♪ hello. a very warm welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. we begin this hour in france where a man wielding a knife has killed three people in the southern city of nice. president emmanuel macron described it as a terrorist attack. that's led the government no raise its national security

alert to its highest level. >> translator: we will up the mobilization of the military operation from 3,000 to 7,000 soldiers on the ground. >> macron visited the scene of the attack at notre dame basilica on thursday. he pledged to protect freedom of religion. the attacker was detained after being shot and wounded by police. one woman was a victim in her 60s who had been praying in the basilica. the others are a man in his 50s and a woman in her 40s. the alleged tacker is a 21-year-old tunisian national. he said the suspect repeatedly shouted "god is great" in arabic while being treated at the scene. the bloodshed comes less than two weeks after a teacher in a paris suburb was attacked with a knife. the teacher had shown his students caricatures of the

prophet muhammad in a class of freedom of expression. european union leaders condemned the attacks, calling on the international community to work towards dialogue and understanding among communities and religions, rather than division. china's communist party has come out with a set of long-term targets but did not give any indication of who might succeed president xi jinping. and that suggests he may stay on as party leader past 2022 when his current term ends. senior officials wrapped a meeting on thursday, and released a communique outlining a basic economic policy for five years starting next year. it says china will aim to shift from its dependance of exports by expanding domestic demand. it also mentions long-range objectives through 2035. these include raising per capita gross domestic product to a level of a moderately developed

country. china will aim to become a global leader in innovation. analysts say those long-term goals form the basis for xi to stay in power for an extended period. >> >> three of four u.s. based tech giants posted imcreases in revenue and profit for the july-to-september quarter amid the coronavirus pandemic. amazon, facebook, apple, and the google part company alphabet released their earnings report for the quarter only thursday. amazon's net profit was $6.3 billion, nearly triple from the same period last year. alphabet saw a 59% gain, and facebook's profit rose about 29%. the three firms said demand for services accessible from home remained high on the back of the

pandemic. apple was the exception. its net profits fell 7%. for a three-month period up to december, amazon expects sales to increase as much as 38% from a year earlier. facebook also forecasts strong results for the quarter. the u.s. economy made its biggest jump on record between july and september. it rebounded from a massive contraction the previous quarter caused by the coronavirus pandemic. commerce department officials on thursday said the country's gdp expanded at an annualized rate of 33.1%. that's the fastest growth since data keeping began in 1947. the performance of the economy in the april/june period was dire. it plunged by 31.4%, the worst drop ever. that magnified the size of the bounce in q3. personal spending accounts for about 70% of u.s. gdp.

it grew by about 40.7%. business investment and exports also increased dramatically. but a nationwide resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic is already tainting the positive results. experts say the sharp rise in infections is clouding the u.s. economic outlook. ♪ diplomats from japan and south korea are continuing their talks on wartime labor issues that have strained relations for years. the director general of the japanese foreign ministry's asian and oceanic affairs bureau met in seoul with his south korean counterpart. the issue that brought them together stems from a set of rulings by south korea's supreme court two years ago. it ordered two japanese companies to compensate south koreans that says the firm

forced them to work during world war ii. japan maintains the right to claim compensation was brought to an end by an agreement in 1965. japan has been urging south korea to rectify a situati that it considers to be a violation of international law. earlier th year a lower court moved forward with procedures that could lead to the sale of assets seized from one of the firms, nippon steel. he says liquidating the assets could seriously damage relations and must be avoided at all costs. he reiterated japan's request for south korea to present a mutually acceptable solution. they agreed their governments would keep communicating. meanwhile, the administration of the south korean president moon jae-in has taken the position that it will honor the supreme court's decisions. but the start of a new administration in tokyo under prime minister suga yoshihide in september has led to expectations in south korea that the two countries can resolve

their differences. moon and suga spoke b phone in september. moon is said to have expressed a hope that the two sides can work together to find a solution acceptable to both governments. the presidential office also appears key to host a try lateral summit between the leaders of japan, china, and south korea by the end of the year. japan's astroid probe hayabusa2 is set to return to earth after six years in space. it is on track to deliver its cargo to the australian desert in early september. the japan aerospace exploration agency, jaxa believes hayabusa2 has carried out its mission successfully, collecting samples from an asteroid, such as sand. the probe was launched in 2014 and traveled about 300 million kilometers to reach the asteroid. jaxa told reporters on thursday it plans to send a team of 73

people to australia to retrieve the probe's capsule. the team will undergo more than three weeks of quarantine as a coronavirus precaution. they plan to start full-fledged preparations for the work in less than four weeks from now. >> translator: i am feeling a bit nervous but i am looking forward to seeing what hayabusa2 brings back. >> the probe is expected to discharge the capsule into the earth's atmosphere on december 6th as planned. it's been almost a year since a devastating blaze ripped through shuri castle in japan's okinawa prefecture. the site was the center of the dynasty for centuries, but it's years, including during world e war ii. the last restoration was finally completed shortly before last year's inferno. we talked to a photographer who turned his lens to the flames that day and continues to take

images as the castle is once again rebuilt. >> reporter: 79-year-old photographer otsuka lives in naha city. at 4:00 a.m. on that fateful day, he shot the castle from this spot. >> translator: the fire from the roof was burning with incredible force and looked like a dragon rising agonizingly toward the sky. i had never seen anything like it. i feel sad and so discouraged. >> reporter: he used to work as an advertising photographer for an automaker in osaka. in 1980, he moved to okinawa and went freelance, shooting landscapes and events. he is particularly captivated by the way the apeeshpearance of si castle changes depending on the sunday and the time of the day. the postwar era reconstruction

efforts of the castle began at about the same time he launched his new career in the unfamiliar environment of okinawa. his career advanced in tandem as the castle was gradually being rebuilt. >> translator: it might sound presumptuous, but i found comfort in the fact that the castle and i were taking a similar path. i've been energized by the castle. >> reporter: in 2000, the kyushu okinawa summit was held, and the castle became the center of world attention. images taken by otsuka were included in the official photo books presented to the leaders of the participating nations. his portrait of shuri castle glowing red in the dark is one of them. since the fire, he's regularly been visiting the castle to photograph its reconstruction.

>> translator: the reconstruction efforts are certainly moving forward. i'm convinced that my mission is to record the process through photographic images, and i hope to help the project as much as possible. >> reporter: he's long felt an affinity with shuri castle and is determined to document its progress until it's brought back to its former glory again. it's time now for world weather with our meteorologist yoko kumagata. it looks like the remnants of hurricane zeta is still affecting the u.s. southeast.

>> some wind and rain will appear in places like new york and washington, d.c. during the day on friday. people in the u.s. are dealing with a historically difficult hurricane season. this is the 11th storm to hit the u.s. this year, an all-time record for this country. louisiana had another day of this weather on wednesday. take a look at this video. the hurricane had heavy rain and winds up to 175 kilometers per ur. authorities said zeta caused storm surges along the gulf coast. this hurricane is a 15-year record of the most hurricanes to strike louisiana in a single year. new york -- new england will pick up winds and rains as the storm system moves through. another storm system will

produce weather across the mid-atlantic. some of the thunderstorms could produce large hate and even tornadoes. as the storm system moves away, cold weather will be the next concern. temperatures will drop significantly in central canada all the way to new england on friday. these areas have these temperatures next week. upstate new york may have snowfall on friday. in southeast asia, we have an active typhoon season here. after this typhoon lashed the philippines earlier this week, two other storms have already formed over the pacific. we usually have three or four tropical storms in october, but this season, nine storms have formed. and this storm is expected to make landfall in luzon by sunday as a strong ftyphoon. behind it, the next storm system may affect the same locations.

so more heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides. that's all for now. stay safe.

and that is all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. thank you for staying with us on nhk world-japan. ♪ welcome to "newsline in depth." i'm yanaka marie. many cases of discrimination are being reported amid the spread of covid-19. including against those infected, their families, and even health care workers. the behavior is not new. natural disasters and other

crises often trigger the victimization of certain groups, leading to bullying and in some cases, violence. in our three stories today, we shine a light into the cracks that open up in society during times of stress, and what some people are doing to heal them. we begin with a woman who is teaching about the black lives matter movement, while living far from her home in the united states. the woman, who is teaching english at schools in japan, was motivated to use her classroom to address the issue of racism. >> i keep thinking, what can i do to make the difference? what change can i do being so far away from america? >> reporter: mahogany wilson is from missouri, and started teaching english in japan last april. but she considered a timelier

lesson to offer at school. she wondered if she could speak up about racism? >> i don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. i care about the way they feel, so even if i don't feel okay, i don't want to make my problem their problem. >> reporter: wilson asked her colleagues at the middle school to help her design programs that could help students think about racism. in response, the school decided to hold a special class for seventh graders. >> so we are going to talk about black lives matter too. he was recently killed. >> reporter: first, she introduced the story of george floyd and had the students think

about why he was killed. >> raise your hand if you think it was for being black. you are all correct. >> reporter: she asked the students why racism still exists. >> translator: i think it's because there are still racist people. >> translator: i think in the united states, people have prejudice towards black people. >> reporter: finally, wilson asked the students what they can do. the question she wanted them to reflect on most. >> translator: based on what the teacher said, in the u.s., there's discrimination against people with black skin, different hair, and so on. i found it odd that there's so

much discrimination. >> translator: we can start getting rid of discrimination, even with very small steps such as treating other people so you feel kinder towards each other. >> when we stand together, we can make change happen. thank you for listening. >> i have many feelings about teach thing class today. i was completely shocked that they can make some good explanation. >> reporter: wilson hopes her lessons crossed barriers of culture and language to help her students find their own voices. >> wilson says she's been

contacted by educators around the country who also want to speak about the black lives matter movement. she says this positive outcome was one of her goals. classes by black teachers are giving students in japan new perspective. an english teacher at a junior high school in western japan was asked by the principal if he could share his personal experiences as a way of teaching about racism. he told his students how police in japan sometimes appeared to racially profile him. stopping him repeatedly for random questioning on the street. such firsthand accounts are helping students understand what's happening in the world, and consider what it means to respect others. now, physical violence is a regular outcome of prejudice, but understand the pandemic, psychological abuse may be more common. as covid-19 begins spreading

wildly in japan, members of the chinese community in yokahama near tokyo became targets of racial discrimination. >> reporter: in yokahama's chinatown, conflicts erupted as the virus began spreading in japan. even though no coronavirus was confirmed in the area, a local business association received threatening phone calls. >> reporter: letters penned with bigoted language arrived at several restaurants. >> translator: there still has been no reports of cases in chinatown. why is this happening to us despite having nothing to do with the virus? >> reporter: this associate professor is a researcher of social psychology during disasters.

he sees growing bias amid the coronavirus. since its outbreak, an npo has identified at least 300 prejudice statements on social media. he believes this behavior is a response to the psychological anxiety caused by crises. >> translator: i think people carry ethnic and racial conflict deep down inside, even in normal times. and in stressful situations, people tend to point their bigoted feelings at others and attack them. >> the actions reported in chinatown have not been escalating and many residents say they feel encouraged by a flood of social media posts. now, modern history has also seen outbreaks of physical

violence triggered by disasters. the great conto earthquake that struck the tokyo region in 1923, caused the deaths of some 100,000 people. in the chaos that followed, many immigrants from the korean peninsula, then annexed by japan, were murdered by japanese people. >> reporter: a memorial ceremony for the korean victims in the aftermath of the great conto earthquake has been held in tokyo every september 1st, sense japanese volunteers created the service a half century ago. >> translator: a horrific incident like this must never be repeated. we promise never to avert our eyes from such injustice. >> reporter: the killings were triggered by fse rumors that circulated soon after the quake. such as koreans are poisoning our wells. newspapers contributed to the

hysteria. it was a korean plot to take advantage of the disaster to commit arson. a battle against 1,000 outlaw koreans has broken out. later, the government denied that koreans committed such crimes. but policemen, soldiers, and neighborhood vigilantes acted on the rumors and committed the heinous acts. and there is proof in documents issued by the ministry of justice at the time, listing cause of death. a government report estimates that the number of people murdered makes up between one to several percent of all deaths attributed to the quake. that means anywhere from 1,000 to several thousand koreans were slain. and it recognizes that the killings were rooted in ignorance and discrimination.

today, however, the memorial organizers concerned about obstacles to handing down the tragedy to the next generation. one grop up began gathering at e memorial site for the koreans in 2017 to oppose the ceremony. >> translator: if they cause any trouble, the authorities will cancel both gatherings. i believe that is the group's goal. >> reporter: on top of this, ceremony attendance was restricted due to the coronavirus. organizers increasingly have concerns about the future. some citizen groups are pushing to revive the fading memory of the incident. this retired teacher has long been working with one of them. for 40 years, he and his colleagues have been compiling

the testimonies of some 150 witnesses of the quake aftermath. >> translator: they started killing koreans. when they finished, they gleefully shouted "bonsai." >> reporter: he holds an annual seminar at the sites of the massacre. this year he documented the event on video to leave the truths about this dark chapter for posterity. >> translator: koreans were socially vulnerable at the time. such people are easily targeted when something bad occurs. it's the worst thing. i will continue to preach the message that the cruelty should never be repeated. >> he stresses the importance of maintaining an ethical stance and opposing any acts of discrimination against others, no matter how chaotic the situation. the black lives matter movement that started in the united

states has prompted people around the world to reflect on discrimination in various forms. the coronavirus pandemic is throwing down a similar challenge. what does it take to build and maintain a safe society that accepts diversity as well as respects human rights? it's a question that relates to politics, media, education, every aspect of our lives. thank you for watching today's "newsline in depth." we leave you today on a high flying note. a sky writer drawing a picture of encouragement.

mourning. three people dead after a knife attack in nice. president macron calls it an attack on france. ♪ anchor: hello, i'm in london and you are watching "al jazeera." just hours until a one-month national lockdown -- france goes further than most european countries as it works to control the coronavirus. landslides triggered by a power typhoon in vietnam. rescuers