♪ hello. glad to have you with us on nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. we start with the latest political developments in japan. a new cabinet of veteran ministers is nearly complete, and nhk has details about who will serve in kekey posts. aso taro will remain as deputy

prime minister and finance minister. health minister kato katsunobu will become chief cabinet secretary. foreign minister motegi toshimitsu will stayay in that role. and former state minister for foreign affairs, kishi nobuo, will be defense minister. as for the country's top job, suga yoshihide is widely expected to be elected prime minister on wednesday at an extraordinary session of the diet. the vote among lawmakers is virtually assured to name suga as successor to prime minister abe shinzo since a liberal democratic party-led coalition controls both houses. the political transition comes after abe's surprise announcement last month that he would step down to deal with health issues. suga won a commanding victory in monday's vote from the main ruling ldp leader -- for the main ruling ldp leader. he's well known to japanese as the voice of their longngest-serving government, , acting as abe's chchief cabinet

secretary fofor more than seven years. elected on a promise of stabilility, suga is vowing tot keep a steady hand on the helm as japan navigatates a sea of instability caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. after suga forms his cabinet, the emperor will ceremonially endorse him and his ministers at the palace. after that, suga will hold a news conference and convene the first meeting of the new cabinet. nhk "newsline" will bring you updates throughout the day. israel has signed historori deals to normalize relations with the united arab emirates and bahrain, a move that could bring a major shift in middle east politics. u.s. president donald trump, who brokered thehe deal, focuseded its game-c-changing natuture. >> after decades of division and conflictct, we mark the dawn of new middle e east. today's signining sets histo o a new course.

>> t this day is a pivot of history. ultimately, it can end the arab/israeli conflict once and for all. >> a signing ceremony was held on tuesday at the white house. israel has been at odds with its arab neighbors over the palestinian issue since its foundation more than 70 years ago. in addition to easing regional tensions, the deal could also isolate iran. in the palestinian city of ramallah, people gathered to protest the deal. they argued arab nations not to normalize ties as long as israel continues occupying the west bank. the palestinian authority is also condemning the pact. meanwhile, two rockets were fired from gaza during the signing ceremony. the area is controlled by the palestinian militant group hamas. the israeli military intercepted one rocket, but police say the attack injured several people inside israel.

the world health organization says punitive tariffs the united states imon chinese imports violate international trade rules. the finding is that international trade body's first decision concerning the trade conflict between washington and beijing. the trump administration imposed additional tariffs of 25% on goods from china in 2018, citing section 301 of the u.s. trade act. the u.s. government argued that china had infringed intellectual property rights by unfairly obtained advanced technologies from american companies. washington's retaliatory action prompted beijing to file a complaint with the wto. the trade body's panel upheld china's claim. it said in the report u.s. officials failed to explain why the move was justified. the chinese ruler of commerce said the ruling was objective

and fair and called on washington to respect it. u.s. trade respective robert lighthizer said the ruling shows that the wto is completely inadequate to stop the practices. the u.s. government has not yet said whether it will appeal the ruling. russian opposition alexey navalny has posted pictures showing him recovering from his attack. navalny posted the photo on tuesday from the german hospital where he's being treated. his wife and children sit beside him. a message accompanying the image reads, hi, this is navalny. yesterday i could breathe all day on my own. his press spokesperson later confirmed he plans to return to russia. navalny, who has been an outspoken opponent of president

vladimir putin became sick on board a domestic flight in siberia last month shortly after drinking a cup of airport tea. he lost consciousness and was transferred to a university hospital. doctors said lab results from three countries say he was poisoned with novichok. stop politicizing the situation with navalny. russia's foreign ministry added moscow is ready to cooperate on the issue but needs access to information on his case from berlin. turning to pakistan where classrooms are reopening for the first time in six months as the country eases lockdown restrictions put in place for the coronavirus pandemic. a junior college in the capital isl islambad has resumed classes

with temperature checks with hahand s sanitizer. classrsrooms are limited to hal theirr usual capacity. pakistan has reported more than 300,000 confirmed cases and over 6,300 deaths. >> i'm happy to return to campus because i miss my friends and teachers. i will observe the preventive measures while also focusing on my studies. >> india is also scheduled to resume in-person classes for high schools next monday, but students can attend only if they have permission from their parents. india is one of the hardest-hit countries and has been recording over 80,000 nenew cases daily. a japanese soldier who was stationed in indonesia during

world war ii was able to connect with both sides of the conflict thanks to musical mastery. his unique story is being told 75 years on. nhk world's nohara naomichi reports. >> reporter: numerous artifacts are on display at this exhibition in japan's niigata prefecture, commemorating the 75 anniversary of the end of world war ii. among them is a violin brought back from indonesia, which was occupied by japan during the last three years of the war. the instrument was owned by ueki shoe shuzo, captain of an anti-aircraft unit. >> translator: this is my father, the late ueki shuzo. >> reporter: tanaka is the third daughter. the 80-year-old says her father often told stories about playing

his violin during the occupation, as well as at the concentration camp where he was detained afterwards. >> translator: he composed music to remember those times, with lylyrics that t conveyed a a mo peaceful feeling. >> reporter: as the war progressed, many of the soldiers lost their lives. he was stationed at a field that was attacked in an air raid. ueki w was able to oer some comfort with his violin playing popular songs s and his own n compositions. when japan surrendered to the allied powers in 1945, ueki and his comrades were detained at a concentration camp. one day the allied forces' soldiers wanted him to perform at a party. ueki was able to connect emotionally with his former

enemies through his violin. >> translator: he recalled s so of the soldiers shed tears when they heard songs from their motherland. he said d that outside of war,r people e empathize with h one another. >> reporter: in the autumn of 1946, days before ueki returned to japan, the japanese detainees were allowed to hold a memorial service for their foreign compatriots. this is a piece ueki composed for the event. it depicts the scene of a river where battle had been fought and remembers lost friends. tanaka, who learned violin from her father, plays it herself. ♪ ueki's n novel from thee t time includes an entry about an

unexpected incident that occurred during the memorial. >> we realized that about 100 allied soldiers who had just landed stopped marching and formed a line behind us. whwhen i finisished my pererfor they resesumed theirir orderly march. we were impressed by t tir conduct. >> translator: music is a common thread for all of humanity. my father often mentioned that even during the war, it wasn't just about fighting and killing people. music encourages people to be kind, grateful and compassionate. >> reporter: while ueki died in 1995, age 88, his music and its message lives on through his daughter and the well-traveled violin. nohara naomichi, nhk world, niigata.

let's check in with our meteorologist tsietsi monare for world weather. people in n the u u.s. g gulf s are bracing for hurricane sally as it approaches their coast. >> yes. >> weather conditions are dee teariating there. >> it is getting bad over time. as the storm is moving slower, it is causing disastrous condition. we have about five storms in the atlantic. one has disappeared. paulette, one of the strongest ones offshore of bermuda. sally is the one i want to focus on. it causes havoc across florida. things are going out of control. as it's moving towards mississippi and alabama we're seeing heavy rainfall around those parts.

it is strengthening to hurricane 1. it was a hurricane 2 at some popoint a and weakened a little. but the strength is still there anan l leading to disastrous conditions. let's tack a look at this video with people getting ready for what's coming their way there in places like mississippi where it was edging closer tuesday evening. it is expected to make rainfall around wednesday morning time in the united states. some coastal roads were flooding. some electrical wires were down. schools and businesses were closed along the coast and residents were urged to evacuate. people are taking it seriously and people are doing all this -- taking all the measures to make sure they get into afr grounds. the storm is traveling very slow and that's what will increase in places like mobile bay. storm surges could be life threatening. we could see up to 600 millimeters of rainfall.

almost similar to harvey a couple years back. it may effect much of the carolinas as well. if you look at what's happening along the west coast, dry conditions and hot weather leading to forest fire. ththere might be a little bit o relief later on. for now people need to be extra careful. crossing towards asia, we saw development of a depression leading to a tropical storm along those parts. i'll show it to you in a moment. affecting much of southeast asia. possibilities of making landfall in vietnam are very, very high so do expect very heavy rainfall. much of taiwan, east china as well as the southern parts of china. that's all for weather. take care. ♪

and that's nhk "newsline" for this hour. i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. thanks for staying with us. ♪ ♪ >> hello. i'm doden ayako, ready to connect with another edition of "newsline in depth." the covid-19 pandemic has ushered in some profound changes to our daily lives, perhaps none more significant than the shift

to online interaction. for today's in depth, we report on how the switch to remote living is transforming the business world and why it is here to stay. some of the most radical changes are taking plplace the factori. if you think shifting people from an office to remote working is complicated, spaer a thought for t those trying to depopulat production lines. one japanese company has k at thattaled this problem by starting from scratch, recreating this entire factory in digital form. >> reporter: this staff member is at home while engauged in plant opeperations. a co-worker asks about a malfunctioning piece of machinery. >> translator: we can fix it by replacing the relay. >> reporter: the arranangeme has enenabled the company too slash half the number off workers showining up at the p plant. how did it do this? thee answer is a system powered by artificial intelligence.

employees fed the system massive amountnts of data on defects th arose in the past. and with the knowledge of experienced employees. when wororkers enter keyworords suchch a the kind of flawsws t occur in glass, the ai instantly comes up with answers. problems can be solved on the spot, even without the help of skilled engineers. agc's chief technology officer aims to overhaul the very concept of manufacturing. >> translator: we can change the way we produce our productcts b digitalizing plants. by doing this, we should be able to ensure stable production of extremely high quality goods. >> to make this all happen, a virtual plant is constructed in cyber place. it holds a massive amount of data collected from factories. then simulations are run to verify output and product quality in an environment almost

aidentical to that of actual plants. acg officials obtain plants. they expect productivity will rise as the process is repeated again and again. the company's radical plans aren't't limited too his factor. it's usising virtual r reality its business presentations. for example, a piece off glass s shown in vr. this can demonstrate to clients how an item would reflect light when installed in buildings. >> translator: humans will be set free fromm many of their current jobs when their plants introduce digital technologies. they can engage themselvess in more creative tasks, which i believe will make us more competitive in the future. >> reporter: the spread of new coronavirus is forcing big changes on workers and firms. companies like agc are responding in ambitious ways that may set a new course for

the manufacturing industry. >> office telework comes from its own challenges, of course. but freeing up workers from a specific location also creates new opportunities. in fact, as the subject of our next story shows, remote work can open the door to a completely different lifestyle, one that puts the office coffee machine in the middle of a rice p paddy. >> sa to yosh hida is a consultant for a company in tokyo but lives about 300 kilometers away. he's heading to his office inside his parent's house just a five-minute walk if afrom his h. sato develops i.t. systems for companies.

in 2017 he decided to leave tokyo and return to his hometown. now he doess all hisis work remotely. as a rule, all his meetings with colleagues and clients are done online. they also l like to chat online during breaks in their work. >> translator: we always used to chat in the office when we were working. i'm glad we've kept that same culture. >> translator: we're all spread out so it's important to keep in touch with each of our junior workers. >> reporter: as soon as his work is finished, sato heads home. >> reporter: w when he was workg in tokyo, he rarely had a chance to have dinner with his family on weekdays. after dinner, he gives his baby a bath.

>> reporter: on his dayays off, sato helps his father with his farm work. >> translator: it's great to be here in the place i like best. it's an opportunity to get to know my hometown better. >> translator: well, i probably could go back, but i don't want to. >> reporter: more than a few people in tokyo tend to prioritize their work. but a growing number are following sato's example in moving back to their hometowns, far from the city but close to their families. >> sato says when he started teleworking in 2017, he felt somewhat isolated from his colleagues. at that time, he was the only

one attending meetings online. but when the pandemic forced his colleagues to start working remotely too, sato suggested starting a chat channel during the lunch break. he told us why that's been such a game changer. >> as we create new working environments during the pandemic, we can learn from the experiences of people like sato who have already tackled the channels many people are facing now. and there is still much learning to be done. in japan, smaller and mid-size companies have been slower to make the transition to telework. it's true they may lack the

technical resources of large corporations, but at smaller mid-size companies, there's often less division of labor. and employees have many tasks to handle. that makes it difficult for workers to rotate jobs. but even these companies may need to make their operations more online friendly and overhaul their work practices in order to make the transition. one area of business on the front line of changing lifestyles is ecommerce. it's not hard to see why. the pandemic has turbo charged ononline shopping. but here again there are problems to overcome. and one of them is a dilemma we are probably all familiar with. how do we know what a product is worth if we can't put our hands on it? one i.t. company has an answer. let the consumer decide the price. >> these bags are made by a company in osaka.

they can be hung over the shoulder or used as a knapsack. they're ideal for shopping. the opening is wide, and items inside can be kept warm or cool. so, how much do they cost? >> translator: we asked customers to set the price. >> reporter: the system works like this. a shopper orders a bag on the internet and can try it out for about two weeks. then they pay. the consumer decides the price, as long as it's above a pre-determined minimum. they make their own evaluation, taking into account such factors as quality, design, and user friendliness. they can also see how much others have paid, using those prices as a reference. the system caters to consumers who worry whether the price they pay online for a good orr servie will be worth it. >> translator: we're producing our bags with full cononfidencnn our skills, conveying our

aspirations directly to customers was quite a challenge for us. >> reporter: net protections launched the radical system in august of last year. online businesss in a variety of fields have adopted it. one is the provider of housekeeping services. the company originally set a special price for first timers, around $100 for a three-hour plan. many consumers were reluctant at that price point. they found it difficult to know whether the price was worth it. but after the company adopted the new system, demand soared. clients on average now pay more than the original price and are well above the minimum of roughly $60. the system's developer says many of the consumers who order first and pay later for services believe they are getting a gad deal. they say their purchases are worth more t than the minimum

prices. >> translator: more consume rs are keen to make judgments by observing the quality of services with their o own eyes. services are no longer appreciated if goods short. i believe goods and value have become more ncep rabble. >> reporter: consumers and prices helps the sellers. if the system continues to spread shoppers could have choices and influence like never before. >> let's assume i bought a bag and received it. this is the page that lets shoppers decide on the price. the number at the top is the minimum price, 4,000 yen or $38. under that, we have different categories to evaluate the product or services. the first functctionality. i add 800 yen to the base rate.

because i like the multiples yousus for this prododuct. and then i add 200 yen more because i like the design. you can see that the total price has climbed to 5,000 yen. not only does this rating system encourage a thoughtful price response from the customer, it also allows the company to collect data for improving or developing new products and services. in addition to products and housekeeping services, the company's now expanding into consumer-led pricing systems for online concert tickets and training couourses. the pandemic has shaken up our world and forced us to do some deep thinking. and as more people have started to work remotely, we are coming to better understand what's essential in our lives and what we should prioritizee in life ad work.

timeme to hit the end calll but for this edition of "newsline in depth." thank you for connecting, and we'll see you again next time.

>> united arab emirate and bahrain sign agreement. a deal donald trump declared a done of a new middle east. sayingnians, a black day it is a stab in the back. hello again. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, hundreds of refugees began moving into a new camp. leaders say it is time to change europe's aro