power cut. millions of indians tried to restore order after suffering through a blackout. india's state-owned utility has fired up power stations and switched the current back on. the electrical grid across half the country collapsed in many areas for a second straight day. nearly 700 million people struggled without power in the heat of the summer. the electricity went out again on tuesday night affecting 20 states and union territories, including the capital new delhi. trains came to a halt. street lights went out.

many areas were paralyzed. the blackout left 200 coal miners trapped underground in west bengal state when elevators failed. all of them were rescued. spokespersons for the power grid say many states have overdrawn electricity. they say that's led to a cut in supply to all areas receiving power from the same grid. the blackout tuesday followed one the day before that hit nine northern states the day befor power outages hit areas from time-to-time. back-to-back outages of this magnitude are unusual. even in power-strapped india. the government and utilities are facing criticism. electricity consumption is rising rapidly. along with india's economic growth. u.s. president barack obama has signed an executive order to expand sanctions on iran. he wants to put pressure on iranian leaders to abandon their nuclear program. the sanctions will be imposed on imports of petrochemical products as well as foreign oil.

financial institutions will be punished even for engaging in indirect transactions with iran's central bank. the sanctions are meant to close loopholes in measures drawn up in late june. in a related move, the u.s. treasury department added iraq's islam's bank and china's bank to the list of organizations banned from dealing with u.s. financial institutions. u.s. officials say those banks have done business with financial institutions in iran. those iranian banks are subject to sanctions for the suspected involvement in development of weapons of mass destruction. u.s. and european sanctions have achieved their intended effect. a decline in exports of iranian oil and a decline in revenues. now leaders in tehran say they should break their dependence on such exports.

supreme leader ayatollah said the reliance on the oil exports is a trap from the 1979 revolution. he urged the iranians to overcome it. mahmoud ahmadinejad said they should move to importing gasoline and other oil products. oil exports account for 70% of national revenue until last year. they have been cut in half by the u.s. and european sanctions. the u.s. defense secretary says egypt's new president is his own man. leon panetta gave his support for muhamed morsi. when they met in cairo. panetta met with morsi, and mohamed hussein tautaui. morsi assumed the presidency in june. panetta is believed to remind morsi to respect the peace treaty with israel. that relationship has been a diplomatic sticking point.

morsi won the presidency as a candidate for the muslim brotherhood. the party takes a tough stance on israel. panetta pledged continued support for the egyptian military up to $1.3 billion a year. but it comes with a condition. egypt must maintain peaceful relations with israel. israeli officials say morsi has sent a letter to his counterpart in israel. he pledged to do his utmost to restart middle east peace talks. the office of israeli president shimon peres said the letter suggests that egypt plans to work toward stability for all people in the region. morsi is the first egyptian president to represent an islamist movement. israelis have been concerned about how relations might change. morsi's letter suggest he's will respect the peace treaty. still, many israelis view morsi with suspicion. he has been holding discussions with leaders of the palestinian islamist group hamas. now the widow of

former palestinian leader yasser arafat has filed a complaint with the french court. it follows a report that he may have been killed by radioactive poisoning. surah arafat asked the court to open an investigation. her petition does not name a suspect. her husband died eight years ago. he was undergoing medical treatment in france at the time. the widow's lawyer said the request is intended to establish the truth and see that justice is done. the french court will decide to whether to open a murder case. al-jazeera television in early july, reawakened suspicions about arafat's death. it reported, a lab in swiss detected plutonium on his clothing. and other belongings. the palestinian authority is considering exhuming arafat's body for an autopsy. he is buried in the west bank city of ramallah. many palestinians believe israel assassinated their late leader.

germany's largest commercial lender, dieutschebank, it was involved in the libor scandal. some employees took part in the rigging of money market interest rates. it was set out to company staff tuesday. the bank denied systematic wrongdoing. it stressed the managers were not part of the fraudulent activities. deutschebank says it will work with authorities tfind out how the group of employees manipulated libor. it will also investigate whether more workers took part. the bank plans to release the results later this year. in june, british bank barclays was ordered to pay more than $400 million in fines for manipulating libor. the discovery in germany comes as financial authorities in europe and the u.s. are probing their bank s to see if they were involved in the rigging scandal.

focus is now on whether the other lenders involved in setting libor will have to pay huge fines or pay compensation. leaders of china's communist party pledged to give priority to stable growth as the country's economy is slowing down. many chinese are said to be more concerned about the flagging domestic economy. senior party members met in beijing on tuesday to discuss economic policy. the president and party leaders noted the debt worries in europe. they said global jitters are making economic growth difficult for china. they agreed to maintain a policy to prevent property prices from surging. the leaders agreed to job start, sluggish economy through bold measures to boost public spending and ease monetary policy farther. and aim to expand domestic demand by developing the service sector. the chinese economy grew 7.6% in april to june quarter from the

same period last year. the growth rate fellow below 8% for the first time in three years. the chinese stock market may become more attractive and get a closer look by foreign investors. the china securities regulatory commission eased regulation for qualified foreign institutional investors to buy into the chinese asian market. the new regulation will simplify the approval process and reduce the requirements for qualified foreign institutional investors. also they can hold 30% of a chinese listed company instead of the current 20% limit. the commission indicates that it aims to further open the chinese capital markets and introduce more long-term foreign funds into the country. the chinese currency regained some momentum this week. it has been sluggish overall since beginning of the year. last week it fell to a ten month

low against the u.s. dollar. what accounts for this dramatic change? where its the currency headed? we asked kevin li, in hong kong, for his assessment. >> to understand the chinese currency cycle, we have to look at the u.s. dollar, it is linked to the dollar. when the dollar was weak, during 2010 and '11, that jgenerated a lot of inflation for china. so, at that time, it had to rise in order to cope with the import inflation pressures. >> the chinese government eased controls on the currency in june, 2010. that led to a period of renewed appreciation against the u.s. dollar. but that trend of a stronger currency was reversed this year.

the currency depreciated by 1.4% as of last friday. compared to final trading day last year. the weak domestic economy is not the only cause of the currency's depreciati depreciation. the economic situation beyond china's borders another reason. >> prices have come down. so import inflation is not that serious anymore. so that can allow policymakers to be more relaxed. and allow them to -- to weaken the currency, in order to protect exports and growth. so, in any time we think the -- the currency will be soft, before getting stronger again, later this year and, next year.

>> what other are the prospects in the medium term? it all depends on the dollar. >> if the dollar stays at the current levels for the next, six to 12 months. then i think there isn't much room for the currency to weaken. in fact, from a structural perspective, the currency should actually be stronger. because for, you know, first awful, because of the relative positivity in china, also because of the need to rebalance the economy. >> that was kevin lai, an economist in hong kong. japanese children are making

a contribution. youngsters painted pictures of their hometown hit by the tsunami last year. their work, simple but evocative, harm nilonized with "living ocean." as visitors wait to enter japan's pavilion, they admire paintings by japanese children. the young artists come from japan. the tsunami tore through their city in march 2011. the theme of the pictures is the future of the city. with their sure touch, artist dez pe depict how they see the people and their city. >> translator: the pictures show the children's innocence. i hope their lives quickly return to normal.

>> translator: i hope the kids can hang in. the ship, the hamayuri. the tsunami left the hamayuri atop a building, creating an icon of the wave's awesome force. the fifth grade er attends class at a temporary school. as an artist, yuki shows promise. he submitted his painting to an art competition organized by unesco. >> i'm happy and excited that my painting is an exhibit at such a big event.

but here is where we see his creativity, the hamayuri in the painting is not the one washed up by the building. he remembers sailing on it during a school field trip when he was in the third grade. the young artist has turned an icon of the disaster in a memento of happier days. >> i had a good time talking to my friends and looking at the nice scenery and ocean. i painted the picture because i wanted to ride the hamayuri again. yuki's family lost their house in the tsunami. and moved to temporary housing near tokyo. the family of four are back in their home town. they have been living in

temporary quarters there since last october. yuki says he wanted to be back with his father and friends. >> translator: when the tsunami came, the sea floor was visible. i saw the bottom of the sea. >> but yuki says he wants to work with other residents to rebuild his hometown. >> translator: i just want to go to school feeling great and play and study with my friends. i want to help to rebuild.

>> reporter: the children are doing this by rebuilding city spirit. every picture the children painted depicts their love for their hometown and their hopes for its future. ♪ and visitors to the pavilion can view the children's pictures up to the expo's closing date, august 12. the mayor has released the draft of a peace declaration and policy outline he will deliver at the ceremony on august 9th. the date marks the anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of the city. in the draft, the mayor called on the international community to solve the issue of

radioactive waste from nuclear power generation. >> translator: i will deliver the declaration with the strong wish that more people join international calls for a nuclear free world. >> the declaration will include a message from the people of g nagasaki to those who live in the aftermath of the nuclear accident. now the world's tallest tower has welcomed its 1 millionth visitor, the skytree inn. th the skytree's operator celebrated. the lucky guests a family who came to the tower for the first time on their summer vacation. >> translator: i have always wanted to go up the world's tallest tower. which is now taller than the

tokyo tower. so i am overjoyed to be here. >> the operators say they predicted the one millionth visitor would arrive in early august. it turned out they were right. the skytree opened in may. tower and surrounding shopping district have attracted more than 10 million visitors. nearly double the expected turnout. many of the visitors spent their time up there snapping pictures. others are taking photographs from all around the skytree. one photographer, with his view finder he has been waiting for, for years. >> reporter: professional photographers, serious amateurs and snapshot seeking tourists can't get enough of the world's tallest broadcast tower. millions have been making the pilgrimage to the newest landmark. for this man, the structure

represents four years of his life. he started taking picture as a hobby 18 years ago. since then, the tower has rarely been out of his sights or view finder. he has been watching the development since construction started. more than 10,000 photos later, he's still not done. >> translator: the shot differs hour by hour. at sunrise, sky tree takes on an orange glow. at night, its lit up. it's always captivating. >> reporter: his devotion to the tower is single-minded, but he is more passionate about another subject. fireworks. he set a goal for himself to capture pyrotechnics. in as many places as possible. this summer, his infatuations came into alignment. >> translator: the summer

fireworks will be right next to it. i want to capture them in the same frame. >> reporter: the fireworks will be launched west of the tower. he decides on two locations where the co-stars of the show would complement one another. >> translator: the fireworks and lights of skytree give off different glows. that means i have to properly adjust the settings on my camera. >> reporter: location a had some drawbacks. >> translator: the trees are in the way. i could shoot from here, but it's not ideal. >> reporter: so the inspection continued to location b. >> translator: from here, i think i can get the sky tree, the bridge in front of it and the fireworks all in one frame.

those are good elements for a scenic shot. this is the place. >> reporter: he hopes this will be the winning shot. on the day of the show, hundreds and thousands of people arrived to claim their spots hours before the sun went down. he stakes a claim to his position. at 7:00 p.m., just as the first fireworks are launched, a storm of camera clicks on the ground rivalled the sounds coming from the sky. halfway into the show, he had yet to get the shot he wanted. each explosion became a

make-or-break moment. mission accomplished. >> translator: i'm happy i was able to shoot this first collaboration of the illuminated sky tree and the fireworks festival. this is not the last time. i'll be back. >> reporter: houma got what he came for. a portrait of modernity and tradition. one he can be satisfied with until next year. all right. over in the skies of the western pacific, a couple of strong storms bringing rough conditions.

let's get the latest from rachel ferguson and her weather forecast. >> welcome, yes we, have two storms in the western pacific. this one is a large typhoon. southern china, taiwan, into no the northern parts of the philippines. sustained winds at 126 kilometers an hour, gusts at 180. the system is inching ever closer to taiwan where it is expected to make landfall on thursday. but it is moving very slowly. which means the effects of the storm have the been ongoing in pretty much the same area. you will remember that we were reporting on flooding in the northern philippines from this system. well, there has also been flooding now in taiwan if i want to show you some of the video coming out of northeastern taiwan. already. we have been having reports of

880 millimeters of rain roar red since monday on northeastern portions of the island. resulted in flooding, landslides. mudslides. several cars trapped in the water. now officials say fearly 50,000 soldiers are on stand by to meet any disaster relief necessities. to be honest, i think they're going to be called the in. bah the si because the situation is likely to worsen before it get beltett. continuing its track north. in terms of the rainfall. you can expect another half meter of ran for northern taiwan into the next three days. definitely we can see a good potential for exacerbating the flooding situation. and more mudslides and landslides. to the north, you are going to be noticing. we have got this band of rain here. this is coming off a severe tropical storm, and this one is just getting ready to make landfall, damrey, in southern

japan, should be happening wednesday afternoon, local time. in the next few hours. as the system becomes close, the waves will become tall, along the pacific edge of the country. then after making landfall, looks like it is going to be heading into the yellow sea where it should start to weaken off. we'll be keeping a close eye on the two systems into the next -- couple of hours, certainly, and beyond. i want to take you next to -- north america. where it has been very unsettled throughout the east. severe storms to watch, just one here, along the u.s./canada border. then another one over the midwest. illinois, a couple reports of tornados touching down. that is actually all going to settle down into wednesday, daytime. so, seeing the severe storms, abating. but what will be left over is

that heat and just doesn't seem to go anywhere. southern plains, dealing with extreme heat conditions. oklahoma city, 43 degrees. that is not going to up prove by very much into friday. only coming down to about 39 degrees. other major cities in southern plains will also be suffering under the heat wave. all right, last, but not least, let's go to london to steep what -- see what is in store for olympic weather. 24 degrees. not too bad. it is going to be showery and overcast. thursday, friday, 20 degrees. starting to see sunshine coming through. should have some good spells on friday. here is your extended forecast. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. we'll be back with more news at the top of the hour, do join us then.

thank you very much for watching.