hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's wednesday, august 24th, 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. libya's anti-government forces have stormed the compound of libyan leader moammar gadhdhafi. the assault on tuesday was carried out with support from nato air strikes. the complex was gadhafi's

stronghold and residence. the forces reportedly entered the compound at around 5:00 p.m. local time following a battle against forces loyal to the longtime leader. footage from the site shows the rebels cheering for libya's day of liberation. they are stomping on a gadhafi statue and destroying his pictures. >> translator: we have taken control of 90% of the facility. we won a victory. >> fighting continues against loyalist snipers within parts of the compound. the anti-government foertss say they are searching for the libyan leader and will put him on trial for war crimes. the whereabouts of gadhafi and his family remains unknown. a nato spokesperson says the end of the gadhafi government is near, but the organization will continue air raids on libya in an attempt to protect civilians in the capital tripoli. >> for the gadhafi regime, this

is the final chapter. the end is near, and events are moving fast. what's clear to everybody is that gadhafi is history, and the sooner he realizes it, the better. >> lungescu also said nato will continue implementing its mandate to protect civilians for as long as necessary and that the united nations security council commitment. she denied the possibility of deploying ground troops adding that in the post-gadhafi period nato will be in a supporting role and will have no troops on the ground. libya's opposition forces have asked the united nations chief to provide assistance for the creation of a new country after the fall of the gadhafi administration. a u.n. spokesperson said mustafa abdel jalil, the leader of the national council, made the request to ban ki-moon during a telephone conversation on tuesday. the u.n. chief stressed the importance of libya's national unity after the collapse of the

gadhafi government. the spokesperson announced the u.n. secretary-general will host an emergency international meeting in new york on friday to discuss the libyan situation. now there was quite a big move in the markets overnight. ai uchida joins us with the latest in business news. >> indeed. very good morning to you. u.s. shares surged over 300 points in new york overnight on investor expectations that the fed will take additional monetary easing measures. the dow jones industrial average rose 322 points ending the day's session at 11,173. buy orders were placed on a wide range of shares. this came as market players anticipated fed chairman ben bernanke's -- that he would touch on additional monetary easing measures in his upcoming speech scheduled for friday. now in other news, we've just had word that moody's investor services has downgraded japanese sovereign debt. for details and to see how

japanese markets are reacting, we go to ramin mellegard. >> very good morning. that moody's downgrade from aa 2 to aa 3 he. we'll see how that affects the market nepoutlook, however, does remain stable. let's keep that in mind. the nikkei and topix trading in the positive. pretty much taking the cues from the dow and nasdaq and s&p overnight. now the u.s. markets initially got hit by some economic data in the housing sector. new home sales which yet again showed a contraction for a third month in a row with new home sales falling to a five-month low in july. there was also a rare earthquake which hit the east coast of the united states. initially causing a little bit of a dip, mostly in the insurance sector, but then all sectors pretty much rebounding very strongly into the close. hopes of a possible new set of measures -- easing measures by the federal reserve will be a

focus there and that drove sentiment higher in u.s. markets. all eyes are going to be on fed chairman bernanke when he attends that meeting in jackson hole, wyoming this week. let's touch on the currency markets as well. the dollar got pinned back a little bit after the housing numbers. currently trading around the 76 yen levels. pretty much still far off from the assumed levels that a lot of japanese companies have for this year. and we're going to keep track of japanese exporters as they now feel the negative effects of the stronger yen. so any overall market gains might be held back for japanese exporters. we'll see how that plays into the markets today. crude oil prices also a bit of a focus there. geopolitical events in libya and china's pmi data a little better than analysts expected yesterday bringing back crude oil prices into the focus. here in japan, of course, a lot of focus on the political front. prime minister naoto kan yesterday saying he'd expect a decision on a successor by the end of this month after some

bills have been passed through parliament. markets here as well as abroad have shown concern about that high turnover rate and the next successor would be the sixth prime minister in five years. and that affects a lot of market sentiment as to how policies will be implemented regarding japan's economy. for now the nikkei and top nix the positive. back to you. >> ramin mellegard, thank you very much for that. we'll have more on the moody's downgrade later in the show. china is expanding the use of its currency in settling cross-border trade. it will allow businesses nationwide to celt exposettle ed imports with the yuan. the country's central bank, people's bank of china said permission for yuan-based trade will now apply to businesses across the nation. previously, it included only a limited number of regions. this will allow chinese companies as well as trading firms overseas to settle more accounts using the yuan to rein in currency risks.

originally in 2009, china permitted firms in five cities, including shanghai, to use the yuan for trade with southeast asian nations. the government later expanded the use of its currency to 20 domestic areas and all international trade. meanwhile, china's commerce ministry also said it will start allowing foreign direct investment in the country in yuan. china is aiming to boost the status of the yuan as an international currency amid weakening trust in the u.s. dollar. and now a recap of the latest market figures.

>> that's all for now in business news. back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. the japanese government has compiled a basic plan to decontaminate glairs fukushima contaminated. the government said on tuesday it plans to cut the contamination levels in residential areas in the prefecture by almost half over the next two years. under the plan, houses will be decontaminated with measures including cleaning drain pipes and gardens pruned and weeded. it also says houses in areas contaminated with high levels of radiation must have roofs cleaned with high-pressure washing. and gardens, surface soil must be eliminated. the plan also states that joints

in asphalt roads must be rinsed and mud in roadside ditches be removed. tree branches on streets must be trimmed and dead leaves be disposed. the government is due to make a decision on the plan on friday. tokyo electric power company will try a new process to cool down the number three reactor at the fukushima daiichi plant. the utility will inject water directly on to the facility's fuel. tepco has been pouring seven tons of water from outside the number three reactor every hour. but this process has been producing a massive amount of high level radioactive water. tepco said that injecting cooling water through pipes situated above the fuel would be a more efficient operation. the utility will start conducting the new cooling operation on friday and check its effectiveness by monitoring the temperature levels. now even though it's summer, classrooms in the tsunami-destroyed areas are busy

with students and teachers. they are making up for lost time caused by the march 11th disaster. >> reporter: the harbor in onagawa once bustled with fishing boats. but the earthquake and tsunami on march 11th completely up ended life in the town in miyagi prefect purp more than five months later, not much has improved. even now, almost 500 people live in shelters. this junior high school was built on elevated ground in the center of town. even so it barely escaped the tsunami. forced classes to be stopped. then a series of aftershocks further interrupted classes. to get back on schedule, the town offered supplementary lessons for three mornings. 11 college students studying to be teachers helped conduct the classes. one of them is shiho, a fourth

year student at the miyagi university of education. >> translator: i kept thinking about how i could help the disaster victims. then i saw this opportunity, and decided to go for it. >> reporter: although there are four classes all geared towards first and second year students, she and her fellow student educators helped teach english, japanese and math. >> reporter: her methods included giving students memos with key points to help students answer questions. yohei, a first year student, enrolled in the supplementary classes. after living in the school gymnasium for three months, yohei finally moved into temporary housing in june.

his father used to own a shipping company but the tsunami swept away the family home, along with eight trucks. now yohei, his brother and his parents share temporary housing. yohei's grandmother is still missing. he lost all of his school supplies in the disaster so he couldn't study for some time. now in the temporary housing, he has trouble concentrating because he doesn't have his own room. >> translator: this place feels small. it's distracting. we hear noise from next door. >> what concerns me is the level of academic performance. i'm worried the disruption caused by the disaster will result in students performing worse than before.

>> the classes were held for three mornings. student teachers made it possible for every student to receive personal attention. two or three student teachers on hand. >> translator: we had more chances to ask questions. the way they taught us it was easy to understand. >> translator: i could talk casually one on one. so i found it easy to understand the lesson. >> translator: in spite of the challenging conditions, i've actually been able to study. i doubt i could have done it without everyone's outstanding support. i am really grateful. >> translator: in dealing with the disaster, now i see how i can help children when they are suffering from shock or

depression. >> reporter: other towns affected by the tsunami also hope to offer supplementary classes to local children. we are pleased with the result. we hope to keep offering classes like these for as long as we possibly can. >> reporter: but the trouble is, college students return to their classes in september. the schools worry about finding enough replacements. the solution is daunting as the program relies on the college students. japan's welfare ministry says about 55,000 cases of child abuse were reported last year. that's the highest number ever. now people from all over japan are responding to a manga series about child abuse and its prevention.

based on true stories, the manga educate youngsters. the nation's future parents. >> reporter: a parent's rage against her child turns to violence. the story follows a rookie social worker who helps abused children. the manga sheds light on child abuse and shows readers how to deal with it. after publication, the magazine received more than 300 e-mails and letters from readers of all ages nationwide. former newspaper journalist launched the series last autumn. he's been reporting on child abuse for 20 years. after writing many articles about the problem, he decided that societyas no hope if it doesn't value its children. he quit his newspaper job and began writing exclusively about child abuse.

a publisher heard about him and requested a draft for a series. through manga images, the company wanted to make high school students think about abuse. >> translator: how can we save abused children? how do we make sure we aren't letting abuse happen over and over again? we have to thoroughly examine the cases of the abused children we couldn't save. >> reporter: komiya researched by interviewing adults who had been abused as children. he met a man in his 20s who escaped from his single parent family and now lives on his own. his father spent all his money on alcohol. >> tnslator: my father told me to buy ten kilograms of flour and make it last for a month. >> what did you do with it?

>> translator: i made noodles. i sometimes added chives from the garden. it was rough. you can't trust adults, even now. komiya also spoke with a young woman whose mother had abused her. if i was holding chopsticks wrong, my mother would hit me or burn me with her cigarette. i thought she was abusing me because i was a bad child. >> translator: adults must learn from the appalling stories told by these young people and think about what to do. >> reporter: on this day, komiya meets with the editorial staff. >> reporter: the team agrees the abused child in this story must be rescued. the manga shows concrete ways of resolving the issue. they also decide not to show shocking scenes of abuse.

>> translator: in one scene, the child draws on all his strength to tell an adult, my dad beats me up. we thought it better to stress the child's words instead of the bruises on his face. >> reporter: in the second series, komiya shows how a child is rescued from his abusive stepfather. komiya use information he learned from youngsters he interviewed. for example, abused children can't always ask for help. they want adults to notice something is strange and take action. >> translator: i want young readers to remember the lessons my cartoons teach. and read them again when they become parents. i'm deeply committed. >> reporter: komiya hopes his cartoons will help build a society that simply refuses to

tolerate child abuse. and welcome back to your weather update. now for east asia, we now have a tropical storm system that has just joined us. here it is. the clouds just east of the philippines starting to show signs of good organization. this will be tropical storm nanmadol. it is going to be moving very slowly, gradually shifting toward the north over the next couple of days. either way, this is showing signs of intensifying and forecasts are calling for this to become a severe tropical storm system and possibly even a typhoon over the next few days. it will be a storm system to watch. it will remain likely well away from the philippines, not making landfall here but still you will want to watch out for those rough sea conditions and possibly some outer rain bands impacting the northeast end of the country. meanwhile, we also have this very active rain front that's

been with us all week. and it continues to bring in showers. the peak of the very heavy rain should be easing for the southern japan this morning. but either way, it's going to remain very unstable in the area. so northern japan, southern areas of the country and in toward the train peninsula. all throughout today you'll be looking at unstable conditions, changeable weather very, very likely. showers continue to impact the southeastern end of china. looks like they may taper off in the evening hours but they will return again over the next few days. it is going to stay pretty wet. 27 is your high in shanghai today. expecting 29 in seoul. and tokyo will hit 30 degrees getting quite hot. now in the caribbean, we've been watching, of course, hurricane irene in here moving now away from the dominican republic, aiming for the turks and caicos islands. it may still attain major hurricane status, category 3 or even more over the next few days as it aims for the bahamas.

over that it looks like it may get very close to southeast coast of the united states. this will be a system to keep a close eye on. there will be plenty of rain with this system already impacting areas like the hispaniola, puerto rico. the bulk of the heavy rain will be aiming for turks and caicos and the bahamas. a very wet picture indeed. ahead of that gulf coast space here deal with showery conditions. looks like that's going to be continuing. another low is going to really develop across central canada and then we're bringing showers into the east. also looking unsettled across the midwest, too. we could see some severe weather pop up here so you do want to watch out for that. wednesday's high, 40 degrees in oklahoma city. it's going to be hot again in houston as well coming in at 38. and finally a look at europe here. scattered showers will start moving through the british aisles today. that will be persisting over the next few days as the low continues to spin off in the atlantic. also, we've got this separate low moving into north sea that's

going to show signs of developing. it will bring in thunderstorms and gusty, stormy weather all along central and western sections of europe. and then it's going to start heading up towards scandinavian peninsula as well. as for highs on wednesday, 18 only in stockholm. hotter for berlin, 30 degrees. another hot day in vienna as well as in budapest coming up to 36 degrees. lots of heat here. so you do want to take precautions as necessary. all right. so that's a look at your weather for now. and here is your three-day outlook.

our lead stories this hour -- libya's opposition forces have stormed the compound of the country's leader moammar al gadhafi in the capital tripoli. the rebel fighters are claiming most of the facility is now under their control. the assault on tuesday was carried out with support from

nato air strikes. the complex was gadhafi's stronghold and residence. the opposition forces reportedly entered the compound at around 5:00 p.m. local time following a battle against forces loyal to the longtime leader. footage from the site shows the rebels cheering for libya's day of liberation. they are stomping on a gadhafi statue and destroying his pictures. >> translator: we have taken control of 90% of the facility. we won a victory. >> fighting continues against loyalist snipers within parts of the compound. the anti-government forces say they are searching for the libyan leader and will put him on trial for war crimes. the whereabouts of gadhafi and his family remains unknown. a nato spokesperson says the end of the gadhafi government is near, but the organization will continue air raids on libya in an attempt to protect civilians in the capital tripoli. >> for the gadhafi regime, this

is the final chapter. the end is near, and events are moving fast. what's clear to everybody is that gadhafi is history, and the sooner he realizes it, the better. >> lungescu also said nato will continue implementing its mandate to protect civilians for as long as necessary and uphold its united nations security council commitment. she denied the possibility of deploying ground troops adding that in the post-gadhafi period nato will be in a supporting role and will have no troops on the ground. separately, credit rating agency moody's downgraded japan's sovereign debt earlier this tuesday morning. for details let's go back to ai uchida. >> major u.s. credit rating agency moody's has downgraded japan's sovereign debt by one notch on concerns over the country's worsening fiscal standing. on wednesday, moody's lowered

the rating of longtime japanese government bonds from aa-2 to aa-3. the agency says the affects of the march disaster and resulting power outages are slowing down japan's economic growth. added the country has so far failed to hammer out viable plans for reforming its social security and tax system. following the ratings downgrade announcement, we spoke to tom burn, senior vice president and regional credit officer for asia and the middle east at moody's. >> the factors that prompted the downgrade were the large build-up in budget deficits and also the almost -- rise in government debt over the current policy framework. we cite one of the factors contributing to the rating downgrades was the frequent change in government and related to the frequent change of government is, so far, inability of the government to put into place and adhere to a long-term

program of fiscal reform and also economic reinvigoration. the change in the rating reflects what we see some of the weakness in japan's fundamental strengths. the ut look really reflects some of the strength, the other side of the coin. we don't expect that funding pressures will rise much over the next 12 to 18 months on the -- forapanese government debt refinancing. and a reform package is also taking shape, although certainly more has to be done. but taking those two into consideration, we think that the downward pressure won't increase much on the pressure over the 12 to 18-month period. >> that was tom byrne, senior vice president and regional credit officer for asia and the middle east at moody's. and that is all for now in business news. it's back to catherine.

thanks, ai. ai uchida there on moody's downgrade of japan's sovereign debt earlier on wednesday. that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.