hello and thank you for joining us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan from tokyo. japan's prime minister suga yoshihide heads home. for his first overseas trip he chose vietnam and indonesia

underscoring japan's relationship with the asean relationship and boosting ties with the two indo-pacific cntris. >> translator: at the two summits we created japan's wish to create a peaceful and prosperous future in the region together with asean nations. we agreed to deepen cooperation toward that goal. strengthening the japan-asean partnership will lead to economic prosperity and will become a cornerstone of a free and open indo-pacific. >> suga stressed that japan opposes activities that endanger security in the south china sea, urging involved parties to follow the rule of law. the comments are in apparent reference to china's increasing maritime activities in the region.

beijing and other asean countries, including vietnam, have competing territorial claims. the prime minister also said japan will work with vietnam and indonesia to revitalize all three economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. >> translator: with vietnam, we agreed to resume regular flights connecting the two countries and facilitate the flow of business trips by implementing what we call the business track. with indonesia, we will prepare to allow businesspeople to start work as soon as they enter either country, as long as they take coronavirus tests. >> suga is scheduled to return to tokyo later in the day. the japanese government has contributed $2.8 million for food aid in palestine through the united nations world food program.

the wfp won this year's nobel peace prize. the representative of japan to palestine, magoshi masayuke and wfp representative in palestine stephen carney signed an agreement tuesday in the west bank city of ramallah. wfp provides food aid to about 350,000 people in palestine, two-thirds of japan's contribution will be used for food coupons. the remaining funds will be going to buying canned food made in japan that will be distributed. cney said food is essential for keeping peace. he added support from japan is extremely necessary for the wfp's activities. >> this allows us to reach the needs of people, to give them some sort of stability in their lives so that they know they're going to be able to get food tomorrow. >> magoshi said the situation is

dire due to the coronavirus and that japan will continue to offer aid. former residents of russian-controlled islands claimed by japan had the opportunity to pray for the souls of their an southwest task force buried on the island. -- after an annual trip to the islands was canceled due to the pandemic. the original tour would allow people to travel to the eisland without visas. 30 people boarded the first flied on wednesday. after the flight, a former resident an island said he was glad the weather cooperated with the trip. >> translator: i felt relieved to see up above from the sky all residents from the region could commemorate their ancestors. >> russia controls if four

islands. japan claims them. the japanese claims the islands are an inherent part of japan's territory and says the islands were illegally occupied after world war ii. ♪ u.s. president donald trump and democratic candidate joe biden are stepping up their election campaigns in the battleground state of pennsylvania. trump rallied voters for support in his second visit to the state in two weeks. trump told voters the economy has improved under his leadership as a result of asking japan's prime minister to manufacture more automobiles inu the united states. >> -- in japan i told the prime minister you have to give us plants. you can't just keep sending us cars. you've got to make them over here and they started and you're a big beneficiary of it. we win pennsylvania, we win the whole thing.

>> pennsylvania has long been a stronghold for the democratic party. trump won the state in 2016 after a tight race. biden is determined to win back the state where he was born and raised. on wednesday former president barack obama is scheduled to hold his first gathering to wrap up support for biden. u.s. defense secretary mark esper isrgin allies to boost their defense budgets saying there could be no free riders. >> we expect all allies to invest more in defense, at least 2% of gdp as the floor. we expect them to stand shoulder to shoulder with the united states in confronting chinese bad behavior and russian aggression. therean be no free riders to our common security. >> esper delivered a speech on tuesday at a think tank in washington. he said nine nato allies are meeting the commitment of 2%. this compares to five countries in 2016.

esper stressed the u.s. expects all allies beyond nato as well to spend more on defense. the trump administration is also calling on allies to shoulder more of the cost of hosting u.s. forces. the japanese and u.s. governments will start working level talks later this month on how much japan will shoulder in the next fiscal year and beyond. full-fledged negotiations are expected following next month's u.s. presidential elections. observers say the prospects of the talks may be swayed by its outcome. the united states and russia indicated they are ready to begin talks on extending the last remaining nuclear arms control pact between the two countries. the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty is set to expire in february but negotiations had hit a snag. the change of heart came tuesday when the russian foreign ministry said it was willing to accept a u.s. proposal to freeze the number of warheads in each country's arsenal. moscow had previously called for an unconditional extension.

it now says it will go ahead, provided washington does not impose any additional restrictions. within hours, the u.s. state department released a statement welcoming russia's willingness to make progress on the issue. it said it's prepared to meet immediately to finalize a verifiable agreement. russian president vladimir putin at first opposed the proposal as washington had angled for a new framework to cover tactical nuclear weapons in addition to strategic warheads. the trump administration had earlier insisted that china join the treaty, but the president more recently suggested he was willing to first sign an agreement with russia, and use the newly bought time to bring china on board. trump says china's nuclear power, while still below that of the u.s. and russia, is surging, and it needs to be brought in check. the shift comes as campaigning in the u.s. presidential election nears its final leg. nhk world's nochi haruka has

been following the efforts of a new york-based peace activist who wants to ensure voters don't forget how nuclear policies can affect human lives. >> reporter: rebecca irby has been closely watching each candidate for months. every debate, every promise. and each time, the issue she's dedicated her life to is left on the sidelines. >> we don't have another four years to waste, just playing around and pretending these issues don't exist. so it's going to take the people, all of the people, all around the world, coming together to push these issues forward. >> reporter: decades after the cold war, disarmament efforts have largely stalled. and the u.s. and russia still hold more than 90% of global nuclear warheads. experts recently became more concerned about a new arms race after president donald trump withdrew from a key deal with russia. his rival, joe biden, has promised to reduce the role of

nuclear weapons, but has not yet set a concrete plan to shrink the u.s. stockpile. irby has been pushing for that sort of movement since she had a fateful encounter in hiroshima nine years ago. at the city's peace park, she met an interpreter who was in his mother's womb when the bomb was dropped. now he educates visitors on its destruction. >> reporter: irby felt compelled to share his family's story. she made a documentary with a simple but strong message. it's possible for a victim of hate to be filled with kindness. >> he experienced all of this, my country that did this to him, yet he's helping me process my emotions about it. >> reporter: since then, she's devoted herself to showing that a weapon of destruction cannot

create peace. but political action can create change. every year she goes to the united nations with survivors to deliver petitions calling for a world free of nuclear weapons. she hoped for a breakthrough in 2020. 75 years after the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki. but attention was on the pandemic, which is now also the main focus of the election campaign. irby wants voters to see this as a domestic issue, so she teamed up with digeno activists to help people understand the horrific effect of these weapons. >> what led to this development of nuclear weapons when you really think about it, why? why did these nuclear weapons get developed after all? you know? who in their right mind wants to kill another human being?

>> reporter: irby says many young people are motivated to fight nuclear proliferation with the same urgency as they battle climae change. >> there's more strife and conflict in the world that can lead to nuclear war. if you're a person who believes in and reads science, you just start to -- you see these things. it's inevitable. you can't not see them. >> reporter: when people go to the polls, irby wants them to think about these issues. and then push their leader to take real action. nochi haruka, nhk world. the u.s. space agency nasa says its pre hassuccessully ouchedown n the ateroid bennmore tn 300millio kiloeters rom eth. we're gng in, wre going in. [ cheers and applause ] >> touchdown declared.

>> oh my gosh. we're there, folks. that was amazing. >> nasa engineers said on tuesday that they had received data indicating that the osiris rex spacecraft had briefly touched bennu's surface. the spacecraft was launched four years ago and began orbiting the asteroid two years ago. they say the probe began descending from 770 meters above bennu after 17:30 utc on tuesday. the control center received data indicating that a successful touchdown had been achieved at about 22:10 utc. the engineers say the data also showed that the probe successfully fired a burst of nitrogen gas that stirred up dust and pebbles on the aso astroid's surface. the gas was reportedly fired from a device attached to a robotic arm. the engineers say they will continue to analyze the data to determine whether samples were collected. such samples would provide valuable information about the origins of life on earth and the solar system. if the probe is successful, it will be the third time that samples have been collected from an asteroid.

samples were previously collected by the japanese probes hayabusa and hayabusa-2. a russian health official says the country will start administering a domestically develop coronavirus vaccine as early as november. the gammalea national research center developed a vaccine called sputnik-v. the director of the center explained tuesday it will be given to doctors and teachers next month. he noted other people who want the inoculation will get it after that, regardless of their occupation. the russian government approved the treatment in august. about 40,000 people are currently taking part in the final stage of clinical trials, and a russian pharmaceutical company is already expanding production. russian prime minister mikhail mishustin said tuesday his proud his country is producing the world's first coronavirus vaccine and added russia will quickly provide it to other nations. some experts in russia are concerned about administering the inoculation before the final

stage of clinical trials is complete. they say there is no need to rush the process. ♪ it's now time for a check on the world weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. jonathan, a severe tropical storm has moved through the northern parts of the philippines and headed toward the indochina peninsula.

when is it expected to arrive? >> hello. it looks like as we look toward the weekend we're going to be talking about the storm making its impact known, first of all into vietnam and then, as it continues to move inland into the more interior areas of the indochina peninsula, loose, cambodia and thailand. we don't need additional rainfall from any additional storms because it's been so wet. we are looking for this particular system as it's expected to become a typhoon as we go throughout the day on thursday. and then eventually it is likely to weaken, but that's not necessarily good news, because the winds will be dying down, but it's the rain that's been the problem for the past few weeks. so more rain is in the cards as we go into the weekend. 32 ho chi minh city.

32 in manila. in europe we have a massive low pressure system really kicking up strong winds along the northern and western areas of europe. we have a cutoff low impacted portions of the balkan peninsula. here is a look at video to give you an idea of how things unfolded in the island of crete tuesday. social media video showed smashed trees and damaged restaurants at the popular holiday destination. it looks like severe weather could continue on wednesday because we have this low pressure system nearby and continuing to spin. it's eventually going to move over into the western portions of turkey. high pressure moving in behind it. i mentioned the strong winds for the western and northern areas of europe. we have the low pressure system moving the the northeast. we're looking at quite unstable weather from wednesday, thunderstorms in madrid with a

high of 18 wednesday we go through the day. a wintery type of scenario for the northern areas of the united states into canada as we have a low pressure system coming out of the rockies with really cold air moving through from wednesday into friday. so that interaction from that low with the cold air maybe making for a real wintery type mess as we go through the next few days. it's also chilly. winnipeg with a high of three. we may be talking about icy conditions in south dakota and into minnesota as we go later into the week. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪ ♪

that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline."

i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard, so don't go away. ♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. major japanese airline operator ana holdings is facing a record loss for the fiscal year. sources say it's likely to see a shortfall of about $4.7 billion as the pandemic weighs on travel. ana holdings will announce its full-year earnings forecast next week.

all nippon airways has been struggling with the decline in demand. this month it has cut about 90% of its international flights and roughly 50% of its domestic flights. the expected net loss will be far greater than the one it posted in fiscal 2009 due to the financial crisis. company officials say they've secured a $9.8 billion lifeline mainly in the form of bank loans. they say it's enough to continue operations for about a year. another major airline in as yeah, hong kong-based cathay pacific is slashing 8,500 jobs, that's nearly a quarter of its workers. the company will stop operating its regional subsidiary cathay dragon. its executive says we must restructure to survive and meet our responsibilities to the hong kong aviation hub. people eggs scaping natural disasters need to be extra

careful to avoid a coronavirus. a trade show has opened in tokyo to showcase goods to help keep evacuees safe. representatives of about 170 companies are demonstrating wears at the three-day event that started on wednesday. one firm offers a tent-like cubical that can be erected indoors. the shelter is fitted with a ventilation system that releases air directly outside. a venture firm has developed a hand wash station for use when there's no running water. the drum-like appliance recycles used water and can filter virus particles. the device can also sterilize smart phones through ultraviolet rays. the company says activities like hand washing are becoming more important to maintaining health in disaster zones. south korean chipmaker sk hynix says it will acquire a unit of intel at a price of $9 billion.

the prchaseof intel's nanned flash memory and storage business will shake up the world's semiconductor market. sk says it aims to complete the acquisition by 2025. this will make it the world's second biggest firm in the field, surpassing japan's kyokska holdings, spun off from toshiba. analysts have pointed out sk's weakness in the business. in a statement, sk says it aims to enhance the competitiveness of its storage solutions and leap forward as one of the leading global semiconductor companies. the world's biggest share of the nanned flash memory market is currently held by samsung electronics. the purchase by sk is likely to give south korean firms the top two places in the field. electric vehicles are often touted as the transport of the future. general motors is investing $2 billion to charge up its ev production. it will be -- the motoring giant

says willstart making ev a ts main lant sping ill in the stte of tenneee. it wi betheir third erktsv site and churn out luxury cars including lyriq in august. observers say the move offers something to both sides. u.s. president donald trump has been calling for domestic investment while his democratic rival joe biden is pushing for more clean energy. getting a big sound out of small ear phones is a complicated task. superior quality earphones are usually very expensive. a small japanese company is shaking up the audio sector with a breakthrough in price and quality. >> reporter: this ear phone specially store is selling old

things electronic. high resolution earphones allow you to hear great quality sound. they usually cost hundreds of dollars, but one manufacturer has managed to make them to sell at the low price of about $40. >> translator: the sound quality was very clear. i wondered if we really could get this sound quality at this price. >> reporter: the ear phone was developed by this small company in takasaki. the company was founded four years ago. in that time they have produced one hit after another despite having only five employees. the president of the company made it possible to produce the earphones for a low price using

inexpensive parts called pizo electric ceramics. >> translator: when electricity is applied, it vibrates like this. >> reporter: these components generate high-pitch sounds through vibrations. they are utilized for the ultrasonic sensors in fish finders. the ceramics were once widely used in speakers for mobile phones before smart phones became available. however, they have one major weakness, they cannot easily reproduce bass sounds, so they haven't been used in recent years. originally, he was involved in the research and development of ceramics at a major manufacturer, so he knew a lot about this component.

therefore, he decided to limit the audio range of the ceramics to the high-pitch sounds and supplement the low end with other parts. this way the firm could maintain high quality while keeping costs down. >> translator: i think it's important for small to medium-sied bsinesses to focus on the one thing they can do that major companies can't beat them on. >> reporter: they found huge success by turning to a overlooked technology and giving it new life. kinoshita masaru, nhk world. >> okay. let's get a check on the markets.

that's it

brandon: my experience is so different than a mainland chinese, it wouldn't be authentic for me to try to cook food for mainland china because that's not me, and that's not my audience. my audience is san francisco, and these cross-cultural exchanges are the basis for how food evolves. i feel like what we're seeing in this next wave of this generation of american cooks is this newfound confidence in valuing our traditions and its impact on the food culture in america.