this time warning of a breakup. and small manufacturers are embracing i.t. and the clouds transform the way make things. typhoon chaba has been downgraded to a severe tropical storm. it's roaring off the coast of japan after leaving five dead in south korea. chaba is now moving east off the west coast of the country. it's packing winds of more than 100 kilometers per hour. it struck jeju wednesday morning. it moves on to busan. at least five people were killed. local reports say one person died at a construction site while another was blown off a rooftop. tens of thousands of homes are still without power. officials in southern japan closed public schools in nagasaki prefecture on wednesday. air and sea traffic has been disrupted with more than 140 domestic flights to and from the region canceled. japanese weather officials are telling people to remain on the alert. sayaka mori from our weather desk has been monitoring the storm and has this update. >> yes, dangerous typhoon chaba made landfall in the busan area at 11:00 a.m. today. it caused heavy rainfall. near busan, nearly 280 millimeters has fallen. and jeju also saw some heavy rainfall. now, chaba has been downgraded to a severe tropical storm. it's now packing gusts of 162 kilometers per hour. and strong winds are blowing. the system will likely stay over the waters at least into tonight. and it's expected to make the second landfall in parts of northern japan as we go into tonight as a low pressure system. now, it looks like quite heavy rain is expected for much of the pacific side as well. not just the sea of japan side. parts of shikoku and kinkj region will see up to 200 k millimeters. that's a lot for this area. as the system moves out, cooler air is coming in from the north. that's going to move down towards the south. that means temperatures are cooling down. for example, temperatures are going to be 15 degrees in sapporo and down to 13 on friday. tokyo down to 23 degrees on friday. >> sayaka, thanks. in other news, philippine president rodrigo duterte has lashed out at president obama. >> you can go to hell. mr. obama, you can go to hell. >> in a speech to government officials, president duterte said the philippines may break up with the u.s. while he's in office. he also wants to strengthen ties with russia and china. more than 1300 people have been killed in nationwide crackdown on drug users since taking office. obama has urged him to respect human rights. white house spokesperson responded to the comments. >> those comments are at odds with the warm relationship that exists between the filipino and american people. >> he said that washington will continue to convey its concern over the crackdown. vice presidential candidates in the u.s. have squared off in their first and only debate. both candidates took swipes at their opponent's running mate as they tried to sway voters. it was a 90-minute battle between the number twos. democratic vice presidential candidates tim kaine and his republican counterpart mike pence. virginia senator kaine landed many punches against pence's running mate donald trump. >> we trust hillary clinton as president and commander in chief, but the thought of donald trump as commander in chief scares us to death. >> governor pence of indiana stuck more to policy rather than defending trump. but he also took swings at clinton and the current administration. >> after traveling millions of miles as our secretary of state, after being the architect of the foreign policy of this administration, america is lets safe today. >> both sides criticized the other ticket on points that are now facing public criticism. pence brought up how clinton handled classified information as secretary of state. kaine raised the issue of how trump's tax returns have yet to be made public. voters will go to the polls early next month. government and opposition forces are escalating their fighting in aleppo. more than 400 people have been killed in two weeks. it comes after u.s. officials halted talks with russia on tuesday to resurrect the cease-fire. accusing it of not living up to its commitments. syria's state run news agency says it believes opposition forces shelled a government controlled district on tuesday killing seven civilians. at the same time president bashar al assad's forces are continuing to carry out raids on rebel held forces. they're also continuing ground offensives all in an attempt to regain control of aleppopo. a group providing medicical hel in a city was hit in a hospital on m monday. completely destroying the facility. the syrian observatory for human rights says 426 civilians have died and more than a thousand have been injured in aleppo since the cease-fire agreement collapsed. u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon is asking the u.s. and russia to resume talks to stop the fighting in syria. saying the syrian civil war situation is more serious and it is now harder to achieve a cease-fire. >> i strongly urge to resume negotiations so that there will be a sufficient so in some time we can deliviver life-saving humamanitarian assistance. > but on the same day, the russiaian defense ministrtry sat will add a new missile system to its naval base in syria. russia says it will enhance the capability of the base and is not a threat. russia has already deploy eed state of the art missiles in a base in northwestern syria. u.s. defense department spokesperson peter cook expressed concern. he said syrian terrorist groups targeted by russian forces are not capable of air attacks and questioned why the russian base needed a missile defense system. ban ki-moon plans to meet with u.s. secretary of state john kerry and a russian representative. the meetings will take place at belgium at a conference on aid to afghanistan. two japanese motorbike rivals are looking at ways to tackle the shrinking domestic market. gene otani has the details on that and other headlines. >> honda and yamaha are in talks about a possible alliance. they may jointly and develop scooters. as a way for the firms to remain competitive by shifting their resources to bigger, more profitable motorcycles. executives say honda may produce the yamaha scooters. the companies will also consider development of commercial scooters such as those used for deliveries.. the companies have comompeted sisince the 1980s for the 50 cc scooter market. but the small bikes aren't well suited for exports as they are built to suit japanese specifications and their profit margins are low. major japanese insurance companies are also facing a shrinking market. sompo has decided to b buy anotr company in order to boost profits. >> translator: together we will establish a solid base in the u.s. market. and we will work to expand business there. >> the president said sompo japan will acquire for $6.3 billion. endurance provides insurance products with growth prospects. these include policies for businesses against cyber attacks and for farmers agagainst badad harvests. other japanese insurers have made acquisitions abroad. tokyo marine holdings has bought a provider. checking the stocks, the yen closed higher. the nikkei average had three straight days of gains. john ladue reports from the tokyo stock exchanange. >> the currencies appear to have driven market sentiment here in tokyo. shares were higher again as the yen hit a three-week low against the dollar. let's check the closing levels for this wednesday, october 5th. the nikkei average closed 0.5% higher finishing at 16,819. the broader topix also gained 0.6%. now, the dollar continued to rally against the yen after senior officials at the u.s. federal reserve hinted at a rate hike before the year end. taking a look at individual stocks, yamaha motor gained more than 4% and honda was up about 3%. shares in these companies saw a boost from their scooter collaboration. financials were bought on hopes for a settlement deal between deutsche bank and the u.s. government. both financial groups sumitomo and mitsubishi ufj were higher. sompo holdings also gained 2.7%. now, we'll see the adp private sector employment figures later on wednesday. that s should give us a hint abt friday's non-farm payroll data. john ladue reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. moving onto other markets in the asia pacific region, hong kong's hang seng advancing by 0.4% finishing at 23, 788 hong dollars. sydney's index dropping by a little more than 0.5%. 5,452 is the number. falling gold and other metal prices dragged down shares. kospi also dropping. was at its highest in seven months. indonesia also dropping by almost a percent after hitting an 18-month high on tuesday. crafts people in tokyo have pooled their skills on an unlikely sounding project. they've built a bobsled for the island of jamaica. they are aiming for the 2018 winter games in south korea. two jamaican athletes joined japanese engineers at the sled's unveiling. the vehicle has been dubbed after the working class area where it was built. crammed with factories for their skilled machining. it is painted in jamaican colors. it has a low center of gravity and aerodynamics for cocornerin. >> the craftsmanship from everybody related to the project is the best in the world. >> translator: we're confident of our sled making skue ining s that will help win a medal. >> they said they'll make it more compact over the next few months. they'll refine it with the athletes through competition. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. major japanese retailer aeon has logged a net loss of about $52 million. it's the first such fall in the group's half-year settlement in seven years. executives attribute the loss to poor performance in the supermarket business as well as renovation costs for the outlets. companies from japan and other nations are promoting products that save energy and water at a trade show in dubai. displaying a unit that uses advanced coolant. it creates only a small impact on the ozone layer. consumers in the middle east is pushing enenergy cononsumption higher. japanese port authorities will work with their counterparts from six other countries to standardize requirements for supplying liquefied natural gas to ships. the nations include singapore, the u.s., and south korea. ththey will bring their rules i line with each other. they'll also share crew training programs to deal with emergencies. competing against major manufacturers is a struggle for small companies in japan. our next story looks at how they're getting a leg up in the market place. >> reporter: a door factory in japan. many models are custom made here each year. they tailor each door to a client's needs. the biggest selling poi inin iie price. they are just as affordable as mass produced ones. the key lies in this computer service. it acts as the factory's brain and draws up production schedules for the human workers. orders come in from across japan. the computer reads each design plan and calculates the most efficient work procedures and the time required. this one shows the manufacturing process should take 1.7 minutes to complete. if workers finish the steps in the allotted time, assembly will produce smoothly in the most efficient manner. the computer adds up the pitch times and aligns work to the line. this allows each line to operate at its full capacity. >> translator: we'e'd never hava chance if we offered the same services as big manufacturers, but the power of our i.t. system puts us on par with them. >> reporter: etigo ward is home to more than 2,000 factories. three of them are now planning to link up through i.t. they will make their work visual to each other so they can run like a single entity. it relies on cloud computing. the factories each specialize in welding, stainless steel processing, and production of machinery components. when the three handled orders together in the past, a delay at one factory led to stoppage at another resulting in costly downtime. their new system will store live work flow data in a server. others can then follow the progress and avoid wasting their resources. >> translator: we used to hide what we were doing to gain an advantage e over other factorie. this system will eliminate such secrecy. >> reporter: the knowledge sharing platform also enables the factories to join forces to develop their own products from scratch. >> translator: we hope to make something close to a finished product. >> reporter: workers are already working on prototypes of a height-adjustable trolley. >> reporte >> translator: we'e're startingo funcnction as a three in one, b if more companies join in, the way we manufactuture will reall chanange. >> translator: combined strength leads to broader business. we'll be able to crereate thing that we could never have managed individually. >> reporter: thanks to cloud computing and other technologies, more makakers are retooling manufacturing for the digital age. you can catch our report again online together with a full transcript. look for nhk world and business wrap. that's the business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets. tropical coastlines, lush farmland, modern cities. kyushu in southwestern japan has a rich history and unique traditions. once a gateway for foreign trade,e, kyushu prospered and developed. today it remains a key business hub, but the region boasts one of japan's largest active volcanoes and is prone to natural disasters. discover the many faces of kyushu right here on nhk "newsline." the u.s. marine corps in japan plans to resume harrier flights in okinawa. >> i have deemed that upon the advice of senior harrier pilots within the marine corps that we are ready to begin flight operations again. >> the commander of the mamaur it could begin as soon as friday. a harrier crashed on september 22nd. the marines grounded all similar aircraft the following day. the commander would not reveal the cause of the accident saying he was restricted by an ongoing legal investigation. >> translator: i'm not convincnd by beingng t told that everythis now safe. you feel betrayed. t >> the rumgs resumption of harrier flights is likely to cause issues in the area. on the location of the tsukiji wholesale market. democratic party leaders say it fills a gap in the inquiry about the mishandling of the move. last week the tokyo government released the results of its inquiry on the matter. it failed to show who made the questionable decision not to fill with soil. that was something they decided to protect the site. but democratic party members say the report did not include plans they found themselves. it was submitted by a design firm. the document said there was no need to add the clean soil under the structure. pope francis has made a surprise visit to an area in italy that was hit this summer by a devastating earthquake. he visited amatrice where nearly 300 people were killed. the pope listened to firefighters describing the damage. he then prayed in front of the rubble for the dead and the town's revival. pope francis visited a makeshift school and offered words of encouragement to people who had gathered there. he urged them to pray for those who died and to move forward together. as of late september about 2500 people were still living in shelters. the italian government is looking at ways to rebuild amatrice including a proposal to relocate the town. three european scientists are the nobelel prize winners i chemistry. >> the academy of sciences has decided to award the 20166 nobe prize in chemistry jointly to jean pierre savaj, j. frazier stoddart and bernard ferar. >> in 1983, savaj succeeded in linking two ring shaped molecules together to make a chain. the second step was by stoddart. he showed that it could move along the axel. and ferinha was able to include a molecular engine. they hold potential for the development of new materials, sensors and even minuscule computers. sayaka mori joins us again this time with the latest on the hurricane impacting the caribbean. >> yes. we have beenen mononitoring a long-lived h hurricane over the caribbeaean sea. this system moved over the weststern tip of bahamamas on tuesday as a category 4 system which is the second strongest on the hurricane scale. i want to show some pictures coming out of haiti. the most violent atlantic hurricane in nine years battered haiti's southwest coast on tuesday morning. it drenched the ground with staggering amounts of rain and flooded streets. it's too early to accurately awe says the damage but many houses having destroyed. hurricane warnings are still in place in the northwest. now, after affecting haiti, the system moved over eastern portions of cuba. now, haiti is extremely prone to disasters because there's almost no trees over land. only 2% of the land is forested. this is a boundary between haiti and the dominican republic. now the system is located over the eastern tip of cuba. it's now a category 3 system. so it has been downgraded slightly, but because the sea surface temperatures are still on the warmer side, we don't think it's going to weaken dramatically. as a major hurricane, it's going to move over the bahamas into thursday and get very close to the florida peninsula by thursday evening local time. a lot of areas from the caribbbbean islands up towards e florida peninsusula will be affected by powerful winds and large waves and surf as well as heavy rainfall at least for the next several days. now, let's go to the north. there's another low pressure over the land causingng heavy rainfall and also back behind it cooler air coming in. so we haveve snowfall warnings d wiwinter storm advisories or warnings posted for central portions of canada. heavy snow is expected. and snow is also expected for the northern rockies as well as mountains in british columbia. and washington, d.c. in the teens for you with partly sunun conditions on your hump day. now let's go to asia. we're watching another tropical disturbance to the south of japan. this is a tropical depression at this moment but likely w will increase in the next 24 hoururs. a lot of heavy rain is on the menu. across china it's going to be mostly dry. but some expected for the inland locations. temperatures will be chilly in mongolia. partly sunny conditions on thursday. so we'll see clear conditions with 25. another hot day in tokyo with a high of 31 degrees with partly sunny conditions. all right. that's it for me now. up next is your three day forecast. updates and special reports come your way at the top of the hour on "newsroom tokyo." for all of us here on nhk "newsline," thanks for watching. ñ genie: you are watching "france 24." it is time for 60 minutes live around the world. these are the headlines. u.s. vice presidential candidates faced off in their one and only debate. republican mike pence and democrat tim kaine clash early and often. both slamming each other's bosses for an insult driven campaign. barrels onatthew toward the bahamas after hitting both haiti and cuba, the worst caribbean