welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday september 27th 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm c chehene kobayashi. the u.n. security council has begun consultations amid heated lobbying forand against the application. the council held its first and formal talks on the issue on monday. palestinian leader abbas submitted last friday. the 15 members including the five permanent ones did not appear to have detailed discussions during the one-hour meeting. security council president of lebanon told reporters they will meet again on wednesday. a security council is required to vote on whether or not to issue a resolution recommending full membership for the palestinians. for the resolution to be sent to the general assembly, at least nine of the 15 council members need to vote in favor. and none of the five permanent members can exercise their veto.

sources say china and russia are likely to vote for the palestinian bid as are india and brazil. but the united states has vowed to veto the move. the palestinian ambassador to the united nations told reporters that he understands that the procedures take time, but it should not take weeks. on a related matter, the japanese government plans to push for direct peace talks between israel and the palestinians. state foreign secretary yamida commented on the issue on monday. >> translator: japan strongly hopes that peace will be achieved between israel and the palestinians through bilateral talks. japan will decide on its stance by closely watching the internationatrend.

>> the government's position is it understands the wish to establish a state. but it's cautious as the u.s. is likely to veto the bid. the u.s. says it would block peace talks. japan is set to join the u.s., russia, and other countries pressing for direct dialogue between israel and the palestinians soon. some investors must be happy the dow jones is above 11,000. >> that's for the first time in three days. new york stocks soared 270 points overnight. investors bought a wide range of shares. the dow jones industrial average finished monday at 11,034. that's up 2.53% on the day. orders surged following news that the european authorities will step up to tackle credit

issues in the region. now it's whether germany will give extra. the leader of the nations are scheduled to meet on uz too. now to see how things are kicking off in japan, let's cross over to the tokyo stock exchange. good news for markets it seems. how are japanese markets looking this tuesday morning? >> reporter: bit of a positive sentiment going through the european and u.s. markets. let's see how that is reflecting this morning. you can see the nikkei is up. global markets caught up in any kind of news regarding the eurozone issues. helps put a positive spin. even if it's just for the short-term. but we're seeing the positive spin reflected in tokyo markets this morning. also that helped key sectors in

the u.s. and european markets, the financials, retail, manufacturing sector. we'll keep track of those stocks over here as well. in fact, a lot of japanese blue chip stocks have hit lows in recent sessions because of eurozone debt-related issues. and the likes of toyota hitting an eight and a half year low just yesterday. a lot of other exporters trading lower because of the stronger yen. let's look at the currency levels again. you can see there the stock prices moving up gave a reprieve for the euro. currently the 103 levels. it touched upper 101 in u.s. and european trading hours yesterday. it's come back a touch there. there is a bit of a concern now about the recent strength of the yen. and that's concerning the earnings coming out for japanese companies later in october. and how that's going to effect their bottom line. increasing calls by major

exporters. but for some kind of action against this strong yen. we're also going to keep track of the steel sector. that follows the announcement between nippon steel and industries. both shares dropped 4% yesterday. there is concern about raw material prices in the steel sector. however, a lot of analysts also saying this merger next year could help with production levels in a merging economy. we'll keep eye on this today. later today the price index in the u.s. may give indication about the housing sector. for now, positive open for the nikkei and the topix. >> thanks a lot boeing celebrated the first delivery of its first 787 dreamliner airplane. the celebrations took place in washington state on monday. japanese. carrier nippon airways received the keys to the plane.

it is built from a light weight carbon composite which makes it 20% more fuel efficient than a conventional passenger aircraft. boeing used a global supply chain to build the plane. japanese firms made the wings. >> translator: i feel proud that a japanese firm was able to take part in the aircraft creation. and be the first to receive the new plane. >> the first 787 is due to arrive at tokyo's airport on wednesday morning. it will make the first flight to hong kong on a charted route in october. from november it plans to start regular routes in western japan. here's a recap now of the latest market figures.

that is all for now in business news. back to catherine. >> thanks very much. the chinese and north korean premiers have resumed six party talks. on the nuclear development. the talks have been suspended since december 2008. north korean premier met with his counterpart on monday. wen said china hopes the relative's country will improve through dialogue so the six

party talks to start again soon. chen said they would like to get a north korean free peninsula through dialogues. the premiers confirmed that their countries will cooperate to strengthen bilateral economic relations such as improving trade and infrastructure. the chinese government says it will launch a module to practice docking at its future space station. they reported the news on monday. space station module heavenly palace is scheduled to blast off aboard a rocket from the launch center on the edge of the gobi desert on thursday or friday. it will serve as an orbitable test bed. that's an orbitable test bed for china to practice docking techniques. three test dockings scheduled

over the next two years with both manned and unmanned craft. plans to build its own station by around 2020. there are strong concerns in the international community that china's space program could have a military purpose. a group of researchers at a japanese university say they have successfully used human ips cells to repair damaged spinal cords in mice. ips cells are induced stem cells and have the ability to develop into tissues and organs they treated 31 mice partially paralyzed. they developed them into nerve cells and transplanted them into the spinal cords of the mice nine days after they were injured. all the mice showed improvemes in mobility and were able to walk within four weeks. the researchers determined that

the nerve cells were functioning as part of the central nervous system. >> translator: this is the first step in providing a whole new treatment for patients who have serious damage to their spinal cord. >> documents released by wikileaks say japan advised that u.s. president barack obama not visit hiroshima during his trip to the country two years ago. the information was in diplomatic cables from the u.s. embassy in tokyo to washington in september 2009. the cables including exchanges between then japanese vice foreign minister and u.s. ambassador regarding the trip that year. said that unless obama was going to apologize for the atomic bombing, public expectations should be tempered. the cables quoted him as saying

it would be premature to include such a program in obama's trip. in april 2009 in prague, obama resolved to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. after the speech there were growing expectations among the survivors from the hiroshima and nagasaki bombings and others that he would visit the cities. the japanese and u.s. governments explained later that the president's visit would be shelved due to a scheduling con flekt. the foreign ministry says it's regrettable the documents were leaked illegally. it said it will not comment on nor confirm the documents. in syria, government websites have been attacked by a group of hackers to protest the country's six month long crackdown on antigovernment demonstrators. in a statement on monday, the group anonymous said it carried out the attacks to support a citizen's rebel campaign in the nation. the content of the syrian transport ministry's website was

replaced with caricatures of the country's president and of severe monitoring of the internet. the home pages of major cities showed a map of syria with data on those killed in attacks. the government has not commented on the incident. it recently tightened its control of the internet and arrested people who posted comments against assad's rule. they said in august it would take action until protesters were released. "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.

it's been more than six months since the march 11th disaster. over 4,000 people are still missing. it's presumed they were carried out to sea. the coast guard continues to search for bodies. but the tsunami devastated a huge area and only a small percentage has been searched. >> reporter: coast guard divers comb the seabed. in the murky water, a white object appearings. it seems to be a fishing boat. they peer inside looking for bodies of the missing. the water logged debris is sifted piece by piece. so far the coast guard has found over 370 bodies. but much of the coastline

devastated by the tsunami has yet to be searched. this search is taking place near the town of onagawa in miyagi prefecture.400 residents are st missing. >> translator: the areas shown in orange have already been examined by the diving team. >> reporter: more than six months after the disaster, only the areas in orange have been checked. it's the same situation in other areas along the tohoku coast. >> translator: when you look at the number of people who are still missing, i feel like we haven't come close to finishing the search for them.

>> reporter: conditions at this time of year make the coast guard's job more difficult. heavy fog often rolls over the water. restricting the mobility of ships. when it rains, sand is stirred up underwater and it becomes hard to see. if the waves get too high, the search has to be called off. the nuclear accident created additional safety problems. the divers didn't go within ten kilometers of the fukushima daiichi power plant until the end of august. despite these challenges, the divers press ahead with their mission. and the families of the missing continue their wait. one of them is mr. sato.

the head of a local fishing cooperative. his wife and grandchild are still missing. so are up to 50 people related to the fishing co-op. >> translator: i know searching is hard work. but i beg them to continue. >> translator: we will do our best to broaden our search or else we'll re-examine where we have searched in the past. the heat is on one of japan's most powerful politicians and the country's ruling democratic party. a tokyo court has found three ex-aides to ichiro guilty. between ozawa's office and the general contractors vying for lucrative public works projects. lower house member ishikawa and

ikeida went on trial. concerned a land purchase worth $5.2 million. they denied the allegations. the court presiding judge found all three guilty on monday. he gave them suspended prison sentences of one to three years. the judge said general contractors rigged bids for public works projects in japan's northeastern tohoku region. he noted the lawmakers office had decision making power regarding projects. the judge also said contractors thought instructions from the former aides represented the intentions of ozawa's office. they took about $1.3 million from the firm in return for helping it win the bid for a dam project. despite denials, evidence shows the two former aides did in fact receive the money.

earlier michio kijima spoke about the court's decision. >> so what is your take on today's ruling? >> the decision will damage ozawa. he said again and again he and his former aides did nothing wrong. but they did make some mistakes. still recognized a construction company gave the former aides illegal funds in connection with a public works project. it's a multipurpose dam being built in iwate. the project will cost more than $3 billion. and it's scheduled to be completed in 2013. the firm that allegedly paid $1.3 million to the former aides is a subcontractor. this court decision isn't just a

blow for ozawa, it's also bad news for the ruling democratic party. the dpj ended the liberal democratic party decades of almost unbroken rule by promising to change japan's old fashioned money and politics culture. >> ozawa is also indicted for falsifying a funding report. how will this effect his case? >> it could influence the defense's plan for ozawa's trial which begins next week. the prosecutor's office didn't indict ozawa. following a decision that will face mandatory indictment. they based their decision on the depositions of the former aides. the former aides admitted to prosecutors they told ozawa about the content of the political funding reports. the judge in the trial for ozawa's former aides ruled these

statements were inadmissible as evidence because of questions about credibility. we are now waiting to see if the judge for the trial will allow these statements to be admitted as evidence. many people in japan want to know if ozawa's really involved in illegal political funding. or if he's innocent as he says he is. >> all right. thank for your perspective. kenyan nobel peace prize winner maathai died in nairobi after a long battle with cancer. she was 71 years old. she founded kenya's green belt movement in 1977.

the program taught impoverished women handicrafts and organized tree planting projects as a way of generating income and combatting deforestization. she became the first african-american woman awarded the nobel peace prize. she is well regarded by many people in japan for her promotion of the japanese expression which roughly translates as wasteful and is used to suggest that resources should not be squandered. she attacked the keyword to her campaign to protect the environment and encourage recycling. asia's growing obesity problem is no laughing matter. or maybe it is. in vietnam, at least, having a laugh is the trendiest way to stay fit. as the sunrises over the capital

hanoi, hundreds of fitness fanatics line up for a funny sort of morning exercise. together they laugh and chuckle for 45 minutes. even pulling faces to keep each other in the mood. >> translator: laughter makes us become younger, relaxed, and comfortable. when i practice this, i forgot all my sadness. it clears my mind and so i can come home to do my chores as usual. >> the exercise is known as laughter yoga originally from india. the combination of unconditional laughter and the breathing is said to stretch muscles and trigger endorphins the chemical in the brain for its feel good effect. >> translator: laughter yoga makes people friendlier. it creates a nicer society where people have a habit of smiling at each other. >> the sessions are free and held every day rain or shine.

perhaps it proves the old saying that laughter really is the best medicine. now let's take a look at the global weather forecast wi. welcome back to your weather update. for east asia or southeast asia, we're watching several tropical storm systems. and one is nesat making landfall in the next couple hours likely. although it's already bringing the very strong winds to much of this northern half of the philippines today. it's just going to stay stormy as this works its way across the island here before heading back out into the south china sea. right now wind speeds about 140 kilometers per hour. much stronger gusts. now, once it makes landfall, those winds should weaken

slightly. still it's expected to maintain intensity throughout today. you do want to brace for potentially damaging winds. out in the south china sea, we have a separate one. hitang moving at about 20 kilometers per hour. and once it hits it is going to weaken as well. but it will maintain the moisture through vietnam and ending up towards thailand over the next few days. so really this area is experiencing quite a bit of wet weather today. now, the philippines northern end will experience the heaviest falls but also across the indochina peninsula, be on the watch for these heavy falls today. up towards east asia largely dry picture. right now for eastern china. a lot more rain coming in especially more towards the

north here. the korean peninsula stays dry and japan should be sunny. it should look drier in the afternoon. 24 is your high in tokyo today. expecting 28 in seoul. then getting up to 32 degrees in taipei. over towards the americas we have hurricane hillary out in the pacific here. it is bringing some large swells to the baja peninsula as well as parts of southwestern mexico. we may see more moisture with that as it approaches over the next few days. meanwhile we're watching for potentially flooding rain across the midwest today. and upper midwest more winds and rains on the coastline. then as we look towards the upper elevations you can expect a bit of mountain snow as well. highs on tuesday looking like this. 17 in chicago. then looking at the upper 20s on the eastern seaboard. and finally a look at europe here. it stays windy and wet for the

scandinavian peninsula again today. norway watch out for strong winds here. the british isles staying unsettled up towards the north. but otherwise should be looking a lot drier for the southern sections. continental europe at the southern end of italy that's still staying unsettled with a couple thundershowers possible. overall temperatures are on the mild side. looking at a lot of mid to upper 20s here. paris gets up to 26. london expecting 23 degrees. all right. that's a look at your weather for now. here is your three-day outlook.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

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