tv Newsline LINKTV October 9, 2020 5:00am-5:31am PDT
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has decided to award the nobel peace prize for 2020 to the world foodd program for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. >> the world food program was founded in 1961 and is the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. the nobel committee says the coronavirus pandemic has led to a surge inn the numberr of vicis ofof hungerr in the worldld and ququoted the wfp whichch said, l there is a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos. in 2019 the u.n. branch provided
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assistance to close to 100 million people in 88 countries affected by food insecurity and hunger. the wfp thanked the nobel committee for the honor on twitter adding the award is a powerful reminder peace and zero hunger go hand in hand. next, a typhoon is now barreling toward japan. weather officials say the system is just south of the country and is set to take a northeasterly path along the pacific coast. meteorological agencies say typhoon chan-hom is packing maximum winds of 126 kilometers per hour near its center. the storm is expected the bring heavy rain in wide areas. fishermen in mie prefecture tightened their lines securing their boats to the port. farmers in shiga prefecture shut
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out greenhouses to block out strong winds. >> translator: the typhoon is coming so i'm preparing to prevent any damage. >> and in nagano prefecture apples were harvested ahead of schedule. more than 100 domestic flights have been canceled on friday. airlines are calling on passengers to get the latest information from their websites. the central japan railway company says it plans to operate shinkansen bullet trains between tokyo and osaka as usual on saturday as the storm is taking a more southerly route than earlier forecast. now our meteorologist jonathan oh has an update on chan-h chan-hom's path into the weekend. >> we have this typhoonlowl sy moving toward the north and east and it will be paralleling the coasast of japan on the pacific side as we go throughout the next 24 to 48 hours. it is trying to keep itself
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together, but the characteristic spin is starting to buckle a bit so it's not able to keep itself together nearly as well. we are expecting it to weaken over next day or so frorom its typhoon statatus. even though it is, t the big sty with the stotorm is thehe rain. here is a look at the doppler radar over the past 12 hours. notice these continues sheets of rain moving through, and relatively covering the same general areas along the pacific side of japan. that will be the case as we go through saturday as well. look at some of these, hatch jean ma getting what would be the entire month's worth of october rainfall in 48 hours. 451 millimeters. the coastal areas are quite dangerous. you want to stay away from the coast as the storm moves near.
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eventually what we're expecting is for chan-hom to continue this easterly trek and staying south, as we go through saturday, south of the key peninsula. and sunday afternoon moving closer to the open waters. we are still talking of gusts up to 216 kilometers per hour possible into sunday with rainfall amounts exceeding 500 millimeters in just 48 hours. the waves can still be quite high, up to nine meters. keep these things in mind, these concerns as we go throughout the next couple days. ♪ china says it's joined an international framework for the fair worldwide distribution of coronavirus vaccines. a statement issued by foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed china had joined the platform known as the covax facility.
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its aim is to pride participating countries with equitable access to vaccines. about 170 countries and territories i including japan me up the framework which was founded by the world health organization and others. china claims to have four vaccine candidates in the final phase of clinical trials. it says it will be able to produce about 600 million doses this year. she said beijing continues to focus on ensuring developing countries have equal access to appropopriate, safe and effecti vaccines. she expressed the hope more capable countries will join and support the framework in an apparent reference to the united states which has not yet signed on. figures from johns hopkins university in the u.s. show more than 36 million cases of covid-19 have been confirmed worldwide with the death toll standing at over 1,062,000 people. months of heavy travel
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restrictions have been in place because of the pandemic but it's becoming easier to get into japan. that has some health experts concerned. nhk world christine hall has more about the anxiety that comes with welcoming the world once again. >> reporter: nearly hempity for months, travelers are back at japanese airports. these foreigners aren't tourists for now. japan lifted restrictions for longer term visitors this month, those with business and student visas can enter the country but go straight too a specialal are like this where they are tested for the coronavirus. then for two weeks the employer or school must guarantee they selflf-quarantine providining regular health updates to officials. >> translator: it is important to monitor theirir health for t
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weeks in japan. i thinkverythingg depends on how well the host companies or schools can guarantee they c ca do this properly. i think these sponsors need to think about how m many peoeopley can monitor before allowing them to enterer the country. >> reporter: tokyo is moving to ease restrictions as part of a plan to safely kickstart the economy. the pandemic has hurt companies and devastated tourism. now japan is rebuilding. one of the biggest impacts of the virus has been the postponement of the tokyo olympic and paralympic games. the country was bracing for an influx of visitors, but it was forced to postpone the massive event until the coming summer. in anticipation japan is considering lifting the two-week quarantine for japanese business
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travelers and foreign residents coming back from abroad. it may even welcome touriststs the futurere. >> translator: when we think about having international travel, we shohould distingngui between counteses dealing w wit an epidemicc and those t that a not. it w would be difficult t to wee spectators for tokyo 2020 from countries where the virus is spreading. >> reporter: hamada believes it's too early to allow a wave of tourists to enter the country, but the next yearr coud be a safe choice. first he says japan needs to get through flu season. >> translator: there is a possibility that the coronaviris pandememic will diminisish to s extent during t the winteter an spring, and i think a vaccine could be distributed in japapan and elsewhere from early next
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ye year. >> reporter: after vaccinations begin, hamada says the country could be ready, but he warns that tourists and everyone entering japan should still monitor their health for two weeks. christine hall, nhk world. the president of japanese professional baseball's hanshin tigers is stepping down to take responsibility for a string of coronavirus infections among players and staff. >> translator: i apologize for causing trouble to the professional baseball league, rival teams, public health centers and related organizations. >> three of the team's players contracted the virus in march. in september nine players and staff members tested positive.
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in both cases infections seem to have taken place when players dined out and socialized together. this raised concern about the competence of the team's management. cases have also occurred among players on other teams. in jewel lyle japanese pro baseball started holding matches with up to 5,000 people in the stands. that limit was raised in september. teams can now play to stadiums at half capacity. there were nearly 600 new coronavirus cases reported nationwide on friday including 203 in tokyo. the total tally has now surpassed 89,000. more than 1,600 people have died. ♪
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local authorities in berlin agreed to remove a statue symbolizing people referred to as wartime comfort women. the authorities said they've asked the civic group that erected the statue to take it down by wednesday. the statue sits on publicly owned land in a residential district of central berlin. it was unveiled late last month. the japanese governmentt has ben
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demanding its removal. the district's chief said they initially gave permission for the statue because it represented a protest against wartime sexual violence. it failed to give a full view of the issue because it focused only on the action of the now detungt imperial japanese military. the officials said they wanted to avoid taking sides in a historical issue between other countries. the civic group told nhk it considers the statue a work of art and will not comply with the request. it added, it's considering taking legal steps. japan's government spokesperson welcomed t the mov to remove the statue. >> translator: japan sees this as a positive step and will keep a closee eye on the situation. we would like to thoroughly explain our country's stance to those related with this issue. >> the issue has long been a source of tension between japan
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and south korea.a. kato added tokyo will continue to urge seoul to implement an agreement reached in 2015 that confirmed the kon comfort issue has been resolved finally and irreversibly. a town in hokkaido has taken the first step to potentially host a nuclear waste disposal site. it's the first place to apply since 2007 and could help the town secure millions of dollars in state subsidies. the mayor of suttsu says his town submitted its application for an initial survey on friday to the nuclear waste management organization. if approved, the stage one survey will takee about two yearars. the village also in hokkaido is considering applying for the survey as well. each could receive as much as $19 million just by allowing the first survey. some residents living in the area are opposed citing safety
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and environmental concerns. any potential site must undergo ththree stages of surveys and subsequent ones must be approved by the pre fek turl officials. the governor of hokkaido said he would object. currrrently radadioactiveve was beingg temporarily stored at facilitieses in aomori and ibari freeskts. in 2017 japan's central government released a map showing areas that meet certain criteria to host the underground disposal site. it hopes more candidates come forward and aims to choose a site by 2028. the entire process is expected to take about 20 years. tens of thousands of people across indonesia have taken to the streets to protest the new law they say threatens labor rights.
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demonstrators in jakarta clashed with police who fired teargas to disperse the crowds. labor organizations and students are demanding the appeal of an only bus law enacted in friday. they say it will attract foreign investment in the country through a review of labor standards. labor groups say it undermines workers rights by cutting severance pay and shifting wage calculation from monthly to hourly. >> translator: the new law makes people miserable, especially the lower income communities. a police spokesperson says about 1,000 protesters were detained in the capital. turning now to south korea where a massive fire engulfed a high-rise building in the south korean city of osan thahat's hospitalized at leaeast 88 peop for smoke inhalation and other injuries.
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local media reported several hundred people evacuated the 33-story commercial and residential building after the fire broke out thuhursday night. thee fire reportedlyy starteded the 12th floor. no casualties were initially reported. firefighters were still searching friday morning for someone who may have been in the building. interior and safety min sure ching young also inspected the site. our meteorologist jonathan oh is back with a look at world weather, this time on a system in the gulf of mexico. jonathan. >> hello. we have been monitoring hurricane delta as it was moving across the yucatan and moving into the gulf of mexico. now it is setting its sights for the southwestern coast of louisiana. it's already bringing plenty of clouds and starting to bring in some of the momentum with it when it comes to the rain. this area, especially those around lake charles had pretty serious impact from hurricane laura just a few weeks ago.
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so this storm is not welcome news. we are talking about a system packing gusts of up to 241 kilometers per hour. hurricane warnings are posted for the eastern tip of the texas coastline extending into a good portion of louisiana's coastline. we also have tropical storm warnings on either side of that. the storm is expected to make landfall sometime late friday into early saturday morning, and in the process it is expected to weaken just a bit. but we're looking at the possibility of storm surge as high as three meters with 350 millimeters of rain possible in some isolated locations. it's going to eventually create a lot of instability across the southeastern portions of the united states. so this is going to be something you need to prepare for as, once again, we have a tropical system running through. itit's been a very unusual pattn in terms of the amount of storms we've had this year. up toward the north we have high
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pressure controlling the patterns. because of that we're looking at highs near 30 into places like denver and oklahoma city. down to the south, houston, stormy weather expected, high of 24. showers in atlanta with a high of 25 for the day. that's a look at your forecast. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪ that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline."
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i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard. so stay right there. ♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. the bank of japan has announced it aims to start experimenting with digital currency early in the next fiscal year. thee boj says it doesn't have ay plan to issue such a currency at the moment, but it says it needs to look into the possibility in a more concrete and practical
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way. in the expe friment'sirst phase the bank plans to test the basic functions of a d digital curren including how it would be issued and circulated. the second phase would involve more technical experiments. after that the bank may consider a pilot program with payment service providers and users. this comes as seven major central banks agreed on friday that the introduction of digital currencies shouldn't undermine stability of prices or monetary systems. the european central bank and the u.s. federal reserve joined the boj in the agreements. a survey by japanese credit research firm has found 6011 companies in the country have gone bankrupt due to the impact of the coronavirus. the bank says the firms went under between february and october 9th. restaurants and pubs were hit the hardest. the research firm says there has been a rapid increase in bankruptcies among shops serving
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ramen noodles. 34 operators with debts of at least 10 million yen or about $94,000 began legal liquidation procedures between january and september. the figure for all of last year was 36, the most since comparable data became available in 2000. the research firm says the number of such business failures could reach 50 this year if the current trend continues. analysts say ramen restaurants were facing intense competition when the pandemic hit, saying the market was becoming saturated as more outlets opened to cater to foreign tourists as well as domestic customers. the bank says even the biggest chains may now need to reconsider their expansion plans. the coronavirus crisis continued to hurt both income and spending in japan in the month of august. that's according to the latest government data. they show household spending and wages were both down from the same month a year ago.
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average total wages stood at around 273,000 yen or $2,600. that was done 1.3% in yen terms and the fifth straight month of decline. overtime and other non-regular pay shrank by 14%. household speingnd was down almost 7%. it was the 11th consecutive month of decline. households with two or more people spent an average of just over $2,600. travel expenses plunged as people held off from visiting hometowns during the summer holidays. air travel almost completely collapsed. but people did byproducts to ward off the coronavirus. spending on face masks and other disposable hygiene items more than doubled. an israeli company that sells smart phone hacking systems to investigative authorities worldwide says it has halted business with customers in hong kong and china.
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kreabrite says it's the result of a change. it updates compliancee policies to meet accepted international regulations. hong kong pro-democracy activists says they've used -- they launch add petition calling on the c company to stop sellin products too authorities in the terrrritory. cellebrite provides a digital platform too assist lawmaker agencies and other investigators. in europe some radical changes are in the cards for the way wine is packaged and transported. the problem of global warming is inspiring companies to macon tanners of lighter materials than the traditional glass bottle. nhk world has more. >> reporter: this wine bottle
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was developed by a british bana sharare company that h has been business for four years. the matererial is mainly paper there is a cylinder to keep it water resistant. it's only 83 grams. that's about 1/5 the weight of a glass bottle. the company developed recyclable paper cups of the same material, and they wanted to use this technology to make wine bottles to tacklee envirironmentalal problems. >> we looked at the wine and spirits induststry, thatt is a sesector themselvess who said t want t to reduce their carbon impacts. that's what stimulated us to drive the frugal bottle concept towards wine and spirits. >> reporter: the production and
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transportation of heavy glass wine bottles leads to large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions. however, according to the company, lighter paper bottles cann reduce greenenhouse e emis by a facactor of six. >> all t the wine makaking couns of the wororld have made contac with us. most of the major retailers. oochs. >> reporter: the reason why the wine industry is paying attetention to paper bottles is that environmental problems have a great impact on production. at the world famous chilean winery drought had dried up well water forcing some vineyards to move to other locations. this winery is focusing on climate variability countermeasures and has installed solar panels. it has taken an interest in the
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paper bottles and expects their ususe to spread. >> we make nothing if we have a really good wine, high quality wines with innovation, vibrant wines if we don't have e a commitment with the environment. >> reporter: in order to continue drinking delicious wine, it may be necessary to popularize environmentally friendly bottles. tamura ginga, nhk world. okay. let's get a a check on the markets. ♪
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