time coming. the u.n. security council looks set to adopt the resolution asking countries to ratify is test ban treaty. tokyo's governor says further studies needed of the

proposed new site of the food market and handling it well will be key to gaining people's trust. and failed experiment. reaction is mixed following the decision to look at decommissioning a prototype reactor that's been a money pit for two decades. the u.n. security council will likely adopt a resolution that calls for an end to nuclear weapons test worldwide. the council is expected to hold a vote friday. >> it is significant that this resolution will reaffirm not only for the u.s. but for other nuclear weapon states the moratorium against nuclear explosive testing. >> the draft calls on countries to ratify the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty or cbtb but it was dropped due to opposition from china and russia. the ctbt has yet to take effect

since such powers have failed to ratify it. u.s. president barack obama's administration submitted the draft ahead of the general assembly. he has stated his determination to realize a world without nuclear weapons. shinzo abe is paying a historic visit to cuba for summit talks with the country's president. cuba is seeking abe's advice. abe met can castro on thursday. abe is the first japanese prime minister to visit the nation. abe said north korea's repeated nuclear tests have created an unprecedented the threat and he asked cuba to intervene. cuba has diplomatic relations with the north but japan does not. abe also addressed china's increased maritime activities. he expressed grave concern about attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the east and

south china seas. castro said that all international conflicts should be resolved peacefully. abe also asked to -- for help in promoting japanese business investment in cuba. after the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of an agreement to help cuba improve medical treatments including a cancer treatment. japan will provide grants. earlier in the day abe met with fidel castro at his home. the elder brother of the president led the cuban revolution that toppled the pro-u.s. government. the president of the philippines is planning to visit japanese next month. philippine government sources say arrangements are under way. it would be rodrigo duterte's first visit to japan since he assumed office in june. if the tokyo meeting transpires, they are expected to confirm

their commitment to forging closer security ties as china increases its activities in the south china sea. the two leaders met earlier this month on the sidelines of the asean summit. abe told duterte of japan's decision to provide patrol ships and other assistance to the philippines. duterte is said to be considering a trip to china before japan. he's expected to push bilateral relations on the south china sea. an international arbitration tribunal ruled in july in favor of the philippines and rejected china's claims in the waters. the philippines says china should act accordance with the ruling but beijing says it has no intention to hold bilateral talks on it as long as manila sticks to that stance. the planned relocation of

tokyo's tsukiji food market continues to create controversy. now the governor says they will get a report to decontaminate the new site. koike said the latest report was insufficient. she says further study is needed to draw up a new report. koi koike's announcement follows the recent revelation that the main buildings were not filled with clean soil. this measure was advised to help ground contamination. >> translator: it's not clear who made the decision or when. it's also not clear why a different explanation was given on tokyo's website. >> koike added that her government is being put to the test and says that the relocation issue is her biggest challenge in regaining the trust of the people.

a japanese prototype fast breeder reactor was meant to be a center piece of the nuclear power industry. but more than two decades and billions of dollars later, the government is looking at decommissioning the monju. and that's being met with mixed reactions. nhk world has the details. >> translator: we'll conduct a massive review of the monju project. >> reporter: the government's decision earlier this week. it's taking a serious look at decommissions a reactor that's long been plagued with problems. comes at a hefty price. for people who live near the reactor, their opinions are mixed. >> translator: it's probably better to decommission it than keep spending money on something not working. >> translator: i think it's better to have monju for our local economy. >> translator: monju could have worked if it'd been properly

managed butt the operator can't do that. there's no choice but to shut it down. >> reporter: the monju reactor was meant to play a key role in japan's nuclear fuel cycle. it's a fast breeder reactor that's designed to generate electricity while producing more fuel than it consumes. what's more, plutonium in spent fuel from conventional nuclear power plants could be used as fuel in the reactor. that was the theory anyways. the realality? more than $10 billion has been spent on building and operating the protototype reactor. and since trial operations started in 1994, it's only been in operation for 250 days. trouble started right away.

in 1995, a leak of sodium used toto cool the reactor led to operations being halted. in 2010 they started test runs again and ran into another accident. a piece of equipment weighing over three tons fell into the reactor putting an end to the tests. last november, nuclear reregulators saidd the operators unfit citing the discovery of 10,000 safety oversights. even with all the headacaches, e governor is against what the government is trying to do. >> translator: the decision is extremely irresponsible. i have to say that fukui residents feel distrurust. >> repeporter: govovernor nishi dodoesn't think the government s thoroughly studied the issue.

he said he wonders whether the nuclear fuel cycle is possible without the monju reactor. what's more, decocommissioning monju is expected to cost $3 billion. meanwhile, the governmenent is considering w working with fran on developing a new morore advanced version of thehe monju rereactor. and the hope is t that itt woule far more successful than t the current model.l. but they need to prorove i it i feasible. nhk world, toek quo. >> thanks. in nepal, the bodies of a spanish trucker and two nepalese guides have been recovered and flown to the capital kathmandu. the landslide swept away a group of trekkers at a village 160 kilomemeters northwewest of the

capital. officials are searchihing for t body of anothther nepalese. 15 others were injured. the group was on a trail leading to a mountain in the himalayas. the trekking season in nepal attracts thousands of tourists every year. it usually begins in september when the seasonal monsoon subsides. but he haavy rain over the week triggered the slides in the area. a major event focusing on international tourism has opened here in tokyo. gene otani has the details and other business headlines. >> the name of the exhibition may be tourism expo japan but it is aimed at promoting traveling around the world. officials of 1200 businesses and organizations from 140 countries and territories have gathered at tokyo big site. bhutan is promoting the himalayas. members are handing out

postcards on which visitors can write out their addresses in japan and they will be sent back to them by post. a representative from kumamoto prefecture emphasized that progress has been made in rerebuilding most areas andnd t they're ready for tourists. also on display are some of the latest technologies geared to tourists. they include a smartphone app that can trtranslate informatio. plplace names into varioious languages. the event will run through sunday. competition in the low cost smartphone market in japan is heating up as companies from outside the industry vie for a piece of the action. now tokyo's main utility tokyo gas is the latest company to start marketing low cost phones. sources say it will tie up with smartphone service provider plus one marketing which sells under the name free-tel.

plus marketing will provide the phones and a service. tokyo gas has diversified into home electricity already. the company is expecting a discount rate starting in april for customers who buy gas, power, and smartphone serervice combined. competition has grown fierce with more than 220 companies now in the business. checking the markets. tokyo stocks closed slightly lower on friday but ended positive for the week after a central bank policy meetings in japan and thehe u.s. >> it really has been a volatile week n not just for the nikkei. weight on share prices here. let's take a look at the closing levels for friday, september 23rd. the nikkei closed down 0.3% at

16 16,754. the broadeder topix was downn 0 on friday. now, the dollar fell to the lower 100 yen level on wednesday as the federal reserve decided to keep its key interest rates unchanged. but the dollar bounced back a bit after japanese officials said they would take action against continuing speculative moves. now, looking a at i individual stocks, the stronger yen is bad for exporters. that was true for autos like mazda motor on friday. bank and insurance stocks like mitsubishi usj and daiichi life have fallen. with both the central bank policy meetings out of the way, investors can breathe a little easier. although many are still bracing for a possible fed rate hike before the end o of the year. john ladue reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. moving on to other markets

of the asia pacific region, the fed decision eased concerns about money flowing out of the region. sydney extended its winning streak to a fourth day posting the sharpest weekly gain in almost two months. up a little over 1%. moving to shanghai. the composite there down by 0.25% snapping two days of gains. property shares rallying on thursday. the overall picture was mixed in seoul up by 0.2%. indonesia adding 0.16% today one day after the central bank there cut interest rates. the planned merger of two major chinese steel makers has been welcomed by a top japanese business leader. shoji minuoka has been leading a delegation from the japan/china economic association in beijing

since tuesday. one of the reasons for the trip was to -- on thursday it was announced that the shanghai based group was merging withh te group. the merger willl create the world's second largest prododuc. >> translator: over-capacity in steel production c caused by cha is having a significant impact. it's like a whale diving into a swimming pool. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. transport ministers of the group of seven countries are meeting in japan. high on the agenda is how g7 members can draw up safety standards for self-driving vehicles. they'll also discuss ways to maintain aging infrastructure such as roads and railways by

using drones to check cracks in bridges and tunnels. the u.s. federal bureau of investigation has begun looking into what experts are calling the biggest cyber breach ever. this comes afterer yahoo annound thatat hackers stole informatio from half a billion accounts from its network in 2014. the company says the stolen data likely includes names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and dates of birth of its users around the world. it did not say why it took two years to notice the theft, but the company blames the theft on what they call a state sponsored actor. for toshiba first became the fraud that shined light on corporate governance in japan. then the house cleaning operation removing the people responsible. now new managers at the electronics giant are trying to haul the company back from the brink with a very different approach.

>> reporter: hitoshi hakawa took the helm after the incident. he was the first which wasn't implemented in the accounting scandal. nakawa has been making his way around the factories to meet employees face to face. >> translator: i want to talk to the staff to cultitivate a relationship. it might be time consuming but i think it could help in the long run. >> reporter: toshiba first admitted that something was wrong in april016. a review uncovered a problem in

the bookkeeping. the firm admitted it overstated operating profits by more than $2 billion. the blame lay largely with three former presidents who put intense pressure on staff to hit unrealistitic targets no m mter what. the only way for the peoplple below them to comply was to report fake earnings. in the wake of the scandal, toshiba has set up training sessions for managers. the aim is to show them how the problem arose and what they can do to ensure it doesn't happen again. one of the topics discussed is the pressure cooker workplace culture that spread under former management. >> translator: can we talk about the challengess set by the past three presidents? >> translator: there were times when i thought it was completely unrealistic. the company would demand profits of $1 billion when we projected

half that. >> reporter: toshiba's corporate culture was once known for being free and open. but profit-driven management teams gradually changed that. one manager has been asking employees for their input. some of them didn't hold back. >> translator: i think it's a bad idea to set unrealistic goals. >> translator: in general, you think the people who give orders and set goals don't understand the realities of the workplace. >> translator: i realize now that we don't really understand anything at all about our organinization, its capabilitie and its borworkplace environmen. i was sure that if w we gave

people a platform, then young people would come forward and speak their minds. >> reporter: experts say the culture at japan's big corporations favors opinions that reinforce already established views. toshiba is determined to be different. the new leadership is setting out to create a workplace where everyone can speak openly and honestly. nana yamada, 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.

japanese researchers say they've cleared a major hurdle on the path to fulfilling the clinical promise of ipips cells. they say they've succeeded in preventing them from becoming cacancerous. professor okano and his team want to use ips cells to treat patients with spinal cord injuries. the stem cells can be turned into any kind of tissue and have been called a medical breakthrough. but one of the challenges to clinical application is their tendency to generate tumors. they used a solution to stop that. and then put them into mice with spinal cord damage. without the special solution the number of cells includesed

roughly tenfold and generated tumors. but when the solution was applied, the cells did not proliferate and no tumors were produced. >> traranslator: i think we've succeeded in developing somethining that makes ips cell safer to use. >> the team wants to start clinical trials as early as next year. two japanese researchers have stood conventional wisdom about perception on its head. they're among this year's nobel prize winners. >> first i want to show the demonstration by myself. the professors won in the e percrception category. they confirmed that objects seem smaller and closer when people look at them from between their

legs. but they found that thingngs dot look any different when seen thatat goggles thatt flilip i i 180 degrgrees. their conclusion? the chchange in perception is mainly caused by the upside down posture. this is the tenth straight year japanese researchers have won ig nobel honors. it was launched in 1991 as a parody of the nobel awards. be careful trying out that new perspective. you're watching nhk "newsline" live from tokyo. standing by with this world weather report is sayaka mori who starts off with the dire situation in the u.s. midwest. sayaka? > well, it looks like more rn is on the way across the u.s. midwest. especially minnesota, wisconsin, iowa where significant flooding

is taking place. i want to take you to three states to show you the current situation. flooding caused serious problems in the midwestern united states. 250 millimeters have fallen in a 24 hour period causing local rivers to swell. because of the downpours, roads have been blocked off while roads and property have been damaged. a man was killed due to a mudslide in wisconsin. over the past seven days, extremely heavy rainfall fell in the area. about 300 millimeters of rain has fallen. thap is causing quite dangerous conditions. and again, more rain is on the way. there's a frontal sysystem stil inin the area and addiditional millimeters cod fall. as wee go into the weekend, we'l see more rain coming in. this system is now located over the wesest and iss causing swel

in placeces where flolooding is taking place. the system is affectingng the western united states. we have reportf one t tornado in utah and more severe weather could happen on thursday in t t ararea. behind it another system will be moving into british columbia. even seattle could be affected by the storm so we will see some rain on friday in seattle. 17 degrees sfr the high. meanwhile towards the south, dry weather will continue. los angeles to have 28 degrees. and it's going to be even warmer as we go into the weekend. and quite warm conditions across the northeast as well. new york city could see a high of 30 degrees with abundance of sunshine on fridid. now let's goo asia. we have a newly formed tropical storm near the islands. the system is now packing winds of 65 kilometers per pour. this will likely intensify to a typhoon and get close to taiwan

or the philippines by tuesday and then may make landfall in china on wednesday. this will likely take a similar path that typhoon meranti took. meanwhile, high pressure systems causing beautiful weather across the korean peninsula and there's a frontalal system still locate near japan. the system will continue to cause more rainfall as we go into saturday in some places. but as we go into sunday, things will be clearing up. tokyo could have 26 degrees with overcast on saturday. and as we go into sunday, sunny weather will come back once again and temperatures are going to be warming up. 29 degrees expected on tuesday as well as wednesday. kyoto o is going to be scorchin hot 31 on tuesday. let's go to europe. high pressure covering much of the conten but there is potent system

near the black sea region. more rain expected for the north of turkey where flooding is taking place. temperatures are going to be on the cool side in moscow. 10 degrees for the high but beautiful weather continuing across the west on friday. all right. here's your extended forecast.

be sure to watch "newsroom tokyo" at the top of the hour. from all of us here on nhk "newsline," thanks for watchingú

molly: welcome to the "france 24" newsroom. the fatal police shooting of a black man in charlotte, north carolina, sparks more protests to read separately, an officer in tulsa, oklahoma, is charged with manslaughter after fatally shooting another black man. there has been a massive data breach at yahoo! hackers steal personal info from some 500 million accounts. aftear