welcome to "newsline." it is friday, october 21st, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. libya's national transitional council says forces killed moammar gadhafi and one of his sons. citizens are celebrating in the capitol of tripoli. >> the ntc said gadhafi's death was confirmed and his body was being sent to the central city of misrata. gadhafi disappeared when the council took troll of tripoli in

august. while hiding in sirt, he used satellite tv calling on supporters to fight until the bitter end. crowds of libyans had songs of jup ladies and gentlemen. his demise is likely to put an end to eight months of civil war. ntc chairman is expected to hold a news conference saturday and declare all of libya liberated. however, many challenges remain before a democratic nation can be established. disagreements within the ntc are delaying the launch of an interim government. world leaders responded to the news of gadhafi's death. >> this marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of libya who now have the opportunity to determine their own destiny in a new and democratic libya. >> people in libya today have an even greater chance after this news of building themselves a strong and democratic future.

>> france was also one of the leading countries in the military intervention in libya. president sarkozy called his demise a milestone in the nation's battle to free itself from more than four decades of dictatorship. u.n. secretary general says the day of gadhafi's death marks a historic transition for libya. >> the road ahead for libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges. now is the time for all libyans to come together. >> moammar gadhafi was the longest serving head of state in the arab world. >> gadhafi is said to have been born in 1942 to a family in northern libya. he took power in 1969 at the age of 27 when he led a bloodless coup against the country's king. during his early years in power, he fiercely opposed the west.

this led the united states to designate libya as a state sponsor of terrorism. in 1988, libya was blamed for the bombing of an airliner over the scottish town of lockerbie, after which the united nations imposed economic sanctions on the country. in 2003, libya accepted responsibility for the lockerbie bombing and said it would abandon its program of weapons of mass destruction. libya's relations with the west improved in later years, thanks to its oil and gas reserves. gadhafi is known for his eccentric speeches and behavior. when traveling abroad, he brought his own tent to sleep in. when he addressed the u.n. general assembly in 2009, he criticized the international body and threw a copy of the u.n. charter onto the floor.

in the wake of the fall of egyptian president hosni mubarak, anti-government demonstrations began in libya in february. the protesters gained momentum and were supported by senior military officers that had defected from government forces. the government then deployed foreign mercenaries to crackdown on the protesters. >> i am the leader of the revolution, i will fight until death for the revolution. >> by august, forces led by the national transitional council had taken control of the capital, but the leader's whereabouts remained unknown and gadhafi's troops continued to fight. in other news, debt ridden greece approved an austerity package paving the way for another round of international

bailout loans. the country's parliament passed the austerity bill thursday, despite some dissent from a ruling party member. the measures include pension cuts, tax hikes and the firing of 30,000 civil servants. the austerity merments are requirements set by the european union and international monetary fund in order for greece to receive additional loans. >> as parliament voted, protesters filled the streets and staged a general strike. >> reporter: today is the second day of the massive strike. angry greek people are gathering in front of the parliament to protest against the austerity plan. the 48-hour strike continued on thursday involving transport and other public sector workers to

protest the introduction of further austerity measures. >> reporter: demonstrators carrying banners filled the main streets of the capital city of athens from early in the morning. >> translator: i can't pay the bills anymore. this country has zero future. >> translator: the government doesn't care about us. i won't stop until they drop the new bills. >> passage of the austerity legislation will likely fuel public anger toward the greek government which faces the challenge of implementing tax hikes. eu leaders will decide on comprehensive measures to contain europe's credit crisis as meetings scheduled for this sunday and wednesday. officials will discuss whether to further bolster the european stability facility following an agreement to expand the fund by

their nations. they will talk about how to boost the capital base of banks suffering from price drops in some countries' government bonds. eu leaders hope to present comprehensive measures at the group of 20 summit meeting early next month in order to win support from other countries. attention is focused onto what extent eu leaders will be able to decide on the details of the new measures. japanese prime minister noda noda stressed that identifying the cause of the nuclear accident and disclosing the information to the world is japan's responsibility. noda gave nhk an exclusive interview on thursday. >> translator: our country experienced a massive accident.

the lessons we learned should be shared with the international community. that's the biggest contribution we can offer. for the peaceful use of nuclear power without nuclear weapons we have been implementing technological renovations as a result of the accident we have to improve the safety of the technology. we would be glad to provide technological cooperation to the international community. to offer our knowledge and contribute to the safety of nuclear power plants around the world. >> noda also said the government will try to the decide on the best mix of nuclear and renewable energy by next summer. the plan is based on the idea of decreasing the country's dependency on nuclear power. regarding a u.s.-led free trade pact, the transpacific partnership or tpp, the prime minister has made a renewed push to join early multi-lateral talks in order to revive japan's economy.

the tpp, in principle, eliminates tariffs in the politically potent farm sector. japan has substantial tariffs for domestic protection and some in the country strongly oppose the tpp. >> translator: farming is a very important industry and the base of japanese society. at the same time we are a trading economy. we have to maintain a balance between the two and take in to account improving the global situation. there have been many to account improving the global situation. there have been many discussions, but we shouldn't prolong them. at some point, we have to reach a conclusion. once the rules are decided, it's possible that the hurdles may be too high for us. >> our political commentator joins us. thanks for joining us. it is very rare for prime minister noda to participate in a live interview, seems this is to avoid making inappropriate comments and getting criticism from the media. what changed noda's mind?

>> noda has tried not to be a show man. rather, he tried to be modest. but after one and a half months in office, many japanese realized that he has done almost nothing except push for a tax increase to cover the reconstruction of northeast japan. so he needs to sell it to the public, especially concerning the nuclear issue. even if he risks criticism from media. he must stop the dropping of the approval rating. if he loses more support, getting support for the position will be very difficult and in that case he would eventually be forced to resign or call a general election. >> making a decision to get involved in the trade agreement or tpp has been very difficult for the japanese government. why is noda pushing it now?

>> japan's population is aging and shrinking. so the country needs to look overseas to rekindle growth. japanese businesses are hampered by the strong yen. worried that it will erode if the country is left out of the trade pact. south korea which competes directly with japan in autos and electronics has a free trade agreement with the eu, while that pact was already approved by the u.s. congress. >> last question. the prime minister is facing strong opposition from the farming sector, but noda still aims for an early decision on the tpp. why is that? >> well, noda hopes to make the decision before an arsia pacifi summit where he is supposed to have talks with u.s. president barack obama. he wants to improve relations with the united states, which

former prime minister strained, due to his thoughts on u.s. air based issue in observing now a noda wants to convince people joining the tpp is the only way for japan to survive, even though it could hurt nations' farmers by opening the door to cheaper products from overseas. the powerful farm bureau remains a task for him. >> we will have to wait and see what happens. time now for our weekly nuclear watch segment. they had talks recently about people living near the daiichi nuclear plant. >> this week's nuclear watch is

looking at the mammoth job of decontaminating areas around the fukushima daiichi plant. schools are cleaned up and opened, seven months after the march 11 disaster. the city is some 20 kilometers from fukushima daiichi. the japanese government put them under an evacuation advisory in mid april, told residents to be prepared to leave their homes or stay indoors in the event of another emergency. they lifted that advisory at the end of september. they said things improved at the nuclear plant and noted new munlt alternate routes had decontamination plans. so what's life like now? >> students at this elementary, one in five schools that reopened. school authorities removed topsoil from the playground and cleaned buildings before classes

resumed. radiation levels are within the government safety limit, but still people are being cautious. this is the playground. it is break time and it is a sunny day, but everyone's inside. that's because school has suspended outdoor activities to limit children's exposure to radiation. the school surroundings and private houses in the city haven't been decontaminated. many families are reluctant to go home because they don't want to be exposed to radiation. >> i think it is wrong to bring children back to their school. i don't think it's safe.

the levels of radiation are not low. >> the radiation hasn't come down at all. that's why my grandchildren are still far away. we have been talking about being patient, but i don't want to see them get sick. >> decontaminating is a big job. there's a group representing the community where the elementary is located. they have been cleaning up the routes children take to school. >> more than 300 meters here decontaminated. >> he and the group took measurements at 129 locations. in some places, the radiation level was too high for his

instrument. 9.99 is the maximum measurable level, which means radiation levels here are ten microsieverts higher. >> he believes mud pooled in the drainage system is possibly creating the readings. he asked them to clean it up. they say there is no place to store the mud. >> the decontamination process will move forward if space is found to store the mud. but in reality, it's basically stalled because no decision has been made on a storage location. >> so you visited one school there. what is the situation like for all schools there? >> about 60% of the children in the city's five schools haven't

returned. they are living outside mayan somer entirely. the japan ministry set the goal of limiting radiation exposure for children to a maximum one millisievert per year. the schools that resumed classes are asking students to wear face masks on the way to class and also their outdoor activities are restricted to two hours a day. still, many parents don't want to bring their children back because only school compounds have been decontaminated. >> how hard will it be to clean up? >> authorities started decontamination in august for public facilities such as schools. they didn't get help from the central government. city officers don't think they will be able to start cleaning up private residences until next year. the biggest problem is there's no place to keep soil and other

substances that have been removes in the decontamination process. the central government will draw a road map by the end of the month to set up temporary storage facilities. >> until we decide on the locations with a temporary, mid term and final facilities for contaminated soil, decontamination work will not progress. >> what's the latest with the fukushima daiichi? whl the people that live near the nuclear plant be able to get their lives back? >> the japanese government has announced the damaged reactors will be cooled to 100 degrees celsius and stabilized within this year. that's called cold shut down. temperatures inside reactors one, two, and three are already lower than 100 degrees. tokyo electric power company says the amount of radiation

being emitted has dropped to one eight-millionth of the level from march. so the japanese government says it will start discussions on redefining which areas should be subject to evacuation orders once cold shut down is achieved. but people won't be able to return home worry free, unless the process of decontamination and radioactive waste disposal is accelerated. >> thank you.

the greatest ballerina of the era. wednesday she kicked off her japan tour which she calls hope japan to aid victims of the march 11 disaster. at her opening performance, she brought down the house. the french star says she'll give special performances at cities in the wake-hit regions. -- the quake hit regions. ♪ at 46 years old, she's still a major presence in the theater scene. she became the youngest ballerina at the age of 19. now she dances with companies around the world. she's well known for her awe-inspiring pose. in this technique, one leg is straightened up above her head and the other is rooted to the ground.

it's known as the 6:00 position. her passion for dance has inspired many artists to create legendary works. she decided to dedicate the most famous ballet to people affected by the march 11 disaster. she held a news conference on thursday to tell reporters why she decided to undertake this tour. it was a rare occasion because she is known for her reluctance to appear on television. >> translator: i was following the news on the march 11 every hour on the internet and was shocked to see the situation worsening. i felt powerless. i started to think about what i could do. >> she said she will dance in

two cities in the disaster stricken region. >> translator: i wanted to go there to meet with people who were suffering, to offer mental support so they could move forward. >> she has visited japan over 40 times in her career. she said she wants to empower people through her dance. >> translator: i came to japan because it's facing a difficult situation. it's good to be with the people at times like these. i've come here to hold their hand. that's my wish, hope and duty as a human being. >> she is touring the country until november 13.

she hopes to help restore hope to people throughout japan. and now let's take a look at the market figures. let's look at the global weather forecast.

>> hello, welcome to your weather update. in japan, sunny weather has finally come to an end and we are facing wet weather from the west. humid air continues to blow into western japan and is creating thundershowers. we are expecting over 150 million meters of rain in the area. up to 250 millimeters. stay on the watch for flooding and land slides. the rain will move to central japan by japan. it will move to the north into saturday. meep while, light to moderate precipitation can be found akrause inland china that will spread to china in the next 24 hours. down to the south, it is thundery and wet to the southern indochina peninsula as well as much of the philippines

throughout the day. temperatures shaping up like this. tokyo expected to be 21 degrees and the same for seoul. bangkok, 33 degrees and overcast with the chance of thundershowers. heading over to the americas, a large low pressure system could bring wet and windy conditions across the eastern great lakes region and eastern canada. things are getting dryer here, but instead eastern canada will remain wet through friday. some snow is possible in southern quebec. out to the west, another round of rain is effecting british columbia and parts of oregon. you'll see heavy snow in higher elevations. otherwise, it stays dry across much of the u.s. and central canada. temperatures looking like this. we are expecting 12 degrees in vancouver, 14 in seattle. 22 in oklahoma city. finally let's go over to europe.

a system is moving through the northern british isles, spreading rain. the system will then move to the southern scandinavian peninsula. cold precipitation and strong winds will effect this region through friday. to the south, severe weather across southern italy and western balkan peninsula. things getting clearer here, but western balkan west through friday. stays dry through most of continental europe. 11 degrees in paris. 10 in berlin, 8 in warsaw. 20 degrees in madrid and 25 in lisbon. here is the extended forecast. blab

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. i'm catherine k tokyo. do stay with us.

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standard. now businesses use these certifications as lefrmg verage the business market. and then introduction to japanese aesthetics. this edition of the mark of beauty introduces free spirited use of color of this.