hello. welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday, october 23rd. an itaan court has fou sev earthquake experts guilty of manslaughter. they failed to warn of a quake in 2009 that rocked italy. the judge sentenced them to six

years in prison, longer that the prosecutor requested. the experts served on a national commission to assess the likelihood of earthquakes but they didn't foresee a magnitude 6.3 quake that devastated the city. it killed more than 300 people and injured around 1,600. the defendantublished a risk assessment six days before the earthquake. they said it was unlikely a major quake would hit the area in the near future. it convinced some people to stay in their home believing the quake was minor. some of the victims relatives cheered the verdict. >> translator: i think today's verdict was the right sentence. i want to make sure that this kind of tragedy didn't happen again. >> the defendants pleaded not they stressed the prediction was

merely a best guess. >> we will appeal the verdict and prove our innocence. >> lawyers for the defense plan to appeal. > now scientists watched in concern. they said the rulings could convince them to do their job. he said it's difficult to predict seismic activity accurately. spokespersons for the american association for the advancement of science say they are worried the ruling may influence everyone who works in the field. they warn such charges could hinder society add a whole if scientists feel nervous about disclosing the results of their research. u.s. president barack obama and republican challenger mitt romney are warning up for their last debate.

they'll go head to head in florida two weeks before the presidential election. obama and romney will debate foreign policy. they are expected to argue over the nuclear program in iran and the civil war in syria. romney has criticized obama for the killings last month in libya. romney may attack the president for his efforts toward more cooperation with the islamic world. they are also expected to argue over diplacy with china. they're running even in several opinion polls. the conflict in syrian is destabilizing the situation in neighboring countries. clashes in beirut and other parts of the nation have led to the death of one person and wounded dozens of others.

sympathizers have clashed with security forces in central beirut. fighting broke out on sunday and monday in northern lebanon between groups that support and oppose the government. local media reported exchanges of fire involving automatic weapons and motors. the violence was trigged by the killing of a top lebanese official last week. he was known as a leading opponent of the syrian president. his death was seen as a act of retaliation in lebanon. a high ranking sian ficial say president bashar assad welcomes in principal a cease-fire proposal. syria's deputy minister made the remarks on monday with nhk. he met with the united nations

sunday in damascus. he called for a cease-fire between government and opposition forces starting on friday. the first day of the muslim holiday. deputy foreign minister attended the meeting. >> when he raised the issue yesterday in his meeting, the president said we welcome all these ideas but we should discuss them with the relevant parties. two or three days there will be a very clear position by the syrian leadership on this issue. >> he stressed the importance of a commitment by opposition forces to stop the violence. he also criticized saudi arabia and turkey for supporting an-government foes. he cled on t forces to stop armi ining and funding the opposition. egypt's president promised to tackle problems that effect

people's daily lives his first 100 days in office. now that he's passed that milestone egyptians are paying close attention and assessing his performance. we have more from cairo. >> reporter: this website is called morsi meter. it shows the status of the new president's program. it's become the most popular website in egypt. the site was set up by two egyptians. members of the public use the site to evaluate the progress of morsi. the site receives 6,000 to 10,000 hits a day. >> translator: under the previous government no one would have imagined ordinary citizens commenting on what the president was doing. >> reporter: this man is a frequent visitor to the site.

he posted a comment criticizing the president to solve the traffic problems. >> translator: president morsi would be worse. he don't speak out against him we might suffer for another 30 years. >> reporter: president morsi is keenly aware he's being watched. a team of police officers were mobile to ease traffic congestion. they removed stalls set up on the roads by street vendors. the vendors quickly returned. critics on the morsi meter came

swiftly. just as swiftly the muslim brotherhood, the freedom and justice party hit the streets. the groups formed a large part of morsi's power base. they began distributing garbage bins bearing the party's name. >> translator: people criticize us saying we're not doing anything so we decided to put out garbage bins. >> reporter: his group also patrol the street to see that garbage is being collected properly. a phone call to the garbage disposal company was all it took for trash to disappear.

when he begins to defend morsi people quickly voice their frustration. morsi's 100 day in office people said he was performing far below their expectations in all categories except garbage disposal. hope seems to be on the rise. >> translator: when he was in power young people got jobs or got married. now people have begun thinking about how they can make egypt a better country. >> reporter: the morsi meter is making people believe that keeping a close eye on the government will make it more

accountable and that could help the country in the right direction. central bank officials in japan are putting their heads together to consider ways to prop up the economy. what's the story? >> looks like people at the bank of japan are feeling more pressure. this is partly due to government officials trying to come up with measures to prop up the economy because we're learning that bank of japan officials are struggling with whether to ease credit further amid the economic slowdown. the question will be high on their agenda at next tuesday's policy meeting. existing programs are not enough to achieve their goal of 1% inflation by march.

domestic economic activity is on the decline. they agree the slowdown in china and other economies are waying down on exports. other previous policy meeting bank officials decided to boost their asset purchase program to over $1 trillion. the focus now isheth they'll hammer out additional measures. now let's have a look at the markets where u.s. markets ended in the positive after bargain hunting pushed the dow jones and nasdaq higher. to see where stocks are here in japan, we go to ramin who is at the tokyo stock exchange. we have some positive global momentum, but are we seeing the same here this tuesday morning. >> reporter: very good morning. yes, we e. weidee ait of a bounce in the u.s. following the losses

that we saw towards the end of last week. there was a bit of interest there following the earnings support from texas instruments as well as yahoo both of which did pretty well. let's have a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and the topix. both indexes creating 9,059 for the nikkei and 756 for the topix. the iexromalling too much. keep we did see exporters hold their ground add the and the euro were stronger against the yen. in fact, let's go straight to the currency levels as well. they're playing a big part in stock moves here in japan. the yen there 79.96 to 80. we've touched the 80 yen level. that compares so lower 79 yen levels on last friday. that is maintaining its strength

against the yen. euro/yen comg up. 104.45 to 47. that compares to the upper 103 yen levels this time yesterday. investors see more positive that the euro zone debt issues are being addressed. currency markets there could have a say in stocks. it's going to be on apple's earnings out thursday. they might be coming out with gn a new version of its tablet. many japanese cpanies make components for apple will likely move on the news from apple throughout there week. >> as we just mentioned the focus is on the bank of japan's policy meeting next week. what are market players anticipating? >> reporter: a lot of focus on the bank of japan. what it's going to do. it lowered its assessments.

many believe the central bank may be ready to take extra measures at its meeting next week. earnings.ajor focusill be on lot of japanese companies will be coming out with earnings in the next couple of weeks. investors weary of forecasts. back to you. >> thanks. it's gray skies for german industrial and engineer giant siemens. they can't see a good return on vestnt. siemens officials are negotiating to sell their loss power thermal businesses. they will concentrate on wind and hydroelectric power

generation. the country's largest solar ople in many parts of the world have to work to do something most people take for granted, drink water. it's expected to be worth over $1 trillion. japan has led the way in developing filtration technology and hold a 40% share of the market. its dominance is facing a challenge. >> reporter: the latest water purification technologies and hardware were on display in south korea last month. some 5,000 people from 90 countries attended an

exhibition. it was the first time to be held in south korea. >> translator: we can tackle shortages by increasing the water supply, advancing technologies the and invigorating businesses. >> reporter: one of the exhibiters was south korea as largt conglomerate. the key area that the south korean companies are focusing on is desalination technology. their goal is to deliver in which the components from water filter to pumping equipment is manufactured entirely in south korea. the south korean government has identified water pificion as a key sector.

it's planning to create 40,000 jobs in the sector over the next five years. >> translator: we're looking for tie ups with any countries interested in our experience and technologies. rather than going alone we intend to work with ministries of the environment, foreign affairs and trade. >> reporter: the president of a water treat facility maker in osaka. his company's award winning equipment for pumping out ground water is used around the world. he's a regular exhibiter at events organized by international water association and he's used this status to boost his sales around the world. now the south korean companies like like becoming formidable rivals. >> translator: south korea has

done in three years what it took us ten years to do in japan. they've caught up with us. he's the only executive of a japanese company invited to the reception for the trade fair. he takes this opportunity to pitch his idea for the iwa branch in japan. >> translator: it would be much easier if the japanese government were involved rather than me doing the talking. the government would rather cut spending on this kind of inittive i'm wried jap met left behind. >> that is all for me for now. i'll leave you with the market figures.

following the nuclear crisis last year the town had to be evacuated as it was just 15 kilometers from the power plant. the students at the local junior high school split up and found themselves in few schools far away. this is not the final out for the baseball team. this summer the older players got together to take part in a national semihardball baseball tournament. >> reporter: for the players on the baseball team, this is the biggest day of their lives. they've been living far apart

since last spring but now they are back together and playing in a national tournament. although the team is officially dissolved, the third year players wb playing together again. wearing donated uniforms they won the prefecture tournament and qualified for the national competition. the captain loves playing baseball. it's been hard for the players to gather for practice sessions, he's done his best to lead the team. following the nuclear crisis his family is evacuated from t town. atirst hwas worried whether he would be able to play baseball at his new school, but the baseball team there welcomed

him on board. >> translator: i want us to play all out to show our gratitude to everyone who supported us since we evacuated. playing with my old teammates this will be the peak for our junior high school baseball team. >> reporter: there are 28 teams at the tournament all at the opening ceremony he gave the fair play pledge on behalf of all the participants. >> translator: over the past year and a half we have lost the time and the memories we were hoping for. we pledge to do our utmost and play with smiles so that every minute we are alongside our teammates is an irreplaceable treasure for each of us.

>> reporter: his teammates from the town he evacuated to are also there to cheer him on. he gets two hits. the as catcher he also plays a key role on defense. alhis teammates give their everything. in end they can't overcome their opponents. the tournament is over for them in the first round. >> translator: even though we didn't practice enough we always looked forward to the sessions and we really enjoyed playing the games.

we have so many good memories. thank you so much for everything you've done for us. everyone all together. thank you very much. to all my 15 teammates i just want to say thank you. playing alongside them was really great. >> reporter: the players go their separate ways to their new homes but they take with them the memory and the pleasure of playing one more time alongside their teammates. time now to check weather conditions around the world. many people in japan are dealing with heavy rain today. we're joined with more on that. >> that's right. thick clouds are blanketing much of the nation.

underneath the clouds lots of heavy rain and strong winds. we have reports of rain in central japan and gusts of about 100 kilomers per hou near the center of this low pressure system. rainfall of about 100 millimeters is likely for the next several hours. gusts could top 108 kilometers per hour. that's enough to topple trees. waves could hit five meters along the northwest coast of japan. the good news is that rain is not going to last long. rain should be dissipating in western japan by this afternoon and then eastern japan by this evening. we're going to see a dramatic change in temperature. the high was about 26 degrees yesterday but will be cooling down into 18 degrees today.

a big change here and snow showers are likely in the mountains in northern japan. dry conditions have returned to the peninsula. it will become a tropical storm today and head towards the philippines. waves of up to three meters can be found along the east coast of the country. looks like the system will move up over the philippines over the next 72 hours or so. it's going to produce more than 120 millimeters of rain. temperatures soaring. moderating into typical levels. a couple of degrees cooler than yesterday. all right. heading into the americas.

it's middle of summer and winter. we have a winter storm to the north and the tropical system to the south. let's first talk about these systems. these are winter storms producing significant snowfall in the cascades and mountains. the heaviest snowfall will be found in the canadian rockies. as much as 45 centimeters are likely. weather will be moving into new england states on tuesday. this is tropical storm sandy situated over caribbean sea. looks like it will intensify more and moving through jamaica on wednesday. after that it could move tre eastern cuba into the bahamas on

friday. temperatures are quite chilly to the north. only 9 degrees in vancouver. here is the extended forecast.

>> that's all for this edition of "newsline." thanks for joining us.