10:00 p.m. in tokyo, welcome to "newsline". i'm michio kijima with the news at this hour. officials in japan are wrestling with a very big problem. what to do with the millions of tons of debris created by the march 11th tsunami. crews spent months moving it to disposal facilities, and the job won't be finished for many months. what happens next? the environment ministry held a major meeting on tuesday in

tokyo to try it find some answers. nhk world's reporter starts things off. >> reporter: disposal of a huge amount of debris is a key part of the reprocessing of the disaster area, but a sticking point is concerns about possible radioactive contamination of the debris. a meeting to sort out the problems is being held right behind me. authorities in charge from cities and towns nationwide are attending. >> at the beginning of the meeting, the environment minister said disposing of this is one of the primary responsibilities for the government. >> translator: reconstruction of the disaster areas cannot be achieved until we dispose of the vast quantities of debris. the government needs to help the local governments around the country to achieve this. >> the government is counting on municipalities throughout japan to help with the disposal of the rubble. officials from the environment ministry said more than 2,000 tons of debris has already been

trucked out of miyagi and other prefecture, however, nowhere has been found to dump it yet, as many municipalities fear it is contaminated with radioactivity. the officials said they plan to send a radiation specialists hoping they're accept from of the debris and allay their concerns. >> translator: we hope to receive explanatory materials from the central government to give people a deeper understand and will help explain the situation. >> we are doing the utmost to gain the approval of people in our prefecture. people see issues in various ways, so the issue needs to be explained in a it needs to be explained in a way that is understandable. protests against wall street and high unemployment are a continuing in new york. similar rallies are spreading to other cities across the united states. rallies and marches were staged in a park near wall street into

the night on monday. the park has served as the base of the protest campaign for more than two weeks. demonstrators are criticizing the financial sector for creating economic division. after the demonstrations, participants held debates throughout the night. many joined the rallies from outside new york. they discussed plans to organize similar demonstrations in their home towns. i think now what's happened is it's gotten more and more extreme and with the corruption of the political system in general, that's been a cat liesing force. >> i would like to take what i've learned here and contribute it to the group and hopefully organize something like that in oklahoma. >> the organizers say they will continue their campaign and strengthen solidarity with demonstrators around the country via the internet. in los angeles, about 300 protesters gathered in front of the city hall on the third day of rallies in the city. participants have been sending information on the protests,

using online social networking sites. >> we can have 6,000 people around the world watch us. my personal goal is to make this place a better place. the u.s. senate is talking tough on currency valuation. it's going to begin debating a bill to impose sanctions on countries that undervalue their currencies to boost exports. the move is seen as an apparent bid to step up pressure on china. the senate plans to ask the white house to identify nations that engage in currency manipulation. if such countries fail to rectify their policies, the legislation would allow washington to apply tariffs and other economic sanctions. senators are expected to vote on the bill later this week. but observers say the bill is not likely to pass. the republicans, who hold a majority in the lower house, have already expressed opposition. the white house is also taking a cautious stance as china is a

major importer of u.s. goods. amid calls for a stronger yuan, tensions between the two trade giants are expected to rise. china's commerce ministry has criticized move by the u.s. senate. a statement issued by a spokesperson shen danyang said trying to blame another country for u.s. domestic problems is unfair and violation of standard rules. a group of north korean defectors ha flown from japan as south korea as they had requested. they were found drifting in a small boat off central japan last month. the nine defectors, including three children arrived at inchen international airport in seoul. the group left an immigration facility in nagasaki prefecture southwestern japan earlier. the defectors were found in a small wooden boat off the sea of japan. one said he was a fisherman

working to raise funds for the north korean military. they said they hoped to live in south korea. transfer procedures began after the south korean government agreed to accept the defectors. it plans to find out how and why the group left the north. the japan coast guard says north korean defectors planned their escape carefully. they studied the movements and scheduled of north korean patrol boats while they were fishing and timed the escape to avoid detection. the defectors said they left the north korean port of odaejin on september 8 and waited until night when surveillance is less strict. the group traveled along the coast at first. they were also patrol vessels near the south korean coast. the defectors then traveled towards a 38th parallel between the two koreas. they planned to turn there and head to south korea on the third day. but the weather took a turn for the worse. the defectors lost control of their boat. they eventually decided to let

it drift towards japan. they thought they would be able to go to south korea if they were rescued in this country. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: a fashionable japanese female pop group staged their first pop concert in shanghai in late september. most fans there were born in the 1990s. the venue was filled with enthusiasm and passion. this generation grew up using the internet. and has been learning about the cultures of other countries, including japan since their childhoods. china has gone through a huge transformation during this period. in 1989, pro democracy demonstrations in beijing's

tiananmen square were severely put down. during the '90s as the country was undergoing reforms under the open-door policy proposed by the late chinese leader, deng xiaoping, the chinese economy achieved steady growth of about 10% a year. without great effort, people could now obtain the goods they wanted and the information to which previous generations had no access. some young people are now criticized for being spoiled. but others still hope that their views and values can change china. in china, people born in the '90s tend to be classified by the decade in which they were born. and described to have certain unique traits. there are now doubts about them becoming key participants in society and their views are attracting the attention of the general populace, in tonight's report, we take a look at this outstanding generation.

here's nhk world's yut yuta yakotani. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: chinese singer zeng is one of the most popular singers among the generations born in the ' 90s. she herself was born in 1990. her second album has already been released. she's now touring throughout china. zeng owes her popularity to her uniqueness. her voice and unconventional girl next door beauty are capturing the hearts of the younger generation. she often sings out of tune, but even this contributes to her popularity.

>> reporter: within a month after studying guitar lessons, she entered a popular tv audition program. zeng made a strong impression singing and playing a song she wrote herself. on the program, she retired after placing tenth. but her being brave enough to enter the competition in itself impressed young people and boosting her popularity. >> translator: she's unique and honest, she's got a pure voice, too. >> translator: i was not at all afraid of going on the air. i just wanted many people to hear my songs. >> reporter: this is a prestigious university in shanghai. it's the home base of a four-member group whose creativity is drawing the attention of their generation.

>> translator: you must be talking about 5023. the group that invented a lot of things. >> translator: i knew about them even before i entered this university. they are so cool. >> reporter: last year, all four members of the group were in included in the chinese government's list of the ten most outstanding students in the country. they are majoring in electronic engineering. immediately after entering the university, they began developing devices and software for fun. they took movies on their inventions and released the

films on the university's website. the films got more than one million hits. >> translator: our rooms are full of stuff that can be operated by remote control. this is the remote for the lighting. i can turn it on and off by pushing this button. >> reporter: their inventions include software for memorizing english words and a device that protect bicycles from theft. many of these inventions bebecame popular with students and became the most talked-about things on campus. experts point out that people born in the 1990s have grown up during a time when the internet is part of people's everyday lives. so their personalities are very different from chinese-born people then. >> translator: they are not afraid to insist on what they believe in. and are good at self-expression.

they like to have fun. but at the same time, tend to take a rebellious attitude. when they grow up, they will have an impact on chinese society as a whole. >> reporter: older generations often say young people have younger range of understanding. but some say they will bring china a bright future. attention is focused on what kind of changes in new breed of chinese will bring to the country when they establish themselves in society. nhk world, shanghai. three scientists studying cosmology have won this year's nobel prize in physics. >> the royal academy of sciences has decided to award the 2011 nobel prize in physics with one-half to professor sau saul parmutter, lawrence

berkeley national laboratory and university of california, berkeley, usa. and the other half jointly to professor brian schmidt. supernova research team, australia national university, western creek, australia. and professor adam riess, supernova search team, john hopkins university and space telescope science institute, baltimore. >> the nobel committee in stockholm announced the winners on tuesday. two americans, saul permutter and adam riess and an australian, brian schmidt were awarded the top award in the field. the committee said they're studying dozens of exploded stars, called supernovas led them to conclude that the universe is continuing to expand. the study surprised the world, the expansion of the universe had thought to have been slowing down.

in the second part of our series on refugees, tonight we take a look at people from myanmar. currently, half a million of them are thought to be displaced, both inside the country and around the world. some ended up in japan. last thursday, 18 refugees from myanmar left for japan under its pilot scheme to resettle displaced people, now in its second year. the four families fled myanmar and had been living at a camp in northwest thailand. in japan they will look for work and a place to live while finishing half a year's program to learn about the culture and language. many who came on the program last year faced problems adjusting and learning japanese. nhk world's yuko aotani looks at a recently released documentary that tells the story of myanmarese who have made a home in japan and details the difficulties they face. >> this film follow as group of myanmarese over three years, including march when the earthquake and tsunami struck. rather than just look out for

themselves, the refugees headed for the disaster area. the documentary offers an explanation of why. refugees from myanmar already had more than their share of trouble. but since the disaster, they've been offering their services as volunteers, everything from digging mud out of buildings, to preparing meals for survivors. on one particular day, nearly 100 myanmarese had traveled to the area to help out. most of them had fled their homeland with only the clothes on their back. >> reporter: already accustomed to adversity, the assume sil up seekers banded together to bring aid and comfort to japan's northeast. director celia was born in argentina of japanese parents

and has made several films about immigrants and refugees over the years. well thank you very much for joining us today. now, why did these myanmarese people go to disaster areas to volunteer when they themselves are facing a lot of trouble, fleeing their own country as well. >> some people say they went to the disaster area to help because they understand the feelings of what it is to lose their houses or what it is to lose their families. but what i felt mostly that was they really wanted to help japan, because japan is their host country and they say that it is a natural thing for them to help others. and things cannot be done alone. but they strongly believe that they can do things in large groups. so that's why they came together and took action. >> but the way that it came to be in japan, is a story in itself. in 1988, the military seized power after quashing student-led

anti-government demonstrations, opposition leader, aung san suu kyi, was put under house arrest. those who challenged the regime feared for their lives, many escaped the country. more than 8,000 myanmarese currently live in japan, many of whom are seeking refugee status. >> so for three years you've been looking at the lives of myanmarese here in japan. what are some of the hardships you observed during that time? >> one of the problems in japan is that the refugee system is not well established. and most are not recognized as refugees. and they don't have a proper resident status. and actually they're just allowed to stay in japan for humanitarian reasons. and so some live in fear, what if i'm caught by the immigration burg burg or the police. some have little chances working in part-time jobs like restaurants and spending most of their time doing demonstrations.

so i think that their lives in japan are so unstable and would tend to ignore their lives. >> i see and the film also shows that these people have not forgotten where they came from, despite their suffering and passage of time. and here's a scene that illustrates the point. many of the myanmarese in japan actively support the struggle for democracy in their home country. one of them goes by the pseudonym myat. she saw images of another military crackdown in myanmar. outraged, she immediately joined the demonstration here without thinking about the consequences.

>> reporter: last november, aung san suu kyi was finally freed from house arrest. >> reporter: now we understand that the asylum seekers have to struggle against all sorts of difficulties. but how about you? as a director, what problems did you encounter in making this film? >> it was not easy to find people that could show their faces. because many myanmarese have left their families back in burma. so the most difficult thing was to show the real, to show their real names or not. and they wanted to show respect for what they did for japan. and but on the other hand, i

wanted to protect their security. so finally, or let's say unwillingly, i had to make a decision to put all their false names. so but i really wish that some day i could show this movie with their own real names. >> i see. and why are you involved in this point? the government of myanmar underwent some changes, at least on the surface it seems. how are the memories in japan looking at these changes? >> it's a new step and the president is calling for the myanmarese overseas to come back. but most of the myanmarese in japan let's say are suspicious about it. because their security is not guaranteed. they've been living here in japan for 20 years. without being able to go to their home town. so they cannot believe that easy. so but the burmese in japan want to believe that now is the time

for a new step of reconciliation. and also i wish that the politicians in burma would see this movie. and to open up for a new future. >> right. so we'll keep an eye on how the situation in myanmar develops. sees celia, thank you very much for joining us. for our third part of our series, we focus on boat people who fled war-time vietnam in the late 1970s. here are the latest market figures.

mai shoji is up next with weather. hi there and welcome back. let's talk about weather. now let's first talk about this tropical storm. this is nalgae. it's now moving in a westerly direction at the speed of 20 kilometers per hour. it is just over the southern tip of hainan as of now. it will be moving towards the gulf of tankan as it decreases intensity and making landfall in vietnam. bringing the rainfall, significant amounts. as you can see, in the next 72 hours, it's going to be more than 200 millimeters in some areas. just south of hanoi in vietnam. now, this system is also going

to be bringing lots of torrential rain just in much of hainan, as well. southwestern china, as well as the indochina peninsula is also affected from the storm. the southwest monsoon is being enhanced. now in the philippines, as you can see, amounts of rainfall to come in luzon in northern philippines. this is the area where those previous consecutive storms had hit. and the flooding situation, not alleviated yet. but unfortunately there's another tropical low developed just over the pacific, which is on its way towards the area that where the land is already saturated. and so flooding, landslides, mudslides, these are all going to be at risk in much of these areas that have i mentioned earlier. now we have another low pressure system. this front is going to be developed on wednesday. so southwestern islands of japan and northern tie juan is going to be looking at very heavy rain to come. more than 400 millimeters have been reported in okinawa.

it's going to be continuing for just a little while longer and that's going to be moving towards western and central parts of japan. so some isolated thunderstorms may be popping up in the next 24. it's going to be a very chilly and wet day for us in tokyo. meanwhile, korean peninsula looking very dry and china, much of the area is going to be dry as well. northeastern china, though, we may see some showers. nothing too significant. here are your temperatures. tokyo at 17 degrees. so that's a pretty cool drop. seoul at 21 and 25 in beijing. chongqing at 25. here in north america, we've got this system just over the british columbia, low pressure system and associated front will be bringing very windy and wet conditions. now, this system is going to be descending. and as it does so, the jet stream will be drooping down. down towards even arizona. cooler air is going to be building up. in the sierra nevadas, we may

see some mountain snow, up to about 15 centimeters high today. and tomorrow, overnight it's going to be very chilly. and we'll take a look at the temperatures later on. but in towards the end of the week, those temperatures are dramatically going to be dropping. but ahead of the system, looking very dry. and that dry condition as well as wind coming in from the south, is going to be creating fire weather just around kansas and nebraska and even the panhandle of texas. here in the northeast, that system will be moving in towards the canadian mayor times, bringing stormy weather there. seattle, 16 degrees, los angeles 21, but phoenix, 33 as of tuesday high. on thursday, it might become 23 or lower 20s, so it's going to be a very dramatic drop as i mentioned earlier. here in europe, we've got no clouds, just over this area. but a couple of systems that will be disturbing the british isles as well as western norway with stormy conditions.

very wet and windy. but here, the iberian peninsula, as you can see, summer weather for you and very warm just around much of the area. as you can see. here's your extended forecast.

that's our broadcast this hour on "newsline," we'll be back with more news in half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. bye-bye.