welcome to "newsline." it is 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. the operator of a nuclear plant in southwestern japan has restarted one of its reactors. it became the first reactor in

japan to go back online since the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. the operator plans to resume power generation on wednesday afternoon. the number four reactor of the genkai nuclear plant in saga prefecture was halted due to abnormalities with its cooling system in early october. but the plant's operator, kyushu electric power, told the government 's nuclear safety agency the stoppage was called by a procedural error. this type of stoppage does not require kyushu electric to conduct a so-called stress test before restarting the reactor. the government introduced the test for idle reactors after the march disaster. the vice president of kyushu electric visited the genkai town mayor on tuesday. yamamoto told him he would like operations to restart as soon as preparations are completed. he then told reporters that he wants the reactor to operate normally by the end of the week. the mayor said he has no objection to the restart if the government has confirmed the reactor's safety. >> translator: i have asked kyushu electric to put a system in place that will eliminate

human errors and win public trust. >> the people at japan's space >> they poured a solution into the crippled number two reactor for an hour before 3:00 a.m. wednesday. the move followed detection of a radioactive substance in the reactor's condition takenment vessel, indicating nuclear fission may have resumed. tokyo electric power began equipment to remove radioactive substances from the number two reactor. the device sucks gas from the containment vessel and filters out radioactive materials. the company has been analyzing the type of radioactive substances and their density near the outlet of the device. tuesday, tepco detected 133 and 135, substances produced in the

fission of uranium. they say the half life of 133 is five days, and the possibility of nuclear fission inside the reactor cannot be excluded. tepco says even if nuclear fission has resumed, it should be on a small scale as there have been no major changes in the temperature or pressure of the reactor or radiation levels at monitoring posts around the compound. the government nuclear and industrial safety agency says it is unlikely nuclear fuel has begun melting again as the density is low and the healthcare temperatures haven't changed. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan, post march 11. 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.

"the road ahead" examines the efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." measures to protect central bangkok is succeeding but waters are being trapped to north. road water threatened to reach central bangkok after devastating parks in central thailand. bangkok metropolitan authority closed flood gates and canals north of the district. water can't escape anywhere and houses upstream of the gate remain inundated. on monday about 200 residents demanded that the government open a gate and some of them tried to even break it to release the water. >> translator: the water has been trapped for 15 days. but the government did nothing. it's a health hazard. >> the water is now threatening industrial complex in a downstream area south of central

bangkok where about 20 japanese companies are operating. a new fact has surfaced concerning north korea's nuclear ambitions. they demanded light water reactors in exchange for stopping uranium enrichment in recent talks with the united states. during a meeting in geneva, the negotiator repeated the country's stance that uranium enrichment is for peaceful power generation. speaking to reporters after the talks, he implied that he made a demand that could lead to a halt of uranium enrichment. u.s. negotiator is said to have rejected the north korean request. the joint statement was adopted it stipulates that the relevant countries will discuss providing a power station with light water reactors at an appropriate time if north korea dismantles all its nuclear facilities and

renounces nuclear weapons. the six-party talks were later suspended and north korea began to construct a nuclear power plant by itself. the people at japan's space agency has begun work on a challenging task. they're trying to change the course of a spacecraft headed for venus. they want to put the akatsuki probe into orbit around the planet in four years. the japan aerospace exploration agency, 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 the 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 a different orbit that also circles venus. engineers at a control center near tokyo thrust four smaller engines tuesday for about ten

minutes. they'll 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're united in trying to make akatsuki japan's first spacecraft to enter the venus orbit. >> project members say akatsuki won't be able to observe venus as originally planned. still they'll push ahead to enable observations with some scientific significance. stock markets nose dived after the greek prime minister announced a plan. the dow-jones fell more than 300 points at one time. investors are increasingly worried about what they see as a

threat to the latest eu agreements. the dow closed at 11,657, down 2.5% from monday. investors are closely watching what will come out of the meeting with the french president sarkozy and the german chancellor wednesday. the benchmark stock index in paris plunged more than 5%. in frankfurt, the key index dropped by just 5%, and the london market saw a decline of 2%. the japanese government and central bank are believed to have sold a record amount of yen monday to try to put a stop to the rise in the country's currency. intervention by japanese authorities sent the dollar briefly to 79 yen level monday morning. the bank of japan data released tuesday shows 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 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. the state of the art boeing 787 dream liner has made its first commercial flight within japan. the passenger plane is built from a lightweight carbon composite, rather than traditional aluminum and steel. this makes it 20% more fuel efficient than conventional aircraft. nippon airways put the 787 into regular domestic service on tuesday. the fully booked flight was sent from tokyo to the city of okayama . at the opening ceremony, senior officials said they are proud of the aircraft as one third of the dreamliner's technology is from japan. >> translator: the 787 dreamliner will surely guarantee

security and safety. >> the air carrier plans to fly 787s on international routes to beijing in december. service between this and frankfurt germany will start in january. toyota motor unveiled experimental robots to provide nursing and health care that were design with automobile technology. they presented the robots to reporters on tuesday. toyota and fujita the health university in aichi prefecture jointly developed the project over a four-year period. one robot is designed to lift disabled patients from their beds and others are helping people to walk or relearn to balance. >> translator: we believe the robots can be put to practical use once they have been proven safe.

>> toyota said the goal is to commercialize them in two years' time. new car sales in japan rose for the second straight month in october. all automakers increased production that was disrupted by the march disaster. the japan automobile dealers association says domestic sales of new cars, excluding many vehicles, climbed 28% to nearly 250,000 units. they posted a gain of close to 90%, nissan, 32%. toyota up 22%, and honda sales almost 20%. but the association says the outlook remains uncertain due in part to production disruptions by floods in tie land. olympus set up a third party panel to investigate its

controversial corporate acquisition. some shareholders raised questions about those deals. olympus said tuesday that a panel of five lawyers and a certified public accountant will look into its acquisition of a british medical equipment maker. olympus paid huge amounts of commissions to companies that brokered the transaction. the panel will look into purchases of three japanese companies that caused losses for olympus. they established the panel because a full investigation by a neutral party is needed. it add, however, that its deals were all appropriate. now let's look at the market figures.

cambodia has come a long way since the killing fields of the pol pot era. now they reached another milestone, producing their first vineyard. it is producing made in cambodia wine. we get a taste of the story. >> reporter: the northwest cambodian province. the nation's only winery, it's chan thay chheung is the owner. for the past decade he's been teaching himself how to grow grapes and make wine. using imported tools and equipment he produces about 7,000 bottles of red wine a year.

the winery is located in an area filled with land mines. during the civil war it was a major battleground. his brother was killed during the atrocities of khmer rouge area. farms around here were destroyed. >> translator: the line of the battle with the khmer rouge was right here. there were gun fights every day. >> reporter: after the war he was looking for a way to make a living. that's when he came up with the idea of making wine. >> translator: as first farmers in the neighborhood looked at me like i was crazy.

first grape seedlings from france but the first crop was not a success. cambodia has more rain than most wine growing regions. so his grapes went bad. he read many specialized books written in foreign languages, consulting dictionaries for help. finally he found a solution. prune the new shrubs before rainy season. gradually he started getting a consistent harvest. he sold his first bottles only six years ago. recently the winery has also attracted foreign tourists. >> we didn't know there were

winery places in cambodia. >> maybe like french wine. >> reporter: one day he dreams he'll export his wines. as a first step he has planted 8,000 more seedlings. >> translator: someday i want to export my wines to countries overseas. and see people around the world enjoy them. >> reporter: the first wines made in cambodia are finally out of the bottle. but the challenge has just begun.

the chinese economy is showing signs of slowing. among contributing factors, the government's tight money policy. they are meant to curb inflation, but it also made it difficult for small and medium size companies to get financing. as a solution, many are falling back on an age old stand by, the pawn shop. we have that story. >> reporter: this is in southeastern province. they make toys for europe and the united states. the eu credit crisis is hurting the company plans, they are falling behind on payments since the start of the year. the company president says he is finding it hard to secure enough

operating. >> translator: i have been running this company over 40 years, never seen such a difficult business environment. >> reporter: he has obligations to meet, too, and considers applying for a loan to pay his business partners. but he thought the rate would be too long. he found a pawn shop that has security on 80 boxes of toys. >> it is impossible to raise capital unless we borrow from a pawn shop. this is china's biggest shop, operating over 20 shops nationwide.

he opened his first pawn shop about 20 years ago. he says his business has been growing among small and medium size farms. >> translator: we've established good, long-standing relations with many small to mid size 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. >> translator: previously small and medium size farms took up land or property loaned from banks. the banks have tighter screening measures. it 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.

it is packed with autos. >> translator: i keep automobiles turned in as collateral in this underground garage. >> reporter: they may be dusty, but they're brand new luxury cars. a transport company left ten of them for $350,000 loan. some companies are turning to pawn shops simply to help them expand. a few months ago, a company needed injection of $315,000. she couldn't have gotten the loan from her bank, and went to

see him. >> translator: i needed to raise capital quickly to expand our production capacity. >> reporter: he could take collateral knowing the high volume. he offered to accept some of this cable. >> translator: small and medium size companies find it difficult to gain a sufficient credit rating to take loans from banks. they'll need more help in the future. >> reporter: there's a risk of losing that security when taking out loans from pawn shops, and they are betting their businesses. the economic condition in china is getting harder.

time to check some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item from malaysia. at least nine people were seriously injured when a passenger train collided with an oil tanker in eastern malaysia on monday. a senior malaysian government official said the accident occurred near the international airport. there were 200 passengers on 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 tank near to custody and trying to determine the cause of the accident. a provincial government in eastern laos has donated $33,000 of drinking water to flood victims in thailand. the governor handed 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 is feared that the unprecedented flooding that's 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 to the country from exile as well as his 90th birthday. about 40,000 people including top government officials gathered in front of the royal palace to pray for his good 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 beacon. now let's look at the global

weather forecast. welcome to your weather update. in japan, a high pressure system is gradually moving out to sea, and a trough of low pressure is bringing heavy showers across the southern islands of japan. it will spread to the southern tip of the korean peninsula and east coast of china today. for inland china, some light precipitation is falling and some rain will move northward and turn to snow. moving on to the indochina peninsula, a northeasterly monsoon brings rain and thunderstorms across vietnam, cambodia, thailand animal asia. stable and dry conditions in bangkok. we expect 20 degrees in tokyo, the same in seoul.

it will remain in the 20s the next several days. it's going to be a bit warmer than yesterday. heading to the americas, mostly dry in the east, but a winter storm is hitting the rockies, spreading snow showers and strong winds. this weather can be found in and around colorado. we have warnings in effect across the area. after 25 centimeters of snow being possible in the mountain areas into wednesday. that will move southeastward, will effect the central plains in the next 24 hours. meanwhile, another system is bringing rain across southern ontario. that will spread to southern quebec, and could change in higher elevations. out to the west, winter storm is across british columbia, heavy rain and scattered thunderstorms. the rain also will spread to parts of the pacific northwest

on wednesday. strong, southerly winds are prevailing, raising temperatures, expecting 29 degrees. cool in confer with one degree, with 6 degrees in winnipeg. let's go to europe. a rain band is stretching from the west coast of norway down to france, but that is easing as you head into wednesday. more concern if this large low pressure system brings in heavy rain and strong winds across the british isles and the iberian peninsula. strong winds could create high winds on the peninsula wednesday. some thunderstorms wrapping across southern italy. on the other hand, central and east europe stable and dry under a high pressure system. temperatures as follows. we are expecting 14 degrees in berlin, 12 in vienna, 17 in

paris. very warm in rome with 23 degrees. here is your extended forecast.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks so much for joining us.