welcome to nhk world "newsline." heavy rains continue to lash wide areas around the world, causing floods and landslides. in the southeastern australian state of victoria hundreds of people have evacuated their homes after rain-swollen rivers overflowed their banks. >> we can keep bagging up, bagging up. you know, we've tried to block off a few of the stormwater pits to make it a little slower to come through. i've got a relative over the

road there. it's all part of the experience, isn't it? maybe the first time in a couple hundred years. >> this follows weeks of flooding in northeastern queensland state that caused huge economic damage and affected roads, railways, farms, and businesses. 31 people are known to have died. and more than 30,000 houses and businesses are swamped. torrential rains have also caused major flooding across sri lanka. in the philippines 40 people died in floods and landslides. floods and landslides in brazil caused by record rainfall last week also claimed the lives of more than 600 people. in south africa and neighboring mozambique at least 40 people have died in flooding caused by torrential downpours. tunisia has announced a caretaker government that includes opposition leaders participating for the first time. but former government members are also in key posts. ruling and opposition camps held talks on saturday to form a government. former president zine el abidine ben ali fled last week after

ruling the country over 23 years. the new cabinet has three former opposition leaders, but mohamed ghannouchi remains prime minister. the defense, finance and interior ministers among others are also keeping their positions. ghannouchi said the new government will protect human rights and freedom of speech and cooperate with all factions. however, about 1,000 people rallied in the capital tunis on monday and called for the overthrow of ben ali's rcd party members. observers say it's uncertain if the tunisian people will trust the caretaker government with so many ministers from the former government. u.n. secretary-general ban ki moon has call for the rule of law in the north african country 37 ban was speaking at a news conference in abu dhabi in the united arab emirates on monday. >> while i feel encouraged by the ongoing dialogue between the caretaker government and the large array of political parties

and civil society validations, i remain extremely concerned about the continued violence and resulting loss of lives property. this is a moment for the tunisian people to strengthen the country's long-standing culture of political moderation and attachment to peace. early results from a referendum in southern sudan shows an overwhelming majority of people voted for independence. the reem will most likely become the 54th nation in africa. vote counting began on saturday shortly after the week-long poll ended. in the capital of southern sued rngs juba, initial results indicate 98% of the population voted in favor of independence. the final results will be announced by the end of the month. the referendum is in accordance with a 2005 peace agreement which ended more than two decades of civil war between the north and south.

southern sudan will likely become a sovereign state when the peace accord expires in july. but tensions may still heighten between the north and the south. the two sides have not yet resolved how to share oil profits in the south, or the ownership of oil fields along their border. japan has agreed to build a liquefied natural gas facility with russia's state-controlled firm gazprom. the agreement was announced on monday, which the two countries signed earlier this month. gazprom plans to construct the facility on the coastal area near vladivostok. it will liquefy the natural gas extracted off the shores of sack lynn in russia's far east. under the deal the two sides will research production scale and profitability by the end of the year. russia is trying to sell crude oil and other natural resources to the asia-pacific region. it hopes to export 5 million tons of natural gas per year to

japan and other countries. ties between japan and russia soured after russian president dmitry medvedev visited kunashiri last year, one of the four islands claimed by japan. but with the agreement russia may be showing a separation on territorial and economic issues. 30 japanese companies are promoting their latest green technology at a world trade fair that opened on monday in abu dhabi, the capital of the united arab emirates. 600 firms from around the world, including those specializing in solar energy and electric vehicles, are showcasing their state-of-the-art ecofriendly products. abu dhabi is switching from oil to next-generation fuel as it anticipates that oil supplies will eventually run out. the middle eastern city is currently building the world's largest eco town. it is inviting international organizations focusing on clean-energy projects. one japanese company is displaying a technology which it sold to abu dhabi.

the system can monitor the location and battery life of every electric vehicle in town. the trade fair opened alongside the world future energy summit, an international conference to discuss clean energies. u.n. secretary-general ban ki moon gave an opening address on monday. he urged each country to promote clean energy to minimize climate risks and reduce poverty. a major japanese trading firm and a federation of agricultural cooperatives announced on monday they will work together to boost rice exports to japan -- to china, that is. the target consumers are wealthy chinese. marubeni aims to expand its food business by selling rice in china. the company already has overseas marketing channels. the national federation of agricultural cooperative associations, or zen-noh, has rice storage and milling facilities around -- across japan. zen-noh's side now handles nearly 40% of domestically

produced rice, which is about 3 million tons, and wants to boost marketing capabilities. >> translator: china is a huge market and is certain to accept high-quality japanese rice. the current sense of stagnation felt by japan's agriculture industry cannot be overcome without expanding its business overseas. taking a look at stokeio markets, stocks moved within a tight range on tuesday morning. the nikkei average ended the morning session at 10,521, up 18 points. trading was thin for a lack of fresh incentives as the new york market was closed overnight for a holiday. investors are focusing their attention on the earnings of u.s. computer maker apple, due out later in the day. on the tokyo foreign exchange on tuesday, the dollar is slightly lower against the yen. the greenback currently trading at 82.57-61 yen. the move follows the yen's overnight rise against the euro and dollar. however, the yen's gains are limited due to a lack of trading

cues. a japan self-defense force unit has completed its u.n. peacekeeping mission in nepal. japan has postedsdf personnel to the himalayan country since march 2007 as part of u.n. operations to monitor a cease-fire. six sdf members left the capital katmandu on monday after their u.n. mandate expired last week. the nepalese government did not ask for its extension. japan has sent 24 sdf personnel to nepal following a cease-fire agreement between the nepalese military and maoist militants. the 2006 agreement, after a decade-long civil conflict, led to the end of the country's 200-year-old monarchy and the establishment of a republic. the nepalese government is now struggling to integrate the

military and maoist forces. japan's self-defense forces and u.s. marines will conduct joint amphibious landing drills next month in the u.s. city of san diego. a ground sdf regiment from nagasaki prefecture will begin training with a u.s. marine unit on february 8th for about one month. the drill was rescheduled after the government approved new defense policy guidelines last month. the guidelines cited china's rising military power and recommended enhancing security in southwestern japan. the defense ministry says the drills will rehearse a response to an attack on the country's remote islands. troops will simulate covert landings from small boats and amphibious landings in which vehicles and personnel disembark from hovercrafts. the foreign ministers of the association of southeast asian nations have agreed to speed up discussions with china to solve the territorial disputes in the south china sea.

indonesian foreign minister marty natalegawa, who chairs asean this year, spoke on monday after an unofficial two-day ministerial meeting. >> we must also think of other ways and means to ensure that the process of asean china discussion on the south china sea continues in an urgent way. >> in october asean and china agreed to cooperate and draw up guidelines for solving the territorial disputes. last month, they failed to make significant progress because of china's lack of interest in the talks. the indonesian foreign minister did not elaborate what new action would be taken. but asean diplomatic sources suggest ministerial level talks should be considered instead of meetings between senior officials. japanese scientists are preparing to analyze the first asteroid samples ever brought back to earth. the cosmic dust was collected by the hayabusa probe last year.

the japan aerospace exploration agency said on monday it will provide samples to eight research teams. analysis will start as soon as friday and continue for several months. the team will use electron microscopes and other high tech probes to find out the composition of the particles and when they were formed. it's hoped the research will shed light on the origin of the solar systems as asteroids are believed to contain material from its formative period. the project team says it will release initial results before the summer. it then plans to send the asteroid particles to laboratories both in and outside japan for further study. the film "the social network" has won four golden globes awards, including best picture. the movie depicts the founding of facebook. the 68th awards ceremony was held on sunday in los angeles. golden globes winners are selected by the hollywood foreign press association.

"the social network" also received awards for best director, best screenplay, and best musical score, making it a front-runner in the race for the academy awards. the producer of the film, scott rudin, spoke after receiving the best picture award. >> i want to thank everybody at facebook. mark zuckerberg for his willingness to allow us to use his life and work as a metaphor through which to tell a story about communication and the way we relate to each other. >> the film is based on an unauthorized book about facebook founder and ceo mark zuckerberg. he created the site in 2004 when he was in college. the 26-year-old billionaire didn't cooperate in the making of the movie. the story is considered fictional. facebook now has about 500 million users around the world. in many countries devastated

by war, land mines, slow rebuilding and economic growth. but it takes a lot of money and manpower to clear mine fields. yuko aotani spoke with the leader of a non-profit organization in africa that uses animals to detect hidden land mines. >> the united nations say about 110 million land mines are laid worldwide. once planted, the weapon brings long-term risk in the surrounding area. the vast majority of victims are civilians, casualties reported when the fighting has ended. in mozambique, 20 years after the civil war, people are getting a new chance to live free of the threat of the land mines. scurrying over dangerous fields, an african giant pouched rat begins its search. it is specially trained to detect land mines. the animal isn't heavy enough to trigger an explosion if it steps on a mine. the belgium-based group

apopo developed the method. 40 of the ngo's 300 rats are being deployed in the country. in mozambique alone 2 million land mines are believed to be buried. joining us now from apopo's african headquarters in tanzania is bart vitiens. thank you very much for joining us today. now, we've seen how your rats find land mines. what's the benefit of using these animals? >> they are small, easy to maintain, they don't require a lot of medical care. you can support many rats in a small space for a low price. and basically, you find rats on every continent. but the most important is actually, and that's something which people don't really know, is that rats are actually very sociable, intelligent animals, easy to train, and they love to

perform repetitive tasks. >> i see. how did you come up with the idea of using rats in the first place? >> well, as a child i had all kinds of rodents. i bred rats, mice, hamsters, squirrels, you name it, i bred those and sold them to pet shops as a small business. >> i see. can you tell us of the group's achievements? >> the mine detection rats have now cleared already more than 2 million square meters in the gaza province, which is the most southern province in mozambique. most heavily mined as well. and the mozambiquan government has tasked apopo with the clearance of the entire province. and we are quite sure we will be able to finish that task to make the whole province land mine-free before 2014. >> i see. so can you pick any rat? is there a special criteria for selecting rats? >> for sure there are criteria.

not every rat would be suitable to work as a hero rat. first of all, rats need to be very socialized with humans. it's really essential, this human-animal relationship, in order to produce good work. >> now, we have some footage on how apo po train the rats. let's have a look now. the training runs for eight months. first, young rats hear this click every time they're fed. next, they're introduced to the scent of gunpowder used in land mines. the animals are taught to associate the scent of gun powder with feeding. before long, the animal moves toward the gunpowder scent on its own. only rats that meet international mine detection standards are accredited for

use. staff are hired from the local community. today, more than 100 tanzanians are professional rat trainers. now, mr. weetjens, you emphasize in hiring local people. why is that so important? >> that is really important to hire local people because in the end the land mine problem is so huge, and the actors in the mine action theater are all international ngos. now, what apopo does, or apopo's approach to the problem is to empower local populations to tackle the problem themselves. so we create not only a technology but we transfer the skills to african population so that in the long run they will be able to follow up the residual mine fields to be able to tackle them with local

capacities themselves. >> there are other parts of the world that still suffer from land mines and are trying to get rid of them. what will be your next step? >> there's over 70 countries and territories where there actually is a threat of land mines. apopo's plans are actually to expand into southeast asia. cambodia, thailand, laos, myanmar. by using rats we can make mine action a lot cheaper. and that is really important. because the international community cannot go on prioritizing on a problem that costs so much and has actually very little outputs. in the end, what is done with mine action is just creating the necessary conditions for development to occur, but in itself it is not development. >> thank you very much there. bart weetjens, the founding member of the group apopo speaking with us from tanzania.

hi again, and welcome back to your world weather update. now, for east asia we are looking at fairly settled conditions for a lot of northern china as well as the korean peninsula. but over toward japan here looking at these lines spaced close together and winds are going to be strong here today. a lot of blustery, cold winds from the north. and also looking at snow again for the northwestern flank of the country. that's been an ongoing story here for the past couple of days since the weekend even. so snow amounts really starting to pile up here. do stay on the watch as it could affect travel conditions. across china southern sections looking at a little more rain start to spread. a lot of that aimed for central sections of china. so even in toward shanghai. and with that we aren't going to be seeing so much rain as snow. snow is in the forecast for shanghai today. and that is because it's pretty

cold. shanghai's high remains at 3 today. we are also looking at minus 1 in beijing and 6 degrees in chongqing. so lots of cool air starting to invade areas across china. over towards the americas, still a lot of moisture keeps coming in off the pacific. it's been wet along the coastline of western canada in towards washington state as well as oregon. flood risks remaining high here. and then we're looking at snow that spreads across the northern tier of the united states, across central canada as well. that is all heading eastward now. great lakes area, you will be expecting lake effect snows. and then everywhere else as we look at more moisture coming in from the south, mix of freezing rain, icy conditions going to be possible for northeastern united states through eastern canada as well as for parts of the mid-atlantic states. so things are turning icy for the monday into tuesday. do stay on the watch for that. tuesday's high is 1 in new york and 5 in d.c. gets up to 12 in atlanta. and then a balmy 20 degrees for

houston. and finally, looking at europe, it's going to remain clear for a lot of continental europe on tuesday. high pressure remains in place. some scattered showers will move through the channel here, moving in toward southern uk as well as europe, or france, that is. low countries too picking up on showers. now, rainfall is going to be the major event across western and central sections of europe, including germany. e mild side. but those warmer temperatures have also been causing flooding problems. and it still continues across germany. here's a look at the current situation. still flood waters very, very high. river levels looking quite swollen here as well. extensive flooding has been reported across a majority of germany. you can see streets here pretty widely flooded as well. now, this is all of course due to the rapid snow melt from the milder temperatures these past few days. and also, rainfall has been

quite heavy since last week. it's just been adding up to raise these water levels. and still on tuesday, 7 for your high in berlin. and 9 in vienna. so really getting warm in parts of central europe. so you could be seeing more further melt in the next few days. all right. so that's a look at your weather for now. and here is your three-day outlook. ♪ ♪

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once again, the headlines this hour. heavy rains continue to lash wide areas around the world, causing floods and landslides. . in the southeastern australian state of victoria, hundreds of people have evacuated their homes after rain-swollen rivers overflowed their banks. >> we can keep bagging up, bagging up. we've tried to block off a few of the storm water pits to make it a little bit harder to come through. i've got a relative across the road. that's where i'll lumber through. it's all part of the experience. maybe the first time in a couple hundred years. >> this follows weeks ever flooding in northeastern queensland state that caused huge economic damage and affected roads, railways, farms, and businesses. 31 people are known to have died. and more than 30,000 houses and buildings were swamped. torrential rains have also caused major flooding across sri lanka. in the philippines 40 people

died in floods and landslides. floods and landslides in brazil caused by record rainfall last week also claimed the lives of more than 600 people. in south africa and neighboring mozambique at least 40 people have died in flooding caused by torrential downpours. tunisia has announced a caretaker government that includes opposition leaders participating for the first time. but former government members are also in key posts. ruling and opposition camps held talks on saturday to form a government. former president zine el abidine ben ali fled last week after ruling the country for over 23 years. the new cabinet has three former opposition leaders, but mohamed ghannouchi remains as prime minister. the defense, finance and interior ministers among others are also keeping their positions. ghannouchi said the new government will protect human rights and freedom of speech and will cooperate with all

factions. however, about 1,000 people rallied in the capital, tunis, on monday and called for the overthrow of ben ali's rcd party members. observers say it's uncertain if the tunisian people will trust the caretaker government with so many ministers from the former government. u.n. secretary-general ban ki moon has called for the rule of law in the north african country. ban was speaking at a news conference in abu dhabi in the united arab emirates on monday. >> while i feel encouraged by the ongoing dialogue between the caretaker government and the large aay of political pes cie remain extremely c ctiedlence a. this is a men long-standing

an o countin juba, initial ru. between th nth a