♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. we start this hour here in japan where people are coping with a pair of typhoons. one is already impacting the southeastern resquon are. the other is approaching the south and officials are warning it could be one of the country's

most powerful typhoons in years. maysak has been affecting the region for three days and is moving near the korean peninsula. the typhoon brought heavy rain, prompting weather officials to warn of landslides, swollen rivers and flooding in low lying areas. more than 83,000 house holds are without lek tris tricep in the cue s kyushu area. a search is underway for the crew of a cargo ship. it fell ouout of contact early thursday morning. one crew memberr has been rescud so far. meanwhile, typhoon haishen is intensifying over waters south of japan. to find out more, let's go to our meteorologist tsietsi monare. tsietsi. >> these storms are certainly quite intense, and they are getting stronger in some respect, especiallyy if you're looking at heijan that is coming

in the southern parts of japan. may tack has brought copious amounts of rain in south korea and north korea, some parts of western japan also severely affected. the one i want you to pay attention to is haitan. it looks like by saturday the pressure could drop more. the pressure is around 975 hectopascals for now, and it could drop even further, making it one of the strongest we have seen in a very long time. do expect that between saturday and sunday. as it moves, it's going to bring strong waves, heavy rainfall, and you can see the rainfall trickling into the northern direction there. look out for flooding. and people are urged to find higher ground and evacuate if possible if you haven't done so yet. that is all for the weather. stay tuned for more.

the race to lead japan's main ruling democratic party and the country will likely be a three-person contest. the winner will succeed prime p minister abe shshinzo, who announced lasast week he will sp down due to health issues. among ththe front-runnerers, th gogovernment's top spokeerersons riding a wave of supupport that could prove impossible to beat. >> translator: japan is facing a crisis unlike 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 to protect jobs and revitalize the economy. we must steadily carryry out reforms with an eye to the post-coronavirirus era.

>> suga laid out his priorities on wednesday. he's's hoping to tackle chchalls stemming from japan's agining society, solve the issue of the abduction of japanese nationals by north korea and amendment the constitution. suga has served as chief cabinet secretary for more than seven years, longer than anyone in history. during that time, japan has faced major disasters and increased regional tension including a spike in ballistic missile launches from north korea. suga has also pushed forward with the relocation of a u u.s. base in the southern prefecture of o okinawa a and promoted japs 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. >> translator: crisis management and the ability to carry out policies are n now criticalllly important. under the current circumstances, his experience as chief cabinet

secretary means s a lot. >> also in the racace are kishi fumio, ldp policy chief, and former foreign minister, and ishiba shigeru, former ldp secretary general and former defense minister. of the three, suga has secured the most support. most of the party's large factions have pledged their votes for suga, together amounting to two-thirds of the party's 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 foregone conclusion since it's controlled by an ldp-led coalition. pope francis has held his china is rejecting a report

by the u.s. defense department that projects beijing will double its stock pile of new clear war heads over the next decade. >> translator: the report deliberately distorts china's strategic intentions. china firmly opposes this. >> the spokesperson says china urges the united states to abandon its cold war mentality and stop irresponsible rorts. the defense ministry also said in a statement that washington is exaggerating the so-called chinese military threat and misinterpreting the country's policy. the pentagon estimates china's stock pile is low in the low 2 hundreds. the report also says u.s. bases in japan are within range of a growing number of chinese missiles capable of carrying nuclear war heads. china says it has started allowing direct international

flights from eight countries to fly into beijing. all international flights had been diverted to other chinese cities as the first port of entry since march. the restriction is to prevent the spread of imported cases of covid-19. the new rule takes effect on thursday. it covers flights from cambodia, thailand, pakistan, austria, denmark, greece, sweden and canada. the government says the new measure is aimed at improving the hub functions and transport efficiency of its international airports. china's aviation authorities are requiring foreign airlines to cap the number of passengers on the beijing-bound flights. the travellers must show a negative reading from a pcr test given before boarding. the authorities say if more than three passengers on the same flight test positive upon arrival, they would order it to be redirected to other chinese

airports. the officials might also temporarily ban such flights from entering the country, depending on the number of cases. taiwan says it is passports a new look to prevent citizens from being mistaken for mainland chinese nationals. the name taiwan will be more prominent. taiwan's foreign minister joseph wu announced the change on wednesdaday. >> translator: since the coronavirus outbreak in january, taiwanese tourists have often been mistaken for chinese and subject to unnecessary measures. >> the front of the passports will feature "taiwan" written in english featured in large lettering. the official the republic of china will be significantly smaller. the design will go into use in january. taiwan's leaders say the response to the outbreak has been a success, but that hasn't been recognized internationally.

observers say authorities in taipei want to stress the difference between taiwan and mamainland china. pope francis has held his first public general audience in six months. the event usually takes place pilut had been halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. the audience is normally conducted every wednesday, but the vatican stopped inviting >> translator: we resume our encounters face to face not screen to screen, and this is beautiful. >> in europe the number of coronavirus cases is on the rise again. in italy, the figure has been

climbing since late august. scientists at japan's space agency jaxa are preparing to send to earth samples of an asteroid from about 300 million kilometers away. jaxa's hayabusa2 probeouched down on e asteroid ryugu twice last year and took sand and other materials from its surface. it started its journey back to earth in november. on wednesday, the scientists explained the final procedures to send to earth a capsule with the samples. the capsule will separate from the probe on december 5 about 220,000 kilometers from earth. it's expected to land in a desert in southern australia about 12 hours later. after the release of the capsule, the probe will take images of its descending into the earth's atmosphere. the hayabusa2 probe will then be sent to another asteroid on a separate mission.

♪ let's go back to our meteorologist tsietsi monare for more on weather. tsietsi, back to back typhoons are causing stormy weather between japan and the korean peninsula, as we've been reporting. tell us more. >> we've been talking about these back to back typhoons and why they're becoming more

frequent is because of the sea surface temperatures that are quite warm very close to japan. and it's leading to more intense and m more development of tropil storms. that is also linked to climate change, as the whole planet is getting warmer and leading to the sea surface becoming quite warm. and the intensities of the storm are also increasing. we saw maysak bring lots and lots of rainfall towards the korean peninsula, almost a thousand milliliters and even more reported between wednesday and thursday. and another storm approaches moving in towards the northern direction, approaching japan, people are urged to prepare and make sure they are safe. listen to all the evacuation orders, and make sure you follow your news reports just to get a clear idea of what is happening and when it will be happening in your area. temperatures are going to be quite warm into those lower 30s. some temperatures soaring into the upper 30s for part of japan. right from central japan all the way towards the western side we're seeing temperatures along

33 for tokyo, 34 for osaka, and fukuoka, stormy weather coming your way there. 32 degrees. another storm is developing across the caribbean and approaching south america. possibilities of nanna, can see that's how it's moving there. we might have thought it was going to be a hurricane, but looks like it will remain as a tropical storm. it will bring heavy rainfall along the coast of honduras and cities such as guatemala. please take care there. belize will also be slightly affected to some extent there. otherwise towards north america, for much of the united states, we're seeing sunny skies from the northwest going in towards the midwest and moving into canada, slightly cooler for winnipeg at 19 degrees. toronto 22 degrees but sunny skies remaining for the rest of the day for the thursday going into fridaday. then hot weather towards atlanta, around 33 degrees.

that's all for weather. take care. ♪ ♪

and that's the latest for this hour. i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. thank you for joining us. ♪ ♪ hello there and welcome to "newsline in depth." i'm yanaka marie. today we look at a question that's asked by many but for which there's no definite answer. that is, what should the end of a person's life be like? the decisions we face at this time are some of our most challenging, and under the cloud

of the covid-19 pandemic, many of the ways we say good-bye have now changed. in our two stories, we look at the impact of the coronavirus on end-of-life care and afterward. our first report is about hospices where terminally ill patients might normally find peace and a chance to say a proper farewell. however, the coronavirus is restricting in-person contact and separating people from their loved ones. we take an in depth look at how one facility is doing all it can to enable patients and their families to share time while keeping the virus out. >> reporter: this man is celebrating his mother's birthday through a glass door at the entrance of a hospice. the mother is a terminally ill cancer patient. her son can't enter the facility.

>> reporter: they've been communicating by phone only. patients have been able to have any direct contact with their family members since early april. >> translator: it would be great to eat meals together, but that's not likely to happen for a while. >> reporter: the residential hospice is home to about 20 terminally ill patients. oi masumi is the ceo of the facility. she's been doing as much as she can to fulfill the requests of patients. before the pandemic, visitors were welcome at any time. many people visited the facility every day, and you could always hear people talking. > translator: we don't aim t

treat diseases, butut rather to make sure our patients are enjoying their daily lives. >> reporter: but the pandemic changed everything, forcing the hospice to introduce strict visitation rules. residents are no longer allowed to make physical contact with visitors. they can only do so when a doctor has determined they are nearing the end of their life. >> translator: the situation causes a dilemma because if even only one of our patients contracts the virus, all of them could be at risk. it's verery dififficult t to fi way to allow guest visits. >> reporter: this 60-year-old had been visiting his wife almost every day, even though they could not touch each other. >> translator: i was told to visit today because she threw up again. >> reporter: she has lost her

appetite, so he brought some sweets for her, and hopes she'll eat her favorite food. his wife amiko was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2017 and later suffered a stroke. the husband and wife had lived together for 26 years. this video was taken in may when amiko's condition was still stable and they werere able to e each other throuough a shieleld. before the pandemic, ichiro took care of amiko by monitoring her breathingg and temperature. >> translator: she's asking me not to close the shield. she's saying open it. i had been checking her by touching her, feeleling the blo flowing under her skin and listening to her breathing.

i had come in sync with her physically. >> reporter: in late june, he was finally allowed to see her face to face again because her doctor had determined she was in critical condition. when they met, ichiro touched her for the first time in three months. she had deteriorated and had lost considerable weight. >> reporter: iff it weren't for the pandemic, they could have had more time together. ichiro kept holding her hand tight until late into the night. >> translator: we can't go b ba in time.e.

m fruststrated and saddened by the fact that those three precious months were lost. there's nothing i can do about it, but i'm still having a hard time accepting it. >> reporter: after seeing the couple's experience, oi and her team began to rereconsider the facility's policy on guest visits. >> reporter: finanally, oii camp with a new popolicy. everery patient can meet two guests who can visit at any time as long as they comply with a thorough health check before their visit. thesese guests are also asked t avoid crowded places as much as possible.

as a result -- a mother and daughter are finally able to touch for the first time inin three months. >> t translator: our mission iso fulfill the wishes of our patients and their families. we hope to introduce new ways to care for our patients while minimizing the risk of infection. >> direct contact between patients and their loved ones was allowed again at the end of june, bringing comfort to the patients.

emiko's condition stabilized after she began seeing ichiro every day. she passed away on july 10th, their wedding anniversary. and the mother and daughter who enjoyed sharing walks were able to spend more than a month together before the mother passed in mid-august. the hospice is maining its new visitor policy, even as nationwide covid-19 cases increase. others are following the slate with some facilities easing their rules to let patients see their friends and relatives again. the japanese society for palliative medicine is still working on guidelines for the coronavirus era. it may recommend that facilities in lower infection rates lift restrictions, provided they take precautions. the group plans to present the new policy soon. next we look at how the pandemic has changed traditional rituals after a person dies. funerals are one of the most important opportunities for

those left behind to bid farewell to the deceased and find consolation in their grief. traditionally, communities have come together in large groups to share their respects and express condolences to the family members. but the new era of social distancing has made the old ways impossible. and a new format that was unimaginable before the pandemic is gaining in popularity. >> reporter: funeral ceremonys in japan involve many deeply held customs and taboos. but funeral halls in miyazaki prefecture have had to make big changes in recent months. the number of people attending funerals has dropped by about half. >> translator: this room can accommodate about 20 to 30 people. the majority of our customers feel this space is sufficient. >> reporter: those attending the wake are now divided into two separate groups arriving at different times. in many cases, t traditional funeral meal is not offered.

one company has evenn started live streaming funeral services if asked to do so by the bereaved family. >> translator: the main camera faces the front so it can capture the whole scene. >> reporter: this woman lives in tokyo. in may, she gave up on the idea of attending her father's funeral in miyazaki prefecture. at the time, people were asked not to t travel across p prefecl bordrders while the statete of emergency wasas enforced.d. >> traranslator: i really wanan to attend the funeral to s see father and sayay my final wordso him. so, i made a difficult request to the funeral home. >> reporter: the funeral company made arrangements for an online link, so she could observe the funeral in miyazaki. at the end of the ceremony, a

tablet was hooked up, allowing her to see her father in his casket. >> translator: he didn't show any suffering. he looked like he was asleep. i told him i was so grateful for everything, even though it was only through the screen. i feel glad i was able to convey my feelings to him. >> translator: it has long been considered an absolute taboo t show funerals online, but a funeral say ceremony to heal the hearts of those left behind. that's why we decided to make this change. >> reporter: now, this company is arranging online hook ups for most of the funerals it handles. the deep wish of the dereceiber famililiar ris has given rise ta new tradition. >> the online service has been

used for more than 100 funerals since it was introduced and continues to be popular. the new format also allows people overseas to participate in services n. july, the funerl home held its first international ceremony connecting to hong kong. but the coronavirus has done more than change how funerals are conducted. it eveven deterermines whether not a ceremony can be held. government guidelines in japan say bodies of coronavirus patients must be decree mated without funerals to avoid the spread of the virus. but there are no rules for the bodies of people who haven't been testedd for the coronaviru. this throws up more difficult choices for family members, at least until new guidelines are set. the covid-19 pandemic is influencing our views of life and dignity at the end of it. though there's no simple answer to the question of the best way to say good-bye, there's no question that spending quality

time with loved ones will continue to be of utmost importance ahead of our final journeys. respecting and supporting the wishes of those leaving this life, as well as the feelings of family members, will be just as essential as before. and that's all for this edition d

cost to hold russia accountable after germany says it has unequivocal proof that alexei navalny was poisoned. hello. you u are watching "al jazeerar" also coming up, washington says it is sanctioning the chief prosecutor of the icc for her investigation into america forces. strong winds hit the korean peninsula