unusual weather is affecting the south pacific islands. the small island country of tuvalu has been suffering from severe drought with no rain for half a year. the island of kiribas is now endangered because of the rising level of sea water as a result of climate change. welcome to "newsline." automatic' catherine kobayashi in tokyo. first the south pacific island of tuvalu, a country of nine islands in the south pacific ocean. about 10,000 people there are suffering from severe drought. new zealand is providing the country wa water. the new zealand government has said tuvalu has had virtually no rain for five months. it's said to be caused by the weather pattern la nina. funafuti has only 60 liters of

water for its residents. the government declared a state of emergency last wednesday and asked new zealand for help. the new zealand government and the red cross sent water and desalination equipment. they're checking to see how to support the island nation. takielau also declared a state of emergency because of the lack of rain. kiribas is facing a possibility of. >> on the road to tarawa, the capital of kiribas. because of climate change the ocean is rising. the waves pounding the shore can

seriously damage it. the waves caused the courselias to erode and uproot trees. to protect themselves from the waves, locals built sea walls but they're not as effective as they once were. the village has asked the government for funding to build a higher wall. but the government doesn't have the funds. the local residents are doing their best to protect their homes by raising them. finding usable water has also become a serious challenge. arthur cuwango lives with a 13 member extended family including his wife and daughter.

the rising level means sea water has started seeping into their water supply. >> it tastes more salty. it wasn't before but now it's getting more salty. >> reporter: the local people started collecting rain water in a tank for backup but the weather is unstable so sometimes there is not enough rain water. ♪ arthur has become more aware of the various ways salty water will affect their lives. >> before they were green and right now they're like almost dead, and so because you know when saltwater mixes with freshwater, it kind of damages the plants. >> reporter: as the environment worsens, kiribas' government

prepares for the worst possible outcome. if water completely covers the land, the residents may have to move abroad. this is a vocational school in kiriwas. starting this year, students can get qualification as an auto mechanic in australia. the government there supports this new system. if residents are forced to migrate, australia will be an option. >> we have the opportunity to go instead of working in kiribas, we'll use our qualifications to apply for jobs in other countries besides kiribas. >> reporter: as the pressure builds, the president asked the international community to address a climate change seriously. >> is to have the

community deal with the problem they have created. there has to be a small responsibility here. >> reporter: the u.n. has become highly concerned about this issue. secretary-general ban ki-moon visited kiribas in september, the first secretary-general to do that. he planted mangrove trees to help prevent erosion and made an appeal for international support. >> the countries in the pacific island, they are the fronts of the front line states, and i'll carry this message to the world leaders, including general assembly, the negotiation process. >>or developing and advanced nations, there are strong differences of opinion on how to address climate change. this november, the cop17

conference will decide whether the kyoto the procoal will end in 2012. joining us is a uchida from our business desk. >> good morning to you. as the debt crisis continues in the eurozone, the focus is now on italy. major u.s. credit rating agency moodies downgraded the country's sovereign debt tuesday. italy's rating was lowered to a2, down three notches from aa2. moody's said the downgrade is due to a further worsening in the debt crisis and due to concerns about whether italy can achieve fiscal reconstruction as proposed by the fragile administration of prime minister silvio berlusconi. it was only last month that another u.s. credit rating agency, standard and poor's cut italy's sovereign debt.

now both agencies give the country the sixth level from the top. because it's cut by three notches it could cause repercussions in the financial markets which are already being rocked by a postponed decision for bailout loans to greece. eu finance ministers have agreed on tougher measures for controlling budget deficits. they'll be able to impose sanctions on eurozone nations that fail to meet the new conditions. the finance ministers held a meeting in luxembourg tuesday, approving the stricter rules aimed at preventing eurozone nations from falling into a debt crieses like greece. when a member's country deficit grows above 3% of gross domestic product the nation must pay a deposit that amounts to 0.2% of gdp, that money will be taken as a fine if the country fails to follow eu demands to improve the deficit situation. the eu has also decided to introduce a new system that needs the agreement of several member nations to nullify

sanctions. this enables the eu to impose sanctions almost automatically. the new rules are expected to take effect in january 2012. the head of the u.s. central bank has called for caution over the u.s. economic outlook, saying job growth will be slower than previously expected. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke testified on tuesday before the joint economi committee of congress in washington. he said the u.s. economy is growing at a lower pace than forecast in june. he says the european banks are posing a threat to the u.s. he said the need to address the sources of the fiscal problems has slowed the process of finding solutions. bernanke added the fed will continue to closely monitor economic developments and is prepared to take further action

if appropriate. u.s. stocks rallied before the close on hopes for turnaround in the fortunes of the eurozone debt problem. to see how things are kicking off here in japan, let's cross over to ramin mellegard, he is at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, quite a big shift in sentiment in just one session. how are markets reacting at the open this wednesday morning? >> good morning to you, ai. we've been talking about the volume tilts and the u.s. session provided more of that, and in fact in the first few minutes of trading here let's have a look at the opening levels shall we, in fact more volatility, because i can tell you, both indexes started in the positive, but are now just mixed. the nikkei was looking to follow the move in the dow, which actually jumped almost 400 points in the last hour of trading, and we did see the s&p 500 also gaining around 4% from its earlier lows.

both indexes were trading lower, the s&p 500 and the dow were trading lower when the federal reserve chairman ben bernanke was making a testimony to congress, giving a pretty somber view on the jobs situation and the u.s. economy, but then markets turned after eu official came out and talked about coordinating efforts to stop, to prop up the region's struggling banks and then we did see a rally in stocks as well as the euro. let's have a look at the currency levels again, the euro there gaining against the dollar and the yen, bringing it to the upper 102 levels at one point and now currently around the lower 102 levels, and that compares to actually when it broke below 101 just yesterday. a lot of the gains in the stocks in the u.s. session were in the financial sector so we'll keep track of also banks and brokerages here in japan and also some key exporters which may gain following the gains that we've seen in the euro against the yen, following a few

sessions of selling that we've seen recently. now, along with the volatilitks eye on commodity stocks, we did see a swift reaction in gold, and oil prices as well. we did see december gold futures falling more than 2% as money shifted back into stocks, and also crude oil, wti going from a year 52-week low around the $75 per barrel but futures now shifting higher toward $78. upcoming data in the u.s., private employment, ism services to look forward to. back to you. >> all right, ramin, thanks a lot for that. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. the wait is over. apple has unveiled a faster and more intelligent iphone. the new top executive tim cook introduced the latest version of the popular smartphone at the firm's california headquarters on tuesday.

the new iphone allows users to download data at twice the speed of the previous model, it also takes finer pictures and the batteries last longer. the phone comes with a voice recognition feature as well, users can ask questions and will receive answers straight away on the display. apple says it will launch the latest model on friday next week in the u.s., europe, japan, as well as other markets. its price will start from $199. time to get your recap of the latest market figures. that is all for now in business

news. back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. a 12-member team of iaea experts is to make a nine-day visit at the request of japan's nuclear crisis minister hosono. the team will arrive in japan friday, travel to fukushima refek tour to watch the decontamination process. fujimura spoke to reporters on tuesday. >> translator: japan will cooperate with and learn from international decontamination experts. i hope their visit will help the process to move faster and more efficiently. >> the government hopes to discover the best way to clean

up radioactive substances so it can be shared with other nations. the operator of the fukushima daiichi power plant finally submitted its original manuals to japan's nuclear safety agency, but it maintains that only half the document's contents should be made public. in mid september, tepco submitted its manuals for nuclear accidents to a lower house committee investigating the fukushima accident. but the utility blacked out most of the contents. the nuclear and industrial safety agency later instructed the operator to submit the originals for three types of manuals for accidents of varying scale. the agency also asked the utility how much of the contents could be made public. tepco now says about 50% of the materials should remain secret. it also wants to disclose just 10% of a manual for dealing with serious accidents. tepco says this is because the manuals contain information covered by intellectual property rights.

it also says the documents cannot be made public because such facilities could become targets of terrorist attacks. the nuclear safety agency says it will consider the validity of tepco's argument and look to aim to disclose the manuals by the end of october. areas hit by the march 11 earthquake and tsunami have long been popular school excursion destinations because of historic buildings and scenic sites. many schools are now avoiding the areas due to the disaster and continuing aftershocks. but 30 elementary school children from yamagata prefecture in northern japan chose to visit a city in miyagi prefecture. dice say ayzuma reports on the story. >> reporter: a small town mogami

is nestled in the mountains. nanami is one of the school's two sixth graders. >>translator: i want to ask survivors how they're doing these days. >> after two and a half hour bus ride, the 30 children arrived at a temporary housing for survivors in higashi city. keiko kikkuchi is a survivor. she lived in this district of the city. about 460 people or one-ninth of the district population were killed in the tsunami after the march earthquake. kikuchi lives in temporary housing with her husband and

their two children. their home was washed away. she believes telling her story is her mission as a survivor. >> translator: i accepted the offer because i wanted to show the children what i am doing and how survivors are bouncing back. i went outside without putting my shoes on. i was praying through that strong and long earthquake saying please, stop soon. >> reporter: the children headed for the devastated district. nanami took pictures of a window. >> translator: i'm surprised

because the amount of debris was greater than what i saw in newspapers and on tv, what i had imagined. >> reporter: kikuchi led the children to her house. >> translator: there used to be a two-story house on this foundation. the tsunami took the house, turned it 90 degrees and left it here. let's go see a cliff-like mountain. >> reporter: kikuchi then takes the children to a mountain behind her house. running for her life, she climbs the mountain as the tsunami came across behind her. >> translator: could i climb it now? no way. but at that time i was desperate. when i got to the top, i was able to see many things.

i saw bodies and debris here and there. >> reporter: the children saw a ship that was carried away by the tsunami to just in front of kikuchi's house. realizing the force of the tsunami, the children grew quiet. at the end of the trip, the children reach this elementary gymnasium, this designated evacuation site. on the day of the disaster, 300 people were here in the gym. the tsunami engulfed the gymnasium. i heard it made whirlpools. children and teachers drowned.

thank you for visiting disaster hit places and sharing painful feelings. >> reporter: nanami says that since the disaster,he's been thinking about helping survivors. >> translator: i want to become a nurse who can put smiles on faces of people who are suffering. >> reporter: feeling the atmosphere at these sites, they began considering the experiences of the survivors as their own. someday, the children may lead others in supporting consolation efforts. daisuke azuma, nhk world, japan. "newsline" is latest on jap, 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" requests japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." japan has deployed its newest patrol ship to boost security in the senkaku islands, east china sea. the 1,300 ton patrol boat entered the port on tuesday. members of the coast guard office boarded the vessel to inspect the helicopter landing pad and other equipment. this is the third largest patrol boat the coast guard has deployed in the area. it hopes the additional vessel will help it respond more quickly to incidents. the ishigaki station is the japan post guard's closest ouost to the senekaku islands which areontrolle by japan t clmeby cna. d rmeber last island

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and that's all for this edition ofneobas i tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your das t tf the next hour. we'll see you then.

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