> me ridtsre evacuating. others who must stay behind are making final preparations. people in the center of bangkok are bracing for the worst. welcome to ewin" military and police personnel remain on alert in thailand as seasonal high tides increase the risk ofld dag i the capital. massive amounts of flood water have reached northernanok te damaging industrial complexes in the central

province of ute hey ya. thlanters a period of seasonal high tides on friday. more water may overflow from the chaophraya and inundate central parts of central bgk wn the tide level peaks twice each day. on thursday water flooded the hospital in central bangkok wher kg bmil uldeis receiving treatment. troops were seen piling sand bags to minimize the damage. in western bangkok a huge traffic jam occurred when oongaudeoeo evacuate to the suburbs by car. >> translator: at first i didn't expect the flood to geto bad. but now i decided to take shelter. >> seasonal high tides will peak on saturday. liryros doleav been stationed along the river to monitor water levels. the mass exodus from bangkok has ard. the thai capital is getting more deserted by the hour as floods spread throughout the cy.

here's the latest. >> reporter: i'm standing here at one of the biggest bus stations in bgkok where people are trying to escape from the flooding situation in bangkok. people are rushing to leave the city, heading for rural ea ers a long line at the terminal. >> we wanted to evacuate icy,ute'een waiting for a bus since the morning. >> reporter: as the five-day emergency holiday started on uray, the state run flood relief operation center advised people to leave the thai capital for the weekend if possible. water from the inundated provinces up north continues to flood in bakok. and the water level of the chaophraya river keeps rising. stetwe submerged on thursday morning in one of the city's most popular tourist

areas when many world famous buddhist tele are located. at the entrance, flood water has breached the sand bag walls. >> translator: i've never seen such mage. it's gotten out of control. >> i don't know what to do. i can't get any -- >> reporter: the situation in bangkok is expected to worsen over the weekend with flood water reaching a dth of 1.5 meters in some places. thailand's prime minister says the crisis has reached a critical point for the capital. nhk world, bangkok. a young survivor was pulled out from a collapsed building in the quake-hit region of eastern turkey on thursday four days after the disaster struck.

in the worst hit town of ercis a rescue team found an 18-year-old male student who was buried under rubble. turkey's news agency says the student is in stable condition although survival rates for those trapped are said to drop sharply once 72 hours have passed. the powerful earthquake hit the eastern province of van on sunday. it has left 534 people dead and more than 2,000 injured. rescuers have pulled 200 people from the rubble of collapsed buildings. crews are working day and night, using heavy machinery. rain and snow started falling in the area on wednesday making survivors' lives more difficult. the government estimates the quake affected up to 600,000 people in van province. relief supplies are reportedly not reaching everyone in need. the turkish government initially declined foreign aid after the quake but later decided to accept assistance.

international aid workers and a medical team from japan have begun working in the devastated region. now take a look at the latest in business news and the currency. the yen stubbornly high. >> no kidding, catherine. refreshing that high for three days in a row now the yen hit another hit torque hianother hi high against the dollar on thursday with reinvestors reacting positively to financial news from europe. it surpassed the record high set on the previous day. this comes as investors reacted positively to the fiscal measures adopted by the european union designed to contain the region's debt crisis. moves to buy back the euro and sell the dollar intensified, following the decision by eu leaders to write down greek sovereign bonds and expand the european financial stability facility. market sources say investors were relieved by the eu package.

sources say the focus of attention is now on whether the bank of japan will intervene in the currency market. speculation that the u.s. federal reserve may take additional measures to ease monetary policy is spurring moves to sell the dollar and buy yen. currently the dollar is changing hands between 75.94 to 95 yen. the director of currency trading at ing group spoke to nhk. >> this is more of a dollar issue and less of a yen issue. i do think they could, you know, slow the appreciation of the yen down but i don't think they're going to turn it around. >> he says japan may take action in the markets if the dollar falls to below the 75-yen level but he doesn't think japan can call on a joint intervention with other countries. he went on to say japan cannot stop the current upward trend. now it's time to get a check on the markets. u.s. stocks surged following news of a euro zone debt deal.

the dow showed its third biggest gain of this year. to see how things are kicking off here in japan this friday morning, let's cross over to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning to you. quite a broad based surge across most markets except the dollar and the bonds of course. how are stocks here in tokyo kicking off? >> very good morning to you. what a broad gain there across the board as you said for a lot of products. we did see gains in stocks. the euro of course, gold, oil, and copper all surging but then we did see a little bit of a pullback as you said there for u.s. treasury bonds and the dollar, itself. investors moving out of relatively safer assets such as bonds into relatively riskier assets. let's have a look at the opening levels here for the nikkei and the topix. 9,080. back above the 9,000 level. let's see if we can close there today up 154 points the topix up 14 points. nikkei gained yesterday around

2% following the news out of europe which reached the markets here actually before the stocks closed and we did see strong gains in the banking sector and some key blue chip stocks which had seen selling in earlier sessions. the major moves were really quite frankly in the euro. let's have a look at the currency levels again this morning as the stocks are kicking off here. you can see the dollar/yen stubbornly below the 76 level, 75.94 to 97. euro/yen you can see the weakness in the yen now at 107.71-76. as you said with the dollar/yen we did hit a fresh record high there hitting 75.67 so that yen remains strong against the dollar. japanese authorities are on the lookout for fx levels today and they may take action. we'll have to see. it is the first time since august. if they do. domestic stocks also in focus here. olympus shares yesterday surging around 23% following news of the

president and long-time chairman stepping down following internal corporate issues. the stock had been down around 50% since the news broke yesterday so we'll keep track of that. also sony saying that it's going to buy out its joint venture share in the smart phone business with its swedish partner ericsson. we'll keep track of that. but also earnings, we'll have a euro sensitive stock and nippon airways later today. they just came out with their new fleet of dreamliner boeing airways stock as well. so that is a bit of a focus there. but the nikkei and topix surging ahead in the first few minutes of trading. back to you. >> thanks, ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. we do have a number of economic indicators from here in japan for september so let's start with how the job market is looking. the country's jobless rate improved to 4.1% in september and from this month the job data does include the three prefectures that were hit

hardest by the disaster in march. the internal affairs ministry said the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.1%. that's down 0.2% from august. the number of unemployed was 2.75 million. separately the labor ministry said job availability was up for a fourth consecutive month. there were 67 positions available for every 100 job seekers last month. the labor ministry gave details about the tsunami affected areas. it said there is a mismatch in the labor market there. job offers are mostly in construction but there are more seekers in fishery or seafood processing sectors. japan's consumer prices rose for a third consecutive month. the internal affairs ministry said that the consumer price index was up 0.2% in september when compared with a year ago. the index stood at 99.9 against a reference value of 100 for last year. the figures exclude volatile

prices of fresh foods. the ministry says the increase is due to higher prices of electricity and gasoline. let's get your recap of the latest market figures. that wraps up business for this hour. now it's back to catherine. >> thanks very much. tokyo electric power company is set to request a public funds in order to pay financial compensation to victims of the fukushima nuclear crisis. sources say tepco is expected to

incur about $7.6 billion in net losses for the business year through next march. major reasons they cite include sharp rises in fuel cost for thermal power generation. the firm plans to ask for around $11.8 billion in assistance from a government backed institution to help pay compensation to people and businesses affected by the nuclear accident. tepco also plans to lower pension benefits for retirees as part of reconstruction efforts. the government will receive tepco's plan on friday. it will scrutinize whether the amount of financial assistance is appropriate and determine if the proposed compensation system will work. proper corporate governance is at issue for major japanese companies. a billion dollar scandal in connection with the acquisitions of other firms is shaking the optical equipment maker olympus. its new president, however, claims that the company's pasti.

>> translator: olympus strategically studied the acquisition of the companies. based on mid to long-term business plans. >> olympus president took office only on wednesday after his predecessor resigned to take responsibility for the sharp decline in the share price of olympus. his resignation came less than two weeks after assuming the post. he was put in the position following the dismissal of the former chief executive michael woford, a british national. woodford says he was fired for challenging what he views as excessive fees paid in the buyouts. >> they are so extraordinary these payments in the way they're being made. i just can't understand how that could have happened unless there was some type of issue behind them in relation to more sinister matters. >> the current olympus management and the dismissed

british ceo disagree mainly on two points. in 2008 olympus purchased a british medical equipment maker for some $2 billion. but it reportedly paid over $687 million to investment advisers equivalent to nearly 30% of the entire deal. olympus has come under fire for the payment which some say is outrageously high. olympus also acquired three domestic firms for $1 billion. but the company wrote off over $400 million in losses. critics say the price of the deals could have been vastly inflated. experts on corporate mergers and acquisitions say the company needs to disclose more information to show why the payments had to be so large. major japanese paper manufacturer daio paper corporation plans to file a criminal complaint on friday against its former chairman for his unauthorized withdrawal of over 10 billion yen or $145 million u.s. from affiliates'

accounts. sources say the paper company's in house investigation team discovered that the former chairman personally directed the money transfers. the investigations report says that board members claimed they could not refuse the chairman's request. the report also says that the team's investigation was limited in scope and not able to determine how the former chairman spent the funds in question. daio is considering reprimanding its board members. on friday the company plans to file a criminal complaint with tokyo prosecutors against former chairman ikawa for breach of trust. the united states and asia pacific countries are negotiating the trans pacific partnership free trade agreement that will eliminate import tariffs and minimize nontariff barriers in the region. the u.s. is calling on countries such as japan that are considering joining the trade pact to decide quickly. >> we welcome that

participation. we aren't going to slow down the current process to wait on them to make that decision. >> u.s. trade representative ron kirk said the country is aiming to forge an agreement on an outline of the treaty in time for a summit meeting of the asia pacific economic cooperation forum in hawaii in november. he said the u.s. is waiting for japan to make a decision. japanese industry is divided over whether or not to join the free trade negotiations. many japanese farmers are against the tpp agreement because they are protected by high tariffs. governing democratic party lawmakers who oppose the tpp are asking prime minister noda about his vision for the country's future. on the other hand, many in the business community say japan should join the negotiations. >> i want japan tooin the tpp to ensure fair competition. >> japan will be left behind if it doesn't observe international rules. >> prime minister noda says

japan will decide the policy on the tpp by the apec summit. >> i am sure there are many meaningful proposals, so i will study them thoroughly before attending the upcoming apec summit. after slipping into creative withdrawal following the disaster in march, a brilliant japanese film director has recovered and is filming again. he has won international praise for his movies. he's admired for stories whose themes verge on lyrics conveyed by images. he has won acclaim at international film festivals. his work strikes viewers as depicting the subtleties of every day life. this quality is described as ewai world.

he lived in sendai until he graduated from high school. after the march 11th earthquake and tsunami he says he lost his ability to make films but his creativity returned when he saw the constructive way disaster victims react to their plight. >> reporter: in his new documentary he is recording facial expressions and words of people going about their daily lives. >> translator: when i think about what i can do now, well, making documentaries is about all that's left. >> reporter: the tsunami seemed to carry off iwai's creativity after seeing what happened to his hometown he couldn't cope with his emotions. >> translator: the town and all its residents used to be there. there's not much left of the community now. but it doesn't mean it's the end of everything. towns and people are gone, but actually they are still there.

no, we shouldn't say they are gone. i feel we didn't lose anything in the disaster. >> reporter: one day iwai came across a message on twitter. it was a plea from a young girl suffering unrequieted love. she wanted help finding the boy she had fallen for. iwai had depicted the torment of junior high school girls in love. the tweet reawakened iwai's creative impulses. he had often made movies and he was determined to make movies again. >> translator: her voice came from the same place where i spent my school days. i have memories of my first love

as do my friends and everybody else. the tsunami destroyed many things but even in this tragedy, young people were stillriencing. it's like finding a flower from the debris. i felt it was a big sign of hope. >> reporter: the theme of iwai's current documentary is friendship. he wants to express the importance of ties between people by showing the personal bonds that formed after the disaster. the iwai world has won the hearts of many viewers. now he is trying to widen that world. >> after the disaster i feel people have become a bit kinder.

for example they are more inclined to bow to each other. i feel the presence of something that wasn't as noticeable as before. it seems like people have opened their hearts a little more to others. i hope the world will become filled with more love, a place where people love each other more. >> now let's take a look at the global weather forecast. hello. time for your weather update. let's start off with east asia. a high pressure system is bringing dry weather across most of japan, but kyushu is under rain. out toward the east, some moderate to light precipitation can be found across inland china that will gradually weaken as we head into saturday. down toward the south, most of the rain is affecting vietnam as well as the southern peninsula.

you'll see scatter thunderstorms throughout the day. temperatures are looking like this. tokyo has experienced the coldest morning of the season but the high will rise to a seasonal 20 degrees and 18 degrees in seoul and 34 in bangkok with the slight chance of thundershowers. heading over to central america then, hurricane rina has been downgraded into a tropical storm and is now moving in a northerly direction and is expected to make landfall in the northeast coast of the yucatan peninsula by tonight and move out to sea by friday. it looks like it'll turn to the south -- it'll turn to the south quickly and stay off the coast for the next several days. it's on a weakening track. however, it's still bringing heavy rain as well as strong winds across the eastern half of the yucatan peninsula. rainfall could total as much as 150 millimeters and some of their rain, some of the areas could be seeing as much as 250. so definitely watch out for

coastal flooding. meanwhile, a rain band is from new england down toward the southern plains. thunderstorms are erupting across texas and a mix of rain and snow by tonight. those conditions should gradually ease as the system moves eastward. out toward the west, another round of coastal rain and snow are going to affect british columbia. temperatures are shaping up like this. it's dropping down to 18 degrees in houston which is about ten degrees lower than yesterday but still warm in los angeles with 28 degrees. finally, let's go over to europe then. a series of low pressure systems continues to bring wet and windy conditions across the northern british isles and scandinavian peninsula. some of the rain will move northward and turn to snow across norway in the mountain areas. down toward the south, another system is bringing heavy rain as well as gusty winds across

southern france as well as eastern spain. the wet conditions will likely continue into saturday. temperatures are shaping up like this. we expect only eight degrees in van, turkey, that was hit by a major earthquake on sunday. you'll see a mix of rain and snow and it'll be 12 degrees in vienna and 24 in rome and 18 with rain. that's all for now. here is your extended forecast.

researchers from the butterfly society of japan have seen something unseen since the 1930s. they went to the himalayan

county of bhutan and found a rare swallowtailed butterfly and an nhk crew traveled with them. scientists preserved scientists of the bhutan swallowtail at britain's natural history museum in london. >> this is in 1933. >> researchers found the insects in a valley in eastern bhutan 78 years ago. the five specimens are the only that remain. no one has reported seeing the butterflies since. so researchers called it a phantom butterfly. >> it is a very, very extraordinary butterfly. it's a sort of holy grail for swallow tail butterfly collectors. >> then reports came in two years ago that a bhutanees official had come across a butterfly that looked like the species. the butterfly society of japan negotiated with the bhutan ese government for six months and

finally obtained special permission to conduct a field survey and hiked through a forest 500 kilometers east of the capital to the foot of the himalayas the same area where the butterfly was found 78 years ago. they found what they were looking for. the bhutan swallowtail. the butterflies are about the size of an adult human palm and have a bright red pattern on their wings and three tails on each wing. >> translator: this is one of the biggest discoveries of the century in this field. it is very important that we continue studying the ecology of the butterfly and the evolution of the swallowtails. >> now that the researchers have found the butterfly, they're eager to protect it. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.