learning from the fukushima accident. the japanese government is aiming to enhance safety at nuclear power plants. welcome to "newsline." japan is planning to strengthen measures against terror attacks on nuclear power plants. a government panel met on monday to discuss ways to respond to international threats. it made some counterterrorism proposals such as compelling operators to secure emergency power sources and seawater pumps used to cool reactors. it called on utilities to increase the number of police and to stock up on protective clothing at plants in order to

step up security. it also says computer systems controlling nuclear plants should be separate from outside networks to protect them from cyber attacks. the chief cabinet secretary told the panel that the crisis at the fukushima plant could have been triggered by terrorist attacks, not just by natural disasters. an electric company in western japan has submitted to the government the results of safety tests on a reactor at its nuclear power plant, but there's some debate over the significance of the tests. the electric power company on monday handed the nuclear and industrial safety agency the results of a so-called stress test on its plant. they claim tests on the number 3 reactor at the nuclear plant confirm its safety. the utility is the second to submit stress test results since the fukushima accident.

some nuclear experts voiced kri criticism of the reactor tests on monday at the first meeting of a government panel to discuss how to evaluate the results. >> translator: we may have to reconsider how we evaluate safety. we have to listen to the opinions of local residents. >> another panel member said the stress test should not be the only condition for restarting reactors when the cause of the fukushima accident is still unclear. shareholders of tokyo electric power company are preparing to sue the current and former executives over the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. a group of 22 -- rather 42 individuals asked the utility's auditors on monday to file a lawsuit against 61 executives who have held posts since 2002. they're seeking more than 5.5 trillion yen or about $71

billion in compensation. the amount is the highest ever demanded in a lawsuit in japan. the investors say tepco executives failed to take steps to protect the plant from earthquakes and tsunami, and must be held accountable for the accident. >> translator: we want to make it clear through a court trial that the executives are personally responsible. >> they added that if the auditors don't file the lawsuit within 60 days, they'll do so on their own. tepco declined to comment on the matter. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" has insight and information on the impact of the fukushima crisis and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts

to recover and rebuild. the royal couple from the himalayan nation of butan is on their honeymoon in japan. they're the first state guests since the march 11th disaster. >> translato >> reporter: the king and his wife have arrived at the airport. they're dressed in ethnic clothing and smiling at reporters. they will spend five days in japan as guests of the state. the king is 31 years old, and his 21-year-old wife is a student. there was royal wedding fever in butan last month when the marriage ceremony was held. the king is known for promoting

growth national happy or gnh an indicator to measure the quality of life or social process. the royal couple will meet prime minister noda this afternoon, and they will make a speech at the diet on thursday. they will also visit fukushima prefecture that was hard-hit by the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. the king and queen will interact with local children and convey the sympathies of the people of bhutan to the disaster survivors. nhk world, narita airport. >> a big welcome for the royal couple. a japanese-made super computer has retained its rank as the world's fastest processing mean. the k computer topped the biannual list for the second time in ra row. the ranking released on monday says the k reached 10 pediflops.

that's more than 10 quad drill oncalculations per second and well ahead of the 1-a from china with 2.575 pediflops. the k was developed by japan's state backed research institute and electronics maker fujitsu. the name comes from the japanese world meaning ten quaddrillion. it's expected to be used in disaster simulations and developing new drugs. the president said that the title demonstrates japan's advanced technology. he said it's a master step in boosting industrial competitiveness. that's one fast computer. ai has the latest in business news to europe. ai, is the political shift in italy easing market sciensmarke? >> fortunately, not just yet, cath reason, although that

political shift is coming along in italy. the newly appointed prime minister intends to keep a new cabinet in place until 2013, when the next parliamentary elections take place. that is his condition for accepting the top role in tackling the difficult challenge for fiscal reform. monti spoke with reporters after meetings. high on the agenda was cabinet appointments and the new cabinet will likely be launched on friday. they expect both houses to give approval. the markets remain skeptical. the yield of the 10-year italian bond has climbed to the upper 10% level. it ended the day session at 6.7%. last week the yield rose over 7%, a level that was raising a red flag over the country's

self-recovery. italian bonds were bought back on monday morning after renowned economist monti was named to head the country's new government. however, investors sold the government bond later in the day as the concerns over the reconstruction outlook deepened. turning to greece new greece prospect lucas papademos is accepting the bailout measures. he delivered his first speech in parliament on monday. he stressed that the task of the new government is to implement bailout measured decided on by eu leaders. he said staying in the ear yo zo euro zone is the only option for greece. here in japan three major financial groups have reported net profits for the first half of the business year through september. slumping share prices are

weighing down their outlooks. the three groups released their midterm earnings figures on on monday. mitsubishi ufj and two other companies posted a total of $16.5 billion in net profit. they registered a combined total loss of over $2 billion caused by a drop in the value of shares due to the ongoing european credit crisis. the total amount of loans and investments to five financially troubled european nations including greece and italy was nearly $27 billion as of the end of september. the three groups say the impact of the european credit crisis has been limited, but they will carefully watch future trends if the situation deteriorates further. let's get a check on the markets now. tokyo stocks are posting moderate losses on tuesday morning following an overnight decline in new york. the nikkei is trading at 8,571. that's down 32 points, a loss of

about a third of a percent. topix is down about a fifth of a percent at 734. investors are holding back from active trading to see if european credit worries will expand to a wider area. they're taking their cue from a rise in the yield of italy's long-term government bond, which stands at 6.7%. on the tokyo foreign exchange the dollar is trading in the lower 77 yen range on tuesday morning. invest onnors sell both the your oand dollar against the yen over deep-rooted concerns over european debt woes. the green back is at 77.07 to 09. the euro is at 105.13 to 15 yen. look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the ten-year japanese government bond. here's a look at some other market figures.

>> well, cath reaskatherine we'w markets open next hour. look at the latest in the region of bangkok. myanmar's pro-democracy leader has expressed a positive stance on the country's bid to chair asean in 2014, but she called for greater action towards democracy and improving the nation's economy. she gave a speech to her supporters on monday. it marked the first anniversary

of her release following seven years of house arrest under the former military government. >> translator: the most important issue is not myanmar chairing asean but whether or not the citizens feel their country is improving. if the people feel that their country is developing and their lives are improving, then this is a great thing. this is much more meaningful than any chairmanship. >> in august the president held his first meeting with her. it was an apparent effort to improve ties with the pro-democracy movement. the government wants to show the world it's ready to play a bigger international role. chairing asean is a major goal for myanmar's government to pro promote its comeback on the arena. the issue is on the agenda at

the asean summit scheduled for thursday on the indonesian island of bali. here in bangkok floodwaters receded from some parts of the city on monday. it looks like the center of the capital will escape the worst of the crisis. yet, residents of other areas continue to fight the floods, and their battle may be a long one. the force of the flood seems to be easing. water levels are subsiding in some areas of bangkok. traffic is again moving along some main roads. residents say there's been a significant difference. >> translator: for the past five days i kept a record of the water level. it's receded 17 centimeters at my house. >> arerial footage shows the extent of the kris to the north, east and west of the capital. more evacuation advisories are issued every day in outer

districts. meanwhile, three japanese automakers resumed operations in thailand for the first time in about a month. the floods had forced them to help production mainly because of a shortage of components, but operations with other manufacturers remain suspended and supply xhchain disruptions look set to continue for some time. at least 562 people have died nationwide. 22 out of 77 provinces and a total of 5.1 million people are still affected by the floods. the human cost from the thai floods is high, but other animals are suffering, too. that includes some of the country's most exotic wildlife. >> reporter: it should be a safari, but it looks more like a cruise. this is one of bangkok's major

tourist attractions, but half of the 80-hector park has been underwater for more than two weeks. rhino, deer and zebra, most of the animals are gathered on a small part of high ground. zookeepers fight the floodwaters around the clock. they are trying to save the precious dry land for the animals. they also built a fence three meters high. it should stop dangerous animals including 300 crocodiles from escaping into surrounding neighborhoods. usually this is the highlight of the safari world where visitors feed giraffes, but now it is a lake. water comes in as far as the eye

can see. the park has been closed since the 1st of november. but the coast is about $100,000 a day. some animals are stranded by the water in places it's up to 1 1/2 meters deep. all 120 giraffes are trapped. a giraffe can eat 20 kilograms of feed a day. together they need a daily supply of about 3 tons. their handlers wade or even swim through the dirty water to bring them their food. >> we are not expecting, you know, the water to go down that fast. we think that, you know, it's difficult to open within november, but we're hoping that, you know, the situation will be better. come december, because it's the

high season. >> reporter: more than three months have passed since the flood crisis began, and still, nobodynows when the suffering will end. nhk world, bangkok. and that wraps our bulletin in bangkok. changing tunes now. let's look at the latest in sports with ahito morita. welcome into the sports report. i'm here with the latest on sports. in figure skating the nhk trophy is the fourth event of the international skating union's grand prix series. the competition took place up north where ice is right at home. in the men's singles takahasi

scored a personal best in the short program but he couldn't quite pull off a quadruple jump in the opening of the free-skating. other than that, he turned in a solid performance to win the tournament for a fourth time. he's qualified for the grand prix final as one of the top six skaters. in women's singles suzuki came out on top in the short program. some unsuccessful jumps made her settle for second in the free-skating but overall she edged out vancouver olympics silver medalist to win her first nhk title. like her, she also qualified for the grand prix final. in olympics the modern pentathlon is one of the official events that includes equestrian art, fencing, swimming, shooting and running. that's a lot of territory to cover, but people have been doing it at olympics since the

sto stockholm games in 1912. this time two japanese women have qualified. as the first two women from this country to make the cut, they were out to prove themselves at the all-japan championships in october. she's been an athlete for 10 of her 20 years. she's a year old and member of japan's self-defense force. they qualified for the battle for the right to be known as number one. >> translator: she's my rival. i can't ignore her. >> translator: i never, ever want to be defeated by her. that's absolutely the way i feel. >> the two-day event took place near tokyo. the first element was equestrian art. the athletes need to clear 12 hurdles within the looted time. she went first on a white horse. a perfect performance put her under pressure.

yamanaka handled it with poise. after the first event, the two were even. next was fencing. a one-game match consists of 30 rounds. she set herself apart in this event. she won 25 and lost only 5. jama jama jamanaka on the other hand lost 19 and won 11. next, 200-meter swimming. again tukoso took the lead. the rest of the competition involved three kilometers of running and shooting. yamanaka thought this could be her chance to catch up.

during the running, athletes have three rounds of shooting. they have to stay on the sight for 70 seconds or until they hit five targets. in her first shooting she got the target without difficulty. jama jamanaka was trying to make up nearly two minutes. then she closes in with a characteristically speedy performance. in a second and third round, she felt the pressure and lost time by missing the targets several times. >> translator: i couldn't perform at my best in the shooting. i felt uneasy about yamanaka catching up. in the last 1 kilometer, the gap

had been narrowed to a minute or so. she held on to win for the championship. yamanaka finished about 40 seconds behind. >> translator: i did my best. i'm happy with my finishing time. >> translator: she's a good rival for me. i'll practice harder so that i can give my best performance in london. >> it was a spirited performance by both ladies and most likely a sample of what's to come in london. >> good luck to both ladies, and that's all for sports. tokyo residents are experiencing cooler weather this tuesday morning. let's see what's in the forecast and other countries with saki

ochi. welcome to your weather update. we're looking at the weather across asia first off. in the southeast we see this active cloud forming over the philippines, and there's a low we're keeping an eye on. it remains over the southern end of the philippines. it has been bringing hefty falls over the past couple of days. in the past 24 hours areas have reported 100, 150 millimeters of rainfall. we're expecting it to stay wet. isolated areas looking at the risk of more rainfall, so you want to watch out for flooding risks as well as landslides. areas like taiwan and over towards vietnam picking up on showers as well. so rainfall amounts are starting to add up here, too. as we look towards the north, china is largely dry again today. there is more precipitation redeveloping in inland areas, and that may include snowfall but nothing too major here. we have winter precipitation

moving in towards japan today looking wet for northern sections, and we are looking at snowfall that's been impacting the hokido area since last night. that continues today and that snowfall is spreading across the area as we head into the afternoon evening hours. temperatures are on the low side today, reflecting in the forecasts. highs in single digit it is even in towards sevndai. as we look further south, too, still in the upper teens for the rest of the region, but that will be changing in the next couple of days. we're looking at cooler weather to come on and across japan, and it will finally start feel like the beginning of winter. elsewhere across the station, we're looking at highs expected up to 12 in seoul and 13 in beijing. here, too, quite cool. in the south, much warmer picture. 32 degrees expected in manila.

over towards the americas, long line of clouds is forming over the eastern end of the united states. we've got rain bands starting to form under this cold front here, and that could include some outbreaks of severe weather. so areas in the deep south, parts of the lower midwest, you want to watch out for stronger thundershowers. along the u.s.-canadian border here, we're looking at scattered precipitation moving on on through, and that will include light snowfall for those upper elevations. tuesday's highs look like this. remaining at 1 in winnipeg, 15 degrees in chicago, and then 13 in toronto, getting up to 18. so still quite mild for new york. lastly, a look at europe here. a lot of activity is going to be ystem over the iberian peninsula starting to move a little more towards the east. as it approaches the pyrenees here, the mountainside, we may see stronger rainfall develop so you want to watch out for that. otherwise a fairly dry picture for the rest of continental

europe and the scandinavia peninsula and norway will continue to see cold rain and a little bit of snow. highs look like this. a lot of single digits over towardthe east. 3 in kiev and 4 in warsaw. that's a look at weather for now. up next is your three-day outlook.

on our lead story this hour, japan is planning to strengthen measures against terror attacks on nuclear power plants. a government panel met on monday to discuss threats. they had securing emergency power sources and seawater pumps used to cool reactors. the panel called on utilities to increase the number of police and to stock up on protective clothing at plants in order to step up security. it also says computer system controlling nuclear plants should be separate from outside networks on to protect them from cyber attacks. the chief cabinet secretary told the panel that the crisis at the fukushima plant could have been triggered by terrorist atax, not just by natural disasters. this wraps up this edition of "newsline."

thanks for joining us.