him. >> sreenivasan: keiko was the iconic killer whale that starred in the movie “free willy.”sed into the waters off norway in 2002 but died alone a year later of pneumonia. >> and unfortunately this didn't have the hollywood happy ending where free willy jumped over the wall and lived happily ever after. >> sreenivasan: noaa's decision on lolita's status is expected by the end of this month. >> srennivasan: before we leave you tonight, new york city and several northeastern states are bracing for a potentially historic blizzard. this map projecting snowfall amounts of two to three feet in the new york metropolitan area was published this afternoon by the national weather service. the snowiest day on record in new york city was just more than two feet 26.9 inches in february of 2006. very heavy snowfall is also expected in eastern pennsylvania southern new jersey connecticut, rhode island massachusetts, new hampshire and maine. forecasters are also warning of high winds and potential power outages. the storm is expected to begin tomorrow night. we'll have much more about this

i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. first a look at the headlines. >>> president barack obama has proposed new cybersecurity measures calling the hackings of sony pictures and the u.s. central command an urgent and growing danger. >>> editors at "charlie hebdo" are publishing another cartoon of the prophet muhammad in defiance of last week's violence. >>> and the world's biggest economy is moving to tighten its monetary policy this year. we hear from an expert about the timing and its impact. >>> u.s. president barack obama is making a move to try to counter cyberattacks. he's announced new security measures following the recent hacking of sony pictures and the u.s. central command. he says the incidents are reminders of serious threats facing the country. >> we saw the hack of a military twitter account and youtube channel. no military operations were impacted. so far it appears that no classified information was released, but the investigation is ongoing and it's a reminder that cyber threats are an urgent and growing

keiko yamamoto, nhk world. >>> north korea's ambassador also took the chance to urge the u.s. to stop its annual joint military drills with south korea. he said if they do north korea will suspend its nuclear tests. ahn was repeating a message pyongyang sent to washington last week. he suggested the move could improve interkorean relations. he said if the u.s. calls off the drills many things would be possible in the korean peninsula this year. the u.s. has already rejected the proposal. ahn did not say whether north korea will go ahead with a nuclear test if the u.s. sticks to its decision. >>> japan will be spending billions more next fiscal year to prop up the economy. and ron madison is here from the biz desk. ron? >> that's right, gene. the japanese cabinet has approved the draft budget for the next fiscal year. it totals more than 96 trillion yen, about $816 billion u.s. dollars. it's up just about $4 billion from the current fiscal year which ends in march. policy related spending will total about $618 billion. that's up by about 2.4 billion. this includes spending on s

i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. >>> more than 30 people died in a stampede during a new year's celebrationt a popular tourist site. people gathered at the district in the town to enjoy the high-rise buildings across the river. rows in the area were filled with people and vehicles could not move because of the crowd. city officials stay the stampede occurred about 11:35 p.m. on wednesday.

i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. >>> more than 30 people died in a stampede during a new year's celebration at a popular tourist site. people gathered at the district in the town to enjoy the high-rise buildings across the river. rows in the area were filled with people and vehicles could not move because of the crowd. city officials stay the stampede occurred about 11:35 p.m. on wednesday. they say 35 people died and 43 others were injured. police investigators in china tried to determine the cause of a fatal explosion that rocked a factory. it happened on wednesday morning in the southern part of the country and they say at least 17 people are dead and 33 others injured. several blasts struck the facility. the exploexs blew out the roof and walls of the plant and smashed windows in other nearby buildings. officials say operations at the factory had been suspended for regular checks and cleaning. reports suggests that leaking gas may have triggered the blasts. the factory is one of the world's largest for making axels for trailer trucks. >>> search crews carrying out the grim task of looki

keiko aso, nhk world. >>> tu knee sha's first democratic elected president has taken office. he took power four years after the uprising that sparked the pring results in the east. he leads the secular party. he won a presidential election last month. >> translator: this hisstorical moment we are living today, this ceremony we would not have been able to experience if there had been no struggle by the people. >> they began pushing toward democracy in december 2010. a young man set himself on fire in protest at way he had been treated by police and later died. his actions sparked a wave of demonstrations that toppled the government. the president ben ali stepped do down in january 2011. he had been in power 23 years. still analysts point out the new president served under ben ali. they question how well he'll be able to foster democracy and are suggesting the country could slide back to authoritarian rule. >>> search crews carry out the grim task looking for remains of airasia qz8501 are facing new obstacles. they've pulled more bodies from the sea. their efforts are hampered

i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. the headlines. >>> president barack obama has proposed new cybersecurity measures calling the hackings of sony pictures and the u.s. central command an urgent and growing danger. >>> editors at "charlie hebdo" are publishing another cartoon of the prophet muhammad in defiance of last week's violence. >>> and