hello there. i'm catherine kobayashi. welcome to this edition of "newsline." environmentalists are set to join the u.n. conference on biodiversity. host nation japan is hoping to broker political deals on the divisive issues. the conference is taking place in nagoya. working level talks focused on two key goals.

one is to craft new international rules on sharing the commercial benefits derived from genetic resources. the second is to set a global target for preserving biodwergs diversity. observers say negotiators appear unlikely to reach a consensus before working level talks end on ftuesday. on wednesday, 120 officials begin their meetings. japan is hoping to extend the working level talks while also coaxing the ministers to find common ground by focusing on practical issues. the cop-10 conference is due to end on friday. one of the top agenda items at the cop-ten meeting is marine biodiversity. the strong interest in this issue in japan as alien species have entered the nation's coastal waters, threatening its ecosystem.

yatsu tideland stretches from tokyo bay. over 130 species visit the tideland. but recently something strange has been going on. a shell is stuck to a bird's leg. this type of shell has never been seen until now. the injured bird is called a still the. it's on the endangered species list. last month, this university was conducted special permission to conduct research here. hard clams originally came from the u.s. east coast. this summer's extreme eat has caused changes in the tideland.

short neck clams used to live here, but the scorching summer heat depleted much of the mud's oxygen. 80% of the clams died. but hard clams fared better. they can withstand harsh conditions. they soon replaced the short-neck clams. the endangered species is making headway on the tideland and throughout tokyo bay. more than 20 invasive species leaving the bay. >> translator: now you can't find any native species in japanese waters. it's completely abnormal. >> reporter: since bringing many

of the alien species when they dump their water into tokyo bay. often ships loads at foreign imports. when they stop at japanese harbors, they disturb that water and whatever sea life it carries. the alien species sense that throughout japan's coastal waters to places like it this coastal farm in hiroshima prefecture. shows shelled creatures attached to the net are blue ois teysterm the mediterranean sea. they feed on them so they can't

grow bigger. oyster farmers try to destroy the blue you mussels by burning them off. alien species attach themselves to smaller boats and are carried throughout japan. according to research by one university, 76 alien species live in japanese waters. >> translator: in the ideal environment, at the ideal time, these alien species have the ability to reproduce exponentially. so i don't think we can ignore this issue. we need people to understand the importance of having a diverse ecosystem in japan. and to help us protect it. >> alien species can also reach japanese waters by attaching themselves to the hulls of ships. with no laws to address this

problem, steps must be taken soon to protect japanese waters from alien species. the united nations is warning that the cholera outbreak in heigaiti could spre across the country which was devastated by an earthquake earlier this year. a large number of people have developed high fevers and diarrhea in the past week in areas along the river, haiti's largest water source. health authorities say259 people have died and more than 3,300 were hospitalized as of monday. in port-au-prince, five were confirmed infected with cholera on saturday. nine months after a pourl earthquake hit haiti, 1.3 million survivors are still living on the streets and in makeshift shelters where sanitary conditions are poor. u.n. officials say the outbreak could spread beyond people living in tent camps to the whole country. the u.n. is helping the government set up medical

centers around the river and in the capital and to distribute water purifyication tablets. kim jong il's successor kim jong-un has appeared with the chinese delegates at the ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of china's participation in the korean war. the ceremony was held in pyongyang on monday. chinese delegates led by vice chairman of the central military commission guo boxiong attended the event. kim jong-un and his father dressed alike sat in the front row along with chief of the general staff the korean people's army, ri yong ho. kim jong-il at times exchanged words with guo but his son did not converse with any of the chinese delegates. kim jong-un was appointed vice chairman of the central military commission, the same official rank as guo. observers say north korea is apparently trying to show the world that kim jong-un has close ties with the chinese military.

now we take a look at the latest in business news. here's ines. >> hello. the leaders of japan and india have moved their economies closer together by agreeing to boost trade. prime minister kan and visiting indian counterpart singh have concluded an economic partnership agreement. >> translator: through the summit meeting, we confirmed that our strategic partnership has deepened. >> translator: this is a historic achievement that signals the economic alignment of two of the largest economies in asia. it will open up new business opportunities and lead to a quantum increase in trade and investment flow between our two countries.

kan and singh also agreed to cooperate in developing and reusing rare earth metals which are in high demand by many industries. currently china produces 90% of global output of these resources. further, the two want to speed up talks toward a civilian nuclear corporation deal. start ministerial level talks and work together to reform the u.n. security council. the u.s. federal reserve has started investigating alleged irregularities in mortgage foreclosures. fed chairman ben bernanke said on monday that federal banking agencies are working together on the matter and they will likely release a preliminary report next month. the federal banking agencies are working together to review practices at the larging mortgage operations. we take violations very seriously. >> his remarks came as major

u.s. financial institutions face criticism that they are seizing mortgage borrowers' homes inappropriately. bank of america suspended foreclosure procedures to look into whether company officials handled their cases properly. concerns are growing in the united states that delayed foreclosures will negatively affect ratings of financial institutions. on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is hovering in the upper 80-end range. the greenback is trading at 80.79-83 while the euro is trading at 112.66-73 yen. the dollar dropped overnight marking a fresh 15-year low. that came on speculation the u.s. federal reserve may implement massive additional credit easing. the downside was capped as better than expected u.s. housing data later prompted dollar buying.

tokyo stocks are slightly lower on tuesday morning. export-related shares like cars and electronics led its highest level in 15 years. the nikkei entered the morning session at 9,383, down 0.2% from yesterday's close. but wall street's overnight rally is limiting the down side. and here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the benchmark ten had of year japanese government bond. in other asian markets, the hang seng opened 0.4% higher. it's down 0.1%. the blue chips are almost unchanged. and the sse composite down 0.3%. back to the main news with catherine. a magnitude 7.7 earthquake has struck off indonesias sumatra island. a 65-centimeter tsunami has been observed in padang. no damage or casualties have

been reported. the u.s. geological survey says the quake occurred at 14:42 utc on monday. the institute first announced that the magnitude was 7.5, but later revised it to 7.7. the focus of the quake is about 280 kilometers south of sumatra's central city padang and is estimated to be 20 kilometers below sea level. the pacific tsunami warning center in hawaii says the tsunami was observed in padang one hour after the quake. with continuing aftershocks, the agency have been issuing tsunami alerts for the nearby areas. the indonesian government says the country's most active volcano could erupt at any time. the alert status has been raised to the highest level. mt. merapi in central java has has shown increased volcanic activity. the 2,968-meter mountain has a lava dome building near the summit, and a series of earthquakes has been observed in

recent days. on monday officials raised the alert to the highest level of 4, and began evacuating people living within ten kilometers of the crater. the volcano last erupted in 2006 killing two people. lava flows from an eruption in 1994 claimed the lives of more than 60 people while a massive eruption in 1930 left more than 1,000 people dead. the democratic party in the u.s. is facing a tough campaign. just one week before the mid-it term elections, with speculation that the party may lose control of congress. early voting is already under way. all the seats in the house of representatives and one-third of the seats in the senate are up for grabs on november 2nd. with the sluggish economy and high unemployment, president obama's administration is facing an uphill battle. the republicans are expected to overtake the 78 seats held by the democrats in the house of

representatives. the democrats could also lose their 17-seat lead in the senate. president obama is campaigning hard in several states where the senate race is neck and neck. if the democrats lose their majority in both houses, the obama administration will find it difficult to pursue many of its key policies over the remaining two years of its term. japan and the united states have agreed to discuss revising the status of u.s. forces in japan. the two countries will hold a high level meeting to review the bilateral agreement. the japanese government conveyed the decision monday night to the officials from the southern prefecture of okinawa which holds the majority of u.s. military bases in japan. the government informed them that a forum led by more than

seiji maehara and u.s. ambassador to japan john roos to set up a you deal. under the current agreement, u.s. military personnel are handed over to japan before a formal indictment only in cases of serious crimes such as murder or rape. but people in okinawa have long called for revision so that suspects in all cases will be handed over to japan before indictment. the government also informed the okinawa officials that the two countries agreed to discuss whether japanese inspectors should be allowed to investigate environmental issues at u.s. military bases. the discussions are seen as aimed at winning okinawa's support for the proposed relocation of the u.s. marine corps futenma air station within the prefecture. a pair of swords has been confirmed to have belonged to an emperor more than 1,200 years ago. they were unearthed a century ago in the ancient capital of nara. the one meter iron swords were excavated from the base of the buddha statue in todaiji temple. the hall housing the statue is under restoration at the time. the swords have been kept at the

nara national museum. last month researchers used x-rays to reveal the characters for yin and yang inscribed on the blades. >> translator: here we can see the characters for yang sword. >> according to an ancient document, the eighth century emperor shoumu gave those names to the cherished swords and also known for constructing the temples and the great buddha statue. an historian says he believes the emperor's wife offered the swords to the buddha's statue to pray for his soul after he died. japanese animators are hosting a trade fair in tokyo. the trade min tees organized the two-day event that started on monday, the first of its kind. five producers and staff from u.s. and canadian networks were invited. 50 anime creators are giving

six-minute presentations of their products. one of the leading directors explained his idea for a new story about samurai warriors and ninjas. japanese animation is popular worldwide but recently only a handful of them have become major hits. the domestic market has been shrinking due to the aging society and the sluggish economy. japan's central bank's upcoming report is predicted to say with the economy's gradual recovery prices will stay at a very low level in the next fiscal year. to tackle persistent deflationary pressures, the key interest rate may remain near zero for sometime. the bank of japan is expected to

draft a forecast on the nation's economy in prices over the next two years in a policy meeting on thursday. the reported will also cover the effects of recent credit easing implemented earlier this month amid a slowing u.s. economy and surging yen. the boj decided to maintain the policy rate at near zero until the inflation rates rises to 1%. however, most board members agree that consumer prices will likely increase at one-tenth of a percent next fiscal year. most members expect this year's growth to fall short of the previous forecast of 2.6%, mainly due you to the yen's strength. they forsee the economy will be back on a slow recovery track next fiscal year thanks to continued growth and monetary easing. japanese trading house marubeni will acquire oil fields in the gulf of mexico.

marubeni announced on monday it will pay $650 million for bp's interests in four oil and gas fields in the gulf. they say investment in the production sectors is a core part of its business. the acquisition will increase their net production of oil worldwide by 50%. meanwhile, bp wants to fund part of what it woes for damaging resulting from an oil spill in april. bp plans to offer $20 billion in compensation to those affected by the spill. major japanese postal delivery system yamato said it plans to build a new terminal, the first of its kind. it will build the site adjacent to haneda terminal. it will cost $1.7 billion and

cover 200,000 square meters. by using the newest equipment that automatically sorts parcels and over 200 discharge stations yamoto said it can offer more efficiently. they plan to start operations in october 2012. next for you is a recap of the latest market figures.

next comes saki ochi with the weather forecast. hi, there. welcome back to your world weather update. we are keeping an eye on our tropical storm system here. rather, now a typhoon. it has really strengthened over the past couple of hours, packing winds of over 120 kilometer per hour. much stronger gusts will remain in the northerly track and start veering towards the northeast, getting very close to the southern islands of japan and possibly approaching mainland japan. a little hard to tell just yet, but either wail, outer rain bands could affect these developments. we need to keep a close eye on its developments over the next week or so. inland areas of china still seeing rain.

that will taper off later today. similarly dry for the korean peninsula as well. japan will see pretty unsettled conditions as well. changeable weather with intermittent showers. snow will likely fall for northern sections. tokyo will see pretty chilly temperatures. 8 in seoul. 9 degrees in beijing. the united states, pretty messy picture as storm systems stream off the pacific. right now we have one big storm system that will drop into the plains states. it will trigger a round of strong storms, tornadic activity. hail storms are not out of the question as that system moves through the midwest. ceral sectis of cana as well will seebl derms a asa . ire northwest still d ine.di f h

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