♪ glad to have you with us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo with we begin with an overseas outreach by japanese prime minister suga yoshihide, in his first international visit since taking office. he met with his v vietnamese counterpart in hanoioi to recomt to security and defense in the region. >> translator: with vietnam set

to chair the upcoming asean summit next month, prime minister phuc and i confirmed our intent to work closely on regional issues including the south china sea and north korea. north korea's abductions of japanese nationals, especially for me, is the most important item on the agenda. prime minister phuc offered his support to help us resolve the issue. >> translator: i welcome prime minister suga yoshihide as a strategic partner for choosing vietnam for its first foreign visit, demonstrating the strron relatationship betweeeen our tw countries. we reaffirm our determination to deepen our strategic partnership and to strengthen relations across all fields in the new normal. >> the summit comes as china steadily increases maritime activities in the south china sea. beijing claims most of the area but vietnam and other countries have competing territorial claims. the issue is likely to be

addressed in the association of southeast t asian n nations in a few eeks, h hosted by vvietna. suga and phuc also agreed to cooperate on coronavirus recovery measures. >> translator: we offered vietnam 4 billion yen worth of medical relief. both of our coununtries are goi to make the most out of that assistance to put vietnam on the recovery track from the pandemic. japan will also offer support to technical trainees, students and other vietnamese who are not aable too return to vietnam. >> suga is making a stop in indonesia on tuesday. former japanese prime minister abe shinzo has visited the yasukuni shrine in tokyo. he went monday after the shrine held a two-day autumn festival over the weekend. >> translator: i visited the

shrine to pay my respects to the spirits of the war dead. >> yasukuni shrine offers honors japan's war dead. those remembered included military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by an international military tribunal after world war ii. later in the day two upper house members belonging to the main ruling liberal democratic party also visited yasukuni. they represented a nonpartisan group of diet lawmakers who regularly visit the shrine together. abe last visited the shrine on september 19th, three days after he stepped down as prime minister. at the time south korea's foreign ministry expressed deep concern and regret over the visit. now to the middle east, where israel reached another historic agreement with an arab neighbor. it is establishing diplomatic ties with bahrain in a deal brokered by washington. bahrain invited u.s. and israeli

delegations to its capital sunday for talks. bahrain and israel announced they've agreed to coopperate i arreas inccluding communication and aagricultuture. that's after an initial agreement signed at the white house last month. it followed a similar deal between israel and the united arab emirates. bahrain has close ties with the united states, hosting the u.s. fifth fleet command that operates in the persian gulf. its government could be aiming to step up pressure on its long-time foe, iran, through cooperation with the u.s. and israel. but many of bahrain's shia muslims opposed the normalization of relations with israel. shias make up the majority of its population, and observers say that could impact how the deal plays out.

the chinese government is criminalizing acts that insult the national flag in a bid to promote patriotism. the standing committee of thehe national people's congress approved a series of legal amendments over the weekend. they'll come into effect on january 1st. the changes require schools to hoist the flag every day. public places such as parks have to fly it on holidays. that rule will also apply in autonomous regions, where there are many ethnic minorities. the revised law bans hanging the flag upside down, in addition to the current prohibition on flying any that are damaged or stained. authorities in hong kong are expected to follow suit with their own rules. last year, images of hong kongers burning the flag in protests against beijing's tightening grip on the territory caused an uproar on the mainland. unusually heavy rain in vietnam has claimed more lives. a landslide hit an army barracks

in the central province, burying at least 22 peoople. tthe govovernment said emererg crerews contiinued to seaarch f survivors s at the site. a dozen bodies h have beenn recovered soo ff. recent wet w weather has ccsed number of landslides and widespread floodinin in the centrtral part o of the country. and more rainffall is expected. disaster m management authoriti say dozens of people died across vietnam. japan says it'll send emergency relief supplies. prprime minister suga said duri his visit there,e, his countryan sharare the know-how it's builtp through numerous naturll disasters. next, azerbaijan and armenia are accusing each other of breaching a second cease-fire agreement over the disputed nagorno-karabakh region. the two former soviet republics agreed to stop fighting october 10th, but clashes continued. that prompted russia to broker another cease-fire that was due

to take effect sunday. several hours into the agreement, armenia reported artillery attacks by the azererbaijan military caused deaths and injury. in turn, azerbaijan accused its neighbor of mortar attacks. 96 civilians have died since fighting first erupted on september 27th. nagorno-karabakh is a mountain territory, internationally recognized as a part of azerbaijan, but populated and governed by ethnic armenians. the failure of the countries to implement two cease-fires is a point of concern for the international community. the latest reported breakdown could hamper humanitarian efforts, including prisoner exchanges and the handing over of bodies. people in france have taken to the streets to pay their respects to a junior high schoolteacher killed in a suspeccted terrorist attack. thousands attended vigils across the country on sunday.

>> translator: i feel deep fear. freedom of expression should always be protected. >> translator: as a muslim, i say no to terrorism. >> on friday, the male teacher was targeted in a knife attack outside paris beyy an 18-year-o russian-born man. prosecutors are treating the case as an act of terrorism. they say it may be linked to the teacher's lesson about freedom of expression, which included showing students a caricature of the prophet mohamed that was published by a french satirical magazine charl magazine. johns hopkins university in

the united states sreport new cases of covid-19. italy is imposing new restrictions, but not the kind of nationwide lockdown it had in the spring. the prime minister on sunday announced measures such as forcing restaurants and bars to shut at midnight. local mayors can now close public squares and other meeting places after 9:00 p.m.m. ifif necessary. >> translator: we cannot allow a new setback. that would severely compromise the entire econnomy. >> italian officials confirm nearly 12,000 new cases on sunday. that is a record. meaning the daily tally has been rising for the last six days. but italy's health care system has not been overwhelmed, as it was earlier this year. other european nations are also tightening restrictions while trying to minimize the impact on their economies. south korea says it'll

restart tours to the border village to panmunjom on november 4th for the first time in a year. the visits were halted last year due to an outbreak of african swine flu. since then, the covid-19 pandemic kept the reopening stalled. it'll start with small groups of south koreans. panmunjom is in the demilitarized zone between the koreas. it was t the site of a summmit 2018. the village gained attention when u.s. president donald trump stepped across the border into the north korean s side inin ju last year.r. a south korean unification ministry spokesperson said their expectations to move will lead to improved bilateral relations, but said no consultations have been held with the north korean side. turning now to taiwan, where transport regulators have concluded driver error was the direct cause of a train

derailment two years ago that killed 18 people. the taiwan transportation safety board released its final investigation report on monday ahead of the second anniversary of the crash. nearly 300 people were injured. the report said the driver failed to notice the train's braking system malfunctioned, and turned off the train's automatic speed control device. the train went off the rails on a curve going nearly twice the speed limit. the report criticized the taiwan railway administration for not giving drivers sufficient training, and delaying train part replacement. the driver and two railway officials s have been indicted r the crash. the railway is seeking damages from japanese trading firm which supplied the train. the lawsuit alleges a design flaw in the safetty device led o the accident. toshiba is aiming to takee thee lead in the next g generat of digital ssecurity.

executives say they'll soon commercialize data protection technolology that can sttand up ththe most advananced computers. the technology is quantum key distribution. it cannot bebe decrypted, even quantum computers, whiich can solve proroblems far faster tha super computerers. toshiba already accepted orders from the japanese government to protect its communication networks. it's the first commercial project in the country. the company has foreign partnerships internationally with britiish telelecom firmm bd verizon communications in n the united states. global competition to develop such systems is intensifying. china plans to expand its technology across the country by 2025. now, toshiba has been leading research and development in the fieldld and holds m more patent than competitors. the company plans to commercialize the tech in fiscal 2021, beating out other officials in japan and abroad. itit aims t to gain the top mar

share in the world. toshiba expects the global market to grow to more than 9 billion by 2035. in other news, noted japanese trum peter condo toshinori died at 71. ♪ >> kondo played in a jazz group while he was in college. he began performing in the united states in 1978, and later formed his own band in japan. he was known for his improvisational style and his wide range of genres, including rock. kondo often played with world-famous artists, including jazz pianist herbie hancock. he composed a piece for the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. his family said he had been scheduled to play at an event in osaka sunday. they did not disclose the cause of his death, but said he died

peacefully. ♪

it's time now for a check of the world weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. it's been a wet several days for central india, flooding. will the rain let up any time soon? >> hello. for the southern half of india, we're going to be dealing with continual rain because of the wet pattern that doesn't go anywhere. we had a deep depression that rolled through last week, and then we had more rain and instability as we went throughout the weekend. here's video that gives you an idea of the situation, where we had heavy rain pounding the ccity, causising inconvennience people as their houses have been submerged. residents having to go through knee-deep water just like that sunday. rivers overflowed in parts of india, killing at least 60 people since wednesday. floods damaged crops like rice and cotton. now, the annual rain is important for those in india,

especially for the farming communities, but this excess rain does cause problems on the ground. we are going to continue to see that rain to points southward as we go into tuesday. wet weather with thunderstorms expected as we go through the day. east of the philippines, we have a tropical depression that's trying to gather itself together and moving toward the wwest. already seeing some impacts into the central portions of the philippines. eventually, we'll see the bulk of that rain moving into the northern areas as we go throughout the next couple days. by the latter half of the week, it is going to cross over and head toward the indo-china peninsula. at least the chance is there. they don't need any more rain, especially in vietnam. central portions, some places received 2 meters of rain the past couple weeks. that's not helpful news. we will be talking about some heavier rain in the central and northern areas of the philippines with some rain totals exceeding 150 mill mit s

e millimeters of rain. taipei seeing rain, as well. drier into hong kong. bangkok, you'll see more rain. you had plenty of rain with concerns and problems with flooding over the weekend. rain will continue to be a part of your story. across japan, it's been a wet monday. quite cool, as well. below average temperatures for this time of year. rain will start to ease as we head into tuesday, as the front moves over toward the east. we are looking at a little bit more in terms of sunshine from s tuke pufukuoko. thursday and friday, you'll need umbrellas, as the wet weather will be in place. that's your forecast. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪

♪ one more story before we go. one of the largest festivals

here in tokyo has been held at this shrine on a smaller scale. it had been postponed since may because of the coronavirus pandemic. ♪ many people gather at the annual sanja matsuri festival every year to show the god transported around the district. this year, only one shrine was carried on a decorated truck. >> translator: participants carrying the portable shrine is normal, but i was glad to seeee it, even on a truck. >> ttranslator: i really felt that many people enjoyed the atmosphere of the festival, even a little bit. >> this year, the number of participants was also limited to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. that concludes this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz"

with ramin mellegard. stay right there. ♪ japanese researchers say they have developed a new system to test forr the coronavirusus t can detect it in a person's brereath. the system was developed by a team from tohoku univeversityy precision equipment maker. it consists of three devices. the first absorbs exhaled breath for five minutes. if second inactivates any coronavirus found in the breath and captures proteins in the

virus. the third part analyzing the proteins. developers say the system can give it a result in about an hour. >> translator: this research is groundbreaking. there are very few exampleles o it overseas. we would like to put it into practical use as soon as possible. >> researchers have used the system in a clinical trial involving about ten infected people. they plan to continue testing the technology. this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. there is a cause of a full day trading halt earlier this month. the tse submitted the report to jajapan's financial services agency on friday. it also outlines measures to prevent a recurrence. the tse says it'll set up a committee to make rules and other measures by around march to minimize the interruption if future glitches occur.

>> translator: we'd like to establish procedures for both the tse and investors to resume trading. they include those needed for system management and business operation. >> the outage on october 1st was caused by a hardware glitch and a backup failure. japanese tech giant fujitsu developed thehe tradingg system. tse introduduced it in 2010 and has since updated it several times. the board says it has already changed the settings of the computer system and checked it entirely. the financiall agency will stud the report and consider penalties for the tse, including a business improvement order. central japan railway company unraveiled the latest version of its magnetic levitation train on monday. passengers will be able to travel the nearly 300 kilometers from tokyo to nagoya in just 40 minutes when it comes into

service. the railway operator has been running the new model on test tracks in yamanashi prefecture, central japapan, ssince august. the passenger cars have larger seats than the previous version. sound insulation p panels have been installed on the ceiling to reduce wind noise. outside, the nose section is more roundnded twa eed compared previous design. power consumption and noise has been reduced. in a test run, the train reached the maximum operating speed of 500 kilometers an hour, just 2 1/2 minutes after setting off. central japan railway plans to continue the tests until fiscal year 2022 to determine specifications for commercial operation. they plan to launch the next railway service in 2027. a dispute with local authorities over the construction of a tunnel could delay that. major japanese electronics

manufacturers have opened online showrooms to support sales amid the coronavirus pandemic. they're betting on digital technology to compensate for a slump in customer traffic at their bricks and mortar outlets. panasonic launchhed an onlinee showroom using virtual reality technology in september.. it i is a digital recreaeation n actuall location in tokyo that showcases products for corpoore cliients. cucustomers aare invited to a vo cononferenceing system. tthey can obseserve the moveme of botic arms or listen an explanation of facial recognition technology while watching a video clip. meanwhile, sony's sales staff this month started introducing products online with haandheld cameras from a showroom for clients. >> reporter: overseas customers cannot easily cross borders to come to us. i hope they get a sense of the products. >> sony's virtual tour enabled customers to find out more about

products, including professional video cameras and the robots. the covid-19 pandemic has d decimated travel, dealing a severe blow to tourism. one travel agent began promoting unique tours that may revitalize the struggling industry. experiencing local industries on location is quickly taking off among tourists forced to stay closer to home. >> reporter: a planner at a tokyo venture company specializing in tours visits a beekeeper. they're hoping this place will become a buzzy tourist attraction. >> translator: many people are obsessed withth eating only domestic honey so to eat it on-site adds an extra incentive for our tours. >> reporter: sueyoshi's company

has been developing experimental tours, where participants take part in workshops with local artisans, artists, and farmers. the pandemic has forced the tourism industry to diversify. >> translator: i hope to discover hidden gems in places that are not considered major tourist destinationns. >> reporter: in september, he set up a trial tour for the local prefectural tourism association. participants make reservations for the two-hour tour online. once at the destination, locals greet them and host the tours themselves. >> translator: this is how it looks. >> reporter: at the end, the hosts serve homemade dishes made from their products. this time, honey toast, banana juice, homemade ice cream and other dishes. next, the group visits a forest

home. inside, an intriguing array of objects. artist takahashi created these works entirely from scrap materials. relocating here in 2005, he decided to host tours to help promote the village and its economy. >> translator: this place sits materialized in the woods out of nowhere. fascinating. >> reporter: sueyoshi's firm has created seven tour packages. nextxt spring, he hopes to laun several more. l let's get a check on the markets.

that's it for "newsline biz" from our tokyo studios. i'm ramin mellegard. thank you very much for joining us. .

russia is a