manufacturing over the next four years. >> america, i never said this journey would be easy. and i won't promise that now. yes, our path is harder. but it leads to a better place. yes, our road is longer, but we travel it together. we don't turn back. we leave no one behind. hello, i'm yuko aotani. they use all their advertising to shape their message and appeal. democrats and republicans too are using more and more social media in their campaigns. the number of facebook users more than tripled since the election four years ago. and seven times as many people are using twitter. organizers believe these networks hold the key to attracting young voters and the undecided. >> reporter: in the 2008 u.s. presidential race, the democratic candidate barack obama used social media to win support. mainly from young voters. this time, the democrats are relying more heavily on the new media. the democrats have developed an application to encourage more people to take part in the national convention. cell phone and computer users can obtain information on the convention schedule and the tourist spots near the venue. the support rate for obama among young voters is lower than it was four years ago. the democrats hope the new application will help attract more people to their convention. the republicans are also using social media to get in touch with a younger voters. at last week's republican national convention, tweets from across the country appeared on a giant screen. debates were held in a studio at the convention venue. they were streamed on a website. >> i think it is great. you have the next jen ratigener users having access to a convention they normally wouldn't have access to. >> reporter: the democrats came up with the idea of using celebrities and social media. a radio personality. he has links to 100,000 people on twitter and facebook. the obama camp invited hem to tto -- him to the democratic national convention. and from the convention, on obama's achievements and election pledges. his message is spreading rapidly, as recipients pass them on to the other people. >> we inform, we empower and we help every single voter in the country. our job is to inform that voice and empower the voice to create change in the world. >> weep used to say that social media skewed young. what happened was that parents and grandparents got associated to keep in touch with their young people. the impact of social media to a campaign could be unbelievably devastating. >> in the last election, social media helped obama to win overwhelming support from young voters. four years later, the two main parties are competing to use the new media to attract swing voters. leaders from across the asia pacific region say they see putting up more walls between them. they are expected to agree to refrain from further protectionism until the end of 2015. their ministers have agreed to cut tariffs on solar panels and 53 other green products. the leaders of countries in the asia-pacific economic cooperation forum will meet over the weekend in vladivostok, russia. they are expected to approve initiatives toward integrating the region's economies. they'll focus on liberalizing trade and investment. the leaders are expected to agree not to restrict food exports. extreme weather has affected crops worldwide, and that's driving up prices. they'll promote agricultural investments in an effort to improve productivity. the leaders are expected to examine regional supply chains, too. the earthquake and tsunami last year in northern japan and flooding in thailand disrupted production in a number of industries. apec leaders are expected to include all of these efforts in a joint declaration at the end of their meetings on sunday. 60 people including syrians and palestinians are bleelievedo have drowned. the boat sunk soon after it left the town. 40 people were rescued. the migrants, believed to have been heading for a greek island in the asian sea before entering other points in europe. the authorities have arrested the turkish captain and another person on sus pepicion of human smuggling. increasing number of refugees ar fleeing the civil war in sear yeah. many crossing into turkey. 80,000 syrians are taking shelter in camps along the border. this will help member nations such as spain lower their borrowing cost and contain their huge debts. the focus whether spain and countries will actually ask for financial assistance. under the plan announced thursday the ecb will buy government bonds from the markets. the operations will focus on bounds that mature within three years. however, there are conditions attached, countries asking for help must implement reforms and get the agreement to use funds contributed by euro zone states. this will lower bond deals in nations with debt problems and enable the countries toer to bonds on their own and borrow money from the market. the challenges remain. to resolve the region's debt woes, struggling nations need to boost their economic growth while understaking austerity measures. the decision appears to have calmed down the bond market for now. spanish and italian government bond were bought back. the yield on the spanish benchmark ten year bonds from 6% to over 6%. the yield on italian benchmark ten year bonds fell from mid 5% range to 5.2% level. in late july, the spanish bond were trading over 7% threshold. a level which a conentuntry is unsustainable. it was met with opposition from the region's largest economy. the german central bank said, that its president, weidmann voted against the measure. saying the program is too close to financing governments by printing bank notes. the bank says it would jeopardize the ecb's role of stablizing prices and says if the program allows states to postpone needed reform that would undermine political confidence in resolving the crisis. germany the biggest contributor to the struggling nations. citizens are worried they may have to bear a heavier burden. for more insight. we spoke with a chief economist. >> my first question, a lot of questions ahead of the ecb policy meeting came up with the results announcement, the bond buying program what is your assessment? >> i think the decision made by the ecb was positive and friendly to the markets i think. as the ecb's message was very clear. they're going to focus on short term markets. by buying the european government bond for the one to three years maturities. and they're going to -- buy unlimited buying of the european government bond. the message was clear. >> seems like markets were, they actually did share what they came out with. there are some market experts saying there is a bit of disappointment especially regarding the conditionality of the scheme, what is your assessment? >> the ecb is not only the last resort for the financial markets. i think there should be a conditionality for the ecb to outright purchase the government bond. so in order to maximize the ecb monetary poll see, i think the ecb, i'm sorry, the german government has to enact the esm as early as possible. >> you mentioned germany and one of the biggest focuses next week in europe is, the court ruling, in germany. what is your take on that? >> given that -- that the german president, german banks, president, voted against the ecb decision last night. i think that there should remain uncertainty. whether the german government is going to aprove the bills for the esm. but finally i think that, the market is going to take, take, get back to calm. in the short term. i think. >> now the bigger question is -- whether this -- this program -- that bond buying scheme is really going to help europe from its debt problems. is it going to help the problem? >> basically, i believe so. the decision made by the ecb is, to support the short term money market. and also, the ecb, esm is going to support the funding condition for the long term maturities. so, it is the esm and ecb takes place, i think that could help the financial markets to calm down. >> now, one final question about the outlook. we still have important events coming up. including u.s. jobs numbers, which are coming out later today. we have -- the meeting taking place next week. what is your focus? >> so i think that -- as long as the labor data, maintain healthiness for the time being, the chance of the qe-3 is not that high. but i basically believe that slowing down of the u.s. economy is very apparent. so i think that is likely to take qe-3 in short term. >> and federal reserves policy meeting is kicking off wednesday. analysts, whether the fed will take further act, at the upcoming meeting. over here, japan is not in fiscal problems, facing lack of funding. and decided to limit a budget excushion. lawmakers can't agree to pass a bill for dealt, covering bond before the current diet session ends this weekend. the ministers agreed to postpone some of the tax grants for municipalities and cut university subsidies to less than half. the government will be unable to secure over $480 billion without issuing debt covering bond. that's more than 40% of the total budget for the fiscal year through march 2013. finance ministry officials say spending reductions will allow them to keep state fund available until at least thee ed now november. the global credit rating agency has upgraded south core car's rating by one notch, pushing it higher than japan. fitch ratings, upgraded south korea from single a plus to double a minus. the agency says the change is due to the country's economic stability. they are a relative factor in the upgrade but remain remote. it makes south korea higher than japan for the first time jach. time. an executive of nissan motors say car sales in japan affected by the dispute over the senkaku island in the east china sea. nissan holds the largest market share in china among japanese makers. nissan's chief operating officer said the firm showed sluggish august sales in china. that is because japanese carmakers could not carry out promotion events, especially outdoors. the comments came among protests across china over the senkaku islands. these are also claimed by china. the nissan executive said he thinks anti-japan protests are spurring demand for german cars. people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster but, it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes and businesses and communities. we will show you their struggles and their successes on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. here on "newsline." the people responsible for disaster preparedness in japan have drawn up a picture of wide spread flooding in tokyo. the scenario shows flood waters rushing down residential streets and through business districts. the government council agreed on a set of guidelines on how to prepare and react. the council of cabinet ministers and disaster prevention officials drew out the recommendations. they call on central and local governments to coordinate on damage. they estimate commercial, residential and business districts would be flooded if the banks of the arakawa river were to overflow and collapse. around 860,000 people could be stranded on rooftops and other high places. government experts estimate more than 1 million people live in areas prone to flooding. the guidelines call on local governments to reexamine their evacuation plans and conditions for issuing evacuation orders. the recommendations say the municipalities should prepare evacuation facilities. they point out residents may not be able to return home for a long time in the event of widespread flooding. shoppers in thailand will soon get to experience the sweeter side of fukushima. peaches grown in the prefecture will go on sale next week. this is the first time fresh produce will be sold overseas since the nuclear accident. many countries have halted food imports or exports from the area due to contamination fears. farmers have tested their products to prove they are safe. this safety message figures in the promotional campaign. potential customers got a look up close. last month, representatives from the thai department stores and trading companies toured peach orchards and inspected facilities that check for radiation. >> translator: i'm delighted. this will help dispel rumors of alleged radioactive contaminati contamination. we will continue to promote the safety of our products. >> farmers will ship about 800 peaches initially. the fruit will be sold at a department store and shopping mall in bangkok. supporters of mao, punished intellectuals, why? because mao claimed they mon on li -- monopolized the culture. and ordered urban youth to learn from the peasants. young students were forced to move from the cities to remote farming villages. conditions were so pitiful, many of the young intellectuals are believe to have died either from the work or from illnesses. now, 40 years after the cultural revolution, the former youth intellectuals are speaking up. >> reporter: this woman grieves at the monument bearing the name of her dead brother. he perished in the area. >> translator: i am very gratified that people remember him. he should be able to rest in peace. >> reporter: they ordered more than 1,000 young people whoin v cultural revolution. it is said stto be china's biggt ever memorial. the chinese communist party announced that the cultural revolution, many so, many chinese were too afraid to speak openly about it. 59-year-old man lives in shanghai. in 1969, he was sent from shanghai to a remote mountain area of the province. from dawn until late at night he rked in the farming village. li, who grew up in the city, found the working conditions and lack of food unbearable. >> translator: i tried to keep hung ear wer away by eating buc seeds or pig's ears in the village. i couldn't get used to the conditions. i wasn't the only one. many became sick. >> reporter: li turns 60 next year. now he is writing down his experiences to let people know what he want through. he submits his memoirs to magazines. in recent years, many have published stories about the cultural revolution. li interviews other so-called youth and they have similar stories to tell. this couple was also sent to the province. >> translator: live in yunon was really hard wasn't it? >> translator: it was the most back breaking period of my life. i was suffering. suffering right done to the very core of my bones. i was only 16 years old. >> many are afraid to write down their stories or don't hatch the stamina. so, li documents their stories for them. >> translator: thousand of years of chinese history have been well-documented. but, none of these youth intellectuals have written about their experiences for history. i feel it is my responsibility to document their stories. >> the cultural revolution shadowed their lives. a lot made it through the brutal years of the revolution, and are making sure the era does not vanish from history. one motivation for publishing their experiences is their government's attitude. it is more lenient toward discussion of their cultural revolution. but there are still limits to what can be said. for instance, a magazine publisher dropped one of li's stories because it twos graphic. over in tokyo, beautiful sunny day today. let's tornado now to rachel ferguson for world weather forecast. showers off the stationary front reach up into central japan. also affecting the korean peninsula. heavy rain moving into south korea will be falling on already saturated land. short time heavy rain. that is going to be about 30 millimeters possible in the space of one hour. that can result in flash flooding, especially as i mentioned when the ground is already saturated from previous bouts of torrential rain. inland china, seeing heavy rain moving through. this is a developing low. the southern region, see anything from 100 to 250 millimeters of rain off of the system in the next 24 hours. further down toward the south. the monsoon rain is going to keep coming from the philippines right through in towards the bay of bengal. heaviest hit places in the last day or so, have been northern vietnam, as well as central, northern parts of thailand. southern parts of thailand. i should say. there are advisories for heavy ran and floods. it looks like it is going to be very active into the weekend. all right. let's check on hurricane leslie now. sitting here in the atlantic. i say just sitting. it is pretty much stationary at the moment. but it is expected to pick up the pace. head into bermuda. pass by the island sunday. having become a category 2 storm. just prior to that. beyond that. heading up into eastern canada. nova scotia, newfoundland. experiencing moderate surf as a direct result of the storm. already. that gives you an idea how powerful it is. could see sea swells. dangerous rip currents associated with the storm. it is quite far off from the mainland at the moment. all right. heavy rain in the carolinas. is starting to diminish. as we head on into saturday. should bea clear e der day. tornadoes with some of the storms. certainly strong wind. potential for hail too. just where the boundary of colder air is reaching -- the persistent heat towards the south. 37 degrees at oklahoma city. 37 at houston, also. we have had a drop of almost 10 degrees. in places like chicago as well as denver. and along this boundary that you are going to be finding the most severe of the storms. a hot day in los angeles. 30 degrees. this will persist into the weekend. 28 in seattle. will fall by 10 degrees into sunday. all right, let's head now into europe. toward the north. wet, windy. afraid. northern british isles. through scandinavia and russia. rest of the continent is looking dry, calm. temperatures on the rye. berlin, 19. sunday, rising to 25 degrees. seeing 27 in vienna. as well as 27 in london. and to give you an update on what is happening the last three days of paralympic games. forecast looks sunny. 25, 25, 27, to round off the games. i leave you now with your extended forecast. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ our top stories once again. u.s. president barack obama has accepted the democratic nomination at the party's national convention in charlotte, north carolina. he presented the election this november as a choice between two different paths for america. >> america, i never said this journey would be easy. and i won't promise that now. yes, our path is harder. but it lead to a better place. >> obama responded to voters' concerns about the economy promising 1 million new jobs in manufacturing over the next four years. leaders from across the asia pacific region say they see little value in putting up more walls between them. expected to agree to refran from protectionism until end of 2015. the ministers agreed to cut trifs on solar panels and 53 other green products. their leaders of countries in the asia pacific economic cooperation forum will meet over the weekend in russia. they're expected to approve initiatives for integrating the region's economies. they will focus on liberalizing trade and investment, the leaders expected to agree not to restrict food exports. they'll promote agricultural investments in an effort to improve productivity. leaders are expected to examine regional supply chains too. the earth quack aquake and in japan and flooding in thaila thailand. and expected to include all these efforts in a joint declaration at the end of their meetings on sunday. and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." i am yuko aotani in tokyo. we'll be back with more news at the top of the hour. please join us then. thank you very much for watching.