i'm shery ahn. flood water began to spread into thai area. more than 2 million people have been effected by flooding elsewhere in the country. 342 people have died. water reached a few kilometers from the airport where the government has the taskforce. the airport terminal is serving as shelter for 1700 evacuees who

are sleeping in tents. north of the airport has been inundated. it is one of seven industrial parks to have flooded. hundreds of manufacturing firms have been effected. the yen hit an all-time high against the dollar on friday. it reached 75.78 at one point in new york. the highest before, 39.95. -- 75.95. market sources say expectations that leaders would come up with ways to ease concern about europe's debt problems let investors the sell the dollar and buy the euro. another factor, growing concern about the economy. the yen came to be seen as a relatively safe currency. another factor is growing concern about the outlook for the u.s. economy. the yen was seen as a relatively safe currency. in september last year, the

japanese government and bank of japan intervened in the foreign exchange market for the first time in six and a half years. the green back continued to fall against the yen. yen buying accelerated on march 17 after the massive earthquake and tsunami in japan. the dollar briefly fell to 76.25 yen. the lowest it had been in nearly 16 years. the japanese government and bank of japan began to have intervention with other countries. it held down the yen, but the dollar gradually fell because of the growing credit problems in europe. on august 4th, the japanese government decided a strong yen would have too harmful an impact on efforts to rebuild. it intervened in the market again and eased the money supply at the same time, but on august

19th the dollar was trading at a record high of 75.95 yen in new york after a major credit rating agency downgraded u.s. debt. growing concern about the global economic outlook continued to prompt investors to buy the yen as a way to avoid risk. the death of moammar gadhafi they are gathering a system called galileo. the satellites were carried to space friday by a russian rocket. the european space agency says it went into orbit at 23,000 kilometers. it is aimed at cutting europe's reliance on the global positions system developed by the u.s. military. designed for civilian purposes and will start in 2014.

it cost 5 billion euros or $7 billion. the question is how european conditions will keep paying for it amid their financial problems. japan is to rebuild. japanese universities will soon be training afghan officials. a ceremony to welcome the first group of 47 students was held at the afghan embassy in tokyo on friday. over the coming eight years, the japan international cooperation agency plans to send up to 500 young afghan civil servants to graduate schools in japan. the students would get the knowledge and skills they need to build infrastructure and develop agriculture.

they hope they will use what they learn to help afghanistan develop and that they'll encourage friendship between afghanistan and japan. the japanese government has decided to give out free round trip air tickets to 10,000 people living abroad during the next fiscal year. this is aimed at promoting the country's tourism that's being seriously hurt by the march disaster. the government's tourism agency will launch the program next april. the agency made the announcement friday. he says this will mark the start of a major campaign to lure foreign visitors. he expressed hope to get a budget of $14 million for the program. the agency estimates a total of 540,000 foreigners visited japan last month. that's down almost 25% from a year earlier. decline has been continuing for

seven straight months. attributed to radiation scare following the fukushima nuclear power plant accident as well as the yen strength. the agency plans to invite applications online to receive free tickets, travelers are requested to present travel plans to the agency. the government is hoping they will spread information about their trips to other people. it is time to check some of the stories we gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item from btv in bangladesh. the bangladesh government is stepping up efforts to boost law enforcement by purchasing new equipment and training personnel. the country's elite rapid action battalion or rab will require two u.s. made helicopters next year. the self especially sea choppers have a speed of 250 kilometers per hour and are already used in

50 countries. >> it will enhance our overall capability. >> the rabs also are acquiring other vehicles and high tech equipment to modernize the country's police force. indonesian president has lifted a two year ban on sending domestic workers to mal asia. the ban was imposed in june of 2009 after alleged cases of abuse. he made the decision after meeting with their prime minister in jakarta. he called on employers not to abuse maids physically or psychologically. they will benefit from a minimum wage set by the government as well as weekly day off. hong kong authorities have earmarked 64 million u.s. dollars to set up an international cuisine training institute.

besides developing professional chefs, the school aims to promote catering, tourism, and the wine trading. the chief executive says he wants to develop the territory into what he called the ultimate food paradise. under the plan, 12,000 square kilometer facility will accommodate some 2,000 students, including overseas applicants. the new school its expected to begin operating in 2015. here is your extended weather forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm shery ahn. thanks for watching.

7692. 1, 2. 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2. 641. prime number. 1092. prime number. ♪

>> translator: the phone number of the japanese restaurant is 137. prime number. >> this one's held in the uk? >> that's right. there are 20 problems in all. the time limit is 2 1/2 hours. >> and your goal? >> my goal is to solve all of them.

i'll start in five seconds. here we go. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> you must think logically and build on each result. the fact that you have to reach deep gives you enormous pleasure when you finally solve the problem. another thing is when you change your perspective just a little, problems can untangle so easily. almost like a wire puzzle.

and this feels so good as well. i'll get back to this later. >> hi there. i'm sosu, the prime number. i'm going to show you the rules. this is a puzzle where you fill the grids with numbers one through nine and guess the sum. take this three, for instance. if you place one and two like this you get one plus two is three.

you get the four next to it the same way. another thing. you can't use the same number in one edition. all in all, it's complex. no wonder arimatsu, the world champ, decides to work on it later. >> okay. finished. >> how was it? >> it says 225 points out of 300. it was difficult. there were two that i couldn't

solve. they're called digital inequality. the instructions said there are multiple solutions to the problems. although i started working on it, the thing about multiple solutions got in my way and i couldn't complete it. >> multiple solutions aren't good? >> no, not good. not beautiful, i must say. i get a stronger sense of accomplishment if there's just one solution. >> the answer sheet is teeming with numbers, but there's only one way for the numbers to fill the grids. so they can tell if the answer is correct when only a part of the solution is sent to them.

to feel the joy of finding the solution, the puzzle must take on difficult problems one after another. the puzzle is like the universe. they're under the spell of the beauty of a single answer emerging from the possibilities that appear infinite. ♪ ♪

>> i must admit it's frustrating. i'm really happy that a japanese won the championship for the first time, but on the other hand, i feel frustrated because it wasn't me.

all right. i'm done. what? so many mistakes.

well, other than those online, i carry some books and magazines around. this is called number place fan. and the quality of puzzles in magazines is good which makes them generally fun to solve. i think it costs 315 yen a month. just right for my commute. so i became a member and play. it's just right for waking up. >> perhaps you can show us something you can do really quickly.

>> that's medium level. >> wow. jo sure is fast. i'll explain the rules now. this is a puzzle where you connect the dots to form a loop. each number must be enclosed with the same number of sides. you see a three here surrounded by three sides. the line can't go around a zero. lines can't branch across one o. another. by connecting the dots like this, you get a complete loop in the end. it's so cool.

okay. that went smooth. >> one minute? >> i can finish this size in a minute or so. normally your capabilities tend to slip when you get older. it's really great that he can get results when he's almost 50. but on the other hand, i'm quite good at puzzles that require a certain sophistication with numbers. so i'm optimistic. i think i'll get the chance one day. i want to improve a bit more for that to happen.

>> how do you value what your ability and mr. jo's skills at the moment? >> well, to be fair, i think he is more capable. he has a quick mind. i'm impressed with his youth and instantaneous thoughts. i'm competing against his qualities with the wisdom of age. but i'm more experienced in a variety of puzzles. so i have more experience to draw upon. and think like, hey, i've seen this before.

>> oh, darn. >> this is not good at all. >> wait. i'm giving you time. take it, dad. >> okay. i see. two people fight for the 50 cards. >> crushing defeat, wasn't it. >> i know. it's frustrating. actually while walking the dog lately i'm not only practicing prime factorization, but also reciting the 100 wakapumps. but it's hard to compete with you.

probably hold up for about two hours. >> okay. >> i like iced coffee. i love coffee. i might get distracted. lately many competitions are held in india. when i solve the examples, i can sort of tell the level the writers are aiming at. it feels good when i solve them. if they offer such good puzzles as examples, i expect the actual puzzles to be really good. >> okay. right. frankly, i'd like to win this.

i'll make absolutely sure not to make careless mistakes. ♪ ♪

>> yeah, i'm done. ♪ i had fun. if there was time left to solve these two, i would have gone high on the list, i think. ♪

>> 3752 just went by. divide by 2, you get 1876. divide by 2 again and it's 938. divide by 2 again and you get 469. 469 can be divided by 7 and you get 67. yeah, that's it. >> you just enjoy this. >> yes, it's fun.