i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. central bank and business leaders from more than 180 countries are gather k here in tokyo. they're attending the meetings of the international monetary fund and the world bank. imf representatives are releasing their latest global economic outlook. they lowered their growth forecast by 0.2 percentage points to 3.3%. the report says economic decline is especially serious in southern european countries despite policies to address the credit crisis. it also points out the european credit uncertainty is slowing growth in developing countries. emerging and developing countries will grow by 5.3%, it se. it says japan and the united states should see 2.2% growth. imf analysts are saying it should is grow to 3.6% next year. but still poses a threat to the global economy. >>> analysts a at the world bank have cut their forecasts for growth in east asia. they say china's slowing economy will have a weakening effect across the region. the bank's latest report projects 7.2% growth this year acros

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thousands of japanese spent restless nights as winds rattled their windows. typhoon jelawat has went across the japanese mainland. people in more than 150,000 households woke up to find they didn't have any power. the storm killed one man in okinawa. he was fishing when a wave washed him away. a man in central japan was trying to save his man from a swollen richb when he disappeared. 176 people have been injured. most of them either blown over by winds or hit by flying objects. the typhoon has passed over the noern coast. the center of the storm is traveling over the soeocean at about 75 kilometers. >>> u.s. military personnel in japan are preparing to fly the osprey aircraft for diplomeploy. they will now transport them to okinawa's air station. personnel plan to deploy the tilt row tar aircraft in october. japanese officials agreed on safety measures to reassure officials with the checkered history. pilots will avoid flying over densely populated areas. they'll also take care when t

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. people in the u.s. northeast are looking out their windows and seeing the blurry images of a storm headed their way. they're facing an onslaught of rain and wind as hurricane sandy pushing inland. two people are missing after a ship sank off north carolina. several municipalities in the storm's path have declared a state of emergency. forecasters say the storm is unusually large. it's expected to cut across new jersey over the next several hours. more than 6,000 houses in the state have already lost electricity. u.s. president barack obama made a direct appeal to people in the hurricane's path. >> the most important message that i have for the public right now is please listen to what your state and local officials are saying. when they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. >> 370,000 new yorkers who live close to the water have left. the wind was so strong it bent the metal on a crane at this construction site. city officials have shet down the transit system. businesses and shops have closed. wo

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. economists at the international monetary fund are seeing risks wherever they look. in the eurozone, in china, in japan, and the united states. they downgraded their forecast for global growth in their latest report released at the opening of the imf and world bank meetings in tokyo. they say nations must take action to safeguard stability and restore confidence. juan madison reports. >> reporter: some of the world's leading economic minds gathered at the tokyo international forum. they opened their meetings with little fanfare and little optimism. >> the world economy recovery continues, but it has weakened further. in advanced economies, growth is now too little to make a substantial dent in unemployment. >> reporter: colleagues cut their forecasts for growth worldwide to 3.3% this year. the recovery has suffered new setbacks, they wrote. and uncertainty weighs heavily on the outlook. >> you can call it a general feeling of uncertainty about the future. worries about the ability of e

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. nato ministers are sticking to a scheduled withdrawal from afghanistan by the end of 2014. the organization is under pressure to pull out early after a string of insider attacks against its troops. defense ministers from nato's 28 member nations met in brus els on wednesday. about 100,000 nato-led soldiers are stationed in afghanistan, mostly from the u.s. some nations want to speed up the pull out of the soldiers. but they confirm no changes to the withdrawal plan. ministers insist military police control an area covering three-quarters of the country's population. they also agree to draw up plans to train to handle the aftermath of the combat troop withdrawal. nato secretary general insisted the schedule is based on objective assessments of the situation in afghanistan. >> it's not because partners rush for the exit. it's not because of lack of cohesion within our coalition. on the contrary. >> but relations between nato-led forces and afghanistan have been strained by insider attac

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. tokyo. thanks for joining us.rums play funky space-rock] ♪ ♪ (jane joyce) wetlands are among the most productive and useful ecosystems on earth. wetlands filter and cleanse water of harmful chemicals, act as storage basins to control flooding and recharge groundwater, and support thousands of species of animals and plants. in the northern great plains, wetland basins called "prairie potholes" are important breeding areas for waterfowl in north america, producing as much as 80% of the continent's total duck population alone. but much of this valuable wildlife habitat has been drained and converted for farms, homes, and roads. today, less than half of the original wetlands in the united states remain. when we convert these rich natural systems to agriculture we lose a lot of biodiversity. we may be down to hundreds instead of many thousands of species. (jane joyce) after centuries of wetland destruction, efforts are underway to preserve and restore these vital ecosystems. (dr. carter johnson)

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us.e'll be back with more updates at the top of the hour. thank you very much for joining us.

i'm catherine kobayashi in >> some of the shoppers are getting down to business of the international monetary fund and the world bank. they're hashing out possible solutions to a myriad of problems. our reporter is there with us again today. it looks a bit busier than what we've seen in the past few days. >> that's right. you can hear more of a buzz rising up from the meetings down below me. bumping into more people in the hallways as well. the lineups for all the information we're gathering here just a bit longer, not to mention the longer lines really getting through security today. the delegates to these meetings have been up in northeastern japan. they were talk about and visiting areas affected by the disaster last year. now they're back and refocused on the problems that they share. >> so what are they saying? >> really the head of the imf today drawing an analogy between the recovery from the disaster and the recovery from the global economic downturn. christine legard talked about the resilience of the japanese people. she's calling for that same type of drive from the world'

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: president obama and mitt romney both appealed to women voters in swing states today, fresh off last night's combative and intensely personal town hall debate. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, how the two men performed, and where the race stands, 20 days out from election day. >> woodruff: plus, ray suarez looks at the charges and counter

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