first greece. now italy. the european debt crisis is having a domino effect. welcome to "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. concern over the fiscal health of the eurozone is spreading quickly. overnight, italian government bonds hit their lowest since the euro was introduced. for the story we go straight to business news this hour with ai uchida. >> thanks a lot, catherine. eurozone headlines do continue and taking center stage is italy. the yield on italian government bonds hit a new high on european markets. of course that means the bonds

hit a record low. the surge comes amid rising concerns that italy may be the next country to be dragged into the debt crisis. the yield on ten-year italian government bonds briefly leapt to 6.6 monday, the highest since it was introduced. bond prices recorded their lowest level. >> translator: there is serious political instability in italy. the markets think the country will probably have elections next spring. italy can't restore its fiscal health with things as they are. >> the situation in italy has prime minister silvio berlusconi fighting for political survival. a vote to approve last year's budget is scheduled for tuesday in the lower house. it's being taken as a litmus test of his premiership as some members of his ruling party are opposed to it. this puts berlusconi in danger

of losing his majority in parliament. should the government lose, the prime minister will come under renewed pressure to step down. cabinet members close to berlusconi have hinted he may dissolve parliament if he loses. the prime minister is pushing austerity measures including tax increases and welfare cuts in order to rebuild fiscal health, but he has been criticized for a series of scandals such as allegations of corruption and slow implementation of economic stimulus measures. his approval rating has fallen to a historic low. meanwhile, greece's ruling and opposition parties are continuing talks on appointing a new prime minister and interim coalition cabinet ministers. this comes after they agreed to implement the eu bailout package on sunday. as talks continue into tuesday, sunday's agreement will see

prime minister george papandreou stepping down, to pave the way for a coalition government. greek television reports the candidates for the sino prime minister have been narrowed down but disagreements remain over details of a general election reportedly planned for february. also, the two sides have yet to agree on the number of cabinet posts to be given to the opposition camp. eurozone finance ministers have agreed to compile concrete measures to boost an eu bailout fund by the end of this month, to help member countries mired in the region's debt crisis. finance chiefs from the 17 eurozone countries reached an agreement on monday at an eu meeting in brussels. the ministers also agreed to implement the measures of the eu bailout fund known as the european financial stability facility next month. on greece's debt problems, they welcomed the agreement between the country's ruling and opposition parties to launch a new coalition government.

the ministers decided to demand that greece submit a letter confirming the country will implement the eu bailout package. they also agreed to send an inspection team to italy in the next few days to monitor the country's efforts to rebuild its finances. the international monetary fund will oversee the reconstruction. here in japan, japanese optical equipmentmaker olympus admitted on tuesday it had neglected calculating losses from securities investments since the 1990s. a spoexzperson for the firm said that a third party committee found that fees olympus paid to a consulting firm in connection with the purchase of a british medical equipmentmaker, as well as funds to buy out three domestic firms were used to cover its latent investment losses. the company says it will hold a news conference tuesday afternoon to provide more detailed information on the

case. now on the tokyo stock exchange, massive sell orders are being placed on olympus shares, however, the tse says for now it cannot confirm whether olympus' actions violate the law. let's get a check on how the nikkei is doing. tokyo stocks are trading in a narrow range this tuesday morning as investors continue a wait and see attitude to european countries' response to their credit problems. the benchmark nikkei average now stands at 8,735, that's down just about 31 points, a loss of one-third of a percen the broader topix is trading lower by about half a percent, currently at 746. sources say market players are refraining from active trading, fearing that italy will be next to be hit by the debt crisis, despite the agreement reached in greece to launch a coalition government. and on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is moving in a narrow range against the

yen this tuesday morning. the dollar is currently at 78.06-08 yen. the euro is at 107.37-42 yen. market players are seeking the relative safety of the yen amid europe's credit woes. at the same time, they are staying cautious against possible market interventions by japanese monetary authorities. here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the benchmark ten-year japanese government bond. and let's also get your look at some other market figures.

that is all for now in business news now it's back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. more residents in the thai capital were advised to leave their homes as the waters flow south from the city's center. the flood something now just five kilometers from the center, though its pace is slowing. bangkok authorities monday advised residents in the east of the city to evacuate. the area is the 12th to receive such a warning. about a quarter of the city's 50 districts are now subject to evacuation advisories. >> translator: the water level is rising a lot. 200 households have been inundated around here. >> meanwhile, drainage has begun at an industrial park in a ayutthaya industrial park, 70

kilometers north of bangkok. workers began draining the park on monday. it is one of eight industrial parks inundated by flood water in thailand. the park operates over 150 japanese firms including honda and nikon. the park has been flooded since october 8th. parts of the area remain under more than two meters of water, but the level is receding outside the complex wall, allowing drainage work to begin. >> translator: this industrial park has provided many jobs and sustained the economy. it's essential that we restore it. >> many japanese firms shifted their operations to japan or elsewhere in thailand, as prospects for an early resumption of operations seem remote. as the crisis drags on the impact of thailand's precious animal heritage is also mounting. the well-being of the iconic elephant is now under threat. nhk world's wayawan hanwiwan reports. >> reporter: these elephants are

taking shelter on high ground, several kilometers from the submerged city center of ayutthaya. now the elephants have evacuated here because of the flood in ayutthaya, which is home to a world heritage site. elephants are one of the big tourist atrackinck attractions for the last two months, many animals are surrounded by water up to two meters deep. transport in the area has been disrupted. caretakers normally give each elephant 250 kilograms of sugar cane, bananas and other fruit every day, but that has fallen to just 150 kilograms. many of the dying animals are losing weight. >> translator: look where the hipbone is.

you can tell it's nothing but skin and bone. the chest, shoulders and forehead are also skinny. >> reporter: health problems are mounting. this 25-year-old female has injured her right eye. it's infected with bacteria.hert the wound, but the vet is worried that without proper treatment, the eye could go permanently blind. >> translator: i feel sorry for them, but there's nothing i can do to help. >> reporter: elephants are more than tourist attractions in thailand. for centuries, their speed revered as animals unlike any other. that makes their current suffering even harder to watch. waewwan, nhk world, ayutthaya.

japan's nuclear agency has confirmed that sustained nuclear fission did not take place last week at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. the nuclear and industrial safety agency disclosed the results of expert studies on a report by tokyo electric power company or tepco. the utility detected a small amount of radioactive material, xenon 135 in the containment vessel of the damaged number two reactor last tuesday. tepco initially feared it was a sign of an ongoing nuclear reaction. but it determined that the substance was produced by spontaneous fission and not from sustained fission or criticality. spontaneous fission is a form of radioactive decay. the nuclear agency said criticality did not occur. the density did not change when boric acid was injected into the reactor. the agency ordered tepco to check the substances in the vessels regularly and report any changes.

the cabinet office parliamentary saek tear yasuhiro sonoda said on monday it's regrettable that tepco was slow to report the incident to local governments. he called on the utility to share information as quickly as possible. a doctor says the physical development of children in fukushima prefecture may be affected by the lack of outdoor activity due to the nuclear plant accident. shintaro kikuchi tracked the weight of 245 children aged 4 to 6 in two kindergartens in koruami city. it shows an average weight gain of 0.81 kilograms over june. the figure for the children in the same age group in the previous year was 3.1 kilograms. children in one of the kindergartens used to get one and a half hours of outdoor activity per day but have been allowed to play only indoors after the accident.

>> translator: the smaller weight gain could be related to reduced appetites due to lack of exercise as well as changes in secretion of growth hormones due to stress. the children may not be getting enough protein to develop their muscles. >> kikuchi said the decrease may be temporary, but that more checks are needed to prevent children's stunted growth. for centuries, pilgrims have traveled the 88 temples of shikoku island. now at one temple evacuees are finding inner strength and support. nhk world's koji ekuan has more. [ gong ]. >> reporter: the temple is located on the outskirts of matsuyama city. once a month evacuees gather at

the temple. their original homes are far away in places like fukushima. since may, the temple has been holding these support groups or evacuees. they talk about their experiences and concerns. >> translator: i don't have any friends here, so i'm grateful the temple gives us the chance to meet other people. ♪ >> reporter: shinso kato is the temple's head priest. after the earthquake of 1995, he set up the same support group for victims. >> translator: people have experienced the came kinds of trauma help each other by sharing their pain or talking about their lives. that's good.

i hope it helps them deal with their problems. >> reporter: some evacuees don't know when they can leave. kato thinks it is important that they quickly stabilize their lives. one day he invited a lawyer to advise them about damage compensation for the nuclear accident and other matters. >> translator: voluntary evacuees, you should be compensated for the material and emotional damage you have suffered. >> reporter: the participants complete the survey in writing, because they wanted to keep their concerns private. "my income is half now." "i want to ask the prefectural government for help with my rent." >> translator: in my opinion, writing down what they think and what concerns them can be

effective in overcoming pain more quickly. >> reporter: of 250 evacuees from ehime prefecture, around 30 have been attending the gatherings. kato asks the prefecture for help, in letting the evacuees know about the meetings. >> translator: by reaching out to these people who may be lost or isolated, we can help lift some of the burden from their shoulders, so they can start rebuilding their lives. ♪ >> reporter: kato feels that it is his responsibility to meet more disaster victims so he can offer them support. >> translator: the people who are not coming to the meetings are suffering more mentally and

financially. we're only reaching 20% to 30% of the victims, so i would like to connect with more. >> reporter: kato says he will continue listening to the evacuees and thinking about additional ways to help them. koji ekuan, nhk world, matsuyama. hello sports fans and welcome in to "the sports report." less than one week to go before the start of the kyushu grand sumo tournament. a lot of people are talking up a 24-year-old rikishi from georgia. gagamaru has climbed the ranks to mayagashi number three. one more promotion and he'll reach sanyaku, the top three ranks behind yokozuna. whatever happens with that, he's already top of the list in one category. gagamaru weighs more than anyone in the two highest divisions.

[ speaking japanese ] look at him. he's so big, but i'm going to challenge him. i can't budge him! he's not going anywhere! ♪ ♪ can't read my, no he can't read my poker face ♪ >> reporter: gagamaru's training regimen includes getting down with the music of lady gaga when he's finished with a workout. gagamaru weighs 200 kilograms and stands 1 meter and 85 centimeters tall. he knows how to use the bulk to launch powerful thrusts. nobody accuses him of having a

poor appetite. on the day we visited, he had his favorite for lunch, ramen noodles. not that he's in any particular hurry, but one bowl only takes him about one minute to eat, and once is never enough. he just set a new shop record by eating 13 bowls of ramen. you're the champion. champion! he wins at sumo, too. 11 bouts in the autumn tournament in the fighting spirit prize. the most interesting match was on day 11 when he faced ozeki baruto. gagamaru was ranked minus number 11 at the time but he emerged victorious. >> translator: i couldn't believe it. i was so happy about the result, i almost cried.

>> translator: what's your ideal form of sumo? >> translato i want to keep on the offensive. i use my big body to keep charging forward to prevent opponents from stopping me. >> reporter: gagamaru started his charge on sumo eight years ago when he was in high school. later, he had finished third in the open weight category at the world junior championships. in 2005, he turned pro to find out how well he could stand up to the best the sport has to offer. as it turned out, pretty well. his powerful frontal charges played a big part in early promotion to the second highest division, four years after becoming a professional. and he won the championship in that division last year in the january tournament. so he is definitely a man on the move. but gagamaru has other things on his mind, too.

about five years ago, his mother, who lives in georgia, developed a kidney ailment. nero, that's her name, has had a hard time of it. gagamaru calls her every day. >> reporter: niro needs to go to hospital every other day. gagamaru pays her medical bills, nearly $4,000 a month. >> translator: i feel better when i speak to her. it makes me happy.

as a result, i'm able to concentrate on my training. >> reporter: in the past month, gagamaru has taken as many opportunities as possible to train in other stables. he believes that gives him the chance to directly field the different techniques that individual rikishi use. of course, if he feels them, he has a better chance of figuring out some way to deal with them, no matter who the opponent may be. his stable master kitano believes that gagamaru needs to perfect his frontal charge as well in order to do well against opponents ranked at the top. >> translator: he has to charge forward aggressively without thinking about the outcome. if he wins, that will give him confidence and help him win the next time as well. >> reporter: the kyushu tournament starts soon. what's your objective there?

>> translator: i want to win one bout at a time and finish the tournament having won a majority of the bouts. my mother is always very pleased when i come out on top. her face brightens up. and when she's happy, i'm happy. so, that's my objective. >> a lot of sumo fans calling him lady gagamaru these days. but anyway, gagamaru has a chance to put more smiles on his mom's face in just a few days. the kyushu tournament starts this coming sunday, and that's all for sports. >> i like that, lady gagamaru. time now for weather. tokyo had mild temperatures on monday. let's see what's in store for japan and the rest of the world with saki ochi. >> and welcome back to your weather update. looking at weather patterns across east asia, looking dry and much across japan things are dry. sunshine expected on the pacific

side but over toward the western flank we may see a little bit more cloud cover. nonetheless a largely dry picture overall. a little bit of snow in parts of hokkaido and into the day and evening hours you start seeing more moisture coming into the southern islands. we could be talking about heavier downpours so you want to watch out for that. for the korean peninsula later on in the day more precipitation may develop. dry in toward northern china. toward southern areas of china and southeast asia, activity is definitely picking up here. we've got a tropical depression that has formed just off of the coast of vietnam and that is just pushing in a lot of moisture to this entire region, the southern coast of china looking quite wet today, as does areas like the philippines, taiwan, and then for the indo china peninsula as well, vietnam in particular has been reporting some hefty falls these past couple of days. looks like you will continue to see a little bit more rain.

areas across cambodia and laos looking to pick up showers. thailand a little bit of rain in the northern central sections but nothing too heavy. bangkok, too, may see a chance of thundershowers in the afternoon but nothing too heavy or severe. 34 degrees in bangkok today, looking quite steamy again, 25 meanwhile for hong kok, 27 degrees in taipei and 18 degrees in tokyo. and getting a look at the americas here the mid section of the united states is going to be looking at a much more active weather pattern in the next couple of days, we've got the series of lows here and looking to mix in with the humid air from the gulf of mexico. there's a chance of severe thunderstorms for the southern end of this area so texas in towards oklahoma, the lower mississippi valley wants to watch out for some tornadic activity as well as strong thunderstorms throughout tuesday. rain will spread in towards the upper midwest region, too, and for the central plains we're going to be looking at a lot of cooler air coming on in so

there's the chance of even snow for those of you in those lower elevations. out towards the pacific northwest, still unsettled for a lot of british columbia coastal areas will continue to see rain, mountain areas looking to pick up a little bit more snow. highs on tuesday looking like this, the east coast not too bad, 18 or rather 19 degrees in new york, 18 in d.c., atlanta expecting to get up to 23. finally a look at europe here, the mediterranean remains largely unsettled again today. we still have this low pressure system in place, and while it is on a weakeningrend it's still going to be triggering a couple of showers across areas like italy, towards the alpine region and as well as portions of coastal areas of the balkan peninsula. unsettled weather, there's going to be a heightened risk of flooding as well as landslides here. over towards the west, too, some rain starting to move in towards the iberian peninsula as well as ireland but that won't be until later on tuesday.

highs across the board only 2 in moscow, 9 degrees in warsaw and 6 in kiev, so towards the east a much cooler picture. all right, and up next let's get a look at your three-day outlook. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. yñññññññx