"newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa with the latest at this hour. investigators in lebanon are trying to figure out if a deadly bombing in beirut is linked to the conflict in neighboring syria. the explosion killed the country's intelligence chief and at least seven others. he was an opponent of syrian president bashir al assad. the bomb exploded in central beirut. people rushed to put out fires as the remains of vehicles

littered the street. along with the dead the explosion wounded more than 70 others. local media said he played a role in detaining a cabinet minister that supported assad. >> i think this is a message we should convey today and say whatever we are, whether we are from the opposition, from the majority, from this or that group, we refuse these kinds of acts. >> no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. the effort the end syria's civil war ramps up again this weekend. the united nations is in damascus asked for a temporary cease-fire. the meeting with syria's foreign minister and is expected to sit down with president assad. he'll repeat his call for government forces and opposition

fighters to put down their weapons during the upcoming islamic festival. >> translator: we will talk about the cease-fire and the syrian issue in general. it's important to decrease the violence. we will talk with the government and political parties and civil society about the syrian issue. >> he'll explain a proposal to send peacekeepers to syria. unarmed u.n. observers left the country in august after failing to implement a cease-fire. the conflict has been going on for 19 months, more than 30,000 people have been killed and more than 300,000 have fled to neighboring countries. european union leaders wrapped up their summit friday. they agreed to launch a system of super vision for banks across the eurozone.

there's still divided over exactly when to put that system in place. >> reporter: during the two-day summit in brussels, eu leaders agreed to set up a legal framework for a single banking supervisor that will go into force next year. the initiative is a prerequisite to allow banks to receive money directly from the european stability mechanism without the involvement of national governments. others say it is a step forward to address the situation in spain and neither heavily indebted countries where banks are struggling with bad loans. >> i'm glad we achieved progress on the timetable for the banking union. it is good for europe that we will have a single supervising mechanism running in the course of 2013. >> reporter: but the early implementation of this measure urged by france could be complicated by germany's

reluctance to act swiftly. >> translator: today's meeting is not for making a decision on the single supervisory mechanism but we have to determine the direction we'll go. >> reporter: the establishment of a single supervisor for the european banks is a step forward for the future banking union of the eurozone, but european countries have yet to discuss specific measures to assist greece and spain. they will be high on the agenda of the next financial ministers meeting in november. nhk world, brussels. ileaders agreed network towards a free grade deal with japan. they plan to start negotiating in the next few months. members of the european commission proposed a free trade deal in july. they suggested members of the

eu member states proposed talks. they will stop the talks if they don't get rid of enough barriers to tried. >> north korea is threatening to use bombs to retaliate against a balloon they leased the balloons on the 22nd. north korea says the campaign is a provocation. they issued their threat through state-run media. the military is warning residents to evacuate areas near the site where the balloons are

expected to be dispatched. south korea yes, sir defense minister told parliament his military commanders are fully prepared and ready to hit back should the north attack. chinese and filipino leaders wrefting with an issue that driven a wedge between them. both governments claim territory in the south china sea. they've agreed to disagree for now and keep working on the issue. china's vice foreign minister visited filipino leaders. both governments claim a group of rocks areki an effort to find a solution. they don't want this dispute to harm relations. >> bottom line is we've agreed to disagree and trying to find

out how we can bring our positions closer. >> filipino officials report she met the president. they say he delivered a message from the president that chinese leaders value good relations with the filipinos. japanese researchers are warning the debris from last year's tsunami may cause irreparable damage to marine eco systems. it's estimated nearly 1.5 million tons of debris is drifting in the pacific ocean. the researchers crossed the pacific ocean from japan to hawaii between august and september. they took the sea voyage to check for the presence of debris. they say they identified more than 900 items. some of the debris was found in the stomachs of tuna caught along the way. the researchers say not all the items originated from the

tsunami. the professor headed up the team. ep says he hopes to gather more information with the help of other ships. >> translator: i'm worried it could hurt the marine eco system. here's the three day world weather forecast.

that concludes this edition of "newsline". i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. thank you for joining us.