hello there. glad you could join us on this edition of "newsline" on wednesday, october 13th, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. final preparations are under way to rescue 33 chilean miners trapped 700 meters underground for more than two months. the president of chile told reporters on tuesday evening that the rescue operation will begin by 8:00 p.m. local time or 23 hours utc. he said the rescue work that demanded many sacrifices is about to end happily and families will be able to hug

their loved ones before the sunrise. the miners will be brought to the surface one by one in a specially made capsule. only 54 centimeters de, about the depth of their shoulders. the device includes an oxygen supply and telephone. it will take 15 to 20 minutes for the capsule to travel to the surface including turn-around time it is expected to take about two days to bring up all the miners. because this is an unprecedented operation the rescuers must be prepared for problems. families and journalists are waiting for the men at the makeshift camp hope which has taken on a festive atmosphere as the rescue comes closer. now let's take a look at what has happened since the chilean mine collapsed in august. 17 days after the accident occurred, the miners were discovered alive. >> on august 22nd the miners sent a note to the surface tied to a drill used by rescuers. it said everyone was alive and

well. the whole nation rejoiced at the news because the worst had been feared. the emergency shelter where the miners safely evacuated to is located 700 meters under ground. although it has a ventilation hole, the temperature is around 35 degrees celsius and humidity is extremely high. it was initially believed that the rescue effort would take about four months to complete. the chilean government initially drilled a narrow shaft to deliver oxygen, water, and food to the miners. a video phone was also installed so that the trapped workers could talk with their families on the surface. three rescue shafts were drilled simultaneously using large oil well equipment. the rescue team has also developed a special capsule to bring the miners up to the surface one by one. it was named phoenix in the hope of a successful rescue. on september 17th, phase one of the rescue plan was completed when a 30 centimeter wide shaft

reached a tunnel connected to the shelter. the next day was chile's 200th anniversary of independence from spanish rule. the trapped miners and their relatives were able to celebrate the anniversary together. on saturday, the initial 30 centimeter shaft was successfully widened to 70 centimeters. >> all right. now the rescue operation to lift each miner up one by one to the surface is expected to start soon. we will keep you updated on the developments. do stay with us. in other news, china is expected to be the world's largest auto market for the second year in a row. the china association of automobile manufacturers said on tuesday that about 1.56 million new cars were sold in september, up almost 17% from a year ago. monthly sales for new vehicles in china exceeded 1 million for the 19th month in a row.

more than 13 million units were sold between january and september. sales lost steam earlier this year after the government reduced tax breaks for buyers of compact cars. the demand recovered after subsidies for fuel-efficient models were introduced in june. industry officials predict that annual sales will reach 17 million, far larger than last year's 13.64 million when china overtook the united states as the world's top auto market. now, china has once again accused the international community of using the nobel peace prize to call for change in the country. last friday jailed chinese activist liu xiaobo won this year's nobel peace prize. china's foreign ministry spokesperson said giving the prize to an imprisoned man shows disrespect for china's judicial system. >> translator: if some people are seeking to change china's

political system, and block the path of the chinese people in this way, they are missing the point. >> ma defended the chinese government's decision to unilaterally cancel meetings with the norwegian go liu xia has been under house arrest in beijing since last week's announcement and he said he didn't know anything about it. with japan/china relations strained by last month's maritime collisions in the east china sea, foreign minister seiji maehara says he cannot predict whether the leaders of the two countries will meet on the sidelines of an international conference in vietnam later this month. he told reporters on tuesday that japan must stand its ground over the collisions close to

japan's islanders also claimed by china and taiwan. he said there is no territorial dispute in the east china sea and japan needs to effectively control the senkaku islands as they are inherently japanese territory. he spoke of the likelihood of naoto kan meeting the chinese wen jiabao during the summit in vietnam. >> meanwhile, japan's chief cabinet secretary said on tuesday that talks between the two countries' leaders is possible.

>> japan's trade and industry minister says some rare earth metal imports from china have resumed but they're still far from normal. the shipments had virtually stopped after the diplomatic dispute between tokyo and beijing. speaking to reporters on tuesday, it was hinted that japan may send officials to china if exports of rare metals remain stalled. >> translator: if we cannot see any improvement on shipments, we may take some form of action around next week to ask china to improve the situation. >> defense ministers from the ten-member asean plus eight countries including japan and the united states have expressed concern over territorial disputes in the south china sea.

the meeting is the first ever regional security conference held in vietnam's capital hanoi on tuesday. vietnam's defense minister told reporters after the conference that japan, the u.s., and many asean countries expressed unease over china's growing presence in the south china sea, which has resulted in territorial disputes with vietnam and the philippines. japan's senior vice minister of defense called for efforts to address china's actions in the east china sea referring to last month's japan/china boat collisions. >> china argued that multilateral talks cannot

resolve everything and reiterated its position that territorial issues should be discussed bilaterally. public support for the cabinet of japan's prime minister has plunged sharply to 48%. a diplomatic issue involving china and an internal struggle within the ruling democratic party both had an impact on naoto kan's popularity. compared to the previous survey the approval rating for the prime minister's cabinet fell 17 points. at the same time the disapproval rating rose 14 points to 35%. one reason was the way japan handled the detention of the chinese trawler captain. his ship collided last month with japan coast guard ships in japanese territorial waters in the east china sea. 68% of those surveyed said the decision to release the captain

was inappropriate. 73% also disapproved of kan's explanation that the captain's release was the result of a decision by prosecutors and that he didn't play a role. respondents to the poll were also asked about the decision by a japanese prosecution inquest panel to indict the party's powerful member ichiro ozawa. 61% agreed with the decision. 79% also think ozawa needs to appear before the diet to explain his connection to political funding scandal. 9% of those surveyed don't feel an explanation is necessary. when it comes to party support, the democratic party appears to be losing ground. 29.6% said they backed the dpj, down almost 7 points from the previous survey. among opposition parties, 21.5% said they support the liberal democratic party. 2.6% backed new komeito and support for your party was at

4.2 points. earlier nhk world's senior political reporter gave us some insight on this survey. >> the survey shows many japanese people are disappointed with the way kan handled the chinese trawler captain arrest and release issue. >> that's right. well, the government could have just released him. i mean, deported him just like former governments have done, but kan chose to hold the captain accountable under japanese law. then all of a sudden his government released him, so many japanese see this as a a flip flop and are unhappy with kan for caving in to chinese pressure. >> there are other issues at home that led to the sudden drop in kan's popularity, too, right? >> right. many japanese also feel that kan is not taking a positive stance on clean politician. former dpj secretary general ichiro ozawa is to be indicted over a political funding scandal

and there is a demand that he testify before the diet over the issue. but kan is leaving it up to ozawa to make the decision. the prime minister appears to be wary of the powerful politician. ozawa recently challenged kan for the leadership of the ruling democratic party. he still has the biggest faction in the dpj. >> then what could happen to kan's administration from here? >> well, the dpj led coalition government does not have a majority so it cannot pass any bills in the upper house without help of the opposition parties. and next march is the deadline for fiscal 2011 budget bills to be enacted. if kan cannot get the wheels of government turning, he could be forced to resign or hold an election. to avoid that the prime minister is trying to make a partial

coalition with one of the parties, new komeito. but the party says its help all depends on kan's popularity. in other words, if kan remains unpopular, his government will be cornered. >> if popularity is the key to kan's survival, how can he regain that? >> domestically the prime minister must make araceful decision on how to handle the ozawa issue. he needs to clean the dpj's muddy image. some even want kan to recommend that ozawa leave the party. on diplomacy, kan has to make progress on japan/china relations. china is backing off from its hard line stance and kan is trying to repair ties with the country but he has to be aware of showing any subservience to china. that is a difficult balance for anyone to achieve, let alone a

prime minister who has only been in the job for just four months. on the other hand, kan has to find ways to make the japan/u.s. alliance firmer by november when u.s. president barack obama will visit japan. he is expected to make progress on the relocation of a u.s. air base in okinawa despite local opposition. prime minister kan must not forget that his government was blind sided by china's decision to seize the opportunity to take an aggressive action against japan, aggressive stance against japan just when kan and his people were preoccupied with internal party affairs and the japan/u.s. alliance looked pulled apart by the debate over the relocation issue. >> thanks.

representatives from all over the world are in japan for an international conference on biodiversity. the meeting is being held in nagoya along with discussing environmental policy some participants will be visiting a rural japanese district where people use a traditional and ecologically sound method to keep water clean. nhk world's reporter takes us there. >> reporter: this water is flowing from 20 meters underground. residents in shiga prefecture have been using spring water in many aspects of their lives for hundreds of years. this shop has used the water since it opened 110 years ago. >> translator: tofu made with spring water retains the flavor of spring beans. >> reporter: the district is

located on the shores of japan's largest lake. the lake has given life to a wide range of plants and animals for 4 million years. the lake has more than 60 native species. but in the latter part of the 20th century, waste water containing detergents and cooking oil started to have an impact on the lake. that, along with shore line development and the arrival of alien species, damaged the lake's inhabitants. about 30 years ago 5,000 tons of fish were caught in the lake. today the catch has plunged to one-quarter of that. >> translator: domestic waste water is flowing into the lake and damaging its ecosystem.

people need to reduce household waste water. >> reporter: he says people need to be aware of the entire water cycle and that means learning from traditional practices. i visited a family that uses a centuries-old purification method. the method is a water cycle system that literally translates to river side. they do their dishes here every day without the use of synthetic detergents. they throw their leftovers into this basin. now carp play a key role. they help break down the food waste so it doesn't make it into lake biwa. >> translator: the fish are like family members, cleaning up the

river. >> reporter: on this day more than 40 elementary school children came from a nearby city to learn how residents use the roughly 100 systems. while residents volunteer to be a guide for the students, he hopes the children, who are accustomed to tap water, will learn the importance of the water cycle. at the end of their school trip, the children played in the river. it's not something they can do in the rivers that run through their cities. they seemed to have learned first hand how people, animals, and plants rely on clean water. >> translator: there is a river near my home, but it's dirty. i want to come back here.

>> when we grew up, we were told there is a god of water in this neighborhood and not to make the water dirty. i hope future generations will continue to protect the water of life. it's our treasure. >> reporter: using the tradition to keep water clean might be a small solution but seeing it in practice can help people realize that reducing their impact on the environment can help protect by diversity. >> along with the visit, the top ten participants will travel to other parts of central japan to see natural habitats and the efforts made to preserve them. some of the stops include the wetlands near nagoya and the island where endangered crested

ibises are protected. and now let's take a look at the market figures.

hi there and welcome to your world weather update. getting a look at east asia first, another cloudy day, a lot of gray skies across the country. there will likely be patchy showers also popping up here and there throughout the day. over toward the peninsula a little rain showing up along the coast line but that will be

about it. you'll stay clear all the way back through a lot of northern china today. central sections of china will continue to see rainfall rather and it will be pretty wet once again right along the yangtsee river valley continue to see a lot more moisture develop over the course of today. along areas along the south china sea still looking at a lot more wet weather headed your way. nothing too severe but definitely still pretty persistent wet weather for you. not good news as the ground is already quite saturated here. for the philippines, as well, covered under plenty of moisture and there will likely be more over the next few days. we are looking at a low pressure system. right now out towards the seas over here but it could start organizing and getting closer to the islands and producing heavy rains and possibly stronger winds. for highs on wednesday looking at 24 in tokyo. pretty balmy again today. 21 for shanghai. getting up to 31 in hong kong.

32 degrees for bangkok. now over toward the americas and we are keeping an eye on our hurricane here, hurricane paula is now a category 2 hurricane with winds as much as 160 kilometers per hour, so powerful winds. it's not a large system, per se, but definitely will be impacting areas in the caribbean. yucatan peninsula right now feeling some of the brunt of the strong winds and then the western sections of cuba will soon start to feel the effect as well as that storm system veers in towards the country. not only the winds of course but there is that rain to contend with, 100, 150 millimeters are going to be possible in areas across the yucatan. cuba and even into the florida peninsula and possibly mountain areas in cuba could see more rainfall which will up the risk of landslides as well as flooding. this system is moving into the lower mississippi valley and could trigger some stormy

weather and that is set to move eastward up towards the midwest and through ontario here, but nothing too severe. just some light showers, nice and clear for central western sections for the most part. british columbia here is going to be the exception right along the coast especially. still looking at some heavy rain spots developing tonight. as for highs on wednesday, 15 in winnipeg. 19 for chicago. and then 18 degrees in new york, over all getting chilly along the north here. parts of the midwest will see chilly conditions early in the morning. watch for the icy roads. in europe we still have the long frontal boundary over the mediterranean. a lot of activity going on here. winds, rain, as well as thunderstorms will impact the areas along the balkan peninsula and all the way in toward eastern spain. the northern areas, too, here, scandinavian peninsula and down through western russia still looking at windy and wet weather. temperatures are dropping here

so that rain could easily turn into sleet or snow ove the evening hours. stockholm high on wednesday at 8 degrees and then we're looking at only 3 for moscow, possibly some sleet for you in the mix. all right. now here is your three-day outlook.

our top story this hour, final preparations are under way to rescue 33 chilean miners trapped at 700 meters under ground for more than two months. chilean mine minister lawrence golborne said the operation will start within two hours. the chilean president said the rescue work that demanded many sacrifices is about to end happily and families will be

able to hug their loved ones before the sunrise. the miners will be brought to the surface one by one in a specially made capsule. only 54 centimeters wide, about the width of their shoulders. the device includes an oxygen supply and a telephone. it will take 15 to 20 minutes for the capsule to travel to the surface, including turn-around time it's expected to take about two days to bring up all the miners. because this is an unprecedented operation the rescuers must be prepared for problems. families and journalists are waiting for the men at the makeshift camp hope which has taken on a festive atmosphere as the rescue comes closer. and of course we will keep you up to date on the developments of this story. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your update at the top of the next update at the top of the next hour. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com