♪ nchts welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news in tokyo. we start with the coronavirus situation in tokyo. officials confirmed 187 new infections in the capital on friday a day after the metropolitan government slightly lowered the alert leveled. in total more than 22,600 people have now tested positive for the virus in the city of 14 million. on thursday the metroropolitan government lowered the coronavirus alert level by one notch after it had been at the

highest level on a four-point scale for nearly two months. a request that bars, restaurants and other establishments shorten their business hours will be lifted next week. tokyo reported the highest daily tally among the country's 47 prefectures. across japan more than 600 new infections have been confirmed on friday. in total there have been over 75,000 cases. more than 1,400 peoplele have died. authorities are also concerned about dealing with influenza spreading at the same time. so the health ministry has decided to offer seasonal flu shots starting next month. officials say they'll give priority to people aged 65 or older because they face a higher risk of falling seriously ill from viral infections. they're calling for other people to wait for over three weeks to get a shot unless they have an underlying condition that makes them vulnerable. business travel between

japan and singapore is restarting as they push to reopen their economies. short-term business visitors will be able to skip a 14-day quarantine if they meet certain conditions. it's part of japan's so-called business track scheme that kicks off september 18th. >> translator: this measure is an important step toward the phased resumption of international travel. we're making sure we prevent the spread of the coronavirus. >> motegi says he hopes to reach similar agreements with other countries. travelers will be asked to submit their itineraries in advance. they expect to extend the move to longer term business visitors. japan has already agreed to ease travel restrictions from six southeast asean countries and taiwan. u.s. president donald trump has admitted he played down the dangers of the coronavirus. he told journalist bob woodward

this is deadly stuff. as nhk world's catherine kobayashi reports, trump told americans something else. >> reporter: ris critics say the u.s. president has always demonstrated a disregard for the truth. now new record innings from "the washington post" reveal donald trump lying about the coronavirus. >> you just breathehe the air. that's how it's passed. and so that's a very tricky one. that's a very delicate one. it's also more deadly than your, you know, even your strenuous flus. >> reporter: still over the next month, the president held indoor rallies with thousands of supporters. he mocked the wearing of masks and he misled people about what he knew. >> this is a flu. this is like a flu. >> reporter: by mid march more than 10,000 americans had been infected. trumpet again with journalist bob woodward for wood word's

fourth coming book "rage." >> to be honest with you. >> sure. i want you to be. >> i wanted to, i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. >> yes, sir. >> because i don't want to create a panic. >> reporter: nearly 200,000 people in the u.s. have died of covid-19. still the president says he did not mislead people. >> but we don't want to instill panic. we don't want to jump up and down and start shouting that we have a problem. >> reporter: trump's rival in the presidentialal election says he has betrayed americans. >> how many families, are missing loved ones at their dinner table tonight because of his failures. it's beyond despicable oochs. it's a dereliction of duty. it's a disgrace. >> reporter: some of trump's former aides says he doesn't

know the difference between the truth and a lie. these recordings suggest he does. still, he failed to tell americans about the dangers that would overwhelm them. catherine kobayashi, nhk world, new york. ♪ nchts campaigning continues in the race to choose the next leader of japan's main ruling liberal democratic party and the country. with just a few days to the votete. chchief cabinet secretary suga yoshihide has a lead that would be hard to beat. suga is facing off against the party's former secretary-general, ishiba shigeru, and its policy chief, kishida fumio. the winner is set to succeed prime minister abe shinzo, who is stepppping down over health issues. nhk interviewed party members about their vovoting intentions and found momore than 70% suppp suga.

that includes both sitting lawmakers and local members across the country. 535 votes will decide the winner monday. nearly 400 of those will be cast by ldp diet members. the rest will come from the party's 47 prefectural chapters, which have three votes each. earlier, ai uchida spoke with nhk world political reporter aizawa yuko for an update on campaigning in the ldp presidential election. how did suga get such a big lead so early in the race? >> one big reason is a desire among ldp members for continuity. the coronavirus has created a lot of uncertainty, and suga has been a voice for the government from the beginning. as abe's chief cabinet secretary, he was there when strategies were first rolled out, and lawmakers hope e that can keep up that momentum.

early on, influential members of the party supported him like ldp secretary general and finance minister aso taro. the winner of this race will onlyly fill the final year o of abe's term. then the party will vote again. some lawmakers are likely seeing this as a way to test suga's leadership potential. depending on how he does and whether a more desirable candidate emerges, members could still choose someone else to lead the party into the next election. >> okay. so digging into that, what exactly is suga promising voting ldp lawmakers and the country really?? >> well, people in japan watch suga on television nearly every day, but even those who follow politics may be hearing suga discuss his own policy ideas for the first time.

and many are not new. he will continue abenomics and the policies that government has put in place to fight the pandemic. suga also wants to maintain current foreign policy. the japan-u.s. alliance remains its cornerstone, and suga is in a good position, having sat in on diplomatic calls and traveled to washington. suga has some new promises. he wants to tackle the country's declining birthrate by funding fertility treatments through the national health insurance. more recently, suga suggested that he would raise the consumption tax, later qualifying that he does not plan to make the unpopular move during this decade. >> now, of course there are two other candidates in this race. with suga just so far ahead, how do they plan to catch up?

>> well, without support from party heavyweights, they arere relying on votes from rank and file members. both ishiba and kishida have been campaigning outside the capital. they are taking advantage of the fact that suga must stay in tokyo because of his role as cabinet secretary. in reality, this is more likely a strategy to shore up support for one year from now, when the party holds another presidential election. china and india have agreed to quickly disengage and maintain proper distance in a disputed border region in the himalayas.

china's foreign minister and the indian external affairs minister held talks in moscow on thursday. in a joint statement, the ministers also pledged to continue dialogue on the boundary dispute through a special representative mechanism. the meeting came a week after the chinese and defense ministers agreed to seek a solution to the border issue. in june a clash resulted in the deaths of 20 indian soldiers. earlier this week china said indian troops opened fire in the region for the first time since 1975. the indian military responded to the allegation by saying chinese troops fired several shots into the air. the european parliament has suspended myanmar's de facto leader from the prize community, a group of the parliaments top prize laureates winners. she'll no longer be able to take part in events for winners. suu kyi won the prize in 1990

for her nonviolent democracy protests despite being placed under r arrest by the military government. it wasn't until 2013 that she received the prize in person. the european parliament said the suspension was a response to her failure to act and her acceptance of the ongoing crimes against the rohingya community, a mostly muslim community in myanmar. last year myanmar was accused of genocide against the rohingya people in a suit filed at the international court of justice. u.n. investigators have concluded the crackdown was carried out with genocidal inintent. she defended her country's military against the allegations. her stance on row mingian muslims has prompted calls for revoking the nobel peace prize she won in 1991. a congolese nobel peace prize laureate has called on the international community to acknowledge the ongoing killings and sexual violence in congo. in an exclusive interview, deni condemned the violence,

suggested that perpetrators were taking advanantage of the socia instability caused by covid-19. >> we have many cases of rapape and also, we have this p proble of, and ththis is even killing more thahan the covid-19 pandem in this papart of f the region. so we cacan't forget what is gog on in this regegion. >> the democratic republic of congo has been plagued by conflict for decades, but renewed fighting has erupted as the company faces challenges posed by covid-19. mukwege says his tm at a hospital in eastern congo has treated over 600 victims of rape, both women and children, since march. the congolese doctor revealed that he's faced a surge in death

threats after he denounced t th wave of killllings in july. >> it happened in a place called jipopo, and as i used to do,o, denonounced this masaka,a, but r i got reallyly many threreats, you take into account all the criminals, masaka will go on in the congo. >> in late july, mukwege tweeted that the killings were a direct descendant of the massacre of 1996, alluding to the first congo war, a rebellion backed by troops from neighboring countries, included rwanda, uganda and burundi. a defense minister snapped back, denouncing the accusations as false propaganda. denouncing the allegations as false propaganda. he has received waves ofof deat threats directly to his phone and on social media. human rights organizations and the u.n. have called for all relevant leaders to openly condemn the death threats and demand justice for the ongoing crimes in ththe countrtry.

mukwege was awardeded the nonob peace prize in 2018 for r his effoforts toto help thousands o victims of sexual violence. despite the death threats, mukwege has resolved to keep campaigning to bring the perpetrators of justice, and bring an end to the use of rape as a weapon of war. next a check on the weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. people are dealing with heavy thundersrstorms on friday. how is the weather heading into the weekend? >> if you livive on the pacific side of western and central japan, be careful of wild weather into the weekend. you might t see thunderstotorms even hail. there's a concern for tornadoes as well. now, this is the radadar over t past six hours. heavy rain p pounded m mainly ie westst. we've got t about 100 millilime of rain in one hour in towing ashy.

lightning caused power outages affecting 3,000 houses. we have a frontal system, and on top of that we have a cold air mass in the upper atmosphere and also we have a tropical depression down in the south. this depression will continue to feed ample moisture to the front and this system will likely head towards the north as a tropical depression. it's not likely to make landfall, but still ample moisture will enhance the frontal system and very unable conditions will occur. lots of rain in the forecast for many places. if we focus on the kanto region, as you can see, this pink area will be moving into the tokyo area. that means we'll see drenching roun fall around the noon hour. be careful. not just rainfall, there's a possibility of thunderstorms, hail and strong winds. even tornadoes are not out of the question. veryry wild weatherer is expect for many places of japan, especially on the pacific side of western and central japan.

in north america we've been reporting many wildfires occurring across the western united states. across the opinion sy sit side of the united states, heavy rain pounded the east coast and that led to serious flooding. i want to show you this picture first. smoke and ash were visible from the satellite. these red points indicate wildfires. this is portland and this is los angeles. smoke is covering the west coast. last week some smoke reached hawaii, currently about 40 fires occurring in the state of oregon. across the opposite side, washington, d.c. saw heavy rainfall and that led to serious flooding. about 70 millimeters of rain fell in just one day. that's the record of heavy rainfall for the day. because of that, many cars were submerged. we will see heavy rainfall across the eastern side of the united states, but mostly dryry during the weekend across the

western united states. that's it for me. stay safe. ♪ ♪

one more story to share where you. osaka naomi punched her way to the u.s. open final in new york after meeting american jennifer

bra brady. osaka one 7-6-6-3 on saturday. saturday marks her second trip to the associated press final after winning the grand slam in 2018. she'll face bell rugs azarenka. they were supposed to play in a tournament final last month but osaka pulled out due to injury. osaka has also been making an impact off the court. she's been a vocal supporter of the black lives matter movement. at the associated press she's wearing a face mask bearing the names of black victims who allegedly died from police or racial violence. that wraps up this edition of nhk " "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard. stay right there.

this is "newsline" biz, i'm ramin mellegard. japan and britain have reached a kbrood agreement on a new economic partnership. the two sides aim to bring the pact into force on january 1st, next year. foreign minister motegi tim mitt shew and elizabeth truss had an online meeting on friday. the negotiations follow the uk's exit from the european union t. two officials found common

ground on issues including tariffs on foreieign products. >> we have discussed every aspect of the agreement. what i think is really good is we've achieved a win-win that benefits japan and the uk. >> translator: we have agreed on rules for e-commerce and other fields that are more comprehensive than what's in place under the economic partnership agreement that japan has with the eu. i believe the deal will further promote trade and investment between japan and britain. >> a government poll shows the sentiment among major japanese companies has improved significantly. managers are starting to feel upbeat after resumption of out put in some industries including automobiles. the business sentiment index from july to september came in at plus 2.0. it's the first positive reading since the third quarter of last year and a big improvement from the previous period when the index stood at minus 47.6. the positive figure means -- a

positive figure means a majority of companies feel business is better during t the current quarter compared to the last. managers i in the auto industry show strong confidence. their index has a reading of nearly 44. this is followed by the retail sector at almost 22 and the service industry at 7.2. japanese officials released some other economic data on friday. producer prices rose in august marking the third consecutive increase. the bank of japan says the producer price index was up 0.2% from the previous month. the uptick is attributed to higher prices of petroleum, gold, silver and other commod y commodities as the economy tried to get back on track. the index was 2.1% lower compared to the same month last year. china's new vehicle sales continue to recover as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. sales rose for the fifth straight month in august. the china association of

automobile manufacturers says about 2.2 million new vehicles were sold last month. that's up almost 12% from a year earlier. passenger car sales rose 6% while that of large trucks and other commercial vehicles increased nearly 42%. behind this were incentives from local governments for people who replace their old cars with new ones. meanwhile, demand for commercial vehicles was supported by the government's infrastructure investment. japan's mitsui osk lines announced a support package worth more than 9 million in the wake of a major oil spill off mauritius. a bulk carrier ran aground off the island nation in july. >> translator: our company has a long-term plan to contribute to the natural environment and the local communities in mauritius. >> thehe shipping firm plans to

allocate 7.5 of its $9.4 million commitment to an environmental fund that will support programs to nurture coral reefs, plant mangroves and protect sea birds. the company is setting up a representative office in mauritius for long-term cooperation with local authorities. as japan's population continues to decline fewer people are seeking rental accommodation. this has resulted in a growing number of properties being left unused. a new approach is being tried, renovating unused housing units in a way that makes landlords and tenants happy and keeps workmen busy. >> spacious, bright and attractive. this rental attraction looks as though it's just been built. but, in part, it was part of a textile factory that closed 30 years ago. the workers lodging innings have been left untouched since. >> if we didn't have a tenant, we just left it.

>> reporter: the landlord changed her mind after hearing of a new service that doesn't require payment up front. under this system the owner is only required to pay for the renovation after a tenant is found. this plan is the brain child of an architect who realizes that cutting corners in the renovation work may not be to the landlord's advantage. >> translator: owners want to fix places up as cheaply as possible, but from a builder's point of view, it's easier to find renters if you spend more money and do a thorough job of remodeling. >> reporter: the workmen are able to accept deferred payment because they can allocate their time effectively. for example, if outside construction work has a weather delay or another job is running late, they can use that time on the renovation project. because the builders work d durg their free time, the job takes

longer to finish, but since they also have their regular income, they don't mind getting paid after the work is finished. the workers also have access to surplus materials. they keep their expenses down by making the most of whatever they have on hand. for this renovation about 60% of the materials were procured this way. >> this baseboard comes in packages of ten, so if you use three, you usually have seven left over. >> reporter: the work t took te months in all, but finally it was finished. new life has been breathed into these rooms that have been left abandoned for so long. >> translator: i heard it was made with surplus materials so i wasn't sure what topect. it's m much nicer than i imagin. >> i hope reducing the number of

empty houses will help revitalize our community. >> reporter: making use of surplus materials in workers' free time to breathe life into older properties. it's a new business model that benefits everyone involved. okay. let's get a check on the markets.

that's it for "newsline biz" fromom our tokyo studios. i'm ramin mellegard. thanks very much for joining us.

anchor: hello and welcome. i'm laura cellier a. it is 1:00 in the french capital. these are the international headlines this hour. his france headed for another lockdown? president macron h holds a specl cabinet meeting on the recorddrus a day after a 10,000 new caseses were recorded in a single daday. clovis is down at police say - elysee palace. half a million people evacuated as record wildfires tear through the u.s. state of oregon.