again, turkey has been struck by another quake, even as it struggles to recover from a deadly tremor two weeks ago. you're watching nhk "newsline." i'm shery ahn. a magnitude 5.6 earthquake hit two weeks after a massive trembler struck the region. media say three people are confirmed dead. the u.s. geological survey says the earthquake struck around 9:20 p.m. on the wednesday local time and the epicenter was underground in eastern turkey.

state run tv says 18 buildings, including two hotels collapsed and at least three people are confirmed dead with dozens more trapped under debris. footage from the province near the focus shows concrete buildings completely flattened and streets covered in debris. it shows people scrambling searching for survivors. region was hit by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on october 23rd. the hardest hit province, more than 2200 buildings were destroyed killing at least 600 people and injuring more than 4,000. we spoke with a member of a turkish search and rescue operation. they worked after the earthquake in van last month. >> we have information from the region as well as the capital, where they have the emergency

management there, that 25 buildings are a possibility to have some people living underneath them. and we are trying to reach them at the moment. and there are two hotels that have some occupants. some of them are under the building. people are trying to reach there. these hotels are priority for search and rescue teams in north part of van, the city next to the biggest lake in turkey. there has been a 7.3 earthquake today on the south part of the lake, which is another place where they meet different than the previous.

we believe collapsed buildings were damaged in the first quake. and now buildings are collapsed because of it olympus was recently found to have covered the losses from speculative investments during the economic bubble era in the 1980s. a third party panel investigating the wrongdoing is said to have found that olympus started resorting to illegal accounting around 2001. 2001 is the year when a new set of accounting standards were introduced for japanese corporations. the new standards are known as the market value accounting. before the revision, the value of the company stock and other assets was recorded on the account settlement document in terms of the price paid to fire

-- acquire them. this is what's known as the book value. however, under the new standard of the market value accounting, the value is given in terms of the market value at the time of account settlement. a case where stocks were acquired for 100 million yen, but the market value fallen to 60 million yen at the time of account settlement. under the old system, the stocks would be 100 million yen and no losses with -- under market value accounting, they're listed at their current market value of current market value of 60 million yen. this results in a visible loss of 40 million yen. market value accounting is aimed accurately reflecting the increase and decrease of assets that companies could previously keep concealed. >> translator: after the bubble burst, there was a discrepancy. between the original price and current market price of assets.

as a result, japan's accounting system had to change. >> but some firms illegally stuck to the old system believing that the economy would pick up. >> translator: companies found it hard to adjust. some firms thought they could keep losses hidden. believing that future profits who make up for them. -- would makeup for them. >> olympus had massive losses that would come under market value accounting and said to have begun illegal accounting because of this. this happened in 2001 when former president kikukawa took office. the commission suspect kikukawa and two former executives of olympus were deeply involved in illegal practice. a third party panel including an attorney, plans to interview those involved in the illegal practice and file a report by the end of the month. the olympus president until the mid 1990s spoke to nhk on monday.

he was also the chairman through 2001 but says he doesn't recall such a practice. >> i never imagined anything like this would happen. i'm very surprised. and disappointed. i feel sorry for the employees. >> meanwhile, he has this to say about former president kikukawa said to be involved in the wrongdoing. >> translator: president kikukawa was eloquent. he was active and he was good at business. i think he was a good president. but he may have gone too far in some areas. >> on the tokyo stock exchange on wednesday, there was a rush of sale orders pushing the share price down to the 20% daily limit. the stock price closed at 584

yen. down 75% from its level before the scandal. also weighing, the european debt crisis. >> so much to take in. to refresh our memory, start with overnight moves. dow-jones tumbled nearly 400 points. investors worried about the european fiscal crisis. the dow down 3.2%. investors are cautious due to sharp decline in european stocks. while they showed declines of 2% each wednesday, stock markets around the world in fact are overwhelmed with sale orders mainly for bank shares. wednesday was one day after prime minister silvio berlusconi announced he would step down.

tension in increased after the yield on italy government bonds topped 7%. at that level, most believe it will be difficult for the debt ridden country to rebuild its finances without help. after the italian markets took a beating, giorgio napolitano says the pressure on the country's bonds was high. he said berlusconi would resign after the government's austerity package. >> bond markets took yields up to 7.2% today. why? they realize that berlusconi resigning doesn't solve the problem that italy is growing too slowly and has too much debt. >> the selling pressure continues in japan. tokyo share prices are down sharply this thursday morning, following the overnight decline in new york. the nikkei down over 200 points. that's a loss of 2.3%.

topix down 2.4%. sources say the plunge in government, italian government bond prices triggered renewed concerns about the euro zone debt problems. tokyo investors began selling sale ortiz after the opening bell. stock trading on scandal hit olympus was skauld due to massive share orders. the share fell to the daily max limit down two straight days. currently trading 484 yen. the euro is down sharply against concerns about the euro zone debt problems, selling pressure on the euro is growing. this is after italy's benchmark government bonds fell pushing the yield up to over 7%. market sources say investors are skeptical whether italy can carry out financial reconstruction. the euro loss more than 1 yen wednesday.

the dollar moving in a narrow range. green back against the yen up 77.78-82. let's look at the long term interest rates. yield on the ten year japanese government bond down over one basis point. and we have a japanese cater released earlier this morning on thursday. machinery orders fell sharply in september. the cabinet also said on thursday that major machinery makers received more than 738 billion yen worth of domestic orders in september, about $9.5 billion. it marks a decrease in yen terms. the first decrease in two months. the figure excludes volatile orders for ships and power plants. analysts say companies have plans to make capital investments. they expect increase in the future, mainly due to restoration from the march disaster.

let's get your recap of the latest market figures. we will see how china markets open next hour. for now, that's the latest on business. back to sherry. >> thanks. now we go to bangkok with the latest from the region. >> the battle could contain thailand's record floods continued wednesday. the prime minister insisted her government is making progress in efforts to handle the crisis.

but the situation for residents of bangkok remains severe with still no end in sight. nhk observed the depth of flood waters in the capital had increased again on wednesday. but the water flow appeared to have weakened, and floods remained about five kilometers from the city center. even so, people's daily lives are severely disrupted. inundated roads forced many residents to get around by boat instead of by car or motorcycle. people are anxious for flood waters to recede. >> translator: i'm concerned about more water reaching bangkok. i just want to know when the water level will go down. the floods keep rising. >> prime minister visited a water treatment plant wednesday.

the floods polluted it with mud and trash. japanese experts say chemical sanitizers have successfully improved the quality of the water. and next, we continue our two part special on the islands. countries including the philippines and china lay claim to the islands in the south china sea, tension has been rising as china's military influence spreads. we took a rare trip into the disputed zone on board a philippine navy vessel and filed this report. >> they fired shots at a philippine fishing boat.

>> we should be very watchful, vigilant. >> this footage from june last year shows an indonesian ship investigating a chinese fishing boat near the southern edge of the south china sea. an armed chinese fisher surveillance vessel suddenly appears. southeast asian countries face a difficult situation in the south china sea. the philippines decided to beef up its vessels in the area. work is under way to build a new facility to protect this tiny

island, which is about 400 meters long and 30 meters wide. small islands like this are susceptible to waves and strong winds. the military personnel stationed there are cut off from their families. living in such an environment puts them under a lot of strain. >> if i see the pictures, it will be sad. that's why it is better if i don't have pictures with me. i read to keep my mind off them. >> on some island, civilians play an important role. the second largest among the islands. nine families a total of 53 people, live on the island. the philippine government asked them to live here. it pays them a monthly allowance of $130.

an average salary in a provincial city on the mainland. it also provides them with free rides. residents keep livestock and grow farm produce. they are very aware of their role protecting the island. >> it would be very difficult for china to take this island because many civilians are living here. we'll continue protecting this island. >> no matter how hard, for the people it's about living for free and for the government, sustaining it. all these pains for what they claim is theirs undisputed territory. nhk world.

>> the south china sea will likely be on the agenda at the upcoming summit in bali. that wraps up our bulletin in bangkok. a plan by south korea to stage a concert for security guards on disputed islands has not been received warmly in japan. for the second time this week, japan called on south korea to cancel the show. the japanese foreign ministry says the concert is scheduled to take place friday, is being arranged by a group of south korean lawmakers to entertain the garage station in the sea of japan. the ministry asked south korea to can sell the event, and says it can't allow a concert to be held on japanese territory. the foreign minister said they asked the south korean government to stop the concert tuesday and wednesday. last week, japan asked south korea to cancel plans to construct a research and visitor

center on the islands. developers from some of the world's leading high tech companies are showing off projects at the international row would the exhibition in tokyo. models used in disaster areas are drawing a lot of attention after the march 11th earthquake. here is more. >> reporter: robots like this one are highly recommended by the promoter of this exhibition for use in disaster areas. such robots are being used in the restoration work at the fukushima daiichi power plant. this is being shown to the public for the first time to give a better understanding of the usefulness of robot technology. the power of this robot attracts a crowd. it uses rollers to climb over rubble and can stay upright even

on a slope. it is the most powerful crawling robot in the world. they are using models at the plant. it can take pictures, detecting obstacles in the dark. researchers started working on the robot after two disasters struck japan in 1995. the earthquake and gas attack on the tokyo subway system. researchers at the university developed technology together over ten years. >> this robot could be used to probe volcanos, locate fires, and handle dangerous objects in

factories. and the technology will keep evolving, along with the needs of society. >> the accident at fukushima prompt a chinese computer chip maker to develop robotic arms six months ago. taiwan relies on nuclear power. they use these chips to make a miniature out of the fukushima robot. >> you take the information back and see what happened there, and trace that back to headquarters and then to decide what next should be done. >> researchers at the institute of technology develop a robot to

check rubble. the robot moves its arms up and down to detect radioactive substances. if it senses trouble, it sounds an alarm. levels of radiation show up on the screen the robot monitors what's around it, and moves away from obstacles. >> it's a challenge to satisfy all the requests from companies such as medical supply makers and robot manufacturers. nuclear power creates a lot of hazardous waste, and i think robots should be used to dispose of it safely.

>> about 50% of the event participants have come here from korea, taiwan, germany, the u.s., and other countries to promote robot technology. since the march disaster, the world is paying attention to the development of disaster robots. time for the weather update. let's start with east asia. the southern half of japan is looking at wet weather. this low pressure system is bringing rain across the southern islands. the rain will also spread to western japan today we have a tropical depression over here. this is producing heavy rain across the southeast coast of china, as well as much of taiwan.

the system is moving eastward. things get dryer across china. taiwan will see rain developing over the course of today. meanwhile, vietnam, deadly flood occurred yesterday. but things are getting dry. that's good news. the rest of the peninsula is also looking at clear conditions. tokyo will be dropping down into 16 degrees and 18 in seoul. we're expecting 21 in hong kong. into the freezing mark. let's move to alaska. we are experiencing a low pressure system across the western portions. heavy snow and hurricane force winds are impacting this area. we have blizzard conditions and coastal flooding as well, and the national weather service says it's going to be one of the worst storms on record for the

state. the severe weather will likely continue until thursday morning before the system moves out to sea. and we also have another powerful storm over the atlantic, which is tropical storm sean. it is intensifying. moving in a northerly direction, but will change direction to the northeast and get close to bermuda by later this week. we have tropical storm warnings in effect across the country. torrential rain and strong winds will start to effect this area by thursday night. and the system is moving out to sea and moving away from main land u.s., but it looks like rough sea conditions will likely continue on the southeast coast for the next couple days. meanwhile, a very active low pressure system is dumping heavy snow across the great lakes. that will move to the northern portions of quebec and ontario in the next 24 hours. meanwhile, the associated front is producing thundershowers across the mid-atlantic and the deep south.

it will movies ward. regenerate over the northeast on thursday. it is a different story for the central and western portions of the u.s. a high pressure system brings in nice weather. for western canada, a system is moving in and producing mountain snow as well as coastal rain for british columbia, and freezing rain for western alberta. some precipitation will move to saskatchewan in the next 24 hours. temperatures are looking like this. we expect 12 degrees in vancouver, and 14 in seattle. dropping into the single digits in chicago and toronto. but still warm in new york with 17 degrees. that's it for me now. here is the extended forecast. minus one degrees expected wihe.

minus one degrees expected wimi here is a recap of our headline story. a magnitude 5.6 earthquake hit in turkey two weeks after it was struck by another quake that killed 600 people. local media say at least three people are confirmed dead.

the u.s. geological survey says it struck around 9:20 p.m. wednesday local time. the focus was 5 kilometers underground in eastern turkey. state run tv says 18 buildings, including two hotels collapsed and at least three people are confirmed dead with dozens more trapped under debris. footage from the province near the epicenter shows concrete buildings flattened and covered in debris. people are scrambling through rubble searching for survivors. the region hit by a 7.2 earthquake october 23rd in the hardest-hit provens, more than 2200 buildings were destroyed, culling at least 600 people, injuring more than 4,000. that's all for this edition of "newsline." ank you for watching. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com