it's 10:00 p.m. in tokyo, welcome to "newsline," i'm michio kijima with the news at this hour. authorities in france reportedly dealing with an explosion at a nuclear facility. "reuters" says it happened at around 11:45 local time at a nuclear waste processing site in southern france. a news service cited the country's nuclear safety watchdog said 1% is dead, but that no radioactive waste has leaked into the environment.

the blast injured four other people, one is reported to be in serious condition. around the time of the explosion, a fire reportedly occurred at the site, but was immediately extinguished. marcoule is a nuclear waste management site, it does not have any reactors. there are many nuclear-related facilities in the city. the asn said the explosion occurred near a furnace. france's electricity authority controls the marcoule nuclear energy waste management site. this came in a short while ago, a field pipeline has exploded in kenya's capital, nairobi, more than 100 people are feared dead after the massive blast on monday in the east african nation. the pipeline runs through a densely-populated slum between the city center and an airport. the cause of the blast has not been confirmed but political police told reuters a fire started after a fuel tank rupture at the pipeline company spilled fuel into an open sewer flowing through the slum.

japan's new prime minister has been on the job for nearly two weeks now. long enough for people in this country to form some strong opinions about him. our exclusive nhk poll will show you what they think of yoshihiko noda. so far, he has the support of a majority of voters but not their confidence. 60% of the nearly 1,100 people that responded say they approve of prime minister noda. 18% don't. here's how noda stacks up against his predecessors. now, keep in mind, he is the third prime minister to lead japan since the democratic party took power two years ago. his approval rating is lower than that of yukio hatoyama and naoto kan when they started out. the is your vie va asked voters what they expect most. from the noda administration. almost one-third want him to focus on rebuilding the disaster region and solving the nuclear crisis at the fukushima daiichi power plant.

15% say he should strengthen social programs. including pensions and health care. 13% want noda to cut wasteful tax spending, and 12% say he should concentrate on fiscal reform. respondents are split on the question of whether noda will be able to implement his policies. 47% say, yes, and 48% say, no. our survey asks about the timing of the election. 10% want the national vote to be held right away. 13% say it should happen before the end of this year. and 26% say by the end of next year, and 42% say they don't want a general election until 2013, when the government is supposed to schedule one. former chief cabinet secretary alexander edler yukio

edano has been appointed as the country's new economy, trade and industry minister, just ten days after the appointment of his predecessor. edano aged 47 is currently serving his sixth term in the lower house. last year edano was appointed government revitalization minister. edano's first cabinet post and later became the democratic party's secretary-general serving as chief cabinet secretary since january, edano led the government's efforts to cope with the fukushima daiichi accident and provide support for those affected. former trade ministry hachiro left his post on saturday, after making inappropriate remarks an radiation contamination in the fusharecte. isamon ehtayafr daauhehicane >>jan'nueacris grbehelis d teio arndheor. thprle csebyhe fusha iii cint out mef e iges scnticin tth uny. mtif entnaon clr pes sus wpp

up paican aeemotong raatn ve a eose ou raia p ioty th ao ind t at counatn k tcuin hethis. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: it's rare for so many radiation experts to attend the same meeting. the turn-out for this symposium is a sign of the attention that japan's nuclear crisis is getting. >> some 40 countries took part in the two-day meeting in the fukushima city.o p tdg a encto e whetthheoshe radiation here. the nippon organization organized the symposium here. icrp provides guidance and recommendations in how to

protect people from radiation exposure. since the meltdown at the fukushima daiichi, the authorities in the prefecture have started health check-ups for two million people in e gi. thisrench senst is helng to fure o theest w to protect people living in contaminated areas. he says japanese also must continue to carefully monitor radiation in the environment. but that's not all. they must also communicate with citizens so they understand what defines a safe exposure limit. >> if you have access to the information, if you have a minimum of understanding of the situation, then you are in a position to make decisions, to act for your self, for your family, for your neighbors and this is changing the attitude. >> reporter: before they wrap up

the symposium, recommendations were made. >> the symposium understood the importance of the fukushima health survey. >> reporter: the first step towards reducing the risk here is to figure out how much radiation exposure they've got. experts here say japanese also need to reassure their health will be monitored in the coming months and years. susu sus susuma akjima. as we've been reporting, authorities in france are reportedly dealing with an explosion at a nuclear facility. "reuters" said it happened at around 11:45 local time at the marcoule waste processing site in southern france.

the news service is citing the country's nuclear safety watchdog, asn. it said 1% is dead, but that no radioactive waste has leaked into the environment so far. the blast injured four other people. one is reported to be in serious condition. around the time of the explosion, a fire reportedly occurred at the site, but was immediately extinguished. marcoule is a nuclear waste management site with no rearctics. it's used to reduce the amounts of low-level radioactive waste. the asn said the explosion occurred near a furnace, france's authority controls the nuclear waste management site. major japanese automakers, suzuki motor, has decided to scrap its capital tie-up with volkswagen. suzuki made the decision at its board meeting on monday. the company said it has become difficult to achieve the original goal of the alliance to work jointly in the wide variety of areas. suzuki chairman, suzuki, told a

news conference in tokyo, that the discussion with volkswagen showed that his company cannot maintain its philosophy of independent management. >> translator: if we leave our alliance as it is, the situation would have a negative influence on suzuki. >> the t companies formed an alliance in december of 2009, to expand market share in emerging economies and to develop eco-friendly technology. lyhitime, suzuki expressed its frustration with the tie-up, saying the german automaker did not see their partnership as equal. volkswagen released a statement on sunday, saying suzuki violated their contract by agreeing to buy diesel engines from another car maker. suzuki denied the allegation. volkswagen told an nhk correspondt in berlin on monday that it has no intention of terminating the tie-up agreement.

it expressed hope to resolve the situation through dialogue. and here are the latest market figures. the gulf cooperation council of six arab monarchies is set to discuss the proposed membership of jordan and morocco. the foreign ministers of the gcc member countries gathered in the western saudi arabian city of

jiddah on sunday to discuss the applications of the two kingdoms. both jordan and morocco have been plagued by acute job shortages that have prompted anti-government rallies. the authorities in the two countries apparently aim to maintain their grip on power through financial largess from the already-rich gcc nations. the gcc has provided one of its member states, omen with massive economic aid and has crushed unrest in bahrain by dispatching troops there. in the wake of a tide of uprising in the arab countries, the gcc nations and the new applicants appear to be convinced that there is strength in numbers. libya's national transitional council says the country resumed oil production on saturday. the council plans to accerate its efforts to rebuild the north african country, making use of oil revenue. thesrt oiloutput was discseby t number two official of the transitional counci mahmoud bril onunyn

tripoli. details were not given, but he added that production would resume soon in the west of the country and he said that an interim government would be formed within ten days. libya has 44 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, but output was suspended this year when fighting broke out between troops loyal to now-ousted leader, moammar gadhafi, and anti-gadhafi forces. in a separate development, the government of neighboring niger said on sunday that a military patrol earlier in the day intercepted a hicle carrying gadhafi's third son, hdn eorer ptf e uny. was believed to have been holed up in th libyan city of bani walid in southeast tripoli. time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin tonight with this sigh tem sent by mcot, thailand.

thai prime minister, thaksin shinawatra who took office last saturday, kicked off a tour to a number of asean countries with a visit to brunei. the thai leader attended a banqu banquet hosted by the country's sultan. on monday, the leader left bangkok for indonesia where she was scheduled to visit with the nation's president. she's scheduled to visit cambodia on thursday and laos on friday. massive flooding caused by monsoon rains has left at least 16 people dead in the southeastern indian state. more than a million people from about1,00 villages remain cut off by fldwaters. on sunday, the top state officials surveyed the flood-stricken districts. the authorities also used helicopters to drop food and other essentials in the worst-hit areas. the state officials said that the rescuers have evacuated about 100,000 people. china's cmiee aun

the world have celebrated mid autumn festivals. the annual event provided chances for family reunions under the full moon, a symbol of happiness and prosperity. in singapore, more than 1,500 people played traditional games, including one called lucky dip on moon cakes. an event in hong kong featured the world's largest carp-shaped laer a a fire dragon parade. many pple around the world ha taken a shine to a japanese cartoon character. it's a robot cat from the 22 century. he has an endless supply of futuristic gadgets to a help a little boy always close t failing at whatever he does. it's a creation of fujiko, who passed away in 1996. but this month, his wife opened a museum dedicated to her

husband and his work. >> the fujiko museum is located in kawasaki city, right next to tokyo. many of the familiar characters who appear in the cartoons greet the museum guests. they can view the 150 original drawings, always on display. before he died at the age of 62, fujiko created many beloved ife makoayer hba wa czybo cldren. s h.oodsped bseskin f fujiko would sit at his dk and autograph the paper the children had brought. >> reporter: these are some of

the artist's original drawings. masako wanted to share them with the public. that's how the museum came about. >> translator: i remember how strongly fujiko felt about his original artwork. he spent most of his time working on his cartoons. sot' le esdrings are m. >> reporter: she wanted to find a good use for his more than 50,000 original drawings. so, she paid for the museum's construction and donated it to kawasaki city, where fujiko lived. visitors can see a replica of fujiko's workspace and tools, as well as hisbeloved cassette player. >> translator: he was always listening to music. often it was classical. but he also enjoy ed other musi,

humorous japanese stories. >> reporter: the cat character receives the most attention. it has appeared in comic books and television cartoons in more than 0 countries. >> translator: i think these charte a hay. th a readedy op isoanuntrs. he njed b ppl a d ov tlds t gat achievement an artist can hope for. >>eporter: the museum shows reproductions of popular scenes from the cartoon. masako wants children and adults who grew up reading her husband's cartoons to actually an tsusmo hwod.

acfo rexi. i wantdus rem felt wnyere bee lifot easy. itoteurd o yeoe h hod. e museum aunsu ace. h aotf wre ev clar speak loudly. i hope more people will visit. ross mihara is up next with sports. me. hiro boyata is up next with sports. welcome into the sports report. autumn in japan is an ideal time for people to be active and sports is no exception. japan's women's soccer team has proved itself again. it won the right to appear in the 2012 london olympics in the

asian final qualifiers. japan beat thailand on the first day and went on to score victories against south korea and australia. the fourth match against north korea ended in a draw, but japan beat china to end the qualifiers with four wins and one draw. so here's how the teams stack up. japan finished in first place with most points. north korea came in second, those two teams will appear in london. nadashiko and his fans hope to add an olympic title to this year's world cup championship. >> we asked michael kasdo, the japan correspondent of "world

soccer magazine" to assess nadashiko's performance and what the team needs to work on. nice to see you, thank you very much for coming today. how do you evaluate nadashiko's performance after watching them play in the asian worrell qualifierers. >> they came in as absolute favorites for this. but you absolutely can't criticize their performance. because they won their first three games, straight. this is very re a iup y normall opointr a few glser the. layed wh great composure. they played with momentum. ihi ty've taken on tt montum from the wldcup. anyehereozing confidence at the moment. there's a tremendous performance. and very convincing indeed. >> okay. who is the key player in nadashiko, japan. >> sara was the top scorer, she ran for the full 90 minutes, she concentrates for the full 90 minutes, she's got the vision.

she sees where everybody is. she finds the space. she sees the course and the ball. she puts it there. she sees the course for herself. so she's tremendously creative player. and then you look out to the sides. especially miyami and miyama on the left is a tremendous asset for the team, she also has the ball skills and the corners and free kicks. that adds a whole extra dimension for japanese game as well. so you have to say two, sawa and miyama. they do play as a team and that's the main point about japan, they've taken teamwork to a new level in women's football. >> what are some of the things the team must improve in order to succeed in the london olympics. >> if you really do place a lot of quick pressure on the japanese midfield, they do have trouble building rhythm. ey do make mistakes in passing. especially they make some dangerous cross-field passes. which really open themselves out, up to the counterattack

very, very -- dangerously. and so hopefully you'll belly and up and say please run through sort of thing. they also don't have much spe on the ball. so the long balls are, any long pass, unless it's a straight ball through the middle is going to be that little bit dangerous. so what they have to polish is their passing skills. they have to stay calm on the ball. even under extreme pressure. and the other thing is they are a bit wasteful in front of goal. they do need to increase the accuracy of the shooting. so getting the forwards to keep on practicing and practicing the shooting. of course they're doing it already. they all know it themselves. but these are the points which need improvement. >> and that's the sportsne tim

hi and welcome back. let's talk about your weather, starting off with asia. this is a tropical depression that looks like it's going to become a tropical storm in the next several hours. >> it is affecting okinawa with high waves. it looks like it will be veering towards the west. we don't want this rain in tohoku, the land is very prone to flooding since 3-1-1. it looks like we may have locally showers as well as thunderstorms. the showers may up to about 100 millimeters in the span of 24 hours, jus in towards tuesday evening. especially in aomori prefecture. this wave wille bringing central and eastern china heavy rain, also. it will be falling through

chongqing province. we had an accumulation of 78 millimeters in eastern sichuan province. indochina peninsula looking messy as well. we had an upper-level disturbance, so we'll be lking at laos, vietnam,s ll as myanmar and wtern seaboards t be coming wh strg nd hi waves and heavy rain. coastaloding will be an issue there. chongqing at 28 degrees. another hot day in japan and tokyo. north america, let's talk about tropical storm maria. maria is going to be heading towards bermuda. as it does so, it looks like it will at some point become a hurricane. we'll keep a close eye on this system. as of now it is going to be bringing lots of rain towards puerto rico and then well offshore of the bahamas. but it will be staying a tropical storm. as of now it is moving in a northwesterly direction at the speed of 15 kilometers per hour. >> elsewhere in in order

america, we have a low pressure system moving towards the great lakes and bringing some severe activity, some severe thunderstorms to be coming for you in those areas. and this cold front will be pulling all the cold air. so since last spring, it wl be a chilly d for you, frost warnings are posted in some of those aas today. high pressure will dominate just around the four corners, and surging all of those man soonal moture, isolated thunderstorms will be scattered, popping up. western and south looking pretty dry for you. but houston hot at 38 degrees. the cool air will be coming in t grs.day, it may drop w reteed .

as we've been reporting, authorities in france are

reportedly dealing with an explosion at a nuclear facility. "reuters" said it happened around 11:45 local time at the marcoule waste processing site in southern france. the nuclear watchdog said this on monday, but no leak of radioactive materials in the area. the blast injured four other people. one is reported to be in serious condition. around the time of the explosion, a fire reportedly occurred at the site but was immediately extinguished. marcoule is a nuclear waste management site with no reactors. the site is used to reduce low levels of radioactive waste. the asn said the explosion occurred near a furnace. international atomic energy agency director general yukiyo amano said the country's nuclear agency was activated as soon as the explosion was reported.

i'm michio kijima in tokyo, thank you for watching, bye-bye.