welcome to "newsline." first the headlines at this hour. oil refinery and taking 50 people hostage at the consulate. managers of japanese businessers can't find enough workers to fill open positions. they're turning to foreign students for help. and more and more south koreans are getting educated on ways to protect themselves in the event of a disaster.

islamist militants linked to al qaeda are pushing deeper into northern iraq. they have taken control of mosul and they're advancing through other cities. the militants that belong to a group called islamic state attacked the consulate general of turkey in mosul. they seized about 50 people including the consul general. they reportedly forced half a million people to flee. the militants also battled with security forces in tikrit, the site of iraq's largest oil refinery. the prime minister says that military commanders will launch an operation to contain the insurgents and is calling on the iraqis to join the fight. the spokesperson for the u.s. state department says that secretary of state john kerry discussed the situation with turkish foreign minister. he said that u.s. officials are ready to provide appropriate assistance to the governments of turkey and iraq. the militants have been fighting against government forces in syria. the syrian president bashar al

ashad issued a statement calling them terrorists and said his government is ready to cooperate with iraqi leaders to fight their common enemy. millions of europeans fear their natural gas could be cut off. they get their supplies from russia, but it passes through ukraine and energy ministers from those countries have failed to settle a dispute over the price. the ukrainians have fallen behind in their payments, russian producers raised the price in april and warned they would turn off the tap unless the ukrainians paid up. the ministers met in brussels to try to reach a compromise. russia's alexander novak suggested they restore a discounted price, $385 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, that's $100 lower than the previous offer. but the minister from ukraine said the price was not low enough. yuri prodem demanded an even better deal. the european union's energy

commissioner called on both sides to keep talking. he pushed them to try to reach an agreement by a monday deadline. russian president vladimir putin said it's not clear why the ukrainians are insisting on more reductions. he said they appeared to be trying to drive the issue into a dead end. japanese leaders say they'll but managers appear to be holding back. over last while they've been placing more orders for equipment. in fact, in march we saw record jump. the numbers for april headed in the other direction. but the job was smaller than economists expected. managers placed orders worth about $8.3 billion. officials say that's down 9.1%. the numbers don't include orders for ships and electric power

companies because they jump around too much. managers at automakers and transport equipment companies invested less in equipment and orders from manufacturers were down more than 9%. managers in the transportation and financial sectors ended up investing more. orders from manufacturers grew 0.9%. analysts at the cab innocent office saying they are on a rising trend. a weaker dollar helped again the yen helped pull the nikkei below the 15,000 level. the selling pressure for the dollar meant weaker share prices. let's have a look how the morning session wrapped for today, thursday. with 14952 we are below the

15,000 level. and town 1235. it fell 1.4% following the decline on wall street. analysts suggest the weakness is temporary as investors awaiting for further direction. we're seeing a little bit of a lull. in the meantime, investors have taken a chance to book profits on exporters following one key limb us. which was down 1.19%. but a downturn in machinery maker such as farm equipment maker kubot down.98%. and fanuc after the release of machinery orders number for japan which came out weak as expected. in the opposite direction mitsubishi heavy industries are up on the news. and also currencies the dollar a big focus. it's been trading around 102 yen levels most the morning. not giving stock traders any

incentive to buy a weaker dollar. and the euro weaker right now at 138.28. having a look at asian indexes. a down trend there as well. investors in the region will be waiting for industrial production and cpi data from india later today. that's all for me. back to you. >> thank you for the update. the people working on the transpacific partnership have agreed to meet again in their push for a free trade deal. they will gather next month in vancouver. they met last month in singapore. they agreed to try to build momentum. the chief negotiators are planning to meet in vancouver over10 days. they'll discuss over issues such as intelligent yule property and

competition between state-owned and private firm. u.s. trade officials are leading the negotiation. they're under pressure to complete a deal before americans go to the polls in midterm elections in november. members of the subcommittee of the house of representatives are weighing in. the japanese maintained tariffs on five key agricultural products including beef and pork. committee members are urging them to change their position. >> in negotiations for the transpacific partnership, or tpp i'm concerned the administration is not holding japan and canada to the level of ambition that congress has demanded. if any countries insist on retaining tariffs, we must complete the negotiations without them. >> the head of the national cattle men's beef association also urging the japanese to eliminate tariffs. bob said they should accept the same rules as other countries in the talks. japanese and american trade officials will meet to discuss

their part of the deal before the chief negotiators gather in vancouver. the people at general electric have their sights set on french energy giant alstom. some of the rivels are trying to spoil the plans. they are in talks to make a joint bid. executives at mitt pea she and germany's siemens are hoping to counter the weight of ge. the people at mitsubishi are expanding overseas and have their eyes on alstom in europe, middle east, and south america. executives at ge have made a bid of $17 billion. the signs read help wanted. managers can't find enough workers to fill open positions. many of them are turning to foreign students to do the job.

nhk tells us more. international students read aloud a company motto at the morning meeting in chinese. 70 percent of the workers at this chain restaurant come from abroad. most of them students from china. they make about $10 an hour, the same as their japanese colleagues. 100,000 international students have taken part-time jobs. that's up 50% over the past five years. some managers have changed their training programs to attract new

trainees. she started here as a part-timer. now she works full-time and leads training. >> translator: here you go. >> translator: you made a noise. please do it more slowly. if you serve like that, you might spill some stew. >> reporter: japanese law prohibits international students from working more than 28 hours a week. so managers keep track of everyone's schedule so when employees don't go over the limit. >> translator: we'll listen to what the foreign workers have to say, and create a better work environment for them. >> reporter: the school has taken on a new role.

about 1200 students from 40 countries are studying at this school. and the people who run it have launched a company to attract even more. school officials want to support those who want to study and earn their living at the same time. the company received more than 500 calls from managers looking to hire restaurants, and -- >> translator: our challenge is to figure out how we can find good matches between the students and businesses looking to fill openings. >> reporter: and the phones keep ringing. managers looking for the right

people to get the job done. that's all for now in business news. i'll leave you with a check on markets. japanese leaders say they'll a chinese fighter jet flew close

to self-defense planes and launched a protest against their counter parts in beijing. a chinese came as close as 30 meters to a japanese recon sense aircraft and 45 meters to another. a photograph of the chinese jet shows a white missile like object beneath the left wing. the planes are patrolling in the area where the two countries air defense identification zones overlap. the japan's defense minister criticized china's action. >> translator: it was an extremely dangerous act for the chinese jet to fly so close to japanese self-defense force planes over international waters. we have protested through diplomatic channels. a minister of the japanese embassy filed a protest with the head of the chinese ministries asian affairs department. he asked them to realize the seriousness the matter. but embassy officials say he

rejected the claim saying they were not true. last month chinese fighter jets approached the aircraft on two separate occasions. the incidents prompted the japanese government to protest what it called extremely dangerous acts. the spokesperson for the u.s. state department says all countries must respect the safety of aircraft in flight. >> any attempt to interfere with freedom overflight in international air spaces raises tensions. countries need to resolve their differences she said peacefully and should develop procedures for managing crisis situations at sea and in the air. japanese leaders say they'll oppose any attempt to change the status quo by force. the foreign and defense ministers hosted their counterparts from australia. they agreed on the importance of observing the rule of law. the ministers agreed commanders from both countries would organize more joint drills and

they agreed to work together to develop defense equipment and other technology. >> in terms of a nonnuclear diesel electric submarine, the japanese submarine, is very, very good indeed. japanese defense minister onodera brought up a plan to reinterpret the constitution. government leaders want to exercise the right to collective self-defense so japanese personnel can defend an ally under attack. the australian ministers said they support the idea. security forces in the philippines have captured one of the men on the u.s. government's most-wanted list. he is a senior commander in the extremist group abu sayyaf. u.s. officials are offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to his capture. he was found in a slum near

manila international airport. they believe he is an expert in bomb making and was behind a series of attacks and kidnappings. they believe he is the spiritual leader of abu sayyaf which has links to al qaeda. u.s. officials have been supporting a filipino military campaign against the group. they believe only a few hundred core members remain. police say the arrest would deal a severe blow to the group. system design to keep them safe. and taking matters into their own hands. we have more from seoul. in a center near seoul, elementary school students take a swim class.

the center also conducts semi r seminars on what to do in accidents in the water. it's only one of two locations that offer these kind of lessons to elementary school students. at this local indoor swimming pool, third graders are learning how to survive a water accident wearing a life jacket. the course is intensive. the children receive detailed lessons on how to save themselves in water-related accident such as how to use plastic water bottles to stay afloat. >> translator: after of the accident parents and teachers are concerned about safety issues. >> reporter: the cause of the

accident many students and others want to attend the semin seminar. local officials are considering starting courses for junior high and high school students as well as adults. officials from other regions are thinking of setting up similar programs. so they flood the office with questions. it's not only water safety that south koreans are focussing on. the seoul accident has prompted more people to visit the safety theme park. it was built after a subway fire in 2003. visitors learn how to react in accidents and fires and earthquakes.

this exhibit simulates a fire in a subway car. visitors listen to an emergency announcement. they learn how to open train doors by hand and get out while covering their mouths with a hand or cloth. >> translator: it was kind of scary. the way out was filled with smoke and i couldn't see anything. i think i can do what i pract e practiced here if i'm ever in a real fire. >> translator: i think children would benefit from more safety training in schools. >> reporter: the facility is busy. lot of families from all over the country book weekend seminars. all slots are reserved through august. >> translator: visitor numbers have increased and more visitors are asking our staff questions.

concerns about safety have risen a great deal. >> reporter: members of the group bring concerns to government and education officials. the activists call for emergency training to be included in the school curriculum. >> translator: what we have to do is give people a thorough education on how to make good decisions in emergencies. >> reporter: south koreans are turning the seoul accident into an extraordinary opportunity to learn how to save lives during emergencies and disasters. anna jones nhk world. seoul.

pharmacy and drugstores across japan can sell most over. -the counter drugs. the new regulation of online drug sales follows a supreme court decision last year ruling that governments -- but there are conditions operators must have a brick and mortar store. they have to provide a telephone number for patient consultation. ministry officials say more than 1,000 pharmacies and drugstores plan to register their websites with local authorities. the officials have contacted private companies to monitor distribution of fake medicine. and they plan to set up local consultation centers where customers can report violations. it is a rainy thursday here in tokyo.

time to find out how the skies are looking around the globe. we're looking about 55 mill methoders of showers in an hour. totaling up to about 130 millimeters in the past 24 hours. looks like more additional rain to come. we have a couple of systems that will be forcing themselves in the similar direction just south of the region. in is providing the very heavy rain across the contour region and that is likely to move into the pacific side of the region bringing as much as 120 millimeters of additional rainfall there. about 18 millimeters across the region. as it pulls away, another system will make its way toward the region which used to be a tropical storm. it just transformed into a low-pressure system but moving in the similar course and likely

to bring rainfall. very short break here in tokyo. another round of heavy downpours in the evening today. it's very unstable across northeastern locations of china. this is due to an upper level cold air. when it heats up in the daytime afternoon showers and thunderstorms are capable of erupting. the same in korean. even if you see partly sunny skies in seoul, you may see thunder showers. 27 for the high today. 34 in beijing. that's a very high. and well above the average at 35 degrees. same in bangkok with a chance of thunderstorms. toward the west we have a clonic development. this is the cyclonic moving -- it's moving away from india but it looks like it will become a severe storm system by thursday noon. and by thursday evening hours a very severe cyclonic system. the good news is, as it turns

over water it will decrease the intensity before hitting hand masses here. it's likely to provide heavy rain showers across the area. where you don't see a lot of rainfall in the country. it's likely to be bringing lots of thunderstorms and heavy rainfall into the weekend. we'll close monitor on this. it's providing an enhancing the southwestern monsoon in india. we have a couple of storm systems here across this continent as well. one in the northern plains and one effecting the eastern half of the continent. especially into the mid atlantic state. we're likely to see more tornadic activity. so you a couple of tornados already reported across the eastern half. likely to provide large hail across the area. a lot of big city such as d.c., philadelphia, that is likely to be underneath a severe weather threat. it's likely to move into the southeastern areas of canada

bringing about 70 millimeters of additional rainfall that could cause flash flooding in the area that is another threat of severe weather is going to be from minnesota all the way down into texas. but back behind that really clear and fine and dry and in fact too dry. the relative humidity level is low. las vegas hitting almost 0 degrees. it's 39 for you. watch out for flameble team eit. i'll leave you now for an extended forecast.

top story of the hour. islamist militants linked to al qaeda have taken control of iraq's second largest city. and they're advancing through other cities. the militants belong to a group called the islamic state in iraq.

they attack the consulate general of turkey. they seized about 50 people including the consul general. they reportedly forced half a million people to flee. the militants battled with security forces in the sight of the largest oil refinery. they will launch an operation to contain the insurgent. it's calling on iraqis to join the fight. the spokesperson for the u.s. state department said secretary of state discussed it. jen said u.s. officials are ready to provide any appropriate assistance to the governments of turkey and iraq. the militants have been fighting against government forces in syria. syrian president al assad issued a statement calling them terrorists. he said his government is ready to cooperate with the leaders to fight the c-:n(m enemy. that's all for now on this

edition of news line. thank you very much for joining us.

in the small island country, unique art forms have been developed in every era. that history lives on to this day. hello. i'm megumi sasaki. i was born and raised in japan, but i've lived in new york city for more than 20 years. i'm a documentary filmmaker and have made films about contemporary art, but right now i am so fascinated to learn more about japanese art and its history of over 10,000 years. ♪