glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it is monday, october 24th. 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. a powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit eastern turkey on sunday, collapsing dozens of buildings. the country's government says at least 130 people have been killed. the u.s. geological survey says the quake had a depth of 20 kilometers, and the epicenter was close to the iranian border. video footage from the city of van near the epicenter shows rescue workers searching the rubble near the collapsed multi-story building. the video also shows people

fleeing from buildings. the mayor of van told the local media the quake had destroyed buildings in the city center and had caused damage to the local airport. all flights from the airport have been canceled. at least 45 people have been killed in the northern town, the worst hit area. libya's new leaders have declared the liberation of the country from 42 years of dictatorship under former leader moammar al gadhafi. the chairman of the national transitional council, mustafa abdel jalil, spoke to hundreds of jubilant people in the northern city of benghazi on sunday.

the eight-month civil war between the gadhafi government and opposition forces led by the ntc ended on thursday with the death of the former leader. nato will end its military operations soon. but power struggles have already surfaced within the ntc. various tribes and religious groups are jockeying for positions in the interim administration. gadhafi has yet to receive a burial as no consensus has been reached on how or where it should take place. tunesians went to the polls sunday to vote in the first parliamentary elections since the ousting of the president in january, bringing an end to his 23 year dictatorship. more than 10,000 candidates from 66 parties are vying for 217 parliamentary seats. ballot counting at 4600 polling

stations is expected to take several days. >> i'm so happy to vote and this is the first time in my life to be in this experience, so i like it so much. >> the islamist party whose name means renaissance has emerged as the frontrunner. garnering support from the poor. it is followed by the progressive democratic party which calls for separation of religion and politics. winners of the election will be tasked with writing a new constitution and will lay ground work for a presidential election after the drafting of the constitution. tunesia was the first country to overthrow leaders in the so-called arab spring. other countries effected by the movement will be watching closely. time to check in with our business desk. looks like it will be a busy week with the markets, in the

markets with big focus on what's happening in europe. >> busy week indeed. european leaders wrapped up sunday their first meeting in brussels. participants agreed to strengthen the capital banks in the region, but final arrangements on other issues were put off until wednesday. we have more from brussels. >> reporter: eu leaders discuss comprehensive measures to address the debt crisis causing problems with the global economy. they want to increase capital to about $130 billion in total to restore financial soundness. however, the leaders have yet to reach a consensus on reinforcing the bailout fund known as the european financial stability facility. france wants the european central bank to be involved in the funding, while germany

opposes the idea. though both countries showed willingness to compromise, they could not bridge the gap. >> translator: it is important that everyone shares the same opinion. the difference of opinion on the efsf is narrowing. >> reporter: the european union is also asking the commercial banks holding greek government bonds to increase debt waivers. >> we are working in the spirit of compromise, in a spirit of having an ambitious package to reassure the rest of the world of our determination to safeguard financial stability. we are confident that we will get an agreement on wednesday. >> reporter: if the eu cannot contain the crisis, the global economy will fall into greater turmoil. it all hinges on whether the member states can unite in the

next meeting on wednesday. >> and following that weekend weekend of eu leaders, investors will be keen to see how it will affect trade here in asia. to get an idea how stocks may open, our market reporter is standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning to you. what can we expect for tokyo markets opening in under an hour? good morning to you. with market investors watching closely over the weekend events in europe, markets in asia are going to be the first to react to any agreements on how that plays into the market. we'll watch how they kickoff in under an hour. following on from the weekend meetings, we're going to have a look at the currency markets now. you can see there the dollar yen trading 76.26-27.

hur oh yen, 105.58-62. the dollar trading in narrow range, and the yen hit a record high friday around 75.78 on expectations of something coming out of meetings over the weekend. moving on to the stocks and the s&p 500 asx 200 in sydney, australian stock exchange is trading higher, compared to friday's close when it was down about three points. the big focus really will be on this wednesday when the eu summit holds its second meeting in four days, and markets are going to be focusing on any resolution that european leaders have for the debt crisis, and with recapitalization of major european banks, we're going to be closely watching that, and at

the top of this hour, i'm going to have a full update on how the nikkei kicks off and with the stronger yen how it may effect key blue chip exporters and other yen sensitive stocks. for now, back to you in the studio. >> all right. see you in about an hour. the market reporter from the tokyo stock exchange. let's recap some of the latest market figures. that's it for this hour in business. back to katherine. >> thanks very much. the flooding in thailand is hurting the country's tourism industry with visitors staying away from the capital bangkok. water from the overflowing chao phraya river in bangkok hit the suburbs on saturday.

at the buddhist temple near the river in bangkok, the number of foreign tourists on sunday were around 80% lower than usual. overseas tour groups are cancelling their visits. >> translator: there are few tourists today because of the flooding. everyone is worried. >> it's high. so i'm expecting it to come over. i do worry for the residents. >> tourism is one of thailand's key industries, attracting around 14 million foreign visitors annually. the road ahead looks at the painful process of moving on. nearly 4,000 people are listed as missing from japan's march 11th disaster. some families are continuing to search for their loved ones, but

an increasing number of people are seeking closure. they're holding funerals for their missing relatives to say good-bye one last time. >> people gathered for a funeral this month in miyagi prefecture. they paid tribute to this woman who disappeared after the march 11th tsunami flooded the town. her body was never found. she left behind two grandsons. the brothers believed she would come home someday. their grandmother raised the boys after their parents left them. they survived the tsunami because they were at school on

higher ground. she was home near the coast when the waves came ashore. after the disaster, the boys kept going back to where their house used to stand. their foster mother went with them. they looked for clues about their grandmother's whereabouts. >> we comment find anything. >> i'm sad. >> seven months after the march 11th disaster. they showed signs they were ready to accept their grandmother's death. she thought a funeral would help the brothers come to terms with

their loss. >> translator: they've now settled into their new routine. and that gives them enough time and composure to think about their grandmother. i think we should give her a funeral so they cap say good-bye to her once and for all. >> the family decided to hold the funeral october 7th. it would have been her birthday. they put soil from where their home used to stand in an urn in place of her ashes. on the eve of the funeral, he abruptly said his grandmother might have survived the tsunami. >> i'm quite certain she fled our home.

it's possible she went into the mountains. >> then she must still be alive. >> maybe she built a house in the mountains. >> you think building a house is that easy? >> he dismissed the remarks. she watched as they sorted through their feelings. the following day 50 people came to her funeral. they held a ceremony to see off her spirit.

they laid the urn inside the family grave. finally the boys said good-bye to their grandmother. >> translator: i miss grandma, but i guess it's okay if she's going to heaven. >> by holding the funeral, they were able to bid farewell to their grandmother and prepare themselves to move on. >> after spending months waiting to see their grandmother come home alive, the boys finally accepted her death. "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 insight and information on the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. the prime ministers of japan and france have agreed to cooperate in improving the safety of nuclear power plants. japanese prime minister yoshihiko noda met french prime minister francois fillon in tokyo on sunday. they agreed on the importance of strengthening the safety of nuclear power plants to the highest level and confirmed that the two countries will cooperate in cleaning up radioactive substances. >> translator: i believe the statement we released on energy policy and nuclear power, a topic relevant to both japan and the world, was a result of this meeting. >> in the statement, the two

countries agreed to study the possibility of setting up an international emergency response team that would be swiftly dispatched to deal with nuclear accidents. they also decided to create a committee to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the nuclear energy field. referring to credit worries in europe triggered by the financial crisis in greece, noda said the sovereign debt problem is a pressing issue, and japan will help to resolve it. fillon responded that decisive measures are being prepared to overcome the crisis. japan's transport ministry has drawn up guidelines to protect the country's airports from tsunami. this comes after the march 11th disaster which forced regional air travel to temporarily shut down. more than 1,400 people were stranded at sendai airport in miyagi prefecture for three days following the tsunami. the guidelines advise airports to work out an evacuation plan and assist passengers to the

terminal or other buildings in the event of a tsunami. they also call for airport operators to stockpile food and blankets in secure places. the guidelines say airport authorities should direct passenger aircraft to terminals when the aircraft are waiting to take off or after they land. but the guidelines also allow pilots to go ahead with the takeoff, depending on the situation. airports are expected to serve as hubs for rescue activities and transport of emergency relief goods. airport officials are also advised to resume operations for emergency aircraft within three days of a disaster by making plans in advance to clear away wreckage and restore electricity. some of the best of this year's big screen offerings are playing in the japanese capital. the 24th tokyo international film festival is now on.

it is not all glitz and glam. this year, the event is also about giving. nhk world gets a back stage look. >> nine days, 300 films, and plenty of celebrities. jackie chan was at the tokyo international film festival. they star in two of the opening films selected. joke vich here to promote three must at the tears with her husband who directed the film. >> three musketeers was the first movie my father took me to. it is a magical movie for me. i tried to emulate that magic. >> chan starred and directed in his 100th film, 1911, which chronicles the 1911 shing hi

revolution. >> japan, thank you for all your support. japan! >> film makers from 76 countries and regions submitted nearly 1,000 entries. only one japanese film is among the 15 that made it into the festival's competition division. the woods man in the rain depicts the friendship of an old woodsman and young filmmaker. >> i had so much fun filming the movie. >> everyone here is excited the festival is officially on, and they're also a little relieved. organizers seriously considered downsizing, postponing or cancelling after the march 11 earthquake. but as you can see, they hosted it as planned. they are hoping it will help with japan's recovery. >> translator: films are

universal tools that inspire hope, build dreams, and give strength. because of that, we felt it was necessary to hold a film festival at this time. >> there's been a strong quake. >> the festival will present three films in the theme overcoming the disaster. fukushima hula girls is one of them. a documentary following the lives of dancers working to promote their hometown, which is about 60 kilometers from the damaged nuclear plant. >> translator: it's a movie that shows that we are hoping to grow from our experiences and plan our futures one step at a time. >> festival guests from around the world admire their resilience. >> for me, it was no question to come to japan. i hope that it is a good sign. >> i love japan.

my heart goes out for all the survivors and their families. we wanted to come here especially to show our support that westerners are here, coming to support japan. we love you. >> it is not just about special films and sentimental statements. organizers will be collecting donations until the last day of the event. the money will go towards people living in the disaster zones in japan's northeast. sunday's closing film will be brad pitt's "money ball" a film based on a struggle of an american baseball team. >> people that run the tokyo international film festival have high hopes for the event, trying to get it recognized as one of the four major film festivals in the world with kahn, venice, berlin. here is a story from japan's ancient capital of kyoto. a parade of people dressed in costumes from various historical periods has attracted locals and tourists.

the procession of about 2,000 people started at the kyoto imperial palace on sunday and made its way to the heian shrine several kilometers away. the jidai matsuri festival dates back more than 100 years and is one of the city's three biggest festivals. the parade was led by a military band dressed in a style of the meiji era in the late 19th century. the next group represented the popular revolutionaries who helped organize the meiji restoration in the closing days of the feudal period that ended in 1867. a crowd of about 50,000 watched the procession. survivors of the march 11th disaster who live in kyoto were invited to watch the event. a woman says she had to evacuate her hometown in fukushima

because of the nuclear crisis. >> translator: it's really sad that i can't go home because of this crisis. but i feel at ease watching this beautiful parade. let's look at the global weather forecast with saki ochi. welcome to your weather update. let's look at the weather conditions in east asia. a line of clouds stretch across china and the korean peninsula. there is precipitation underneath that. there will be showers, light ones moving through southern china today as they taper off gradually. so it is not going to be a long lasting event. for northern sections across the korean peninsula, eastern china, too. chilly precipitation moving through. could be a mix of snow for northeastern china as well. this moisture is going to head towards japan, especially northern sections and the western flanks. things will turn wetter as you

head through the day. southeast asia, showers and thunderstorms, still widespread across areas like taiwan and the philippines. as for the inched oh china peninsula, looking at scattered showers, focusing on the southeastern corner, including parts of cambodia and vietnam. thailand, too, southern areas looking at some of the wetter weather. central sections may see light showers. hopefully not a major rain event today. however, water levels wilf course remain high as all of that high water moves downstream. for monday, highs across asia. 22 in kocokkoch -- tokyo. beijing up to 28 degrees. the central americas looking at clouds here. looks like a small system. a tropical depression showing signs of strengthening.

could see wetter conditions mainly across honduras looking at wet conditions already. the rains may strengthen in days to come as the system better organizes. also, a frontal system stretching across cuba. that's also bringing showers to the islands here. up towards north america, meanwhile, showers moving through the great lakes region and eastern canada, and also scattered showers popping up along the u.s. canadian border in some elevations meaning snow. 9 degrees in winnipeg, morning lows dipping into freezing levels. east coast, 18 in new york, 21 in d.c. 23 in atlanta. and finally a look at europe here. a lot of activity, gathering strength out west. several systems are working their way in, looking wet for ireland, northern ireland and coastline of the iberian peninsula.

winds are strong. watch for the high wave conditions. rain heading eastward today, spreading and moving across the iberian peninsula and france. there will be isolated heavier rains, too, especially for portugal. watch out for that. out east, not too bad. pretty dry conditions, and extends to the scandinavian peninsula. balance can peninsula and parts of italy could see thunderstorms developing. highs monday will be on the cool side. 7 in kiev. 9 in warsaw. single digits for vienna, iberian peninsula now dropping into the teens. 15 degrees only for the high in madrid. all right. that's a look at the weather for now. here is the three day outlook.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us.