holding back. currency traders wait on the sidelines, watching to see what japan will do next with the yen. it's 10:00 p.m. in tokyo, welcome to "newsline," i'm michio kijima. the japanese government and the central bank are believed to have sold a record amount of yen on monday to try to put a stop to the rise of the country's currency. the intervention by japanese authorities sent the dollar briefly to the 79-yen level monday morning. the bank of japan's data released on tuesday showed that the government will pay 7.68

trillion yen or about $100 billion to financial institutions on wednesday. most of the money is believed to have been used for intervention. the amount far exceeded $5.7 billion to the authorities youed for their last intervention on august 4th. they have stepped into the market three times so far this year, because of the concerns of the yen's excessive strength will hurt the country's economy. despite monday's currency intervention, the dollar is hovering in the lower 78-yen range in european trading. many market players are staying out of the market because of concerns that japan might intervene again in an effort to halt the yen's rise. the greenback is currently trading at 78.20-24, while the euro is at 1.3636-3640. after the monday's intervention pushed the yen down, market participants bought is back on expectations that the u.s. will

ease credit further. as a result the yen had climbed to the 77-yen range at one point before worries of more intervention capped its advance. concerns are mounting over european credit problems following the bankruptcy of a u.s. securities firm. european stocks are taking a beating on tuesday. and shares are plunging following the announcement by greek prime minister george papandreau that his government will hold a referendum on a new bailout package for his country. market sources say the announcement has reignited concerns that the europe's debt crisis may not ease at any time soon. in london, the ftse is now down 3.56%. and france's, germ's dax is shedding 5.87% and france's cac has lost 5.45%. in tokyo stocks extended their losses on tuesday.

investors offloaded a wide range of shares following an overnight selloff in new york. the nikkei finished at 8,835, down 1.7%, or 152 points from monday. market sources say the bankruptcy of a major u.s. financial institution rekindled concerns about europe's debt crisis and prompted investors to dump risky assets. there's also speculation that the impact of japan's massive yen-selling intervention on monday will be short-lived. and that this will send export-related issues down. in other asian markets, hong kong's hang seng was 2.49% lower. and shanghai's key index for major blue chips was 0.15% higher. and the shenzhen, the sse composite was up 0.06%. the japanese government has lowered its land price of

assessments for areas affected by the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. the assessments are used for calculating inheritance and gift taxes. set annually on january 1st. this means that damage from the march 11th disaster was not reflected in this year's calculations. the national tax agency on tuesday released adjusted rates for locations in ten prefectures, these include in 80% plunge for onagawa. in miyagi prefecture. many residents in the town were killed by the tsunami. some other municipalities in miyagi, iwate and fukushima prefectures were assessed with a 70% to 75% drop in land prices. this is the second time the agency has had to adjust its rates in the wake of a disaster. land prices were also downgraded after the great hon shin earthquake strub kobe and the vicinity in 1995. but the maximum price drop at that time was 25%. cheebo prefecture city saw a

land price fall of 40%. this is because liquifaction in the aftermath of the earthquake resulted in major damage, targeting the city's image as a posh residential district. even houses that suffered little damage remain unsold. >> translator: access to tokyo is wonderful. we don't need to change trains. but people will probably think twice about buying a new home here, because of the liquifaction. >> the last price adjustments do not apply it areas around the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. prices there will be assigned zero as it is nearly impossible to evaluate the commercial effect of radioactive contamination on property. the people at japan's space agency have begun work on a challenging task. they are trying to change the course of a spacecraft headed for venus. they want to put the "akatsuki"

probe into orbit. jaxa failed to redirect "akatsuki." the probe had some engine trouble. it's now circling the sun. engineers thought they could make another attempt at putting "akatsuki" into orbit by 2015 at th earliest. they gave up when they discovered the probe's main engine was more badly damaged than they thought. now they hope to use smaller engines to drive the probe into orbit that also circles venus. engineers at a control center near tokyo thrust four smaller engines tuesday for ten minutes. they will do the same thing two more times this month. >> translator: i think we could thrust the probe's engines as scheduled. everything seemed completely normal. we are united in trying to make "akatsuki" japan's first spacecraft to enter the venus orbit. >> project members say they "akatsuki" will not be able to observe venus as originally

planned. still they'll push ahead to enable observations with some scientific significance. japan has decided to dispatch a self-defense unit to south sudan to help rebuild the country after a decades-long civil war. the decision to send the unit to join the u.n. peace-keeping mission was made in a cabinet meeting on tuesday. a preliminary team will arrive in the capital in january toet up camp for the main force comprising some 200 self-defense force troops. defense minister, ichikawa told top ministry and defense force officials to begin preparing for the deployment. >> translator: our engineering unit must begin to take measures ahead of its departure. this is to ensure that it can meet the expectations of south sudan and the united nations. prime minister yoshihiko noda wants to show the world that japan is still capable of

making international contributions following the march 11th disaster. noda told a u.n. general assembly in september that japanese expertise can be of great help in south sudan. >> translator: japan wants to contribute to the development of south sudan. a field in which it is strong. [ cheers and applause ] >> south sudan became independent in july after more than 20 years of bloody civil war. it is one of the leading oil producers in africa. china and the united states are both hoping to get the upper hand in the country, with an eye on securing oil rights. but tensions still exist along the northern border with sudan over oil resources. and within south sudan, there are still sporadic clashes between government forces and insurgents. the self-defense force unit will be based in the capital, juba, where it will rebuild roads.

juba is about 500 kilometers from the border area and the security situation is said to be stable. but the united nations has asked that the sdf conduct activities in the north as well. so sdf troops may also find themselves working outside juba. japan is preparing to resume talks on nuclear energy development with several countries. the negotiations were suspended after the accident at the fukushima power plant in march. an indian foreign ministry official will visit tokyo later this month to restart negotiations on the atomic energy agreement. gautam bambawale is in charge of east asian affairs. japan and india plan to sign an civilian nuclear power agreement, to allow japan to provide nuclear technology to india. however, negotiations were suspended after the accident in fukushima in march. india wants to build more nuclear power plants to support economic growth. the country could become a lucrative market for japan's nuclear industry. however some in japan ar

opposed to deals with india cause e couny is not a gnory toheuclear norofeti tat on monday, prime minister yoshihiko noda met vietnamese prime minister, tan dung in tokyo. he confirmed that japanese companies will help rebuild to nuclear reactors in vietnam. they are scheduled to start operating in 2021. what goes up must come down. and the chinese economy is showing signs of slowing. among the contributing factors is the government's tight money policy. the measures are meant to prevent overheating and curb inflation, but they've also created difficulties for small and medium-sized companies to get financing. as a stop-gap solution, many are falling back on an age-old standby, the pawn shop.

nhk world's ishii has the story. >> reporter: this business in the southeastern china chinese province of guangdong makes toys, mainly for europe and the united states. the eu credit crisis is hurting the company's clients, who began falling behind on their payments since the start of this year. the company president says he's finding it hard to secure enough operating capital. >> translator: i've been running this modest company for 40 years, but i've never seen such a difficult business environment. >> reporter: he has obligations to meet, too, and considered applying for a bank loan to pay his business partners. but he thought the wait would be

too long. he finally found help from a pawn shop which loaned him more than $52,000 on security of 80 boxes of toys. >> translator: it's impossible to raise capital unless we borrow from a pawn shop. >> reporter: this is china's biggest pawn shop chain, operating 20 shops nationwide. this man opened his first pawn shop on hainan island about 20 years ago. he says his money-lending business has been growing among small- and medium-sized firms and so his company soars. >> translator: we've established

good, longstanding relations with many small- to mid-sized companies thanks to the ease of borrowing money from us, our customers' businesses are thriving because of that and that's why they rely on us. >> reporter: previously small- and medium-sized dpirfir used to take out loans from banks. but because of the government's effort to stem excessive investment, the banks now have tighter screening measures. this makes it harder for small companies to borrow. as a result, more of them are turning to pawn shops. the pawn shops' interest rates are higher than those of banks. but as long as sales have collateral. chain's parking lot is packed with autos. >> translator: i keep automobiles turned in as collateral in this underground garage.

>> reporter: they may be a bit dusty, but they're brand-new german luxury cars. a transport company left ten of them with chen for $350,000 loan. some companies are turning to pawn shops simply to help them expand. this woman runs an electric cable manufacturer. a few months ago, her business suddenly needed an injection of $315,000. she couldn't have gotten the loan quickly from her bank. and went to see chen. >> translator: i needed to raise capital quickly to expand our production capacity. >> reporter: what could chen take as collateral for this hefty loan? knowing the high value of copper, he offered to accept some of the company's cables.

>> translator: small and medium-sized companies find it difficult to gain a sufficient credit rating to take out loans from banks. they will need more of our help in future. >> reporter: there's always a risk of losing one's security when taking out loans from pawn shops. and when companies borrow, they're betting their businesses. but with economic condition in china getting haer, they are expected resurgence in pawn shops looks set to continue. ishii, nhk world. time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin tonight with this item sent by rtm malaysia. at least nine people were seriously injured when a passenger train collided with an oil tanker in malaysia on monday. a senior malaysian government

official said the accident occurred near an international airport in saba state. there were 200 passengers on the train. the collision caused a loud explosion. and damaged the first carriage of the train. the injured were taken to a local hospital. police have taken the driver of the tanker into custody. and were trying to determine the cause of the accident. a provincial government in eastern laos has donated about $33,000 worth of drinking water to flood victims in thailand. the governor of the province hand over the water to thai officials in northeastern thailand on monday. the governor said people in laos are well aware of the hardships their thai counterparts are suffering. it's feared that the unprecedented flooding that has occurred in thailand since late july could cause a serious shortage of food and water in the coming days. there were two reasons to celebrate in cambodia on sunday. it was the 20th anniversary of the former king's return tohe

country from exile as well as his 90th birthday. about 40,000 people, including top government officials gathered in front of the royal palace in phnom penh to prayor his long health and longevity. the king expressed appreciation for the prime minister's efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous nation. the former king remains popular among a large number of cambodians who view him as a moral ac. investors around the world are watching india's rapidly-growing economy. the country's remarkable rise draws comparisons to china. india's population now tops 1.2 billion. some say it's time women played a bigger role in politics in the economy. but issues such as poverty and unequal access to education are getting in the way of that goal. we wanted to get some perspective on the role of women in india's political and

economic life. i spoke earlier with nhk's senior commentator who interviewed the first woman to be speaker of the house of the lower house of parliament. >> how did she get interested in politics in the first place? >> she's from a political family. her father was a former deputy prime minister. during our interview, she explained her father's approach. >> he was a freedom fighter. and he especially devoted all his efforts towards upliftment of the marginalized and suppressed section of the society.

and he worked for them. and also he was a minister for many, many years. he was holding very challenging portfolios and when there was a severe drought and famine in india, he was given the portfolio of food ministry. that's the time with his foresight and hard work he ushered in the green revolution. >> kumar's father sounded like a dynamic politician. what about kumar herself? >> she's the speaker of the lower house of parliament. the position is the third in the country's power structure, after the president and the prime minister. her philosophy is similar to her father's. her motto is to give relief to those who are oppressed. >> women don't have equal opportunity in indian society. how much power do they have in

the political sphere? >> their position is gradually gaining importance. in 2007 pratibha pa till was the first woman to hold office in the president of the interior. and sonia gandhi also led the opposition. as we mentioned meira kumar is speaker of the lower house and women head the governments of four indian states. despite this, kumar says india has a long way to go. she explained what she believes is the key to raise ing the status of women. >> the most important factor for empowering women is their education. the education of women will empower them. and that would really help because it's the woman who is the mother, you see. so if she is educated,

empowered, enlightened mother it makes a lot of difference to the next generation of the society. in every country, more so in my country, there are very important people, people with a lot of wealth. and very powerful. and there are also people who are very humble. very isolated and suppressed and weak. i would warn that when we are progressing those people are carried with the rest and not left behind. they don't get marginalized. this should be our motto. >> what are the main challenges kumar faces as speaker of the lower house? >> india is a cumbersome democracy. it brings together leaders from different religions, languages and the political sensibilities.

in this context the speaker of the lower house plays an important, difficult role. kumar and her female colleague's efforts to enhance the status of women could strengthen the indian economy. >> thank you. our senior commentator her mm ro. >>acl fgun is up next with weather. hi there time for look at the rl weather conditions. wednesday is likely to bring some wetter conditions actually in towards cha. wee got these showers here in the southwest developing and moving up towards the beijing area. so you'll be getting some of that later on in the week. that heads further up in towards the northeast. we've got an area of rain developing here just in the east china sea, coming into the shanghai area. we'll be seeing some of the showers also inouthern jan and the southern tip of south korea. you can also see a lot of wet

weather here in taiwan, too. it's going to be a little bit heavier for the philippines, the northeast monsoon is bringing that. it's going to be windy as well. so we're talking about some high waves the at the coast, as well as rough seas. and that will continue for the next couple of days, certainly. indochina is looking quite dry for the time being. we've entered the dry monthf november. which is certainly good news. however, we still see continuing showers for the eastern coast. that's mostly going to be centra down into southern portions o vietnam and also cambodia. fuhedo into sthern thailand as wl we've see scattered showeron wednday. 33 drees i nila, awe a inbangkok. 26 meanwhilen ipei. and then it's cooling down in beijing at 16. 4 for the high in ulan bator and we're looking f 22 in tokyo. all right. into north america. winter storms, that's what we're talking about today. coming down through wyoming and into colorado. we see this low pressure system coming with the fronts. it will be delivering maybe about 30 centimeters of snow up

in the mountains of wyoming and colorado particularly. but lower-lying areas are also going to be getting quite a lot of snow. and it will be quite widespread as well. bringing temperatures down by about 10 degrees. so denver, your wednesday high is goingo be about one degree, so prepare for the big drop as the storm comes in. i wa to point this out to you as well. coming in from the pacific northwest. we have another round of winter weather and that's going to be moving throughout the week down into the pacific northwest. probably following the same path as this storm. so another round to come. but to give you a better idea of what's going on. we've got this rain spreading up in through the great lakes region. this is going to be your snow, the heavier stuff where you s the darker iging the. coro and wyomg. th a m sprding o into nevada. now where w he wter or here arod the four corns, we're loong at fir weather in sohern liforn. low humit and ver strg wind l. you'r lking at 22 degrs for yr hi, 11 in

denv on tuda that wl co dn to 1 on wednesd as e comes in. out to the east we're looking dry, but cool. 12 degrees in new york city and we have 15 in d.c. all right. into europe we go. we got rid of one round of rain and chilly conditions. there's going to be another round to come. you can see it just sitting offshore at the moment. ov t laic issoio ertoy inednd isoing to be coming straight into the british iss and then onwar int cointaweereupe poug, lksik hvy ra cin i to you as we as spadg urer tar spn dveuay to fnce well. elseeritoong fairly dry and settled. we have this lingering storm system over central med train kwan weakening as we head towards the end of the week. 18 degrees forecast for paris, 15 in london, 11 in stockholm, 10 in warsaw also and looking for 18 in athens and upper teens for madrid and lisbon. here's your extended forecast now.

the top story at this hour, the japanese government and central banks are believed to have sold a record amount of yen on monday to try to put a stop to the rise of the country's currency. the intervention by the japanese authority sent the dollar briefly to the highest level. the bank of japan's release on monday show that the government will pay 7.68 trillion yen or about $100 billion to financial institutions on wednesday. most of the money is believed to have been used for intervention. amount far exceeded 5.7 billion the authorities used for their last intervention on august 4th. they have stepped into the market three times so far this year, because of concerns that the yen's excessive strength will hurt the country's economy. and that's our broadcast for 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.