♪ > hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara. we start in japan, where the country's main ruling party elected chief cabinet secretary suga yoshihide its new leader. the politician is virtually assured to succeed abe shinzo, who announced last month his decision to step down to deal with his health. >> translator: i would likee to proceed with regulatory reforms,

by defeating such things as bureaucratic sectionalism, vested interests, and blind adherencee to precedence. and i want to form a cabinet that will work hard for the people. >> suga said japan cannot afford to have any political void while facing the challengege of the coronavivirus spreading. he pledg to keep p pressing forward with the efforts p prim miminister abe has been n makin overcocome the crisis. but he said he'll choose e his ministers on his own inititiati. >> translator: as a new prime minister, i will pick whoever shares my policy goals andnd wo with themem otherwise, i cannot serve the people's will. >> suga won more than 70% of the votes cast, beating his two

opponents, former ldp secretary-general ishiba shigeru and kishida fumio. diet members will vote wednesday to pick the new prime minister, and suga will almost certainly win, since both houses are controlled by an ldp-led coalition. new cabinet ministers will be named later that day. the new ldp president is known for his loyalty and tough work ethic, but when not at work, suga keeps a low profile. this next report takes a look at his personal history. >> reporter: nearly every day the last eight years, suga yoshihide stood here taking questions from the reporters, especially in times when the government faced tough criticism, from allegations of corruptions to unpopular decisions. the top spokesperson seemed unflappable.

>> reporter: then he took this step into the glare of the public eye. suga unveiled japan's new era name, reiwa. it is an uncommon honor, whihic madede millions look at the t s trusted aide and adviser in a new light. it earned him the name uncle reiwa and started speculation about the man behind the podium. he grew up outside of the national political realm on his parents' strawberry farm. he was nearly 40 when he first ran for office, netting a seat on yokohama's city council. less than a decade later, he used strong street-level campaigning to win a seat in the lower house.e. known for his loyalty, he never forgot his roots. as a cabinet minister, he promoted policies to helpp rura communities hit hard by japan's rapid demographic shift. throughout his career, suga has

lived by a motto, where there's a will, there's a way. five years after abe'ss first resignation, he led a call to bring h his political ally backo power. now, finally in the spotlight himself, suga is letting the world get to know him. he likes to travel, fish, golf, and keep fit. the food farmer's son inherited a sweet tooth and a love for the land where he grew up. >> translator: when i go to my hometown, i remember playing in the mountains and rivers in my childhood. meeting and talking withh old classmates energizes me. that gives me what i need to work hard in the city. > reporter: whilele suga has

shone he shown he has the will to take on the challenges facing japan, people across the country are waiting to seee how he'll lead the way. >> suga's victory is being closely watched across the asia-pacific. nhk world has the latest from beijijing. >> r reporter: suga's win comest a critical time for relations between japan and china. relations steadily improved at abe's tenure. at the same time, the two countries remain at odds over a series of issues. notably, a maritime dispute over the senkaku islands in thee eas china sea. japan claims the islands. the japanese government says it is an inherent part of their territory. china and taiwan claim them. this month marks ten years since the chinese fishing boat

collided with japanese coast guard vessels. it tririggered a diplomatic fir storm. while tensions have cooled since then, it remains a point of contention. but china is also engaged in high-stakes issues with the u.s., including trade, technology, hong kong, and the maritime dispute in the south china sea. so beijing may want to garner tieses with japan to offset friction with washington. the most important thing for beijing is certainty and stability. it's something abe was able to create during his time as prime minister. and suga saying he'll maintainn many of abe's policies will likely be welcomed by china. president xi jinping was supposeded to visisit japanan i april, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus. when the trip gets rescheduled

could be a key i indicator on whether bilateral ties will continue to improve in suga's leadership. >> kim weighs in on how suga's victory could impact relations between japan and south korea. >> reporter: suga will be able to improve the strained relationship. as mentioned, suga is promising to carryabe's diplomatic policies and priorities, which will mean much of the same between seoul and tokyo. there are a number of issues keeping the two sides apart. one of them is an ongoing trade dispute over japanese export restrictions. that is currently being dealt with by the world trade organization. another is a 2018 south korea supreme court ruling that orordered japapanese firms to compensate south koreans who say they were forced to work at

japanese steel mills during world war ii. last month, suga describes the ruling as a breach of international law and has repeated the governmentnt's stae that any right to claim compensation was settled in a 1965 agreement. so as long as both sides refuse to budge from their position, it's unlikely there will be a breakthrough. people i spoke to here in seoul are uncertain whether suga will be able to improve bilalateral ties. >> translator: i'm sure he'll be the same as the last prime minister, but as times change, i'm hoping things will get better.. > translator: during interviews, suga has echoed the same things as abe, so i think the atmosphere will continue as is for the time being.

>> reporter: but there are some signs of optimism. seoul and tokyo share common goals, such as security on the korean peninsula. last month, each had the option to pull out of an intelligence sharing pact but declined to do so. and in november, there is a trilateral summit scheduled with china. traditionally, the japanese prime minister attends, along with the south korean president, which could be an opportunity for suga and moon jae-in to meet face-to-face to try and reset ties and restore frayed relationships. turning to suga's domestic challengers. the largest opposition party named the lawmakers he plans to tap for executive positions. we spoke to reporte-- this was

meeting on tuesday, and yukio spo spoke. >> translator: i it is to bebe by people who underststand the situation. >> it wawas formed b between th mutual between cdp, which was led by edino, and the democratic party for the people. it also includes independent opposition leaders. edino will name the cdp's tetsuro as the general. they worked on the response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern japan. edino says he'll appoint the dpp's kenta as policy chief. he r ran against edino in the n party'y's leadership e electiont week.. edino hopes stable leadersrship will help his new party challenge the ldp in the event thatat the new p prime mininist calls a snap election.

in russia, vote-counting is under way in local elections. candidates backed by president vladimir putin are reportedly set for wins in many parts of the country. former prime minister dmitry medvedev, who leads the ruling united russia party, called the results an overall success. people cast ballots on sunday to choose 18 governors as well as members of local parliaments and city councils. the elections come as public frustration grows over a prolonged economic slump. antigovernment demonstrations are continuing in the country's far east. the protests were triggered by the arrest of a popular local governor who had defeated the ruling party two years ago. sunday's elections also follow the suspected poisoning of opposition leader alexei navalny. he had been pushing for voters to cast their ballots strategically in order to weaken

the ruling party's grip on power. candidates backed by navalny have reportedly made significant gains in two siberian cities. turns to belarus, where massive protests over a disputed election continue to royal the eastern european country, while its ally, russia, says it stands ready to help the government. around 100,000 people took to the streets in the capital, calling for preresident lukashenko's resignation. public anger is sweeping with critics of lukashenko, saying his v victory was rigged. lukashenko has been in power for 26 years. key opposition figures have been jailed or fled the country. media say riot police shuffled with protesters and blocked streets with their shields. the administration says protesters want to overthrow his

government. police detained overr 400 peopl in minsk over the weekend. lukashenkoo will travel to russa on monday for crucial talks with president vladimir putin. he'll reportedly ask for putin's economic and m military support somethingg that could bring belarus further under the spear of russian influence. last month, putin said he set up a reserve police force at lukashenko's request to be deployed only if necessary. observers say putin wants to prevent the turmoil in belarus from spilling over into russia. moving on to the world of sports, where japanese tennis players are staying in the spotlight at the u.s. open after osaka naomi's victory on saturday. shingo clinched the wheelchair title.

>> the world's top ranked player won the title for the first time in five years, beating the third ranked brbritain. won the first set, 6-3, but lost the second, 3-6. the finalal set proved a nail-biter with the initial lead challenged later on, before eventually edging past hewitt 7-6 to win the trophy. it was his seventh u.s. open singles championshiptitle. > translatotor: hewittt was super t tough cocoetitor, so i s doublyly happy. >> in the women's wheelchair doubles, wiley of britain beat the dutch pair, 6-3, 6-3. in the singles, kumigi pulled

off a second place finish. the national football league's season has kicked off in the u.s. with players joining a wave of anti-racism protests that havave swept the country. ♪ some players locked arms, knelt, or raised their fist. others didn't come out for the national anthem, or wore t-shirts with anti-racist slogans. the protests come months after a black man named george floyd died in police custody in minnesota, sparking demonstrations across the country. there have been protests in other professional sports, too, with some teams boycotting games. floyd's relatives were in attendance for the vikings season o opener, near a site whe an officer knelt on floyd's neck. they werere in the stands behia hugegeorn that usually sounded to signal the start of a game. but this time, the stadium held a moment of silence instead to mourn floyd's death.

people in tokyo are experiencing a taste of autumn with cooler weather and a bit of rain. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us n now with the forecas. sayaka? >> japan has multiple kinds of wet weather. we have significant ones from late spring to early summer, and now it's another rainy season. we have a rainy season from down south. that's bringing ample moisture to japan. that's why we have scattered, heavy rainfall across the country. there is another low in the north, and that is bringing some heavy rainfall to parts of northern japan, including the to who c tohoku region. unstable conditions will continue the next several days. in fact, the rainy season dropped nearly 400 millimeters of rainfall in taiwan, as well. now, tokyo's temperature will be 28 on tuesday. that's seasonal. warming up to the 30 degree mark starting on your wednesday and even reaching the mid 30s as we

go into friday. sapporo will see on and off showers. fukuoka and nagoya will see sunny weather on tuesday. nagoya has 14 days of rainy weather earlier t this month in row. let's go to north america. a huge number of wildfires have been battetering the western united states. smoke was visible from the satellites. some smoke is reaching portions of british columbia. take a look at this video from vancouver. wildfires in the pacific northwest are causing massive problems to the people and the environment. on saturday, a thick haze covered the city of vancocouvern british columbia as the blazes in the western u.s. produced thick smoke. that blew northward. the fires have destroyed entire toup towns, including also in oregon. the conditions are bad. multiple fires were caused by parched conditions and extremely high temperatures. some change is on the way because there is a possibility

of patchy rainfall. we have a system coming in. that will cause windy conditions and also rainy weather for parts of the pacific northwest. hopefully that can make a dent. it is not going to be enough, but there is a possibility of rainfall in portions of prettyish plpretty i -- british columbia, washington, parts of california. san francisco may see rainy weather on monday. vancouver, portland, also rainy weather on monday. heavier rain is in the forecast later this week. los angeles will stay dry into the rest of the work week. we have three disturbances over the atlantic. we have paulette, a hurricane now affecting bermuda. rene will likely decrease intensity over water. we have teddy in the south, a newly formed tropical storm. sally is expected to make landfall in the united states on tuesday as a category 1 hurricane. stay safe.

♪ ♪ that's all for 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. japan's main ruling liberal democratic party has elected chief cabinet secretary suga yoshihide as its next leader. the ldp president is virirtuall guararanteed t to succeed prime minister abe shinzo, who is stepping down because of health issues. suga has been serving under abe for nearly eight years. he h has pledged to carry on th current policies. diet members will vote wedednesy to pick the new prime minister. suga will almost certainly win,

sincnce both houses are controld by an ldp-led coalition. japanese business leaders have been expressing what they hope to see from suga. the chairman o othe japan businessss federation wants sug to stop the fururther spread of cororonavirus infefection whileo woworking on economic recovery. nakanishi added he wants to see bold growth strategies, including digital transformat n transformation. the leader of japanan industry, mimura akio says stability and continuity of policies are important when the country is experiencing difficult times. mimura hopes suga will show strong leadership so people in japan can have a bright future after the pandemic subsides. we spoke with an expert about the economic issues s sa may face as prime m minister. columbia university prprofessor

ito o takatoshi specialized in japanesese govnmenent policy. he ss some serious work lies ahead. >> biggest challenge f for japa is to tacklee with or cope with the declining population and aging of the society. >> reporter: it o takatosi says japann f faces a futuree in whi more people are receiving social security than paying into the system. >> many japanese e elderly, inclcluding myself, are working fine around retirement age, so they should be allowed to continue to work, putting into the social security contributions, and getting bigger social security benefits. >> reporter: ito adds, japan will have to re-evaluate its traditional lifetime employment system in order to increase labor market fluidity and productivity. >> a worker r has to be

transferrable to other companies. companies should pay for the job skills and performances,s, rath than length ofof the service. veryry large retirement severan pay by the company is not the institution n that we shouould in this 21st-century economy. >> reporter: he says the tax system needs to be changed to discourage companies from doing so. instead, these funds should be allocated to younger employees. >> people need money when they're young, and they can use those money for, you know, having families or training themselves for higher skills. so just changing those -- that system, you'll have the bigger paycheck for young people. >> reporter: ito says another priority for the new administration will be the digitalization of the japanese workplace and classroom. >> i wasas a bit disapappointedt japanese schools didn't have

this one p pc r one schohool ki. the government can encourage those by giving the support for the basic infrastructure, so the digitalization and providing the 5g network encouraged the companies to have the 5g network. >> reporter: ito adds that he is hopeful about suga's plans to create a so-called digital ministry.. >> i think that is good, if that is implemented virtually. so i like ththat digitalization focus. he is tatalking about destroyiy the silo mentality and institutionsns, whicich is thath ministry is hahanging on to iti ministry turf and not try to refuse t the crdrdinatn. >> reporter: ito says some of prime minister abe's policies remain largely unfinished and

that the next administration should try to complete these agendas while implementing widespread reform. officials att japan's dokom are giving more details, indicatiting the scale of an e-money scam. they've so far confirmed that the equivalent of $240,000 have been stolen from bank accounts linked to docomo's cashless payment service. someone withdrew the money 120 times from accounts at 11 banks. the illegal withdraws began in october last year. the stolen money was suspepecte to buyuy cig reieit s arettes a household appliances. those transactions were also througugh docomo's service. then it was sold for cash. the service allows people who register their bank account information to make purchases and transfer money. someone signed up with the

service a and linked it with ba accounts of the victims. the japanese government plans to expand catch limits to more fish in the surrounding waters. the aim is to make the country's commercial fishing industry more sustainable. the government has drafted a plan that calls for new limits on 15 types of marine resources, inincluding yelloww t tl and re sea bream. officials hope by improving sustainabili sustainability, total annual hauls will rise by 1 mlion tons over the next ten years to about 4.4 million. local fishing boats in japanese waters have been hauling in smaller catches of various species every year. officials blame rising water temperatures and other changes in the environment. japan has catch limits currently on eight fishes, such as tuna and pacific suri. 80% of domestic hauls will fall under the catch limits. government officials will consult experts and hear views

from the public before finalizing the plan. all righght. let's have a look at the markets. ♪

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm genee otani. thanks very much for joiningng .

♪ .ost: w we are live from paris the headlines this lunchtime. belarus leader thousand has a crucial meeting with vladimir putin today as over 100,000 people gather of the weekend in minsk. i will be speaking to our regional correspondent shortly. coronavirus daily infections reach a worldwide high. h.o. reporting over 300,000 new cases sunday, the highest