hello and welcome to nhk "newsline.e." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. we begin here in japan where even if it doesn't feel like it, winter is coming and with itt fears of another wave of the coronavirus on top of the seasonal influenza. health officials plan to call on elderly people who are most prone to becoming seriously ill to get a flulu vaccine before a popotential shortage makes it difficult. the health ministry estimates flu vaccines will be enough to cover half of the country's

population. but the covid-19 pandemic has raised concerns about infectious diseases in general and there could be a shortage. the plan is to call on people aged 65 and over to get vaccininated statarted i in ear october. then latter half of october, medical workers, pre-existing conditions, pregnant women, and infants. covid-19 and influenza have similar symptoms such as high fever. the ministry plans to boost testing systems before the flu season begins. as the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, industries are striving to find new ways to adapt. now restaurants may have a tool to confront worries about the safety of dining during the pandemic. these prototype masks were developed by the university of arts to be held instead of worn.

about 20 restaurant owners tested the masks on t tuesday during a meal at a hotel in kyoto city. with their input, students at the university plan to improve the masks' design and functionality. >> translator: it was easier to use than i thought. i can talk without anxiety and have dinner. >> on wednesday officials in tokyo confirmed 236 coronavirus cases. nearly 20,000 people have tested positive in the city of about 14 million. and across japan, more than 65,000 cases have been reported. more than 1200 people have died. turning now to a bold warning from washington to beijing. the u.s. defense secretary has asserted in a blistering op-ed the pentagon is preparing to face the chinese military in what he calls a great power competition. mark esper's comments were published in the "wall street journal" ahead of his vivisit t

hawaii a and guam this week k t visit u.s. troroops and meetet regional leaders in the indo pacific. the wrote the modernization of the china's people's liberation army is a trend the world must study and prepare for much like the u.s. and the west studied and addressed the soviet armed forces in the 20th century. esper criticized the pla aggressive neighbor as to the sinking of the vietnamese vessel and harassing malaysian oil and gas developments. the defense secretary didn't hold back from making it clear the u.s. has accelerated its own armed forces and network of allies and efforts to modernize its own armed forces and expand its network of allies. esper also had a message for what he termed like-minded countries urging them to review their relations with beijing and echoing president trump allies of the u.s. can't shoulder the burden of taking on china alone. meanwhile, tensions between

the two power houses continue to grow. china is denouncing the u.s. for allegedly sending a reconnaissance plane into a no fly zone where it's conducting live fire drills. beijing says the move encroached on its sovereignty and was a purely provocative act. the incident allegedly took place on tuesday. china's defense ministry did not specify where it happened but earlier this week china announced it would be conducting military exercises in the south china sea and the bohai sea. the two sides have been at odds of the territorial claims in the south china sea which the u.s. describes as completely unlawful. washington and beijing have also sparred over other issues including taiwan and hong kong. and japan's chief cabinet secretary suga yoshihide says the government is keeping an eye on developments involving a chain of chinese education centers. the confucius institute is an educational establishmenent setp by beijing in cooperation with universities around the world

including japan to promote chinese language and culture. earlier this month, the trump administration decided to tighten control over the institute in the u.s. the administration ordered such measures as requiring reports on its operating funds. secretary of state mike pompeo said in a statement that the confucius institute is an entity advancing beijing's global propaganda and malign influence campaign on u.s. campuses and classrooms. china reacted sharply to the u.s. decision. a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters that pompeo's statement is based on false reports. he dismissed the movove as an attempt to intentionally undermine a cooperative project between the two countries. he added that china expresses its strong dissatisfaction and a resolute objection. on wednesday, suga told reporters that he would not comment on individuaual u.s. policies. however, he said the japanese government has been working closely with the u.s. on various issues and will continue to do so.

thailand is in the midst of growing student-led prototests againsnst the goverernment and monarchyhy. a contntroversial figure in tht demonstrations lives in n self-exile right here e in japa. but a pro government group in his home country is demanding he be extradited. ththey allege he instigateted a antiti-government movement andn criticized the m monarchy onlin which is taboo i in thailand. earlierr ai uchida spoke more from bangkok with more on this activist. >> his name is powin, and he's an associate professor at the center for southeast asian studieies at kyoto university. he fled to japan before the 2014 military coup. since then he has been summoned twice because of his critical views s of thehe monarchy. hehe has rejected boboth summon

that led to his passport being revoked. forcing him to apply for refugee status. earlier this year, he has created a controversial facebook page called royalist marketplace. it had a million members who would openly discuss the thai monarchy. facebook recently shut down the page as the request of the thai authorities. earlier this month he sent a video message to an anti government demonstration where an unprecedented manifesto against the thai monarch was read out loud. >> what exactly was the problem with this facebook page? >> well,l, in thailand it is illegal to c criticize the monarchyhy. people can be jailed u up to 15 years s under the country's s l but the taboo is being tested in the waves of protests happening across thailand at the moment. large scale rallies have included content that authorities might deem as crossing the line. shutting down the facebook royalist market page could be a way for the thai governmnment t curb such sesentiments.

>> what do you expect to happen with this push to reform the monarchy going forward? >> well, a new facebook page was created almost immediately and gained over half a million users within 24 hours. that suggests how politically active thai people are right now, and how challenging it will be for the government to regain control, and protests, which started early in 2020 are powering through after being halted by a few months due to the pandemic. so i think the ordeal with facebook could likely escalate the tension. the largest wildfires in california history have killed at least seven people. at least 1400 homes and other structures have been destroyed. state authorities say more than 650 fires have burned about 500,000 hectares, an area larger than the grandnd canyon.

the worst blazes are in the greater san francisco bay area. many of the fires were reportedly ignited by lightning strikes. locacal media say 170,000 peopl are under an evacuation order. fire officials say shelters have not been set up in many areas because of coronavirus fears. in the popular wine country and tourist destination of napa, a lakeside boat operator's office has been burned down. >> we lost everything here. we lost our office, our shop,, ouour dock. >> local media report temperatures are expected to lower which will help firefighters contain the situation. but the worst could still be coming with authorities urging residents to remain vigilant as they have more wildfires as winter approaches. and staying with the united states, two of the president's biggest supporters have made the case for four more years of donald trump. but the circumstances behind the first lady and secretary of

state speeches are drawing criticism from democrats. the second day of the republican nationalal convention featature speeches from a variety of people, many of them online due to the coronavirus. popompeo brokeke with tradition took thehe unusual step of speaking in a vivideo recocorde ile on an n official visitit to jerusalem. secretaries of state do not traditionally particicipate i i partisan events pararticularly when repreresenting the country overseas. >> the president has held china acaccountatable foror covering china virus and allowing it to spread deathth and economic destruction n in america and around the world. he has assured that the chinese spies are jailed or sesent backo china. >> melania trump gave her speech from the white house as her husband looked on. the democratic party criticized the use of the venue for political purposes. house speaker nancy pelosi, a democrat, condemned the move.

protesters in several u.s. cities are back on the streets after another pololice shootingf a black man. officers in the state of wisconsin responded to a call about a domestic dispute. they ended up shooting a manan o bystanders say was trying to help. catherine kobayashi explains. >> reporter: witnesses say jacob blake was just trying to be a good neighbor breaking up an argument between two women. then police arrived and drew their guns. [ gunshots ] they shot blake repeatedly as he tried to get into his car. his three sonssere insidede. the youngest 3 years old. >> that man litererally just grabbed him by his shirt and was just shooting him! with the kids in the back screaming! screaming! >> they shot my son.

seven times, seven times. >> reporter: blake is in serious condition and his family says he's paralyzed from the waist down. his shooting ignited protests nearby three months after police in minneapolis killed george floyd. some who turned out set fire to buildings, ransacked stores, and taunted police. the governor declared a state of emergency. >> what we witnessed the other day was city sanctioned attempted murder. and it always comes back to this. hands up, don't shoot. that's what we do. hands up, don't shoot. but does it matter? no. >> reporter: demonstrators in portland, oregon, have protested for months against police brutality. now their chants include the

name jacob blake. protesters in new york marched too. they recite a list of black men who've died at the hands of police. >> this is the time now in america thatt we need systemati reform of policing in america. >> reporter: he said people have had enough and he asked again when will black lives matter. catherine kobayashi, nhk world, new york. two major players are coming together to discuss the turmoil is belarus of the u.s. election. u.s. and russian senior diplomats agreed promoting dialogue in minsk is the right approach but russia had words of warning for the americans. u.s. deputy secretary of state stephen biegun and russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov held talks in moscow on tuesday. the u.s. embassy said biegun condemned the belarus government

for use of violence against its people, and expressed support for the country's sovereignty and the people's right to self determination. lavrov laterer told russian sta run tv that the u.s. was interesteded in promototing diae between president alexander lukashenko and the oppositition >> traranslator: wee replied th we support such an approach.h. >> lavrov adadded he gave a serious warnining to biegun abo the e danger of outside countri imposing sanctions on belarus or interfering in its internal affairs. while russia and the u.s. appear aligned on supporting opposition calls for dialogue, , lukashenk continues to reject the idea. tens of thousands of belarusians continue to hold rallies demanding his resignation. authorities are stepping up controls by jailing some opposition activists. protesters say the election on august 9th was rigged allowed lukashenko to stay in office for a sixth term.

shifting now to north korea where top officials have met to discuss the coronavirus and an approaching typhoon. heavy rain and strong winds are expected to hit the southwestern part of the country on thursda. state-run media says north korean leaderr kim jong-un instructed officials on tuesday to try and prevent casualties and minimize damage to crops. kim also reportedly wants to fix what he sees as a flawed response to the coronavirus, but the report did not provide any specifics. north korea's among only a few countries that claim to have zero confirmed cases. there's been speculation about kim's declining health in recent months. it's said the footage is directed at those rumors. andnd it's time now for a check on the world weather w wi our meteorologistst jonathan oh.

a veryy stronong typyphoon is impacting western japan and southern parts of south korea. so jonathan, what's ahead for thursday? >> hello. we are talking about the typhoon bringing heavy rain and waves. moving to the north and northeast already seeing the outer bands of the storm affecting south korea and also kyushu of japan. the storm will continue to make its way toward the north and also interacting with the stationary front. all that moisture will be moving up north. we are talking about a few hundred millimeters of rainfall over a 24 to 36 hour period. also into portions of japan as well. so looking at the forecast here, the storm is expected to brush by toward the west of the korean peninsula, possibly making landfall to the north as we go through thursday. but we're looking at rainfall

amounts 200 millimeters possible into north korea. south korea and western japan. seeing up to 500 millimeters of rain. on top of that gusts could hit up to 216 kilometers per hour into thursday. because of this particular process, this storms moves to the north and northeast. you'll have to watch this closely because it's going to be quite the stormy one. here's a look at the forecast. shanghai 29 with thunderstorms as we go through thursday. we're also talking about a big hurricane that's moving into the gulf of mexico. laura is continuing to gain strength as it moves closer toward louisiana and the gulf coast line. i wanted to give this perspective. this shows the intensity of the storm as the clouds are gathering and starting to circulate like this in a counterclockwise fashion. it is becoming a stronger storm. we're expecting it to become a category 4 hurricane as we go

throughout the next 24 hours or so. by the time it makes landfall, likely more of a category 3 storm, but high storm surge. some areas could see water as high as three meters or greater especially on louisiana and northeastern texas coastline. again, timing of this landfallwise would be likely overnight into thursday. but seeing the impacts beginning on wednesday. then the storm will move further inland as we go throughout thursday. some areas could see 200 millimeters or more of rainfall as the system makes its way on shore. stay safe 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 don't go away.

this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. now, it's been just over a month since japan's government started a campaign to boost domestic tourism amid the coronavirus pandemic. so far trips to and from tokyo have been excluded due to the scale of the outbreak there. but a minister says that could change after experts meet next month. the go-to travel campaign kicked off in late july offering discounts from trains to hotels. there are also plans for discounts to use in souvenir

shops and restaurants. on wednesday the minister in charge of the coronavirus response says experts think new cases in tokyo likely peaked in late july. but he added the outbreak in the city still needs to be monitored closely. >> translator: we'll decide whether to include trips to and from tokyo after ann expert panl analyzes the outbreak next month. >> chief cabinet secretary suga yoesh hee da says adding the capital to the list would help the hotel industry. the maker of the iconic bullet train said come up with a response to plunging numbers. it's testing using empty seats to speed fresh seafood to the heart of tokyo. the first train to take part in the trial project set off on wednesday from the northeastern prefecture of miyagi. one was filled with cool boxes full of oysters. passenger numbers last week on

the shinkansen were only 30% of the figure a year earlier. the train zipped to the capital in about two hours. the cargo was soon being served up at a restaurant in tokyo station. >> translator: this is great. i've never eaten seafood that's so fresh. it came directly from the area where it's produced in a very short time. >> fish eaters welcome the project. it means diners can tuck into food 24 hours earlier than with products delivered by truck. sales at japan's major restaurant chains kept falling in july as the coronavirus discscouraged people frorom eat out. the japan food service association says revenue fell 15% from a year earlier. that was the fifth straight month of decline. but the drop was smaller than in the months before even though it wawas still in double digits. fast food restaurants didn't do too badly with a decline of just

3.6%. that was thanked to rising sales of takeout and home delivery. but family style restaurants and pubs faired much worse. the food service association says the restaurant industry remains in critical condition due to the pandemic. the long rainy season this year didn't help either. a key price gauge for businesses in japan also continued to fall in july. the cost that companies pay for services dropped for the fifth straight month as business travel plunged. the bank of japan says the services produce price index fell 0.6% from the month before. that's not including the consumption tax hike. it's fallen every month since march. hotel prices plunged by about 37%. prices for domestic air travel dropped nearly 3%. the bank of japan says the downward pressure on prices is starting to ease as economic activities resume.

but it says the outlook for hotel services is especially unclear as prices continue to plunge. germany has upgraded its gdp figures from the april to june quarter. but they still show the economy shrank at a record pace. the federal bureau of statistics released the new data on tuesday. they show the economy shank by 9.7% from the previous quarter in inflation adjusted terms. that was better than the preliminary number of minus 10.1% announced in july. but it's still the biggest fall. it results to an annual contraction of 3.5%. while that's not as bad as the uk and the eurozone, it's worse than the u.s. and japan. the coronavirus has been resurging in germany. new infections topped 2,000 this past saturday and the outlook

for the economy is far from clear. major japanese companies are working with start-ups to offer new services using digital technology. the six big firms involved in the projectct include east japa railway and toyota research institute advanced development. they want to develop new services in a wide range of industries such as transport and health care. they also hope to create services adapted to the new normal of life in the wake of the coronavirus. they say the pandemic has prompted changes in people's lifestyles that could help spur digitalization. the ratio of women who hold senior positions at companies in japan has inched up but remains far below the government's

target. credit research firm databank conducted a survey in july. nearly 12,000 firms responded. it shows the proportion of female executives and senior managers is just 7.8% on average. that's the highest figure since the survey began in 2013 but an increase of only 0.1 percentage point from last year. the japanese government has aimed to increase the portion of female leaders to run 30% by 2020. asked about the representation of women in senior roles in the future, nearly 22% of the companies that responded said they expected to increase. but 60% say they see no change. a databank official said both the government and private sector need to include support for women so they can continue working after having cldren. okay. let's get a check on the markets.

and that's it for "newsline biz" from our tokyo studios. i'm ramamin mellegard. thank you veryry much for joini us.

♪ ♪ >> a third straight night of protests in kenosha, wisconsin leaves two people shot dead and another hurt. over thee out in anger police shooting of an unarmed black man who is now paralyzed from the waist down. rights groups say police in belarus rounded up protesters heading home from peaceful antigovernment demonstrations.