hello there. welcome to this edition of "newsline." it's thursday, october 14th in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. now we're of course following the story in chile,

miner richard vili havvillaroel become the 28th miner rescued. the operation was progressing faster than expected. they hope to rescue all the miners during the night. at a nearby camp where the men's relatives are standing by shouts of joy have erupted with each rescue. people were seen hugging and crying. the men were taken to a hospital in copiapo for a full health checkup. at first it took about an hour to rescue each one but the pace has quickened. the chilean government says the rescued man and those still underground have no major health problems. now we're currently looking at of course the live footage coming out of san jose mine where 33 miners were trapped 700 meters underground for over two months. it's currently 8:00 p.m. wednesday night in copiapo, chile. 28 miners have so far been rescued. there are five more to go exactly. we're awaiting the rescue of the

29th miner. the fenix capsule just entered the tunnel to pick up that 29th miner, the 29th person to be lifted to the ground will be juan carlos aguilar who is 49 years old. four rescue officials are underground and they will stay there until the last miner has been lifted to safety. the operation started a little after 11:00 p.m. tuesday local time, which means the rescue crew has been working through the night to make sure that each and every one of the trapped miners come to the surface. originally it was taking about an hour to lift one person, but currently the pace has become faster. it's taking about 30 to 48 minutes per person, so in the next half hour, we can expect the 29th miner, juan carlos aguilar, to be lifted to the surface. we can assume that the operation is going smoothly and faster

than originally planned. officials have been taking every precaution to make sure the rescue is done safely. family and friends of the remaining five miners are anxiously waiting for their loved ones at camp hope as each miner has been surfacing their family and friends have been cheering, hugging and crying. relieved to see their loved ones safe. currently we're looking at live footage of the mine underground. the 29th miner, i believe, has stepped into the capsule and is currently being lifted through the tunnel. in the next several minutes we should be seeing him safely aboveground. all right, well, now let's take a look back at the beginning of the rescue operation that chile's president is calling a miracle. at 11:19 local time on tuesday

6 day itses after the mine caved in, chilean president sebastian pinera wished the rescue worker, good luck. >> a steel capsule carried the technical expert down into the mine chamber. family members who have been counting down the final hours watched the process on a live video feed. and there's the president there now. the live hookup showed every second of the capsule's descent. there was cheering when it reached the underground chamber. [ cheers and applause ] then 50 minutes after the operation began, another cheer. the first miner had reached the

surface. florencio avalos is 31 years old. >> translator: my nephew is strong, and i knew he'd be okay. i'm so happy. i'm proud of his perseverance. >> the second man up, mario sepulveda, emerged from the capsule about an hour later. he handed out rocks from the underground shelter as souvenirs. despite the late hour, many chilean citizens stayed up to watch the rescue drama on tv. >> translator: i feel like the 33 miners are my sons. i was so worried about them. >> and the unprecedented rescue operations still under way. we are following it closely and

will bring you more details again shortly. now in other news, the united states and the philippines have begun joint naval drills off the philippine islands apparently to counter china's growing presence in regional waters. 4,000 u.s. and philippine naval personnel are taking part in the exercises which began on wednesday at several locations, including subic in central luzon. at a ceremony in subic, a u.s. navy representative said that the united states remains deeply engaged in the philippines' defense. >> the u.s. and philippines are allies. our alliance is underpinned by a deep and abiding u.s. interest in the freedom and security of the republic of the philippines. >> six u.s. vessels including amphibious craft and marine corps personnel from the bases here in japan have been sent to subic. the two navies will practice landing operations and how to handle suspicious vessels through october 22nd.

23 former senior members of china's communist party have urged the government to recognize the people's right to freedom of speech. their call came in an open letter just days after jailed pro-democracy activist liu xiaobo was awarded the nobel peace prize. the message to the national people's congress was posted on the internet on monday. it criticizes the communist party government for restricting expression, even though the country's constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the press. those calling for freedom of speech include former deputy head of the party's organization department, former editor and chief of the people's daily newspaper hu jivei is also on the list. their proposals include giving the media independent status and abolishing internet censorship. the moves will allow citizens to post information and express opinions freely.

the open letter and copies of it are being deleted from internet sites as soon as they are posted. japan's chief cabinet secretary yoshito sengoku has criticized china's reaction to liu's nobel peace prize victory. sengoku added it would be better for china not to be regarded as deviating from human rights and other issues. a program to invite chinese military officials to japan has been canceled, after the chinese side asked the host to postpone the plan scheduled for later this month. the nippon foundation hosted the program said it coeyed its decision to cancel the program to the chinese side on wednesday. the foundation said the chinese

military asked for the postponement due to difficulties in adjusting its schedule. the foundation has sponsored the annual exchange of visits between japan's self-defense forces and china's people's liberation army since 2001 in a private framework. under the program for this year, sdf officials visited china in june and chinese army officials had been planning to call on japan from october 20th. china has already asked japan to defer a port call by the maritime self-defense forces training squadron. the vessels were scheduled to visit qingdao on friday. japan's next generation high speed train is expected to take an almost straight route between tokyo and the commercial hub of nagoya. central japan railway company plans to begin operating the magnetically leviated or maglev train between the two cities in

2027. an advisory panel had been studying three possible routes. japan railway backs an almost straight route in a tunnel beneath the alps. the panel has now decided to submit a report next week citing the almost straight route linking tokyo and nagoya in 40 minutes as the most economically efficient. the fastest conventional train now in service links the two cities in two hours. now the route, once the route is decided the panel will shift its focus to construction safety and environment impact assessment. now here in japan, the official job hunting season for those who graduate from university in the spring of 2012 has started. a job fair in tokyo on wednesday attracted about 1,000 foreign students. the overseas students attending the fair were greeted as potential new recruits by

representatives of 27 companies such as trading firms and pharmaceutical kers. at an information equipment company's booth, two students from china and uzbekistan will, who will join the firm next year helped student job seekers. the fair's organizer says there's a growing trend among employers to hire excellent students, regardless of their nationality. amid the current severe employment situation, the job hunt among university juniors as well as students from overseas is expected to be fierce.

now it's currently about 8:10 p.m. wednesday in copiapo, chile. miner richard villaroel has become the 28th man to be rescued in copiapo, chile. chilean mining minister laurence golborne said the operation was progressing faster than expected. currently we're looking at a live feed coming out of the mine. it seems that the 29th miner has been rescued. is that the 29th miner? the 29th miner has been rescued. these are live footage, live pictures coming out of copiapo, chile, san jose mine. i believe the 29th miner has been rescued. his name is juan carlos aguilar, 49 years old. this rescue operation is progressing much faster than expected. originally it was taking about one hour to lift one miner to the surface, but currently

things are going much faster, much quicker. about 30 to 40 minutes per person. so 29 miners have been lifted, that leaves us with four more miners. and also of course, there are four rescue officials underground and they will stay there until the last miner has been lifted to safety. the operation started a little after 11:00 p.m. tuesday local time which means the rescue crew has been working through the night to make sure that each and every one of the trapped miners come to the surface. and we're looking at live footage coming out of san jose mine near copiapo, chile. family members are waiting for the next miner to surface. and here we are. cheers, applause, smiles of course, and a president, chilean president sebastian pinera also there clapping. he has been also with the rescue

miners, waiting all night, the rescue or the rescue crew rather and the families, waiting throughout the night for every miner to be lifted to safety. and here is the fenix capsule, about to be opened. and i believe this is the 29th miner. i announced it a little bit prematurely. 29th miner to be lifted, juan carlos a guguilar, 49 years olde is being lifted to safety where his family and friends are waiting to see him, and there we go, the smiles, the smiles, and the collapse, the cheer. the president, sebastian pinera on the right, clapping and smiling as well. now, at a nearby camp where the men's relatives are standing by, there is of course four more

miners underground and those, those miners families are still waiting at camp hope. the men, after they've been rescued they've been taken to a hospital in copiapo for a full health checkup. some things don't need explaining. let's just watch the live footage. the family members hugging. hugging the 29th miner to be rescued. >> chi-le! chi-chi-chi-! le-le-le! los mineros de chile! a long hug, of course, that's been over two months. the miners had been underground 700 meters underground for over two months. great story here developing, and we will of course keep you up to date as details come in. now in other news lighting

test has been conducted at tokyo's sky tree. the new landmark is nowearly 490 meters tall. the structure is scheduled to open in spring 2012 when it will reach 634 meters into the sky, making it the world's tallest tv tower. the test was carried out wednesday night to check lighting equipment. about 00 bulbs will be used to illuminate the tower in blue and purple on all the national days. engineers turned on 51 light eimmediating diode bulbs to check the color and brightness of the lights. spec taptotators gathered taki o photos. >> translator: i enjoyed the illumination. >> translator: the purple light was beautiful.

minamata disease was the result of one of japan's tragic post-war environmental disasters, first identified in 1956, the illness was caused by mercury tainted waste from a chemical factory in minamata city, kumamoto prefecture. many of the surviving patients have never received compensation, despite a series of legal settlements. the disease was named after the southwestern city where it was first discovered. the illness was caused by mercury tainted water discharged from a chemical factory into minamata bay. an estimated 30,000 people suffered from severe neurological disorders after eating fish and shellfish caught inner inby waters. after several attempts at implementing adequate relief measures the government announced another program late last year, in may this year, then prime minister yukio hatoyama made an apology for the government's failure to stop the spread of the pollution. to this day, more than 17,000

sufferers have applied for the compensation. some of them started to receive ben fiefit this is month. others had their applications rejected on grounds they did not qualify, despite having a long history of health problems. nhk world's kengo suzuki has more. >> reporter: kiyomitsu omaru was born in a family of fisherman. he has been suffering most of his life from symptoms his doctors say is associated with mercury poisoning. he has numbness in his fingers, but he was never officially recognized as a minamata patient. >> translator: my hand begins to feel numb when i grasp something. then the other hand starts to go numb. >> reporter: omaru is entitled to his long awaited compensation. he is relieved but has mixed

feelings. he won't feel completely satisfied until all sufferers have passed their screening. >> translator: i guess most residents in this town have eaten locally caught fish. i wonder so many applications are being turned down. >> reporter: yoshiharu himoda wasn't as lucky as omaru. >> translator: i opened the letter, expecting i had qualified this time. but i was disappointed to find i was rejected again.

>> reporter: shimoda had eaten locally caught fish since his childhood. he's had health issues since in his 30s. his condition got worse 15 years ago. thinking he could be suffering from minamata disease,' plied for support under an earlier government program to help cover his medical bills, and was rejected. as he ages, shimoda's hands cramp up more frequently. so do his legs, every time he walks. >> translator: i don't know why the government has screened me out again. i want a clear explanation. >> no reasons are given to them when they are refused certification. the ministry of the environment does not specify how many applications have been rejected.

and now let's take a look at the market figures. hi there. welcome to your world weather update. we're taking a look first at south america here and all eyes have been on chile, of course, as the rescue operations do

continue. we are still looking like the weather is cooperating as work continues here, going on for 24 hours now already. copiapo once again next 24 hours showing plenty of clear skies, no chance of rain so far. forecast also calling for plenty more sunshine on thursday, highs reaching 28 degrees, a little bit on the warm side, and then it does drop quite a bit as we head into the evening hours, coming down to 7 degrees. now over towards east asia, we are keeping an eye on the south pacific, you can see at the bottom of our screen here a cluster of clouds, this will be tropical storm imaehe that joined us and going to be on an intensifying course over the next few days. we'll watch as it heads in a westerly direction, likely getting very close to the philippines, so as we head on to the later part of this week, you could see a little bit more stormy weather develop across the country. winds could start picking up for you as well. now, a very wet area continues

to be the south china sea, indo china peninsula area. hainan islands looking at more showers today, more of that rainfall really keeps on accumulating in this region. now, central china, at least, will see the rain ease off as we head into later on today, looking a lot drier by friday morning so that at least is good news. meanwhile, japan will see a lot more cloudy weather today, chances of showers here and there, and then all come friday a little bit more significant amounts of rainfall will move in towards the north. highs on thursday shaping up to be 23 degrees in tokyo, a little bit cooler than yesterday but still on the warm side. 23 also in shanghai, 27 for taipei, and then getting up to 30 degrees in manila with officially thundershowers. over towards the americas, and we do still have our hurricane with us, hurricane paula has weakened slightly. it's now a category 1 storm system, but packing winds of 140 kimeters per hour, gusts are going to be much stronger, so

these are damaging winds that could still affect parts of western cuba as it works its way in towards the country, it will likely weaken a lot more quickly once it makes landfall, but either way, there is the chance of very destructive winds, also plenty of high waves are going to be possible, and then there is that rain to tend with. the bulk of the heavy rain will be starting to impact cuba in the next 24 hours. luckily it will start leaving the yucatan peninsula so a little bit more sunshine should be headed your way. as for the united states, largely settled and clear thanks to this area of high pressure, really dominating factor in terms of weather here today. however, we do have this low that's been working its way up and along the mississippi valley. looks like that will produce a couple showers today, or rather tonight across the midwest, and then head in towards the mid-atlantic region. a little bit of rain will move through central canada, but that should be just about it, largely settled for those of you in central canada as well.

now british columbia will remain the exception, still looking at a lot more moisture impacting coastal areas. highs on thursday, coming up to 28 in l.a. warming up to 25 in denver during the daytime, and definitely showing signs of cooling off in the northeast, 16 in d.c., and atlanta, too, will see highs remain at 22. all right, that's it for me just now. here is your three-day outlook.

all right and we're still following the story in chile, almost 8:30 p.m. in copiapo, chile. we are currently seeing the fenix capsule, it is now underground, it has just reached the shelter, where the 33 miners have been waiting. the 30th miner will be lifted to safety soon, and now we are looking at footage coming up from aboveground. the 29th miner, juan carlos aguilar has been brought to the surface just minutes ago, just four more men are waiting to be rescued underground. juan carlos aguilar appeared from the capsule, reuniting with his loved ones and colleagues and now we're looking at the

picture underground. the 30th miner to be rescued, is he getting ready to enter the capsule, the fenix capsule. and there he goes. he's in the capsule. all right. so the 30th man to go up in the fenix capsule, painted red, blue and white, representing the colors of the chilean flag. 29 miners have so far been rescued. four more to go. we're waiting the rescue of the 30th miner. and the capsule door has been closed. four rescue workers underground helping to make sure that each miner is lifted to safety. they will stay there until the last miner has surfaced. more cheers as the 30th miner is

lifted. and this operation is going much quicker than originally planned. originally it took about one hour per person and here we go, the 30th miner being lifted to safety, it's taking about 15 to 20 minutes to lift one person to the surface. family members waiting with big smiles, of course. and we will keep you updated as the details come in.