glad to have you with us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. we start this hour with the coronavirus here in japan. the number of confirmed infections across the nation on wednesday topped 1,100. it's the highest daily total and the first time the symbolic 1,000 threshold has been crossed. officials in the western prefecture of osaka reported 221 cases on wednesday. it's the highest ever daily total there and the first time the figure has surpassed 200. to try to curb the spread,

officials are asking residents and businesses to refrain from holding parties of five people or more for most of next month. the governor says the number limit was chosen after the central government issued vague guidelines around gatherings. >> translator: the message isn't very clear, so we thought we should present a concrete figure. >> aichi reported 167 infections. the highest daily figure since the pandemic began. the southern prefecture of okinawa registered for a third day in a row. but it's more than double the tuesdayly ltally. now a hospital worker became the first person cononfirmed to be infected on the remote island. there are concerns whether hospitals in isolated areas will be able to cope if there's an outbreak. tokyo continues to be the biggest hot spot with 250 cases

on wednesday. the daily figure has been above 200 every day in the past week except once. in total more than 34,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed across the country. more than 1,000 people have died. european nations are trying to contain a resurgence of coronavirus infection. the rising numbers come during peak travel season threatening to deal another blow to thehe tourism industry. spain is seeing a rise in cases mainly in the northeastern region of catalonia. they reported more than 900 new infections on tuesday. the british government has brought back a two-week quarantine for anyone arriving from spain. >> i'm afraid if we do see signs of a second wave in other countries, it is really our job, our duty to act swiftly and decisively to stop reinfecting -- to stop travelers

coming back from those cases seeding the virus here. >> the virus is spreading in germany as well. more than 800 new cases last friday. the head of the robert kosh institute says he worries people have become negligent. johns hopkins university says there have been more than 16 million coronavirus infections worldwide. nearly 660,000 people have died. a district court in hiroshima havee ruled people exposed to radioactive rain in the atomic bombing there -- allows the plaintiffs to receive a special designation that gives them access to free medical care.

the 84 plaintiffs and their families celebrated following wednesday's ruling. >> translator: we've been fighting for 40 long years. we really appreciate the judges who made this bold decision. >> they filed suit against the city and the prefecture of hiroshima in 2015. in it plaintiffs claimed they suffered health problems after being exposed to radioactive substances through so-called black rain. the local governments argued there was no solid proof the residents were exposed to an amount of radioactive materials that would harm them. the presididing judge ruleded t plaintiffs' testimony w was reasonable. he said their health records show they developed illnesses believed to be linked to fallout from the atomic bombing.

the plaintiffs say they'll call on the governments not to appeal the ruling. hiroshima's mayor and governor says they'll make a decision after discussing the issue with the central government. japan's nuclear regulators have given the green light to a reprocesessing plant in the country's north that's the center piece of the government's nuclear fuel recycling policy. the plant is designed to extract plutonium from spent nuclear fuel generated by power plants. the the nuclear regulation authority has been reviewing an application from the operator to determine whether the plant meets the standards introduced after the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident in 2011. the regulatotors addressed a drt in may andnd elicited opinions from the public. regulators said on wednesday they had received responses, many of them addressed safety issues including concerns about the possibility of radioactive materials leaking. regulators concluded the measures presented by the

operator would be sufficient to deal with the concerns and declared the plant had passed the screening. the operator wants the plant ready by 2022, but the construction work which began 27 years ago, has been repeatedly delayed causing costs to balloon to about $130 billion. plans to use the reprocessed plutonium are not moving forward as initially outlined and the government and energy firm still need to obtain local approval. next, an international project to recreate the sun's energy is entering a new phase. workers have started assembling a nuclear fusion reactor in southern france. japan, the united states, china, the european union, india, russia, and south korea have been working on the initiative for 13 years. the goal is toto see w whether nuclear fusion can become a viable source of carbon-free energy. seven members of the

international thermal nuclear experimental nuclear reactor project held a ceremony on tuesday to mark the start of the new phase. leaders from each participating nation sent video messages to the ceremony. the french president called iter as the project is known, a promise of peace. he says it's proof that what brbrings together people and nations is s stronger than what pulls them apa.. >> translator: countries that have the needed technical knowledge and economic wealth are working together on this project for the fututure of humanityty. i think it's meaningful that japan is contributing. >> japan is in charge of producing some of the reactor's main components. that includes one of the world's largest super conducting coils which will be used to store high temperature plasma needed for the reaction. the assembly work on the reactor is likely to take four and a half years. the project hopes to achieve nuclear r fusion in 15 years.

taiwan's president, tsai ing-wen, paid a surprise visit to one of her predecessors, it's leading local media to speculate lee teng-hui's health may be worsening. she adadjusted her schchedule se could visit lee. he was diagnosed with pneumonia in february and has been hospitalized since then. reporters are now gathering outstside waiting for updates. the 97-year-old was a a key fige in taiwan's push towards democracy. in 1996, he organized the first direct presidential election. he remained politically activev even after leaving office in the year 2000. lee was also seen as being close to japan, visiting the nation many times. japan's foreign minister has conveyed concerns to his chinese

counterpart over a national security law for hong kong. he spoke with wang yi over the phone on wednesday. the conversation took part at the request of chinese authorities. the legislation was passed last month and lays out four criminal acts beijing says threatens national security, secession, terrorism, and collusion with foreign or external forces. t ministers also discussed the travel ban in business during the pandemic. they will allow business travelers to go between the countries given they get tested. media say the territory's government is looking at delaying the election due to the coronavirus. it was reported on tuesday the election is likely to be delayed

by up to one year. the south china morning post said the chief executive met government officials and advisers on tuesday to discuss the possibility of postponement, but no decision was made. it said the officials plan to convene again after friday. the outlet added if the spread of infection remains serious, lam may decide to postpone the polls. hong kong has seen a rapid recurrence of coronavirus. gatherings of three or more people as well as restaurant dining will be banned. some people from the beijing camp says the election should be postponed. many suspect the government wants to push back the election because anti-beijing momentum is growing after the enactment of the national security law for hong kong. the foreign and defense chiefs of the united states and australia have agreed china's maritime claims in the south china sea arare unacceptable. both countries have not held

back from criticizing china recently, and this latest move is likely to further provoke beijing. the u.s. secretary of state and defense secretary met with the their australian counterparts in washington on tuesday. the meeting was held after a note was sent by australia last week saying china's vast maritime claims in the south china sea are inconsistent with international law. mike pompeo praised australia for standing up for democratic valueses despite pressure from china. >> finally, we'll keep working with our australian partners to assert the rule of law in the south china sea. >> the relationship that we have with china is important, and we have no intention of injuring it. but nor do we intend to do things that are contrary to our interests. >> they also threw their support behind the economic activities of countries like vietnam and the philippines that are involved in maritime disputes with china in the south china sea. earlier in july the united states shifted its policy on territorial disagreements in the

south china sea from one urging resolution by parties involved to a more hard line stance of calling beijing's claims completely unlawful. while the new security rule in hong kong is going on, it may be a case of deja vu for the man in our next story. he was detained after a similar measure came onto the mainland in 2015. he spoke to nhk about the hardship he's endured and what it says about the rule of law in his country. >> reporter: wang's five-year deal came to an end in april when he was finally returned to his family i in beijing. for much of that time, they didn't know whether he was alive or dead. even now, wang remains under strict police surveillance.

as a human rights lawyer, wang's clients included people fighting forced evictions and members of banned religious groups. after wang himself fell into the authorities' cross hairs, he says he was tortured by his interrogators. >> translator: i was forced to keep my hands r raised from 6:0 in the morning until 9:00 at night for about a month. it was painful. the officers spat in my face and kicked me. they would offer to give me a lighter sentence and let me keep my lawyers license if i cooperated. >> reporter: wang maintained he had done nothing wrorong and he refused to be represented by his court appointed lawyers. when his trial finally opened three years later, it wawas hel behind closed doors because officials argued that state

secrets were involved. the end result was a suspended sentence of four and a half years for the vague crime of state subversion and he lost his lawyers license. >> translator: in the courtroom, six or seven police officers restrained me as the trial unfo unfolded. they trampled on their own laws governori i governing criminal cases. >> reporter: in july the u.s. secretary of state released a statement marking the crackdown. mike pompeo says human rights lawyers like wang continue to face a wave of oppression. officials in beijing disputed that claim. >> translator: china is a country governed by laws and everyone must abide by the law. >> reporter: butut wang says th legal systetem which is controld by the chihinese communist part is used arbitrarily. the goal is to help the party

strengthen its grip on society. wawang is n now concernrned a at that means for hong kongers living under the new national security law. >> translator: national security is a vague concept. it can be interpreted very broadly. the authorities are using it at their discretion to give themselves more authority. they're not even abiding by legal restrictions. the situation is horrififying. >> reporter: despite the personal risks, wang is determined to c continue his mission. he's suing over the t torture h suffereded and he's appealing t case to get his license back. >> translator: human rights lawyers only want those in power to govern according to the law. and that citizens are guaranteed the rights they're entitled to. we're working to ensure justice and social stability to protect a social system. we're not damaging those things.

switching now to a check on the weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. residents saw the mercury drop by quite a bit on wednesday, but sunny skies are a rare case here. will cloudy days be on the menu in the coming days? >> we're going to deal with cloudy skies across tokyo through the rest of the week. but other parts of japan may see sunny skies coming back into the picture and we may move into the western japan areas as we go through the latter part of this week. we still had the clouds in place. you can see the clouds kind of rolling up and moving up toward the north. what's happening is we have this stationary front, the rainy season front getting kicked up on the western side because of this high that's developing to the south. another high toward the north is dragging in colder air and that's the reason why we saw temperatures in the mid-20s and we're going to see that in tokyo for another day on thursday.

then we'll see the temperatures starting to rise up a bit. but it looks like that except for maybe a few scattered showers overnight, most of japan entered the western areas mainly will stay dry with a few scattered showers in some isolated locations. tokyo, you'll need to have the umbrellas nearby for a little longer. thursday looking at showers. mid-20s for the high. then we move up to near 30. and yeah the clouds hang tough for a little bit longer, but by the time we're into the first part of the next work week, tokyo will see sunshine. osaka and naha, you're in mid-30s and looking at brighter skies. the western areas will have to see if the rainy season wraps up. now let's go to the atlantic ocean. we're keeping an eye on a tropical cyclone here. it's trying to gather itself together. just not quite there yet. but we are looking at a tropical storm development possibly

within the next 12 hours or so as this storm moves to the north and weist. it will impact places like puerto rico and areas to the north and west. and the cone of concern does include florida as we go into the first part of next week. and even though the model forecast is showing the rain up over the waters, the cone of concern can easily show that system moving to the south. you need to be on the lookout for that. meanwhile across north america, we do have one front moving to the south and east. another moving i into the midwe. we're talking thunderstorms through the day on wednesday. thunderstorms in chicago with a high of 26. hope you have a good day wherever you are.

and that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard so stay right there.

executives at ana holdings is blaming the pandemic for the airline's worst quarterly result. they say between april and june the carrier suffered a net loss of more than $1 billion. revenue for the quarter plunged to 121 billion yen or $1.2 billion. that's a decline of more than 75% year on year. they say the firm's net loss was almost 109 billion yen, double the loss in the previous quarter. the sobering results followed a series of entry bans and a sharp decline in cross-country travel.

ana says it's hard to see how the pandemic will impact the months ahead. the demand for domestic air travel to recover the end of next year. international flights will likely be back to pre-pandemic levels at the end of fiscal 2023. this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. the pandemic is battering japanese retailers. those at isetan mitsuko shee holdings are bracing for their biggest net loss in a decade. they posted a net loss of $290 billion. sales were down by 53%. officials see more gloom ahead. they expect a loss of $570 million for the fiscal year ending in march next year.

as much red ink as the previous loss in fiscal 2009. they shuttered its major outlets in april and may during the national emergency. executives expect the consumer recovery to be weak and sales to remain sluggish for a long time. analysts at stitch ratings say the impact has prompted them to cut their outlook for japan's credit rating. they say they've lowered the projection from stable to negative. the analysts say japan's early success in containing the virus hasn't been able to stop a sharp economic contraction. they say the decision to issue more deficit bonds in an effort to spur growth will lead to an increase in financial vulnerabili vulnerability. the analysts kept their single "a" rating in place. that's the sixth highest level. they cited the surplus for their decision.

s&p also lowered it from positive to stable. a joint project is underway in japan to breed sea horses commonly used in traditional medicine. it will be a way to prevent overfishing in the wild of endangered species. the chamber of commerce teamed up with the university. the international trade and endangered species requires certain procedures for the export of sea horses. in traditional medicine, dried sea horses are used as energizing medicine. one kilogram can be traded at thousands of dollars. the university team have succeeded in raising more than 60% by controlling the water temperature and food. >> translator: if humans can secure what they need by agriculture, they will not have to get sea horses from the wild. i want to help prevent as many

specieies as possible from goin extinct. >> the team says it will start building a full scale aqua cultlture farm later this year. the aim is to spread the technology to southeast asia where sea horses are commonly caught. chinese president xi jingping has called for global cooperation during the pandemic and touted his country's financial contribution. xi spoke via video to the annual meeting of the china-led asian infrastructuture investmentt ba or the aiib. the two-day online meeting started on tuesday. it is seen as a count tore the imf. xi said the aiib had established a $10 billion c crisiss fundd t help m members combat the e pandemic. >> translator: the aiib will serve as a new paradigm of

multilateral cooperation. they will help economic more open to the public while delivering profits for partners. >> the aiib was launched in 2015 with a membership that has grown to more than 100. the annual meeting comeses amid rising concerns china is using its power to advance its global interests. mcdonald's has posted a sharp drop in sales and income for its second quarter earnings as the pandemic hammers the restaurant business in the u.s. total sales sank 30% during the april to june period compared to last year falling to about $3.8 billion. net income plummeted 68% to about $483 million. mcdonald's temporarily shut down its outlets globally amid the pandemic. falling to a little over 2% in june. the results come as a recent survey shows the u.s. restaurant

industry is struggling. review site yelp says that 60% of restaurants in the country that closed temporarily during the country have shut down for good. the u u.s. government has launcd large rescucue packages to help small and medium sized businesses cope with the fallouout. but the survey shows many were still unable to overcome the crisis. one of the world's largest annual technology trade fairs, the ces will be held online next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. the u.s. consumer electronics show usually takes place every january in las vegas attracting i.t. firms, automakers, and other tech companies around the world. this year more than 440 firms took part and over 170,000 people attended the event. but it's just not safely possible to convene tens of thousands of people amid the pandemic. they said the all-digital fofoat will allow participants to

safely see cutting edge technology and take part in meetings from their homes and offices. they plalan to hold ces 2022 in las vegas again combining elements of physical and digital shows. >okay. let't's get a check on the markets.

and that's it for "newsline biz." i'mm ramin mellegard. thank you very much for joining us. >> welcome to the france 24

newsroom. covid-19 has of contininuing outbreaks with the prospect of reimposed restrictions. this as many traveled to their summer vacation. the u.k., belgium, and now germany has announced urgent measures to limit the spread of the virus. travelers will now be systematically tested in germany. peter has more. a second wave is gripping countries around