♪ welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm roger pradhan with the news in tokyo. people in tokyo are watching with wary eyes as the daily case numbers hover in the mid 100s after topping 200 four days in a row through sunday. officials confirmed 143 new infections in the captain on tuesday bringing the total number to nearly 8,200 in the city of 14 million.n. many recent cases are young people who work at or visited nightlife districts.

>> translator: the number of infected people is increasing considerably. we have to deal with the situation with a sense of crisis. >> in charge of the government's coronavirus response. he says officials and experts will discuss if nightclubs that don't act in accordance with antivirus guidelines should be asked to close. cluster infections have been confirmed outside nightlife districts. they include about 40 actors, staff members and patrons at a theater in central tokyo. the infected theater goers came from across the greater tokyo region. a woman who attended the performance says the venue was close and crowded. >> health officials are asking the 800 people who a attended the 12 shows over six days as well as staff members and

performers to take a virus test. more than 22,000 people have tested positive here in japan. nearly 1,000 people have died. now to the united states where many americans are following their leaders, they're ignoring expert advice about the virus and now they're finding out what happens. nhk world's katherine kobayashi explains. >> r repter: y yng americans are riskg t the lives f aight t. so attending parties where th know anotheruest has b bn infected. a30-yeaeaold in texexas wanted o test whether the virus w re. he learned tooatee that it was. >> just before the patient died they looked at their nurse and they said, i think i made a miststake. i thougught this was a hoax. >> reporter: such disregard has fueled a surge of cases across the south. over the weekend health officials in florida announced the highest single day total in any state. morere than 1515,000.

the next day, they annouounced e second highest, over 12,000. >> it's not just affectiting th eldey.y. is affecting eryonone and clearl i it'she young people o are gog out t d not bei safe. > rorter:octors iarizizon too, have seen the iectionon te soar they're running outf bedsds. >> we're d defitelyyoteeeeing the cve be. ery dada i it smsnene aft another, the's a new record level of brand new cases of covid-19 in the state of arizona. states that were among the first to reopen are now taking a step baback. california's's governor hashut bars, banned indoor dining and closed gymss and hair salons. >> we went through it here in new york. >> reporter: n new york's's govr has some lessons to share. >> when do the deaths stop? when was the index rate stop?

when you stop it. >> reporter: he says some americicans saw a all thahat ha in his statete and stitill he s they were blind to reality. catherine kobayashi, nhk world, new york. authorities in hong kong are strengthening measures to viet the virus after new infections suddenly surged. >> i t think based on what we he seen in the last seven or eight days about the reemergence of local cases and the spread and the diversity of these local cases, this is the time for tightening. >> starting wednesday, public gathering of more than four people are banned. anyone using public transit must wear a mask and from 6:00 p.m., restaurants are take-out only. the territory started easing coronavirus measures in may. in just over a week, there have been 180 new locally transmitted cases. disney land hong kong is also closed beginning wednesday i. only reopened last month for the

first time since january. johns hopkins university says global infections topped 13,000 on tutuesday. ththe death toll exceeds 570,00. the head of the world health organization says the pandemic will only worsen if companies fail to take stricter measures. a new onslaught of heavy rain may bring more flooding and landslides to japan. more than 10,000 people in the country's west have been advised to leave their homes as sevever weather refuses to let up. officials issued the evacuation orders and advisories on tuesday after a river in shim knew prefecture burst its babanks. there are reports of flooding of both roads and homes. >> translator: the river was muddy and the flood was very

intense. >> translatotor: there wasn't a water on the road, the water rose after the rain, reaching that level in half an hour. >> a wide swath of the region saw intense downpours overnight. the water destabilized this hill causing mud to slide into a home in hiroshima prefecture. no one has been able to contact two people who lived there. already hard-hit areas in southwestern japan won't see reli relief. more than a week has passed after the weather first devastated the region. communities continue to pull together to help those in need. the government is still trying to get a full picture of the destruction. it estimateses the current dama to the agriculture forestry and fishery industries in 35 prefectures across japan at over 170 million. we're getting a clearer

sense of what led to the extensive damage. some of the flooding took place away from overflowing waterways. one expert is warning people across the nation they could face a similar threat. >> reporter: it doesn't appear river flooding the only cause. they've been surveying the damage in the neighborhood. he analyzed debris flows and water levels to figure out where the deluge came from. he suspects the rainfall was so intense it couldn't be drained quickly enough leaving to inland flooding. he also points to a pump station in the neighborhood which broke down on july 6th amid the record-breaking downpours. the stations collect water from residential areas and pump it

into the area. he says that contributed to the devastation. he says the same thing could happen anywhere in japan unless precautitions are taken urgentl. >> translator: due to climate change, it's now possible for an entire pump station to be submerged. people need to look at how elevated these facilities are and verify whether they will continue to function under any circumstances. >> reporter: it's a pressing challenge as weather patterns become more extreme. the area experienced flooding four years ago, too. residents asked city officials to install more pumps and strengthen other protective measures. as they clean up f from the lat of the disaster, they're renewing that demand. >> translator: we want the authorities to install pumps as soon as possible that can handle

water levels higher than what we found this time. >> reporter: an official with the municipal government says they need to review why they failed to anticipate what happened. they're now vowing to improve anti-flood measures to improve a similar disaster in the future. japan's latest defense white paper warns that the coronavirus pandemic may expose and intensify strategic competition among countries seeking to expand their influence. the annual paper, published on tuesday, made the reference, with china in mind. it says beijing has been making propaganda efforts, amid growing social uncertainty caused by the pandemic. the paper, also, raises concern

over the activity of chinese government ships, just outside of japan's territorial waters off the san queue queue islands in the east china sea. japan controls the islands. the japanese government maintains they are an inherent part of japan's territory. china and taiwan claim them. the report, also, says north korea, apparently, has the capability to mount nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles, that could reach japan. it says that its technological advancements pose a new threat for the interception systems of relevant countries. white paper also notes the decision not to deploy the aegis ashore land-based defense missile system in two japanese prefectures. it says a new national defense strategy will be outlined, based on discussions by the government's national security council. american football team the washington redskins is retiring its name and logo. it comes after years of criticism that the franchise was rooted in a racist trope. the team said in a statement on monday, it will develop a new

name and design approach. the rebrand will be before the 2020 season begins in september. critics argued for leagues that the name and profile depicting a native american man were offensive to native americans. the issue recently came to the fore after the death of george floyd in police custody ignited a wave of anti-racism protests across the united states. corporate sponsors also called for a name change threatening to pull funding. other teams are facing pressure to follow washington. major league baseball's cleveland indians says it's continuing a change. the atlanta braves, that references a term for a native american warrior says it is not. next, many schools in japan recently welcomed bam students after closing for months due to the coronavirus. teachers are working out how to keep them safe especially in english classes. as nkk reports, there could be a

sill veer lilining. >> reporter: the coronavirus is changing education. this is what you can expect to see at japanese schools, but it gets more complicated with standard learning where conversation is key. >> please wear your face shields. >> reporter: this english teacher doesn't let students sit face-to-fa face-to-face. and then, there are the face shields. he thought it would be easier to check pronunciatation if he cou see thehe students' faces, but many are afraid to take off their masks when there isn't much social distancing. >> translator: i'm worried, so i need to keep the mask.

>> translator: i hope that school life will return to normal soon. >> reporter: the teachers says he's facing a difficult challenge. >> translator: i feel like i'm juggling two things, education and preventing transmission that are almost i78 possible to deal with at the same time. i'll do my best to figure out what works, although the options are limited. >> reporter: the educationon ministry has issued guidelines to deal with the virus. but teachers are also developing their own solulutions, leading a patchwork of different measures. teachehers at this school are takingng more high-tech approac. on the stairs and in the hallways studentnts practctice r english pronunciation without masks using ipads. the devices allow them to get

away from their desks and stay a safe distance from each other. they rord themselves speakining and then hand in the ipads so the teacher can chcheck their work. >> translator: it's easier to speak without masks. >> reporter: outside of classrooms, i can practice my pronunciation more loudly. >> reporter: the teacher is also making videos to help minimize how much he has to talk. >> translator: complaining about what we cannot do doesn't help anything. we should instead think about what we can do. >> reporter: this expert hopes innovation like these will help shape the future of public schooling in the country. >> translator: teachers now have

a chance to think about what they want students to learn the most. the pandemic could be a great opportunity to create a new style of education. >> reporter: after losing a lot of class hours to the pandemic, teachers are trying to get back on track with new educational strategies that are both safe and effective. yamamoto, nhk world, tokyo. >> time for a check of world weather with meteorologist jonathan oh. people across india are dealing with serious flooding over the past few days. what's causing all this rain. >> hello. we've been talking about the southwest monsoon being the big problem when it comes to bringing a huge amount of rain. don't get me wrong, it is a necessary part in terms of bringing the rain to the farmers or those located there, waiting for this to get relief from the eat. it doess always end up creating

flooding issssues as wewell. here is video to give you an indication as houses are flooded in the northeastern portions of india sunday and monday. thousands of people were evacuated by boat and by raft. portions of dikes broke near the border of pep nanepal area. the national response force was called in for the rescue operation. there's always two sides to the story, where you need the rain, especially for those trying to get ready for the growing season, but also dealing with the flooding that also comes with it. as we go throughout the next 24 hours, we're seeing a good portion of india seeing some form of rain. if you're already dealing with flooding, then you're dealing with more rain on top of that flooding. rain and thunderstorms across ind india. a bit on the cooler side. rain in calcutta with a high of 34. meanwhile talking rain across

east asia as well. talking about the rainy pattern across japan and also extending back toward china as well. that has been producing some flooding problems as well. we will be dealing with more rain across japan for wednesday as we have a couple areas of low pressure moving through, kind of destabilizing the situation just a bit and we'll see more rain over to the central portion of china as well. we have this tropical disturbance that's moving toward taiwan. we'll be dealing with rain there, stronger winds from time to time, but the big story when it comes to rain will be a little farther north. shanghai with a high of 24. thunderstorms in chongqing. tokyo mid 20s for the high on wednesday with some rain. across north america, the heat is a big story in the southwestern areas of the united states as we have this dry pattern in place. it's going to start easing later this week. in the meantime we have a front that's moving through the plain states. this one brings some strong to maybe severe thunderstorms as we

go through tuesday. be on the lookout as the front pushing towards the east. still s see the heat in place i places like oklahoma city, a high of 35 with thunderstorms as we move through tuesday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪

♪ that concludes this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm roger pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard. stay right there.

china's trade data for last month came out and surprisingly exports and imports were off. exports rose a half percent from a year ago. officials say that's because of huge global demand for face masks. laptops and smartphones were big sellers as people around the world worked from home. imimports rose 3%3% as governme stimulus spurred demand for commodities. despite the upuptick, there's still a lot of uncertainty out

there. tough times will likely continue for the rest of the year. plus, there are the trade tensions with the u.s. singapore had a rough time in april, the april to june quarter. gdp plunged 4% over the quarter, on a seasonally adjusted analyzed basis. the government estimates gdp will shrink between 4 and 7% for the full year, the biggest drop since the country was founded in 1965. this is "newsline" biz, i'm ramin mellegard. california's governor is rolling back some of his plans to reopen the state as the number of coronavirus cases keeps rising. gavin newsom says bars and restaurants must halt all indoor service and museums must close statewide. the restrictions will also apply to movie theaters, zoos and wineries. >> one thing i just think is incredibly important to remind all of you is that this virus is

not going away anytime soon. >> newsom also said extra restrictions will apply to 29 counties including los angeles. hair salons, indoor malls and places of worship will have to close the. florida and xaxas ha alslso reinstat r restrtionons busineeses sucas b barand reaurantnt johns hoins univsity say therwere ove59,000 n cases in the u.s. on sunday. a dozen japanese companies and organizations are teaming up on an ambitious project to develop the next level of encryption technology. people familiar with the plan says the group includes flagship companies such as nec. the university of tokyo and the national institute of information and communications technology are also on board. experts fear current encryption standards could be easily cracked once super high-speed quantum computing is a reality. this five-year project aims to

commercialize what's known as quantum cryptography worldwide. japanese companies have been at the forefront of the field. toshiba holds the most patents followed by nec. hotels across japan have been decimated by the coronavirus outbreak. on one island of she co-queue is making a pitch to bring back corporate functions and business banquets with a host of new safety measures. the jr hotel takamatsu put on a demonstration on tuesday. the managers have the number of people allowed to sit at each table, installing transparent boards between guests to block airbornee droplets. because you can't do business without swapping cards, the hotel has set up booths to do just that. you can even buy a face shield if you want to avoid talking through a mask. the hotel manager says he thinks if people can hold meetings and exchange information, the whole economy will gradually recover.

prices of secondhand cars have been falling in the past few months. sluggish consumption is not the only culprit. the used car industry is coming up with innovative ways to ride out the storm. >> reporter: rows of cars line in a large lot. this is a storage site of a major used car exporter. some vehicles are headed to zimbabwe and africa while others are bound for the bahamas in the atlantic. but many countries restricted entry to their ports from march to guard against the coronavirus. unable to ship the cars, the company's stock swelled to around 12,000 units by april. according to data from a private research company, roughly 30% of japan's secondhand cars are exported. they have now become surplus stock. domestic consumption is also