glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's friday, september 30th, 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. china has successfully put an unmanned experimental module into orbit as the thrst step toward the completion of a manned space station by 2020. china's first space laboratory tiangong 1 was launched from the jiuquan satellite launch center in gansu province thursday night at :16 p.m. local time. it's scheduled to dock with another unmanned spacecraft within two months. this will be the first step among a series of experiments planned by china to acquire the know-how for building a space station. premier wen jiabao observed the launch from the gansu province space center. president hu jintao and vice president xi zin ping watched the coverage live in beijing.

china is celebrating its 62nd anniversary of the foundation of the people's republic on saturday, october 1st. the launch will help to promote the nation's space technology at home and abroad. however, observers say that a chinese space station could add to international concern over its possible military applications. in 1970, china became the world's fifth space power when it put its first satellite into orbit. its experience with weather and communications satellites helped china to commercially launch satellites for overseas clients. in the 1990s, the country announced a three-stage manned space project. the first stage was the development of a manned spacecraft. the second, now in progress, involves the launch of a space lab and the acquisition of docking and other technologies needed for short stays in space. the final stage will be the construction of a full-fledged

space station for extended stays in space. china has expressed the hope that other countries will cooperate with its space program, dismissing speculation that its space lab would be used for military purposes. the chinese foreign ministry held a news conference on thursday. >> translator: china's space development is already an important element in international efforts towards space exploration. our space program is for peaceful purposes only. >> professor emeritus ikuo kayahara of takushoku university says china is planning a military build-up in space to keep in check the dominant space technologies of the united states. commenting on china's space development, kayahara said on

thursday that china sees the successful use of space as the key to countering the overwhelming military strength of the americans. >> translator: to build a space station will prove that the country is one of the most advanced nations in space, and it will give its 1.3 billion people much to be excited about. ai uchida joins us now for the latest in business news. germany has agreed to expand the eurozone bailout fund bringing a touch of relief to markets. ai has more on that. good morning. >> good morning to you catherine. the dow, it was a choppy session on the dow jones as the bailout was met with mixed reactions but the dow did manage to hold onto its gains into the close. so for details and to see how markets are kicking off here in tokyo let's go to ramin mellegard, he's at the tokyo stock exchange.

how are stocks looking at the open? >> reporter: good morning to you ai. a bit of a choppy open as you said. u.s. and european markets providing a bit of a relief after the vote from the german parliament to supply further bailout funds for weaker eurozone economies and that's had a lot of volatile sessions throughout this week based on the issues surrounding eurozone debt and also concerns now both in france and germany about that final exact amount needed for the bailout funds and on the political front, there's still some questions there, regardless of how the voting has gone. let's have a look at thepening levels here this friday morning, and you can see both indexes trading just a touch lower, not any major move, but just in the negative there. some fundamentals also in the u.s. market, which provide a short term boost as well as you mentioned there for the dow which had a pretty volatile session, we saw jobless claims actually dropping to its lowest level since april, and also the final revision for the second

quarter of gdp numbers also was revised higher to 1.3. a lot of market players were expecting it to be around 1% so that's provided a bit of a boost as well. moving on to the currency markets, the foreign exchange markets reflected a little bit of pass activity following the vote in germany, to approve more rescue funds for the eurozone, and we've seen the euro/yen currently trading around the lower 104 yen levels, that compares to 103 this time yesterday and let's not forget it dropped below 102 on monday, so the euro there gaining a little bit as we head into the end of the week. a lot of data that we saw out of japan this morning. we're going to see how that plays into the markets throughout the rest of the day but as we've noted this whole week, ai, a lot of fundamentals have really taken a bac seat to this whole eurozone debt issue, but next week might be a little bit of a different story. we have ism manufacturing coming out for the u.s. as well as the all-important jobs data, and this time next week.

so those will be taken into consideration by the markets, but for now, the nikkei and the topixtrading a little bit lower this friday. >> that was our market reporter ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. here in japan we have a slew of economic indicators for august this friday morning. we start off with two job-related numbers which show improvements. first, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate, which was down 0.4 percentage points to 4.3%, this is the first improvement in three months. the data excludes three prefectures, iwate, minami and fukushima, hardest hit by the march 11th disaster. separately the labor ministry says job availability was up for a third consecutive month. there were 66 positions available for every 100 job seekers last month. job availability for the disaster hit region also increased.

the ratio for miyagi's prefectu prefecture stood at 69, fukushima 54 and iwate 57. still production in august rose 0.8% from the previous month, marking a fifth straight month of increases. the labor -- the ministry of economy trade and industry says the improvement is due mainly to an increase in auto production. looking ahead, large manufacturers forecasthat their output will drop by 2.5% in september but it will rise 3.8% in october. and japan's consumer prices are up for a second consecutive month. the internal affairs ministry said on friday that the consumer price index rose 0.2% in august from a year earlier. the figures exclude volatile prices of fresh food. the ministry says the increase

is due to higher food prices that have pushed up the higher cost of electricity and gasoline. the u.s. justice department says the furukawa electric company has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $200 million fine for price fixing of auto parts in the united states. three senior executives of the japanese company will receive prison terms. on thursday, the u.s. justice department announced that furukawa electric was involved in bid rigging for ten years up until last january to maintain the price of automobile wire harnesses. three top executives at furukawa have admitted to their involvement in the conspiracy and will serve prison years ranging from one year to 18 months. a detroit court is expected to officially hand down the verdict soon. u.s. officials said price fixing has harmed automakers and consumers because auto parts

were sold at artificially high prices. the justice department, in cooperation with the fbi, will continue to investigate other automotive companies that may have also been involved in the price fixing. and now let's get you a recap of the latest market figures. that is all for now in business. now it's back to catherine >> thanks very much, ai. the japanese government asked chinese authorities to prevent internet hacking before a high-profile cyber attack took place in japan recently.

the websites of japan's national office and the national personnel authority were attacked and access was disrupted for a period on september 17th and 18th. japan's national police agency noticed a threatening message on chinese servers prior to the incident. the post called on people to launch cyber attacks against japan to mark the 80th anniversary of the manchurian incident on september 18th. the incident led to japan's occupation of manchuria, now in northeastern china. a cabinet secretariate official said on thursday before the cyber attacks occurred, the government had asked china through the japanese embassy in beijing to take precautions. after the attacks, the foreign ministry requested chinese authorities to take preventive measures against any such recurrence. the government will hold an information security panel next week to strengthen anti-cyber attack measures. a u.s. naval flotilla is visiting south korea as an

apparent show of strength and deterrence for north korea. the "uss george washington" and three other vessels arrived at the base in busan thursday. the "george washington" has taken place with exercises at the south since the north fired against the island of yeonpyeong last year. the officer in charges of the exercises says they have conducted joint exercises in the past six months and will hold further maneuvers to combine combat capabilities. authorities of the two countries are wary that north korea may undertake new provocative actions as the nation has been transferring its top leadership from kim jong-il to his third son kim jong-un. the french government will soon open a liaison office in north korea to deal with

cultural change. a permanent office will be set up in pion yang despite the lack of diplomatic relations. two years ago france agreed with north korea to open an office in pion yang. however it postponed the plan after the north attacked the south korean island. a french diplomatic source they decided to open the office after exchanging views with member countries of the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear development. the chief of the new office will arrive in pion yang october 7th. however france maintains the position substantial progress must be made before it can establish diplomatic ties with north korea. japan's fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant can be viewed as being a step closer to a state of cold shutdown. tokyo electric power company

announced on thursday that the temperature at the number 2 reactor largely remained below 100 degrees celsius, bringing ee mark at all three troubled reactors. but tepco still faces challenges, such as stabilizing the cooling systems before a state of cold shutdown can be achieved. 100 degrees is a benchmark temperature for a cold shutdown, which is a goal for step two of tepco's plan to contain the nuclear disaster. the government is aiming to achieve a cold shutdown by the end of this year. under normal circumstances a cold shutdown can be reached reactor ares halted safely and the water inside drop s below 100 degrees. but since the fukushima plant has suffered nuclear fuel meltdowns, the criteria are somewhat different. that's why a cold shutdown has been redefined as bringing the temperatures at the bottom of the crippled reactors to below 100 degrees.

another requirement is curbing the release of radioactive substances so that additional human exposure near the plant can be limited to 1 millisievert per year or less. >> translator: we are satisfied that all three troubled reactors are below 100 degrees. it's very important to maintain this situation permanently. >> one of the hurdles to achieving a cold shutdown is the presence of contaminated water. water must be continuously injected into the reactors to keep them cool, but this produces 550 tons of radioactive water each day, which must be decontaminated. an expert points out another major hurdle. >> translator: 100 degrees is only a benchmark point, and achieving this does not mean the reactors are safe. another major earthquake and tsunami could strike, and the

water cooling systems could suddenly stop working. if this happens, it's vital that the cooling process is resumed quickly before additional melting occurs. >> an independent team of experts will soon start investigating the accident at japan's fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. japanese experts on nuclear energy have held their first major gathering since the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant in march. the atomic energy society of japan plays a key role in the advancement of the nation's nuclear technology and the training of engineers. today's "nuclear watch" looks at how japanese experts have had to rethink their views since the nuclear accident. >> reporter: the united states began the peaceful use of nuclear energy following the cold war. japan followed the u.s. by building its first test reactor in 1957.

the atomic energy society of japan was founded two years later. its members include researchers at universities and other institutes and people working for utilities and manufacturers. they include some of the leading figures in japan's nuclear industry. many of the society's 7,000 members work for tokyo electric power company, the operator of the crippled fukushima daiichi plant. the society helps to promote nuclear technology and train researchers. it has also created safety standards for nuclear plants and made recommendations to the government and the nuclear industry. but the ongoing nuclear accident at the fukushima daiichi has forced its members to re-evaluate their views on nuclear energy. at the conference, the society's president, satoru tanaka, who is also a professor at the university of tokyo, shared his thoughts about the accident. >> translator: the accident has had a huge impact on the people

of japan and has caused them great worry, from a position of promoting the advancement of academic resources and technology, we find the situation extremely regrettable. earlier michio kijima talked to yoichi osaki for details. >> translator: mr. osaki, these scholars are representing neither the government nor tepco. they are not stakeholders therefore. why do they have to express their feelings of remorse? >> translator: because many members of the atomic energy have been developed in nuclear safety measures and there are mbers of the government council will performs safety reviews and have been developing safety guidelines for nuclear power plants, so the members of the society think that they are partly responsible for not being able to prevent the crisis from happening.

at the conference, many participants raised questions about what went wrong and why. >> translator: we may have been avoiding discussion of the key issue of securing nuclear safety. it's unclear who is responsible and in what ways. >> translator: we must be able to discuss this freely and achieve comprehensive evaluations within our organizations. >> reporter: hisashi ninokata, professor at tokyo institute of technology, who is investigating the nuclear accident at fukushima, has this to say. >> translator: some say that we created a nuclear safety myth but such a myth spread throughout society without us knowing it. this has undeniably resulting in delays and measures to improve nuclear safety. >> translator: did any members of the society look back and report on the accident? >> translator: nobuo shuto,

professor emeritus at tohoku university, who is well-known for his studies of tsunamis, was invited as a guest speaker. it is quite unusual for someone who is not a member of the society to give a lecture at the conference. in a thesis published 23 years ago, dr. shuto warned about a danger of a tsunami crippling electrical systems at a nuclear power plant, but it was not given much attention in drawing up safety measures for nuclear power plants. >> translator: it is important to use one's imagination when preparing for tsunami. we have to imagine how past tsunami would have affected today's coastal areas. >> translator: how will the society and the japanese nuclear physicists, researchers try to cope with the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident into the future? >> translator: the most important thing is that evacuees from fukushima will be able to return home as early as

possible. the atomic energy society says it will work closely with experts around the world to help decontaminate the region as much as possible. to bring the crisis under control, fuel rods must be taken out from reactors and nuclear wastes must be disposed properly. to solve these problems, the society says it will disclose knowledge and skills and work hard to regain public trust. but even if this situation is brought under control, there is no assurance japan will continue to use nuclear power generation in the future. at the conference, some members voiced concern that nuclear power research may lose momentum in the future or others said the society might have been lacking in the attitude to put safety first. the researchers must reaffirm the importance of safety once

again to gain support from the public. >> translator: thank you, mr. osaki, for being with us. that was our reporter yoichiro osaki for today's "nuclear watch." welcome back to your weather update. we are getting a look at the weather across asia and we are still talking about a lot of tropical activity in the southeast, we've got the clouds from one that is heading into the gulf of tonqing and another approaching the eastern end of the philippines. let's look at tropical storm nesat made landfall along the northern end of hainan island

yesterday, it is working its way across the gulf oftonqing. by tonight expected to move into towards the northern end of vietnam and more than likely weaken into a tropical depression and lose a lot of the strong winds by saturday morning, but for the course of friday, this section of southern china, hainan island, northern vietnam will want to brace for some pretty strong winds. now rainfall, too, will still be pretty heavy in some areas. localized areas could be looking at upwards of 200 millimeters to fall still, in addition to all the rain that we've already seen in the last 24 hours or so, so you do want to watch out for flood risk and landslide risks. now as we look towards the philippines, too, rainfall accumulation will really start piling up over the next 48 hours and this will be due to our other tropical storm system, typhoon nalgae, this one is still on a strengthening track, wind speeds just over 140 kilometers per hour but they are expected to get even stronger. it is expected to move over the

northern end of luzon saturday, heading back out into the south china sea sunday morning and looks like it will maintain the same path nesat is, so next week this will need close monitoring. for the weekend, however, the philippines need to brace for once again heavy rain and strong winds. elsewhere across east asia all of the moisture from this tropical activity will continue to fuel showers across the southern half of china. meanwhile a couple of frontal systems will move in to japan bringing a round of showers. it won't last for long, and we should see sunshine return on saturday. highs friday tokyo 29 degrees. it's a lot cooler in seoul with only 18. and getting a look at europe now, still a lot of clouds moving through the northern end of the scandinavian peninsula.

winds will remain strong and there's still some lingering rain for the coastal areas of norway and then for the rest of continental europe we're talking about this high pressure system that's still dominating the area, bringing clear skies even over towards the british isles, too, so once again looking at fairly clear conditions, just a little bit of rain moving in towards ireland, northern ireland, as well as scotland, and temperatures still very, very warm, even getting up to the 20s in stockholm friday, up to 25 in berlin, we're expecting 29 for both london and paris, that's considerably warmer than seasonal averages, it's warmer than madrid which will only come in at 27 degrees. all right, so that's a look at your weather forecast for now and up next is your three-day outlook.

our lead story this hour -- china has successfully put on unmanned experimental module into orbit as the first step toward the completion of a manned space station by 2020. china's first space laboratory tiangong 1 was launched from the jiuquan satellite launch center in gansu province thursday night at 9:16 p.m. local time. it's scheduled to dock with another unmanned spacecraft within two months. this will be the first step among a series of experiments planned by china to acquire the know-how for building a space station. premier wen jiabao observed the launch from the gansu province space center. president hu jintao and vice

president xi xinping watched the conference live in beijing. china is celebrating its 62nd anniversary of the foundation of the people's republic on saturday october 1st. the launch will help to promote the nation's space technology at home and abroad. however, observers say that a chinese space station could add to international concern over its possible military applications. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the next hour.

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