it's 9:00 p.m. in tokyo. welcome to newsline. i'm michio kijima with the news at this hour. tension continues in libya with opposition forces almost in control of the capital tripoli as government troops gathered near the home of the country's leader moammar al gadhafi.

opposition forces gathered moment momentum and gained ground. oppositions forces say they will contain gadhafi's son. the international criminal court in the hague told nhk monday it contained information the son has been held. gadhafi called on his supporters to fed to the end. the opposition says about 20% of the capital remains under government control and the regime is still resisting the offensive. libya fell into civil war in

february. since then, the whole african nation has been in turmoil. moammar gadhafi has ruled libya for 42 years. he's the longest serving head of the state in the arab world. >> reporter: gadhafi took power in 1969 at the age o he led a bloodless coup against the king. he was initially a fierce opponent of the west. and he's long been accused of repressing any opposition. in 1988, libya was blamed for the bombing of an airliner over the scottish town of lockerbie. the united nations imposed economic sanctions. in 2003, libya accepted responsibility for the lockerbie bombing and said it would abandon its plan to develop weapons of mass destruction.

libya's relations with the west improved in later years, thanks to its oil and gas reserves. gadhafi made his first speech at the u.n. general assembly in 2009, but he was still defiant. he criticized the u.n. and threw a copy of the u.n. charter to the floor. several days after the fall of egyptian president hosni mubarak in february, there were anti-government demonstrations in libya for the first time since gadhafi took power. the protests gained momentum with support from senior military officers who had defected from the government. the government deployed foreign mercenaries to crack down on protesters.

>> in march, the u.n. security council approved a military intervention. multinational forces led by nato launched air raids against libyan government forces. meanwhile, anti-government protesters gained new momentum helped by international economic sanctions on libya. they drove gadhafi into a corner. meanwhile, symbol of libya's political change could be seen here in tokyo. the libyan embassy in tokyo is flying a new national flag. the embassy replaced a solid green banner used by moammar gadhafi's government with the tricolor flag used before gadhafi took power. the flag is used by the national transitional council of opposition forces. an embassy official told nhk that flag was replaced on monday morning because a change in government had taken place.

russian border guards have detained a japanese man off one of the four russian-held islands claimed by japan. the japanese government is demanding his immediate release. japanese officials were informed of the incident on monday. they say the man was in a small boat when it was seized off kunashiri on sunday night. russian authorities said the man was held because he didn't have the proper documents to land on the island. japan's government has made an official protest. >> translator: we have called on russia to ensure the man's safety and to release him as soon as possible. it's regrettable that russia has run counter to japan's legal claims by seizing a japanese national in japanese territory.

north korea is making another move in its ongoing tug of war with south korea over the fate of a scenic resort they once operated together. it says it's going to take control of all south korean property at mount kumgang. the resort opened in 1988 as a joint tourism project. it is located within the borders of north korea. about a million people from south korea visited over a decade but the country stopped sending tour groups in 2008 after a north korean soldier shot and killed one of its citizens. the two neighbors resumed talks on the issue in june, but the discussions did not go anywhere. the north's official korean central news agency says its country maintains that south korean authorities totally abandon protection of their property and interests at mount kumgang. the north also ordered south korean staff to leave the resort. a spokesman says the government

will respond by taking the matter to an international organization. >> translator: north korea's unilateral action cannot be tolerated. it is clear that all the responsibilities related to this should be borne by the north. >> north korea is apparently trying to shake up south korea with this latest move and at the same time it's working on improving relations with the united states. earlier this month it accepted a u.s. proposal to discuss resuming operation to collect the remains of american soldiers killed during the korean war. u.s. vice president joe biden arrives in japan on monday for a three-day visit. it is his first trip to this country as vice president. biden will hold talks with prime minister naoto kan on tuesday. they're expected to discuss the rebuilding of areas devastated by the march 11th disaster. efforts to deal with the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant are also on the agenda. biden will convey his country's continued support for the

reconstruction work. also on tuesday, he will visit the northeastern prefecture of miyagi to deliver a message to disaster victims at sendai airport. u.s. troops helped remove debris from the airport which was badly damaged by the tsunami. biden has been on an asian tour visiting china and mongolia. in china he held talks with vice president xi jinping, the man expected to become the country's next leader. the dollar is hovering in the upper 76 yen range in cautious trading in tokyo on monday. earlier in the day the greenback had rebounded briefly to the lower 77 yen level after reaching a historic level of 75.95 yen in new york on friday. sources say market players are becoming cautious about possible intervention by the bank of japan. it's now changing hands to 76.76

yen to 76 yen and the euro at 110.76 to 79 yen. japanese finance ministry said this morning that the yen's one-sided appreciation appears to are strengthening in recent market trading. he hinted japanese monetary authorities may intervene. >> translator: the market, even more closely than before, and we'll take decisive steps if necessary to counter speculative moves. we are not ruling out any options. >> tokyo stocks lost ground on monday pushing the key index level close to the lowest levels so far this year. the nikkei average ended at 8,628, down 91 points from friday. it stood near this year's closing low marked on march 15th. in the morning shares moved in, a narrow band, but sales orders hit export-related issues in the afternoon.

sources say market players are worried that the yen sustained strength could cut into corporate earnings and hamper the country's economic recovery. >> for insight on what factors to affect the tokyo market, we spoke with a chief market strategist at credit suisse securities in japan. >> global financial market is very unstable situation. the yen is surging against other key currencies. the market concern is economic depression due to strict fiscal tightening. we must pay attention to u.s. person making process. in japan, the market interest is to see what the next prime

minister will try to do. the new prime minister must use a yen hike program cooperating with d.o.j. tokyo market must focus on new policies with the united states and japan to drive the global currency market. here are the latest market figures.

tokyo electric power company plans to shut down a reactor in central japan for regular inspection on tuesday. this means 74% of japan's nuclear reactors will be out of service. when tepco shuts down a number 7 reactor at the kashiwazaki kariwa nuclear power plant, 40 out of 54 nuclear reactors in

japan will be inactive. 11 reactors including the reactor at the tomari plant in hokkaido are scheduled to finish their regular checkups this month. it's not likely they will be able to restart the reactors immediately. the utilities must conduct stress tests and get approvals from local communities to restart. another 14 reactors will be down for regular checks by next spring. if no reactor is allowed to resume operations after regular checks all 54 nuclear reactors in japan will be out of service in the spring. until now the japanese government promoted nuclear power as safe and environment friendly. the education ministry spent almost $5 million on programs to spread the message. it was included in the curriculum taught to students in the middle and elementary schools.

the accident is making teachers rethink what they teach about nuclear power. >> these supplement rl readers teach students about nuclear power. the books reassure students with claims like "these five walls protect the nuclear power plant" and "they are built to withstand strong earthquakes or tsunamis." but the crisis at fukushima shattered the widespread belief about the safety of nuclear power. people in education are looking for alternative information for teaching students about nuclear power. one local government decided to top teaching children that it is essential to use nuclear power in japan. in central japan, the original plan had been to teach fourth grade students the value of nuclear power. an auxiliary reader explains that nuclear power is necessary to generate energy.

in another nuclear power plant, this one in a nearby area was shut down after the fukushima crisis. now people question whether nuclear power is necessary at all. the board of education distributed a handout to all elementary schools. it explains how to teach the information in the supplementary reader. the board wants a more impartial perspective, so it instructs teachers to omit the section that claims nuclear power is essential. >> translator: right now, japanese people are not completely sure about the safety of nuclear power, so schools find they can't help being influenced by this outlook. >> reporter: meanwhile, another elementary school is trying to come to grips with the issue.

this school lies about 50 kilometers from the daiichi plant. until recently, the school taught students about energy sources including nuclear power. every year, the sixth graders used to take a field trip to the fukushima daiichi power plant as it was an important industry in the area. but the accident at the tepco plant shocked the teachers. they are still discussing what to teach their students about nuclear power. >> translator: teachers shouldn't hide anything from the students. we must give a thorough explanation of the causes and background of everything that happened during the crisis. >> reporter: the school started a program to make students fully understand what is happening around them. twice a day, the students take turns measuring radiation levels in the school yard. on this day, the radiation is

much lower than the government-sanctioned safety level. afterward, a teacher encourages the students to think about how to deal with the readings. >> translator: so, what should we do? >> translator: just like before, even if radiation levels are low, we have to wash our hands and goggles. and we shouldn't spend too much time outdoors during summer vacation. >> translator: there's so much information about nuclear power, we try to teach our students to pick out the correct information and use it effectively. we hope our students will be able to evaluate whether nuclear power is necessary for japan. >> the nuclear crisis is not yet over. the education ministry is waiting for the u.s. government to revise its education on nuclear energy.

time to begin with stories sent around from asia. this is from cctv china. a hail storm sit a chinese city and caused extensive damage, disrupted traffic and halted stops. heavy rain followed the hail storm. a down pour in the southwest triggered landslides blocking national highways and roads. the counties were the hardest hit. the landslides affected about 100,000 people. more rain is expected over the next two days. india's prime minister is stressing the need for atomic energy. he addressed nuclear scientists on sunday.

he said the power source is clean and environmentally friendly. they have been expanding cooperation with other countries because atomic energy is an essential part of the country's portfolio. he stressed india would use the highest safety standards. the country has 20 nuclear reactors. they generate about 4,800 megawatts of electricity. several other facilities are under construction. sri lanka's revitalized graphite industry earned a record revenue of $1.3 million this year. new machinery have been introduced at the biggest graphite mine in northwestern province. the mine is said to have confirmed deposits of about

72,000 metric tons. in the past, the mine ran at a loss and was periodically shut down. hi there. time to talk about the weather once again. in eastern asia, it will be havy rain for japan. it goes right down into eastern china. maybe anything up to 150 millimeters of rain in the next 24 hours. there is going to be definitely a risk of flooding here. much of japan will see that very unstable weather continuing. i want to point out these two systems, both tropical depressions. this one is not causing too many problems at the moment. may in the future so we'll keep a close eye on it. down east of the philippines is another tropical depression which brings heavy downpours.

indochina seeing scatters thunderstorms. this rain will head towards south eastern china. good news because it's been dry and hot and will bring down the temperatures. when it's dry and hot, it can result in flash flooding. that will be a concern the next 24 hours. chongqing 31. it's been 40 for quite a while. 31 in tokyo. we head now into north america. check on what's happening with irene, which is the hurricane that has formed now. we've been looking at it. it was affecting puerto rico as a tropical storm. it's now a hurricane. looks like it will be heading towards hispanola and starting to affect the dominican republic. winds at 120 with gusts that will see significantly stronger than that. looks like it will just head up towards florida through the bahamas in towards the weekend.

after it leaves the bahamas, expected to become a stronger system once again this. could be a major storm. we will be tracking it for you. lots of heavy rain to come. you can see as the storm moves up towards the tip of florida, this is 72 hours, so the three-day precipitation forecast. we are looking for heavy rain in mexico with tropical depression harvey. cold front is just starting to move away from the northeast. conditions clearing up here as high pressure moves in. still got to see that low push further out of the east of canada. then we'll still see thorough thunderstorms for the gulf states here. up towards the northern plains, we have another storm system. that will deliver a fair whack, actually. storms will be on the nasty side with strong winds and heavy rains. we have another pacific system moving in. 18 degrees in vancouver. you could do with some of that in the south. it is so hot here.

extreme heat warnings are posted for parts of arizona as well as southern nevada and southern california. actually, the heat gets up into winnipeg here. 33 for you. 3 in oklahoma city and 39 in houston. as we head into europe, this is where you can see the clouds moving down in towards western france and northern spain. this is where the unstable weather is going to be. some heavy for you in the low countries as well as northern france. heat is building toward the south into wednesday maybe thursday, temperatures are going to be increasing. here are your tuesday temperatures. 32 in madrid, 32 in rome, 35 in athens. 34 and 35 in budapest. expect to see those moving up in the next couple of days. here is your extended forecast.

as we've been reporting, tension continues in libya with opposition forces almost in control of the capital tripoli as government troops gather near the home of the country's leader, moammar al gadhafi. the nato-backed opposition

forces are gaining strength after advancing to tripoli and gaining ground in gadhafi's stronghold on monday. the government troops near gadhafi's residence in the southern part of the city are preparing for an all-out battle with opposition forces. qatar-based tv broadcaster al jazeera on monday reported continued shelling by tanks coming from near gadhafi's home. the opposition forces said about 20% of the city is still government controlled. the forces said they detained gadhafi's second son and heir apparent saif al islam for whom the international criminal court in the hague issued an arrest warrant this year on charges of crimes against humanity. the court is asking libya's opposition to hand him over. british prime minister david cameron said on monday that at least two of gadhafi's sons were detained, but did not name them. gadhafi has kept silent since calling on his supporters to engage in an all-out fight in a

statement released on sunday and his whereabouts are unknown. thousands of people gather in the rebel stronghold of benghazi to celebrate the advance in tripoli shouting "the end is near for gadhafi." >> translator: on this great day in libya's and human history it will be said that the great people of libya gave the world the gift of the end of the regime of a tyrant. a man who tried to destroy the whole world and was an enemy not just of the libyan people, but all humanity. a symbol of libya's political change could be seen here in tokyo. the libyan embassy in tokyo is flying a new national flag. the embassy aplaced a solid green banner used by moammar gadhafi's government used by a tri-color flag used before his government. it is used by council of opposition forces.

the flag was replaced on monday morning because a changing government had taken place. russian border guards have detained a japanese man on one of the four russian-held islands claimed by japan. the japanese government is demanding his immediate release. japanese officials were informed of the incident on monday. they say the man was in a small boat when it was seized off kunashiri on sunday night. russian authorities said the man was held because he didn't have the proper documents to land on the island. japan's government has made an official protest. >> translator: we have called on russia to ensure the man's safety and to release him as soon as possible. it's regrettable that russia has run counter to japan's legal claims by seizing a japanese national in japanese territory. that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline".

we'll be back with more news in half hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. bye-bye.