Girl school created a stampede that left 20 dead and more than 100 injured. Afghan officials are having difficulty gauging the extent of the damage as mobile phones arent getting a signal in most parts of the country. Pakistani authorities have deployed military forces for rescue operations. Officials there are also struggling to ascertain the extent of the destruction. Damaged network base stations knocked out mobile coverage in some areas. Authorities plan to dispatch aircraft to survey the situation. Turkey has a general elect scheduled this weekend. Authorities are stepping up efforts to combat Islamic State militants in a bid to maintain stability in the country. Security forces raided the hideouts in the southeast. Turkish Officials Say seven Islamic State fighters were killed and a dozen others were detained in the city of diyarbakir. Officials said the militants had a large stock pile of guns and ammunitions. Turkish media report the operation targeted 17 locations in the city. Security forces raided terrorist positions in istanbul. Authori authorities blame the Islamic State group for a suicide bombing that killed more than 100 people in everyone ankara this month. The bill will determine whether the ruling party will have to share power for the first time in 13 years. Police in bangladesh have detained four men in connection with the killing of an italian aide worker. Police caught two men who allegedly shot dead the italian man in the capital dhaka on september 28th and two others they say helped the assailants flee. Police are seeking another man who they believe ordered the suspects to make indiscriminate attacks on foreigners. Five days after the killing, a japanese man was killed in northern bangladesh. An organization describing itself as a bangladeshi affiliate of the Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for both attacks. Police say the four detained men have no links to the Islamic State group and had been included in the investigation into the killing of the japanese man. A japanese couple has been given a taste of freedom after two decades behind bars. The woman and her common law husband were serving life sentences for her daughters death, but they have been granted a retrial. Keiko aoki was released from prison in the western prefecture of wakayama. Translator im finally back in the ordinary world after 20 years. Tatsuhiro boku was released in oita prefecture. Translator im overwhelmed to be free. Its been 20 years, and i feel like im in a foreign country. It doesnt seem real. The two were convicted of arson and murder after aokis 11yearold daughter died in a fire in osaka in 1995. They had pleaded not guilty saying they were forced to make false confessions. A simulation by the defense suggested that the fire started when a water heater ignited vaporized gasoline. Last week, the Osaka High Court upheld a Lower Court Decision ordering a retrial and suspending the couples imprisonment. The High Court Said the blaze may have started spontaneously. The prosecution now must decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court over the decision to grant a retrial. Japan may see more mergers among regional banks with decreased population in local areas. It looks like a change in strategy. Exactly. Some demographics are changing. Some of the domestic regional banks have to change along with that. Lets go into some of the details now. Executives at two regional banks based north of tokyo are in the final stages of murder negotiations. Analysts say this will lead to more local bank mergers in the future. The merger of joyo bank and Ashikaga Holdings will have assets exceeding 120 billion. Executives expect to reach a basic agreement in early november and finalize the merger in october 2016. Financial Services Agency predicts that in the Business Year ending in march 2018, the pretax profit of about 20 of some hundred regional banks will be half that of the Business Year that ended in march last year. The agency is therefore urging regional banks to formulate medium and longterm strategies including possible mergers. Japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe plans to pledge economic support when he visits the president tuesday afternoon. It will be a sixth and final stop on his tour of central asia and mongolia. Abe is likely to discuss how japan can help with structural reform. This will include ways to nurture small and midsized businesses to shift the country away from being a resourcedependent economy. Kazakhstan is the most developed country in central asia, the leading producer of uranium and rich in oil and natural gas. The nation of more than 16 Million People enjoys a per capita gdp over 12,000. Before arriving in kazakhstan, he agreed to offer a yen loan of nearly 100 million to repair highways and will provide election equipment to help promote dempsey. Time to check on the markets now. Just having a quick look here. U. S. And european stocks slipped on monday as investors took profits ahead of the muchawaited Central Bank Meetings in the u. S. And japan this week. For a check on the markets here in tokyo, we go to the tokyo stock exchange. What have you got for us . Hows the open . Good morning. We are seeing profit taking, but shares are moving rather directionless here in tokyo ahead of the feds fomc policy meeting later today. Lets check the openingless levels in tokyo. Its tuesday october 27th. Nikkei opened slightly higher, but now down about 0. 1 . 18,917. Broader topix down about 0. 25 . Yesterday the nikkei touched the key 19,000 level the first time in two months following chinas rate cuts. It failed to close above that level. Well have to see what happens today. Markets are expected to lack Major Trading cues until tomorrow when we might get hits of the timing of a rate hike. No big moves are expected. Here japan, the bank of japan governor will hold his News Conference friday. We may see Asian Industries move slowly and quietly ahead of policy announcements from these two central banks. Lets see how the benchmarks are open at this hour in the asia pacific. The kospi is down about 0. 3 . Australia is barely in the positive. We are seeing a weak morning here in the region. Obviously, a lot of focus on the Central Bank Meetings keeping investors sidelines. We have the earnings season has got under way here in japan. Surely those numbers will affect markets and investor sentiment, as well. Very good point. We are expecting about 800 listed companies to announce their earning during the week. Today major firms like canon will release their numbers. We may watch the auto sector. Japanese automakers likely generated record high profits in the april to september period and remain despite sluggish sales in asia. Automakers are seeing strong performances in north america. Also getting a boost from the weaker yen. Tod well follow suzuki and mazda. Lets look at the dollar yen pair. The pair gained about 13 from a year earlier when it was around 105 yen. Today the dollar is taking a breather ahead of fomc meeting. Its now below 121 yen. Longer term, the yen is weakening. The euro is trading slightly higher or flat ahead of the Central Bank Meetings and major u. S. Economic data due out later today including durable goods orders. Ill be back with an update in a few hours. Back to you. Thank you. Investors holding off a hitle bit there. Reporting live from the tokyo stock exchange. Japan is being hit by many more typhoons than expected this year. We report on what Japanese Companies are doing to improve their preparedness for extreme weather and other natural disasters. Violent winds. Recordbreaking heavy rain. A typhoon left big scars behind. One storm in july inflicted heavy damage in western japan. It killed 10,000 yellowtail being raised at the seafood company. The damage amounted to about 5. 8 million. The Company Raises about 400,000 yellowtail in 40 preserves. Theyre cultivated for two years and then shipped around japan. Officials are trying to prevent a recurrence with this, a preserve containing fish sinks slowly into the sea. Here is how the mechanism works. When a typhoon hits, high waves near the sea surface kill fish, which are thrown against the wire netting. The fish can also escape if the netting breaks. The new preserve is equipped with a float that can be inflated or deflated as needed. When a typhoon approaches, the float is deflated and the preserve lowered to near the bottom of the sea where the impact of waves is felt less. The cost for installing the new equipment was around 300,000. Translator typhoons travel in various directions. But theyre reportedly becoming stronger our duty is to deliver yellowtail to our customers. We are taking measures to prevent any shortage in supplies or even a single day of delay in deliveries. Reporter new initiatives ve also bn lauhed by insurers against corporate risk. This is a leading insurer based in tokyo. They are analyzing the routes typhoons take when approaching japan. Translator the number of y typhoons are growing in central japan. Reporter this firm developed a new insurance product that pays out according to the nber of times typhoons pass through. A Company Takes out the policy, paying about 2,500 to insurance against typhoons passing within 200 kilometers. The policy pays out if a typhoon passes once. The second time, payout increases. The insurance is limited to a payout of about 14,000 for a maximum of five typhoons. Translator a lot of companies see their profits slashed due to the passing or landing of typhoons. Hotels, for example. Were getting inquiries from them. They say they want to hedge their risk of clients making cancellations. Reporter measures to deal with the impact of typhoons are becoming indispensable for averting risks. And for the sustainability of companies. As weather become more extreme, these measures will grow in importance. Thats it for Business News for this hour. Ill leave with you another check on the markets. The troubled governing body of world soccer is gearing up to select a new president. Fifa has been hit by a series of scandals that swirled around seth blader and other top officials. They are trying to create more transparency. Registration for candidates has closed, but many are under intense scrutiny. Reporter candidates submitted their registration by mondays deadline. Media reported the contenders as follows, jordanian prince hussein calling for sweeping reforming to the body and ran in the may election. Fifa Vice President sheik al khalifa, the president of the and comes from bahrain. Football a former Football Player from trinidad has also entered the race. David nakhid played for the national team. South african businessman Tokyo Sexwale announced his cant saysy. He was a former apartheid prisoner and a member of fifas Global Task Force against racism and discrimination. Former deputy secretary jerome cha champagne. The head of musa bility. And infantino. The Corruption Scandal engulfing fifa came to light in may after u. S. Prosecutors indicted 14 people. Among them were nine fifa officials. U. S. Investigators suspect that over a 20year period the defendants paid or offered bribes of over 150 million for media and marketing rights. Blater announced he would step down after a new president is elected. He held the post since 19 8. He and the Vice President felt the heat from scandal. Both have been handed a 90day provisional ban from football and swiss prosecutors are investigating a payment of 2 million swiss francs made between the two in 2011. Flatini filed his candidacy to run for the fif presidency and s considered a frontrunr before the ban. He is not admitted as a candidate at this time, though he could still contend. The probe is covering other officials including fifas former Vice President from south korea. He announced he would run, but the Ethics Committee says he violated rules when considering hosts for the 2018 and 2022 world cups and ban him for six years. The Reform Committee wants to make drastic changes and proposed a maximum term of 12 years for president s and an age limit of 74 for the president and executive. Fifa officials want to sweep away the taint of corruption with transparent decisionmaking and reignite the spirit of fair play that players and fans across the world expect. The new president will be elected on february 26th. Kurando tago, nhk world. A japanese author is shedding light on an ongoing tragedy in the democratic republic of the congo. His work examines the polite of children who have been forced to become soldiers and take part in atrocities. Hes written a manga to express their cries for help. Reporter the manga tells the story of a 14yearold boy loved by his family and neighbors. One day his father and sister are both killed by insurgents. He has been tricked into becoming a fighter himself. The story develops based on a relationship kindled between the boy soldier and a reporter from japan. The characters are fictional, but the author says the events are all too real. Translator i wanted people to know what is going on in africa. The things happening there right now. Reporter hes seen the situation first hand during a visit to the democratic republic of the congo. Civil war in congo claimed the lives of more than 5 Million People. Every village there are scars from the war. And the suffering continues today. Oishi was able to talk to former child soldiers. He heard stories of unimaginable horror. Translator the armed militants forced us to transport weapons. They tortured and shot those who refused. Reporter he met another boy suffering from deep psychological wounds. This former soldier couldnt even hold a conversation. Translator people say this boy was nearly an animal when he was brought here. I see why they had that impression. I really felt his heartrending cry. Reporter after returning to japan, he was determined to depict the slaughter taking place in congo and in graphic terms. Translator the depictions on these pages are very violent. Do they have to be this gruesome . Translator the situation cannot be conveyed in words alone, but its also too violent to show in photographs. Thats why we thought using manga would be good. Its a question of how much of the brutality i witnessed can be expressed. Reporter in the beginning, zaza is reluctant to fire his gun. But in a short while, he is promoted to lead the other boys. Translator the children are killing each other. This is hell. Im in the middle of hell. Reporter oishi refused to gloss over the harsh realities of war, but his story also offers hope. It includes a scene where zaza lays down his weapon. Translator i know very well how adults deceive Young Children into becoming soldiers. I want to help as many boy soldiers like me as i can. Translator if readers can imagine their own children forced to become soldiers, they will feel for these boys just like i do. Reporter life in tokyo feels a long way from the world of civil war and terrorism, but oishi says young people are suffering in africa and manga can express their cry for help. It is time for a check of the weather. People in the state of louisiana are dealing with harsh weather conditions. This lingered over the gulf states and flooded the area such as texas and louisiana. It is widespread damage and flooding due to Hurricane Patricia in louisiana. 180 millimeters have fallen since late saturday. About 22,000 people were without power in new orleans on sunday, and a tornado touched down in the state. Luckily, theres no serious damage reported just yet. People are still recovering right now. Unfortunately, theres going to be more additional rainfall. This is still hugging the coastal area. You can see gusty conditions because they are tight to each you see the rainfall crawling up the mid Atlantic States pulling the humid air from the gulf of mexico. We have another system pulling from the pacific northwest. This is a heavy snow maker. 10 centimeters of snow will fall over the northern rockies. Expect slick Road Conditions as well as reduced visibility. It could be very dangerous to be driving out there this system will then be merging eventually with expatricia. That will make for a widespread rainfall and some snows at Higher Elevations into the next 24, 48. As for now its bringing that warm temperature ahead of that system. The temperatures by thursday, for example in new york right now, 14, but will be up to about 22 degrees. Same thing will happen in d. C. While youre experiencing belowaverage for tuesday. Just at 14. In eastern asia, we are looking at another system pulling in northern, North Eastern china and south eastern russia and that is bringing heavy snowfall. The heavy bulk will be in North Eastern china up to about 15 to 20 centimeters of snow. This cold front is bringing frequent lightning to south korea and heavy showers. By tonight, its going to be engulfing the whole of japan. By tonight, tokyo will see showers. Its going to be concentrated in western japan as well as hokkaido. The temperatures will be dropping coming after that storm system pulling that cold air, dropping from 22 just to 16 in busan on your wednesday. Pyongyang will see 10 degrees. Much of these areas only in the Single Digits for your high on thursday. That is a significant drop. Elsewhere, we are looking at 35 in bangkok. Heating up with thunderstorms in the forecast. Minus 1 for your high. I did want to mention pakistan where youve been feeling that big earthquake and aftershocks. Usually you dont get a lot of rainfall. October is one of the driest months of the season. You only get about 30 millimeters. Yesterday alone 154 millimeters fell. That combined with the earthquake that occurred. For now we are looking at great conditions. Weatherwise it will be cooperating with the restoration. Ill leave you now with the extended forecast. Thats all for this edition of newsline. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Thanks for joining us. Announcer euromaxx highlights. And here is your host. Host greetings from Brandenburg Gate here in berlin, a symbolic location on a special anniversary weekend. And well waste no more time and tell you exactly why that is. On the big screen. A short film celebrates 25 years of germanys reunification. On the catwalk. Traditional fashion labels are having a comeback. And on the display. Smartphone pics of architecture are popular on instagram. 25 years of german reunification its an occasion important