hello and thank you for joining us on this edition of "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. governments rrnd a world are stepping up measures to keep ebola from spreading to their countries. seeking a breakthrough. hong kong's chief executive says they hope to hold talks next week and workers as japan's crippled nuclear plant are

showing off the new gear they're using to treat contaminated water. concerns about the ebola virus are growing after two secondary infections occurred in the u.s. the latin american nations and european union are beefing up their measures against the epidemic. two nurses became infected after caring for a lie beer yan man at a hospital in dallas, texas. the man died of the disease. barack obama called the outbreak a top national security priority. he held an emergency cabinet meeting on wednesday to discuss the response to the widening crisis. panama's government has asked airline companies to inform officials about passengers on in bound flights. they're looking for visitors from west african countries and chilean and gat ma lan officials have introduced health screenings.

european leaders have agreed on the need to strictly prevent ebola infected patients from leaving west african nations. e.u. health ministers say people in poor health will be stopped in guinea, liberia and sierra leone. they say it will help to titan symptoms. french authorities announced that body temperature checks will begin in paris for passengers flying from guinea and they'll send people into e isolation if he or she has a fever. europe and asian leaders have gathered in milan to discuss their challenges. they're also using the two-day meeting to improve economic cooperation between both

regions. representatives of 53 countries and organizations sat down on thursday and met face to face at the asian europe meeting, asem. the agenda included economic relations, global warming, and the ebola epidemic. >> asia and europe need each other economically and politically. and also our security is interlinked. >> japanese prime minister shinzo abe stressed that his abenomics strategy is producing results. he cited the highest rise in workers' pay in 15 years. abe expressed hope his policies will lead to economic growth not just in japan but other parts of asia and in europe. the prime minister also promised $40 million worth of support in order to prevent and contain the ebola outbreak. and he offered to provide japanese-developed drugs that are possibly effective on the disease. on the second day, leaders will discuss the situation in the south china sea and east china

sea where china has been stepping up maritime activities. delegates will also focus on measures to deal with the islamic state militant group and the crisis in ukraine. on the sidelines of asem ukrainian president petro poroshenko will meet with russian president vladimir putin. analysts are watching to see if the two leaders can achieve a breakthrough. baghdad has been hit with a fresh bout of bomb attacks. explosions happened of frequent occurrence in and around baghdad in recent days. on thursday, car bombs exploded in three locations. the most recent blast killed at least 18 and wounded 66 others. the explosions have occurred in predominantly shia nabted. that's prompting speculation that the group is is responsible for the attacks. the mill tantds are expanding control and have vowed to take over the capital.

they recently captured an iraqi training center in anbar. carried out air strikes near a northern syrian city. it's close to -- the operations destroyed some of the facilities, but u.s. department officials say the city is still in danger. afghan security authorities say they've arrested two senior members of a network responsible for a number of sophisticated and deadly attacks. the officials say the men are leaders in the haqqani network, a faction of the tall lan. one of the arrested men is ahnas haqqani, the son of the network's founder. he was captured along with another commander on tuesday. the haqqani network is believed to be responsible for a car bomb attack in july in the southeastern province of paktika which killed more than 40 people.2g the network repeatedly staged high-profile attacks against the

government and nato troops. ahnas haqqani is believed to have played a key role in strategic decision-making and raising funds from overseas. a spokesperson of afghanistan's intelligence organization expressed hope saying these two arrests will have direct consequences on the network and their center of command. people in the gaza strip are hong kong's chief executive is express hope that talks between leaders and protesters could start next week. their meeting was canceled last week after officials said constructive dialogue was impossible. the students say they're ready to hold discussions, but the two sides remain wide apartd. >> through third party, we expressed the wishth to the students to discuss as sure as

we can and hopefully to -- >> the comment came in the wake of scuffles between police. students have been sitting in on the roads of hong kong nearly three weeks. a representtivity said he wants to directly convey to the government their demand for democratic elections and called the remarks that china's top legislature cannot back down on the decision for the framework of the 2017 election as insincere. >> could deliver to hong kong people, so i guess it has to be b only after we have a battle, we can see what the government -- >> the standing committee of the national congress decided to rule out pro democracy candidates for running from the

chief executive. they indicated their protest may expand further and people in the financial markets are nervous about what's going on around the world. what do you have for us? >> investors have so many things to be worried about. protests in hong kong, ebola and the middle east. they just don't know what's coming up. and economists say growth is slowing in the world, so investors are conscious. the nika has been moving -- extends losses, down down a half a percent and this morning t the dollar is locked in a narrow band. looking at other asia p markets, down about a five of a percent. in shng shanghai, key index is

trading lower. in hong kong, hsi is trading higher by one-third percent. economists have been watching china and they're worried, housing prices have been falling, production is sluggish and prices are at the lowest level they've been in years. officials at china's national bureau say consumer inflation in september slowed from a year ago. the weakest rise since january 2010 and less than half of the government's annual target of 3.5%. economists are worried about falling prices weighing on the greater economy. for more, daniel joins us in our studio in hong kong. now, daniel -- >> the cpi number is weak. that's proof our month to month

number is progressing otherwise. up half a percent in august. the biggest jump in seven months. oil prices down by a lot. but there is no inflation at deflation threats. record rising across china is going to dive inflation. >> leaders are trying to shift from an export dependence country to a one to strong demand. what do investors need to do? >> there are several things, fifrl first of all, they need to improve the social welfare like health care and pension. that's why people have more money to spend and second, reform of the who system, the

household registration system will need to be speed up because migrant work ers are -- and the also important because we're close by the governments, people will feel more secured and the future and therefore, would feel more comfortable to spend now -- communist parties meeting from the top authority governments need to walk the talk. >> also, next week, we'll get china's third quarter gdp data. what are you expecting? >> because the growth numbers in july and august were very disappointing, i expect a weak number in gdp growth at 7 pn .2.

the government's bottom line of growth. as for the fourth quarter, it may rebound a bit. for the full year, the number is likely to be below 7.5, upon 3 or 4. and i believe the government won't launch any last scare stimulus measure and only some industry specific ones likely, especially onseters such as environmental protection and health care. and i don't suspect any monetary easing either like interest rates or banks because the money growth and -- there's no need to launch monetary easinging. >> danielle, i want to ask you about the protests in hong kong. you're right there. what do you expect on the economy? the impact is not significant.

so far. there is some -- the two pillars of hong kong economy have not been heard much and the protest may evolve into a long-term d o disobedien disobedience, so there is a l g long-term political risk. it may infect investments, it depends on how beijing hang led the crisis. >> thanks so much for that. international securities in hong kong. speaking of foreign investments, china seems to be losing lust ir. a stronger currency are weighing on foreign investment or sdi coming into the country. officials said fdi for the first nine months of the this year is

down to about $87 billion. the amount from japan saw a sharp decline of 43%. that was a trop from the united states and more than 18% from the eu. a stronger yun and high -- says countries in industrialized economies have become more cautious about launching fresh investment. should still the country as a growth market. the people at apple have unveiled their latest line of ipads. they hope the rollout will help reverse slipping cales. one of the devices they showed on thursday is the ipad air 2. it's 18% thinner and comes with a fingerprint reader. consumers in japan can place

advance orders for the ipad from sunday. prices start from around $400. >> we can deliver something no one else can do. a simple, intuitive and yes, a magical experience for a customer. apple launched a ipad four years ago. its share has slip ped to 40%. consumers are also turning to smart phones with larger screens. the u.s. research firm says tablet shipments between april and june rose only 11%. users now have a way of finding out whether loved ones are okay during national disasters. >> mark zuckerberg was in tokyo to announce the service.

>> we wanted to build things that the next time they do, that people can turn to facebook and have a way to share with the people around them in an efficient way that they're okay. >> after a big earthquake, tsunami or other natural disaster, facebook will display a special site. to activate the safety check and have their location recorded. later, they're in an area affected by natural disaster, the tool will send them a note to ask if they're still there and whether they're okay, then, it will notify friends and family who are registered the facebook. those concerned with their loved ones can also check a list of names. here's another check on markets.

every morning, investors turn their attention to asia, the tokyo market in markets around the world. >> from the decisions that should change the course of an economy. . >> to the companies at the forefront of change. >> up to the minute market reports. >> and analysis by specialists from around the world. >> get all the latest business news every day, here on "newsline." australian military officials want to strengthen their naval power as the

security environment changes their maritime activity. they're showing strong interest? japan's engines. the deputy defense minister and his australian counterpart met on thursday in tokyo. they've agreed on possible cooperation in the field. >> i wish the boost the strategic partnership. >> we have great friends, japan and australia. i think we can be better treatment. >> johnston asked him for assistance with the plan to procure new submarines. they'll study what cooperation is possible. japan has strict arms exports rule, guidelines for the free principles of transfer for defense equipment and technology. the two have also agreed on

mutual stance f-35 fighters. both nations have agreed to purchase the jets from the u.s. eto'o also explained to johnson about the report guidelines. johnston said his country will sports the change. trz . workers at japan's plant have been showing off new tools. >> this is a new unit of the advanced liquid processing system. the it's designed to remove radio active substances. officials for tokyo electric power company say it can treat 750 tons of water every day.

workers switched on the first unit in march last year. they had to deal with the strength of breakdowns. they showed the media their second unit. they're also building a third, with higher performance. 300 tons of ground water flows in every day and gets contaminated. they need to process over half a million tons. >> we're using a variety of equipment to try to decon tame nate the water quickly. >> workers also showed up another new tool. it decontaminates ground water complete from wells around the reactor buildings and discharges it into the ocean. over 40 wells surround the four reactor buildings. workers stopped pumps up ground water after the nuclear accident

in 2011 because they found it contained radio active substances. they started testing the system this august. they say it cuts most radio active substances to low to detect. they claim the systems gave authorities to local fishermen, but couldn't ease their concerns. >> translator: for all of us in the fishing community, it's very important that the decommissioning to have reactors proceed smoothly. tepco officials must let us know more about the situation. >> experts say decommissioning the plant will take 40 years and the radio active water is one of the biggest hurdles. company officials say they'll keep making the water clean as they can.

rescue teams in nepal are searching through snow for 70 michiganing trekkers. they say a series of avalanches has left foreign visitors dead. they say unseasonable amounts of snow and helicopters bringing back injured trekkers to the airport. poor communications are hampering rescue efforts. about 170 tourists were schedule to hike in the area. >> the way, like the way to the -- because i lost the others i was with and i couldn't see anything. >> the deaths come during the

peak trekking season in nepanep. the country is home to eight of the world's highest mountain peaks and rescue teams there are now seeing clearer signs as they continue their severity efforts for missing climbers. we have the details for there and elsewherey a world weather report. >> freak snowfall has let up and generally speaking, we're seeing the weather cooperating with the search operations. as you can see from these photos, following an intense bl blizzard brought by the remnants of sigh cone hudhud on wednesday. this during the peak of climbing in the mountains and six months after one of the deadliest in april. there are going to be clear skies for the next 48. a bit of snow showers will be flirting with the higher

elevatio elevations. is now toward southern areas in india. an increased chance of flooding, that includininining sri lanka well. about a hundred an hour and this is likely to continue throughout friday. ahead of this cold front, about 70 millimeters of rainfall has fallen in an hour. thunderstorms accompanied with it, but you can see that the system will be moving way aand you're likely to see clear skies across much of japan. as well as eastern and northern china, but this is possible for the bad air quality across northern locations that includes beijing with the levels up to unhealthy as we speak. 22 degrees if you're -- and tokyo at 23. comfortable.

very messy across the philipp e philippin philippines. we have this thunderstorm, a tropical storm, but it is on the verge of becoming a hurricane making it the closest approach to the big island of hawaii and over the weekend, likely to see it move through, so if have any activities, try the areas you're looking for, stormy weather in store. likely to see about 500 millimeters of rainfall across these areas. another hurricane we are watching is this one. you can see that eye wall already developing. because it's a strong system, a category four, the secondest stronger of hurricane levels and we have a hurricane warning across bermuda and it look like it will be sleeping on this island. possibly as a hurricane or a

very severe tropical storm set into the wet. the intensity is searching a lot of moisture with very heavy amounts of precipitation. the midsection looking clear and fip, but this is making it for the sprinkles of the cold front, dropping temperatures, so do watch out. across europe, we have a very strong system, traveling into the british aisles and it's already been bringing very heavy downpours. this is likely to bring more showers so, watch out for land slipds.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." we'll bring you the latest at the top of the hour. thank you for joining us on nhk world.

. good evening from los angeles, tonight, a conversation with retired four-star general wesley clark, he was with the joints chief of staffs and the supreme allied commander and commander in chief during the kosovo war, his latest book is "with don't wait for the next war," which is a compelling argument for new american leadership, but not necessarily military action. we are glad you are joining us with general wesley clark, coming up right now. ♪ ♪