hello and welcome the nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawarogasawara. we begin in the united states and a chaotic first presidential debate where the two candidates seemed to focus more on trading insults than discussing policies. president donald trump and democratic challenger joe biden were asked to address a number of key domestic issues including the economy, the coronavirus, and each candidate's record. the 90 minutes included some tense moments where the candidates spoke over the moderator and each other. eaearly in the debate, trump an biden clashed over the country's

pandemic response. >> we got the gowns, we got the masks, we made the ventilators, you wouldn't have made ventilators and we're weeks away from a vaccine. we're doing therapeutics already. fewer people are dying when they get sick. far fewer people are dying. we've done a great job. >> the president has no plan. he hasn't laid out anything. he knew all the way back in february how serious this crisis was. he knew it was a deadly disease. what did he do? he's on tape acknowledging he knew it. he didn't tell us or give a warning about it because he didn't want to panic the american people. >> this year has seen a dramatic rise in racial unrest sparked by police killings of black americans. biden accused trump of fueling racist sentiment while the president attacked biden's views on law and order. >> this is a president who h ha used everything as a dog whistle

to try to generate racist hatred, racist division. this is a man who in fact you talk about helping african americans. one in one thousand african americans has been killed because of the coronavirus. and if he doesn't do something quickly, by the end of the year, 1 in 500 will have been killed. 1 in 500 african-americans. >> you go to many places, look at oakland, look what happened in oakland, look what happened in baltimore, frankly, it was more violent than what i'm even seeing more but the reason is that the democrats that run these cities -- >> absolutely ridiculous. >> -- don't want to talk like you about law and order. >> violent crime -- >> you still haven't mentioned -- are you in favor of law and order? >> the moderator asked trump if he's willing to denounce white supremacist, instead, the president blamed much of the problem on the left wing. the two candidates also talked about an expected delay in results. biden said he would wait for mail-in ballots to be counted and accept the outcome while

trump suggested there will likely be electoral fraud. after the debate, cnn issued results of a telephone poll which said 60% of viewers thought biden did a better job. only 28% chose president trump. political experts who tuned in to the debate to see who won had a more difficult time deciding which candidate came out on top. nhk spoke with one who says biden was able to prove he had the stamina to fight through a 90-minute debate, but perhaps not much else. >> i thihink if you were partis to one candidate or the other, then, you know, i don't think you changed your mind tonight. they both sortrt of played to type, but, youou know, we've go maybe 6% of f voters who are undedecided right now, and i thk they probably came away a bit confused. and this is honestly surprising. many of us, even though as political scientists we know

that debates don't tend to really matter that much. >> he said the pair did not spend much time explaining policies. instead, he says, this was really a knock down drag out fight where each candidate focused on landing the best punch. >> overall, you didn't hear anything about, you know, really what i thihink ten y years from are going toto be when wlolook back upon this election decide what were really kind of the imimportant issues goioing forw into the future. so i mean, i'm looking for them toto start talkingng about that hopefully in the next debate. >> he said anyone looking for insight into pressing foreign policy issues including trade and friction with china will have to wait. the next debate is scheduled for october 15th with a final faceoff slated for october 22nd. turning to japan and a

prominent ruling on the 2011 triple meltdown at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. the court has ordered the government and the operator of the fukushima plant to pay about $9.5 million. >> translator: the ruling clearly holds the government responsible. it's a perfect victory for us. >> about 3,600 people who live in fukushima prefecture or were evacuated the area brought the case. they argue the electric power companyy is the cauause off the losing their homeses and disisa distress. the ruling comes three years after a lower court said the tsunami could have been

prevented. in wednesday's high court ruling, the presiding judge stressed the government hadad a legal responsibility to ensure appropriate measures were t tak because it was aware of the risk. it more than doubled the financial damages by the lower court. it could affect similar lo lawsuits throughout the country. the top government spokesperson says they will respond to the latest development after studying the ruling in detail. >> translator: safety is a top priority at nuclear power plants. the nuclear regulation authority which is an independent organization has been screening based on the new requirements after the fukushihima daiichi accident. >> in a statement, tepco again apologized for the accident. the company says it will closely

examine the ruling before deciding on its next steps. moving onto another high profile legal case over one of the country's worst serial killers. a 29-year-old man has pleaded guilty to killing nine people in his apartment but his defense team has argued against the murder charges by saying the victims consented to the killings. the gruesome discovery was made three years ago at this apartment near tokyo. police found the remains of eight women and one man between the ages of 15 and 26. some were stored in coolers covered with cat litter. the man was charged with murder, theft of the victims' belongings, and abandoning the victims' remains. he's also alleged to have sexually assaulted the women. the prosecution explained he opened a twitter act in march

2017 to contact women contemplating suicide whom he saw as easy targets. during the first hearing on wednesday, he admitted to the charges. however, his defense team argued that the victims agreed to be killed so thehe charges against him should be homicide with consent. a ruling is set for december. the newspaper of north korea's ruling party says the country is reviewing itself anticoronavirus measures and may have found some faults. leader kim jong-un attended workers' party ahead of celebrations for the 75th anniversary of its founding. the party's new york reported the nation will go ahead with public events on october 10th

decide the unprecedented health crisis and the impact of recent natural disasters. north korea claims it has had no coronavirus cases. some people at the meeting suggested preventative measures could be improved without explaining the faults in the current system. the north korean government is sticking to its position on the issue of japanese abductees saying it was resolved many years ago. the foreign ministry in pyongyang published a statement on the matter hoursrs after japanese prime minister suga yoshihide met with the affected families. the statement criticized suga for saying he intends to keep his predecessors policies in place. it called the policies extreme and said they are aimed at isolated north korea. the meeting was suga's first with abductee families. he pledged to make every opopportunity y to break the

deadlock. the japanese government says north korean agents kidnapped at least 17 japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s. pyongyang repatriated five of them in 2002. but the rest remain unaccounted for. people in south korea are kicking off a holiday weekend. but the government is urging them to avoid travell due to o coronavirus. millions of people normally crisscscross thehe country to ad family gatherings during this holiday, but t the prime minist is calliling on the pupublic to respect social distancing rules and avoid long distance trips. authorities are also charging fees on toll free expressways and limiting the number of train tickets to half capacity. the government has been struggling to bring the number of coronavirus cases back under control since an outbreak hit the capitol in august.

results of a u.s. survey suggest people are divided over whether they would get a covid-19 vaccine or not. the pew research center surveyed 10,000 adults online from april to may and again this month. asked whether they would get the vaccine if it were available, 27% of respondents in the spring said they would probably not or definitely not get it. this time, the figure rose to 49%. on saturday, protesters in massachusetts rallied against restrictions on businesses and mask mandates. >> would i get vaccinated? no, , i would not. >> do you know why? >> i don't want to. it's my choice. >> concern about side effects was a top reason cited followed by people wanting to know more about how well it would work. an expert on thehe antvaccine

momoment sayay the distrust in vaccines hampered the ability to overcome the pandemic. colleges and universities in the u.s. are facing tough choices. they must decide whether t to kp their classes online or to bring students back to campus in the middle of the pandemic. nhk world's sam suzuki has the story. >> reporter: in mid-august, administrators at georgetown college inn kentucky reopened their campus for in-person classes. the school has an enrollment of 1,100 students. they'd been attended online only lessons since the start of the pandemic. preston crump is a junior. he lives on a residence hall on campus. >> we are to wear our masks. >> reporter: crump says the school has implemented extensive safety measures including wearing masks in common areas. hand sanitizers have been placed

all around campus. administrators are also concerned about ventilation, so theyey've arranged f for many classes to b be held outside. crump says that despite thehe disruptions, he's glad to return to campus because he learns better with in-person teaching. >> it was reallyy nice to get back too classes. online classes, professors seem to care more abobout getting th content to us instead of actually knowing t that we understandnd it. >> reporter: students in the u.s. are quickly getting used to remote instruction. one survey found that 79% of colleges have moved to either full or partial online curriculums. that shift raises other concerns. many students who learn online feel they're not receiving the

full education they paid for. they're demanding that schools slash or refund their tuition. maggie minkin is a graduate student at columbia university in new york. she's studying to be a film director. the tuition is about $70,000 a year, but distance learning means she can't use the school's film equipment. she feels her education has been squandndered. some students are taking legal action. more than 70 colleges and universities have been hit with lawsuits demanding that they offer tuition refunds. >> not to mention the vast amount of resources thatt we lot by not being able to access campus. it certainly is not an education that warrants its original price tag. >> reporter: many colleges have responded by trying to make remote learning more rewarding for students.

administrators at this college in maryland were gearing up for in-person classes in september. but a statewide spike in coronavirus cases forced them to continue with remote learning. so they invnvested inin cameras boosted internet speed to enhance the experience. >> awesome. here we go. >> reporter: this dance instructor can use a large monitor to check her students' performance. additionally administrators brought in consultants to train professors on the best approximapractices of online learning. >> we chose to invest in significant training foror doin everything we can to make sure that we get through this year okay. >> reporter: officials at colleges and universities are trying to keep their campuses safe while upholding the academic standards their students deserve.

it is clear they have a tough task ahead of them. sam suzuki, nhk world, new york. people in tokyo enjoyed beautiful sunny weather on wednesday but rain and cooooler weather are in the forecast for thursday. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us now with the details. sayaka? >> yes. we are seeing some pop-up heavy thunderstorms across portions of japan. we saw nearly 100 millimeters of rain in only 1 hour in toyama prefecture. and parts of hiroshima city saw heavy rain. because of that, people were advised to evacuate. we've had beautiful weather in tokyo. the crystal clear skies and pleasant temperatures. but it'll change. rain in the west is expected to move into central japan including tokyo. so tokyo will see rain in the morning and temperatures will drop significantly. 20 degrees is expected on thursday. that's 5 degrees cooler compared

to what we saw on wednesday. but nice, warm, sunny weather will likely come back on friday. and it's going to be even warmer as we go into saturday. osaka and fooukuoka will see mo summerlike temperatures. more like summer from friday into the weekend. sapporo will stay quite warm. however, early next week, parts of hokkaido may see snow in the higher elevations. the cold temperature is affecting mongolia. and even ulaanbaatar could see snowfall every day into saturday at least. and temperatures are going to be very low especially in the morning on your friday and saturday and sunday. it's going to be minus 13 degrees on sunday. so do bundle up. it's a different story across the southern hemisphere. earlier this week we talked about extremely high temperatures in paraguay, the capital city saw 42 degrees

making the all-time record high for the city. it's going to be even higher on wednesday with sunny weather in asuncion. meanwhile there's a line of significant thunderstorms moving over the british aisles. we're seeing some strong, heavy rainfall plus strong winds across the uk at this moment. rain through the area through thursday and temperatures have dropped significantly. london 15 on thursday. going to go down to 12 degrees on your friday. paris, rainy weather. and sunny weather in the south including rome as well as athens. it's still dry across the west, but there's a line of thunderstorms across the east. dry weather will continue to affect the southwest so more fires could be ignites because of the parched conditions. that's it from me. stay safe.

and that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. thank you for watching and do stay tuned for more.

this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. government agencies have submitted their budget requests for the next fiscal year. the total is likely to top 100 trillion yen or $947 billion for the seventh year in a row. it's not yet possible to get an accurate figure because costs relating to coronavirus projects could still grow. the health, labor, and welfare ministry requested over 32 trillion yen as social security costs are expected to grow. that's a record figure and a

third of the total. the defense ministry also set a record asking for nearly 6 trillion yen to boost japan's defense capability. more than 25 trillion yen or a quarter of the total has been requested for interest p paymen and redemption of government bonds. covid related budgets includede spending for a project to establishh pcr testing facilitis throughout japan. they also include measures to support tourism businesses and to deal with the virus with an eye for the tokyo olympics and paralympi paralympics. struggling japanese form toshiba says it's shutting down its lsi business as part of a restructuring effort. they had been making semiconductors used in sensors for automobiles. toshiba says competition in the sector is fierce and the business has been losing money for the past three years.

the withdrawal will affect 770 workers. they will be offered early retirement or relocated to other divisions by the end of february. toshiba says the move is likely to cost about $110 million. but it will keep its earnings forecast unchanged for the current business year through march. officials at the walt disney company say the coronavirus has forced them into a very difficult decision. they are laying off tens of thousands of employees. about 28,000 workers will be affected. they have been employed mainly at its u.s. theme parks. about 67% of them are part-timers. disney closed all of its american theme parks in march as the virus spread across the country. it reopened the parks in florida in july but has been limiting visitor you were ins through a reservation system. the company says its difficulties include the limited capacity of its parks due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty

regarding the duration of the pandemic. it also blamed the state of california for making matters worse by its unwillingness to ease restrictions that would allow disneyland to reopen. disneyland in california remains closed after six months with no date set for a resumption. the american entertainment giant posted a massive net loss of about $4.7 billion for the april to june quarter. a new player in japan's telecom market is shaking up the old brands by launching its own 5g serervice at a low price. thee fourthh mobile carrier o os the ultra fast network. users can sign up to hakuten's

service. the three major carriers are already offering 5g but a at prices more than double rakuten'n's fee. subsbscriberss can usese unlimi data within the network areas. it is currently limited to some areas of tokyo, osaka, and four other prefectureres. rakuten plans to expand to all prefectures by march. showcasing remote controlled craft designed for a variety of roles. more than 100 organizations have brought their latest innovations to japan drone 2020 in chiba. one can carry a person and has successfully transported 100 kilograms of payload in a test flight. they are planning to use it as disaster sights.

another bought by a start-up is designed for use in fishing. sails under wind power while detecting schools of fish by radar. >> translator: current technology is becoming more widespread. i think it will be used to automate or to create unmanned systems for sectors that currently depend on manpower. >> organizers of the tokyo international film festival say this year's event opening in late october will be scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic. the grand prix competition has been dropped from the 33rd edition of the annual event. that's because members from abroad cannot attend due to the coronavirus. festival's only pride this year will be the audience award determined by the votes of audience members. the organizers a announced on tuesday the 32 films that will

compete for the accolade. actor koji serves as the festiv festival's ambassador. >> translator: there will be a slslight change in the event, b i think we can give people strength and courage through the festival. so i will do my best to makake a success. >> japanese movie director proposed holding online conferences called asia lounge. eight will be conducted w with directors and a actors from asi exchanging views about the future of cinema amid the pandemic. another director and actress will be among the participants. >> translator: having a festival with a rich variety of offerings is important for the host country's film culture. i want to contribute if i possibly can.

cinemas in japan had been limiting audiences to half capacity because of the pandemic. but some have gone back to admitting full houses after the government relalaxed the limit imposed on large venues from mid-september. the festival will run fromm october 31st to november 9th. all righght. let's have a look at the markets.

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