after 48 hours, a miracle emerges from a narrow slit in debris of a turkish apartment building. but it's still a race against the clock. welcome to "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. rescue efforts are continuing in eastern turkey after sunday's major earthquake. the workers are racing against time. as the chances of anyone surviving beneath the rubble are said to fade dramatically after 72 hours. 459 people are confirmed dead, and more than 1300 are injured. the magnitude 7.2 earthquake also destroyed at least 2200 buildings. in the hardest hit down of

urgess, crews are using heavy machinery to search for people under the debris, but they're being hampered by a series of strong aftershocks. a two-week-old baby girl and her mother were found alive in the rubble. and a 10-year-old boy was also rescued. >> translator: it's incredible. i hope other people will be found alive. with overnight temperatures dropping to freezing point, many survivors are sleeping in tents and huddling around fires to stay warm. emergency food supplies are still not reaching all of the affected communities, and electricity and water remain cut off. thailand's prime minister has urged residents to prepare

for flooding saying water levels in central bangkok may reach up to 1.5 meters. she gave a warning on tv on tuesday. >> translator: the government cannot train all of the excess water. >> the prime minister said more places in the thai capital will be inundated. she urged people to store important possessions above the second floor. floodwaters began flowing into northern bangkok after severely damaging industrial complexes in the central province. there's concern about further damage as some protective barriers have already been breached in bangkok and high tides are expected over the weekend. defense chiefs from japan and the united states say their countries must make progress on okinawa. the defense minister and defense secretary leon panetta met tuesday in tokyo. each ichikawa said they'll

resubmit a relocation within this year. their report is the final step in the environmental assessment for the relocation of the u.s. marine corps futenma air station. the base is expected to moved from a densely populated area to a location closer to the coast. >> this is a critical initiative in our effort to maintain a strong forward deployed presence in the pacific region. and it's also important to reducing the impact of our bases in okinawa. >> panetta says it's necessary to make progress on the

relocation plan. the u.s. and japan signed an agreement in 2006. ichikawa says japan hopes to strengthen its alliance with the u.s. it faces security issues related to north korea and china. panetta says the u.s. is a pacific country and intends to maintain its presence as a military power in the region. he added the united states hopes to strengthen ties with japan as much as possible. the bulk of american forces in japan have been stationed in okinawa prefecture since the end of world war ii. thousands of service men work at the futenma base. many local residents say they're tired of having them as neighbors. u.s. aircraft have been involved in accidents and some service men have committed crimes. >> reporter: in 2006, japan and the u.s. agreed to relocate the futenma base to a less populated area in okinawa prefecture.

it is part of a broader realignment of u.s. forces to move some 8,000 troops to guam. but residents of okinawa are opposed to the move because relocating the base to another area in the prefecture does not lessen its burden. on the other hand, u.s. lawmakers are under pressure to trim defense spending. they could find the cost of transferring the marines to guam attempting target. u.s. centers have expressed deep concerns about the affordability of the 2006 plan. the u.s. government is irritated because the base relocation has been delayed for too long due to local opposition. it has urged japan to follow through with the accord. after taking office in september, japanese prime minister noda has recommitted to the 2006 agreement on futenma. >> but it won't be easy.

critics in okinawa say they're determined to fight till the end. our reporter has that story. >> reporter: many people in okinawa now say they won't accept any move by two governments to relocate the base within the prefecture. earlier a plan was held in the prefecture on tuesday. it sharply divided okinawa's people for more than ten years. >> translator: we must make our opposition known to the japanese and u.s. governments as well as the u.s. military to drop the plan as soon as possible. >> reporter: the central government he repeated a try to pass people in the prefecture to accept the relocation plan by offering generous economic

packages as an incentive. but the situation took a drastic turn in 2009 when the democratic ngod that it wouldreef ection n the manyokinawans th relocat t

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20% of the country's population lives insel. thatest poll shows that race is too close to call. ai, a lot ofth creymarkets. >> that's right, the yep continues to surge against the u.s. doar tsd in new york, the yen climbed to an histori high backdrop of the prolonged credit crisis in europe andonrnon e s.comy. janeurrency touched 75.73 at one point, bakghe cketasus high of 75.78 yen friday. the dollar was sold following rertof slump in u.s. consumer confidence.insoolth dl on concerns that european leaders may not be able to come upit comprehensive solution to europe's debt problems at a currently the dollar is being

tredt 76.08 to 13 yen. the dollar is moving in aro range, however. investors are growing more cautious abo psie inrvtion by japanese authorities. > u.s. hedge fund -- a ai a u.s. hujen fx concepts spoke to nhk onhe yes reth >> the real reason japan is stngs rhs ebrkdn in the europeanur negotiations. and the united states, because if we do a qeveutng re money in there, that will make the dollar weak, which will make the yen relivy ro. i mean, our attitude is is that the u.s. is going into a receio >> he also said japan will n blo ask europe to intervene jointly because the unn prcciewi tir own problems. he noted even if jan does intervene alone, positive results are not expected. meanwhile, japanese business leaders expressed concern on t

yes sticur. >>ranslator: the level of the yen far exceeds what japes mafacturers can deal with. we may have to think about moving our production overseas if the yenemnst e rrt ve tnstor:any think electronics makers will stop producing in janntel if the dollar falls below the 75 yen mark which is probably the final rrr. >> finance misr azumi also hinted that japaneseonar authorities will intervene in currency markets if necessary. >> translator: speculative moves fill the uerin aer rumors spread that the eu nae nier meeting may be postponed. >> translator: what about intervention? >> translator: we are ready to take action, if needed. >> and netethen the markets. u.s. stocks fell sharply, snapping three dsfains on

jittery markets ahead of the eu mm awe adisappointing earnings reports. to see how stocks are opening here in japan, let's cross over to ramin at the stock exchange. good morning. what c you tell us? >> yeah, markets in the u.s. taking a little bit of a hit the. me dbt ang investors about what exact plans may be executed regarding the euro zone debt issues. but let's have a look at the opinevs here for the nikkei and the topix. and you can see there,urntly trading down over 100 points to 8,8. d the topix down 10 points at 737. overnight on wall street, a couple of earnings reports did dmpen sentiment. atncde iusy heavyweights such as 3m which make those post-it notes as well as amazon and netflix. the dvd and videotrmi fm which actually saw shares fall by 35% on forecast downgrades by analysts. so we're seeing a reflection o atn e nikkei and topix

levels that you can see there. the nikkei actually ended yesterday lower after actually starting in the positive. and that was aerom profit taking on the back of the stronger yen. and that's a major talking issue that we're going to continue throughout today. but let's have a look ahe currency levels, nevertheless. and you can see there on the stronger yen, currently keeping at the lower 76 yen level, .0 to 11 and 105.86 to 91 on the euro-yen. we'll be keeping a close eye on currency marke aeea io the eu meeting later today and what, if any, reaction there is by japanese authorities as to the strong yen. now, on the earnings front, let's not forget tt. of course, a lot of japanese companies coming out with earnings in the next couple of weeks. but canon came out after the bell yesterday, showing aet profit of around 14% for the quarter, period ending in september. and that's on the back of a lot of its eras sales. canon has about -- makes about 80% of its total revenue from overseas with a lot of

production filies in europe and the u.s. as well. so that was despite the strong yen. canon making a net profit. it did, however, lower its ouoodu t some of the flooding that we're seeing in thailand. and that may affect other co companies. anyo nippon steel is due out with earnings. it may affect some of the older manufacturers as well. so across a lot of sectors er wlle epg eye on earnings as well as currency moves. for now, back to you. >> thanks a lot, ramin. r poerro t tokyo stock exchange. now, over in europe, the european union is weighing two options for boosting a rcu nd. this is part of comprehensive measures for tackling credit problems which will be discussed at wednesday's eu summit. according to a copy of a summit draft proposal obtained by nhk, one option involves the so-called european financial stility facility to provide partial guarantee when a

debt-strapped euro zone country issues a new government bond. the other option calls for establishment of an organization to gather funds from nations outside of the euro zone to boost the efsf. the options require no additional capital contribution from member countries. european leaders are aiming to reach a final agreement when theyecve on weesy. also high on the agenda, convincing commercial banks holding greek debt to bear a greater burden and compiling measures for strengthening their financial health. time to get your recap of the latest market figures.

that's all for this hour in business. when the economy hits a rough patch, investors often turn to gold. we've seen that during this global recession. the price of gold has almost tripled since 2006. and that's encouraged people to mine this precious metal in some unlikely places. this tokyo area company is buying sishlgt boards housed in old computers. gold, a good heat conductor, is widely used in circuit boards and microchips. with gold prices higher, the value of old electronic parts containing the metal has also gone up. a year ago, 300 kilograms of computer circuit boards would have been valued at about $2,000.

now those circuit boards are worth over 30% more. >> translator: we're getting an amazing number of inquiries. you'll find more gold in a home computer than if you went digging for gold. >> reporter: this company is asking collectors of recyclables to get as many circuit boards as they can. especially boards older than ten years. >> translator: don't you get this kind of a circuit board? old versions of game cassettes use a lot of gold. >> reporter: municipalities have also beg collecting the boards. last month, a ward in tokyo set up recycled boxes. besides computers, people drop off cell phones, digital cameras, and other products that have a lot of gold. until now, old home electronic

appliances were thrown away. but the ward says valuable parts should not be wasted. cell phone chips contain a lot of personal data like phone numbers and e-mail addresses. the ward stresses that all donors' personal information will be destroyed. they don't miss a thing. not even equipment tossed in the garbage. they comb through everything and save the circuit boards. they collected 150 kilograms in a month. >> translator: it's an effective way of killing two birds with one stone. it will change the way people throw out their trash. and it will also provide the ward with the money gained from recycling this material.

>> reporter: there's also another source of gold at home. in this box, for example. >> translator: there's a lot in here. >> reporter: this nonprofit organization collects old dentures and sells them to recycling companies. the money is donated overseas to help needy children. because of gold's rising price, even these unwanted dentures are worth more than they used to be. >> translator: this is real gold. i think this will sell for over $500 now. >> reporter: in past months the organization has made donations

totalling about $8,400 a month. that's twice the amount donated last year. >> translator: we had no idea that the price would get this high. if you have unwanted dentures sitting in your drawer, please donate them to us. >> we've also heard about a down side to this gold rush. some are trying to get their hands on this metal any way they can. that includes visiting the elderly and forcing them to sell possessions that contain gold. now let's take a look at the global weather forecast. >> hello. time now for your weather update. a low-pressure system is leaving japan and bringing cold and dry conditions across most of the country. the northern portions will remain wet and windy, but that

should ease by tomorrow. the korean peninsula and eastern china are looking at dry conditions. but some light precipitation are lingering across inland china. down towards the south, it's still wet across vietnam and the southern end of the indochina peninsula. as for bangkok, it's not doing too badly weatherwise, but waters will continue to flow. temperatures are shaping up like this. it's dropping down to 19 degrees in tokyo and 15 in seoul. manila coming in at 33 degrees with the chance of afternoon showers. heading over to central america, let's now focus on hurricane rina. rina is now a category 2 system packing winds of 175 kilometers an hour. it's moving in a westerly direction at this moment but could veer to the north and could hit the northeastern tip of the yucatan peninsula by thursday. it will change direction to the

east, aiming for western cuba after that. we have hurricane warnings in effect across the east coast of the yucatan peninsula. torrential rain and fierce winds are going to affect here starting wednesday. it could become a major hurricane within a day or so. rainfall could total 200 to 400 millimeters by friday, and strong winds could create dangerous surf. so watch out for coastal flooding for the time being. we'll keep you posted on its progress. meanwhile, stormy conditions can be found across the central rockies. heavy snow are possible in the higher elevations. maybe up to 45 centimeters. we also have another system moving across the midwest states. and severe thunderstorms, hail, gusty winds as well as heavy rain are possible here. the rain will spread to parts of the northeastern states and atlantic region in the next 24 hours.

du actually, we have a long frontal line. we have cooler air above the front. that's why we are seeing snow in some areas. temperatures looking like this. it's dropping down to only one in denver and 11 in chicago. but the southern portions are on the warmer side. 31 in houston and 29 in miami. finally, let's go over to europe. it's still stormy to the west. we've got a powerful low-pressure system. this one continues to bring severe thunderstorms across much of italy as well as the alpine region. and the wet conditions will likely continue throughout wednesday. and another system is bringing rain across the british isles and parts of spain out front. the rain will stretch to the southern scandinavian pranciliauskas as well as europe in the next 24 hours. the iberian peninsula is escaping rain, but more on wednesday. temperatures are shaping up like this. it's going to be 22 degrees in rome and 19 in athens. but very chilly in moscow with

only six did he gleeegrees. all right, then. here's your extended forecast. and that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us.

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