hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara. two weather systems are bearing down on japan from different directions. weather officials are warning people on the southwest island of kyushu to prepare for a strong typhoon heading toward their way. at the same time a severe tropical storm is expected to hit western japan in the coming dadays. typhoon maysak has been

gathering force and will likely apprproach northern kyusushu la on wednesday. the island has alrlready been buffeted by strong winds. people in kumamoto are bracing for another disaster after heavy rains killed dozens of people in july. farmers are rushing to harvest grapes before the storm arrives. >> translator: we've been hit by severe typhoons in the past, so we are preparing ourselves beforehand. >> meanwhile, weather officials are urging people to prepare for severe tropical storm haishen, approaching the western part of the country over the pacific. >> translator: there could be severe damage to wide areas. >> the agency warns the storm could bring record rainfall and powerful gusts of wind. the japan coast guard is searching for a panamanian flag cargo ship that sent a may day

call early on wednesday. typhoon maysak was approaching the area when contact with the vessel was lost. the officials say 43 people, mostly filipino are on board the ship. and our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us now to explain the situation on bothth storms in t western pacific. sayaka. >> typyphoon maysak is getettin even closer too t west of kyushu at thihis moment. ththis systetem willl likely ca stormier conditionss to both kyushu as well as south korea for the next several hours. now, take a look at this. we've got nearly 260 millimeters of rainfall. even heavier rain has fallen in

jeju island. strong winds are affecting kyushu as well. now, the center is located to the west of kyushu at this moment. maysak is now a large and very strong typhoon which is the second highest category on the scale. the central pressure is 950 hectare pascals at the moment. it will make landfall on the coast of south korea by early thursday morning local time with the same pressure. if it does so, it could be one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country in recorded history. after affecting south korea, the center will likely move over north korea which is still struggling with the aftermath of another typhoon. let's go down to the south. we have haishen which is now a severe tropical storm. this will likely intensify to a monster storm because the sea surface temperatures are extremely warm. haishen is now packing gusts of 126 kilometers per hour. but it looks by saturday the

gusts could be over or nearly 270 kilometers per hour. then it will move over kyushu on sunday. the central pressure could be 930 hector pascals. once again, it could hit the korean peninsula next week. stay safe. the race to lead japan's main ruling liberal democratic party and the country will likely be a three-person contest. the winner will succeed prime minister abe shinzo who announced last week he'll step down over health issues. among the front runners, the government's top spokesperson is riding a wave of support that could prove impossible to beat.

>> translator: i am determimine to do whateverr i i c can to pu forward the efforts that prime minister abe has been making with all his might. japan is facing a a crisis unli anything we have ever experienced. we need to do all we can to promote social and economic activities while preventing the spread of the coronavirus. we have too protect jobs and revitalize the economy. we must steadily carry out reforms with an eye to the post-coronavirus era. >> suga laid out his priorities wednesday. he's hoping to tackle challenges stemming frorom japan's aging society, solve the issueue o of abduction of japapanese nationa

by north korea, and amend the constitution. suga has served as chief cabinet secretary for more than seven years, longer than anyone in the history. japan has faced major disasters and increased regional tension including a spike in ballistic missile launches. suga has also pushed forward with the u.s. base in okinawa and promoted japan as a destination for foreign tourists. shortly after suga officially announced his candidacy, leaders of the party's largest factions made their case for why he should be elected. zplt >> translator: as a member of the cabinet, i appreciate what we have achieved during the past seven years. afterr watching his news conference, i'm'm convinced he qualified to continue ththis government's policicy. and i've decided to susupport h.

>> also in thee race are kishid fumio, ldp policy chief and form foreign minister, and ishib ishiba shigeru, former secretary general and former defense minister. most of the party's large factions have pledged their votes for suga together amounting to two-thirds of the sitting lawmakers. on september 14th, 394 ldp lawmakers will get to vote on who becomes their next leader. local chapters representing the country's 47 prefectures will decide on how to designate three votes each. two days after the new party president is chosen, japan's diet will vote on the prime minister. a win there is nearly a fore gone conclusion since it's controlled by an ldp-led coalition.

staying in japan, researchers here have begun evaluating blood samples from coronavirus survivors to see how long antibodies remain in the human body. they want to analyze the risk of reinfection and help develop vaccines. antibodies are proteins created in the human body after a person is infected by y a virus. one type called neutralalizing antibodies are s said t to prev infection. a team led by researchers from yokohama city university began a large scale antibody survey. the governrnment-fununded proje will target people aged 20 or older who tested positive from april through may this year. researchers will take blood samples six months and then one year after infection and compare the amount of antibodies. the team says 500 survivors have already registered. it's the first-ever

mass-antibody survey in japan. this 65-year-old man was infected with the virus in april and then recovered. but he says he still suffers from breathing problems and pain in his chest. >> translator: i won't have feedbackck from the testing and use it in an effective way. >> one expert on the team says much of covid-19 remains a mystery. >> translator: we don't have enough information on immunity of thohose infected. i think our research will lead to a better understanding of the disease. nott only at homeme but out of japan. >> meanwhile, the tokyo metropolitan government says it confirmed 141 new cases on wednesday. the total number of people who have tested positive in the capital now stands over 21,000. across the country, more than 70,000 cases have been reported,

over 1,300 people have died. all of the remaining parties to the iran nuclear deal have

rejected a u.s. bid to restore sanctions. the deal put caps on iran's uranium enrichment and allowed for inspections. officials from britain, france, germany, china, russia, and iran discussed in vienna. they started the process to restore u.n. sasanctions. it has accused iran of breaching the deal known as the jcpoa. the u.s. withdrew from it two years ago. >> the delegations expreress thr posisition that the u.s. beiein country that has withdrdrawn fr the jcpoa does not have the legal ground or legal standing to trigger. >> meanwhile iran seems to be looking for a way forwarard. they agreed to two inspections by the international atomic energy agency. it had earlier denied access to the sites.

the new country cheering the u.n. security council is sticking with last month's decision on the u.s. claim. 13 members of the counsel have opposed it. nyjer's ambassador to the u.n. says it will take no further action. for more details, my colleague spoke earlier to a professor at ko university and an expert on iran and the middle east. >> the u.s. seems to be pressuring other members of the international community to isolate iran, but the other nuclear deal members don't seem to be coming along with this. how do you see the situation? >> well, the europeans to begin with are not totally satisfied with the iranian conduct of the jcpoa. knowing that the iranians have exceeded their amount of enrichment capabilities that they adhere to in the beginnini. so t that's the sort of point o concern. but when it comes to the u.s.

action, u.s. unilateral action against iran, they are opposed to it. the europeans see this as a motion by the u.s. to totally tarnish the jcpoa and disrupt every activity in the past that have been so successssful in containing the iranian nuclear activities. to begin with, the u.n. sanctions regime was already lifted by the jcpoa, but the americans are now trying to reinstate every resolution against iran. and this was voted against the motion earlier in august. and even following that, there was another attempt, and even prior to that there was another attempt by the u.s. to try to initiate a motion against the iranian activities knowing that the iranians had been adhering to it but still the americans considered it as sort of a violation to it. here it's more about the u.s.

being isolated or itself by its own actions. >> well, concerning iran, though, it's dealing with the uae and israel normalizing ties. what are you looking for in the coming months? >> i think it's sort of a result of the iranian isolation in the region. this has a lot to do with the iranian action in meddling with its neighbors in the past. and some say it is still continuing as we speak. now the uae which is one of the closest neighbors to iran just across the persian gulf is establishing ties with this. but it's not only about how the uae is going to forget about the palestinian issue. it's more how they see the presence of the israelis on the uae soil. now it's going to be a social great concern. so this is going to be sort of a battle betetween the iranians a

uaes in the future. >> concerning china, prime minister abe shinzo has been an active part of -- well, he's tried to take an active role in mediating iran's relationship with other countries around the world. with him resigning, how do you see japan's policy changing or evolving? >> to begin with, it has always been a solid policy from the foreign diplomacy to have a good relationship with iran. and that won't change. i'm quite sure about that. but when it comes to actual diplomacy between the two head of states like prime minister abe visiting iran or the iranian president visiting tokyo, i see quite unlikely that the same maneuver would also be shown by

the successor to mr. abe. our meteorologist sayaka mori i is backk with a look at rest of world weather. sayaka? >> since august, there were eight named storms formed over the western pacific and two of them are expected to hit land with historic intensities. one haishen will likely head towards the north. excuse me. maysak is expected to move towards the north and haishen will likely curve and then head towards japan as well as the korean peninsula. the reason of such big and powerful storms is that the sea surface temperatures are extremely warm. it's actually two degrees higher than normal for many places. it's nearly 30 degrees across these places. and in okinawa, the record highest. because of the high temperatures, it looks like haishen could make landfall in the south korean peninsula soon as a strong typhoon and continue to head toward the north aiming

for northern china. haishen will likely get even stronger and as a very strong typhoon or even violent typhoon, it could approach japan. there's a possibility it could hit directly japan or the korean peninsula on sunday or into monday. there's one more storm to talk about across the opposite side of the world. we have a tropical storm named nana. nana is expected to strengthen even further and as a hurricane, it's likely to make landfall in belize by thursday local time. winds are going to be very powerful. 100 millimeters rain is possible. and storm surge is going to be a very high concern. now let's go to north america. we have at least five reports of tornadoes in texas as well as arkansas on tuesday. we have a tail end of a cold frontal system. and this system will continue to affect the north and east of the united states as well as the

south with severe thunderstorms. more large hail as well as damaging winds are possible. meanwhile it's dry across the western areas of the united states. there's a critical condition for wildfires in parts of montana and california is still dry in august. over 600 blazes occurred in california. and lots of dry thunderstorms batter the state. that ignited many fires. temperatures are going to be quite hot across the east once again. 33 in the u.s. capital. sunny weather in both denver as well as chicago. still dry in seattle with a high of 27 on wednesday. that's i it for me. stay safe.

and that's all for this hour on nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo.

thanks for watching and we'll have more for you soon. this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. the australian economy has plunged into technical recession for the first time in 29 years. it shrunk for two consecutive quarters after being battered by the coronavirus. data from the bureau of statistics shows the country's gdp contracted by 7% in april through june period. compared to the previous three

months, that's the biggest quarterly decline since records began in 1959. personal consumption fell due to restrictions in economic activity and as people refrain from going out. >> our record run of 28 consecutive years of economic growthth has now officiaiay com to an end. the road ahead will be long. the road ahead will be hard. the road ahead will be bumpy. >> lockdown measures have been gradually eased since may, but infections spread again in and around australias second largest city melbourne prompting officials to reimpose restrictions in july. covid-19 continues to hit japan's vehicle market though its impact may be easing. new auto sales fell by double digits for another month in

august. industry data show more than 326,000 new units were sold last month. that's down almost 16% from a year earlier. the margin of decline was more than 40% in may. industry officials say thehe overall situation is improving. the coronavirus may even be helping sales. some people are buying cars for commuting as they seek to avoid infection on crowded public transport. worries over covid-19 h hav been diverting attention from the other serious threat to humanity. that is global warming. in japan, experts and business people are calling for greater investment to fight climate change. two panels under the environment andndustry ministries have been reviewing japan's efforts against this challenge. they referred to a forecast that global carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 will fall 8% from last year. that's due to stalled economic

activity amid the spread of the coronavirus. the members confirmed this level of reduction is needed every year to achieve the goal to keep the temperature at levels from before the industrial evolution. many members said investment related to reducing global rm waing will also b be crucial to economic recovery. japan plans to draft a new climate change policy before the next u.n. conference on the crisis in november next year. innovators and entrepreneurs in kyoto are enjoying some hometown support as they develop products for this era. japan's ancient former capital is already the headquarters for several corporations including games giant nintendo and many start-ups are hoping to find success. nhk world reports. >> rorter: thihi laser i is

cutting out what appears to be numerals. but they are actually for commuters. >> translator: it's a product that allows people to hold train straps without touching them. >> reporter: the plastic device is markets as a way to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection on public transport. the touch-free paddle was at a place that rents space for start-ups for a low fee. they can use the laser cutters on 3d printers that otherwise they would be unable to afford. the investor is behind kyoto maker's garage. he wants to support innovation. >> translator: right now many people are workiking on prototys

for products designed to solve issues that have arisen during the pandemic. >> reporter: this is yosemite national park as seen through a virtual window that's been developed here. the videos from around the world are intended as a pick-me-up for people working from home. another invention is a sensor for shoes that will use gps to measure the distance between workers at factories sounding an alarm if they get too close. many of the products are designed to help people cope in the changing environment t that been brought about by the coronavirus. watching the development process helps him decide how to invest. >> translator: we want to do eveverything we can to bring ne value to society b by helping

ststart-upss catalyze economic growth in these tough times. >> reporter: a kyoto university club is also stepping up with an online compass in june. it received entries frorom 260 bubudding entrepreneurs in 40 cocountries. participants met online to discuss the topic of remote lifeststyles. the group included workiking adults, university stududts, and even a 1010-year-old elementary school studedent. >> translator: entrepreneurs are among the people best equipped to considerr how to bring positive changnge amid the negative impacts of the coronavirus. i hopop we'll s see a growing number of them help society flourish. >> reporter:r: start-up operato are looking at kyoto's operation to get successful businesses. they are presenting unique solutions for a uniquque time.

nhk world, kyoto. alall right. let's have a look at the markets.

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks very mu

anchor: special court in paris is called mortar -- call to order for the next two and a half months 14 suspects on trial accused of killing a gunman who carried out a string of deadly attacks around the french capital in january 2015. we will have more from our reporter at the courthouse. the fighght for i iraq's soverey is essential. the french presidedent arrived n baghdad for his official visit. emmanuel macron's counterpart has made it clear his country should not be a battleground for conflict.