hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday, september 28th, 11:00 a.m. in tokyo. north korean leader kim jong-il has named his third son, kim jong-un a four-star general in the military. north korea's state-run television made the special announcement on tuesday, the opening day of the workers party conference.

it marks the first time that the son's name has ever been mentioned in public. kim jong-un is also expected to be given a high-ranking party post to succeed his father. the announcement said the leader's younger sister, kim yong he, has also been promoted to a four-star general. it's thought she will serve as care taker until power is transferred to kim jong-un. now little is known about kim jong-un, even basic facts about jong-un, who is likely to succeed his father as leader, have been long been shrouded in mystery. >> such things as the year of kim jong-un's birth cannot be acertained with certainty. it is widely thought that the heir apparent was born in 1983,

but some experts suggest 1984 is the more likely year. in the late 1990s, kim jong-un studied in switzerland for several years. at school, he used the name pak un and it is said he identified himself as the son of the north korean ambassador to switzerland. one of his former classmates says he was polite and quick to learn the german language. kim jong-un apparently enjoyed playing basketball and dreamed of becoming a professional player. kim jong-un is said to have returned to pyongyang around 2000, and to have attended university in the north korean capital. no information has been available on his whereabouts since that time. there is speculation that kim jong-il has chosen jong-un to succeed him due to his son's leadership abilities and strong-mindedness.

china's special envoy to the six-party talks, wu dawei heard that kim jong-un is tall like his grandfather, kim il-song, who established communist rule in north korea. >> the conference that begins on tuesday, the first of its kind in 44 years, is expected to elect the party's supreme leadership. more than half the members of the party's central committee are said to have died or been purged without being replaced and it is believed not to function well. the official korean central news agency has reported that delegates from around the country have already arrived in pyongyang to attend the meeting. it's said the deputies on monday visited the palace where the body of north korea's founding leader, the late kim il-song, is preserved. russia's president is reporting to be visiting russian

held islands north of japan. the provincial authorities told nhk that medvedev could arrive on the islands as early as wednesday. it would be the first ever visit to the disputed islands by a russian or former soviet leader. sources in moscow familiar with japan/russia relations say there is no information to medvedev's plan. the president is currently visiting china of on monday, medvedev and president hu jintao issued a statement over their country's victory over japan. in july, they designated september 2nd as the end of world war ii. it was on that date japan signed a surround document in 1945. medvedev's visit will be seen as reinforcing russia's position that the islands became russian territory as a result of world war ii.

a senior u.s. diplomat has praised japan's prime minister, naoto kan, over a handling over the recent chinese dispute over the senkako islands. >> mr. kan has dealt with this issue in a very statesman-like fashion. >> u.s. assistant secretary of state campbell made the statement in new york on monday. he said it shows the system of following a diplomatic response. tensions remained high even after japan released the captain of a chinese fishing boat.

china disputes japan's sovereignty over the islands and demanded that japan apologize and compensate for the incident. prime minister kan rejected the demand. the japanese prime minister said he is thinking of attending the asia/europe meeting in belgium next week. kan said asean leaders will be it at the meeting next week and thinks japan should be represented. kan would meet leaders through bilateral talks on the sidelines of the two-day meeting starting on monday. he would sdplan there is no territorial dispute over the islands. chinese president hu jintao is

also scheduled to attend. the minister summoned chinese ambassador yonghua on monday. he requested that chinese diplomats be allowed to continue to see the detainees. maehara asked for meetings with the four and attorneys. he said he would convey the requests to the chinese government. the four are employees of fujita and have been detained since september 20th for allegedly filming military facilities without permission. japanese diplomats were allowed to meet with them for the first time on saturday. in beijing, china's foreign minister has refused to meet with the japanese ambassador to discuss the japanese nationals. sources say japanese ambassador

niwa filed the request for a meeting on sunday. the ministry is said to have turned down the request without a clear explanation. sources say china may have decided that a meeting would be premature as tensions remain high after the ship collision incident in japanese territorial waters over the sengkaku islands. palestinian president mahmoud abbas said he'll decide on whether to end peace talks with israel after discussing the situation with arab leaders last week. the discussion came after israeli leaders continued construction on the west bank sunday. the palestinian leader said the freeze on settlement building

should be extended for at least three or four more months. abbas said he'll bring the matter to a meeting in cairo next week before coming to a decision. the move came despite ongoing peace talks mediated by the united states. sarkozy said he'll invite representatives to help push forward the peace process. a japanese survivor for failure survivors said there was extensive radioactive fallout from the bikini atoll documents from the 1950s. they have conducted tests by the u.s. between march and may 1954. it says the radiation reached a wider area than previously confirmed, including african nations and pacific rim countries such as japan and the united states. after one it test in the atoll,

a japanese fishing boat was hit with radiation. a fisherman in the boat died later in the year. the group says the documents show that the japanese boat and other ships in the area were exposed to radiation, possibly damaging the health of the crew members. in sports news, veteran japanese tennis place date krumm won a victory over maria sharapova in tokyo on monday. a day before turning 40, krumm beat the 23-year-old russia to win the final game.

sharapova gained the upper hand but krumm kept her cool. sharapova squandered her lead with 11 double faults. seven of the world's top ten women players are competing in tokyo at the $2 million tournament. date krumm is the only japanese player to advance to the second round. welcome back to "news line business." tokyo stocks were down on tuesday morning following overnight losses in new york and europe. the nikkei ended the morning session at 9,529, down 73 ticks. investors took their cue from the yen's persistent strength. on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is moving in a narrow range against the yen. the greenback is trading at

84.19-21. sources say that investors are cautious about a possible japanese intervention. the euro stands between 1. 1.3420-24. this is the yield on the benchmark, ten-year government bend. the hang seng opened down slightly. and shanghai is currently down 0.4%. and the sse composite down 0.2%. cabinet ministers in charge of smaller enterprises from the asian pacific economic corporation will meet to discuss business growth strategies. the two-day meeting to begin on saturday in central japan will focus on creating a strategy that includes support for small and mid-sized firms. it is expected to stress that the key to growth is to nurture

small businesses which will drive tenlg logical innovation and help create jobs. ministers are scheduled to issue a joint statement on the final day. major japanese consumer lend lend lend lender takafuji is set to file for bankruptcy. their performance deteriorated due to tough regulations on consumer lenders. the new rules require lenders to pay back large amounts of excessive interest charged to borrowers in the past. they include a government mandate capping lending to individual borrowers at one-third of their income. they have repaid $4.8 billion worth of interest. but the amount will likely continue to rise. while the lender receives 10,000 requests per month from

borrowers, many customers have yet to file their claims. japanese prime minister kan is calling on congress and ruling party members to draw up an additional stimulus package to fight deflation and to ensure economic recovery. he made the order on monday at an executive meeting between the government and the ruling democratic party. kan is calling for a supplementary budget for this current fiscal year. he said measures need to be taken to deal with the severe situation. the japanese government plans to focus on employment, child rearing, and health care. prime minister kan instructed the democratic party's policy chief to coordinate discussions with japan's opposition parties. more chinese companies are putting money into japanese firms. as of june this year, chinese

firms invested in 600 japanese companies. 2.5 times than four years ago. chinese firms have been attracted by chinese technology. now their focus is shifting toward services provided by japanese firms. >> reporter: in august, chinese entrepreneurs invested $4.7 million in a ramen noodle restaurant chain which has over 400 restaurants in japan. their goal is to join hands with a japanese firm and open the restaurants in china. the chinese, focused on the know-how of the japanese franchise. the quality of the noodles is consistent throughout the chain's restaurants because they are made at the company's plants. the soup and other ingredients are also processed by the plants and supplied to the franchise. all is prepared using meticulous

guidelines. because of this, there's no need to employ trained chefs. consistent quality is maintained across the whole chain. ingredients and kitchen utensils are also under strict sanitary control based on the firm's uniform manual. both the japanese and chinese believe they can rapidly expand their businesses by taking this proven system to china. as a start, the japanese company opened its first franchise restaurant in shanghai in june this year and hopes to which 3,000 restaurants operating in china in ten years. >> translator: when it comes to service and quality control, japanese companies are far ahead of chinese firms. by putting together the advantages of japanese firms and the expanding chinese market, i'm sure we will have a win-win situation. >> reporter: a japanese investment firm mediated the

capital tie-up. the investment firm's chairman has so far completed eight such tie-ups between japanese and chinese companies. since the beginning of this year, the number of investment consultations between japan and china has grown rapidly. the firm currently handles about 100 such cases. >> translator: unlike major companies, smaller firms couldn't tap into the chinese market alone. now, however, chinese firms are ib inviting smaller companies to join hands with them. it's a greater opportunity. >> reporter: he is visiting a public bath franchise which has 40 locations throughout japan. each facility houses more than ten types of baths, adjoined it a restaurant. they provide services such as ma sage and hair dressing. the business has grown quickl winning popularity mainly among families. last year, the company concluded

a capital tie-up through his mediation. the intent is to operate japanese-tile public baths in china. >> translator: recently, many chinese tourists to japan have taken to visiting hot spring baths. among them, many hope that the same such facilities could be built in china. >> reporter: starting this year, the bath house company began hiring chinese nationals to teach their employees customer service and facility management. these will be the executives of the firm once they open facilities in china. the chinese firm is particularly focused on the water quality control system at this bath. the giant filtering device maintains constantly cleanliness of the water. >> translator: i'm a bit

concerned about the sanitation of public baths in china. japan is very good when it comes to customer service and water quality control at public baths. >> reporter: there are plans to open facilities in shanghai next year. many japanese companies are moving into the chinese market with the support of chinese capital. it remains to be seen how much these japanese companies can keep chinese consumers hot for their expertise. >> next is a recap of the latest market figures.

and that's all for now in "biz news." next is the weather forecast with saki ochi. >> welcome back to your world weather update. japan seeing very heavy showers falling this morning. mainly for northern and central sections. very active frontal system, really producing ample amounts of moisture today. we are expecting quite a bit of

rainfall to continue. we'll move pretty quickly in the next 24 hours. you can see most of it will leave the country. a little bit hanging on to northern areas on tuesday morning. otherwise, it should remain wet only for today. across the korean peninsula and even northern china, all looking at a wide area of dry skies today. it is a little more unsettled for southern sections. scattered showers over the course of today. the philippines and across the indochina peninsula looking at tropical showers and intermittent thundershowers. 34 degrees for your high in manila. 31 in hong kong. 24 degrees in tokyo on the cool side. likely seeing showers continuing through the morning. as for the americas, still very active system here in the eastern part of the united states, producing quite a bit of rainfall as well as some stormy conditions.

we are hearing of some stronger storms developing in areas around virginia. the rest of the united states, again today, fine and dry. a little bit of showers moving into western sections of canada. but otherwise, really fine, clear skies. plenty of sunshine, although almost too much for the southwest. very, very hot conditions continui again on tuesday. expecting highs of u to 38 in sacren. in las vega thenossi gti up to0 ranslate tosenditions if you arn at

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