hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara. we're starting in japan where officials are turning to artificial intelligence in the fight against the coronavirus. the minister in charge of the government response says he hohopes it will help them m get handle on the contagion. nishimura attended a meeting of the government's expert panel on wednesday. they plan to carry out simulations on the spread of the virus using ai andnd supercomputers to design better policies. he says the goal is to devise measures that will avoid having

to ask businesses to halt their operations. >> translator: the coronavirus is reaching epepidemic proportis and could coincide w with a sur in influenza cases in n the fal or later. i lolook forward to seeing the results from the expert panel later this month. >> tokyo has the most cases across the country. the metropolitan government reported 263 new cases on wednesday. that's the ninth straight day above the 200 mark. the central prefecture of aichi confirmemed about 150 new cases prompting the governor to take matters into his own hands. >> translator: i i plan to issu our own state of emergency. i would like to ask for your understanding and cooperation to

overcome this sececond wave of infection. >> omura says the declaration will be in effect from the thursday through the 24th of this month. he's asking residents to refrain from nonessential outings especially during next week's holidays. in the western prefecture of fukuoka, the governor is asking pubs to shut if they aren't taking adequate antivirus measures. the measure will remain in place for two weeks starting this saturday. in brazil, an eighth minister has tested positive with the coronavirus. that's nearly one-third of president jair bolsonaro's 23 cabinet ministers. key people who have contracted the virus include the citizenship and energy ministers and the head of institutional security office. the first lady also contracted the virus. bolsonaro hielelf coirmemed st month that he had e e viru

since testing netiveve, has traveded arod ththe untry y urging peoe e to rpen n th economy,y, but the opposition h cricicized his d down playing o the risks. brazil is second only to the united states in the number of cumulative cases and death tolls. brazil has been reporting 50,000 new cases per day, bringing the total to 2.8 million on tuesday. the death toll tops 95,000. in italy, officials say a large scale antibody test for the coronavirus indicates that more than 1.4 million people, or 2.5% of italy's popupulation, he antibodies. nearly 6 65,000 people were tesd acrossss the countryry. officialsasay nearly 3 30% of those with antibodies did not experiencece any symymptoms. data compiled by j johns hopopk university s sho t there have en more t than 18.5 million

infections across the globe. over 700,000 people have died. residents in the lebanese capital are cleaning up a day after a powerful explosion rocked the city. media outlets now say at least 100 people are dead and nearly 4,000 are injured. >> translator: the s scene is indescribable. it makes me sad. people from my area haven't seen this with our own eyes, but we came this morning to see for ourselves. >> the lebanese government says the blast was the result of about 257,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored at a warehehouse since 2014. the investitigative committee wl

look at why the chemicals exploded and who was responsible. it says results will be released within 48 hours. the country's president has called for an emergency cabinet meeting on wednesday. they also said a two weekdeclar. scores of people are unaccounted for. relatives have been pleading for help locating loved ones by posting photos of the missing on social media. lebanon had already been reeling from a financial crisis that has sparked mass protest in recent months. making matters worse, the health care system has been confronting a surge of coronavirus cases. an official at one hospital affected by the blast described a dire situation. >> translator: there are lots of victims. we lost four nurses and

patients, visitors. many dead. many injured. we have over 200 injured. >> scores of buildings were destroyed or damaged in the city. a major brazilian newspaper said that included a house owned by former nissan motor chairman and international fugitive carlos ghosn. officials in washington say a member of the u.s. cabinet is set to visit taiwan for the first time in six years which could rankle beijing. the health and human services secretetary will lead d a delegn to the island in the coming days. alex azar is expected to meet senior officials, health experts and others to discuss u.s./taiwan ties, as well as the pandemic response. an hhs statement on the visit made a veiled reference to beijing. it says the u.s. and taiwan can drive progress in areas like medicine and science in contrast to authoritarian systems.

it also says the visit is part of a u.s. policy of sending high ranking officials to promote bilateral ties. the u.s. president signed into law the taiwan travel act in 2018 to that end. the taiwanese government has confirmed the visit. officials say the taiwan president and health experts will meet the u.s. senior official. wednesday marks a controversial anniversary in the indian-controlled part of kashmir. it's one year since new delhi revoked t the area's autonomy a residents are still feeling the impact. on august 5th, 2019, india ended the autonomy of ja mu and kashmir after 70 years. it's now under india's direct control. people faceded a curfew on tuesy ahead of the anniversary. internet communication h h been restricted to prevent protests.

that's made it tough for children to take online classes amid the coronavirus ououtbreak. the p poor internet connection means it's difficult to even watch a video file. tourism in the region was hit hahard by a temporary curfew imposed last year and now it's grappling with fallllt from the papandemic. few tourists have beenen rentin luxu houseboatss on the area's picturesque lakes. japan will soon mark the 75th anniversary of two of the bleakest days in modern history, the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. the attacks claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and changed the world in an instant. this year's ceremonies are being scaled back because of the virus, but among those who will attend is the united nations

high representative for disarmament affairs. nhk world's reports. >> reporter: nakamitsu says with all the chaos in the world, now more than ever, people must not lose sight of a world without nuclclear weaponon she said t the 1945 b bombingssr as a reminder of their unparalleled disruptive power.r. >> this is a an importanweapon, an important l lesson we need t highlight on the 75t5th occasio. i wowould like all countries t liststen to the testimonies, an understand the sufferirings, th human sufferergs as a resusult those two, you know, devastating weapons. >> reporter: nakamitsu says discussions on nuclear disarmament are at a critical juncture.

a pact between the united states and russia is set to expire in february, but so far, the two sides have failed to reach a breakthrough. the deadlock is raising fears that it could reignite another arms race. >> we fear that the risk of nuclear detonation is probably highest since the height of the cold war. if this treaty is allowed to expire, for the first time in many, many years, for decades, the world will be in a situation where there is absolutely no restrictions on nuclear weweapo. and it's not just the implications are not just for the united states and russian federation, but the implication would be a global one. >> reporter: compounding an already tense situation is that it's all happening amid a global pandemic. but nakamitsu says the current environment highlightss the nee for solidarity. >> i think the international community is learning or trying to learn many lessons from the covid crisis. you know, we have seen how

vulnerable the world is. this is a lesson also applicable to nuclear weapons issue, and of course in a covid crisis has told us that we need to put the human beings at the center of security. >> reporter: the pandemic is creating setbacks. a review conference for the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons has been pushed to next year. many of the conversations are shifting online, but nakamitsu says high stakes negotiations require face-to-o-face diplomac >> there iss definitelely limimitation. you knowow, we have been innovating and we have actually gotten used to these, you know, online platforms. many webinars and seminars and, yoyou know, we are utitilizing e platforms as much as possible so we will be creating further

momentum. >> reporter: nakamitsu says turning tragedy into a force for peace and reconciliation is a globalal responsibility. >> i think we are e at the turug poinint in history. everythingng for the fute e depepends on whahat we do as individudual citizens, how w we organize ourselves and try to o construct and build d our futur >> people in hiroshima prefecture are hard at work making paper cranes in preparation for the 75th anniversary of the u.s. atomic bombing. each year on august 6th, about 13,000 strings of handmade paper cranes are offered at the memorial in the peace memorial park, but there will be fewer cranes than usual this year. the coronavirus pandemic has led to a plunge in the number of

visitors who bring origami to the site and fewer opportunities to get together and fold cranes. people from the local social welfare council and ten companies are working to add more cranes. four employees at a local bank headquarters in the city were threading the paper cranes on to strings. >> translator: we started making the cranes in the hope that we could do this while praying for peace. there will be fewer foreigners and tourists at the ceremony, but i thought it would be better to fill the memorial with a lot of cranes. >> more than 15,000 paper cranes have so far been made by those taking part in the initiative. they're scheduled to be put on display next to the children's peace monument at the park on wednesday. and from 8:00 a.m. japan time on thursday, we will take you live to hiroshima for o our coverarage of the memorial ceremony in a special edition of nhk "newsline," the war, 75 years on, hiroshima, a cry for peace.

turning to the latest on an injuryry t to a star japanese baseball player. the los angeles angels say ohni won't pitch again in 2020 afafter hurting his arm. >> i'm'm not anticipatg g him pitching at alall this year. whatever any kind t throwing program would be very consnservative. >> team manager joe e maddon spe about ohtani at a news conference. he said the player may be ab to bat in a game on wednesday despite the injury. ohtani felt pain in a muscle in his right elbow after a game against the houston astros last sunday. ohtani's career has been inteterrupted by injurury befor. in october 2018, he underwent surgery to repair a totorn ligament in his pitching elbow. he returned to his two-way role in july.

sumo healthth exercisese, y! ♪ people in the korean peninsula hahave been dealing wh flooding rains for days. yet more rain is on the way due to a tropical storm.

our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us now with details. sayaka? >> the second typhoon of the year made landfall in china on tuesday. it has weakened to a tropical storm and is now over the yellow sea. the next target is going to be the korean peninsula. it looks like the center will move over central portions of north korea. maybe hit directly by the storm. it's likely to drop 400 millimeters of rain in north korea. even south korea could see up to 300 millimeters of rain. that's not good news because south korea has been dealing with heavy rainfall over the past several days. especially from august 1st. they got nearly 600 millimeters of rain already. additional rain could worsen the situation. going into friday, the remnants of hakabit could make an impact.

it was hot across many places of japan on wednesday. the high rose to 34 on wednesday in tokyo making the highest temperature of the year so far. it's going to be as hot as wednesday on thursday in tokyo and 34 once again on your saturday. and osaka will see sizzling hot weather conditions on thursday. hiroshima, 33 on thursday. the peace memorial ceremony will be taking place on thursday. it's going to be hot andnd n no clclouds are in the forecast so wawatch out for heatstroke. it's been ab normally hot across the arctic region. almost no ice at the moment and over the ground,,any firesre occurring. ke a a lookk at thihis footage m siberia. firefighters have been able to bring a forest fire under control tuesday in the far east part of russia. more thann 58,000 hectares were burned.. because of the remote location, it was impossible to bring fire vehicles to the area.

the hot and dry weather has also caused hundreds of fires to the siberian region of russia the past few weeks. dry weather will continue in siberia. temperatures will be 28. that's nearly 10 degrees higher than normal. the pole of cold will see 22 degrees. in europe, heat is returning to wewestern areas. temperatures are going to be in the 30s once again in paris. and also 38 in madrid. that's it for me. have a nice day.

and that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. thanks for watching and do stay with us for more.

this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. the largest economy in southeast asia is taking a hit from covid-19. indonesia has posted its first quarterly contraction in its gross domestic product in more than 20 years. officials say gdp shrank by 5.3% from the same period last year. the last time the country saw a contraction was the first quarter of 1999 following the asian financial crisis. government restrictions on businesses between april and june cut into earnings across a

range of sectors including the restaurant and transport industries. 3.7 million people have lost their jobs so far this year. consumption has also slumped. private spending accounts for over half of indonesia's gdp. japanese executives are reluctant to spend money on their factories and equipment due to the coronavirus pandemic. a survey shows growth in planned capital investment at its lowest in more than ten years. nearly 1,800 major firms responded to the annual pole taken in may and june by the development bank of japan. the companies plan to boost capital investment by about 4% this fiscal year compared with your spending last year. that's the lowest increase since fiscal 2010. the pace of growth had been in the double digits for eight consecutive years since last year. 30% of respondents said they

would put off due to the pandemic. a bank official says actual numbers could end up lower than those of last year. officials at honda motor have reported a net loss in the april to june quarter. the pandemic has weighed heavily on global sales of cars and motorbikes. executives say the company lost around $760 million in the quarter. sales particularly dropped in japan, the u.s., and india. yet officials forecast net profit of about $1.5 billion for the business year through next march. they expect sales to rebound mainly in china. the pandemic also had a major impact on the earnings of japan's sanrio. it's the company that gave the world the hello kitty character. sales for the quarter fell more than 45% from the same period last year to about 7.3 billion

yen or $69 million. sanrio posted a net loss of 858 million yen or about $8.1 million. the company attributed the loss to the temporary closure of two theme parks it operates and stores selling sanrio goods during the pandemic. the director said the companynys continuing to limit visitors to the theme parks to control infection. he said sanrio hopes to maintain sales by boosting what it's called digital strategies. company employees in japan are adapting to new styles of work as the coronavirus pandemic forces people to rethink traditional models. some are taking a break from the home or office and enjoig what's

known as a work-cation. that's taking work to a holiday environment. >> reporter: just a one-hour train ride from tokyo, the resort town is a popular destination for marine sports and seaside relaxation. it is favored by day trippers looking for a short escape and now it is attracting people on company sponsored work-cations. the local government and a construction firm rent out this facility by the day. yamazaki kazauki arrives here hoping it gives him a boost. he has found the past few months challenging. >> translator: at home it is hard to maintain focus. but going back to the office is probably not a good idea because it's getting crowded again.

this seems like a great environment for work. >> reporter: his colleagues trickle in and set themselves up in the socially distanced work space. they get down to work and some of them join an online meeting. the city is promotinining work-catations to stimulate the economy. >> translator: we started this program to attttct people who have nevever come here before. i hope many people will come to zushi and feel the relaxed passage of time here. >> reporter: lunchtime is something special for the work-cationers. this restaurant serves fish caught nearby. >> translator: i will post these on instagram. this is good.

>> reporter: a day out is designed to bring unity to the team and foster better relationships as the employees spend time together in a relaxing setting. >> translator: this is different from everyday life, so it's exciting. we can enenjoy great foodd too. it boosts my motivation. >> reporter: after the lunch break, it's back to work until evening. >> translator: time passed quickly. i was able to finish t t scheduled workrk, so it was a a success. >> reporter: it's a five-minute walk to the beach. although it's raining, the workers can see the potential for future excursions. >> translator: i want to come back on a sunny day and work under a parasol. >> translator: that is an excellent idea. >> reporter: work styles and expectations are changing rapidly amid the ongoing pandemic. as companies and employees try to maintain productivity and boost morale, work-cations are

an attractive option. all right. let's have a look at the markets.

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks very much for joining us.

♪ >> at least 100 peopople killed and 4000 wounded after a blast rocked the lebanese capital tuesday. the prime minister is failing to hold those resesponsibleoo account. calls forpresident international assistance to be stepped up. french aid is on route to bebeirut, paris sending two luke perry p planes with equipment. in the last few minutes the french presidentnt says he wilie in beirurut tomorrow.. i year after