hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. officials here in tokyo have reported 124 new cases of the coronavirus on friday. it's the highest daily tally since the national state of emergency was lifted in late may. it is sparking concerns the capital may be in the midst of another surge in infection. this is the second consecutive day the number of new cases topped triple digits. on thursday, 107 infections were

confirmed in the capital. the japanese government says it's monitoring the situation clososely. >> translator: the number of seriously ill patieients is decreasing. analyzing other data around the infection, the situation does not meet the standard for the government to immediately declare a state of emergency again. >> the government attributes the rise partly to people who either work at or visit nighttime entertainment spots such as host or hostess bars. over 19,000 cases have been confirmed across japan. the death toll stands at more than 970. now the japanese government's contact tracing app is back up and running after a glitch was found afterer it was rolllled out in mid june. it is called covid-19 contact

confirming. it allows users who test positive to anonymously notify others they've come into contact with. users who contract the virus are supposed to upload a special number, but the numbers were stopped being issued when the glitch was found. users need to update the app to the latest version. it has been downloaded around5 million times as of thursday evening. japan's industry minister has announced plans to shut more than half of the coal-firered power generators around the country too cut carbon dioxide emissions. >> translator: we aim to phase-out inefficient coal-fired plants to achieve a carbon-free

society. i've instructed officials to start discucussions by the end this month to seeeek feasiblble systems to allow japan to adopt renewable energy as its primary energy source. >> ministry will appoint a panel of experts to discuss wayss to reduduce the amount o of p powe generated by old coal-fierped plants by 90% within the next ten years. part of the plan includes shutting about 100 out of the nation's 140 coal-fired generators. but the construction of more efficient coal-fired generators will be allowed. the panel will also discuss ways to avoid power outages in case of a natural disaster. the ministry aims to decide on the plan within this year. japan's government pension investment fund has posted a record quarterly loss after an of plunge in global stock

markets. it lost about 17.7 trillion yen or more than $160 billion from its investments in the january to march quarter. the rate of return was deep in the negative for investments in both japanese and foreign stocks. the fund also lost money on domestic funds to minus 10 t.7%. the fund lost a loss of about $77 billion. that's the first annual loss in four years and the biggest since the time of the 2008 financiala crisis. as of the end of rch, the total assets managed by the fund stood at $1.4 trillion. t . >> translator: japan's public system is designed for years

out. >> the fund will keep a close watch on developmentss r relateo covid-19. > north korea's latest provocation of the south was blowing up a joint liaison office last month and warnedd o military action against seoul. but last week the north's leader, kim jong un, decided to suspend militariest escalati suspend military escalation. kim chan ju sat down with a former north korean envoy for more on the future of inter korean relations. >> he is a vetereran south kore diplomat and negotiator witith e north. he was seoul's chief delelegateo the six-party talks from 2006 to

2008. he also served as national secucurity adviser to former president. referring to kim's decision to postpone military action, he said north korea never planned to do anything in the first place. >> they mentioned military plans inin order to add impact to the threats, to their intimidation tactic. if they actually went ahead with their military threat, they lose everything. they lose everything. and that would bring huge humiliation to kim jong un. so they arere very smart. they are very smart withohout actually doing anything. just pretending, by pretending to carry out their threats, they achieved all the purpose they intendedyy thrtening.

>> chunaid the sou kornn vernmement'sonciliaty reonse to pyonang's threats by pledging to prosecute defectors sending anti-north korea leaflets across the border isn't a wise policy. he warns the south would lose its leverage and simply invite further intimidation by the north. is there any aspect of negotiation with them that weigh shou should pay more attention to? >> the most important thing is the leverage you have. the leverage means the power to affect the outcome or to determinee or affect north korea's fate. what northth korea values most

sanctions relief, security guarantees, peace regime, all those things that are stipulated in the joint statement. but, if you ease sanctions before they make substantive progress in democratization, then you lose all the influence to move forward. >> chun emphasized the importance of the u.s.-south korea alliance if the negotiations are to yield results. >> we have no leverage with north korea. we can expect to have it when we have power to persuade u.s., when we cannot communicate with the u.s. properly, then we cannot borrow the leverage from the u.s. and to use against north korea. so what i would recommend is to

repair rok-u.s. relations, to restore the credibility of the alliance. to strengthen our leverage with north korea. >> kim chan ju, nhk world. it's becoming increasingly likely a next generation train project linking two of japan's biggest cities will not open on schedule. that's because a local government is refusing to approve preparatory work on a tunnel due to environmental concerns. the super fast train hovers above t the grounund using supe conducting magnets. it's supposed to launch in 2027 and cut travel time from tokoky to nagoya to just 40 minutes. but a deal with the train

operator to ensure the environment is protected is needed. in a letter to central japan railway company, he said an expert panel is currently discussing the issue, and protective measures have yet to be decided. construction has started in some parts of the route. but the tunnel project is currently behehind schededule. > and it's time now for a check of the world weather with jonathan oh. fires have been a major issue in the arctic region of russia. what's the latest out of the area? >> hello, we've been dealing with some very warm temperatures into the northern portions of russia, especially in siberia, where we've seen temperatures hitting into the 30s over the past few days, and now we are talking about a problem of dry weather on top of that. we're talking aboutut fires hav also developed. let's take a look at some video to give you an idea of what it looks like in the area, as the russian arctic has been consumed

by fire. more than 2,000 fires were burning thursday. thick clouds of smoke traveled more than 400 kilometers. more than 800 firefighters were battling the blaze. when it comes to weather, we're not getting any real relief. we have some showers in the forecast. hopefully that will to some work on it. but in general, we are looking at a relatively dry pattern with some showers appearing. hopefully this will help out in the process. showers expected, a bit cooler, mid teens for highs in the north. meanwhile, across east asia, we're talking about a lot more in terms of rain. we have that stationary front, the rainy-season front that's lifted northward into the western areas of japan again due to a low pressure system nearby. as it does so, it brought a decent amount of rain. some locations in about 12 hours

getting much rain. we are looking at the rain to spread eastward. so we're looking at rein ain as go through the overnight period saturday and sunday. have the umbrellas nearby. taipei, hong kong also looking at wet weather as we go through saturday. quick note on north america. we have a little system developing down here with stronger storms up toward the north in the plains states as a cold front moves through. hope you have a good day wherever you are.

>> and before we wrarap up, a giant panda is gettiting ready head back t to china after spending two decades in western japan. local children have thanked her with a hand-made present. ten local elementary school students handed plastic bamboo branches to the head of the zoo. they were decorated with over 1,000 paper cards carrying messages from children. the panda came to japan to cheer up children after a powerful earthquake. but the zoo's head says there's still time for people to come and say good-bye. the final departure date hasn't been set, as the coronavirus has grounded direct flights to china. and that's all for now on

this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. thanks sto thanks for j joining us. welcome to "newsline" in depth. we've come to you from tokyo, from the rooftop of nhk headquarters in shibuya. behind my, japan's capital is slowlyly coming back to life afr the lifting of the state of emergency. the world h has become a strangely-different place since covid-19 arrived on the scene. working from home, wearing face masks and facing apartrt in sup

market queues are just one of the new realities. the "newsline" industry has come out here in the open air looking fofor the big picture. today we bring you an exclusive interview with a historian. at thihis time of great anxieie and uncertainty, questions are being asked about how we should all transition to the post-pandemic world. he is a historian and a best-sell being author. he warned that the pandemic poses a threat to democracy, leaving us witith some importan choices to make.e. >> we know thatt the democrats collapse u usually not in norma times. they alwlways collapsee in emergencies. but, in emergencies is the time when we most needd democracy. >> hmm. >> governments are nowanding out b billions and trillions of dollars orr yen.

and we need democratic supervision, otherwise a single person can decide to save the cooperation of his friends anan suppororters while lettiting ot businesses fall, so yes, we need emergency measure, definitely, but even in emergencies, we still need checks and balances. and w we stitill neeeed supervi. >> right. >> t make sure that t the govevernment is realllly servine inteterests of everybody. >> right. >> and not just of those who are connected to power. >> uh-huh, but isn't it often the case when during the time of emergency the people tend to prefer stability over disruption. they are bound to even support some draconian measures. whwhat will this mean? >> yeah, that's the danger. in the time of emergency, and this is a double emergency. people are afraid for their lives from the epidemic itself.

and a lot of economic concerns. people are losing their jobs. businesses are collapsing, entitire industries, like thehe totourism industry, are collapsing. so, a lot of peoplple are,e, bee they are so afraid, they just want somebody wisise and powere to take over, like some kind of father figure. and dececide everythingg for us and take care of us. >> yeses. >> and this is, again, very dangerous. because in, if you give so much powerr to j just one peperson, that person makes a mistake, the consequences are far, far worse. >> hmm. he says citizens can andnd shou speak out on what direction their government should take at this uncertain time. he believes people's voices can carry weight in this increasingly fragmented world.

in the absence of viable leadership, would you think, like businesses or the grass root citizizens be able to fill part of the void? > yes, partt of t the voidd filled by business, organizationons, ordinary citizens, for instance, by sharining formatioion, but also think by exerting political pressure on t their own government. if the public tellsls the government, we don't care about anybody else. we j just want you too get as m ventilators as possiblble for o country, and if you have to fight other countries for it, we don't care. then t the government will do i. if on the e other handnd, the pc is more resesponsible and shows greater global solidarity and people tell the government, look, this is ann emergency, we need medical equipment, but we

know that other couountries aren anan even worse situation. and wee w want to, we want to b more responsible. >> hmm. >> a and to show greater solidarity. so please h help the other countries. we're willing to carry thehe burdens of it. and government, at least in some countrieies, will respond to it. andd i hope that we'll think wih globobal solidarity, not just because it's essential for dealing with this crisis, but also because it will affect the world after the crisis. ifif i in this crisis countries just fighting each other, it will poison international relations for years to come. >> the specter of countries fighting each other in a crisis is all too familiar to us. we have already witnessed china blocking taiwan from attending the w.h.o. emergency meetings,

and the u.s. blaming china for the spread of what is sometimes called the wuhan virus. which road nations decide to take? corporation or conflict? to figight this global chal len it will have an enduring impact. getting our act together is the only way forward. >> in previous big pandemics like the black death in the middle ages, the biggest problem of human kind was that we didn't know what we were facing. people were dying in their millions, and nobody knew why or what could be done about it. in the case of coronavirus, it took us just two weeks to identify the virus causing the

new disease. sequence the entire genome and develop a effective test to know who has it a and who doesn't. science is in a much stronger position than at any t time in history, so there is no question that we will defeatt thiss viru provided that humans all over the world cooperate effectively. >> mm-hm. some say that the key lies in d deglobalization, on deglobalization obviously, you do not agree. > pandemics occurred long before the era of globalization. inin the middldle ages, there no airplanenes, no big cruise ships. and still, therere were pandemi, much worse ones like the black death. if you think you can prevent

pandemic by isolation, youou actually need to go all the way back to the stone age, and obviously, we can't go back there. so the real antidote to pandemic is information and cooperation. our biggest advancece over the virus is that humans can cooperatate in ways that vir cannot. a virus in china cannot give information n to a virus in tus about howow to avoid the h huma immune systetem. but a a doctor in c china can g advice to a doctorr in the u.s.. they canan form a common plan of how to fightht the virus glolob. this is our biggest advantage over the virus. if we don't use this advdvantag the crisis will be far, far worse. again, peoplple should realize

that as lolong as the epipidemi spreadads in any country it endangers the whole of human kind. >> the fundamental problem about fighting a war against the coronavirus, the invisiblele enemy, is that it is hard to know when the battle is over. and this explains why governments are so cautious about lockdown exit plans. but he says successfully navigating the pandemic requires a new mind-set, and that includes dropping the metaphors of war. if you could define a victory, how would you defifine it? becacause coronavirus is not something that can be eradicated. >> well, firsrst, i think we shouldldn't think aboutut it as war. it's the wrong metaphor. you know, in a war, alternately, you h have guns and soldiers killing each other. this is a different situation. the heroes of this situation had

is a nurse in hospital changing bed sheets. e whole crisis is about taking care of people, not a about killing and winning. ye w we need to wingainst the vis, but n human being should be seen as an enemy. so i think we should leave asise this metaphor of war and batatt and victory. and success, i think, would be if we take care of all humans around thehe world. if w we protect humans all over the world from m the spread of e virus and if we ptect humans all over the world from the economic consequences of the crisis. if we protect people just in our country and other countries would completetely collapse, i would not define that as a success. >> ah-ha. and, in the long history of human being, in the entire history of the samame ins, whats

the hisistory of the p pandemic. >> human kind wilill obviously survive it. we are m much stronger than thi virus, and wee have survived muh stronger pandemics in the past. ultimately, the impact of this epidemicic is not p predetermin. it's u up to us. we, we choosose how this willl . if we choose wronglgly, if we choose nationalilistic isolatio if we choose dictators, if wee choose to distrust scienence an believee conspiracy theories, te result will be a a big catastroe in histotory. millions o of people dying, economic crisis, political chaos. if we choose wisely, if we choose global solidarity, democratic responsibility, if we

choose to believe in scientific authority, then despite the death, despite the suffering, this will actually lookk like a good moment for human k kind. a m moment w when we overcame n just the virus but a moment when we ovovercame our own intnterna dedemons. ththe moment whehen we overerca hatred, the moment when we overcame illusions and delusions and processed the truth and came out as m much stronger and more and more unified species. >> he reminds us that the post-coronavirus world is not about e eradicating covid-19. because the virus is not going to go away. we have no choice but to learn to live with it. wherever that takes us. but we do have other choices, and we need to make them wisise, because thehey are going to defe

our way of life for many years to come. that's it for today's "newsline in depth." thank you for watching, and see you u again next t time. anchor: a new prime minister for

france. name just hours after the popular edouard philippe resigned, part of president macron's cabinet reshuffle. reporter chris moore is down at police say power --- palace -- the elysee palace with momore. a trial in absentia in turkey, accused of carrying out the murder of jamal khashoggi two years ago. in the united states, a spike in cases of the coronavirus is the country prepares to mark independence day. 55,000 new cases were p ported thursday,