hello there. this is "newsline." welcome. it's friday, october 15th, 11:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. most of the 33 miners rescued from a collapsed mine in chile are said to be in good health one day after the successful rescue operation. the miners had been trapped about 700 meters underground for more than two months since a cave-in. doctors say three of them could return home soon. the miners received checkups at

a hospital in nearby copiapo city. hospital workers say three men underwent surgery to treat dental infections. 63-year-old mario gomez, the oldest of the group, is said to be recovering from acute pneumonia after treatment with antibiotics. a few of the miners have shown symptoms of light stress. the hospital is filled with the miners' families. chilean president sebastian pinera also visited the hospital on thursday to congratulate them. the president indicated that laws will be reviewed to increase mine safety now, the miners' leader, luis urzua, is in the limelight. the 54-year-old shift foreman

reached the surface at 9:57 p.m. on wednesday. as the leader of the team, urzua volunteered to be the last man rescued so he could confirm that all the others had made it out safely. luis urzua has been praised for his leadership during the ordeal. experts say he followed a business management theory that's drawing much attention these days. >> reporter: when all the miners had been lifted to safety, the first words spoken by chilean president sebastian pinera were praise for urzua's leadership. >> reporter: takahiko yamamura,

an expert on crisis management, says urzua had apparently been reading peter drucker's books on business management. in his book titled "management," drucker writes about the best ways to lead and unite a group. >> translator: urzua followed drucker's theory, which says the leader is the first one to take on a problem. that person will work harder than anyone else. urzua probably worked hard to gain the cooperation of all the miners. >> reporter: drucker stresses the importance of setting rules in a group situation. the 33 miners were trapped underground after the mine suddenly collapsed. at first there was little hope they would be rescued. the miners were reportedly in a panic.

urzua determined that it would be impossible for the miners to reach the surface by themselves and estimated it would take 20 days before they could be rescued. he divided the small amount of food in the shelter equally among the men. he made a rule that each miner could have only two spoonfuls of canned tuna, half a cup of milk and a biscuit every other day. y yamamura says that's exactly what drucker wrote. >> translator: food was limited, so they needed to make a rule about dividing it. otherwise, the miners would fight. the bigger, hungry men had to understand everyone's situation. >> reporter: 17 days after the

collapse the 33 miners were found alive. in the shelter humidity was high and the temperature reached 35 degrees. within the dark, tightly confined space the miners were packed nearly face to face. they wrote about the harsh situation they were going through in letters to their families. >> translator: it's hell here, and i want out. >> reporter: local media reported the miners were given roles. >> translator: one of us is in charge of mechanical maintenance. i do the electrical maintenance work. he is in charge of recording the daily lives of the miners. >> reporter: urzua gave roles to each member. this matches drucker's

management theory that the leader should assign members a role to raise their spirits. >> translator: people realize it's important to stay alive when given a mission. it makes them feel they're needed by others. this raises motivation and a sense of responsibility. it also leads to inner strength and the desire to achieve something. >> reporter: urzua is trusted by his colleagues. he's called by the nickname don luco almasto luis. >> translator: it's been called a miracle operation, but it's not just miraculous. thanks to his leadership the miracle happened.

and in other news iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad has delivered an anti-israel message in a speech near the israeli border in southern lebanon. ahmadinejad visited the town of bint jbeil on thursday. it lies about five kilometers from the border with israel. iran supports the lebanese shia group hezbollah, based in southern lebanon. speaking at a welcome ceremony, ahmadinejad pledged continued support for hezbollah. ahmadinejad has repeatedly denied israel's right to exist. israel has suggested it may stage a pre-emptive strike on iran over the country's continued nuclear development. queen elizabeth has cancelled this year's christmas

party. the british royal household said on thursday it would be inappropriate to hold a party as the government is trying to reduce its huge deficit. the queen holds a large christmas party at buckingham palace in london every two years. more than 1,000 people are invited to the event. this year's christmas party had been planned for around the middle of december. the cost of the event is not made public, but the royal household says it has made the decision as britons cope with deep public spending cuts to bring down the country's record budget deficit. britain's budget deficit for the last fiscal year exceeded 11% of the country's gross domestic product, one of the highest among industrial countries. prime minister david cameron is expected to announce new measures to slash public spending, including welfare. the united nations has called on developing countries to offer more information technology devices, including mobile phones, to combat poverty. the u.n. conference on trade and

development disclosed its report at a news conference in bangkok, thailand on thursday. many people in developing nations do not have access to land line telephones, but the report says that in about 50 african and asian countries, the number of mobile phone subscribers has jumped more than 25 times over the past nine years. the report attributes the surge to the cheap price. bhutan is another example. rural villages there still lack land lines, but mobile phone use is increasing. this has led to less produce waste and more income for farmers. they can now talk with customers about the types of agricultural products and the amount that is needed before shipping. and now we take a look at the latest in business news. here's ines matsuyama. >> thank you very much, catherine. hello. the u.s. trade deficit with china rose to a record high of more than $28 billion in august. the commerce department said on thursday that the trade gap rose

8.2% from july. the overall u.s. trade deficit stood at $46.3 billion in august, up 8.8% from the previous month. the u.s. congress accuses china of undervaluing its currency to gain an unfair trade advantage. it is expected to increase pressure on china to revalue the yuan. the widening trade deficit with china comes despite the obama administration's pledge to double exports and make them an engine of the u.s. economy. his economic policies are likely to come under increased criticism. japan has agreed to help indonesia to develop infrastructure for environmentally friendly urban developments. government officials of the two countries along with representatives of business groups met in tokyo on thursday. they agreed to work out concrete plans for large-scale infrastructure developments in indonesia. the two sides also agreed that japanese firms will assist with site surveys for ecofriendly urban such as so-called

smart grids, a new generation of power networks that makes use of renewable energy sources. they will also work together to promote coal-fired therm al power plants and ways to cut emissions and will look into creating a new framework under which japan can purchase the resulting cuts in carbon dioxide quotas. separately, japan and indonesia also agreed to boost japanese language training for indonesian nurses and caregivers coming to japan. based on the agreement, the two countries will consider extra measures. these include expanding the period of the language training in indonesia before coming to japan. reading and writing and technical terms used in the exam are thought to be a big hurdle for the applicants. about 700 indonesian nurses and caregivers have come to japan so far. but only two nurses passed japan's qualifying exam. nurses must return home if they do not pass the exam within three years. caregivers have four years to

qualify. the organization of the petroleum exporting countries says it will keep output of crude oil unchanged. the decision came at the group's general meeting in vienna on thursday. opec ministers discussed production policies with member nations. these are based on global economic conditions and worldwide demand for crude oil. although concerns are on the rise about a slowdown in the economic recovery in advantageoused countries, the ministers say the present supply of crude oil is sufficient. oil prices are also stable. they decided that 11 of the 12 opec members would keep their daily oil supply at around 24.9 million barrels. iraq will be exempt from this agreement. the organization has left its production quota unchanged since december 2008. that's just after the onset of the global financial crisis. rising demand in emerging nations such as china has kept crude oil prices high at around $80 per barrel.

opec members say these price levels are acceptable. opec's next general meeting will be held in december. and on the tokyo foreign exchange the dollar rose against the yen early friday. investors are playing it safe on speculation japan's monetary authorities may intervene in currency markets. the greenback is currently trading at' 81.36-41 while the euro is at 114.11-16. the dollar regained ground after tumbling to the upper 80-yen level in overseas markets on thursday. tokyo investors are selling the yen to lock in profits. and tokyo shares are lower on profit taking this friday morning. the nikkei index closed the morning session at 9,514, down 69 points, or 0.7%. investors locked in gains after the market's surge on thursday. and here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the benchmark ten-year japanese government bond. in other asian markets hong

kong's hang seng opened half a percent higher, is currently down half a percent. the shanghai key index for major blue chips is currently up half a percent, and in shenzhen the sse composite is up 0.3%. the yen has advanced to fresh 15-year highs and shows no sign of slowing down. for an insight into these market moves our business reporter ai uchida spoke with a chief market economist at mizuo securities. >> although the g-7 meeting confirmed that excess foreign exchange moves were undesirable, the yen remains strong. what's behind this? >> trend of yen's appreciation is unchanged at present. in 2007, when the u.s. housing bubble burst, that was the beginning of the trend of yen

appreciation. i think the yen appreciation trend is going to continue for a while and we are watching closely the result of the fomc, the federal open market committee, on 3rd of november and we can get the details of the u.s. additional. if the u.s. decision is within market expectations, then there might be some winding of yen long positions. so i think the fomc could be one occasion, one event that changes the trend of yen appreciation. >> reporter: but despite japan's market action last month to reverse its strong currency, the dollar-yen levels are little changed. i asked ueno about the possibility of another intervention. >> any countries are now in debate how to find a compromise

point of this problem. and in this atmosphere there's a very high hurdle for the japanese to intervene, manipulate the market rate again. so yes, it depends on market situation, volatility, and maybe it depends on dark room negotiations between u.s. treasury and japanese ministry of finance. i think, yes, nobody knows the exact point of intervention. >> well, as the strong yen continues, more companies are shifting their production units overseas, particularly to southeast asia. do you see more transfers up ahead? and what kind of economic effects does this have? >> yes. i think the trend will continue for a long time and it will

strengthen when we see higher yen. this is rational because they are going to search for higher profits, higher sales. so the market is there. so they go there naturally. however, from the standpoint of macro economics, from the standpoint of japanese domestic economy, this is a tragedy. in the phase of hollowing out, japanese corporates invest mostly overseas. they employ personnel overseas, not in japan. whereas japanese fiscal situation's very severe, so japan needs more economic growth, more tax revenue, more investment, more people employed. so there's a twist between micro

rational decision and macro tragic situation. so i think we should recognize this twist. >> that was chief market economist yasunari ueno at mizuho securities. next is a recap of the latest market figures. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that's all for now in biz news. back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ines.

china's com nit party opens its central committee general meeting on friday to discuss key policies and personnel matters behind closed doors. more than 300 party members will take part in the four-day gathering in beijing. attention is focused on whether vice president xi jinping will assume a military post to cement his position as successor to presidential hu jintao. this will outline an economic policy plan for the five years from 2011. this will include shifting focus from exports to domestic demand and reducing the gap between urban and rural areas. japan has canceled a planned visit by a squadron of maritime self-defense force training ships to the chinese port city qingdao after china requested a postponement. bilateral relations have been strained since a chinese trawler collided with two japanese patrol boats in september near the islands which are under japanese control, but also claimed by china.

japan's defense ministry and self-defense forces informed china of the decision on thursday after japan failed to persuade china to proceed as planned. in early october, china asked japan to postpone the visit scheduled for friday as part of a bilateral defense exchange. the japan squadron was to include 730 members. the chief of staff of the maritime self-defense force, masahiko sugimoto, called the cancellation very regrettable. he said he wants to continue promoting defense exchanges such as this with mutual visits by the two countries' naval vessels. an exchange event between japan's self-defense forces and china's people's liberation army due to start next wednesday was also canceled after china asked for a postponement on tuesday. south korea has participated in a joint naval drill with the united states and japan for the first time. the exercise was part of initiatives to prevent the

proliferation of materials used to form nuclear and biological weapons. 15 countries either observed or took part in the exercise carried out near pusan on thursday. the drill was aimed at blocking maritime shipments under the u.s.-led proliferation security initiative. in the drill, a u.s. aegis-equipped vessel and a japanese self-defense force destroyer approached a mock nuclear material transport ship. later, south korean troops descended from a helicopter and took control of the transport ship. south korea had been joining psi drills only as an observer out of consideration for relations with north korea. however, the nuclear tests by north korea in may last year prompted south korea to participate this time. by joining the exercise, the south korean government is apparently trying to keep pressure on north korea. pyongyang continues to develop nuclear weapons despite growing international criticism. more than 80 people across

japan have been attacked by bears from april to september, over 30% higher than the figure of last year. an nhk survey shows more than 2,100 bears have been captured and over 1,800 killed during that time. officials say the unusually cold spring weather resulted in fewer mountain acorns, forcing bears to search for food in areas with people. residents living in these areas are urged to remain on alert as bears are expected to continue coming down from mountains for food before hibernating. hi there, and welcome to your world weather update. now, in east asia we are keeping an eye on the south pacific here. see a cluster of clouds at the bottom of the screen. this will be our tropical storm system really starting to show signs of organizing and it is strengthening right now. it's a severe tropical storm

system packing winds of over 100 kilometers per hour now, and likely going to continue on that strengthening trend over the next few days, attaining typhoon status as we head into the weekend. much stronger winds and plenty of rainfall could start affecting those of you across northern philippines later on this week. we will keep a close eye on its progress as well as developments. now, heavy rainfall has been impacting areas across the south china sea as well. looks like the coastline of vietnam will continue to see pretty heavy rainfall accumulation over the next 24 hours. a little bit showing up across parts of northern thailand as well, and then in the bay of bengal, too, another heavy rain area showing up just off the east coast of india. we've got a tropical depression in place here, too. that is also producing pretty stormy conditions for the region. elsewhere, it should stay largely dry for a lot of china, even central sections looking at some drier weather.

up in the northeast, little bit of rain moving in but that won't be too significant across japan. meanwhile, it is going to be another cloudy day with a lot of changeable conditions, off and on showers, and northern sections will see a little more significant rainfall develop in the afternoon. highs on tokyo will rise to 23 degrees on friday. we were expecting 26 in taipei. 27 for hong kong. and 32 in bangkok. now, just off of cuba, too, we are monitoring this tropical storm system paula. it has since weakened from hurricane status. it's now working its way across western cuba. will likely just continue to weaken, becoming a tropical depression and by friday winds now at 90 kilometers per hour, so still some stronger winds at its core but hopefully that will ease in the coming days. however, rainfall amounts are going to get pretty extensive, especially for parts of cuba, mountain areas in particular

will need to watch for potential flooding as well as mudslides. now, across europe today we're looking at this new low moving into the north sea. that will quickly slide in towards sections of the low countries, areas of northern france and germany bringing in pretty -- quite a bit of moisture. also towards the east here, western russia will continue to see wet and windy weather. but luckily, the baltic states should see that moisture move away tonight. down across the mediterranean has been pretty messy for you here in western turkey, has been dealing with some especially heavy rainfall amounts. we are now hearing of flooding reports here and we've got some footage, too, of the situation. this is the scene on thursday in the western province of versa. flooding has been hitting the region due to days of heavy rainfall. muddy waters getting into homes, buildings and also damaging roads and villages reportedly cut off due to all the flood waters. also, one death so far has been

blamed due to these floods. so a pretty deadly and serious situation. forecast calling for a lot more rain, so we'll need to keep an eye on that. highs today will look pretty cool toward the north. 5 in stockholm and 3 degrees for moscow. all right. and now your three-day outlook. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ and that wraps up this edition of "newsline."

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.