welcome to "newsline." it is tuesday, september 13th. 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobe ashy. we begin with monday's explosion at a nuclear waste processing facility in france. authorities say radiation levels around the facility are normal and that the furnace did not explode. the blast happened in southern

france where low level radioactive waste was processed. one worker killed and four others injured in the accident. according to the facility, the blast was not in the surface or furnace but near the furnace. the french institute for nuclear safety says radiation readings in the air around the facility are the same as before the accident. no evacuation order has been issued for nearby residents. the country's nuclear regulatory authority has sent an emergency response team to the site to investigate the cause of the accident. the ecology minister also went to the site. >>translator: there was no radiation leak inside or outside of the site. no radiation has been detected from the monitoring posts. >> observers say the french government is trying to assure the public amid concern over

nuclear power stations following the accident at japan's plant. economy and ministry minister says japan should become a society that can live without nuclear power before it can have national debate on the need for such energy. he gave his first news conference since taking office on monday. >>translator: we should take swift action to promote energy savings and developmental terntive power sources. by implementing these measures, we should create a society in which people and industries can live without nuclear power. after that, there should be a public debate on the necessity of nuclear plants. >> he also called on japan to keep reducing greenhouse gas emissions. he said there should be fresh discussion on the slated reduction target of 25% from the 1990 level by 2020.

he said such debate is needed as japan reviews its energy policy, following the accidents at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. referring to possible power shortages this winter, he says the government hopes to allow some of the idle nuclear plants to be restarted. a russian military official says the latest military drill off russia's far east is designed to protect its sovereignty over the continental shelf in the region. 50 russian war ships and 50 aircraft are taking part in the military exercise that began in waters at the beginning of the month. russia vessels were on route to join the drill friday. the drill is the largest in the region since the end of the cold war. an official from russia's pacific ocean fleet told nhk that the continental shelf

strecking around cam chok a is abundant in natural resources and the drill is designed to protect them. russia has been protecting its claim of the arctic shelf in the arctic ocean where diminishing resources put them at odds with canada and other countries in the region. japan launched a protest over a high ranking russian official visit to russian held islands claimed by japan. security council secretary traveled to two of four russian held islands sunday. he went to country ashy and a group of islands. he checked on the work to reinforce an airport. foreign ministry director general told the russian ambassador monday that the act is unacceptable. he reiterated the position that the four islands are japan's

territory. he implied the trip causes no problem. >>translator: russia's stance is incompatible with that of japan, so we express our regret. we can't accept it. japan's new prime minister has been on the job two weeks, 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 him. so far, he has the support of a majority of voters but not their confidence. 60% of nearly 1100 people responded say they approve of prime minister noda. 18% don't. here is how he stacks up against his predecessors. 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 of that of hatoyama and kan when they started. they asked voters what they expect most from noda administration. almost a third of respondents want the prime minister to focus on rebuilding the tohoku region and solving the nuclear crisis at the plant. 15% strengthen social programs including pension and healthcare. 13% want him to cut wasteful spending, and 12% say to concentrate on fiscal reform. respondents are split on the question of whether noda will be able to implement his policies. 47% say yes. 48% say no. our survey also asked about the timing of japan's next general election. 10% want a national vote to be held right away. 13% say it should happen before the end of this year.

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. we asked a world commentator to give us his take on this new poll. here is what he had to say. >> what's your take on this result? >> noda is enjoying much higher public approval rating than former prime kan did. in that sense, the leadership change can be considered a success, but even as the administration has its honeymoon, you know, every administration has its honeymoon period, sooner or later it ends, usually because of scandals. normally already dealing with

this issue. his new trade and industry minister resigned after only eight days in office. he was in charge of nuclear policy. one of the most important issues in japan right now. but he is facing this pressure to quit after he called the area around the fukushima daiichi plant a town of death. many viewed the comment as insensitive. it will likely translate into a jop in popularity for noda and thoughts about the new prime minister's ability to lead this country. >> this is pretty interesting. majority of voters support noda. on the other hand, the ability to implement his policy. >> that's right. >> how should we look at this result? >> it would relate to another

question of the survey, how voters evaluate the dpj. the approval has dropped by 50% in the last year. that means many japanese are disappointed with the job he has done in government. the party is attempting to go back on the campaign promises he made before taking power two years ago. the child benefits plan and making expressways toll free. he couldn't find enough money to fund their policies, by just cutting wasteful government spending. on top of this, it is talking about raising taxes despite his promise not to do so. but people are still trying to support the noda administration. they seem to want a stable government for the issues like the nuclear crisis and post disaster reconstruction can be

dealt with. not only is japan sixth new prime minister in five years, people are sick and tired of japan's revolving door for prime ministers. calls for general election have decreased since he took over from kan. >> what lies ahead for noda administration. >> it has not changed a bit. he has to face the divided. noda cannot pass bills without help from the position, so his ability to stay in office will depend whether he can keep the current support rate or not. the democratic party wants leks, but the rdp cannot refuse requests from popular prime minister. >> what can noda do to make his government more popular? >> addressing the nuclear crisis

is the biggest issue, of course, because you know, the road ahead is tough. there is no quick solution. for fukushima daiichi and dealing with the radiation that leaked into the environment around the plant. the policy could be a way to maintain popularity. not only expected to have summit talks with president obama in september, japan wants to repair regulations with the u.s. japan had to cancel scheduled talks with obama because of the unserpt here. noda is expected to have summit talks with china and south korea by end of the year. noda could score points, depending how he handles these discussions. >> thanks.

"newsline," the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 11. we have two segments, offering two unique perspectives on fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. nuclear watch brings in site and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. the road ahead examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newsline." next we go to the bureau in bangkok. pakistan is seeking assistance after flooding triggered by rain. they called on the international community to act fast to prevent the crisis from worsening. we have a report from islamabad. >> he made emergency appeal

after second straight year. >>translator: the devastation is many times bigger than we initially estimated. we believe international institutions and global community will give serious consideration to the appeal. we ask they take immediate steps to rehabilitate effected people living out in the open and waiting for tents. >> damaged 700,000 homes and displaced about 4 million people. they were triggered by intermittent heavy rain that began in june. the united nations says it will begin activities as soon as the end of this week. the aid getting to food, water, shelter.

only last year, more than 20 million people were effected and over 2,000 killed. the u.n. and international community, including japan's forces dispatched teams to help. the u.n. says the latest are a double blow because pakistan is still recovering from last year's crisis. reporting widespread damage to farmland, mainly in southern pakistan, called for rapid response from the world community. in myanmar, a special representative of the obama administration met monday and exchanged opinions about recent signs, indicating potential political change. following the meeting, u.s. special representative for

myanmar, derrick mitchell, called the talks productive. expressed her gratitude for american support for the democracy. it has now finished the first steps of the country's transition, following election of civilian leadership in march. even so, u.s. sanctions remain in place and issues like the release of political prisoners are resolved. attention will now be on what further steps myanmar's government will take to cement the transition away from military rule. the commercial spot deal between australia animal asia. the agreement intended to stem the flow from various asian countries, but was struck down by australia court last month. now the government says it will

take steps to try to revise the deal. the prime minister told reporters monday that her administration would introduce legislation to parliament next week. it would amend the immigration law that the high court ruled last month made the swap deal. >> the government has determined that it will bring to the parliament amendments to the migration act that enable the government to make the decisions necessary to have asylum seekers transferred and processed in third countries. >> the government made the deal in july to send 800 asylum seekers to mal asia and to accept 4,000 refugees in return. australia has been an attractive destination for asylum seekers with more than 6500 of them

arriving last year alone. the government intends to use the swap deal with mal asia to send a strong message to deter people from entering the country illegally. and finally to rap or not to rap. that faced a group in the philippines that wanted to get more people interested in shakespeare. now the ultimate old school lyrics have been made a little more street wise. the modern musical is simply called p.m. it is an effort by the philippine educational theater association to make shakespeare's work more accessible. story line is around a group of high school kids to write a report on shakespeare plays. but much of the musical is anything but shakespearean. it features an array of original rap songs, with lyrics from the

famous monologues. >>translator: shakespeare is brilliant. for many, he is not relevant any more. the show made us appreciate him more. >> shakespeare's work daunted students worldwide for years, due to the archaic, complex language, but this production is trying to get rid of the shakespeare and make his classic text relevant for a new generation. if you're in manilla, you can see that performance the next two weeks. japan women's soccer team returned from china on monday after earning the right to appear in the 2012 olympics. fans were on hand to welcome

them at the airport. the squad went undefeated in the asian final qualifier, with four wins, one draw. >> congratulations qualifying for the olympics. how do you feel now? what impressions are you bringing back from the competition. >>translator: after returning from the world cup, we immediately played matches and went to the asian qualifiers. playing in those days were very

intensive. >> after the world cup, people took it for granted you would win a spot in the olympics. did you feel pressure? >> there are some pressures. for the sake of the future of japan, go to the olympics. there was pressure that we had produced results at the world cup, which gave us confidence. i believe with these members, we could win. >> you battle through a tough schedule, playing five matches in 11 days. what do you think you learned from the qualifiers? >> i only played three out of the five matches. even if the veterans or their players like me set out like in the last match against china, it was good for the team.

young players could produce results. it was good for japan. >> almost everyone on the world cup squad was also on the roster for the asian final qualifiers. how have you matured as a team through the two competitions? >> the younger players during this qualifier and the world cup played well, and middle ranking players had improved their skills. they played much better than at the beijing olympics. they let the younger players and were promising. >> you have almost a year before the london games. how will you use that time? >> to make it to the top, players have to improve their individual skills, while

improving the quality of the team. japan's strength is its capability to keep the ball. this is an area we need to further work on. >> what's your goal for the olympics? >> the world's top position. >> good luck. >> thank you. now let's look at the latest market figures.

welcome back to your weather. activity is picking up in the south pacific. south japan, looking at the clouds starting to bubble up. that's a tropical depression that's showing signs of organizing. forecasts call for it to become a tropical storm system within the next 24 hours. so it will be a system that needs close monitoring as it could bring in southern weather to the southern islands of japan. the islands will start to feel some of those rough sea conditions along the coastline. as for japan, still remains wet in the northern areas. again this morning, although that is headed out, then things should look dryer across the whole country. as for china, looking at rain coming out of central areas,

heading into the northeast even, as well as parts of the korean peninsula. then areas pick up a heavier rainfall. you want to watch for that. as for the southeast, we look at plenty of tropical activity. there are showers and thunderstorms across the philippines and for inched oh china peninsula. again, there will be patches of heavier fog. watch for torrential downpours. tuesday's highs looking like this, 32 degrees for the high in tokyo. on the humid side today. it will get up to 24 degrees in beijing. as for the americans, keeping an eye on the caribbean. we have tropical storm maria with us, slowly moving from the caribbean islands, heading northward. looks like it may brush past bermuda. scientists looking like it is not going to be intensifying

much more, likely maintaining status as tropical storm system in the next few days. it is a slow moving system. that means rainfall is lingering across the islands. looking at plenty of rainfall for puerto rico, hispaniola, parts of the bahamas. flood risk and landslide risk remains high as rains continue. for central america, showers still widespread through the area, and mexico, seeing more of that impacting areas along the western coastline. for north america, we're looking at this low that will be moving through ontario tonight, heading towards quebec, eastern canada, bringing in widespread rain. behind that, another system is going to drop in towards ontario. so it is not going to dry out too much more here. some areas will be looking at chillier conditions. snow is actually possible here. here is a look at highs for tuesday. 24 is the high in denver, 22 in

chicago, 25 in toronto. areas here will need to bring cooler conditions in the next few days. as for europe, remaining windy across the british isles. strong gusts reported here. it is heading towards the scandinavian peninsula. it is windy erin the area. in the baltic coastline, you will see rougher conditions. high remaps 17 degrees, 22 for berlin. 29 in vienna. warm in parts of continental europe. that's the look at the weather. here is the outlook.

it is heading towards the here is the outlook.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." thanks for joining us.