fabius. welcome to "newsline." first a look at the headlines. u.n. schools in gaza are no longer safe havens. more than a dozen people were killed when a school used as a shelter came under fire. ukraine's prime minister has announced his resignation, racing concerns that the investigation into last week's downing of the malaysia's jetliner could be delayed. and people in japan's northern that was were surprised by the news that a local shrine's gate has been found across the pacific.

israeli forces have struck a school in one of the latest strikes on the gaza stri hundreds of women and children had fled to the school to find shelter. 16 people were killed. about 200 wounded. civilians in gaza have b finding somewhere to hide during weeks of israeli air strikes. many came to the u.n.-run school. a spokes person for the u.n. relief and works agency said the officials had informed the israeli military of the exact locati they launched their aerial offensive more than two weeks ago and then they moved in on the ground. they engaged fighters from hamas in the latest battle. >> the warring parties, particularly the israelis, were given the precise gps coordinates. they knew exactly what was going on there. in spite of that, this has happened. >> they asked the military to allow civilians to evacuate the school.

but he said the request was denied. the israeli military says it is investigating the bombardment and it cannot rule out the possibility that rocket fire from hamas may have fallen on th more than 780 people have been killed since the offensive began. the fatality includes at least 181 children. ukrainian authorities say they have examined the remains of more than half the people who were on board a downed malaysian passenger plane. a senior official of the emergency situation service said examinations have been conducted of 182 bodies and body parts. he said the remains of 114 people have been placed in coffins. they've arrived in the netherlands. the malaysia airlines plane was carrying 298 people when it was shot down and crashed last week in eastern ukraine.

the crash site is in an area where government forces have been fighting pro-russian militants. >> it is very hard for us to get to the bodies, to get to the remains. you callist terrorists. to me, it is criminals. >> emhis team will continue to perform its duties through to the enin cooperation with the ukrainian government. ukraine's foreign minister met in kiev with his counter parts from the netherlands and australia. they agreed to send in dutch and australian police to ensure the safety of the investigators. the prime minister of ukraine has resigned. arrest sendy yatsenyuk has said that he lost the support of allies. some fear this could further delay the investigation. he made the announcement after two parties said they would leave the governing coalition and push for elections. he said the government can no longer exercise its leadership. the vice prime minister will

take over for the time being. volodymyr hroisman leads the investigation of the shooting down last week of the malaysian airliner. consumers across japan are starting to realize they'll to have pay more for the thing they want. now with details on that story, and other business stories, what do you have for us? >> people in japan know their leaders have taken aim at falling prices. prime minister abe has set an inflation target before 2% and things seem to be moving in that direction. government officials have released data showing consumer prices went up in june by 3.3%. the consumer price index has been rising for 13 months. it excludes the cost of fresh food which tends to jump around and skew the numbers. people paid more for television sets, electricity and gasoline. and it looks as if prices will continue to rise. analysts looked at some early numbers from tokyo. they found figures are up this

month by 2.8%. prices in the camden have risen for 15 straight months and analysts believe it is an indication of what is happening across the country. policy makers at the bank of japan say the increase in the consumption tax is partly responsible. the sale tax went up in april from 5 to 8%. officials at the center bank say the cost of kormt services is also going up. it increased in june by 3.6%. the officials pointed to a labor shortage. they said it was becoming more expensive for manufacturers to hire temporary workers. they said the government is spending more on public works and redevelopment projects and they said that it is adding to labor costs. prices for corporate services have gone up for 11 straight months. let's take look at markets now. investors are buying stocks this morning and the nikkei is in the positive. people who track the market say investors are encouraged by

signs of recovery in the european and american economies. manufacturing figures for the euro zone and jobless claims in the u.s. both released on thursday were much better than expected. analysts say they are buying on hope of higher profits. they sayment optimism on the american dollar is causing them to buy the dollar. that's up from mid 101 yesterday. the euro is steady against the dollar and weaker against the yen. looking at some other asian markets, south kree up by more than .4%. let's look at shanghai. in hong kong we are seeing positive territory as well. but by just a touch. the latest numbers out of beijing suggest china's economic

growth is picking up. business sentiment among chinese manufacturers has improved for the fourth straight month. the hsbc purchasing management index focus ises on strong and medium size firms. most are exporters. and a reading above 50 indicates that business is expanding. the index in july ticked up to 52. that's the fastest expansion in a year and a half. economists watch manufacturing to gauge the strength of the overall economy. steven is head of investment strategy at shk private and he joins us now from hong kong. what was your reaction to the numbers? >> we weren't really excited or surprised by improvement in the pmi. when you look at other economic indicators reported early in the month, there has been pretty consistent and broad based improvement in terms of the chinese economy. that has been the result of the

chinese government's policy activism since mid-april. in terms of equity markets, we believe improving pmi will continue for the next couple of months so analysts will be revising positively in terms of the earnings estimates ask that should be positive for the equities markets. >> so is pmi an accurate reflection of the state of manufacturing in china? >> no, not necessarily. recent growth picked up in the past couple months in china has been driven by a more government infrastructure investment projects. so that has been the growth driver. and some have criticize that had as the old tricks and believe this will not be sustainable in a long run. the traditional manufacturing sectors which we all know is generally, mostly, a low value and labor intensive. these are not competitive in china right now. you look at industrial production, these the top line figures that haven't improved much in the past couple months. unfortunately, we believe that this trend will continue on for the next three to five years

because what you can expect is that minimum wage in china will be increasing by around 10% or more in the next couple of years. at the same time, gdp will gravitate toward the mid single digit. so that will make them even less competitive and they will continue the struggle on. >> so the cost running a factory are rising. meanwhile the economy is slowing down. china has been known, steven, as the world's factory. is that status changing? >> it is certainly changing. what we believe, in the immediate term, chi will be running a more hybrid economic model. it will still be the global factory but it will also be a global consumer. that's the whole point of the structural economic reform that's been going on. what china really needs to do is to build their new growth engine which will be the domestic consumption sector. that will help expand the higher value added services sector and it will create more jobs in that area. that will help the job market in

china as well. when we see millions of university graduates every year struggling to final these higher value add jobs. that's what we see in the long run. noonld, low value added sectors will be moved offshore to lower income countries such as africa and some countries in south asia. >> all right. thank you always for your insight. head of investment strategy in hong kong. analysts at the international monetary fund are rethinking their forecast for the global economy. in april, they predicted growth this year of 3.7%. now they're saying it will be 3.4%. analysts released the latest world economic outlook them rensider the effects of a harsh winter on the xhern economy. they downgraded their forecast for the u.s. by more than one percentage point to 1.7%. the analysts downgraded the forecast for russia, too. they're worried about the

fighting in ukraine and the results of western sanctions. now they expect the russian economy to grow by 0.2% and they lowered their forecast for china and brazil, too. the analysts did see bette things ahead for japan. they noted the surge in demand ahead of the increase in i am a and the consumption tax. they revised their production to 1.6%. imf leaders issued a barng risks down the road. they say the fighting in ukraine and the middle east could drive up oil prices and destabilize markets them say a shift in interest rates in the u.s. would also increase the risks. the people at general motors are struggling to steer their firm through one crisis after another. on wednesday, they issued a recall for more than 800,000 vehicles. taking the total this year to almost 29 million. now they stay problems have taken a chunk out of their profits. the executives say between april and june, they brought in a

profit of $190 million. that's down 84% from the same period last year. the executives have issued several recalls over a range of safety defects. the cost repairs and compensation have come to more than 1.1 llion. but the executives did deliver some encouraging figures for investors. gm sold more than 2.5 million vehicles worldwide. up 1% from last year. they say low interest rates on car loans in the u.s. hemmed boost sales there. that offs a sluggish performance in south america. more headlines and business for you next hour. here's anoth.

militants in iraq have attacked a prison convoy near baghdadful at leaf 60 people were they were transferring them by bus security authorities say the bus was hit by a roadside bomb. gunmen opened fire and police officers escorting the bus fired back. no one has claimed responsibility but security authorities suspect sunni militants. last month, sunni fighters launched an offensive across northern and western iraq. they took control of the number of cities and they've staged a series of attacks in and around baghda the great tsunami of march 2011 did extensive damage to hundreds of kilometers of coastal line in northeastern japan. on the northern tip of the mainland, a pair of gates to a sacred shrine for local or so they thought.to the sea.

until they received surprising news from across the pacific. >> reporter: 26 years ago they erected the gate on an eyelet and prayed for their safety while out fishing. the tsunami engulfed the port. waves crashed, knocking down the gate. many people thought it was losve a year later, debris like this giant pier started to show up on north american beaches. in oregon, a full meter long piece of wood painted in red washed ashore last year. when state authorities asked an oregon resident what it was, he knew immediately that it was part of a sacred gate. he works as a curator at the portland japanese garden. it is run by a nonprofit

organization with 7,000 members. various japanese cultural events are held at the garden them wanted to final out more about the destroyed gate. so in may, he traveled to japan with his american colleague, trying to locate where the gate originally stood. >> translator: so many americans are worried about people in the devastated regions. we want to be there for them. >> the piece had a donor's name and the daytona of the donation written on the back. but during the first trip, he could not solve the mystery. two months later, a museum received a call from a local historian. he saw an image of the washed up object on television. he asked if there was a lost gate in the area after the

tsunami. and if anyone named takahashi donated the gate. >> i knew someone name takahashi. i knew who it was. i was just astonished. >> takahashi is now 85 years old. he used to be the head of a local fishermen's association. the tsunami destroyed much of their fishing equipment but luckily, he says it didn't claim any lives here. after the disaster, people erected a new gate in the same spot. >> translator: this is where it was, right here. >> he was amazed to learn the wooden piece traveled all the way to ore >> translator: i looked carefully and thought, this is it. i saw my name on it. i was surprised that it went all the way to america. just very surprised. and i'm truly thankful. >> he was equally delighted on the phone. >> it is just unbelievable.

here and in oregon, we do and people care very much about what happened to thousands of people in tohoku area. >> he hopes to travel to japan once again. he wants to meet takahashi and others in the community face to face. so they can discuss a way to get the shrine gate once lost at sea safely back home. nhk world. a japanese chef has developed a menu that is easier for cancer patients to swallow. his food creations are helping those who have lost their sense of taste from the side effects of drugs and radiation therapy. and he's giving some living inside hospitals their strength back. nhk world explains.

>> people at this hospital are having a range of food created especially for them. tomato sherbet, sweet potato ice cream. they call these meals care food. >> translator: i love it. it is twice as tasty as ordinary okra. >> translator: it has a fresh tomato taste. i asked for a second bowl right away. >> a professional chef is behind the project. his idea was to help patients eating again to enhance textures and presentation of the food. yamaguchi has been running a

restaurant for many years. he uses his know-how to create recipes for care food. whenever he gets an idea, he makes a sample. >> translator: i always try to come up with something patients would like to eat. i get my ideas from french cuisine. >> he teamed up with medical experts to improve care food. yamaguchi has created more than 100 recipes. they published them online and in a book. this is a patient who has come to appreciate those recipes. she had her second surgery for breast cancer five years ago. the drugs she had to take destroyed her pleasure in food. >> translator: i tried to eat but i didn't have any appetite while i was on the drugs. not being able to eat was really hard.

>> three years ago, she got cancer again. this time in her lungs. then she discovered care food. she is still under treatment but also needs to look after her 99-year-old mother. she says that care food is very helpful, not only for herself but also her mother. >> she says the pleasure she gets from eating is helping her recover. >> translator: being able to eat keeps me motivated to live. i think other patients, too. it is the biggest encouragement for patients. >> yamaguchi is devising new care food recipes.

>> translator: it is easy to eat. >> translator: i want to make them feel positive about life and i can do that with food. i'm thrilled when they tell me their meal was good. >> that's the response that keeps him working hard in the kitchen. yamaguchi will keep making meal that help give patients the encouragement they need on their path to recovery. nhk world. it's time now for a check of the weather. people in north eastern china are dealing with severe weather cond >> the typhoon slammed taiwan. now it is in northeast china.

still packing gusts of 90 miles per hour, sustained winds of 65. and it has lost its pace. but still bringing lots of stormy conditions across these locations. it will be making its way toward the peninsula, combining with the frontal line that is stretching into the korean peninsula, making it a very potent low-pressure system. so we're more worried about the rainfall. 400 millimeters in localized areas in northkorea. about 230 millimeters into tonight. we actually have heavy rain warning in place in north western south korea which includes seoul so urban flooding will be at very high risk. you can see the heavy rain stretching into northern locations of japan into sboo the next 72 hours. it is likely to combine with this front, making its way to northern japan by, into the weekend. so a lot of heavy rain in store for us in hokkaido. as for now, the high-pressure system is dominating in these

locations, bringing extreme heat to much of the country. yesterday, were up to 37 degrees. tokyo at 34.6 degrees which was officially the hottest day of this year so far. when it heats this much during the daytime, clashes with the upper cold air and brings really southern bursts of showers and thunderstorms, yesterday tokyo residents were really surprised with the thunderstorms. we highly advise to you carry an umbrella today. the heat will be persisting and we have 30% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, evening hours yet again. and we're likely to see the heat persist. another dangerous heat to continue across theseocations over the weekend. if you have any outdoor man's, try to arrange it to the morning and evening hours and take real precautions. eastern continental asia looking hot again. reaching up to 30 degrees for the high. now across europe, still very messy in and around the central

locations. even toward the east, we had a water spout in turkey. the system is shifting all the way to the west and it is creating instability. a lot of these widespread area of severe thunderstorms are in store for you. hail, damaging winds, even a tornado could not be ruled out. we have heat moving into the iberian peninsula so madrid, looking at 35 degrees. 34.4 was the record for july, heating up to 34 again on friday. so extreme heat remains here. across the u.s., eastern seaboard still looking very messy. we have flood warnings in place in north carolina. this should be pulling away but still creating lots of rain and thunderstorms across the southeast. very messy in the west in canada and the stretching cold front brings thunderstorms across denver and in and around colorado, including denver. no precipitation in sight across

the pacific northwest. the heat will be continuing so you have a very hot weekend ahead. in fact too, hot in death valley at 51 degrees and 50 on saturday. try not to leave any belongings in your car. especially living things such as children or pets. it only takes ten minutes for your car to heat ten degrees. i'll leave you now for your extended

that's all for this edition of "newsline." thanks for watching.

good evening from los angeles. tonight a conversation with ruben blades, musician, songwrit songwriter, activist and occasional politician has won 12 grammy awards, been nominated for three emmys, has a law degree from harvard, and ran for the presidency of panama back in 1994. wh winning 18% of the vote. he remains committed to his activism and artistry. he has a new cd out called "tangos." conversation with ruben blaze blades co -- blades coming up right now.