welcome to nhk world "newsline." millions of americans are picking up and heading back to work. the biggest storm in generations shut businesses up and down the east coast. sandy knocked out power and halted travel and flooded entire neighborhoods. at least 40 people were killed in the united states. sandy transitioned from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone by the time it hit shore. most people had never seen anything like it. the center of the storm, now over southern ontario moving east.

it's left a trail of destruction. a power station in manhattan exploded on monday during the height of the storm cutting electricity to much of the borough. reuters reports at least 8 million peoples and businesses across several states are still without electricity. new yorkers can get around more easily now that buses are running again. but city officials say it will take at least a week to restore rail, water and other services. sandy has been losing strength since monday. its maximum momentary wind speed is around 65 kilometers per hour. the storm has pulled a mass of cold air from the north. snow is falling across eight states. some areas got more than 60 centimeters. and sandy's impact isn't just financial. the u.s. media has been looking at the political ramifications. the presidential election is just a week away and the candidates' response to the storm could affect the outcome. "the washington post" says sandy

gave president barack obama the chance to show his ability as commander in chief. but it also said any missteps or move that appears politically motivated could cost him. "the post" says the disaster has put romney in a difficult position. one article says he faces the almost impossible task for defining himself in a story that has gripped the nation. romney's critics have pounced on a comment he made about the federal emergency management agency. he said the agency should be eliminated and its functions handled at state levels. the "new york times" said monday the disaster coordination is one of the federal government's most vital functions. romney reportedly failed to respond when asked on tuesday whether he has reconsidered his position. president obama would be speaking to crowd after crowd in swing states if it hadn't been for the storm. he has less than a week to convince undecided voters. most americans have already examined his record over the past four years.

he started his term with a sentiment offered by many of those who came before him. >> that america can change. our union can be perfected. >> many americans have grown tired of what their country was come to represent under george w. bush. obama promised to change at home and abroad. he brought an end to the war in iraq. he said u.s. combat forces would pull out of afghanistan by the end of 2014. and he promised to decimate al qaeda. >> after a firefight, they killed osama bin laden and took custody of his body. we can say to those families who lost loved ones to al qaeda's terror justice has been done. >> some argue obama has not met expectations in the mideast. he faced persistent trouble with

a come dominant region in iran. still he has focused foreign policy to make it more multilateral. part of what he calls a broader shift. >> after a decade in which we fought two wars that cost us dearly, the united states is turning to the vast potential of the asia pacific region. >> obama turned his attention at home to pushing through health care reform, something president after president had tried to do. he succeeded with what became known as obama care, the most significant overhaul since medicare and medicaid in the 1960s. he pushed to shore up banks after the financial crisis and congress passed legislation two years ago imposing stricter regulations on financial institutions and giving more protection to customers. reforming the nation's finances has proved more difficult. republicans criticized obama for the mounting national debt and

they say the unemployment rate, 7.8%, is unacceptably high. >> the latest poll suggests the candidates are running close, but they were taken before the storm hit shore. earlier i spoke with nhk world's nishikawa on obama's successes and his failures. mishiko the president is not the first president, obviously, to promise change. but he certainly made that word stick. how do voters think he has done? >> right. well, obama did change a number of things, and not the least of which is, of course, health care reform. presidents on both sides of the aisle have tried before him and failed and he ended the war in iraq and he passed the stimulus among a number of other financial initiatives. some experts say he was perhaps too ambitious. >> coming in to his administration was to really change the course of foreign

policy and economic policy that the administration had been following, and he was elected on that mandate. but it was again, difficult for him to achieve that -- that change. partly because the problem is so huge that you can't really change the structure of the economy and military and foreign policy in four years. he laid ground work, but i don't think he achieved as much as he wanted to or other people expected him to. >> we heard from professor nishizaki about foreign policy. how do you think obama changed approach? >> obama has said repeatedly that america is a specific nation and he's led refocusing of foreign policy toward asia. commands at the pentagon redeployed resources for this reason.

and obama tried to strengthen economic ties. for example, congress passed a free trade pact with south korea. but mitt romney and others say obama still hasn't done enough on issues such as the currency disparity with china and the republicans say his approach to a nuclear weapon is misguided. the professor said somewhere along the way, obama got side tracked. >> he had this idea, and his position, but it is so volatile and promising at the same time during his administration, and naturally i think that was that region instead of asia. >> most americans care most about what happens at home. millions of them are without work. we will get the latest numbers on friday and no doubt voters will look to that as a cue to how obama has done.

en emunemployment has hit a record high, the jobless rate is exceptionally high in areas that continued to implement austerity efforts. the average job lts rate across the 17-member euro zone was 11.6%. the figure was up from 11.5% in august. spain marked the highest unemployment rate in the euro zone at a record 25.8%. the jobless rate at 15.7%. the latest unemployment data available for greece is for july

when it was 25.1% and that's up 23 percentage points from a year earlier. panasonic says it's likely to suffer a huge loss in the business year through march 2013. that reverses the earlier forecast of a swing back to profit. >> i feel deeply responsible to society for our poor earnings report. unfortunately i must admit that the main businesses including tvs and digital cameras have become losers. >> the electronicsmaker projects a net loss of around $9.6 billion for this fiscal year. it says sales for its main line tv business are likely to remain sluggish, if the forecast proves correct, panasonic would record a net loss of over $9 billion for a second straight year. for the april to september period, sales fell over 9% from the year before in yen terms. it posted a net loss of $8.6 billion.

that's after the company booked extraordinary losses due to a slump in its cell phone and solar battery businesses. mainly in europe. two other major electronics firms, hitachi and mitsubishi electric also suffered a drop in net profit. fujitsu posted a net loss of about $139 million. the weak results are due to a number of factors, they include lagging sales in europe that suffers from the lingering debt problems. slower demand in china, and the yen's advance. japan's three major shipping services firms have also revised down their earnings forecast for this business year through march. sluggish chinese demand for shipment for iron ore is partly to blame. they projected a profit of around $125 million, but now expects a loss of about $280 million. nippon yusen down great the from estimate from around $500 million to were $250 million.

kawasaki also revised down its projection from $285 million to $125 million. a surplus of large cargo vessels is pushing down freight charges. this is another factor for the gloomy outlook. the vessels were ordered before the 2008 collapse of lehman brothers. microsoft's new operating system windows 8 is off to a strong start. initial sales are much higher than the previous versions, at least three years ago. >> in just the last three days we have sold 4 million windows 8 upgrades. 4 million windows 8 upgrades. >> microsoft chief executive steve ballmer broke the news at an event head at the firm's headquarters in seattle on tuesday. windows 8 features touch panels functions, and allows users to operate the computers by tablet. with the latest upgrade, microsoft aims to play catch-up in the rapidly growing tablet computer market.

here are the latest market figures. cradle of culture, economic power house, many enjoy the economic prosperity. but millions are missing out at a time of growing public discontent, members of the communist party are choosing their new leaders, news line correspondents will report from

the party's national congress. halloween is a few months ahead of year end, but one si is already glittering with holiday spirit. a holiday town the sparkling will lights. >> the city's leaders teamed up with companies and artists to put on this electric art showcase. but they're doing it in a very energy efficient way. that's because last year's disaster prompted people to con serve electricity. so the goal here is to combine the most energy efficient new lighting technology with dynamic one of a kind scenery.

the art piece you see behind me, it's created by artists who call themselves mirror bullets. this one uses l.e.d. the cool es part is that it requires audience involvement. it's gigantic egg shaped mirror ball turns on when somebody sits on this bike so with pedal power it gets electricity and changes the do lores. let's take a look at another piece of art. there's also a piece here called b oour ballumination. here's another interactive work of address, when you hold hands one of the exhibit staff, it gives off a glow of their shirt.

the piece is meant to represent the spark people feel when they interact with one another. but this event isn't just about huge lighting displays, it also hases some performances, photo contests, galleries and work ships where people can learn about the latest lighting technologies and these modern art pieces. smart illumination is going to run now until sunday november 4. u.s. entertainment giant walt disney has announced it will purchase the film company owned by "star wars" producer and director george lucas. >> i think it will give me a chance to go off and explore my own interests at the same time, feel completely confident that disney, you know, will take good care of the franchise i've built. >> disney said it will buy lucasfilm for about $4 billion and release the next installment of the "star wars" series, episode 7, in 2015.

it also plans to produce episodes 8 and 9, with lucas as creative consultant in all three films. six episodes of "star wars" appeared between 1977 and 2005. but many fans had given up hope of seeing a new film. lucas expressed his desire to step away from a leading role in the movie industry, saying it's time to pass "star wars" onto a new generation of filmmakers. in addition to creating new installments of the film franchise, disney is expected to produce "star wars" dvds and feature the popular series in its theme parks. religious violence is continuing in buddhists in myanmar. agency says more than 28,000 people have forced out of their homes in the latest wave of fighting.

>> it's clearly -- for aid to be dplifred to those in need. >> the latest outbreak of violence between bud yiss and muslims in the state. the local government says at least 84 people have been killed. the conflict first erupted earlier this year after a group of muslims allegedly assaulted a buddhist woman. the united states is delivering food and supplies to refugees in the area. >> the camp is already hosting most of the 75,000 people who remain displaced from the wave of violence that broke out in june this year with a new influx, these already overcrowded camps are being stretched beyond capacity in terms of space, shelter and basic supplies. meanwhile the associate of

southeast nations -- urging the international community to help myanmar. >> i see a concern of spearhead humanitarian engagement just to help the people to relieve the pressure, to relieve the suffering and the pain and then there are other issues that we are seeing that has to be taken up by the international community, by the global institutions, like the un. >> north korea intends to hold a major event next year to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the the armistice that ended the korean war and maybe using the occasion to improve ties with the u.s.

sources say preparations are under way for a major celebrations in pyongyang on july 27th, the day north korea regards as the anniversary of its victory over the united states. the sources also say the north intends to invite many foreign media, and foreign dignitaries. they expect the north to seize the opportunity to propose that the united states replace the armistice with a peace treaty. north korean leader kim jong-un will likely attend the event to make the proposal himself. this april north korea invited more than 44 media organizations to cover the centenary of the birth of the late north korean leader king il-sung. the people who run japan's only south koreans have celebrated one here years since her birth. the commemorations comes amid a territorial dispute. about 1,200 people attended the event in south korea. the mayor of the place where she was born hoped people will pass on their stories to future generations.

>> i hope she will be loved by people in both japan and korea as a symbol of friendship and good will between the two countries. >> organizationers released a statement calling on the united nations to establish a world orphans day realize a day with no orphans. she was born in 1912, she ran an orphanage. she raised more than 3,000 children there. she died at the age of 56. data thieves are getting more and more innovative in how they steal people's information. police in tokyo have arrested five people on suspicion of creating smartphone applications designed to take data stored in handsets. some say developers need to be more rigorous in how they screen

apps. nhk world reports. >> reporter: users can find software for seemingly endless number of things these days. social networking, photo sharing. data thieves in tokyo created application that resembled existing software for games. they wanted to take advantage of users, and steal personal information. they designed their fraud for smartphones, preying on the android system. users can download the application for free. experts recreated how the app works. when the application is installed, the data in the phones, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, will be transmitted to an outside server. then, this message would pop up. the user would never realize their personal info was in somebody else's hands. the police caught on. they arrested the former

chairman of a tokyo-based i.t. firm and four others. police say the thieves uploaded about 50 applications and collected personal data from about 90,000 smartphones or more than 10 million people in all. >> translator: smartphones are beginning to be used widely in japan. the android operating system is open source, and much easier to manipulate. users are supposed to provide their own security. it appears that japan is finally having to face the same perils the world is battling with. >> reporter: computer security experts say fraudulent apps were first discovered in japan two years ago. they say the number has been on the rise.

175,000 last month. now thousands of users say existing protections are not enough. nhk world, tokyo. we have got another storm to worry about here in asia. a cyclone is impacting southern asia. >> we have a cyclone that has made landfall. it was 1630, so 4:30 local time that it made landfall. it's just starting to weaken off at the moment but we still have a lot of rain to come with this system. i want to start off with showing you what the scene was like after this storm approached earlier on today. this is coming out of chennai where people were bracing for this late-season cyclone across marine beaches.

the waters have been very dangerous. schools were closed and loss of businesses shut down in the area too. people just hunkering down to brace for the storms there. now it is impacting the southeastern coast of india. we're going to be seeing rainfall to the amounts of maybe in excess of 200 millimeters as the rain pushes up the coast here, we're also going to see it affecting the western coast of understooda too. definitely flooding as well as mudslides and landslides as we head into the next couple of days. heading toward the east, we have -- this low here across mongolia is going to bring some very heavy rain with it. we'll see a drop of 10 degrees. thursday's forecast of 5 degrees into saturday is going to be minus 16. so a very quick drop there. and plenty of snow to come with it as well. as for japan, we have a low

movimove movi moving -- the potential for about 100 millimeters of rain, certainly enough to cause some flooding risks and the concerns there. in terms of temperatures, 21 degrees in tokyo, 9 in seoul. we're seeing the low 20s in taipei, hong kong, as well as in chongqing as well as the low 30s in bangkok and manilla. let's check on sand y. i want to give you some ideas of some statistics. parts of maryland, new jersey saw up to 300 millimeters of rain from this storm.

the snow amounted to more than 70 isn't meters and wind gusts to 140 kilometers an hour in new york. thankfully we're not seeing anything like this on wednesday and it will continue to weaken off to the next few days. let's go out to europe where we have a couple of well developed lows. one in the west could see 16 to 18 millimeters of rain with this. so start impacting continental u.s. as well. noover the mediterranean through italy and coming into the balkans on thursday, we're having thunderstorms, you can have short-term heavy rain, that could lead to flash flooding which is very dangerous and also gusts could exceed 100 kilometers an hour. so plenty going on here, temperature-wise it's going to be chilly to north and east. down to the south we're getting into the mid 20s here for 10 to 11 in paris.

we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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