♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. we start this hour with the latest from bangkok where people are taking to the streets once again. protesters are demanding reforms to the country's government and monarchy, but there are fears of clashes with police after

authorities banned large gatherings. the demonstrators are using social media to organize, exchanging messages calling for a change in political leadership. police have set up checkpoints and are working with the army in a bid to counter the protests. >> translator: i think they're going overboard by imposing the declarations since the demonstrators are unarmed. >> the people are suffering. there's a reason we have come out to fight. but the government hasn't heard us. >> authorities announced hours earlier they were issuing an emergency decree banning gatherings of five or more people. they call the demonstrations a public danger. police arrested 20 people in the early morning sweep including a handful of protest leaders. the devastating effect of the coronavirus on thailand's economy has made protesters angry with the royal family's prpround wealth.

ththat's prompted t them to bre long-held taboo in recent months and call for budget cuts related to the monarchy. the leaders of turkey and russia have spoken about the ongoing conflict in nagor nagorno-karaba nagorno-karabakh. an armenian-contntrolled enclav within azerbrbaijan. turkish president recep tayyip erdogan,n, who supports s azerbaijanan, held phohone talk wednesday with russian president vladimir putin, whose country is in a military alliance with armenia. the russian presidential office says putin expressed strong concern that militants from the middle east were involved in the conflict. armenia alleges that turkey has been sending syrian mercenaries to support azerbaijan. erdogan hahas denied the claim. recent fighting erupted between the two former soviet republics of armenia and azerbaijan in late september.

the two sides agreed to a russian-mediated cease-fire last saturday, but armed skirmishes continue. more than 620 people have been killed so far. turning to the latest on the race for the white house. u.s. president donald trump and his democratic rival joe biden spent wednesday courting voters in very different ways. >> donald j. trump! >> trump held a rally in iowa, a state he won in 2016. recent polls suggest biden currently has a narrow lead there. trump is stepping up his rhetoric as he tries to close the gap. he focused on biden's son hunter's business dealings in ukraine, referring to a news report that's being widely disputed. >> now we can see clearly that biden is a corrupt politician who shouldn't even be allowed to run for the presidency.

>> trump brought up the same issue in the first presidential debate last month. biden respsponded that hunter h dodone nothingng wrong. on wednesday, biden spoke e by vivideo at a an event hoststed muslim-amemerican advocacy grou. he promised to immedialyly overturn tmpmp's tral ban on people from several predominantly y muslim couountr. >> my administration will look like america, , with muslim-americans s serving at every level. on day one, i'll end trump's unconstitutional muslim ban. >> the two candidates are set to hold separate televised town hall events on thursday evening in place of the second presidential debate. that event was canceled after a coronavirus outbreak at the white house infected trump and a number of people in his inner circle. zblfrmgts zblnchts

. turning to japan where the central government is facing criticism it's impeding academic independence. the complaints related to prime minister suga yoshihide rejecting a recommendation to appoint six scholars to a top academic council. our next story looks at how it's become a major point of contention both politically and academically. >> reporter: japan's scientific community is up in arms. academics say the prime minister is jeopapardizing the science council's abilityty to p provid independent advice without government interferencece. >> t translator: it is illllegar the prime minister to not appoint people recommended by the science councncil. such an act may lead to infringements on academic freedom andnd s suppress freedo thought and expression. >> reporter: since the decision was revealed earlier this month, a growing number of academics

have spoken out including a nobel laureate who says it's reckless. thee six have criticized government policies, notably issues involving national security and anti terrorism. the government has made it clear the decision is final and has yet to provide a clear explanation as to why. >> translator: we have received various opinions including official statements on the matter, but we'll refrain from respondingng to them individual. we will keep trying to win everyone's understanding by thoroughly explaining the factors behind the appointments. >> reporter: this week the rurlg libeberal democratic party announcedd it plans t to reviewe council's structure and management. the cabinet wantso use scholarly research to develop national s security policy. in the p past the science counc has not wanteted its w work user military purposes.

>ranslator:r: the science council was set up to inform policies and help people's lives. unfortunately, whether or not it is functioning is questionable. >> reporter: a former science council president says the timing of the review makes it seem like the government is trying to sidestep the ongoing controversy. >> translator: >> translator: suspicions are growing so thehe move to d disc the council's setup is bizarre. it's as if the ldp is trying to change the subject. >> reporter: later this month the diet will conveve giving opposition lawmakers to press suing gar to explain a decision that's become one of the defining issues of his first few months in office. japan's coast guard is testing an aerial drone in hopes of keeping a closer eye on incidents at sea.

this comes att a timime when chinese patrol ships are repeatedly intruding into o japanese waters. it can fly non-stop for 35 hours, so it can 234r50i around the entire periphery of japan's exclusive economic zone. it's equipped withh high definition cameras and radar. coast guard officials are checking whether the sea guardian is safe and whether it can send images and data to ground stations in realtime. china has been increasing its presence in and around japanese waters. on thursday morning two chinese ships entered japanese waters off the senkaku islands. japan coast guard officials told them to leave. they say chinese government ships have now intruded in the same area 19 times this year. japan controls the senkaku

islands. the japanese government maintains they're an inherent part of japan's territory. china and taiwan claim them. when a major earthquake struck hokkaido two years ago, nearly 40 people lost their lives in landslides, most were in areas not thought to o be especially hazardous. experts think they now know why the soil proved to be unsafe. >> reporter: a very gentle slope. that was his first impression of one of the land slide sites. as an erosion control specialist, though, he knew reality could be very different from appearances. >> translator: just a 13-degree angle, a rather small include. official safety standards didn't envision this sort of groundbreaking up. >> national safety standards

include an incline of 30 degrees or more to be a high risk factor. however, many low-angled slopes collapsed in the 2018 quake. they had not been seen as hazardous. investigators thought heavy rain might have weakened the ground making it more susceptible to collapse. yamada and his team suspect that the theory didn't explain everything. they dug a hole on the slopes a meter or two deep and found volcanic ash, the result of an explosion 9,000 years ago. further research revealed the ashy soil retains moisture in all kinds of weather. >> translator: when water retention is high, the soil loses its strength when suddenly shaking. >> reporter: yamada ran a condition recreating the conditions of the 2018 quake sending vibrations toughhr the wet soil.

ordinary soil was not affected, butt the moist ash-ladenn soil liquefied in an instant. when soil of this sort was in a slope of 13 degrees it flowed out. that's why he thinks disaster struck in unexpected areas. >> translator: volcanic ash underlies many slopes in japan. we need to reconsider our guidelines and either reenforce the ground or avoid building houses in those places. >> reporter: yamada is workingn to locate the slopes most prone to collapse knowing disaster can strike at any moment. defense chiefs from the u.s. and south korea have reaffirmed their commitment to work together in dealing with north

korea. defense sececretary mark esper d minister of natioional defensest in washingtonn on wewednesday. >> we agree north korea's nunuclear and ballistic missile programs remain a serious threat to the security and stabibilityf the r region and the world. >> esper stressed the need for close cooperation between the two countries to address the security threat from pyongyang. so stressedd their reliance woud remamain strong in thehe face oy security problems. esper also said try lateral cooperation with japan was on the agenda. soe said seoul would keep working with tokyo and washington on matters of regional security. state media in north korea say leader kim jong-un has paid a visit to an area devastated by recent extreme weather. the working party newspaper said on thursday that kim inspected

efforts in one of the areas hit hard by the typhoons this summer. the report says kim praised party members sent from pyongyang to build new houses in the area. it also says kim vowed to deal strictly with examples of substandard reconstruction work in the area. the visit comes days after kim delivered a tearful speech at the workers party anniversary commemorations. he said the government had failed to fully grasp the suffering that north koreans endure. staying with the korean peninsula, the management company behind the k pop group bts scored a big hit of their own after going public on the sosouth korean stock market. its shares rose to double the original offering on their first day of trading. big hit entertainment made its

debut on the seoul market thursday.. its stocks surged to about $300 at one point, about 2.6 times the initial public offering price. bts became a global senensations the first south korean singers to top the u.s. billboard chart with their hit single "dynamite." an online concert last weekend drew nearly 1 million viewers worldwide. the label's market value is estimated to be at about $10 billion. south korean media have pointed out the risks for a label whose revevenue relies largely on one group. still investors and fans around the world are showing their confidence in the seven-member band and in their potential to continue their skyrocketing rise to the top.

♪ japan's northern island had mountain snow on thursday as

temperatures dropped near zero degrees celsius. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us with the detail. sayaka. >> hello there. autumn is in full swing. wewe're seeing s some snowfall the high elevations of hokkaido. take a lookk at this v video in central hokkaido, about 1100 meters above sea level. the first snow of the season for northern japan was reported on thursday. other places reporting their first snowfall include mt. hoe caddo and yamagata prefecture. we have frigid air covering northern japan on thursday morning. this light blue indicates cold air, enough to create any precipitation to snow in the higher elevations. as we go into sunday, this cold air will lift to the north, moving away from hokkaido, s so temperatureses will be on the re in the north. but thahat's nothe case f for

central japan. we will see cooler temperatures on saturday and we will seeee rn persisting at least into tuesday in central tokyo. the daytime high on saturday in tokyo will be only 14 degrees. seven degrees cooler than average for the time of year, and it will be more like early winter. do buntal up. again, sapporo and or portions of hokkaido will see a warming trend as we go into sunday. in the south we have the remnants of tropical storm nangka. it made landfall in northern vietnam yesterday. central vietnam, especially huawei experienced about 1.9 meters of rainfall since last week. it looks like more rain is on the way because we have a tropical depression over the ocean. this system might take the southerly course, but that could bring rainfall to many places of vietnam. central vietnam could see heavy rain as well.

it looks like the heavy rain will fall in the southern areas of vietnam. temperatures in be gaining will be higher than normal, 21 on friday. in the teens in the south in shanghai and chongqing. bangkok may see rain on friday and manila could see rain as well with a high of 32 degrees. in india on tuday,es a tropical system made landfall on the east coast. it dropped heavy rainfall over high hyderabad. more rain is possible for the western areas of india. that's it for me. have a nice day. ♪

♪ that bringss u us to the enf

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 automaker subaru has unveiled the newest version of the levorg model. the station wagon features advanced driving support. there's a camera installed near the driver's seat and two radars

at the front. the brakes engage automatically when the equipment senses danger. one option allows hands-free driving in congested traffic on exprpressways. another enable automomatic lane changing relying on radarar tha monitors vehicles to the rear. overall, auto sales globally have plunged since the pandemic began, but vehicles with driving support features are currently proving popular. the operator of the clothing chain uniglo is the latest to report losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. retail earnings report shows revenue fell to about $19 billion. that's down around 12% year on year. net profit tumbled by more than 44%, largely due to the impact

of the coronavirus crisis. the emergency forced the firm to temporarily close stotores arou the world and continues to dampen consumer sentiment. >> translator: the pandemic is definitely a global crisis, but it can turn out to be a crucial turning point in a sense. it's really important to link up our european, american and asian operations. >> the company predicts the pandemic will eventually subside and expects to make a strong recovery this fiscal year. it is projecting net income will jump by more than 80%. the international monetary fund is predicting that global public debt will hit a recorord high this year a as governments ramp up stimulus spending amid the pandemic. the forecast is in the imf's fiscal monitor report released on wednesday. it says the debt will surge to 98.7% of the world's gross domestic product.

japan's figure amounts to 266% of gdp, the highest among advanced economies. the ratio is 131% for the united states, 101% for the eurozone and just over 60% for china. the imf says it's a similar situation with developing countries. the group of 20 major economies has agreed to extend a debt repayment period by six months to support developing countries struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic. g20 finance ministers and central bank governors held an online meeting on wednesday. they decided to push back the repayment deadline which was set for the end of the year. they also agreed to discuss further measures of support including debt reduction ahead of the g20 summit late next month. health authorities in hawaii have taken drastic steps to slow down the coronavirus. they've imposed some of the strictest measures in the u.s.

now they're seeing results and are ready to welcome back tourists. nhk world's oik ka ajun has the story. >> reporter: the scene around ha why's famed waikiki beach is unrecognizable. in response to the coronavirus, authorities declared beaches and parks off limits. police officers crack down on gatherings of large groups around the clock. airlines have suspended flights passing through the islands and the number of tourists has plunged. before the pandemic about 30,000 people visited hawaii each day. that number has fallen as low as 2,000. >> once we have the green light, we will go out to japan and we will show them our recovery plan. >> reporter: better days may be just around the corner. state authorities currently

require all visitors to quarantine for two weeks, but starting on october 15th, that won't be necessary for people who test negative before taking flights to hawaii. on this poster green means go. it lets tourists know that health officials have determined the cafe to be safe. to earn the rating, business owners must take measures to prevent the spread of the virus. cleaning staff at this hotel have a new tool to use against the coronavirus. they sanitize elevatorr buttons and door knobs using ultraviolet light which is said to eliminate viruses. airport officials are being

proactive as well. they've installed a thermal camera that can detect the body temperature of arriving travelers. previously a staff member with a thermometer had to check visitors one by one. >> the reason why this is important iss because it adds efficiency to the process of deplaning the aircraft. >> reporter: organizers of the annual honolulu marathon are hopeful this year's race in december will go ahead as scheduled. last year 30,000 runners took part. to reduce crowding, organizers are limititing entrants to 20,0 and are tweaking the route to avoid narrow roads. >> we're not ready to give up yet. we've actually spent a lot of time in the last three or four months putting together a plan that takes into account covid. >> reporter: like people all over the u.s., people in hawaii

are walking a tricky line. they are hopeful for a resurgence of the tourism industry that supports their economy. but if they move too quickly, they may see spi ake of new infections. oikawa jun, nhk world. all right. let's have a look at the markets.

♪ from the "newsline biz" team in ÷é÷é÷éddddd ñ

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