welcome back to nhk "newsline." this is nhk "newsline," i'm james tengan. voters in japan's niigata prefecture have chosen a new governor. yoneyama ran as an independent who took cautious stance on the restart of a nuclear plant in the prefecture. yoneyama succeeds the outgoing governor who also expressed concern about restarting the nuclear plant.

>> translator: i will discuss the issue of restarting the nuclear plant soon. i will clearly state that a restart cannot be accepted under the current situation, because the safety of the plant can't be assured to protect the daily lives of residents. >> whether to restart the nuclear power plant was a major issue in the campaign. yoneyama pledged to uphold the incumbent's stance on the plan and called for a thorough review of what caused the 2011 disaster in fukushima. he was recommended by the japanese communist party, liberal party and social democratic party. he defeated the candidate endorsed by prime minister shinzo abe's ruling coalition. >> translator: i am extremely disappointed the candidate backed by the governing bloc lost. but i respect that the voters in niigata have chosen yoneyama. >> japan's industry minister, who oversees the country's

utilities, promised to listen to the new governor. >> translator: we have been incorporating the governor's opinions into how to deal with disasters, including evacuation procedures. we would like to hear the new governor's opinions, as well. >> the minister said the government will also seek his ideas on possible management reforms at the plant's operator. on monday, prime minister abe sent message to the shinto shrine, honoring the war dead. abe offered a potted plant to the that vine in his name and under the title of prime minister. he is unlikely to visit the shrine during the festival that began monday. health, labor and welfare

minister also offered a potted plant. the shrub is used in shinto ritual. a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson criticized the move. she said china is firmly opposed to the japanese leader's action. >> translator: japan should face its history of aggression and express regret. china urges japan to work to regain the trust of neighboring countries and the international community. >> japan's chief cabinet secretary suga said it's not a matter for government to comment. china says its two-man spaceship has successfully gone into orbit around the earth. while china is trying to develop an alternative to the international space station, which is operated by japan and 14 other nations. the shenzhou 11 lifted off on monday from the country's inland launch center.

>> translator: the shenzhou 11 has been successfully launched. >> a c congratulatory message fm president xi jinping was read out at the launch center. premier li visited the mission control center in beijing to thank scientists and engineers. chinese officials say the spaceship is scheduled to dock with the unmanned tiangong 2 space lab within two days. the lab went into earth's orbit last month. the docking will take place about 393 kilometers above the planet, that's roughly the same altitude as china's planned space station. the two male astronauts will stay in n the space lab for 30 days conducting scientific experiments. >> translator: i'll make a maximum effort to build and develop the chinese space station.

>> this will be the longest mission in the history of china's space program. scientists want to use the mission to improve china's technology and accumulate know-how to build the space station by 2022. china's space program has been years in the making. it conducted its first manned spaceflight 13 years ago and made great strides since. >> translator: the level of china's space development, technology and capability is now up there with leading countries. our country is making the transition from space power to space superpower. >> last month, beijing began operating a new radio telescope, one of the world's largest. in june it launched a next-generation carrier rocket called the long march 7. the rocket blasted off from a launch center on the southern island of hainan. hainan is close to eat kuwaitor, so china is now able to send rockets into space with the help

of the earth's rotation, lowering costs. beijing has s also developoped own satetellite positioning stemem. it's's being describibed as the chininese version n of the u.s. global positioning system and began operating four years ago. but all of these achievements are raising concerns about the possible militarization n space. the e head of chinina's manned spaceflight t project is a a se mililitary official. china has been carving out its own path in space. it declined to join japan, the united states and other countries in the international space station program. analysts say it wants to become the world leader in spe e delopmpment. a japanese expert says the military aspect is i inarguably papart of china'a's space strategies. >> translator: i think we will enter an era when china and the united states will become the two major space powers.

>> he says japan needs to consider carefully what influence this will have on the country. a major japanese film company is posting better-than-expected earnings. gene otani from the business desk has the details on t that d other headlines. >> a film producer and stributor to saysts hit moviesave raiaid mid-term earnings ththeompany had originally forecasted an earnings drop. executives put the group operating profit for the march through august period at about $2 million.n. the n godzilla movie has grsed about $74 million, the latest i a serieies starring th icicic monerer wasreleased in july. toho e exetivessaidd theoxox office take for their hit animation ouour me" is about $148 millionon since itsts rele

inaugu. ho has upgraded its operating prof f forect f for the yr endi i in february to about $4$2 millio a a record for the third straht year. managing director tako said social media posting has boosted the numr ofepeat customer officialst the mion pture producers association of japan say domestic box office revenue has hovered around $1.9 billion in recent years. they say the quick spread of movie reviews on social media is helping attract young audiences. they say movie companies are making more films for that generation. the bank of japan governors said this month the central bank would take additional easing measures if needed. he has restated that position at the bank's quarterly meeting of regional branch chiefs.

kuroda said japan's economy remains on a moderate recovery path with some weakness in production and exports due t to slowdowns i in emerging ececono. hehe said the bank will adjust policy as needed, with an eye on price levels, the financial sector and the state of the economy. but kuroda doeoesn't seemm to on aa hurrrry, h he's apparenently watctching for effecectsrorom t government's fiscal stimulus package. the boj last month shifted policy focus to interest rates after repeatedly failing to meet its deadlines for boosting inflati inflation. the central bank released its quarterly report on economic conditions in the country's nine region, it has upgraded assessment in two of the regions. the report says the kyushu okinawa region is recovering from the strong earth quake in kumamoto with local businesses in operation. the bank raised its assessment saying mitsubishi resumed outfit

for many vehicles. but the tokai region was downgraded for the first time in four years. the report said the pace of recovery had slowed, saying consumers are concerned about ththe effects of the stronger y on exporters and are spending less. the bank's assessment of the other six regions was unchanged. it saiaid they continue to recor moderately. checking the markets. tokyo dropped thin trading, we report on the details from the tokyo stock exchange. >> better-than-expected earnings results from major u.s. banks on friday supported the markets. concerns over china's economy capped gains. let's see the closing levels this monday october 17th. the nikkei ended up .25%. the broader topix gained .4%. traders became concerned over china's economy. that's after the central bank said its daily reference rate

for the u.yuan in six years. solid u.s. retail sales and producer price data also supported the dollar. the weaker yen was good news for some japanese exporters in particular electronics firms. gaining more than 2%. on the flip side, tokyo electric power tumbled nearly 8%. that's after the governors election in niigata prefecture was won by a candidate with a cautious stance on the nuclear plant restart. analysts say investors may be cautious this week because of events, including china's gdp data due out on wewednesday. i'm phobe am rosa. the shanghai composite declined by .7, finishing at 3,041. the weaker yuan dampened

sentiment. aussie dollar lowest in more than three weeks, and that came after the chinese authorities detained some employees of australia's biggest casino operator on suspicion of gambling crimes. the news weighed on casino operators listed in hong kong, hang se ha hang seng index up. here's a look at other business stories we're following. dubai in the united arab emirates is hosting the middle east's largest i i.t. fair, 400 firms from 60 countries are in the city to pitch their technologies at an exhibit for start-ups. seven companies are from japan. one of them is showing a humanoid robot that mimics facial expressions, the fair runs through thursday. the balance of

exchange-traded funds sold in japan has hit a record high for a second straight month. officials say total mutual fund sales exceeded $850 billion as of the end of september. saying it accounted for about $166 billion of that, ets, the officials say the bank of japan has been the biggest buyer of the security, as it tries to shore up the economy. let's look at our global economic calendar for the week. on tuesday we have key u.s. inflation data coming out for september on wednesday officials release china's gdp growth for the last quarter. the same day the federal reserve releases a report on the 12 u.s. districts, fed officials take this report into account when they decide monetary policy. on thursday, the european central bank announces a policy decision. and on friday, chinese officials update new home prices for 70 major cities. we asked a specialist to share his perspective on the

coming week in today's expert view, we here from osamu tanaka, at daiichi research institute. we asked him what policy decision he'e's expecting to he from the european central bank. >> translator: i don't think the ecb will take any concrete acaction in regards to addition easing measures. the economy situation is relatively stable. consumer prices have remained at a low level. but there are signs that prices are bottoming out. considering all that, i don't think the european economy is in a hurry for further easing. i believe the ecbb will conclud they need to continue their asset purchases, from the viewpoint of mid term price stability. >> some investors are worried about the financial health of major european banks, but tanaka said he's more concerned about the weakening british pound. >> translator: the ecb carried out stress tests in july to assess the value of the bank's

assets. the results showed that even banks seen as having problems had sufficient levels of capital under the severe scenario. however, the british pound has fallen more than 10% against the euro and the dollar, since the brexit vote. that means exports from the eurozone to the uk are certain to s slow down from here on in. the impact may not be felt immediately. but i believe the eurozone economyy will slowly but study face downward pressure from the weaker pound. >> and you can catch our report again online. together with a full transcript. look for nhk world and business wrap. that's look at business news, i'm going to leave you with the markets.

a japanese baseball player broke his record with the fastest pitch ever recorded in the country's pro baseball league. otani came in to preserve a three-run led for his team in the ninth inning. a win meant the team would advance to the championship in the series. he made quick work of his opponents. one of his pitches broke his own record for fastest pitch. it clocked in at 165 kilometers per hour, or 102.5 miles.

he then tied the new record two more times. and he's not that far off from the world record of 105 miles per hour set by major league baseball's harold "us" chapman. >> i was on the mound in a very good mood. i was able to give my best performamance. >> the win gave the fighters the ticket to the japan series where they will face the hiroshima toyo carp. the anime film "your name" as well as one called "a silent voice" are proving to be big box office attractions. they depict beautiful real-life settings from japan on the screen.

nhnhk wod's marie yaka reports. >> r reporte s she believe this boy who has aearing disability, becse ofis behavior, his llied, too, h withdraws into mself an contemplate committing suici.. apologizing to shoko,e fis a a rson totoeep living. >> rororter:shoko is convinced herreresenc will upset shoya's

peacacul lifend rn his friendshs. sheoesn't'tant tbe aururden and feels peless. >> repter: thefilm's setting is insred by the city of ogaki in gee foou prefecture. the image on the screen is almost as rich and colorful as the actual place. >> translator: in preparing the scenery, we drew clouds on the story board and they became the color of the background. but the director would say please get rid of all the clouds. >> translator: the cloududs gotn the wayay of depicting shoya's feelings. he has withdhdrawn into himself.

shutting out sounds and avoiding the world. i didn't want the world around him to be closed up, too. in several scenes i thought clouds were unnecessary.y. > reporter:r: "your name" al begins in a beautiful natural setting. mitsuha iss a high school studet who dreams of living in a big city. onone dhile she's aslele,he swapssodies with taki, a high school sdedent w livivesn the e city. afte b body swapping a number o times, they develop an emotional bond. then, the swawapping stops. taki goes to look for mitsuha and discors sometng shking. the director is always looking to push the limits of comput

aphicscsnimation. light and color radiate from his work. his attention to the background may spring from the scenery he saw in his child hood. he grew up in nagano prefecture. it's a place with a rich natural landscape that's beautiful year-round. when the director was in high school, he saw an especially engagingng scsce. >> translator:r: i was alone cycling home and i saw the sunset. it was just an order fairy day, but when i realized how spectacular the sunset was, i'm embarrassed to say this i started to cry. i'm exaggggerating a bit, but i suddenly felt one with the universe. >>epeporte thahat heightenedd sensitivity speaks to young viewers struggling with emotitis th find d rd to exesess. marie yanaka, nhk world.

it's time for world weather with saijo mori. a deadly typhoon is head to china and vietnam. sayaka, what's the latest. >> youour weather r was quite b around vietnam. a tropical depressiocacaused heavy rainfall and across northern portions of the country we have one more storm, sarika, to c come north of t the philils on s sunday. it killed at least two people. 15,00000 people were disisplace. sarika was a very strong typhoon when it hit the philippines. right now it's a strong typhoon, packing wind gusts about 200 kilometers per hour. the system will likely re-intensify and it could become a very strong typhoon and will likely hit the island of hainan on tuesday. we're pepecting ququite a lot o heavy rainfall.

probably up to 500 millimeters which is d double the amount th we normally y see during the entitire month of this month. we'll see strong gusts about 200 kilometers p h hour expepected r the island of hainan. after affecting this area the system will likely hit thehe ar. back behind it we have another system i want to mention, this is typhoon haima, this is more powerful. it's not powerful at this moment but will likely intensity to a very strong, violent typhoon. then it is expected to move over the luzon area by thursday local time. again, this area was hit by typhoon sarika, so more rain is defifinitely not good nenews. if it hits the area, it's going to be e the third typhoon to hi the country of the year. let's go to the north.

a cocouple of high preressure systems are causing calm weather in much of china as well as the korean peninsusula. weather is quite unstable across many portions of japan and there's a cold front which is going to move over hokkaido, so we see rainfall heavy at times. also this low is a very slow-moving one so rn n will likely continue into tomorrow in the tokyo region. temperatures are going to be as follows. 21 tuesday in tokyo. warming up to 25 degrees on thursday. so warmer weather will come back once again. harbin, temperatures will drop significantly, only 9 degrees on your wednesday with rainy weather. three storms move over the pacific northwest sincnce wednesday. the system caused some heavy rainfall and also some dangerous weather. that includes a couple of tornados. weave some video coming g out of washington as well as oregon. a powerful tornado damaged homes in manzaninita, oregon. the national weatherer service confirmed it was an f-2 tornado.

strong winds brought down dozens of trees and blocked roads and highways. gusts of about 130 kilometers per hour reported in thehe coasl area of washington. more than 40,000 customers were without power in western washington and northwestern oregon. the weathewawas quite e dangero. three storms have already moved away but more rain i is expepec for the nextxt couple of days. and by your thursday, , there's one e more strong syst movovingo the pacific northwest. so rain is going to be a continued story. now there's a possibilitity of severe weaerer across s wiscons into your tuesday morning and across the west and eastern portions of the united states. temperatures are going to be warming up. 28 in washington, d.c. that's about 10 degrees higher than normal. and across the south, like memphis, you'll see high temperatures. 32 degrees is expected daytime temperatures into your wednesday. here's your extended forecast.

one last story before we go. a giant panda recognized by the guinness world records as the oldest in captivity has died. jaja was 38 and had lived at a hong kong theme park. officials said she was euthanized because she wasas in poor health. the average e life span for a panda a is said to be around 20 years. her age in human terms was about 114 years. she was presented to hong kong in 1999 as a gift from b beijin to marark the second anniversar of the city's handover from britain to china. an estimated 29 millllion peopl visited the theme park to see her. a video gone viral across the globe proved to be an overnight success of sorts for one japanese entertainer. he'll be on "newsroom tokyo"

which starts at the top of the hour. so don't miss it. i'm james tengan, thank you for watching this edition of nhk "newsline." more to come on nhk world, so stay with us.qéaññ

genie: this is "france 24." time for 60 minutes around the world. i am genie godula. more than 50,000 troops advancing toward mosul -- that is the biggest push to take iraq's second city back from the islamic state group. the fight against the eye of continues in syria through the european union foreign ministers are talking about whether to extend sanctions against the syrian regime. the e.u. says sanctions against russia are not on the table. tw