♪ hello and welcome to this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news in tokyo. we begin with the uft s. elections. republican vice president mike pence and democratic vice presidential candidate kamala harris have squared off in a televised debate. as expected, the coronavirus

pandemic dominated the discussion. harris started by attacking the administration's response to the public health crisis, prompting a sharp response from pence. >> they knew and they covered it up. idthe present said it was a hoax. they minimized the seriousness of it. the president said, you're on one side of this ledger if you wear a mask, you're on the other side of his ledger if you don't. and in spite of all of that, today they still don't have a plan. >> the reality is, when you look at the biden plan, it reads an awful lot like what president trump and i and the task force have been doing every step of the way. quite frankly, when i look at their plan that talks about advancing testing, creating new ppe, developing a vaccine, it looks a little bit like plagiarism. >> the 90-minute event took place in the western state of utah, where coronavirus cases or on the rise.

organizers took additional precautions now that president donald trump and several of his top advisers have been infected. the two also traded barbs on the economy, climate change, and the black lives matter movement in a bid to sway undecided voters. opinion polls suggest that democratic presidential candidate joe bideden has a significant t lead with less th a month to go until election day. for more on how the two rivals fared. we talked to an expert in american politics at wasada university. she also worked in the u.s. as a republican staffer on the senate budget committee foror about a dedecade. nakabayashi said it was difficult to pick a winner, but harris may have eked it out. >> senator harris did pretty well, maybe beyond our ordinary expectations because she's such a newcomer to the presidential election, and the audience didn't know her very well.

>> by contrast, nakabayashshi sd pence spent t most of his time defending trump. the vice presidential debate doesn't usually excite the public, but she says this year is special. as the first woman of color on a presidential ticket, the expert says harris may be able to energize female voters, and with two elderly men hoping to leada the coununtry, shehe has rative youth on her side. >> in this situauation, , the vs must realllly figure out whehet the vice president, and which vice president, will be more capapable to lead ththe nation. therefore, this vice presidential debate was extremely important. >> voters were able to contrast the performance with last week's chaotic presidential debate, and nakabayashi says pence and harris came out favorably, offering civility and sobering policy talk.

>> the presidential debate, so disappointing because they couldn't talk about enough of policies. but today we saw some of the policy differences between those two campaigns. >> the n next presidential deba is in one weekek's timime in mi but sosome have sasafety concer since trump and his inner circle may still be infected with the coronavirus. now, another top u.s. defense official has tested positive. it's the second infection among senior military leaders who attended the meetings at the pentagon last week. the marinene corps confirmed it number two officer, four-star marine general gary thomas, is infected. the pentagon says the general has been in self-quarantine since tuesday after a top coast guard official tested positive earlier this week. nearly all of the joint chiefs of staff who were in close contact with the two officials are also in quarantine. the pentagon says general thomas is experiencing mild symptoms but is otherwise feeling well.

it added that the marine corps remains operationally ready. typhoon chan-hom is expected to approach western and eastern japan in the next couple of days. meteorological o officials are warning ththat the storm system will bring heavy raiain even before its actuaual arrival. the meteteorological agencncy s as of 4:00 p.m. tutuesday, chan-hom was 320 kilometers southeast of tamagisha island in southern japan. the agency says as of noon on thursday, it was heading towards western japan by friday, and eastern japan by saturday or later. the agency says a rain front south of japan will become active as the typhoon moves north. agency officials are warning people to expect violent winds and high waves as well as landslides and flooding.

our meteorologist jonathan oh has the latest. >> thiss typhoon is going to continue to move toward the north and get close to kyushu as we go through the next day or so. we're receiving wind gust reports exceeding 120 kilometers per hour. the storm is eventually expected to make this easterly turn as we go into friday during the daytime hours, and then it's expected to parallel the pacific coastline of japan. now, there is a chance that the center point off the storm coul potentially clip some of the land areas on the way, but in general we're talking about a lot of rain because of a front that is also nearby. wind gusts can exceed 160 kilometers per hour going into saturday with more than 700 millimeters of rainfall possible within a two-day span.

get away from the coastal areas. wet as we go through the next couple of days. japan's crown prince, akishino, will soon be proclaimed to the public as heir to the throne. the ceremonies have been popostponed d because of the coronavirus pandemic. now the government says they'll be held on november 8th. >> translator: it's the last of the series of ceremonies associated with the succession of the imperial throne. to intend they proceed smoothly and with the public's blessing, we intend to make thorough preparations and pay close attention to measures against the coronavirus. >> prince akakishino became fir in linine to the thrhrone in ma last year. his older brother became emperor naruhito after their father abdicated. ceremonies to proclaim the crown prince had been scheduled for april this year. they were postponed because of the pandemic.

the events next month will be scaled down. government officials have planned to invite 350 people to the main ceremony, they're now inviting about 50, and they've canceled a banquet. japan and south korea are allowing certain groups to travel freely to each other's countries without going into quarantine. both governments eased coronavirus travel restrictions for business people, students and people who work in education. a south korean woman heading home from japan said she's delighted. >> translator: i haven't been able to go for about ten months. i'm happy i can finally go. >> the travel restrictions have impacted some japanese businesses. staff at a firm that imports food from south korea have not bebeen able to briring in new products for more than six months because business trips have not been possible. >> translator: we would have had to go intnto quarantine for two weeks over there and two weeks after coming back to japan. that's a huge waste of time for

us business people. >> officials in japan may also drop a 14-day quarantine requirement for japanese business people and foreign residents coming back from abroad. returning travelers would have to submit documents showing where they plan to go in japan and they would not be allowed to use public transportation for the first 14 days. the number of confirmed new coronavirus cases here in tokyo on thursday was 248. that brings the total to more than 27,000. the number of new cases across the country on thursday is at least 60. that brings the total to more than 88,000. more than 1,600 people have died. the world health organization and its partners are warning there could be nearly 200,000 additional stillbirths in the next year as the pandemic continues to disrupt health services.

the w.h.o. published a report on thursday along with unicef other entities. the report says every year there are an estimated 2 million stillbirths, babies born with no signs of life at 28 weeks of pregnancy or later. it adds, 84% of stillbirths occurred in low and lower income middle countries including sub-saharan africa and southern asia. and southern asia. most stillbirths are due to poor quality of care during pregnancy and birth. the report says the pandemic has added more disruptption to lifefe-saving health serces s f women. >> a numbeber of health workers have been repurposed in order to providide, let's say, more covid-direct serervices for coc. they have been basicallyly take away from the routine mother and child servrvices thahat they w have p provided.d. >> w.h.o. official is calling for proper antenatal care e and strengthening of the nursing and midwifery courses to prevent stillbirths.

♪ the united states, russia and fence are stepping up efforts to help with the conflict i i azerbaijan n and ararmeni azerbaijan and armenia will soon hold separate talks with the latest round of fighting erupted september 27th. more than 350 people have been killed. mediating countries have called for an immediate cease-fire, but as heavy clashes continue, the two countries are struggggling find common ground. the region is recognized as part of azezerbaijan but is controll by ethnic armenians.

azerbaijan, which is backed by turkey, is demanding armenian forces withdraw. it also wants turkey to join the cease-firere talks. armenia is rejecting any change to the status quo of the breakaway region. two islamic state militants from britain have appeared in court in the united ststates on terrororism charges, allegegedl involveded in the killing of fo americanss and two japanese hostages in syria.a. >> the defendants arare charged with terrorism offensess relate to hostage taking and killing of four americans as well as citizens of great britain and japan. >> the suspects, alexanda kotey and al shafee el shake have been in military custody in iraq and were flown too the u.s. to face trial thihis week. they've beenn stripped of t the brbritish citizezenship. the pair were allegedlyly invold

in two people from japan in 2015. kotey and el sheikh made theiri first appearance wednesday in a federal court in virginia. an abandoned military facility in western japan has recently given up secrets from world war ii, uncovered by a group of amateur researchers. nhk world has the details. >> reporter: these students are visiting queue hash she island. they've come to see the ruins of war. their g guide is a man who live on the island and is in charge of a tour group. >> translator: some people actually died here during experiments when gunpowder exploded. >> reporter: the island is part of the city of kura, an

imrtant be for t impial japane navy until the e of world war ii. the huge battleship yamamoto was built here. after the war, many of the military facilities in the area were demolished by occupying forces, but there are still more than ten ruins on the island from that period. this brick building housed offices, and this area was used to test artillery including cannon shells for the battleship yamamoto. he and his group have been researching these runs for more than ten years. it hasn't been easy. many of the related documents were destroyed or lost. the group has interviewed a few islanders w who remember that

time. those residents say authorities never officially informed them about the artillery tests. one person remembers that their house shook as if it had been struck by a an earthquake. that wasn't the only disruption to their lives. >> translator: military policemen were often monitor residents to ensure the secrecy of the base. >> reporter: according to documents discovered by his group, some military personnel died byy explosions and other accidents. thee actual number of casualtie remains unknown. 14 years ago the volunteer group began holding annual memorial services for those who died.

>> translator: before our peaceful lives people on the island in those days mead many sacrifices. that's why we can live happily. i often think about that. >> reporter: the number of people with first-hand experience of the war is dwindling. yanai hopes that ruins will help ensure that the tragic episodes from the island's past are not forgotten. nhk world, hiroshima. jonathahan is back with mor on world weather. people in tokyo had another day of rain and much cooler temperatures. how will typhoon chan-hom affect the weekend? >> it looks like as it gets closer, rain will continue to be a big part of the story across eastern japan. in tokyo we'll swing from temperatures that are like mid november to closer to september

and august. we're talking highs in the upper 20s by sunday. today 15.5, usually 22 in tokyo. because of chan-hom bringing all this moisture where there's a front in place, that's enhancing the rain that's in place. we're going to be dealing with rain again for coke i dontokyo . by sunday we're at 27 with the rain eventually clearing out as we go through today, but it's going to be a lot warmer. so don't put away some of the warmer weather clothes because you're going to need it by sunday. osaka also releasing a jump in temperatures once we see the system pass through. the next couple days, quite wet and quite stormy as well along the coastal area. make sure you keep that in mind. meanwhile we've been watching hurricane delta. it smacked through the yucatan

peninsula. now it's bearing for louisiana. louisiana has been hit quite hard. we're looking at the possibility of seeing another landfall. laura about six weeks ago really caused problems along the coastal areas of the state. looking at this storm which is category 2 for the moment to become a major category 3 storm as we go into friday. now, it is expected to weaken just a bit. that's mott the point here. we have hurricane warnings posted for the southwestern coastline of louisiana with the concern for high storm surge, four meters with rainfall amounts as high as 300 millimeters. new orleans and mobile, stormy weather thursday, friday and even into saturday. hope you have a safe day wherever you are. ♪

♪ that c concludes this editi of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo.

coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard. don't go away. this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. officials with low-cost carrier jetstar japan are struggling to weather the turbulence of the coronavirus pandemic. they say the situation is forcing them to temporarily halt flights on six domestic routes. the officials say they'll drop the routes from the end of this

month until next march. they say they're yet to decide what to do beyond that point, leaving open the possibility they'll make the changes permanent. officials say att this point thy can't see anyway the rououtes wl become profitable again.n. the d decision means it willl ce thee office at kansai international airport. it's also encouraging its roughly 600 pilots and cabin attendants to voluntarily retire or take long-term unpaid leave. the carriers will continue to fly 16 other routes including those connecting narita airport with the kansai region and fukuoka. air asia japan says it will withdraw completely from japan. as some low-cost carriers struggle, another is getting ready to embark on what it hopes will be a bright new future. zipair tokyo plans to launch passenger flights to the south reanko capital from next week.

the japan airlines startup applied to aviation authorities in the two countries for approval to use the route connecting narita near tokyo with seoul. zipair will operate two flights each wayay per week starting october 16th. authorities are started to ease trtravel restrtrictions betetwe two countries. they're allowing trips by business people on short and long-term stays and people traveling for education-related purposes. zipair launched operations in june with cargo-only flights using passenger planes. the coronavirus pandemic forced the airline to postpone the start of passenger flight services originally scheduled for may. three japanese firms are teaming up to build fully electric tankers with no carbon footprint. the collaboration is between a pair of ship builders and machinery maker kawasaki heavy industries. the ship builders will construct the two vessels, each 60 meters long and weighing nearly 500

tons. kawasaki will supply the massive lithium ion batteries to run them. they'ree due for c completion i earlyy 2022. they'll cost more to build than conventional heavy fuel vessels but require less manpower to run, a major advantage for an industry struggling with a labor shortage. the tokyo-based shipping firm that ordered the vessels says they'll be the world's first fully electric tankers. they say they'll use them to transport heavy oil in tokyo bay. the firm is also considering using them to supply electricity to coastal areas in disasters. the university of tokyo is planning to issue its first bond amid dwindling government grants and subsidies. the prestigious university is looking to raise 20 billion yen or around $190 million for funding research projects. the 40-year bond will be the

first issued kbi a japanese national university. it will offer an annual interest rate of about 0.8 of a percent. the university says some of the funds raised will be used for the construction of the an underground detector that will replace the university's current facility. some funding will help beef up coronavirus prevention measures. leaders in japan unleashed a record extra budget this year to cushion the blow of the coronavirus crisis. now they're looking ahead to the next fiscal year as they weigh ministerial budget requests amounting to more than 105 trillion yenen or about $1 trillion. they're expecting that figure to rise in coming months as the financial fallout from t the pandemic grows. we spoke with s stephen s schwa

headad of asia-pacificic sovere ratitings at fitz ratings for h thoughts on the matter. >> we believe it's entirely appropriate for japan to use fiscal policy to counteract the effects of the coronavirus on the ecoconomy and to address th pressing health needs brought about by the crisis. that's on a general government basis that includes both the national and regional governments. >> reporter: the impact of the pandemic recently prompted schwartz and his team to revise their outlook on japan's credit rating from stable to negative. schwartz notes that even before the pandemic, japan had the highest public debt ratio of any country it mononitors. >> we see the debt ratio rising from 230 up to 260% of gdp over the next one to two years.

this is only going to incase japan's medium-term challenges of placing the debt on a stable and declining path aftfter the crisis passes. >> reporter: japanese leaders have presided over a ballooning budget deficit since 1990. proponents of one economic theory argue it's wrong to view this debt as inherently bad. they say countries such as japan can always issue more of their own curren to avoid default. schwartz points out that ultra low interest rates make it much easier to fund bigig stitimulus packages a and finance deficit >> but when we look out to t th medium t term, if growth is jusa little bit weaker than we currently expect or if i intere rates are a l littlee bit highe than we expect, that puts the debt path back up on upward and unsustainable trajectory. >> reporter: schwartz says in

the longer term japan will come under pressure to bring the debt ratio back dodown, but first th focus must be on growth. >> fiscacal expansision under t current circumstances from a macroeconomic and healtlth cris perspective are entirely appropriate. we don't look at the deficit in any given year. we really look at it in a medium term perspective. what's really key for medium term growthh will be morore in way of structural reforms. >> okay. let's get a check on the markets. ♪ ♪

that's it for "newsline biz" from our tokyoqéaawc