here in japan, it's a tuesday night. welcome to "newsline." here are some of the stories we're following this hour. voters in the united states are heading to the polling stations to choose their next senators, congressmen and governors. investors have pushed the nikkei to its highest level in seven years. and the people who run some of the world's biggest video

game companies are squaring off to try to win over shoppers. voters in the united states are heading to the polls to cast their ballots in the mid-term elections. members of president obama's campaigning party have been campaigning hard. 36 of the senate's 100 seats are up for grabs. voters in 36 states will choose their next governor. analysts say obama's low approval rating poses a challenge for democratic candidates. obama had a 68% approval rating in his first six days in office. but it has fallen steadily. he was reelected in 2012, but his rating has remaining below 45% since october last year. republicans have questioned

obama's leadership and his responses to the islamic state militants and the ebola outbreak. the republicans are expected to strengthen their control in the house. they might also take the senate. candidates in some of the most competitive races have crossed their states in last-ditch campaigning. one of them is in arkansas. >> reporter: paul cotton, the republican candidate for senate is leading his democratic rival in the polls. cotton is using his experience as a combat veteran to reach voters. he fought in both iraq and afghanistan and is critical of the white house's foreign policy record. >> if you're ready to send a message that we don't want his foreign policy of weakness then

it's time to retire mark pryor. >> cotton has been a harsh critic. >> in the middle east, radical terrorists are on the march, beheading americans. president obama admits he underestimated them. >> reporter: he said during obama's initial years in office, he had high hopes for the president. but he's become dissatisfied with obama's response to the conflict in iraq and syria. he is proud of his own record of service to his country. he was deployed as a soldier to vietnam and the middle east. he thinks the obama administration is not displaying strong leadership globally. >> he's got to make the tough decisions.

when to go to war. we don't have any hope. the world doesn't respect us like it did in the past. >> reporter: democratic party leaders are doing what they can to hold on. the incumbent is reminding voters of his achievements during 12 years in office. he tells them he's worked hard to protect farmers and improve living standards for the middle class. >> i love you, i appreciate you. you know every single day i'm going to be working for you in washington. >> reporter: home of president clinton appeared with pryor, not president obama. clinton left office 13 years ago. but he's still very popular in his home state. before becoming president, he was governor of arkansas. >> these people could be right out of corral casting for what

you say you like, for the america you say you want, and you ought to give it to them on election day. thank you, god bless you. >> reporter: the two senate candidates went head to head in a televised debate. cotton criticized obama for falling short in the battle against ebola. but pryor had the rebuttal. >> clearly, he's running against one man, but i'm running for 3 million in arkansas. >> reporter: people are describing the midterm elections as a referendum on the president's leadership. the outcome in states like arkansas could impact obama's final two years in office. by tipping the balance of power in washington.

nhk world. investors are facing up to a new normal policymakers at the bank of japan say they'll keep pumping money into the economy. ron, what have you got for us? >> they fired up another round of quantitative easing. they are determined to put the japanese economy back on track. with pension funds set to increase holdings, investors are looking ahead and adjusting their positions. tokyo stocks rose for the fourth straight day. the nikkei did pull back a little. the u.s. currency still at a seven-year high. people will be looking to see whether the dollar can top 114 yen again. for insight into how markets have responded, i spoke with the

senior common mist. i started by asking him whether this can be sustained. >> well, after the surprise decision by the bank of japan, we had two days of fireworks. what's the overall pogcy stance for the rest of the year. the overall market stance seems to be positive right now. >> if we see what happened the day before, we saw the u.s. central bank tighten policy a bit. going forward, what impact will this have on the yen do you think? >> this has a very strong impact for the rest of the year. what we have seen so far is a stronger dollar from the summer. the federal reserve bank was gradually tightening policy. now we see the bank of japan is

doubling up and going towards a more expansion policy. >> okay. now the weaker yen will be a boon to the exporters. do you see the effects spilling over to the domestic economy. >> it was just barely bottoming out other the summer. we still had the sales tax hike impact before, and now the economy was looking in which direction to go. of course, the exporters are the first to move if they can. they have improving asian markets right now. so they are the ones who are usually driving the economy the most first and now they're starting to invest quite a bit more in the domestic economy. >> we've been seeing surprises with the levels we've been seeing on the foreign currency

rates. in particular dollar/yen. really got a big surprise with that. we're already at around 113. where do you see us by year's end? >> it is possible of course. they have this attitude of overshooting. it's quite possible the yen is becoming quite a bit weaker. i wouldn't expect it that much however. the economy is now getting quite strong. given the strength of the japanese economy and its corporation, the yen should actually will stronger than 110. so i wouldn't expect the yen to overshoot too much in that direction. >> the boj is saying it is committed to stimulus until the inflation rate can be sustained. how difficult will it be to exit from this policy and do you see risk to the economy? >> well, the exit will be

difficult in the future and there are certainly risks. the bank of japan's job is still getting to its target, achieving it as fast as possible. we don't expect the inflation rate to hit 2% already next year. so it's still about moving the economy and getting inflation expectations into the economy. that is the main task for this year, next year. >> members of a government panel are hearing what experts have to say about raising the consumption tax. they are giving their take on the planned increase as well as sharing their outlook on the japanese economy. abe will take their views into account when he decides whether to raise the rate in october of next year. >> translator: our population is rapidly aging and the birthrate is low. we need to increase the tax on

schedule. >> translator: the consumption tax hike in april has been weighing down on households like a body blow. >> the panel will hear from a total of 45 people in five meetings this month. welfare minister asked a team of experts to come up with ways to strengthen investment risk control at the pension fund. the team was formed by the government pension investment fund last week. it adopted a new investment strategy. they have assets worth more than $1.1 trillion. it calls on managers to raise the ratio of domestic and foreign stocks in its portfolio. managers will reduce the amount of domestic bond holdings. the minister says reforming the fund is one of the most important parts of prime minister abe's growth strategy.

>> translator: it should procedure in parallel. >> some people propose setting up a board comprising several members to make policy decisions for the funds. one of the experts says there's need for such a system. the government is planning to introduce a reform bill in next year's ordinary session. japanese and u.s. negotiators are trying to bridge the gap in talks. they want to have something to show for their eithers before ministers meet this weekend. the negotiators discussed revising japan's vehicle safety standards to expand u.s. auto exports to japan. they also talked about how and when the u.s. could raise tariffs temporarily. they said negotiators made some progress, but he says difficulties remain.

>> translator: in principle, japan cannot sell out to the u.s. on safety and environmental standards. >> the minister in charge hopes japan and the u.s. can make progress toward a broad agreement. >> translator: if japan and the united states can overcome the political hurdles between them, then other bilateral issues between various tpp participants could be resolved. >> he suggests he may meet u.s. trade representative on the sidelines of tpp talks on saturday in beijing. the negotiations are scheduled to take place during the economic cooperation forum. they are discussing the possibility offsetting up a meeting of leaders while they're in beijing. but a white house spokesperson isn't optimistic.

>> i do not anticipate that there will be a significant breakthrough in trade talks while the president's traveling in asia. >> president obama has told him to keep trying to reach a deal. that is going to do it for biz tonight. let's get a check of the markets. japanese officials are growing concerned about the act activities of chinese fishing

boats near islands south of tokyo. they want to prevent the chinese crews from poaching coral and to top them from making landfall in the face of an approaching typhoon. they've spotted dozens of chinese boats in recent weeks. they believe the crews are searching for coral which can be sold for high prices in china. >> translator: the coast guard has deployed additional patrol boats around the islands and the crews are on heightened alert. they'll tighten up monitoring and urge any foreign ships conducting illegal operations to leave the area before the typhoon arrives. >> transport minister warned against the boats seeking shelter at ports in the area. he said coast guard personnel

would be authorized to inspect the vessels and forbid the crews from landing. >> translator: the japanese government has repeatedly ask china to take action against the activities of these fishing boats. the chinese government has acknowledged the gravity of the situation. we will ask china to carry out an appropriate and effective response. >> translator: in principle, the coast guard and police should deal with the matter. but if the situation forces us to respond, the defense ministry may start to consider the possibility. >> the defense minister said the self-defense forces have no plans to get involved in the situation as it stands now. the chinese government is about to start cracking down on

polluters. it's introducing stricter punishments that will go into effect in the new year. japanese manufacturers see an opportunity. they hope their products will attract the interest of companies in china. some 2,000 exhibitors are showing their latest technologies at a fair in shanghai. one firm has unveiled equipment that filters pollutants from factory emissions. >> translator: i came by to see japan's advanced technologies. >> we want to help japanese companies win part of the market in china with their high-level technologies. >> air pollution in beijing has

become a major health problem. last month, the average density was 16 times the limit set by the world health organization. some video game makers are eyeing the chinese market to sell their latest products. they've seen a 14-year ban on the sale of game consoles lifted. they're now rolling up their sleeves and playing a little rougher to win shoppers. >> reporter: midnight in shanghai, excited customers line up at an electronics store. they are waiting to buy a new gaming console that has just been launched by u.s. it giant

microsoft. >> the price doesn't matter when it comes to a game console. >> translator: i'm so excited. i won't be able to sleep tonight. >> reporter: until recently, this event would have been illegal. the government just lifted a ban on the sale of game consoles. one survey shows nearly 500 million game in the country. >> translator: what's important here is that this is the first authorized sale. we think game consoles have a bright future in china. >> reporter: a promising business. but in china, not everything is as it seems. the government banned console sales back in 2000. official labeled gaming as a

social problem calling it a bad influence on the healthy growth of children. but the sales ban existed in name only with this electronic shop, the embargo was lifted. we found shelves backed with the latest console models from microsoft alongside japanese makers nintendo and sony. they have been smuggled into china without going through customs. this man has been an avid game

fan since he was in elementary school. despite the government ban, he had no trouble getting hold of consoles and software. the game software are available on the internet. millions of chinese can download popular titles and enjoy them. and it's all free. >> translator: lifting the ban doesn't make any difference to us. game fans don't have to wait for any official approval. they are also playing with smuggled or pirated consoles. >> reporter: that reality could post a major challenge for foreign makers. they're now entering a market filled with smuggled consoles and knock-off. to combat this, they are stressing the benefits of buying authorized products.

microsoft is offering a two-year repair guarantee, a benefit that smuggled consoles don't carry. the company is also blocking game software taylod exclusively for the chinese market. only authorized consoles can use the software. china's market would seem to offer huge potential, but here on "newsline," now time for weather. he have rainfall in south america leads to serious flooding problems. we're here with the details. how bad is the situation? >> we're talking about some major problems. not only is it flooding and causing roadways to be closed off, we're also talking about

mud slides. typically in south america, we are concerned about downpours toward the northern portions of the continent. every once in a while, in the south, we have these severe storms that pop up. we're going to start in central peru. local schools and more than 100 homes were damaged. students were forced onto chairs in flooded classrooms. mudslides cut off highways in the largely rural area. now let's go to arrest agagenti. more than 122 millimeters of rain fell over the past few days. residents had to wade through knee-deep water. you can see the trucks rolling through the area because of the rainfall and flooding in the streets. i think we're going to see a

little bit of a break. again, this doesn't occur very frequently, but when it does, it comes in very short spurts. i think we're going to see a real dry forecast as we go through the next few days. further up north now where a hurricane is weakening and moving toward the north-northeast. it is vergely going to impact portions of the western side of mexico, but it is going to get weaker as it gets closer. becoming a tropical storm on wednesday. landing sometime between wednesday and thursday. now the forecast in north america also a bit wet for areas from chicago down into texas and oklahoma because we had this cold front with colder air forcing up against the warm air. because of that, we're looking at the possibility of flash flooding down towards the south. everywhere else, expecting dry conditions. highs near 20 degrees.

by the way in the u.s., it's election day. it's going to be wet if you're headed to the polls. over in the mountains, dry conditions in the rockies and wet in the pacific northwest. here's a look at the forecast for europe. we're seeing high pressure controlling the eastern side of the continent. you can see the spin associated with this low. that is moving on shore bringing plenty of rainfall for the western side of the continent. also expecting another low to bring snow showers into the northern portions of finland, sweden and norway. wet for paris and back toward the east, dry and sunny conditions. we're keeping an eye on this typhoon as it continues to get closer and closer to japan. i don't think it's going to directly impact the main island, but it's going to effect the islands as we go into thursday.

i still think it's going to be a very strong typhoon. out towards sea as we go into the weekend. for those of us in tokyo, i think we're going to see increased cloud cover for wednesday. the high is going to prove the rain from really coming until thursday. that's when it's going to be quite wet. high pressure controlling the eastern side of china. air quality into beijing wednesday. he's your extended outlook.

and that was this hour's news and weather. "newsline" returns at the top of the hour. stay with us. more to come here on nhk world. ñ

>> these are the headlines. the pivotal return u.s. election is underway. it could change the balance of power halfway through the president's second term. analysts say the republicans could win a majority. hundreds of thousands of shiite pilgrims have to the iraqi shrine city of karbala. they are braving the threat of the jihadist attack to mark one of the holiest days of their faith. and ukraine plus rebel leader is sworn in as the separatist region in the east, this is the president holds top level security meeting in the wake