hello there and welcome to "newsline." it's thursday, november 6th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the u.s. midterm election results have transformed the political dynamic in washington. republicans have won a majority in the senate. they now have control of both chambers of congress for the first time in eight years. voters cast pal lots for 36 of the senate's 100 seats. republicans will hold a majority of at least 52 but a runoff in louisiana means the count won't be known until next month. all 435 seats in the house of representatives were being contested. republicans expanded their

majority with 243 seats. republicans fiercely criticized president barack obama for what they called poor handling of islamic state militants and the ebola outbreak. he told voters he got their message. >> obviously, republicans had a good night and they deserve credit for running good campaigns. i'm eager to work with the new congress to make the next two years as productive as possible. i am committed to making sure that i measure ideas not by whether they are from democrats or republicans, but whether they work for the american people. >> obama said there are several things he wants to discuss in the coming few weeks. they include the ebola outbreak and the response to the islamic state militant group and the federal budget, that expires in mid-december. obama also says he will exercise a veto on some bills he cannot accept and he will use his presidential power to push forward immigration reforms.

experts say obama may find it difficult to carry out his policies with the republicans in power. tell us how will the president navigate what will likely be difficult two-year term? >> the next two years won't be easy. president obama says he's eager the to work with the senate congress. and mcconnell warned he will work to pass bills obama won't like. obama knows he may be forced to use his veto power. he also said he would use his executive authority to push forward immigration reform. all of this means a periodly continue. throughout the campaign, many voters told me how frustrated they are with the dysfunctional congress. if republicans and democrats fail to work together, the

frustration will grow. >> how will the changes in congress affect obama's foreign policy on asia, or in japan, in particular? >> when it comes to japan's relations, it shouldn't change. they met wednesday at the white house with the senior director for asian affairs on the national security council. he said the election result will not affect the japan-u.s. alliance. one expert i spoke to says having the republicans in control of congress may have a positive impact on issues involving japan. for example, the transpacific partnership. the tpp is a proposed free trade agreement involving a dozen asian-pacific nations. the negotiations have not made much progress in part because a significant number of democrats want to protect the youth market.

here's what thomas mann at the brookings institution says. >> the the president's trade negotiating authority, the so-called fast track procedure would be reauthorized. if the republicans decide to do that and if in principle believe it, but if they do it, i think that would increase the likelihood of the tpp. >> on the other hand, they say republicans may demand a higher level of trade in the tpp negotiations, such as the total elimination of tariffs. japan would be against that. as would some asian nations. well, investors are happy tw the results. they think the gop majority in the house and senate will be good for the market. ai uchida is joining us at the

business table. >> well, republicans are in favor of less regulations. they want company executives to be able to make decisions more freely. investors think this business environment is good for the stock market. on wall street the dow jones industrial average rose to a record high and closed up by 100 points. investors are hopeful executives will be free to do what's best for theirs business. that would lead to stronger earnings and higher stock prices. better than expected job data also helped boost overnight share prices. the buying momentum is spreading to tokyo. the nikkei is a stronger dollar increases those companies profits in yen

terms. and the dollar is trending higher, hitting a four-year high against other major currencies. against the yen it's at seven-year highs. analysts believe the mid-term election results and better than expected job numbers will support u.s. economic growth. the euro remains under selling pressure. people who track the markets say they may stay ahead of today's market meeting. south korea's kospi is trading lower and the australia the bempl is trading lower by a tenth of a percent. higher stock prices in japan are boosting people's wealth. japanese households have seen their financial assets go up by 0.7% from last year. the panning of japan surveyed households between mid-june and late july. nearly 4,000 households

responded. bank officials say 70% of respondents possess assets. they own $9,300 more than they own last year. the average japanese household, including people who don't own anything, hold $103,000 in assets. that's an increase of $7,000. many households attributed the increase to rises in regular income amid improving employment and stock prices have boosted the appraised value of their assets. a growing number of people are placing higher priority on profitability when assembling asset port foals. officials at a major japanese bank plan to start using a computer system to speed up service. the computer is equipped with artificial intelligence that's capable of assessing conversations. this bank will be one of the

first in the world to introduce such a system. >> the system is based on ibm's artificial intelligence watson. it will go into effect next year. watson will monitor television conversations between operators and customers. bank operators have difficulties finding proper instructions in the huge data base. the officials say the new system will help them respond more quickly. >> translator: the system will enable us to shorten the time doing the search, so we can speed up our responses. also, the responses will be more adequate and accurate. >> another major bank in japan also plans to introduce the system.

that's the latest in business for this hour. i'll leave you with a check on markets. a russian senior official has criticized ja fan for joining western countries and imposing saxs to the situation in ukraine. the speakerer's lower house is an aide to vladimir putin. putin and japan's prime minister are expected to talk on the

sidelines of the apex summit in beijing next week. >> translator: japan is an important country and a good partner for russia in the fields of economy, trade and cultural exchanges. >> but he expressed frustration with the recent sanctions japan imposed against russia. tropical storm as a strong country, japan should be able to have a more independent diplomacy and should not succumb to pressure from the u.s. and other countries. >> naryskin refused to russia's universal annexation of crimea. he says he has no intention of reconsidering the annexation. putin blamed japan for an ongoing diplomatic impasse between the two countries. he says japan has frozen all levels of diplomatic contact

with russia and it was his choice. asahi shimbun says he'll take responsibility for reporting. the articles were based on false accounts. sources say kimura posted notice about his resignation on the paper's in-house website that gave details about changes in management set to be inaugurated early next month. in august they retracted some of its articles published in the '80s and '90s on people referred to as comfort women. some experts voiced concerns about whether they will succeed. >> translator: singapore, a driving force, had high hopes the deal would expand regional trade. but the slow progress of the the talks is creating a sense of crisis. >> if we don't fulfill it this

year, it you will be running into the the american presidential elections in two years' time, and i think that further delays of an indefinite nature, and you will lose a lot. >> reporter: experts on economic partnership from southeast asian partnerships on u.s. and japan recently gathered in singapore for a symposium. some participants said the tpp negotiations could fail. >> the impression i get is that we are going to miss that deadline again. some said the tpp might actually be dead if they cannot get a conclusion by november. it might then suddenly just fade away and never happen. that's a possibility also. >> reporter: not everyone is eager to reach a quick agreement. he subbed as a prime minister of malaysia for 22 years. in july, he published a book titled tpp malaysia is not for sale. super powers are again trying to take control of malaysia and this time not through war, but

through economics. >> reporter: people in malaysia responded sharply when the u.s. demanded that the malaysian government scale back preferential treatments for the country's many state owned firms. experts believe malaysia will not change its policies for the the negotiations now that chi naz has overtaken the united states as the largest trade partner. >> china's role as a major trading partner in malaysia has increased. the government economic strategy is also not 100% relying on tpp, i think. it's not a disaster from the

economic point of view if this doesn't take off, i think. >> leaders in china are watching the tpp negotiations closely. a government-sponsored reset institute sent it to the an expert to the singapore meeting. >> tried making a new role in international trade investment. >> and maybe we should keep a close eye on it and then we prepare the form. >> reporter: 16 countries, including asean nations, china, japan and australia, are involved in separate talks to create a free trade bloc in the asia-pacific region. this initiative is called the regional comprehensive economic partnership. or rcep. a delay in the tpp negotiations could help china's bid to promote rcep which doesn't include the united states. >> tpp is saying it won't last

long, so we have time to prepare. >> reporter: the tpp negotiations are entering a critical phase ahead of next week's apec summit. the outcome could provide insight into whether a deal is within reach. takumi yoshioka, nhk world, singapore. students at a high school in western japan are putting what they've learned into practice. they're drawing on their recently acquired product development skills to help raise funds for a school in cambodia. tensions are high in israel. the situation became more strained after a palestinian man drove his car into a group of pedestrians. the violence broke out at a holy sight in jerusalem's old city. israeli security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse scores of masked palestinians. two palestinians were seriously

wounded. the compound is known to jews as temple mount. the clash ruz triggered when some jews tried to enter the mosque. later in the day a palestinian rammed his car into a crowd of pedestrians in jerusalem. media reports say the driver was shot and killed by israeli security police shortly after he got out of the car holding a metal bar. last month a similar car attack by a palestinian in the city killed two people. the driver was shot dead by police. japan's coast guard is keeping an eye on chinese boats suspected of poaching coral from around japan's pacific islands. it's urging them to stay away from local ports as it could seek refuge from a an approaching typhoon. coast guard officials on monday

spotted more than 200 ships near the izu islands. they're believed to be illegally gathering coral, which fetches high prices in china. with th with typhoon nuri approaching the area, chinese residents are worried the boats may enter their ports and the crews may land on the islands. the coast guard says as of wednesday most boats were outside of japanese waters, more than 22 kilometers southeast of ogasawara islands. but 13 ships were still in japanese waters. the coast guard has deployed vessels near the ports to keep them away. it says no boats have so far been seen approaching the ports. it says it will stop any vessels to prevent the crews from landing. the president of the japanese newspaper asahi shimbun says he'll take responsibility for two cases of misreports and will resign later this month.

his papers retracted articles based on false accounts. sources say he posted notice of his resignation on the website. in august shimbun retracted some of the articles publisheded in the '80s and '90s as people referred to as comfort women. editors admitted they were based on one man's false accounts. in september the paper wrote an apology about an article from may featuring accounts of the chief of daiichi. the paper said they misrepresented the facts. the ornlal report said 90% of the plant's workers defied the chiefs orders and fled during the 2011 nuclear accident. at a news conference in september he said he's aware of his responsibility as the head of the company. he says he'll step down after he set up a road map for reforming the paper. third party panels are now assessing how the two sets of

articles were compiled. >> students at a high school in western japan are putting what they learned into practice. they're drawing on their recently acquired product development skills to help raise funds for a school in cambodia. >> reporter: students from japan and cambodia working side by side. they're selling a new sweet they developed at a shopping center in phnom penh. >> translator: they came out really well. i think they'll sell. >> reporter: it's a manju, a kind of dumpling popular with japan, but with a cambodian accent. the design of the labels reflects the connection between the two countries. the cambodia-japan friendship school was set up 15 years ago. it has about 1,200 students between 12 and 18, but it's short of funds. the school can't buy enough

equipment or hire enough teachers. when students at tokoshima commercial high school heard about the situation, they decided to raise money. they used skills they've been learning in class. they study product development as part of the curriculum, working with students at the cambodian school they came up with a manju, filled with ingredients popular in cambodia such as banana and coconut milk. they held a test run for their product in july at a shopping center in phnom penh. three students from tokoshima were there to take part. finally after all their work to prepare the manju they'll find out if they are a success. >> translator: it's perfect. just the right level of sweetness. >> translator: it's so good, you could sell it anywhere in the

world. as a cambodian, i'm right behind this project. >> reporter: they sell the manju for about 30 cents a piece. they've made 500 of them and they sell out in five hours. >> translator: the support these japanese students are offering through this project will help our school. we've worked all out on this so i'm confident we'll be successful. the next step is to launch the manju commercially. an internet hookup helps the two sets of students work on final details as they prepare to put it on the market. a key point is what name they'll use when selling the manju in japan. >> we haven't made a decision yet, but one of our best ideas is friendju. friendship manju, that's the idea underpinning this project. the students also discuss marketing ideas and their target

clientele. >> translator: i will work as hard as it takes to make this succeed. i hope these manju will put the school on the map and we can raise funds for it. two schools. two cultures and a sweet link between them. the manju will be launched in december at a trade fair in phnom penh. then they'll go and sell in japan as well as cambodia. >> it's time now for a check of the weather. as we've been reporting, a typhoon is affecti ining island in the pacific south of tokyo. mai shoji is joining us with the

weather. >> no matter the intensity, it's packing gusts of 96 kilometers per hour. it's now located west and will be passing over the islands today. burr the afternoon hours it's likely to become a strong -- severe i should say, severe tropical storm status and then become a low-pressure system by this evening. the gusts will be 126-mile-per-hour. and also the waves are still going to be very high. nine meters in the center of the system. and on the way out towards the izu islands, 4 to 5 meters. the pacific side will see three to four meters high waves. these areas you don't want to venture in water. it's also pushing with stationary boundaries. so we're likely to see the wet weather. and tomorrow a low pressure system will be bringing wet

weather. it will be an off and off wet event across japan. torrents of rainfall already starting this year. the level of rainfall has exceeded the yearly average in and around myanmar. and on top of the rainfall that we have already seen in the low pressure system. 32 degrees is what we're looking at the forecast with a chance of thunderstorms. manila same thing. now look here across the the u.s. the ex-hurricane if you can control traveled over mexico. and now it was affecting texas.

we have a report of 83 millimeters in san antonio. with the severe flooding that has been occurring in some locations already. in and around houston. 100 centimeters of rainfall over the next few days. rain will travel across the new england states and due to the cold front that will swing across the areas the temperatures will drop dramatically. a huge drop here from washington, d.c. from 18 degrees on thursday down to just 10 on saturdays. that's below your average. now here across europe, severe flooding is coursing through italy. and that's likely to be addeded with additional rainfall. it's a surge of the moisture from the south, and this system is quite potent. it has a history of producing two tornado touchdowns. less chance of torrents but strong gusts and heavy

precipitation will pound italy, and the snowfall will not be helping due to the higher risk for landslides. the heavy bulk of it will be in austria with up to 200 millimeters of additional rainfall. vienna with rain at 10 degrees. take a look at eastern locations of europe. i'll leave you now with our extendeded forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for staying with us. xnóx

today's "asian voices" is brought to you from bhutan. we'll explore the charms of traditional bhutanes culture. the himalayan area of bhutan which is often called the land of happiness. the country has developed its own culture, influenced by tibetan buddhism. one examps