♪ hello a and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara. we begin with the latest somber milestone in the coronavirus pandemic. more than 30 million infections have been reported worldwide according to data from johns hopkins university in the u.s. over 945,000 people have died. the world health organization says asia and europepe are seei cases rise while the americas are seeing some signs of easing.

in indonesia, the number of daily new cases has recently exceeded 3,5,500. authorities in the capital of jakarta have tightened restrictions that had bebeen ead since june. they require companies to raise the number of teleworking employees to three quarters for most industries. gatherings of five or more people are also banned. in israel where new daily infections have surpassed 5,000 and nationwide lockdown will be imposed again beginning friday afternoon. in brazil's largest city of sao paulo, 18% of children have brn been infected with the virus. local authorities had been planning to reopen public schools next month for the first time since mid may, now that has been pushed back to november or later. a former member of the white

house coronavirus task force has acaccused u.s. president drum o placing priority on his re-election rather than containing the outbreak.. olivia troy was an adviser to mike pence untilil this summer. she made the accusation on thursday. >> towards the middle of february we knew it wasn't a matter of the covid would become a big pandemic in the united states, it was a matter of when. the president didn't want to hear that. his biggest concern was we were in an election year. >> troye added if trump had taken the virus seriously, he would have slowed the spread of infection and saved lives. the united states has the highest number o of cases and deaths in the world. the president told reporters he h had never met troye. >> any time somebody leaves our big massive government, they leave and they try -- they get coerced into saying bad things.

it's very unfortunate. it's a very sad thing. >> trump has come under fire for playing downn the dangerr of th vivirus. the mayoror of new york is trying something his big city american counterparts aren't even attempting. bill de blasio tried earlier this month to get students back into their schools, but he had to delayay classes, and now he' done that again. nhk world's catherine kobayashi has the details. >> reporter: custodians have been busy for monthths making se their schools are safe. they'll have a bit more time after the mayor changed the schedule again. >> we are doing this to make sure that all the standards we've set can be achieved. >> reporter: the mayor has been determined to bring students back to classrooms closed by the coronavirus. he says the hundreds of thousands of children from low-income families need their teachers' help. students would only be in class

one to three days a week to allow for social distancing. on other days they'dd join thos studying from home. now only the youngest students will retururn on monday and tho with special needs. older students will come back the following week. >> we're giving schools more staff, more time and more support, and this helps us to have the strongest possible start to the most unconventional school year. >> reporter: teachers say there are not enough of them to cover in-person classes and those online. theyey point to poor ventilatio in aging buildings, and many just don't feeeel safe. >> if we're going to do this, we must make sure that we get this right. >> reporter: many parents are exhausted after months inside with their children. they're outraged by the latest delay. it's a lesson, they say, in poor planning. catherine kobayashi, nhk world,

new york. u.n. secretary general antonio guterres renewed calls for a cease-fire in yemen. he said the urgenency off earneg the conflict has grown at a time when the coronavavirus is spreading throughout the e devastated g gulf nanation. >> the pandemic has shown how vulnerable we are. vulnerable integration to a microscopic virus. we a are in a dramatic situatio. we need to put an end to the conflict. we need to make sure we momove into a p political process. >> guterres was speaking aftfte an online ministerial meeting on yemen on thursday. guterres told the meeting that there are more than 2,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 in the country, but he added experts estimate there are actually up to 1 million people affected by the virus. he c called on allll parties t cooperate under the coordination of his special envoy, martin griffiths. yemen n has suffffered more tha

five years of fighting between saudi-backed government forces and houthi rebels supported by iran. the prolonged conflict has devastated the country's health care system. a senior u.n. official says global efforts to achieve the world body's sustainable development goals or sdgs are falling short due to the coronavirus pandemic. u.n. deputy s secretary general mohammed says the u.n. unanimously adopted the 17 socioeconomic goals in 2015 with the aim of achieviving them by 2030. the goals include ending poverty and hunger, spreading quality education and medicine worldwide and protecting eco systems. >> we can make the projections of the millions that are going to be pushed back into poverty, it has pushed back access to health services. it has also taken kids out of

school. >> mohammed said keeping up efforts to achieve the sdgs must be r reaffirirmed at the genera assembly. she says the world must take united actction against the coronavirus pandemic and achieve the sdgs to provide a better future for all. turning to japan, prime minister suga yoshihide has been laying out plans for his cabinet and that means cutting the cost of mobile phone services. his new communications minister says he's ready to get to work on the task. >> translator: it's a bad idea to keep a system in place that sees mobile phones as luxury goods. we will hear from carriers and consumers before coming up with solutions. >> tack da speak to reporters on friday after meeting with suga

and says he hopes to get results as possible. while mobile carriers in japan have been charging less, the communications minister says prices still remain relatively high compared to many other countries. to find out more about suga's domestic priorities, nhk spoke with a politicalal science professor. >> translator: i don't see suga is planning any new measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus or revitalize the economy. personally i think it's a little discouraging.. >> suga may have risen to power by promoting continuity and stability but thinks the new prime minister needs to formulate his own vision to ensure long-term success. one new idea that's gardened attention is addressing the country's declining b birth rat by publicly funding fertility

trtreaenent. in that case heat that says it's a start in the right direction but doesn't address the root problem. >> translator: the biggest cause of the declining birth rate and population is unstable employment and low income. i think given the current situation, he may need solutions that focus on this issues. >> reporteter: he says one unfortunatee carryoyover from p administrations is the number of females in top spspots. only two o out of suga's 20 new cabinet ministers are women. >> translator: in short, the liberal democratitic party reflflects male dominanance wit local commmmunities. under such circumstances, it is very difficult for women to become candidatetes let alone w andd become lawmakers. as a result women only make up about 7% of ldp members in the lower house. >> reporter: as it stands now, he expecects suga to remain on e path that abe carved out unless the ldp encouounters p pitical pressusure.

he says that can happen after the two biggest opposition camps merged to create the constitutional democratic party. >> translator: if the p party c gain more seaeats in the nexext election, it could create momentum, but if they lose, it's highly likely the opposition will return to a state of confusion. >> reporter: suga has nearly a year to make a decision to call an election. some say there is speculation he could dissolve the diet soon to hold a vote. nakakita says whenever it happens, the outcome will likely shape japan ice political landscape for years. the japanese government is set to send another team of investigators to mauritius. they're tasked with determining why exactly an oil tanker struck a reef there two months ago causing an environmental disaster. >> this isis a huge issusue tha needs to be tackled by the public and private sectors. the dispatch comes after

obtaining approval from the authorities of panama and mauritius to join the investigation. >> the members were given a sendoff by the minister on friday. the oil tanker is registered in panama and chartered by a tokyo-based shipping company. during their two-week visit, members will interview the crew and independent the vessel which sank after breaking apart. the bulk carrier ran aground in jujuly off the coast of the e id nation which is located in the indian ocean. this is the first time japan's safety board will dispatch investigators for an accident involving a foreign registered vessel in another country's waters. the team is scheduled to leave japan on sunday. police have arrested the former chairman of a bankrupt health equipment dealer on suspicion of fraud. the victim's lawyers say the company used an invitation to a cherry blossom viewing party hosted by then prime minister

abe shinzo in the alleged scheme. police are investigating li yamaguguchi takaoshi and 1 13 associates involved in the case encouraged on using clients to invest in n a prograram. the clients were allegedly never told about the firm's huge debts, which meant prospects for dividends were slim. about 7,000 victims are estimated to have lost around $1.9 billion. their lawyers say japan life showed them yamaguchi's invitation to the 2013 cherry blossom party to show yamamaguc wawas politically connected. abe has denied he had any relationship to yamaguchi but the opposition is now calling for a new investigation. >> translator: considering the invitation for the cherry blossom viewing party was a

major trigger for fraud and 200 billion yen, i think the responsibility of the government is very great. >> the new chief cabinet secretary seemed to suggest that would not be happening. >> translator: since last year, the cabinet office has clarified that not only y related papers t also elelectronic fileles had b discarded. this remains the case. >> the cherry blossom viewing parties were a source of controversy under the abe administration. in his previous role, suga said the guest lists were shredded in line with regulations for public documents. turning to the ig nobel prize which celebrates trivial achievements in scientific research, this year's prize in acoustics went to an international team that demonstrated the vocal tract of

alligators can resonate, just like mammals and birds. >> welcome to the 31st annual ig nobel prize ceremony. >> the prize was launched in 1991 by u.s. journal annals improbable research. the rewards fofor all ten categories were anannounced onlineinstead ofof the traditional ceremonyny at harva university. >> our sub check is a chinese alligator. we recorded her inhaling normal air and helium oxygen mixture. here we go, here's one call in air and one call in helium. >> the researchers say the alligator's voice wawas highere after inhalingng helium. >> translator:ss thi kind of research useful? well, probably not. but it was an interesting question, and the curiosity that

leads to an actual experiment is precisely the basis of science. >> this year's prize for medical education went to nine world leaders including u.s. president donald trump and russian president vladimir putin. they were given the award for quote using the covid-19 viral pandemic to teach the woworld tt politicians can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and doctors. now a story about a mysterious theft and an unlikely culprit. a man in malaysia says a smart phone went missing from his bedroom on saturday only to reappear in his back yard. on the phone he found evidence of the monkey business, a collection of selfies that went wild online. the 20-year-old thinks the primate thief probably saw his phone's colorful case and thought it was a tasty treat. but the man isn't mad. instead he says the whole thing

was hilarious. as for how the bandit managed to pull off the caper, well, that remains a mystery. tropical storm knoll has struck the coast of vietnam on friday bringing damaging winds and flooding rainfall. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us with the holiday forecast. >> yes, this tropical storm landfall made landfall in central vivietnam on fridaday mg it the second named store to hit the nation of the year. take a look at this footage from several places of vietnam. the storm system brought torrential downpours leading to significant flooding. denan saw more than 300 millimeters of rain in 24 hours. some homes sustained damage on their roofsfs whilele other structures collapsed. one person has been killed due to a falling tree. the system is now over the central places of the indochina peninsula. but noel is still a tropical storm and is expected to dump

more heavy rainfall and strong winds. it's expected to move over into thailand on saturday and as a tropical depression or low pressure system, it will drape over myanmar into sunday. because of the southwesterly flow we'll see drenching raininfall into parts of wester thailand into the weekend. japan is peppered wit thunderstorms and heavy rainfall due to a seasona frontal system. we saw hvy rainfnfall across hoe keiko. haiku making the record for the month of september. it looks like the front will shift to the south, so heavy rain will ease as we go into saturday. we will see thunderstorms in some places. if you see black clouds approaching you, take shelter immediately. as for temperatures, we'll see a significant cooldown in tokyo on sunday. 25 for the high. that's going to be the coolest day in two months or so. monday is a national holiday. it's going to be 28 with groom

many skies once again and then cloudy conditions on tuesday. that's the autumnal equinox day. we'll see plenty of shine in osaka as well as sapporo for the next several days. in europe we're looking at a dangerous storm system. this is cadee a medcane or mediterranean hurricane. it looks like a hurricane but has a warm core. it's a hybrid cyclone. this system made landfall in grease greece on monday. parts of greece experienced over 140 millimeters of rain, eight times the monthly rainfall for september. gusts can be stronger as we go into the w weekend, could be 20 kilometers per h hour and the total rainfall could be 400 millimeters in parts of greece. 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. softbank group is pushing ahead with its selling spree as it shifts from telecoms towards investment. the japanese con glom rate is selling u.s. distributor bright star global group for an undisclosed sum. softbank group is selling the company for both cash and a 25% stake in the buyer which is part of a u.s. private equity firm.

back in 2013 softbank group bought u.s. mobile carrier sprint to beef up its telecom business, but sprint merged with another u.s. carrier this april and is no longer part of the group. early this week softbank group said it was selling leading chip designer arm in a deal worth up to $40 billion. china owned tiktok has been under the spotlight as tensions mount between washington and beijing. president donald trump says his administration has b been talki to firms interested in the u.s. arm of the video sharing app. >> we spoke today to walmart, oracle, i guess microsoft is still involved. we'll make a decision, but nothing much has changed. we'll make a decision soon. >> trump h has ordered tiktok's parent bite dance to sell the app's u.s. operations saying beijing should abuse user data. oracle has already submitted a

proposal agreed with bitite dan to the treasury y department. u.s. media have reported potential planans to set up a n company to operate the app in america. they say multiple u.s. firms could jointly take a majority stake in the company. japanese electronics retailer is stepping up sales of fitness equipment as people spend more time exercising at home. bit camera expanded its retail space within a major department store in central tokyo. the company now has almost twice the f floor space as before at e main store. officials s say sales of indoor exercise equipment at its stores started doubling from a year earlier in april as people refrain from going out a amid t virus outbreak. >> reporter: as an electronics retailer we can also provide our customers with appliances that will help them enjoy the experience of exercising at

home. >> the shop is looking to boost sales including high end treadmills made by foreign manufacturers and items to treat muscle soreness after exercise. changes in lifestyles caused by the coronavirus are showing up in japan's housing market. home and the workplace are coming together. as a result demand is growing for places that can do both. >> reporter: as the pandemic surged in april, this real estate agency's transaction fell to about half the number of 12 months before. in june, though, the figure was 50% higher than the same month the previous year. the agency wondedered if the work-at-home phenomenon was responsible. >> translator: business has been very good lately. demand is higher than expected. >> reporter: this married couple was looking for something bigger than their one-bedroom place in tokyo. the husband has been working remotely and the wife lost her job due to the pandemic.

>> translator: now that i'm working from home and there are two of us around, we'd like something with two-bedrooms. >> reporter: the agent raised the possibility of moving into a three-story house. >> translator: maintaining a separate work space is easier in a three-story home. >> reporter: another husband and wife share a two-bedroom apartment with their two children. as the stay-at-home period continued, they started searching for a place where they could spread out. >> translator: the sound of our kids quarrelling and crying can be stressful. a detached house would make things better. >> translator: i like a big house. i want a big house.

>> reporter: overall, sales of new condominium units in tokyo have been erratic. inquiries about this building are said to be strong. it's 4,000 square meter courtyard may have a lot to do with that. some residents work there. >> t translator:r: being outsid feels good. the space is helping me feel less stressed. >> reporter: it's becoming an extension of each person's living space. >> translator: my husband works from homome five days a week. i often come out here when the baby starts crying. having quick access to this space is nice. >> translator: i think people will start spending more time outdoors. the pandemic may change our

lifestyles. >> reporter: now more than ever, there's no place like home. australia's qantas airways is offering a sightseeing flight for travelers, eager to take to the skies at a time when many planes are grounded. the flight from sydney on october 10th will take in some of the country's best-known tourist spots. it will sflie over aluru the iconic sandstorm forortion before flying over the gat barrier reef and r rurning to dney.. the airnene hasoar annoued only one flight, but reuters reported ticketsts foror all 13 seatats were sold o out in t te minutes. qantas o officials reportedldlyd they'll offer more of the flights if demand persists. the pandemic has forced airlines around the world to halt or reduce flights. some are offering sightseeing tours as a way to maintain business as well as keep their

planes airworthy. let's have a look k at the markets. ♪

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks very much for joining us.

♪ >> hello and welcome to "france 24," i am laura cellier, and these are the international. headlines at this. hour. coronavirus of the past 30 million as health experts warn of an alarming rise of infections in europe. in israel, a second straight national lockdown is coming in full force. we have