glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. nine people, including three children drifting in a small

wooden boat were rescued off the coast of japan on tuesday morning. the japan coast guard plans to interview the group claiming to be north korean defectors. the japan coast guard picked them up after fisher mann spotted the vessel in waters near the port of wajima on the north central coast. they said they left from a port in north korea last thursday and intended to drift to south korea. their long journey would have been across the sea of japan, known for its rough waters but all appeared to be in good health. the coast guard said they still want to go to south korea. the japanese government is now considering whether or not to send them. in 2007, a small boat carrying four north korean defectors was spotted in waters off aomori prefecture, south japan. they were moved to south korea at their request. china officially recognized libya's new leaders. both sides agreed to uphold all

promises signed during libya's previous government under ousted leader moammar al gadhafi. china's foreign ministry spokesman jiang yu said libya's ministry will abide by the agreements. they had will working on infrastructure projects worth $18 billion. it was the last permanent member of the u.n. security council to recognize the transitional council as libya's ruling authority. ai uchida joins us with the latest in business news. concern over european debt is getting bigger by day. leaders are consulting with each other on what to do next and investor uneasiness is showing in the numbers. ai give us more on that. >> absolutely. thaus, catherine. the top leaders of france and the european union have held talks in attempts to figure out how to solve greece's worsening

debt problem. knick cass sarkozy ander haveman von rompuy are said to have discussed options including having eu countries obtain swift parliament approval for greece and other debt-ridden european nations. sarkozy is planning to hold a conference call with angela merkel and george papandreiou wednesday. greece renewed its record low price on uncertainty for additional support for the debt-ridden country. on tuesday in the european bond market investors sold sovereign debt sending the price of the ten-year bond to the lowest level since the introduction of the euro. the falling price lifted it up to the upper 24% range. italian bonds were also sold

over concerns to the fiscal outlook. news the italian government asked a chinese sovereign wealth fund to purchase its debt failed to prompt bye orders. now let's get a check on the markets. in the u.s. markets closed higher for a second day in a row. to see how stocks are kicking off here in japan this wednesday morning, let's go to market reporter ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, ai. having a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and topix, marginal move higher, not but any great respect but positive in the first few minutes of trading. the nikkei managed to head higher after a fresh two and a half day low. today the stock index is higher but not any major moves.

as we've been covering every single day this week the eurozone economies and the volatility playing into the stock bond and of course the currency markets and let's have a look at how the debt levels are with the yen against the euro and the dollar, the yen is holding against the euro at the lower 105 levels and around the upper 76 levels against the dollar. both these levels continue to be a little bit of a problem for japanese exporters with u.s. and european based economies. the biggest chunk of sales for japanese exporters, household names, sony, canon, nikon and if you factor in where japanese economies are shifting production overseas and increasing sales in places such

as china and emerging economies such as indonesia, the fact remains that the u.s. and europe still remain very big markets for japanese exporters. separately, coming up as well we have key economic data out of the u.s., retail sales and producer price index numbers coming up later today. so that's also going to be a focus, but having a look at the indexes right now, marginally in the positive. we'll see how we close out the day today. back to you, ai >> thanks, ramin. that was market reporter ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. let's get you a look at other market figures now.

that is all for now in business news. back to catherine. in afghanistan taliban fighters have attacked the u.s. embassy and other facilities in the capital kabul. at least seven people have been killed. afghan police say armed insurgents fired rockets at the u.s. embassy on tuesday. the nearby headquarters of the nato-led international forces was also a target. police say the attacks soon developed into gun fights between the taliban and afghan security troops. the interior ministry says the shooting killed four. the u.s. embassy says four afghan citizens who happened to be inside the embassy applying for visas were injured. the bombings killed three people. a taliban spokesperson told nhk that the organization is responsible for all the attacks.

president hamid karzai on tuesday released a statement condemning the actions. he said this will not stop the transition of security from international to afghan forces. secretary of state hillary clinton said the united states will ensure the safety of its people there and secure the area. r. >> the civilians who serve are dedicated brave men and women, committed to advancing our mission. they will not be intimidated by this kind of cowardly attack. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild.

don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." the irradiated village of kawauchi in fukushima prefecture aims to decontaminate the area, restore lifelines and bring all residents back by next march. the village and its surrounding areas have been designated as being inside the 20 kilometer no entry zone around the fukushima daiichi plant or the emergency preparation zone. 90% or 2,800 villagers have left the town to date. mayor yuok endo announced the recovery plan on tuesday. >> translator: our village aims to complete the process of resettling all of its residents by the end of next march. >> local governments must submit offer recovery plans.

the kawauchi plan calls for thoroughly monitoring underground water for radioactive substances. decontamination of schools and other areas is to be completed before the end of the year. if the government gives the all clear, the village plans to build temporary housing for the 350 residents who are from the no entry zone. however, there are some concerns as to how the residents can get back to their previous lives once the emergency order is lifted. >> translator: i hope everyone will return, but i'm concerned about that. >> translator: everybody has a home in the village, but young people won't be able to find work. even though it's only three lines long, a haiku poem can evoke strong emotion. it contains 17 syllables, five in the first line, seven in the next and the final one five

syllables. in our next report students who lost family and friends in the tsunami draw strength from haiku to carry on. nhk world's shige yamashita reports. >> reporter: students from this high school took part in the haiku contest. a team of five students each presented their haiku according to a given theme. this year, many entrants talked about the destruction. >> tsunami disaster sight. none of them can be seen, snails. waft of a fan, dries tears of suffering in the disaster area. >> reporter: despite their lives being affected by the tsunami,

the students from the devastated area in iwate prefecture to. these five took part. isako sasaki lost her family members. she's been struggling to cope with her loss. >> translator: i'm not ready to talk about what happened on march 11th, not yet. >> reporter: about 1,400 people from oshuchi are dead or missing. the stool was used as an evacuation center until early august. the students did not make it to the finals but the older students invited them to look on. during the events the old high

school students had a chance to meet with the local matsuyama students. sasaki had something she wanted to show them. >> translator: we took shelter at this school for a few days after the tsunami. a fire broke out, too. >> translator: this was the first time sasaki had ever shown anyone pictures of her devastated hometown. after visiting a memorial for the famous port, the older student joined the poetry workshop. there, sasaki opened up even more. she composed a haiku about losing her home to the tsunami. >> translator: fresh tatami mats with their fragrance, an afternoon nap. >> translator: before the disaster, i lived in a house

with tatami mat floors, the place we are staying in now only has wooden floors. i miss the tatami, so i wrote haiku about it. >> reporter: after the competition, the matsuyama students wrote haiku to cheer up the students from the devastated area. >> translator: i've been thinking how to write haiku. i think the important thing is express what you really feel. here's one i composed. >> translator: your words uttered to the cosmos, summer sparkles. >> translator: i am convinced some haiku can only come out of our own experience. now i'm inspired to write that kind of haiku. >> reporter: by expressing

determination, the students, who have been through so much, show signs of getting on with rebuilding their shattered lives. shigemi yamashita, nhk world, matsuyama. the international atomic energy agency has adopted a plan to strengthen global nuclear safety following japan's fukushima nuclear accident six months ago. the 35 nation will meet thursday. some countries including germany wanted the safety evaluations to be mandatory. others including the united

states stressed that safety issues should be left to national authorities. the action plan is expected to be implemented after it's approved at the iaea's general conference to be held from monday. safety officials in france say the incident at one of the country's nuclear waste facilities over. an explosion at the marcoule complex killed one person and injured four others. the accident happened inside a building that houses a furnace that's used to melt low level radioactive waste. about four tons of scrap metal extracted from nuclear waste was being melted inside the faurs in at the time of the accident. the cause of the explosion is not known. the facility suffered no major damage and there have been no radiation leaks. local residents are complaining that nuclear authorities didn't release enough information after the explosion. they're skeptical of the facility's safety.

>> translator: residents were not informed. we haven't been kept up to date. we've been listening to the radio. people have been exchanging information by telephone and word of mouth. >> there is a high concentration of nuclear facilities in mar cool and the surrounding area. that includes a processing plant for fuel made of a mix of plutonium and uranium, and a reactor used to produce plutonium. nhk world has been named broadcaster of the year for its live streaming news reporting on the great east japan earthquake and tsunami on march 11th. >> the winner is nhk world. >> the connected world tv awards are given to broadcasters that have done the most to advance distribution on content on the internet. the awards were launched this year by a british magazine on media affairs. nhk world was presented with the broadcaster of the year award at a ceremony held in amsterdam on monday.

>> in serving the global audience, nhk employed all the traditional broadcast elements of good journalism and excellent technology on a new media platform via the internet to serve an incredible thirst for information. >> after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern japan on march 11th, nhk world provided minute-by-minute disaster updates for two straight weeks on both television and its website for live stream broadcasting. during that time, the nhk world website was visited by more than 5.4 million people from around the world. thanks very much for watching and we appreciate your viewership. now let's take a look at the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item sent by irib iran.

iran has made its largest donation of humanitarian aid to stricken somalia. the iran red crescent society's 5,000-ton shipment includes rice and other food items. the group has already sent 12 installments of aid worth about $25 million. somalia is suffering through its worst drought in 60 years. tens of thousands of people died, most of them children. somalia has not had functioning government since 1991 when the warlords overthrew the former dictator. chinese communities across thailand celebrated the lantern festival on monday. the event provided a chance for family reunions under a full moon, a symbol of happiness and prosperity. in the southwestern resort eye lend of phuket, hundreds of chinese flocked to a city park to worship the deities. they offered mood cakes and

fruit. children in the northern area stage traditional performances including the dragon dance. pandas in animal park in eastern china celebrated the mid autumn festival with special moon cakes. officials at the jinbao paradise animal park used eight ingredients includg bamboo shoots and apples to prepare the cakes for jinchuan and leilei. it is the first year for pandas at their new home. the cakes were extra large as each animal consumes 25 to 30 kilograms of bamboo shoots and 1.5 kilograms of apples per day. and now let's take a look at sumo with murray johnson. sumo time. we know the crowd is down, but we need to ensure quality to bring the fans back to the arena. we have a mixed bag today of what is needed and what is not.

rank and filer yoshikaze has yet to beat his day three opponent, baruto has only one loss and shoe win here. yoshikaze gets in low and baruto tries a desperation head lock blow. the little man grabs a loose mowashi, an upset loss to baruto. homasho looks off his game but needs to dig deep into his september account. homasho and osho over the run, stepping over the right square, he's driven back. terrible 0-2 start for coukotoo.

well, there has to be some good with the bad, i guess, so let's have a look at two top rankers harumafuji lost yesterday. wakanosato has not beaten him out in any of the previous bouts. ozeki lost yesterday for merely flipping his quest. has o okinumi has hakuho off balance. the yokozuna misses a combination of head and owashi, drops the rank and filer to the middle of the clay, scary but effective. >> though ozeki may not be producing the quality we're hoping for, but it does bring unpredictable results. so join us tomorrow to see if

the trend continues. welcome back to your weather update. we have a tropical storm system newly formed that joined us. this is moving northerly direction at the moment. looks like it will take a more westerly course in the next few days ending towards the okinawa amami islands towards the weekend. this is going to be a system that will start effecting areas here in the next few days. and then winds and rains will pick up as well. first, you will feel the stronger waves, then winds and rain will likely pick up as well. it is expected to strengthen a little more, and also will be picking up more speed. areas elsewhere, still rain lingering in the north. it is on its way out. should be clearing out by afternoon, looking dryer across the country. behind it, a rain band stretches

through northeastern china towards central areas. still patches of heavy rain in this system, so you want to watch out for that. here is a look at highs for wednesday. 24. rather pleasant, beijing, getting cold. seoul up to 31, tokyo , 32 degrees. another hot day here. as for the americas, we have tropical storm maria, finally moving away from puerto rico, picking up a little more speed. as it does so, now looks like it will veer west of bermuda in the next few days. likely maintaining a lot of strength, not intensifying too much more at least. already watches have been issued across bermuda. you will start seeing winds, high waves and rainfall in the next few days. it does, however, continue to be a slow moving system. maria still bringing remnant showers to the islands of the caribbean, puerto rico, too, will continue to see more rainfall today.

for north america, we have these two lows in place. long frontal boundary extends from one end. that's all bringing in wet weather to areas northeast of the united states, far eastern canada. we will be looking at stormy activity tonight. behind it, showers start developing in the southeast here as well as back towards the inner mountain west. unsettled picture for a wide area. it will include a few thunderstorms as well. this patch of rain spreading across ontario tonight, temperatures are dropping into almost freezing level, so will include a few snow flurries. heading into wednesday, temperatures will be definitely on the low side. winnipeg only at 10. chicago drops down to 18 degrees. oklahoma city, 30 degrees, still hot, but cooler than some of the temperatures we've been seeing these past few weeks. and finally a look at europe. remains messy towards the scandinavian peninsula, still

bringing in strong winds and plenty of rainfall. starting to head now more in towards areas like the baltic states and parts of the northern end of germany and poland will be feeling some of that winds and the rain as well. as for the temperatures, 19 degrees in berlin, down to 20 in warsaw. vienna, 24 degrees. definitely still on the mild side. rome hits 29. that's your weather conditions for now. here is the three day outlook.

nine people including three children drifting in a small wooden boat were rescued off the coast of japan on tuesday morning. the japan coast guard plans to interview the group claiming to be north korean defectors. the japan coast guard picked them up after fisher mann spotted the vessel in waters near the port of wajima on the north central coast. they reportedly told the coast guard they left from a port in north korea last thursday and intended to drift to south korea. their long journey would have been across the sea of japan, known for its rough waters but all appeared to be in good health. the coast guard said they still want to go to south korea. the japanese government is now considering whether or not to send them. in 2007, a small boat carrying

four north korean defectors was spotted in waters off aomori prefecture northern japan. the four were later moved to south korea at the request. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for watching.