been delayed. officials on friday were supposed to release the jobless rate and employment figures for september, but they canceled and haven't set a new date. most u.s. government workers have gone on unpaid leave because. political standoff in congress. they also put off releasing personal consumption and how sa data. lawmakers are facing a more critical decision, though, they need to agree to raise the government's borrowing limit or the u.s. will default on its debt. the treasury department reports that a default could have catastrophic effects on markets, employment and consumption. a standoff in 2011 caused a u.s.

credit downgrade. the director says it's mission critical that this issue be resolved as soon as possible. >> government shut down is bad enough. but failure to raise the debt ceiling would be far worse and could very seriously damage not only the u.s. economy but also the entire global economy. >> if the debt ceiling is not raised, the u.s. will run out of money by the middle of this month. policymakers at the bank of japan have kept their monthly economic assessment unchanged. they also agreed to continue their monetary easing measures. they wrapped up their two day meeting on friday they kept their assessment of japan's economy unchanged, stating it is recovering moderately. business investment has been

pecking up as corporate profits have improved. personal spending remains steady. they say business sentiment has continued to improve and housing investment has also increased. the policymakers unanimously agreed to continue the monetary easing measures introduced in april. they exchanged views on the effects of the government's stimulus package. possible impact on japan and a slow down in emerging economies. now the head of the international monetary fund has welcomed japan's decision to restore the fiscal house. >> it's one step, there have to be enough fiscal measures anchored in the median term. >> she said they must do more by pushing social security and other areas. she noted that japan's debt --

in april they will increase the consumption tax to 8%, up from 5%. ministers are showing up in bali for a forum. they're hoping to hammer out joint project does solidify ties across the region. ministers are expected to discuss long-term plans for ports and highways. japan's minister will join as well as the foreign minister. they'll offer japan's help building railways and power plants. ministers will also push free trade efforts like the trans-pacific partnership. they will put out a statement at the end of the two day talks. japanese are wanting to improve agricultural production

by making the most of unyused farmland. they've driven out the outline of a bill. they are attempting to create a farmland blank. they will rent them out to farmers and businesses. officials say a public process will ensure everyone gets a full opportunity to use the land. they will submit the bill to the diet later this month. a senior u.s. state department official says any new talk against iran could undermine negotiations on the country's nuclear program. she's asked u.s. lawmakers to put off discussing a bill and additional sanctions. >> we do brief it would be

helpful for you all to at least allow this meeting to occur on the 15th and 16th of october before moving forward to consider those new sanctions. >> she says if iran fails to propose a verifiable plan on its nuclear program congress and her department will take action. congress is seeking fresh sanctions against iran. they include calling on other countries to boycott imports of iranian oil. they suspect iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. u.s. president obama and rouhani spoke over the phone last month. it was the first direct communication from leaders of two countries since 1979. experts in spain are investigating whether hundreds of earthquakes may be related to an offshore gas storage project. more than 300 earthquakes have been recorded since last month in the area around valencia

which normally has very low seismic activity. some of the quakes have been stronger than magnitude 4. the plant is about 40 kilometers off the coast. in june, engineers began injecting gas into the undergown facility on a trial basis. but the government ordered them to suspend the operation. they say that pressure from the injected gas may have caused the bedrock to collapse, triggering the seismic activity. rescuers are searching the waters of southern italy for survivors of a shipwreck containing people from africa. more than 200 people are missing. about 500 people were on the vessel. it caught fire. passengers began jumping overboard. italian coast guard crews have rescued 151 of them. they're searching areas around the ship for more survivors. they say the fire broke out after the passengers lit

something to notify a nearby vessel of their location. the uh high commissioner for refugees says most of the passengers are believed to be from an east africa nation. many migrant ships have landed since the arab spring uprising in the middle east. more recently people fleeing the civil war in syria have arrived there. people in indochina are cleaning up after a tropical storm moved over the region. it triggered flooding that killed dozens of people and damaged over a million homes. the rainy season in the southeastern asian peninsula has brought downpours across wide areas since last month. flooding in the northeastern areas have killed 27 people. about 840,000 homes have been inuh date. disaster officials in cambodia says flooding has damaged roughly 10,000 homes in the last few weeks.

the tropical storm made landfall in vietnam on monday. it killed mean people and injured roughly 200 others. 220,000 homes were damaged. rain in indochina could continue through mid october. authorities in china are warning people to be on guard against insects that pack a deadly sting. hornets have killed people in the last three hontss. hornets nests have been popping up in residential areas. and swarms. dwrin secreta insects are being spotted elsewhere. medical institutions are on alert so they can treat victims without delay. crews have been destroying nests wherever they can find them. they're using fire and pesticides to kill the insects. they have been forced to deal with the nests on more than 1,000 occasions.

chinese language has evolved over thousands of years, but now many young chinese have trouble writing its more than 8,000 characters. this is where parents and educators come into the story. nhk reports from beijing. >> reporter: junior high school students compete on this television contest hosted by china state run television. its purpose is to test the writing skills of young people across china. many people tune in. but unlike a simple contest, its real purpose is to make viewers aware that writing skills are declining. >> translator: the problem is getting worse year after year. that's why i decided to produce this show about chinese writing.

>> reporter: to see for myself, i asked people in the capital to work words they use in their daily life. >> translator: i can't write it. >> translator: i usually type with a computer. i hardly ever write with my hand. that's why i don't remember chinese characters all that clearly. >> reporter: according to a recent survey about mean out of every ten chinese say they have trouble recalling how to write character. the main culprit is modern technology. computers, tablets and smartphones allow people to enter words using the roman alphabet and then choose the chinese characters. so many people use this passive writing that a lot of them can't actually write chinese characters by hand. >> translator: the chinese

writing system allowed people who spoke china's various languages to communicate, because the meaning of character remains the same. >> reporter: here's an example of what this language specialist says. this character for instance means tree, just as it looks. when you have many trees, it becomes a forest. and when you take this character which means person and put it up against a tree it means to rest. peep can learn how to write characters correctly if they practice writing while thinking about the meanings. this private school on the outskirts of beijing has a specially designed curriculum. it emphasizes writing through

clig ref and other claes. >> translator: if people get used to writing characters when they're children they are able to express their thoughts in writing. their writing to be straightforward expressions of what's on their minds. that's so important for chinese people. >> reporter: this junior high student says he's enjoying the classes. >> translator: by writing characters we remember them better and we can also understand their composition. >> reporter: after school, he spends another two hours every day studying chinese characters under his mother's careful supervision. >> translator: nowadays, kids, they don't write letters, not anymore. instead, they send each other those e-mails full of mistakes. you know, i'm very concerned. i feel in is a serious crisis. because writing properly is essential to our culture.

>> reporter: chinese have always looked at their writing system as a pillar of civilization. that's why many feel that the struggle to protect the ability to write is a struggle to protect chinese culture. nhk world, beijing. for 70 year, donald keen has been a leading figure in the study of japanese literature since he first came across a book on japanese literature in new york he has spent his time showing the world japanese lture. we were able to sit down with him. >> reporter: the donald keen center is more than just a museum of his life and works. it's also intended as a center

for studying the field of japanese literature. the main hall holds an exhibit on nine individuals who played pivotal roles in his development and trajectories in his life and work. visitors can also see his library which was brought over from new york and reconstructed. to promote the study of japanese literature, keen has donated 2,500 books, records and artifacts to be housed in the room. for over 50 years, he was professor of japanese literature at columbia university in new york, inspiring students with a passion for his field. over a period of 25 years he wrote his 18 volume work, a history of japanese literature. it's now used around the world as a key textbook in the field. >> reporter: first of all congratulations on the keen center. >> thank you. >> reporter: what was it like for you? >> it was rather weird,

technically because one of my study in new york was taken entirely to japan. the furniture, the books. so i had a strange feeling in the present and the past. the one thing they couldn't send from new york was the hudson river. >> reporter: now thanks to your classes on all your books, i think that many foreign students, it's become much easier to study japanese literature. >> especially at universities where there was no person to teach japanese. nobody who was particularly interested in japanese. suddenly, there was a book that they could get a good idea what japanese literature was, like during the over 1500 years of its existence. >> reporter: keene's understanding of japan extends

beyond japan to other areas of culture. he's interested in the japanese art of the puppet theater. he organized a performance so that those attending his lecture could experience first hand the appeal of the music and the drama. thanks to keene's efforts, there's been a growth of interest in this traditional art form. four years ago he helped revive a legendary drama that was lost and had not been performed for over 300 years. >> translator: i now have a greater understanding of it, and now i want to see performances more often. >> reporter: not only literature, but you've studied about the japanese performing arts. is that different than western plays? >> eventually, the difference would be that in a western play,

there is not the traditional things. the opera's done in modern dress or rig let toe being done in a gambling joint? las vegas. and a japanese wouldn't do that. you can't imagine a kabuki where everybody dressed in jeans, short sleeves and just talking in ordinary voice and not in a different voice. no, you go to kabuki because you want a certain kind of theater. by the poetry, by the movements, by the general atmosphere to move you. and it makes something unforgettable. >> reporter: empowered by his deep affinity for japanese lit ra tour and culture, keene continues to read and write and further spread the understanding around the world. don keene at 91, sharp as ever.

parts of the pacific is reaching about 28 to 29 degrees which is enough to intensify this storm system. this is the tropical storm system we have been monitoring for quite some time now. it is moving very slowly towards the islands of okinawa. you are already starting to see the stormy conditions here in the southwestern parts of japan but it will get even stormier as it approaches you. the gusts will reach 200 kilometers per hour and makes its way toward taiwan possibly making its way to china. it may veer towards shanghai early next week dumping rainfall totaling as much as 250 millimeters. this will be surging a lot of moisture to the korean peninsula. so we're talking about lots of rainfall and very stormy conditions ahead of our weekend. we have another storm system that could make its way to the

similar path, chasing after it is this tropical depression which is likely to become a tropical storm status into the next 24 hours. we'll have to monitor this as well as we progress into the weekend. here across the philippines and the indochina peninsula more rain to be hitting the western seaboards as well as the coast. thailand, no warnings in place. which is great news. a little break from that. surging from the moisture of the south china sea will be bringing in buckets full of rainfall to vietnam. we are looking at high pressure. humidity down to 30% in parts of china but likely to see a rainy saturday in japan. now across the americas, the last few days it was very calm. but now we have a tropical storm, severe weather and heavy snow as well as santa ana winds

to talk about. but let me start by introducing you karen. it looks like it's not going to be a hurricane, but it will be bringing hurricane-force winds into louisiana and florida. not only the gusts, but the dumping of the rain will be quite significant as this system moves toward the east, due to the descending frontal line merging with this system and that's going to be bringing drenching amounts of rainfall in the next few days. not only that, but we have severe weather that is moving across the eastern half of the continent, especially from great lakes region down into texas. now texas and oklahoma only about more, excuse me, more than 100 football games will be occurring on friday, so do be prepared of the rough weather. now back behind that, heavy snow will be falling across the mountainous regions. we're talking about 75

centimeters in the higher everlations. we're also looking at some foal and and nice contrast with the snow there. oklahoma city at 31 degrees. we're looking at a significant, dramatic drop from 31 degrees in omaha down to 10 for your high. so be prepared for this. a very quick look in europe. we have a nasty system moving into itsly. naply, you'll see very rough weather with thunderstorms on your saturday. rome at 20 degrees for now. i'll leave you now for your extended forecast.

a group in people in egypt is honoring tokyo for their bid to host the olympic games. egyptian travel agents with tie does japan organized the event. an olympic medalist issued a message of congratulations. he placed in the 1984 olympics in los angeles. >> translator: tokyo is a very

important place for me. i'm so happy the city will be hosting the games. a japanese embassy joe fission says japan welcomes visits by all participants to the olympic games. he hopes this will further strengthen bilateral ties. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." we'll be back with more news at the top of the hour. so do join us then. thank you very much for watching.

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with gregory porter whose classic sound has critics praising him for carrying on the tradition of marvin gaye. and also asd spirit

a song writer in his own right. conversation with gregory porter coming up right now. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

tavis: gregory porter had intended to be a linebacker but an injury found him course correcting to music, a decision that is be paying some pretty ne dividends. his cd is titled "liquid spirit." let's take a look at a cut. tavis: i was saying to gregory that it took me about two weeks

to get to track five. it took me a couple weeks to get there because i could not get off of track number one. , and thisnds of mine doesn't happen all the time, they called me and messaged me and said there is a brother named gregory porter who you must have on your show. you have a bunch of fans that are friends of mine that you don't even know. you have got to get him. you have got to hear the song. in search of it and i am delighted to have you on the program. tell me about this first track. it is powerful. for me, i am trying to put , and i am trying to

grab pieces that are poetry to put in the song. it is like an old man on the house that says there will be no trouble around here. the symbols and these things in violenceof love like and dishonesty. the will of love is powerful. there will be no love that's dying here. powerful, man.