hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." we begin here in japan where efforts to contain the coronavirus appear to be paying off. the prime minister has just announced he's lifting the government's emergency declaration for the five prefectures where it's still in place. >> translator: today the government will lift the state of emergency across the nation. we've set some of the most strict criteria to lift the

declaration and we concluded that prefectures across the country have met that standard. >> the remaining prefectures are tokyo and three others in the surrounding area. as well as the northern most prefecture of hokkaido. the state of emergency once covered the entire country, but it was scaled back in recent weeks as the number of new infections declined. the prime minister says that business activities will restart in phases. professional baseball games will resume next month but without spectators in the stands. abe says he aims to create what he calls a new normal in the country. >> translator: our businesess a daily routines will be severely affected. from now on it's important to think about how we can conduct

business and live our lives while still controlling the risk of infection. >> the government's coronavirus task force is set to meet shortly to finalize the decision. tokyo's governor that afternooned people for their cooperation but urged them to remain cautious. >> translator: there could be a second or third wave of infection, so i need to ask the citizens of tokyo for their continued cooperation. >> people had mixed reactions to the news. >> translator: i'm still worried about further spread of infection. we cannot let our guards down. >> translator: if the state of more than continues, it could take very long to recover. i think the government has made a difficult decision.

>> in total, more than 16,000 people have tested positive in japan. over 800 have lost their lives. a major deparartment store s partially reopened in tokyo's ginza district as the capital moves to fully restart economic activities. shoppers were let into the food floor at matsuya ginza on monday morning after an extended closure. the rest of the department store is scheduled to reopen next monday. the entire building was closed on april 8th following the government's declaration of a state of emergency. matsuya ginza is taking anti-coronavirus precautions to protect both its customers and employees. hand sanitizer is available at entrances. >> translator: i used to come here once a week. i've been waiting for this day. >> translator: we are ready to adopt new customer services for a new type o of lifestyle ththa

deals with c coronavirus infectioion. >> the store will be closed every tuesday from late june to reduce employees' workload. to find out more on the lifts of the state of emergency, nhk world spoke to the president of the japanese association for infectious diseases. >> reporter: he says the government's decision on monday was appropriate given the circumstances. >> translator: i believe it's a good timime to lift the state o emergency. the rate of infections has been on the decline in recent d days anand there is less strain on t medical system. japann has a also increased its capacity in terms of both testingg and equipment. >> reporter: tatateda sayss whi the state of emergency didn't impose heavy restrictions, most people and businesses followed the government's request to

minimize social contact. he also says two other factors played a crucial role in japan's relatively low number of infections and deaths. >> translator: it is normal for japanese people to wear masks. especially during flu and hay fever season. also, the national health insurance system ensures anyone can access treatment which helped prevent the virus from spreading quickly. >> reporter: japan's low rate of virus testing compared to other countries has raised questions. but tateda says officials were tryiying to o prevent overwhelm the health care system. >> translator: hospitals have limited capacity. so if a lot of people with mild symptoms went to get tested, it could have led to a surge in hospital infections and collapsed the medical system. it is important to have hospitals focused on people who

are in serious condition. >> reporter: tateda says the focus now is on what happens if there's a second wave of infection. cases in china and south korea have rebounded after they eased restrictions and reopened their economy. >> translator: we have to figure outt how to prevent more infections while also reducing the damage to our economy. we also need to expand the way we test to prevent clusters within japan. and prevent the virus from coming inn from abroad. >> reporter: tateda warns that even though the number of cases is decreasing, it's still too

early to celebrate. and that the battle against the coronavirus is still far from over. nhk world, tokyo. new york governor andrew cuomo says he's cautious about reopening the state's economy pointing to the deadly flu pandemic a century ago. >> the country has been through this before, and you learn from the past so o you don't make th same mistakes. >> speaking to reporters on sunday, cuomo referred to the spanish flu that killed tens of millions. he said the disease came back in cities that loosened up too quicklkly. seven of the ten regions in new york state have allowed some businesses to restart. two others near new york city are expected to follow suit this week, but new york city has yet

to meet some criteria for reopening including availability of hospital beds. the city is expected to reboot its economy in early june. the u.s. says it'll ban the entry of people who have been to brazil in the past two weeks. the measure comes as coronavirus cases surge in the south american nation. restrictions take effect from thursday. it won't apply to u.s. citizens or their families. white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany says the measure will help ensure that foreign nationals do not bring further infections t to the unid states. the u.s. also bans the entry of people who have been to china, iran, and europe. brazil had over 347,7,000 coronavirus cases as of sunday. more than 22,000 people there have lost their lives due to the virus with about 1,000 new deaths reported daily.

brazilian president jair bolsonaro has been pushing to reopen the economy, but infections continue to spread rapidly, especially in crowded urban slums. researchers at johns hopkins university in the u.s. say the global number of coronavirus cases has surpassed 5.4 million, and the death toll has exceeded 340,000. the united states has the most reported infections and fatalities of anywhere in the world. the chinese government is brushing off criticism of its proposed national security legislation for hong kong. as pushback against the move mounts, beijing says western countries should stay out of it. china's xinhua news agency has run a commentary about the issue. it says some western nations and politicians are repeating old slanderous claims against china. it added that hong kong is a special administrative region of the country and foreign

governments cannot interfere in its internal affairs. on sunday u.s. national security adviser robert o'brien said if beijing establishes the legislation, it will be hard to see how the u.s. secretary of state could certify that hong kong maintains a high degree of autonomy. he added that if mike pompeo fails to make that certificatioion, there are coconsequences that come witith sanctions and otothers. the legislation that the chinese authorities proposed at the national people's congress last weweek would allow the mainlando create a national role. the law would allow china to crack down on acts promoting succession. demon stwraters in hong kong took to the streets to protest the move. police arrested at least 180 people. afghanistan's president has welcomed a cease fire announced by the taliban.

he said the government will release up to 2,000 prisoners belonging to the armed group. the announcement comes after the tataliban declararation of the three-day cease-fire from sunday. it coincides with the islamic eve holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of ramadan. they called the prisoner release a good will gesture. the government's decision is a big step forward for building confidence. the group has indicated it will release a number of government soldiers in return. the afghan government and taliban have been negotiating the prisoner swap since february, but talks statalled or nunumberanand how the e deal sh proceed. continued heavyvy seasonal rain has been pounding parts of china. threats of landslides and flooding. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us now with the details.

>> this is the time of year when we see lots of heavy rainfall across the south of china, taiwan, as well as western japan especially over the okinawa region. and we've got lots of rain already in gwangju province. the rain is called plum rain and that typically causes severe weather across the area during this time of year. the seasonal rain band will likely effect parts of the south and the system will likely lift to the north. so taiwan will see a return of heavy rain and rain will also spread into wednesday. so these areas will see flooding rainfall for the next several days. now, temperatures are going to be on the warm side in taipei. 31 is your expected high on your tuesday. shanghai recently had 23. beijing will see sunny and warm conditions.

meanwhile, let's go to indidi last week we talked about cyclone amphan. this system killed dozens of people. the system also became the strongest for the bay of bengal in history. now the story is a heat wave across india. the temperature will be in the mid-40s in many places. it will remain quite warm through the next couple of days at least. the risk of heatstroke will be very high. so let's go to europe. we have a system across the north that will continue to bring wet and windy conditions through iceland. we've already seen some stable weather conditions through central europe. and hail with a diameter of 50 centimeters fell in turkey. the system will likely head towards the south across the east. and temperatures are going to be on the warmer side across the west and gloomy conditions can be found across central and eastern europe.

that's it for me. have a nice day. and that's all for this edition of nhk"newsline."

thanks for joioining us and we' have more for you soon. welcome to "newsline" in-depth. i'm marie yahnaka. we illustrate how coming up with new ways of using things can pave the way for future success. our first story is about a kind of jelly that's widely consumed in japan. co it's maybe from fibers ground to form a fine powder. then that's turned into a jelly that often appears on dunner

tables here. it's a favorite for people who want to lose weight. konnyaku has long been considered a health food. but thanks to a splash of inspiration from this man, this humble plant now has new potential hoping to revolutionize the medical world. it may look like takayama is mixing up something sweet. he combines water and ground konnyaku powder. the final product will look more like something in your body than on your plate. he came up with the idea. these are models of internal organs for doctors to practice their fragile skill on. so far he's produced five models.. each of which sell from $20 to

$40. >> translator: this model allows doctors to practice peeling blood vessels from the tissue. >> they are made from konnyaku. the school was one of the first to introduce takayama's products into its training. medical students no longer learn their skills by watching videos and using plastic models. the new method is shockingly realistic. >> translator: i'm nervous. >> translator: i know. this is your first experience. >> translator: if this area is burning, it means you're not pulling with the right pressure. it will peel off easily if you

apply the right amount. >> translator: i was surprised to find out how different the outcome was depending on how much pressure i applied and where i picked. >> this doctor points that three will be using konnyaku organs. there's no need to worry about infection. most importantly, students and doctors can practice until they have confident with the process. >> translator: when i first became a doctor, we would typically observe our seniors performing surgery, then start operating on patients right away. but now the medical communinity will lose credibility without proper training for surgeons. >> takayama's products have been

produced -- when orders fell drastically during the last recession, he started searching for inspiration so he could keep the factory afloat. >> translator: i happened to see a news report about a case of food poisoning and learned that kokonnyaku is sometimes used as substitute for it. around the same time, my friend told me that dococtors were struggling to find cheaper products for surgical training and the two ideas just keconnecd for me. >> the doctor has been one of the advisers since the project got underway. takayama wants his opinion whon the new product still under development. >> translator: this is a model of a mucus membrane. >> translator: you've come a long way. >> translator: i hope to create the intestinal tract models by combining these.

>> translator: in japan doctors often perform surgery using an endoscope because many people suffer from cancers. we need to train doctors on this type of model. >> takayama is looking to introduce the power of konnyaku to medical schools and companies around the globe. nhk world. >> i would eat konnyaku but i would never imagine such a use. those are changing the way students train. one person who wants to be a cardiac surgeon, he was dissfaed with the previous model using plastic parts. he never knew the right pressure to apply. he's now more confident he won't tear delicate tissues in an actual surgery.

takayama the developer says there's growing interest in his product. especially from the united states. one company that produces medicall equipment i is thinkinf distributing konnyaku body parts along with its own equipment. he's also looking at e europe a other universities in japan. now, it's often said that necessity is the mother of invention. that has certatainly beeeen the experience of one small japanese company that specializes in making springs. it's long supplied them for automobile parts, b but demandds beenen falling.g. to make up for the drop, it's stretching out in a new direction. >> kosuke ayaga works making spspngs. for 60 years t the company has mostly produced coils for car engines. now it faces a serious threat. >> translator: electric vehicles require far fewer springs, so

the growth of the ev sector is expected to lead to intense competition. >> ayawa and his staff decided to take somome risks. they dreamed up a range of new products. including a pen stand, a vase, even fashion accessories. the products are proven popular with both shops and museums. unlike garden variety springs, they value form m just as much functition. >> translator: it would be good if we could carve out a niche of our own. springss have always playeyed a supporting role, but that could change. i think they could even take center stage. >> and put some bounce back into an industry that's seen better

days. >> artistic springs are certainly a new direction. i think i might want one of these vases. the firm is already selling its products in bangkok and is about to shift them to other countries too. awaya talks about taking part in a trade show in the united states. he's received orders from shops in new york and north carolina. the new products may give the company the bounce it needs. and now we turn to cambodia where a young japanese entrepreneur has come up with a novel approach for giving village children an education. in his student days, he was part of a team that built an elementary school in a rural part of the country. but even after it opened, few children actually came because their families couldn't afford it. so uchida hatched an idea to help the villagers bring in an income so ultimately the children could get an education.

>> it's so colorful. i like it very much. >> they're actually made from discarded. they're built in a village in northern cambodia. residents there make a living from farming. few children are schooled. uchida formed a workshop three years ago through crowd funding. >> translator: i learned there were no jobs in the village. as children grow older, they leave the village to find work. i started this workshop to create an environment that would enable the children to go to school. >> uchida used candy and snack

wrappers. cambodia has few ways to dispose. streets are often strewn with trash. the packaging is collected and carefully cleaned.d. it's then cut into small strips and woven piece by piece. about ten women in the village have taken on the task here. zp >> translator: i usedd to work n construction in thailand. it was hard. >> her parents divorced when she was a child and her father died. she had to quit school and find work. life still isn't easy, but since

she started making bags, she's been able to return to school. she has a dream for the future. >> translator: i want to work overseas because i can learn about other countries. i also want to learn about japan. > translator: i want the workers to believe it's possible to follow the path they want if they try hard. i hope to put up beacons to guide tio and light her way. >> colorful purses made of candy

wrappers carry dreams for young cambodians. nhk world, cambodia. >> the woven products are sold under a brand named after the word road in cambodia. the hope is that the workshop can be a road to the women's future. the word may also have significance because this project is cleaning the roads in and around the village of snack packaging. uchida was recognized by cambodia's government last year. now he wants toto take things further. he's amming to expand the sales for the woven products so that more families can afford to send their children to the school. as we saw today, rationing encourages innovation. but in all three cases that we introduced today,like takayama's konnyaku, the spring art, and the vivid and playful bags, the

people involved also had to put in some long hard work to realize their ideas and achieve success. and that't's all for today's "newsline in-depth." thanks for tuning in. >> as the country continues to

battle covid-19, the french government is meeting a representative of the nation's health care workers along with unions as employees call for an increase in salaries. andhe chief a aide traveled 400 withometers in contradiction the travel orders. they are now calling for a full investigation. and banning all flights in brazil after covid-19 explodeses in latin america''ss longest -- largrgest economy.