hello there, welcome to "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. first a look at the headlines. rescue crews in hiroshima have resumed their search for people missing after landslides. rain had forced them to put the operation on hold. doctors say some people infected with ebola are showing signs of improvement after being treated with an experimental drug. a woman in northeastern japan is giving new life to kimonos spoiled three years ago by the tsunami. emergency workers in

hiroshima are once again searching through the debris for missing people after landslides. rain had forced them to stop their work for a while. at least 39 people were killed when landslides hit the city on wednesday. as many as 52 others are missing. thousands of police officers, firefighters and self-defense force personnel have joined the operation. they fear even light rain could trigger more landslides. and intermittent rain had forced them to stop their work. authorities say the landslides destroyed or damaged 46 houses and flooded 140 more. the disaster cut off water to more than 1,000 households. and they say they still don't know the full extent of the damage. rescue crews are watching the weather as they search for the missing in the debris. mai shoji joins us from her weather desk with the latest. >> certainly the low pressure system over the sea of japan is doing its part to draw in a lot of that moisture from the south and making it for another round of really extreme weather

conditions across western half of japan. and that includes hiroshima, where the landslide occurred, about 40 millimeters of rainfall will hit the area in an hour. a total of about 80 millimeters or even 100 millimeters. this is why the operation is on hold as we speak. i do want to direct your attention over towards fukuoka and northern key oesh u. take a look at these figures. in the past three hours, 160 millimeters fell in parts of fukuoka and saga and other parts have landslide warnings in place. more than 100,000 people have been called to evacuate this morning. on top of that really gusty conditions and even tornadoes could be spawned. so we have tornado advisories in place here as well. and not only the western locations of japan, even tohoku due to the warm front attached to the same system, will provide more rainfall, landslide warnings and tornado advisories are still in place. we'll give you more details on

that later. health authorities across west africa have been hit with setback after setback in their efforts to stop the spread of ebola. but they're seeing an encouraging sign. officials at the world health organization say three patients who received an experimental drug have shown marked improvement. two doctors and a nurse were among the hundreds of people in liberia who contracted the virus. they were given a drug called zmapp. an american company developed the medication, but it hasn't been tested. two americans infected in liberia were flown back to the u.s. they were also given the drug and they just left hospital. the disease has killed 1,350 people across west africa. researchers have not been able to develop a vaccine. w.h.o. officials will meet next month to discuss potential treatments. they say it's ethical to use experimental med since under

certain conditions but there are limited supplies of the drugs and they'll have to figure out how to determine which patients will be given priority. people caught up in the fighting in eastern ukraine could soon be getting the supplies they desperately need. trucks from russia carrying humanitarian aid are rumbling across the border with ukraine after a delay of nearly two weeks. officials with the international red cross are overseeing the delivery. nhk world's craig dale is following the story for us. >> ukrainian leaders took days deciding what to too about this aid. they blame the russians for fueling this conflict by backing separatists who are fighting for independence and they worry the convoys with a ploy to spark some sort of standoff that would allow russian troops to invade. the trucks are now passing through a border crossing controlled by the separatists. they're on their way to the hard-hit city of luhansk. they're allowing ukrainian customs officials to check the vehicles. they want the make sure the trucks only contain aid and not

military supplies. international red cross staff are leading the convoy into ukraine and they're reminding both sides to essentially stop fighting to not endanger the convoy. they've taken control of a large part of the city, part of territory the rebels have declared independent. residents have no running water or electricity and they need food, medicine and other supplies. the situation is also dire in donetsk another rebel stronghold. day after day ukrainian soldiers have been advancing on the separatists and they seem to be gaining the upper hand although both sides continue to suffer casualties. the conflict has left more than 2,000 people dead, soldier, separatists and civilian. 340,000 people have been forced out of their homes. the president of ukraine is working to find a diplomatic solution saying the world is tired of war. petro poroshenko is meeting on saturday with angela merkel.

she's been acting as a mediator here. then he's scheduled to sit down with vladimir putin. putin has said he's not directing this uprising although leaders in the ukraine, the eu and the u.s., they don't believe him. the security spokesman says soldiers captured vehicles from a russian paratrooper division and destroyed other russian military equipment. they say russian troops did not cross the border into the ukraine but the -- or did cross the border into ukraine. russians deny that. the impact of this blame game is playing out elsewhere in europe. farmers and wholesalers are feeling the bite of russian sanctions. officials in moscow have blocked imports of fruit, vegetables and dairy from the european union. they're hitting back against sanctions imposed by the eu and the u.s. on russia's banking, energy and defense sectors. the tit for tat dispute is costing both sides billions. some farmers in europe say they could go out of business if these russian sanctions

continue. the eu agriculture ministers are worried about the long-term impact so they're holding an emergency meeting next month to talk about ways to deal with the crisis. >> thanks very much, craig. that was nhk world's craig dale. leaders of china and mongolia are deepening economic ties. ai uchida joins us with more. >> the two nations already trade a lot of raw materials but china would like to scour a better foothold in its resource-rich neighbor. the leaders of both countries have agreed to deepen ties across a range of trade and economic issues. chinese president xi jinping is in mongolia for talks with the president. chinese media say the two signed an accord strengthening cooperation in trade, resources development, infrastructure projects and other areas. china is mongolia's largest trade partner largely thanks to exports of coal and copper. china wants to secure energy resources by helping to improve

mongolia's infrastructure. it also hopes to use these economic links to boost political ties. analysts say mongolia has been wary of allowing china too much influence. so it has been building ties with japan which it calls mongolia's third neighbor after china and russia. a task force with japan's main ruling party will call for a lower tax rates in regional economies. the move is part of prime minister's shinzo abe's attempt to rebuild the vitality of local areas. the liberal democratic party task force has just drawn up an outline of its proposals to the government. the group says businesses in local regions should pay less corporate tax than tokyo-based firms. it also proposes boosting farm incomes to attract more people into agriculture. it says these measures will help create jobs and stem the decline of local populations. the group recommends that

governing power be disbursed away from tokyo. it should identify public agencies whose authority can be shifted to local areas. bank of america has agreed to pay more than $16.5 billion to u.s. authorities. that's a record. the money will settle charges that the bank misled investors into buying mortgage-backed financial products. the justice department accused the bank of selling mortgage securities without fully explaining their risks before the 2008 financial crisis. the department says it's the largest settlement of its kind ever reached. jpmorgan chase agreed to pay $13 billion in a settlement with u.s. authorities in november. bank of america already faces nearly $10 billion in separate claims. the bank agreed to that figure in march this year. the litigation costs shaved the bank's profit for the april to june quarter. u.s. authorities have been

trying to determine the responsibility of large financial institutions in the financial crisis. litigation costs and settlements have weighed down the balance sheets of those companies. now, let's check on markets. the nikkei is trading in the positive this morning and looks to extend its winning streak to a tenth day. but analysts say gains could be capped. some investors are looking to sell stocks and take advantage of the ventralrecent rally. people who track the markets say currency levels may be locked in a narrow band. federal reserve chair janet yellen and european central bank president mario droge will be speaking later today at an economic symposium in jackson hole, wyoming. let's look at what's happening in other asian markets. south korea's kospi trading higher. shanghai's key index is trading higher up by 10% and in hong

kong the hang seng also in positive territory, up one-third percent. investors around the world are keeping a close eye on china's real estate market. that's because new home prices in july fell across the country. and the decline is spreading from rural areas to cities. officials at china's national bureau of statistics say new housing prices rose in just two of the 70 cities surveyed in july compared to the previous month. prices fell in 64 cities. the pace of decline was more than 1% in shanghai, guangzhou and beijing. people who watch china fear a worsening property market will drag down the broader economy. we are joined live now by kevin lai for some of his insights. he's deputy head of regional economics at daiwa capital markets. what is going on in the property market? >> well, i think there's little

doubt to us that china's real estate market is now suffering and housing transactions have plunged and it has spread to other tier one cities. sales plunge are hitting cash flows and funding sources of developers and it is also a real blow to future reinvestment. there's also evidence that many foreign investors have been selling their portfolios. so i think this bubble is at least deflating if not bursting. and more importantly, i think, local governments rely on land sales to pay their debts. so these debts represent another very weak link of the country's credit problems. and i think next quarter and next year will be the peak of these debts repayments. so if the real estate market

continues to struggle, i think many other industries will be affected and the credit pressure will also spread to other areas of the economy. so i think there will be a wider impact on the economy in general. >> more reason for officials then to want to boost sales. a growing number of local governments have eased restrictions in recent weeks on property purchases. authorities also saying they're encouraging banks to improve more home loan. how successful do you think these measures will be? >> well, in the short-term, i think these measures can be quite effective. the effects will be fading over time because the problems with the market are not because demand is being restricted. we think this market bubble has the characteristics of being

overfilled, overleveraged and overpriced. so moving the restrictions or other demand measures won't actually help substantially. this has happened in places like hong kong or singapore. short-term demand measures were not so effective if a publ began to burst. >> many banks, kevin, are acting cautiously, not only toward individuals but to developers as well. are you expecting the people's bank of china to step in any time soon? >> yes. banks and trust companies are actually cutting back on financing to developers. in addition, the pressure has also started to hurt cities, developers rely heavily on foreign debts and especially the dollar financing from hong kong. so the borrowing costs have gone up. and i think the people's bank of

china could do more if they wanted to, and i think when the fed begins tightening, i think the puc would start cutting reserve ratio, again, in order to counteract the pressure from the fed. but any aggressive monetary easing would put pressure on the chinese yuan, so they'll have to balance this risk very carefully. so i think there will be constraints on what the puc can do, actually. >> all right, kebbvin lai, at daiwa capital markets in hong kong. i'll have more headlines for you in business next hour. i'll leave you now with a check on markets.

the mayor of a japanese city has made a trip few in his position have made lately. the mayor of sata-min oato has inspected a zone in north korea. the visit is believed to be the first to the country by a municipal leader since japan lifted a call for a refrain to travel there. he visited the economic zone. they inspected a pier and learned about how the port works. officials in sake minato say that he made the trip to study

the possibility of opening a trade route to china. it used to be a point of trade with north korea. that changed in 2006 when japan banned the entry of north korean ships to its ports. but authorities in pyongyang have opened a new investigation into the fate of missing japanese including those abducted by north korean agents. in july japanese leaders decided to lift some sanctions but they left the trade ban in place. members of an opposition group in syria have been trying to help free a japanese man held captive there. one of them says they've made little progress. the man being held runs a private military company. diplomats believe his name is ha ruin na yu ka wa. he was traveling with members of an opposition group. members of the islamic state captured him near the northern city of aleppo. a member of the opposition group says the islamic state may be holding him in a town nearby.

they're trying to establish contact to find out what the militants want. officials at the japanese embassy in neighboring jordan say they're not aware of any new developments. they say they'll continue to gather information through every possible means to get the man released. the governor of jakarta is on track to become the next leader of indonesia. judges on the constitutional court have ruled that jocko widodo's victory in the presidential election last month was valid. the judge declared that a complaint filed by his opponent former army general prabowo subianto lacked any legal basis. the ruling cannot be appealed. >> translator: i'd like to show my gratitude to the constitutional court for coming to the right decision. >> joko is expected to preside soon as governor of jakarta.

he's be inaugurated in ongt. prab owo says the vote counts were different than the once people in his camp saw. thousands of supporters demonstrated near the court. they threw rocks and tried to rush police barricade. police responded with tear gas and water cannon. people in northeast japan are trying to move on from the disaster three years ago while remembering all that was lost. one woman is demonstrating that spirit of -- that spirit of recovery through her artwork. she's taken kimono from the ruins and given them new life. nhk reports. >> reporter: an auditorium filled with more than a thousand tapestries. each of them stitched together to paurt tsupport the people of

northeastern japan. every item has its own style, but they all incorporate fragments of old kim own oes spoiled by the earthquake and tsunami of march 2011. the project is led by this woman. she's been supporting the recovery of northeastern japan by sending musical instruments to children. the idea came after she visited a kimono shop in ishinomaki, one of the areas devastated by the tsunami. many precious garments lay spoiled by sludge and oil. the shop owner didn't know what to do with these items, and she handed them over. one by one, she proceeded to wash the kimonos and rolls of cloth. first by hand. then with a washing machine to

remove the stains and stench. >> translator: it felt rather strange at the time, but when i saw these kimonos i had a strong feeling i just couldn't leave them like that. >> reporter: with the help of some friends she designed costumes for stage performers as a way of preserving the memory of the disaster. but soon she felt it wasn't enough. so in 2012 she started piecing together tapestries with small fragments of kimono. she invited neighbors and friends to pitch in. all of them live far from the disaster areas, but they were all eager to express their feelings and support. participants brought their own precious items to sew them together with a kimono. >> translator: this cloth was woven by my mother-in-law.

isn't it beautiful? i feel like she's here with me. >> reporter: she also received a steady stream of tapestries from other people who heard about the project. the initiative spread quickly by word of mout. even beyond the borders of japan. hundreds of people got involved. >> translator: people put their feelings into every single stitch. the memories of the disaster are embedded in each piece of cloth and by bringing them all together, i'm hoping to pass on these memories to future generations. >> reporter: volunteers helped installing the hundreds of tapestries in the auditorium. oil stains on a traditional

cloth express the luster of a saxophone. kimono fragments combine to form the miracle pine tree of rikuzentakata, a symbol of resilience after the tsunami. >> translator: so many feelings are crammed into this room. it's a very intense experience. >> translator: as a native of northeastern japan, seeing the tapestries breaks my heart, but i'm also very moved to see that these kimonos have turned into such beautiful and lovely objects. >> reporter: her project weaves together the feelings of hundreds of people. now she's hoping this collection can be turned into one large curtain for a stage in northeastern japan. reporting for nhk world.

as we reported earlier, rescue workers in hiroshima are searching for people missing after landslides. mai shoji joins us with the latest weather conditions. >> it's another shot of record challenging rainfall across western japan and that includes hiroshima where the operation is on halt right now. 160 millimeters of rainfall fell over the past six hours here just in this morning across northern kyushu has seen torrents of rainfall. but we may see 150 millimeters over western japan and that not only includes western locations but northern japan where we don't normally see this much rainfall for this time of the year, 120 millimeters already. but on top of this 150 could add up in southern parts of hokkaido and tohoku could see very nasty conditions that sees tornadoes which could spawn as well.

tornado advisories on top of the heavy rain warnings are in place in parts of western japan as well as north. so lots of things happening here. this is all due to this system and it's really drawing a surge of moisture from the south and creating these conditions. down towards further south across southeastern china, another round of very shot of rainfall which could be topping as much as 100 millimeters. chongqing at 29 degrees the, bang kk and manila with a chance of thunderstorms. but midsummer-like temperature will continue across honor show with heat advisories in place. tokyo at 34 degrees. across the u.s., heat is also a huge topic here. we have a surge of that humidity from the gulf of mexico and that's likely to be prevailing. we may see some severe thunderstorms due to the clash of the heat and the cold air coming from the north.

pennsylvania possibly about 97 but yet again florida peninsula as well as the deep south will be looking at these kind of temperatures all above the average range. please watch out for these aspects to prevent heat stroke and please drink plenty of water and try not to get too much sun. across europe, similar picture here. the northern half looking very cool and windy as well as wet and then down towards the south we're looking at another system pulling into russia, but it's going to be on a weakening trend in and around croatia where they had a sudden burst of shower in an hour. tornadic activity will still be a risk in the morning hours, but that will be winding down and temperatures will look like autumn across the north. i leave you now for the extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in

tokyo. thanks for joining us.

good evening from los angeles i'm travis smiley. a conversation with actor and activist george takei who despite all other accomplishments will likely be remembered a lieutenant sulu on the ss enterprise on star trek. takei is now 77 and the subject about a new documentary about his life "to be takei" in theaters this month. in the documentary, he talks frankly about his life as an activist and including and insists on a formal apology to japanese americans for their internment in world war ii. he saw his family in an internment camp for the duration of the war. and actress mira sorvino coming up now.