it's tuesday, august 10th, in tokyo. welcome to this edition of is "newsline." nearly 60% of japanese citizens support the death penalty. nhk conducted the poll over the weekend. more than 1,000 people responded. asks whether the death penalty should be be retained, 57% said yes. 8% said no. 29% were undecided. the justice minister called for a national debate in the issue

in the wake of the first executions in the current government. she opposed allowing media access to the execution chamber. the poll sought views on prime minister kan's call to postpone a decision on the relocation of the u.s. fu tenma air station. the majority of respondents oppose the delay. 18% strong lly disapproved. only 4% approved and 29% offered mild approval. the united nations has launched a high-profile panel to discuss the development of sustainable low carbon societies worldwide. u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon talked about it on monday. they include climate change, food security and energy issues.

>> the panel will address the question of how to lift people out of poverty while respecting and preserving a climate and nature of systems that sustain us. i have asked the panel to think big. >> the new body comprises 21 members, including government ministers and former heads of state. they are experts on global warming and development issues. former japanese prime minister hatoyama is among the panelists. the death toll from rain-triggered mud slides in china has risen to 311, with more than 1,100 still missing. the gansu provincial government said 337 people are dead and 1,148 missing following saturday's in the tibetan prefecture. about 6,000 workers, including soldiers and police officers are

continuing search and rescue efforts. but their work is being hampered by the mud. the chinese government has been sending tents, sleeping bags and other relief supplies to the affected area. but some survivors are still lacking basic needs. japan's foreign minister okada and his current part, have pledged they will work together to be free of nuclear weapons. they held talks on monday, the 65th anniversary of the bombing of nagasaki. they stressed a world free of nuclear weapons.

>> saudabayev said he can understand the pain and suffering of the victims of the atomic bombings. in the soviet era about 500 nuclear tests were conducted in kazakhstan affecting about 1.5 million people. u.s. automaker chrysler is showing signs of recovering. the company said it narrowed losses in the second quarter a little after a year after emerging from bankruptcy protection. chrysler says it posted a net loss of $172 million in the april to june period. that's down $25 million from the previous quarter.

the automaker trarktsd the improvement to restructuring and other cost-cutting measures as well as solid global auto sales. chrysler has resumed investment in its domestic plants. it also plans to release a compact car developed by fiat later this year. chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection in april last year and started reorganization with financial assistance from the u.s. government. auto sales in china and india are on the rice. china's new car sales have topped the 10 million mark. and india's car market continues to expand reflecting its strong economy. the figures were announced on monday. the china association of automobile manufacturers said that the nation's new car sales from january through july jumped 42.6% from a year earlier to 10.26 million units. it was the second straight year the figure has exceeded 10 million and it happened three months earlier than last year.

meanwhile, the society of indian automobile manufacturers said that the number of new passenger cars sold in july was 202,000, achieving monthly sales of over 200,000 units for the first time. the figure was up 54,000 units or 37% from a year earlier. the indian vehicle market is likely to continue expanding as the nation's economies forecast to grow about 8.5% this year. tokyo stocks edged up on tuesday morning in the wake of overnight rallies in the united states and europe. let's look at the numbers. the benchmark nikkei ended the morning session at 9,622. that's up 50 points, about half a percent from monday's close. market sources say share prices rose after the yen halted its advance against the dollar. they also point out that most investors remain on the sidelines, ahead of a policy

meeting of the u.s. federal reserve later on tuesday. the prefecture ral government of miyazaki seriously affected by foot and mouth disease earlier this year said it found no abnormalities after checking all farms in the prefecture for the disease. the local government made the announcement on monday, after completing safety checks on cattle and pigs on more than 8,000 farms. on july 27th, the prefectural government lifted the restrictions on transporting livestock after nearly 300,000 animals were slaughtered. it's now composting animal exkre memt that could be contaminated with the foot and mouth disease. the miyazaki government is expected to declare an end to the virus on august 27th if it doesn't find any abnormalities. with the united arab emirates in the grip of a heat wave, religious authorities are

allowing construction workers to break their fast during the month of ramadan. the authorities issued the fatwa, an islamic religious decree on monday, before ramadan begins around wednesday. the uae has been hit by an unusual heat wave with temperatures reaching about 50 degrees celsius. the edict says construction laborerers working outside may break their fast when there are fears of health problems. religious leaders in neighboring saudi arabia say only sick people and pregnant women can be exempted from fasting, not ordinary workers. persian gulf countries rely on laborerers from foreign countries such as india and bangladesh for construction work. human rights groups in europe and the united states criticized the labor conditions at the construction sites. observers say the uae hopes the new edict will help to evade such criticism. let's look at the extended weather forecast for selected

cities around the world. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in

tokyo. thanks for joining us. iijj