-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> hello. glad you could join us on this edition of "newsline." it's friday, october 8 in tokyo. the u.s. dollar is trade ing in the lower 82 yen range in new york on thursday. this comes after it fell to a new 15-year low against the yen. the dollar fell to 82.11 yen at one point earlier in the day in new york on speculation that u.s. authorities may implement further monetary easing. heavy selling of the dollar for the yen is also being fueled by expectations that weaker than excted u.s. employment data may be released on friday. the european central bank

has decided to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low 1% for the 17th straight month. the bank made the decision for the 16-nation euro-zone during a board meeting in frankfurt, germany, on thursday. the ecb apparently hopes the move will prop up the region's economy amid lingering concerns over the prospects for a global recovery. the bank of england also decided on thursday to hold its own rates steady at 0.5%. on tuesday, the bank of japan decided to reinstate a virtual 0% interest rate policy. the u.s. federal reserve is also likely to take additional monetary-easing measures next month. japanese prime minister naoto kan says his government will continue to watch the foreign exchange markets and take action, if necessary, to prevent the yen from rising. an take action, if necessary, to prevent the yen from rising. at a lower house session on thursday, opposition leaders criticized the government for how it's handled the yen's appreciation.

>> translator: why did the government wait until the dollar fell to 82 yen before it intervened? if the government had done something earlier, it would have been more effective. >> translator: the government intervened with the aim of preventing excessive fluctuations in the foreign exchange market. we will remain vigilant and take decisive measures once again, if necessary. >> prime minister kan also called on opposition parties to agree to hold consultations with the government to formulate policies on pension, health care, and social security.

the vietnamese government revealed on wednesday that china had captured a vietnamese fishing boat last month and the nine crew members aretill i custody. now, the islands are claimed by china, vietnam, and taiwan. the incident has made vietnam even more vigilant against china's growing influence in asia. we have more. vietnamese newspapers have been covering this story every day since they revealed the incident. the incident occurred as china's relations with japan soured after a chinese fishing boat collided with ships in japanese waters near the islands.

it's becoming a source of concern for all members of asean, the southeast asia nations. the united states has shown concerns about it. on september 24 president barack obama excessed intentions to reinforce relations with asean. >> this represents asean's growing importance and the cooperation between us and the united states. as a pacific nation the united states has an enormous stake in the people and the future of asia. >> a joint statement was issued. it said they reaffirmed the importance of regional peace and the peaceful settlement of dispute. it was their message to china.

chinese premier surprised japan, asean countries and the u.s. when he made the following remarks at the u.n. general assembly in new york on september 23rd. >> translator: china will never compromise on the sovereignty and maintenance of territories. >> amid concerns over china's military expansion in the south china sea, the u.s. sent a carrier. the u.s. and vietnam has not had any notable military exchanges since the vietnam war. the u.s. also deployed ilts most advance unmanned surveillance planes to guam. the planes can cover the entire south china sea. their deployment is viewed as a way to contain china. in addition to that, they're having a dispute with china over the islands, also in the south

china sea. it is believed that there are-- the seabed. dealing with china has become a challenging diplomatic challenge for china. >> all right. and in other new s news, the mo likely to fuel public mistrust and prosecutors following an earlier case that involved evidence tampering. the osaka district court decide on thursday not to admit 12 documents in the case of a former pr executive. the executive was accused of unlawfully using a postal discount service for people with disabilities. chief judge said prosecutors coerced the suspect by threatening to arrest his son and members of his staff. the judge also said that a

prosecutor violently pounded on a desk during the interrogation. although the defendant did not deny the charge, the judge refused to admit 12 of the prosecutor's records into ef. the investigation triggered an abuse charge against him who is a senior welfare and labor ministry official. he was also the presiding judge in the case. in that hearing the judge rejected the statements of one of his subordinates and said the prosecutor's questioning was inappropriate. muraki was acquitted but a prosecut and h superiors rerresd f tampering with evidence and attempting to cover up their actions. the u.n. refugee agency is calling on iraq. in iraq about 1.5 million people are living away from home seven years after the start of the

2003 iraq war. the unhcr deputy chief in iraq told nhk that less than 10,000 displaced people have returned home per month since january. the number's about half or two-thirds compared to last year. he said that in a unhcr survey of 4,000 displaced people, 44% said they can't go home because the government is unstable. he pointed out that the inability to launch a new government after parliamentary elections in march is causing safety concerns and discouraging people from returning home. >> this situation, tsacuu has created a look of confidence in the refugees and in the idps. >> kurdy said it's important to establish a new administration and provide stable security in the country.

a deported environmental activist says that after his protest boat was damaged in a collision with a japanese whaling vessel, the leader of the anti-whaling group sea shepherd ordered him to scuttle the craft in order to raise public sympathy. peter bethune's high-speed boat, the "ady gil," collided with a japanese research whaler in the antarctic ocean in january. the sea shepherd conservation group insisted that the boat sank due to damage caused by the collision. on thursday, bethune spoke to radio new zealand and said that sea shepherd founder paul watson ordered the ship's sinking to garner public sympathy and then the crew intentionally let water in. he said the boat was definitely salvageable if towed to the nearest port. watson responded in a statement saying that he did not order the sinking and that bethune was the only person in a position to make such a decision. bethune was indicted by the tokyo district court for illegally boarding a japanese research whaler in february and for throwing a bottle of chemicals on deck, causing a

crew member to suffer minor injuries. he was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for five years, and was deported to new zealand in july. the hungarian government says the toxic red sludge spill from an aluminum processing plant in the country has reached the riveran ub which flows through central european nations. the walls of the plant's disposal reservoir broke on monday, spilling a torrent of sludge containing cadmium and other toxic chemicals that swept through villages in western hungary. the sludge has left four people dead and about 100 people injured. troops and police personnel have been spraying neutralizers into rivers to lower the alkaline level of the sludge, but they said on thursday that the ph level of the da newborn about 17

cl kilometers from the river was higher than normal. the government said only small amounts of the sludge have reached the danube so far and concerns about contamination are low. but down stream nations are worried about the contamination. they're testing water quality every three hours. per reviewian writer has won this year's nobel prize for literature. >> the nobel prize in literature for 2010 is awarded the peruvian author mario. >> the nobel committee in stockholm, sweden, made the announcement on thursday. 's a leading novelist in sousht america. his most famous this novembers are the green house, the war of the end of the world or the non-fiction group or bookleters to a young novel list. he's depicted the societies of

latin america. he's also known for his political activities in peru. in 1990 he ran a in the presidential election but was defeated. . finding a way to save species and ecosystems has been the subct of internationals for decades. this week representatives will sit down again for their search for solutions. cop 10 will be held in japan. now we take a look at the focal points. >> reporter: the convention on biological diversity was created during the 1992 realest summit.

it has been ratified by more than 190 countries. this treaty and the u.n. framework convention on climate change are considered the two wheels of the international effort to protect the global environment. one of the focal points of the convention on biological diversity is how to preserve species and ecosystems. today great numbers of species are on the verge of extinction. at least kwun study has shown that before the dinosaurs died off some 65 million years ago only one species became extinct every thousand years, now 40,000 species disappear each year. this board is one of them. it's indigenous to this island. but it's rapidly disappearing

mainly because humans are overharvesting its eggs. as the population on the island increases, so does the demand for these eggs. in any pal a plant called mikania is crowding out weeds that feed rhinoceros. it's believes that humans brought it to deplete soil erosion. in 2002 the countries who signed the convention on biological diversity set a goal to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity lost by 2010. at the cop 10 meeting they will set new goals. the countries are also expected to discuss the adoption of a protocol that establishes international rules on the use of biological resources. biological resources refer to

flora and fauna as well as microbes that may lead to the development of new medicines. government institutions and pharmaceutical countries from developed countries are gathering these kinds of resources in developing countries, but making rules is not easy. developing kcountries are unwilling to offer biological resources for new medicines lesshey can receive part of the profit. developed countries argue that paying excessive amounts of money to secure resources impedes the creation of new drugs. >> nhk world's reporter found out more about the cop ten meeting earlier when he spoke with an expert on biodiversity conservation policies. here's his conversation with the professor of nagoa university. >> as we saw, industrialized untries are sharing resources.

what's your take on this? >> the first element is derivatives. developing countries want to have benefits serving from derivatives but in contrast they're absolutely against this. derivatives are like this. if you develop flowers, plants, insects, you have to pay the share of the benefits to the japanese country. but if you have to pay additional fee to developing countries, it's very bad. japanese countries are very against this. this is the first element. the second element is intro speckive effect. in the past many resources collected from the countries. the countries are against this so they want to apply mutual effect on this initiation.

>> and right now we may be losing as many as 40,000 species every year and the convention's target is to lower the rate significantly by 2010, cl is this year. how do you think we are doing so far? >> yes. we did not achieve 2010 target, but we're having new post-2010 target. i can specify a few elements for this target. first of all scientists are specifying the population. wi are a real population of species. you have seen the rhinoceros. we do not know the correct data about the population. they should be specifying the number of species. the second element should be increasing productivity so that rhinoceroses can survive. one more thing. when we increase that area of

productivity, rhinoceroses can be rehab till tated so we can achieve the po-2010 target. >> looking at the future with all that said, what do you think will be the effective goals for us in terms of preserving biodiversity? >> i can point out a few things. the most important thing is specifying the root causes of biodiversities. you have seen eggs by far mas. so if you specify the real effect of overex-employation, we have the first step. the second step should be creating the alternatives for farmers. farmers ver intended to over export eggs. they can't help doing. so so if you can provide it for incomes, they can stop the exploitation. shall we have a look at a little bit broader views about this? the last thing should be

mainstreaming biodiversity. you know, climate change. >> right. >> but just 20% of the japanese people know that. so if you can mainstreaming biodiversity you can have better concsionandresults. >> so awareness is important. >> yes, absolutely. >> thank you. >> thank you very much indeed. well, throughout the cop 10 meeting, which will be held until the end of this month nhk world will bring you a series of feature stories, interviews, and live reports on the issues. now we take a look at the global weather forecast with sumi sushi. hello there. time now for you world weather update. we're starting to see rain in southern japan and that is going to be making its way across the country this weekend, brushing

against the korean peninsula as well on your friday. meanwhile over toward mongolia it's looking pretty wet here as well and pretty cold, and as the temperatures decline over nighttime that will turn to snow and sleet. much of china, though, from the northeast all the way down into southern areas looking at generally settled conditions, but we are still very much concerned about this tropical depression that continues to really affect the island. it's been raining here for a week now. many streets are flooded. there's been damage to houses and thousands of people are homeless, and we really don't want any more rain, but it looks like that will be the case, especially toward the eastern side of the island. just in the next 24 hours receiving more than 100 millimeters, and as you can see, it's not going be move very much at all over the next couple of days. now we're also keeping a close eye on the bay of ban goal hav widespread rain. the heaviest of rain is going to

be affecting bangladesh. it's going to be very, very vulnerable to flooding and landslid landslides. it will also be producing ample amounts of rain across myanmar and eastern india as well on your friday. very stormy conditions out at sea as well, so do keep that in mind. >> taking a look at your temperatures, we've got 27 degrees in hong kong, another gloomy day with some showers. 28 here. look for brighter spells to return in shanghai. let'head to north america. nomuchas changed. we're still looking at pockets of severe storms breaking out toward the west. mainly we'll be focusing on utah, colorado, and also wyoming today and still looking very wet and windy in western canada as well. now, much of the central and eastern u.s. is going to be dry, calm, and settled, and quite mild as well down in the south. over toward the east, though, northeast, i should say, this very large low pressure system is going to be really affecting

quebec, much of eastern canada with heavy downpours into the weekend. so quite mild here today. washington, d.c., 23 degrees. 28 in atlanta and 30 degrees in houston. taking a look at europe then finely, still looking very, very stormy indeed down in the southeast corner. the system has developed even further and will be impacting turkey with heavy downpour, stronger thunderstorms, and flooding is also a concern here. another area keeping an eye out on is this system over the atlantic. very potent system. mainly stays offshore, but it will be brushing againagainst t siberian. do enjoy the sunshine while it lasts, 25 degrees and mild in paris and 21 degrees in london but lots of rain forecast for madrid and lisbon. here's the extended forecast

now.

taking a look at our top stories, a district court in japan has rejected evidence in a fraud case which was gathered by prosecutor during the interrogation process. the move is likely to fuel public mistrust in prosecutors following an earlier case that involved evidence-tampering. the osaka district court decided on thursday not to admit 12 documents in the case of a former pr executive. the executive was accused of unlawfully using a postal discount service for people with disabiliti. chief judge noble said prosecutors coerced the suspect by threatening to arrest his son

and members of his staff. the judge also said that a prosecutor violently pounded on a desk during the interrogation. although the defendant did not deny the charge the judge refused to admit 12 of the prosecutor's records into evidence. the evidence triggered a postal abuse charge against a man who is a senior welfare and labor ministry official. he was also the presiding judge in muraki's case. in that hearing the judge rejected the statements of one of muraki's subordinates and said the prosecutor's questioning was inappropriate. muraki was acquit and his sue peefr yores were arrested for tampering of evidence and attempting to cover up their actions. the u.n. agency is calling on iraq to establish a new government as soon as possible to promote the return of people displaced in the country due to war and sectarian violence. in iraq, about 1.5 million people are living away from home seven years after the start of

the 2003 iraq war. the unhcr chief in iraq told nhk that less than 10,000 displaced people have returned home per month since january. the number is about half or two-thirds compared to last year. kurdi said in a unhcr survey of 4,000 displaced people, 40% said they can't go home because the government is unstable. he pointed out that tin ability to launch a new government after parliamentary elections in march is causing safety concerns and discouraging people from returning home. >> this situation, this vacuum has created a level of lack of confidence in the refugees and in the idps. >> kurdi said it's important to establish a new administration and provide stable security in the country.

now we wrap up the program with footage from nagasaki city in western japan where a traditional three-day autumn festival has begun. ♪ the festival's main event is a dragon dance in which performers skillfully maneuver a 20-meter dragon around a stage. people from six local communities began this special dance at the shrine thursday morning. the nagasaki festival dates back 376 years. ♪ a group of 22 men acted out a japanese folktale about navigating a legendary boat through rough seas. the boat is designated as a cultural treasure. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm katherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.