glad you could join us on this edition of "newsline." it's wednesday october 6th, 11:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. japan has renewed calls to rid the world of nuclear weapons at the united nations. speaking before a u.n. committee on tuesday, japanese delegate t maintain momentum in nuclear disarmament efforts. he was referring to last may's conference, reviewing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. after those talks signatory

nations unanimously adopted a final document calling for a nuclear-free world. >> the task before us now is to maintain and further strengthen this momentum and to fully and faithfully implement the hard-won action plan. >> but those efforts for a nuclear-free world are facing an obstacle in the fissile material cutoff treaty meant to ban production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. negotiations haven't started. u.s. assistant secretary of state rose gottenmuller is now urging member nations to work on the treaty. despite that challenge, japan's delegation plans to submit a resolution along with the united states calling for unified action toward a world without nuclear weapons. voting on committee resolutions is expected to take place later this month. leaders from 46 asian and european nations have ended their two-day summit in brussels by promising greater cooperation

and economic integration of their regions. to close the asia europe meeting, or asem, on tuesday, the leaders adopted the chair's statement and a declaration on the global economy. >> we need to find common ground and agree on coordinated action between our two continents in order to tackle the pressing issues. >> european leaders were particularly concerned about the recent sino-japan row over the collision of a chinese trawler and japanese patrol boats near the senkaku islands in okinawa prefecture. european leaders, who have been critical of china's human rights records, were worried about the country's hard-line stance over japan following the incident. they expressed a sense of relief when chinese premier wen jiabao showed his intent to mend the strained ties in an informal meeting with japanese prime minister naoto kan on monday. >> this conflict between these

two major countries had to be brought to an end. it has been brought to an end. that's good news for the global world. >> observers at the venue say sentiment among european leaders shows they share challenges over china as a growing world power. french police have arrested 12 people in ofrpgperations aga islamic militant networks. the arrests came as europe remains under high alert for terrorism. local authorities have information that extremists linked to al qaeda are planning attacks. police say they detained nine people in the marseille area and seized weapons including an automatic rifle along with ammunition. three other suspects were detained in bordeaux in a separate raid. police say the 12 had been in contact with a recently arrested algerian man who may have trained at an islamic militant camp near the afghan-pakistani border. a u.s. federal court has

sentenced a man to life in prison for attempting to explode a car bomb in central new york. pakistani-american faisal shahzad was charged with plotting an indiscriminate attack in may. homemade explosives were found in the parked vehicle. in the sentence handed down on tuesday a new york district court judge said the defendant would attempt similar attacks whenever he finds an opportunity and the united states must be defended from such a man. shahzad admitted the charges, telling investigators he wanted to protect islamic nations from u.s. invasion. the judge told shahzad that she hopes he will spend part of his time in prison thinking carefully about whether the koran wants him to kill people. now we check out the latest in business news. shery ahn joins us in the studio. shery. >> thanks, catherine. tokyo stocks extended their gains on wednesday morning following an overnight rally in new york.

the nikkei 225 finished the morning session at 9,641, up 1.29%. market sentiment received a boost after japan's central bank went back to zero interest rate policy on tuesday. participants expect the move may trigger credit easing in other countries as well. but the nikkei's up side was capped as a stronger yen weighed down on export-related issues. on the tokyo foreign exchange the dollar is falling against the yen on wednesday morning. the greenback was sold overseas, and this trend carried over to tokyo. the dollar is currently trading between 83.17 and 18. the euro is now between 115 and 04. sources say that players continue to sell the dollar as the u.s. fed is expected to ease monetary policy further. the yen is gaining ground despite the bank of japan's announcement on tuesday to take interest rates down to effectively 0%. now here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates.

this is the yield on the benchmark 10-year japanese government bond. in other asian markets hong kong's hang seng index is 1.50% higher, while the shanghai's key index for major blue chips and the sse composite are both closed for holidays. and the bank of japan decided to take the key interest rate to virtually 0% as we mentioned earlier for the first time in four years on tuesday as part of the additional monetary easing measures the boj is to flesh out the details of a massive asset purchase program. that's in a bid to inject huge amounts of money into the market to tackle deflationary pressures and keep the economic recovery on track amid a soaring yen. with a $420 billion fund to be set up, the central bank will buy not only government bonds but also a wide range of assets such as exchange traded funds and real estate investment trusts. this will be the first time for

the boj to acquire these riskier financial products that could lose significant value. b.o.j. governor shirakawa expressed resolve to boost the economy through the extraordinary program. he also added the central bank may expand the scope of the asset purchase program should the economy slow down further. according to a japanese government survey, china's tightened customs inspections have stalled trade between the two countries. this comes after last month's maritime collision between a chinese fishing boat and japanese coast guard vessels. the economy trade and industry ministry conducted a survey of japanese trading firms and manufacturers from september 28th through the 30th. of the 424 companies that replied, 124, or about 30%

reported delays in customs procedures in many parts of china. delays have been reported not only for rare earth metals bound for japan but also for auto parts and electronic goods after the collision. a customs office in shanghai is said to be carrying out unusually strict inspections of exports to japan. the ministry says japanese companies reported delays particularly after september 19th, when japan extended the detention of a chinese fishing boat captain involved in the ship collision off the senkaku islands. some firms said they no longer faced such problems, but the ministry assesses that the situation hasn't been normalized yet. the ministry plans to monitor the situation after october 8th, when china's week-long national day holiday ends. it says it will ask china to make improvements, if necessary. european financial leaders have urged china for a faster

revaluation of its yuan currency on the sidelines of the asia-europe meeting or asem on tuesday. the chairman of the finance ministry, jean-claude juncker, who is the prime minister of luxembourg and european central bank minister trichet met with wen jiabao to address the issues. after the meeting juncker told reporters that european financial leaders still think the you'uan is undervalued and y have urged china to revalue its currency. wen reiterated china will allow more flexibility of the yuan. meanwhile, european central bank president trichet said it's important that china's policy toward currency reform is confirmed. he expressed his intention to pay close attention to china's efforts. and now let's turn to catherine. >> thanks very much, shery. and in other news, in thailand an explosion at an apartment near bangkok has

killed at least three people and injured nine others. thai police say the power blast occurred in nonthaburi province tuesday evening. damaging a five-story building. they suspect it was caused by explosives. early in the day, the thai government decided to extend emergency rule in the province, bangkok and two other provinces through early january. sporadic bombings have undermined the stability of the nation, even after a large-scale anti-government protest ended in may. the protesters had occupied downtown bangkok for two months. north korean state media reported on tuesday that kim jong un has observed a military drill accompanying the country's leader kim jong il. the leader's third son was recently chosen to succeed his father. this was the first report of an inspection activity by kim jong un since he was appointed vice chairman of the central military commission of the ruling korean workers' party last week. korean central television said

kim jong il was accompanied by ten other senior officials. they included his younger sister, kim kyong hui, and her husband, jang song thaek, who are thought to have been picked as kim jong un's guardians. the younger kim's participation in observing this military event is seen as the start of preparations for him to succeed his father, who has prioritized the role of the military in north korean politics. now, kim jong un is also likely to attend a military parade expected to be held on october 10th to mark the 65th anniversary of the founding of the korean workers' party. international donors have pledged nearly $12 billion to the global fund to fight aids, tuberculosis and malaria. delegates from around 40 countries attended a conference to support the fund in new york on tuesday. u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon appealed for fresh contributions.

responding to the call, the u.s. promised to give $4 billion. france says it will contribute $1.5 billion. japan offered additional aid of up to $800 million. >> japan will reinforce its effort to deliver the necessary assistance to the people in need as well as to promote human -- >> japan has provided $1.3 billion to the fund so far, becoming the third largest donor after the u.s. and france. members of the world steel association have agreed to include producers in china and other emerging economies in an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. these economies will join developed nations in dealing with the large amount of co-2 that's generated in steel production. at the conference in tokyo on monday the association appointed a person from a chinese company to the vice chairman's post for the first time. president of anshan iron and

steel corporation xiaogang zhang. the association's director general ian christmas said because china is the world's top steel producer it's vital that the country be involved with climate change discussions. japan's environment minister is calling on ambassadors of african countries to cooperate during an upcoming u.n. conference on biodiversity. environment minister ryu ma matsumoto met 25 minister in tokyo on tuesday. japan is hosting the cop 10 conference which is set to open on october 11 nth nagoya. participants are set to work on agreements for allocating profits on medicine and other products made from biological resources. developing countries in africa and other regions that are rich in those resources want a fixed percentage of profits from pharmaceutical sales, but developed countries are cautious about making that kind of deal. japan's environment minister matsumoto stressed the

importance of reaching an agreement. he said promoting the use of biological resource wills eventually lead to more profits for africa. he asked the african ambassadors to urge their envoys to the conference to be more flexible in negotiations. in iraq a car bochl has killed a cameraman who worked for a u.s.-affiliated tv station. an international media advocacy group has condemned the killing and is calling for better protection for journalists. on monday in the western province of anbar, the contract cameraman for the u.s. affiliated arabic language was by a bomb placed under his car. this is the latest in a series of targeted attacks against the media in iraq. seven people have been killed since july. in the same month, four people, including security guards, were killed when a vehicle exploded near the baghdad bureau of dubai-based al-arabiya tv.

in september a news achkor anchor for a state-run tv station was shot dead while driving in the iraqi capital. another anchor for a state-run tv station was severely injured by a car bomb. iraqi police say journalists are easy targets because of poor security. reporters without borders has issued statements appealing for prompt measures. two professors at britain's university of manchester, andre geim and konstantin novoselov are sharing this year's nobel prize in physics. the royal swedish academy of sciences in stockholm, sweden made the announcement on tuesday. the two scientists won the prize for their groundbreaking experiments of the super-thin material called graphene, which is a form of carbon. it is suitable for producing transparent touch screens, light panels, and maybe solar cells. it will also likely be used in the production of powerful computers in the future. geim is 51 and novoselov is 36.

both were born in russia and started their careers there. the two laureates have worked together for many years. a japanese research team has discovered one of the world's largest hydrothermal fields off the southern islands of okinawa. rich metal and mineral deposits are often found near fields of this type. the research vessel "chikyu," or "earth," began exploring the sea bed 180 kilometers northwest of nago city in september. the hydrothermal field lies 200 meters below the sea bed, and its superheated fluid has a temperature of more than 250 degrees celsius. the field is one of the largest of the 350 identified in the world so far. it has a radius of ten kilometers and is 100 meters deep. the discovery has raised interest among researchers as gold and silver reserves and other mineral deposits are often found in the vicinity of such sites.

>> translator: finding the seabed river of superheated fluid is scientifically and promising in terms of securing resources. uraome .japan's cloth c atabhahair-tn bule

products have is b their 30s and 40 f a a

otn. cpltit sml ptikipresin clicornt

haesdrsol h ty me i dunghapeod al sehe tyi oth

coets congf

dsnc d we navsoew footangceetnam. let's take a look now. this was taken on tuesday, heavy rains triggered more deadly flooding a landslides across vietnam. central states, especiald te, a you can see, reaching the roof. now, the death toll has reached 19, anover 34,00people are living in shelters. gog to be easing considerably, but the ground is already saturated.

the river levels are continuing to rise so you're not out of the woods just yet. the heaviest rain is going to b provinces of southern china over the next couple days. parts of hainan reported about 670 millimeters of rainfall just in the past 24 hours. so it is going to be quite critical here, flooding and landslides becoming more and over the bay of bengal we're also going to be monitoring this heavyinnia, especially affecting southern portions but also along the east coast as well over the next couple of days. so this is another area to watch out for. temperatures look like this on drees in hong kong with kies. we've got 29 in taipei and sunny spel igh, re. let's head to europe, then. we are going to continue to see lots of wet weather along this frontal boundary that's extending from scandinavia all the way down into an rtal we've got windy weather for norway as well and lots of rain fethnoas

france as well as spain and portugal. that heavy rain affecting the southwestern uk is going to be dying down on uredsd. wer,hein sying pretty strong. now, the other system we have been monitoring is -- continues to make its way acrosshe central and eastern mediterranean. it has been really affecting northern italy. here we've had reports of flooding problems as well, and the system will continue tju so oliervethbalkans over the next couple of days. let's take a look at your temperes. 25 degrees in athens. rain in rome, 26. rainy day in vienna as well, 14 for your daytime high, looking quite mild in berlin, 18 degrees on wednesday. okay. here's your extended forecast now. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ just taking a brief look at our top story once again, japan s ned ll t rid the world of nuclear weapons at the united nations. speaking before a u.n. committee on tuesday, japanese delegate iosuda urged the world to maintain a momentum, or maintain momentum in nuclear disarmament efforts. suda was referring to last y' coerce reviewing the nuclear

non-proliferation treaty. after those talks signatory nations unanimously adopted a final document calling for a nuclear-free world. >> the task before us now is to maininndurer strengthen this momentum and to fully and faithfully implement the hard-won action an >>ut those efforts for a nuclear-free world are facing an obstacle in the fissile merle cutoff treaty meant to ban production of fissile material r clrweapons. negotiations haven't started. u.s. assistant secretary of state rose ttmuersow urging member nations to work on the treaty. despite that challenge, japan's delegation plans to submit a resolution along with the united stesalngornified action toward a world without nuclear weapons. voting on committee resolutions is expected to take place later this month. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.