12k3w4r6r789s hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi og gar wa. we begin with the changing leadership here in japan. the head of the main ruling liberal democratic party has been chosen as the new prime minister by the diet.

the 71-year-old veteran politician will succeed abe shinzo who has resigned to deal with health issues. suga supported abe as chief cabinet secretary for more than seven years. he says he will push forward abe's policies to deal with the coronavirus and revitalize the economy. he also vows to push forward administrative and regulatory reforms. the emperor cerememonially endorseded suguga in his cabine line with the constitutional requirements. suga will hold a news conference at 9:00 p.m. local time to talk about his priorities and the challenges he's about to take on. we'll bring it to you live. now here's a quick look at the life of the country's new leader. >> reporter: nearly every day for the past eight years, suga yoshihide has stood here taking

questions from reporters especially in a tim they faced tough criticism to unpopular policy decisions. the top spopokesperson seemed unflappable. >> reporter: then he took this step into the glare of the public eye. suga unveiled japan's new era name. reiwa. it's an uncommon honor w which made millions look att the prir miminister's trurusted aide and adviser in a new light. it earned him the nickname uncle reiwa. suga grew up in akita prefecture on his parents' strawberry farm. he was nearly 40 when he first ran for office netting a seat of yokohama city council. less than a decade later, he

used strong street-level campaigning to win a seat in the lower house. known for his loyalty, he never forgot his roots. as a cabinet minister he promoted policies to help rural communities hit hard by the demographic shift. throughout his career, suga has lived by a motto. where there's a will, there's a way. and five years after abe's first resignation, he led a call to bring his popolitical 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 fruit farmer's son inherited a sweet tooth andnd a love for e land where he grew up. >> translator: when i go to my

hometown, i remember playing in the mountains and rivers in my childhood. meeteting and talalking with ol classmates energizes me. that gives me what i need to work hard in the city. >> reporter: while suga has shown he has the will to take on the challenges facing japan, people across the country are waiting to see how he'll lead the way. >> more than half of suga's cabinet ministers were part of a abe government. a reflection of the intentions to continue his predecessor's policies. let's take a look at the lineup. >> aso taro will stay on as deputy prime minister and finance minister. he has been in the position for more than seven years. kato katsunobu takes over for suga as chief cabinet secretary leaving the post of health minister.

motegi toshimitsu will continue as foreign minister. motegi was leading trade talks with the u.s. and britain. abe's younger brother kishi nobuo will take on his first cabinet post as defense minister. takeda hyota will take on the industry. tamura nor irngs hisa returns to cabinet to become health minister, a post he held under a previous administration. kajiyama hiroshi, the trade and industry minister. akaba kazuyoshi from the ldp's junior partner remains infrastructure, environmental minister koizumi shinjiro will continue his role. okonogi will oversee the police watch dog group. hirai takuya will take on one of suga's prioritized policies, the

government's digitalization. nishimura yasutoshi will oversee japan's coronavirus measures to balance the efforts with the revitalization of the economy. kono taro will shift to a new role in cabinet, administrative reform minister. suga has emphasized the importance of work to create a more efficient government. hashimoto seiko retains her position, taking charge of the postponed 2020 olympic and paralympic games. inoue shinji to hold the world expo in osaka in 2025. >> for more on this story, i'm joined now by nhk senior political commentator. what's your impression of this new cabinet? >> this lineup shows how much importance the new prime minister places on continuity. we are seeing a lot of familiar

faces, many of whom have served on a cabinet witith suga and ab. the finance minister, foreign minister, education minister, and several other positions were reappointments. as a self-made politician, suga values hard work and it shows. suga's top government spokesperson is the man who served ass his own deputy chief cabinet secretary. suga worked closely with each and every minister during that time. and seems keen to reward excellence. after the pandemic uncertainty, and it really comes as no surprise that this cabinet is all about stability. >> okay. so given that, has suga done anything to differentiate himself from previous governments? >> well, suga's top priority is, of course, dealing with the coronavirus.

but he also wants tomprove the bureaucracy and he's in a great position to do so. as the chief cabinet secretary for nearly 80 years, he saw how each ministry works. the good and the bad. and now he can focus on creating a more efficient p public servi by breaking departmental titles. kono taro is his ace in the hole. an establilished minister and proven communicator, kono will take the lead on administrative reform. suga will also create a new digital agency with one of the party's top experts. it aims to resolve delays in digitizing the government because of the coronavirus pandemic. >> okay. so now is there anything political watchers were expecting from the cabinet but that were not seen?

>> i would say so. four years, suga's predecessors for the need to expand the role of women in japanese society. but there are still only two female ministersrs in t the 20-person cabinet. it starts at the top. all five of the main ruling party executives are men. their average age tops 70. so it's easy to see there is morere work to be done to achie gender. >> everyone is talking about the possibility of a snap election in the lower house. what do you think will happen? >> for now suga is cautious about the lower house. since japan is still dealing with coronavirus. but it does make some political sense. based on experience, i think the

launch of the new cabinet will give his approval rating a boost. some lawmakers want to ensure an action happens before that support wanes. whatever happens, there must be a vote before time e expiress i october of next year. and i'm sure suga is now carefully considering every option. >> thank you for your insight. >> you're welcome. meanwhile, it's been a very different day for jajapan's outgoing leader. abe shinzo was the country's longest serving prime minister with 3,188 days in office. ahead of wednesday's diet session, he reflected on his time in power and thanked the public. >> translatotor: i am proud thai wawas able to bring forth varar issusues with the people durini this perioiod.

everything was thanks to the people of f japan. i wouldd like to expxpress my sincere gratitutude to everyone who supported me in difficult times. >> abe was also asked about his health. he said his recovery is progressing with the help of medication. abe left the prime minister's office earlier in the day. suga and the office staff gathered in the entrance hall to see him off. in a blow to beleaguered belarus president alexander lukashenko, the european union says it does not recognize him as the legitimate leader of the country following a contested election. eu foreign policy chief told the european parliament on tuesday we consider the elections fraudulent.

lukashenko claimed victory, for a sixth term after the vote, which opposition leaders say was rigged. the results unleashed a series of protests. that have rattled his once-iron grip on power. more than 7,500 peaceful protesters have been detained and 500 cases of torture have been documented. he stressed the importance of sanctions against belarusians believed to have been involved in electoral fraud and crackdowns on protesters. the eu's position contrasts sharply with russia's. vladimir putin reiterated his backing for lukashenko and agreed on a $1.5 billion loan for the neighboring country. in a further show of support, russia and belarus are teaming up for joint military

exercises. it seems to be a way to stop any political meddling. the counterterrorism exercise began on monday in the west of belarus. more than 800 persosonnel a are repoportedly taking partncluding paratroopersrs. the firstst drills run until septembeber. 25th. russian media say another exercicise will also takee placn bebelarus and will involve four former soviet republics. nato is expected to raise its alert level in response to the drills. the alliance says it's closely monitoring the situation in the country. in vietnam, a court has sentenced four people to prison over the death of 39 migrants from the country. the victims were fouound in a container truckck near london i octobeber. it grabbed headlines around the

world. state-run media say the defendants were found guilty of illegal immigration. the sentences range from 2 1/1/ years to 7 1/2 years. three other defendants were given suspended sentences. the case centered partly on one victim who sent a a text messag to her family in her final moments saying she couldn't breathe. the court heard that the defendants received $21,000 to arrange the woman's travel to europe. the vietnamese government has been trying to crack down on human trafficking in the country since the incident. in the u.s., the city of louisville, kentucky, has settled a civil lawsuit over the death of a black woman in a botched police raid and will pay her family $7 million. the family of bre on that taylor filed the lawsuit and demand the

city admit that the raid was wrongful. >> it's only the beginning of getting full justice for breonna. we must not lose focus on what the real job is. with that being said, it's time to move forward with the criminal charges because she deserves that and much more. >> taylor, an emergency medical technician, was shot and killed by police in march in a raid that was part of an investigation into a drug ring. the police officers forced their way into her apartment while she was sleeping with her boyfriend. police arrested a former boyfriend of taylor's, a suspected drug dealer, at a separate location on the same evening. the settlement comes amid protests in the u.s. against police brutality and racial injustice. japanese tennis star osaka naomi wore a face mask in her first

match displaying taylor's first name. the tropical storm is expected to intensify and it's heading towards vietnam. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us with the details. sayaka? >> the tropical storm developed nearly philippines on sunday. the western pacific has been extremely slow, quiet. and this is the fifth latest 11th s storm of the year. noll is expected to intensify. as a severe tropical storm it could make landfall in vietnam friday. then as a weaker storm it will likely move over laos and also thailand during the weekend. so heavy rain is expected for many countries. due to the counterclockwise circulation, the the philippines will continue to see drenching rainfall into the rest of the work week. temperatures are in the 30s in many places and thunderstorms are likely for many places as

well. rain will intensify as the system approachches. meanwhile, we have another disturbance called sally. sally is making landfalll in alalabama as a category 2 hurricane. this is the second hurricane to hit the united states in three weeks. hurricane -- it's moving at only 6 kilometers per hour and is packing gusts over 200 kilometers per hour. sally will likely stay near the coast of the gulf for the next couple of days or so and continue to bring heavy rainfall. we've already had nearly 500 millimeters of rain already. more rain is possible. the total rain could surpass 700 millimeters in some places. even record-breaking heavy rain is on the menu for some places. after affecting the gulf coast, it will likely head toward the

north and east affecting georgia and the carolinas into the rest of the work week. heavy rain is expected for many states. now, the atlantic has been very active this year. we've got 20 named storms already. the latest one is vicky and we have teddy too. it could head towards bermuda. we also have paulette which battered bermuda a couple days ago. andally i is to affect thehe united statates into the n next several days. we havave unusually high temperatatures recorded in many places of western europe o on tuesday. e high reached 35 degrees in several places in france as well as the netherlands. that's it for me. stay safe.

and 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. japanese industrials giant hitachi is pulling the plug on the construction of a nuclear power plant in britain. hitachi says its board of directors decided on wednesday to withdraw from the project on the island of angelsy in wales. they put it on hold in january last year. it cited ballooning costs and other measures. they asked the government for greater support for the project, but the firm says negotiations

made little progress parartly d to the coronavirus pandemic. they say the latest decision does not expect to significantly impact its business. the firm already posted relevant expenses from the stoppage in fiscal 2018. the u.s. trump administration has struck another blow in its feud with china. the treasury department says it will impose sanctions on a chinese state-owned entity that is constructing a complex in cambodia. u.s. officials say china could repurpose the property for military use. the union development group or udg is currently at work on the projecect on the coast of cambodia's southern province. the company has been granted a 99-year lease of 360 square kilometers of land. udg says it plans to build a resort, a port, and an

international airport capable of handling large passenger jets. but the u.s. says they used the cambodia military force people from the land. they will prohibit transactions with the country and freeze assets in the u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo says if thehe project i is used the c chinese militaryry, it co threaten the security y of alli. a u.n. agency says global tourist numbers plunged 65% in the first half of this year due to the coronavirus travel restrictions. it says there were $460 billion of lost revenues during the period. the world tourism organization says 440 million fewer people traveled overseas between january and the end of june compared to the same period last year. international rivals to the americas fell 55% while africa and the middle east both saw 57%

declines. overseas tourists to europe slumped 66%. the asia pacific region was the worst hit with a 72% drop. the decline in export revenues from international tourism is about five times greater than the loss in 2009 triggered by the global financial crisis. u.n. officials estimate it will take two to four years f for international tourist numbers to return to o 2019 levevels. small and medium sized companies have been struggling to survive in japan as the population ages and shrinks. the coronavirus pandemic is also forcing many business owners to close shop for good. we look at some of those -- some of these devastates effects. >> reporter: this shop in northeastern japan sold pickled

vegetables for over 130 years. the lack of tourists during the pandemic was too much for a business that was already struggling. longtime customers came back before it closed its doors for good. >> translator: it's sad to see the place gone. >> reporter: another business today in southern japan. more than a thousand restaurants are crammed into an older district of miyazaki. but one in ten have given up. this bar owner went through many nights without a single customer. with rent and other basic expenses coming to nearly $2,000 a month, she decided it was no longer worth it. >> translator: people are talking about waves of infections coming one after another. i don't think i can survive that. >> reporter: she is just one of many business owners in their 60s or 70s who have turned off the lights.

a credit research firm surveyed small and mid-sized enterprises from july to august. 8.5% say they may have to shut down if the coronavirus outbreak doesn't end soon. that means that more than 300,000 businesses could be headed for closure. >> translator: many smaller firms already had problems such as not having someone to take over the family business. the pandemic only made things worse. the business environment shifts. the way of doing business no longer works. >> reporter: there are concerns that as more and more small businesses close, the impact on regional economies could be massive. that is exactly what regional financial institutions are trying to stop. >> translator: this is the list of companies eager to acquire other firms.

>> reporter: they teamed up with an i.t. company to create a system too save businesses that are onon the b brink. through a matching website, owners who are considering closing can meet executives willing to take them over. there have already been a lot of inquiries. >> translator: many firms are bebeing forced out of business even though society needs them. we want to prevent that if at all possible and support the regional economy. >> reporter: smaller businesses play a significant role in japan. they represent over 99% of all enterprises and almost 70% of all employment. it's crucial for them to have a safety net as they are the backbone of the country's economy but are also the most vulnerable in times of f crisis. all righght. let's have a look at the markets.

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene ototani. ththanks very ch f for joininin.

>> thanks for joining us here on "france 24." these are the headlines. casting greenhouse gases even further, coming together to tackle migration, and calling for a european health union. she has given her first eu state of the union address. the commission chief sketched out her hopes for a post covid europe the new prime minister of japan takes over for shinzo abe. the economic policies with little