glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it is monday, october 17th, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. thailand's worst rainfall in 50 years caused flooding in northern and northeastern parts of the country. residents of bangkok are on maximum alert as high tides will continue several days.

our reporter has more on that. >> reporter: northern and central parts of thailand were inundate with the flooding of the river that runs towards the thai capitol. it is in and around homes. they are bracing for possible flood damage and tides reached the highest levels since the heavy rainfall began. now the water level of the river is still rising. as you can see, water spread its banks into the shopping streets. bangkok residents are on high alert because of heavy rainfall and high tide. bangkok is located in a delta area. if the river overflows, it will cause widespread damage. >> the damage is getting worse day by day.

we are losing business. >> all i can do is to wait for the rain season to end. workers are reinforcing barriers by piling sand bags at subway entrances and in front of department stores. residents are stockpiling necessities for possible emergency. the boats launched an operation to speed up drainage of flood water into the sea. the thai government asked the owners of about 1,000 boats to use their propellers to speed up the flow of water into the sea. floods hit northern and central thailand, killing 297 people. flood water has inundated five

industrial complexes, effecting about 330 japanese firms. thai weather officials say that sea water levels will remain high for several more days. and the heavy rainfall is forecast to continue until the end of the month. japan's prime minister noda says they plan to send a unit on a peace keeping mission to south sudan. noda spoke to 800 self defense personnel at a ceremony sunday. >> the self defense forces achieved various results. the government is making its

final evaluation of what they will be able to offer south sudan. japan should join such u.n. missions to be respected and trusted by the international community. >> he expresses intention to send a ground self defense engineering unit to south sudan. he said the japanese people were impressed by the rely ability that more than 1,000 personnel showed after the march disaster. referring to the situation in northeast asia, noda said the japan security environment is becoming increasingly unclear. he says north korea has made provocative action and china has been building up military capability and stepping up activities in the waters near japan. he said boosting japan's defense capability for greater sdf mobility and more rapid response is an urgent issue. the u.s. president, barack obama, raised more money for the

2012 election campaign than his rival candidates in the republican party. the u.s. federal election committee issued a report on july to september fund-raising of the candidates. the report says obama raised $79.2 million for his re-election campaign. the most popular republican candidate at present, former massachusetts governor, mitt romney, corrected $14.1 million. the republicans rising star, former pizza franchise owner herman cain had only $2.8 million. obama's campaign headquarters said the staff increased by 1.5 in the last three months when additional branches were opened across the country. the latest poll finds less than 40% of the u.s. population predict obama will be reelected. he is expected to use abundant funds to mobilize grass roots staff to bolster his campaign

network. a british tabloid reported an aide to david cameron disposed of work related documents in trash cans in a london park near downing street. the daily mirror reported friday that his chief policy adviser letwin was seen dumping papers in st. james park five different days last month through october 10th. the photographs show him throwing the documents away. reports say the discarded papers included documents containing constituents' personal details like phone numbers and another made by a parliamentary committee on transfer of terror suspects. a spokesperson for letwin says he sometimes disposed of documents in the park before going to work, but insists none of the papers carried classified information. but the revelation led to increased criticism of the government's handling of

sensitive information. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan, post march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. nuclear watch brings insite. and the road ahead examines the efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newsline." the japanese government and tokyo electric power company say the cold shutdown of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant will be achieved by the end of this year, a month earlier than they had originally announced. the information will be included in a revised timetable for containing the nuclear crisis that will be issued on monday. the revision comes after temperatures around reactors one, two and three dropped to less than 100 degrees celsius, and the amount of radioactive

material being emitted has decreased to about half the level of a month ago. the government and tepco say the latest survey show estimated radiation levels of about 100 million becquerels per hour. they also say measures to achieve a state of stable shutdown are progressing steadily. in addition, they announced that a giant polyester covering for the number one reactor building will be completed by the end of october. goshi hosono, the minister in charge of the nuclear disaster, said in september that they would try to achieve cold shutdown by the end of this year. the households that makeup this district near the plant have scattered with no clear prospect of returning. the community members managed to carry on, thanks to a newsletter

published by one of their own. >> it is a small newsletter, published for the residents. after the evacuation prompted by the nuclear accident, the newsletter began so community members could keep track of each other. 16 editions have been printed since april. 73-year-old publishes the newsletter. he now lives with his wife some 200 kilometers from home. it is a district surrounded by mountains. he says the people of the town are like one big family, always helping each other. he manages the entire publishing process from editing to delivery. he first looked up a few addresses. then after sending the first

edition, messages from community members poured in, letting him know how they are doing. >> translator: after the evacuation, there was nothing to do except eat and sleep. i lived on the land for 85 years, and let me tell you, it was a rough time. >> the words of a woman that now lives with her daughter. born and raised there, she enjoyed working the fields and chatting with her neighbors. >> it's really sad. believe me, i have shed lifetime of tears. the first edition of the newsletter reached her on the very day she turned 85. i found this in the late afternoon. i didn't know the newsletter was

being published. i was so happy to receive it. >> the newsletter lifted her spirits. she started taking walks to make sure she will be strong enough for her return there. >> translator: well, 4.5 micro seefrts per hour, that's the level of radiation i found in my garden when we returned home briefly july 31st. >> as a farmer who grew rice and pears, he is in a quandary. when he temporarily returned home to collect personal belongings, he discovered that his pear orchard was in terrible condition and the radiation level he measured was still twice the official limit for come pulse re evacuations.

he is now working for a gardening company. he hopes this will help him start his business again after his return. at this point, keeping track of fellow community members through the newsletter inspires him to carry on. >> i know they're working hard to overcome the obstacles and i also need to keep pushing myself. >> since april, the newsletter carried four obituaries. the departured symbolize the plight of the evacuees. >> translator: to live like that while away from home. it's just beyond words.

>> every single day, he makes a point of writing down impressions. >> failing to return would be a defeat. we must demonstrate to those responsible for the nuclear accident that we are determined to return there and restart our lives. >> scattered across japan because of nuclear radiation, the people have not given up, thanks in part to the messages of hope carried by their newsletter. workers to contain the crisis will attend next week's ceremony for spain's prestigious award. this year's award for concorde will be given to police officers, firefighters, and self defense force personnel who battled to cool the damaged reactors and helped evacuate residents from around the plant.

four officers from the metropolitan police department, tokyo fire department, and one self defense force member will attend the ceremony. the award was established in 1981. individuals and organizations are honored for achievements in scientific, cultural and social fields. the ceremony will be held in northern spain on friday. the kilogram is one unit of measure people have long relied on. now the international standard is likely to be reviewed the first time in 120 years. scientists of the world will look at alternative ways to define the standard during the general assembly of the member states of the treaty of the meter in paris, which will start on monday. currently, the standard is the international prototype

kilogram, a platinum and you are i did yum mass about four centimeters high. it is kept at the international bureau of weights and measures in a suburb of paris. it is being used when making scales and instruments for measuring weight since the end of the 19th century. however, it has lost a slight amount of weight when it was cleaned, and its superdelegate september ability to change is a concern. one of the ways to define the units was developed by a group of japanese scientists. national institute of advanced science and technology developed a method that uses the number of atoms to define weight. a member of the international committee of the bipm which will decide the new standard says the existing unit was not highly accurate at the level of very small units like a microgram. >> translator: if a new standard is adopted, tg crypt to

advancement of science and technology, including nano technology and biotechnology. >> the assembly will vote whether the standard should be revised on friday, the last day of the assembly. japanese electronics makers are developing tv sets with a resolution of more than 8 million pixels, four times the current level. toshiba will release a new high definition tv in december that shows 3-d images without requiring viewers to use special glasses. sharp plans to launch a model with improved perspective next year. sony will start selling large screen high-definition video projectors for family use in december. japanese makers are hoping to create demand with the new models as there has been a sharp decline in domestic tv sales since the switch to digital broadcasting in july. sales in the united states and europe, two major markets for japanese tv manufacturers, also remain sluggish.

solar power is one use of renewable energy. a race began in australia. the race also a big competition between japanese and u.s. solar panel producers that want to show case their advanced solar power technologies. we have a report from darwin. >> it will travel about 3,000 kilometers during the race. 37 teams from 20 countries are taking part in the race.

>> translator: i think the technology is improving every year. >> translator: they run so fast. i think it is a future technology. >> the organizer -- the teams are only allowed to use affordable for home use, not the hybrid ones for satellites. japan and united states -- the japan university won the previous competition by a wide margin. the team hopes to win the race. it can convert 22% of the energy from the sun into electricity.

they are among the world's most efficient batteries. tokyo university team combined different types of compartments with different features. they hope this arrangement will successfully compensate for the weak point of the battery, which used their energy conversion capability. he is a member of the tokyo university team and advises on solar technology. one of his duties is to collect information on the other team's solar battery. most of the participating teams are using batteries made by a u.s. sunpower. they have a unique structure.

the electrodes are on the reverse side, allowing the batteries to absorb the maximum amount of sunlight. >> they are flexible, they're the highest efficiency, just straight solar efficiency, so they're just an easy choice for us. >> the dutch team was beaten in the previous race when it finished second. it also failed to gain a fifth consecutive victory. the team hopes to win this year's race with sunpower batteries. >> we have spoken with a specific japanese manufacturer, but although they have very, very good cells, sunpower was a little better. therefore we chose sunpower over japanese cells. >> they said they designed the best machine by using sunpower batteries. we really have to do better.

i think it is like a battle between japan and the world. i am excited to watch the differences. >> they finished second on the first day of the race, closely followed by the dutch team. they are expected to reach a southern city of add laid thursday. let's look at the global weather forecast. welcome back for the weather update. looking at clear skies for much of eastern china and the korean peninsula thanks to an area of high pressure. for japan, it will be largely sunny today throughout the country, except for the northwest section. there is going to be a little

precipitation hanging around, mostly rain, but some areas talking about snow as we have a lot of colder air coming on in here. now across southeast asia, still plenty of showers to contend with here, northern philippines looking pretty wet today, towards indochina peninsula as well. mostly the southern half of the peninsula starting to look at the focus of the heavier rains today as well as central vietnam, looking at a chance of heavier downpours. watch for that. deadly flooding has been a serious problem across the peninsula. looks like you'll continue to see more showers hanging around. highs on monday, things on the cool side for seoul. only 13 degrees during the day. tokyo expecting 25 degrees, 24 in shanghai. slightly hotter in manilla with a high of 33 with thundershowers. as for the americas, looking at a lot of activity towards the caribbean islands. central americas have been reporting some heavy rains since last week, and they do continue again today.

just a lot of tropical activity, continuing to dump showers. watch for further flooding and landslide risks. towards north america, a well developed low pressure system here moving through the eastern canada. this is moving at a slow pace, so we will be talking about gusty conditions and precipitation hanging around areas like quebec and ontario in the next couple days. some of that rain impacting the northeastern end of the u.s. as well. for central sections, we have a low that's going to quickly drop out of the rockies headed for the plain states as it heads to warmer areas, could produce stronger storms. then for the pacific northwest, british columbia stays wet again. coastal areas looking at rain, and upper elevations may be looking at snow. highs on monday, win peg, in the single digits. only eight degrees. chicago into the mid teens as does toronto. then d.c. at 22. still on the mild side, but

looking warmer in the south, houston looking at a high of 33 degrees. a couple of scattered thundershowers across the southern end of the balance can peninsula and towards turkey. a low pressure system here, rain will continue to hang around turkey another day. up towards the northwest, more developed systems starting to come through. rain spreads to the british isles and scandinavian peninsula. a lot of cool air coming on. temperatures will be dropping for northern end of the british isles. monday's highs only 9 for stockholm. 10 in warsaw. cooler here. more seasonable temperatures here. that's a look at your weather conditions for now. here is the three day outlook.

before we go, we have a story from japan's southernmost prefecture of okinawa. the first world dance festival in naha city over the weekend. it is the traditional folk dance. people from the united states and brazil with objecting now a in roots participate. it is to coincide with a

worldwide reunion. it is held every five years. this year, the festival attracted more than 5,000 people from 25 different countries and regions. the largest turnout ever. >> i am from hawaii. it has been 40 years. >> it feels like visiting my old home. >> a group from brazil performed a dance based on the theme of immigrants crossing the ocean by ship. third generation immigrant made his first visit to okinawa this year. he began practicing this dance ten years ago when he became interested in his roots. >> i have to show to the world my culture. >> about 4,000 immigrants and their descendants now live around the world, including the u.s., philippines, and latin

american countries. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com