republicans in the u.s. house of representatives have unveiled a plan that could end a standoff over the national debt. they met at the white house with president barack obama. they proposed legislation that would allow for a short-term increase in the debt ceiling, but the two sides are still far apart. the proposal does not include any measures to resolve the partial shutdown of government services that started last week. >> we had a very useful meeting. it was clarifying, i think, for both sides as to where we are. >> the government needs approval from congress to borrow more money. otherwise, by next week it might not be able to pay its bills. white house officials released a statement after the meeting. it said they did not reach an agreement. president obama is demanding that the two sides agree to raise the debt ceiling and to end the shutdown.

>> finance chiefs of trial issized nations are urging politicians to quickly resolve their differences. the g-20 finance ministers and central bank governors wrapped up two days of talks. their final statement says the world economy is facing down side risks. it highlights signs of improvement in major industrialized economies and slower growth in many emerging nations. the statement focus on the u.s. budget crisis. it says leaders need to take urgent action to address short term capital uncertainties. it's rare for u.s. domestic issues to come under scrutiny at a g-20 meeting. it sends a strong warning that usa default could seriously affect the world economy. the statement also says volatility in capital flows remain an important challenge. investors have been pulling their money out of emerging economies. they speculate policymakers are

getting ready to scale back their stimulus measures. japan's foreign minister says his country will sign a u.n. statement calling for a ban on the use of nuclear weapons. japanese officials refused to sign a similar document earlier this year. new zealand, switzerland and 14 other countries are leading u.n. efforts to release the joint statement later this month. >> translator: i'm announcing that japan is going to endorse the statement. as the world's only victim of atomic bombings, our country understands the misery that nuclear weapons bring about. >> kushida says japan has a moral responsibility to work continuously to rid the world of nuclear weapons. in april japan refused to sign a document containing similar language at a conference on the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. the april statement said nuclear arms should not be used under any circumstances. japanese officials said they refused to sign it since the country relies on the u.s.

nuclear umbrella. kushida was asked about the change in the government's stance. he said he personally asked new zealand's foreign minister to adjust the wording in the latest statement. he said changing the document allowed japan to support it after a strict review. japanese leaders refused to sign the statement three times in the past. that prompted international ngos to stage protest rallies in geneva. nagasaki mayor tomihisa taue is praising the government's decision to get on board. >> translator: the government's change of stance marks a step forward for the abolition of nuclear weapons. >> mayor taue says he hopes the government will assume a leadership role in eliminating nuclear arms in northeast asia. people in china are buying more and more new cars. and japanese automakers are celebrating a surge in demand there after disappointing sales

last year. officials with the china association of automobile manufacturers say sales of new cars last month came in over 1.9 million units. that's an increase of more than 19% from the same month last year. sales of japanese models soared by more than 73%. japan's automakers have a market share of about 20%. they're competing mainly with german and american manufacturers in hopes of making that share even bigger. south korean government officials are grappling with a growing challenge. they try to help in-comers who say they've escaped from the north, but more and more of those people are not genuine defectors but north korean spies. justice ministry officials told lawmakers about their efforts to capture north korean agents. they say the number of arrests they've made has grown sharply in the past few years. the officials say they've detained 49 north korean spies

in the past decade and they say 21 had pretended to be defectors. they say the spies are members of north korea's state security and intelligence agencies. and officials say those agents entered the south to get classified information and take defectors back to the north. more than 25,000 north korean defectors live in the south. government officials in seoul are trying to help them adapt to life there. officials with the japan coast guard have beefed up the fleet they use to keep an eye on a disputed territory. they deployed another patrol ship to waters near the senkaku islands in the east china sea. coast guard personnel celebrated deployment of the "okinawa" to its new base in japan's southernmost prefecture. >> translator: i want you all to work hard for the safety and security of the japanese people. >> coast guard officials are

boosting their fleet to monitor the senkaku islands, because chinese patrol ships are increasingly active nearby. the islands are controlled by japan but claimed by china and taiwan. japanese government leaders maintain the islands are part of their country's territory both historically and under international law. the "okinawa" will sail this weekend on its first patrol. one of the biggest annual gatherings of asia-pacific leaders has only just ended, but china's diplomatic offensive continues. roselyn debhavalya in bangkok is following the story. >> reporter: thailand is the latest southeast asian nation to receive a top leader from china. thai prime minister yingluck shinawatra held talks in bangkok with the chinese premier li keqiang. they discussed cooperation between two of asia's most important manufacturing economies. li's three-day visit to thailand began on friday.

china is asia's biggest economy and thailand is known as the manufacturing hub of southeast asia. they've shared interest in issues such as investment, infrastructure, technology and energy. li expressed china's interest in helping thailand build a high-speed railway system. china has been on a diplomatic offensive in recent weeks. last week president xi jinping visited indonesia and malaysia. china was also active at this week's summit meetings hosted by the association of southeast asian nations in brunei. other countries are making diplomatic pushes of their own. u.s. secretary of state john kerry held talks in malaysia on friday with prime minister najib razak. kerry is representing barack obama after the president canceled his trip to asia because of the u.s. government shutdown, and indian prime minister manmohan singh held talks in indonesia on friday with president susilo bambang yudhoyono.

asean's fast emerging markets with a total of 600 million potential consumers make it an attractive target for countries who want to bolster their own economic growth. you think of bali and you probably have an image of sun, sand and beautiful beaches. but what the travel brochures don't show is the island's increasing struggle with vast quantities of garbage. now some enterprising volunteers believe they found a solution worth banking on. nhk world's shinya sato explains. >> reporter: a traditional dance. the beautiful ocean. no wonder bali is one of the world's favorite holiday destinations, but away from the beaches, the picture isn't so pretty. many streets in urban areas are littered with trash.

bali's population is growing thanks to the booming tourist trade. more people means more trash. the amount of garbage generated in bali has jumped seven-fold over the past eight years, but island garbage disposal capacity is woefully inadequate. food stands across the island cook up their dishes like this. they used to serve the food in banana leaves, but now they prefer coated paper and plastic bags that don't degrade. tons of plastic trash are everywhere.

in the biggest city denpasar, a new project aims to clean up this messy reality. the volunteer project is called "trash bank." participating residents bring bags of recyclable waste. the bags are weighed, and they receive money in return. >> translator: i made 85 cents today. i come here once every two weeks. i can make money selling what i would have just thrown into the river before. >> reporter: after trash bank bags the garbage, it sends it on to recycling agents. it uses the profits to buy more trash. recycling agents also benefit

from higher volumes, which generate bigger profits. how much money residents receive depends on the type of waste they bring. pet bottles get about 41 cents per kilogram. plastic shopping bags, about ten cents, and aluminum cans slightly over one cent. they can choose to place the money in savings accounts instead of receiving cash. just like a regular bank, they can withdraw money from their accounts and take out loans. customers can repay. >> translator: people used to throw away usable waste like pet bottles without thinking about it. now they voluntarily pick up the bottles for recycling. awareness is definitely improving.

>> reporter: 36 new trash bank branches have opened in denpasar this year alone. the growth of the enterprise shows how there's a financial incentive. the people can be encouraged to keep their area clean, and by protecting nature's wealth, they make an investment for future generations. shinya sato, nhk world, bali. and that wraps up our bulletin. i'm roselyn debhavalya in bangkok. smartphones have revolutionized communication, but they've also brought new dangers, particularly for people who use them as they walk.

experts at japan's transport ministry and automakers have come up with a new software to protect pedestrians from traffic accidents. the software works in two ways. it uses gps data to predict how a pedestrian is likely to move, and then that data is exchanged between the smartphone and vehicles. if danger seems imminent, the system warns both the pedestrian and drivers. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> the new system can even identify pedestrians who can't be seen. that's something that existing systems cannot do, because they rely on cameras and sensors to recognize people and vehicles. the software is still in the development stage. ministry officials say they hope to put the technology into practical use in the 2020s.

japanese fishermen in fukushima prefecture are marking a first. they're hauling in whitebait, something they haven't done since the nuclear accident in march 2011. they say their catch is safe. dozens of boats came back to a port in the city of soma. the fishermen were busy unloading but seemed happy. they decided to resume catching whitebait after tests showed that hardly any radioactive substances have been detected in the fish. >> translator: we are so glad that we can fish for whitebait again. >> the fishermen tested their catch twice, before and after boiling and processing. they confirmed the radiation readings were far below the safety standard. they plan to sell the whitebait at local markets and at tokyo's tsukiji market.

>> many global fans of. japanese cartoons enjoy dressing up like their favorite characters. some businesses in japan have recognized that the interest in this costume play or cost play as it's called translates into profits. their capitalizing on this trend and aim to bring some life back to slumping industries. >> reporter: people might think this is a european living room and this looks like a factory. but cosplayers come here to model their fantasies on camera. young cosplayers in thirteens and twenties flock on weekends to this photo studio. they are picky about the accessories they need to copy their favorite characters. some people own more than 20 outfits. >> translator: i spend about $300 a month on cosplay. >> translator: cosplay is everything for me. i use all of the money i earn to pay for it.

>> a private think tank in 2012 estimated that the cosplay market of clothes and services was worth $542 million. this girl has been a cos player for six years. her name is layla. >> hi. >> reporter: she's checking out a website specializing in cosplay photo cards. she can choose from a variety of designs. some customers include passwords to access a gallery of photos online. >> it's hard for us to recognize each other because we don't know what we look like out of costume. photo cards are a must. >> reporter: a tokyo printing company owns the site. the boss has seen 15 years of digital technology cut traditional sources of income by almost half.

he started cashing in on new demand for photo cards. they like to dress up as many characters but they have to buy a minimum of 20 photo cards for each one. the printing company's boss has seen sales grow every month. >> translator: we hope to expand to other services which highlight our strengths. we're thinking of offering photo albums with no minimum order requirement. >> reporter: this is central japan. for over 200 years, the city flourished as a hub for the textile industry, but the producers have suffered since the 1970s due to competition from southeast asia. the local chamber of commerce is using cosplay to revive the community.

residents last year began hosting the annual cosplay summit. he owns a textile company and says 40,000 fabric samples are part of the city's heritage and his stock has high demand from cosplayers. >> translator: i believe we can develop unique products for cosplayers which cover both past and present designs. >> reporter: officials last month commissioned a costume for a manga character using local fabric. the character was originally created by a local artist and made into an anime shown around the world. city officials want to display the costume at local events to

promote businesses. >> translator: we hope to revive the local industry through cosplay culture. >> reporter: japanese cartoon characters are heroes and heroines. they could be used in the real world as well. next let's take a brief look at the market figures. people in paris are getting

an introduction to bunraku japan's traditional puppet theater. this time it had a contemporary touch. about 1,000 people packed a theater for the premiere of an updated version of the popular play "sonezaki shinju," first staged in the 18th century. it's considered one of playwright chikamatsu monzaemon's finest works. artist hiroshi sugimoto produced and choreographed the performance. the production incorporated modern staging techniques with video in the background and lighting that made the puppets appear to loom out from the stage. at the story's climax, a clerk from a soy sauce shop and his lover decide to kill themselves after he's deceived by a friend over a loan.

[ applause ] >> translator: it was wonderful. i felt as if the puppets had been magically brought to life. they were acting with a depth of feeling that seemed very human. >> translator: people in paris have a very discerning eye for the arts. so i hope to win them over. >> the show traveled to madrid and rome before opening in paris. performances continue through october 19th. and next, here's the three-day outlook on the world's weather.

and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. from all of us at nhk world, thanks for watching and have a good day wherever you are. tavis: good evening.

from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. thatht a conversation pulls back the curtain on how close we have come to accidentally deploying weapons of mass distraction right here in the good old u.s. journalist eric schlosser coming up right now. ♪

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: we hear a great deal about weapons of mass destruction and it seems we have come close to detonating two of those bombs, incidents that have been kept secret until now. award-winning journalist eric

schlosser has pulled back the information on what has been his book,n in "command and control: nuclear weapons, the damascus accident, and the illusion of safety." let's dart our conversation on a personal note. i grew up in a place called bunker hill, indiana. there is an air force base and my dad served for 37 years and i grew up on this air force base and little did i know that in 1964, the year i was born, there was a major accident in bunker hill, indiana. >> a be 58 bomber was taxiing on the runway. the runway was icy and the bomber slid off the highway -- the runway and caught on fe. one was killed but there were five hydrogen bombs on that plane. two of them were unharmed and one of them was scorched and one caught on fire and one of the

melted completely into the runway. these were weapons that did not have adequate safety devices yet and in this case they did not detonate but they could have been a problem for kokomo and that base. that base had lots of other nuclear weapons on it and it was very fortunate that none of these wind -- weapons detonated. tavis: the stuff you learn about your own life. >> that base could have been obliterated. happenede story that on grissom air force base, how common are they? rex a lot more common than what we have been led to believe. the book has been based on interviews and documents i got through the freedom of information act. their standard line was there was never any chance of these things detonating accidentally and whenever there was an accident, they would neither confirm nor deny a nuclear weapon was involved.

what concerns me is we invented this technology. i think we build the safest nuclear weapons of any country and yet, if we have had this many problems with our weapons, it makes you wonder about countries like pakistan, india, russia, and how they're managing these arsenals today. tavis: that raises a few questions. not the least is given all the accidents that we are -- we did not know about, why is it that we are in the business of even making nuclear weapons and i will come later to our checking others for having the same technology we have, especially ple we helped develop it. why are we in the business of making nuclear weapons? >> we have thousands of them. they are a holdover from the cold war.