♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara. we start this hour in japan where over 2,500 cases of coronavirus were confirmed so far on friday. tokyo set a new daily record with 570 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the capital to nearly 40,000. one key metric experts are focusing on is the number of serious cases. it reached 61 on friday, the

highest since the nationwide state of emergency was lifted in may. about 40% of tokyo hospital beds allocated for serious covid-19 cases are now occupied, and experts warn the recent increase is straining the medical system. >> translator: emergency care centers will be busiest in december and january. it will affect the capacity for handling ordinary emerncy patients. in some cases, they could fall into life-threatening conditions. >> tokyo offials have asked bars and restaurants that serve alcohol to close early starting this weekend authorities in osaka, sapporo and nagoya are making the same request. the prime minister is urging people to take basic precautions, such as weari masks, washing hands, and avoiding the three cs -- closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings.

the central government says the next three weeks are crucial. it wants to avoid reaching the highest alert level, which could lead to declaring a state of emergency again. over 143,000 people have been infected since the outbreak began, but the death toll exceeds 2,000. as new daily cases continue to surge, tokyo is set to open its second medical facility for covid-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms. the new hospital is a renovated health care facility that will begin operation on december 16th as part of the tokyo metropolitan tama medical center. tokyo officials say the new facility will be one of the few equipped to accept elderly patients who need nursing care, as well as foreigners who are

unable to speak japanese or english. officials say 32 of the hospital's 100 beds will be used for the time being. the first facility of this kind in the japanese capital is toka university tokyo hospital in shibuya ward. it has about 60 beds. japan's health ministry is also asking businesses to improve workplace ventilation to mitigate the odds of the virus spreading. experts say ventilation is crucial as the temperature drops, but if workplaces lack proper systems, the health ministry recommends keeping a window open at all times. it also urges using heaters to keep the room at 18 degrees celsius or higher and humidifiers to ensure the air doesn't get too dry. if those conditions cannot be met, the health ministry advises

using air purifiers. ♪ the remains of an 18-year-old victim of the atomic bombing of hiroshima have been identified after 75 years. the city was struck by the bomb in the closing days of world war ii. the remains were discovered last year in a tokyo building that formerly housed a research institute. they were handed over to the hiroshima city authorities this month.

they are believed to have been retrieved by an investigative team of the now-defunct imperial japanese army immediately after the bomb was dropped. a slip of paper found with the remains contains the name michihara kikuma. the city authorities appealed for information and were contacted by ewata kyoko, the vict's 83-ye-old sisr. registerf atomicomb victims sts a silar namend stat that thperson dd in an armhospitaln hirosha ortly ter the mbing. investigors did t find a significt discrancies beeen thesister dcription of events at the time and the information they had. this led them to conclude the remains and the person listed are one and the same. officials are expected to hand over the remains to iwata. iwata said she was relieved to hear that her brother's remains had been identified, and she wants to place them in the family grave near hiroshima.

japanese telecom giant ntt plans to launch a service using artificial intelligence to help prevent phone scams. the ntt group on friday demonstrated the service, which will be available from next monday. it involves a device attached to the user's land line phone and an a.i. program that analyzes the conversation in realtime. >> if a conversation contains key words such as remittance and bank account, or its context leads the a.i. to suspect the caller may be a scammer, the system emails or calls the user or family members to raise the alarm. >> translator: scams are becoming more and more

sophisticated and complex. we want to offer services to prevent people from falling victim. >> japanese police say the loss from the various fraudulent activities was nearly $300 million last year. a japanese space probe is on course to deliver a rare and precious cargo on december 6. scientists are now preparing to receive a capsule which may contain the answer to one of humanity's biggest unanswered questions, how did all this begin? our next report follows the journey of the hyabusa2. >> reporter: it may not seem like much, but this grainy image captured by a telescope marks the beginning of the next leg of an exciting space journey. the smallest sparkling light is the hyabusa2, now headed home. in the six years since liftoff, it's traveled 5 billion kilometers, making a journey

humans could only dream of. its destination was the ryugu asteroid, an ancient and barren rock. scientists believe it may date back to times when the solar system was young and may contain secrets that help reveal how all life began. last year the hyabusa2 landed on the asteroid twice. officials believe it picked up a small but significant sample from the surface. far more than the original hyabusa probe. it was a cause for celebration. under incredible hardship, the probe accomplished more than any had before, fueled by decades of hard work. a sample of rock could contain water and the basic building blocks of life. >> translator: the goal of hyabusa2 is getting closer to the origins of life. i believe today managed to obtain data or materials to reach that goal.

>> reporter: that dream is now closer than ever, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the capsule retrieval team into isolation. in online updates, they write about ten things as they rapidly approach the finale. soon the capsule will descend to earth in a ball of flame, just like the original hayabusa probe. once retrieved from the australian desert, it will be moved to the lab for intense analysis. in the coming years, teams of elite scientists will become space archeologists, delving into the universe's past to search for clues to help humanity's future.

now to the u.s., where president donald trump says he will leave the white house if the electoral college formally backs joe biden's victory at the ballot box. the remarks are the closest trump has come to conceding defeat. >> so if the electoral college does elect president-elect biden, are you not going to leave this building? >> just so you -- certainly i will, certainly i will, and you know that. but i think there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th of january, a lot of things. massive fraud has been found. we're like a third world country. >> trump also said it would be hard for him to concede under the current circumstances, but he has still provided no evidence of widespread fraud more than three weeks after election day. efforts by his campaign team to challenge the results in court have been largely unsuccessful. trump was also asked if he would

run again in 2024. he sidestepped the question saying the 2020 contest was still far from over. biden won 306 electoral college votes in the november 3rd election, well above the 270 needed to take the white house. trump received 232. the electors are scheduled to meet on december 14th to cast their ballots, formalizing the results. the first regular commercial flight between israel and the united arab emirates has gone into operation, signaling the beginning of closer economic ties for two nations with a historically complicated relationship. the uae's low-cost carrier, fly dubai, is the first airline to provide the service. it will offer a twice-daily flight with the first arriving from tel aviv at dubai international airport on thursday evening. the launch comes after the two countries reached a u.s.-brokered deal to normalize

ties in september. it broke a long-standing rift between israel and arab countries over the palestinian issue. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called it a moment in history. >> we're flying with breakneck speed into a new era that is now clearly changing the middle east, changing the future of our peoples. they've embraced it with unbelievable enthusiasm. >> two other arab nations, bahrain and sudan, also recently agreed to normalize ties with israel. u.s. president-elect joe biden has supported the development, which occurred under the trump administration. turning to turkey where more than 300 people have been sentenced to life in prison for their role in attempting to overthrow president recep tayyip erdogan's government.

the failed coup took place in july 2016. the parliament building in the capital was bombed and an airport and a bridge in istanbul were occupied. but the coup was put down overnight. 250 people, including civilians, were killed. among the people sentenced to life in prison are military officers and civilians accused of playing a role. a u.s.-based muslim cleric was also tried in absentia. turkey accuses him of being the ringleader but he has denied any involvement. the united states has refused to hand him over to turkey. since the failed coup, the government has cracked down on people they suspect were involved, including detaining nearly 300,000 with alleged links. argentinian soccer legend diego maradona was buried on thursday amid a global outpouring of grief. the sporting great died of a heart attack on wednesday at the age of 60.

three days of national mourning were declared for the player who led argentina to the 1986 world cup title. only family members and close friends attended the interment ceremony. maradona was laid next to the graves of his parents. maradona lay in state at the presidential palace earlier in the day. his coffin was draped with a national flag and an argentina soccer jersey emblazoned with his trademark number 10. the queue to file past the coffin stretched more than a kilometer. >> translator: he's someone who moved me. i love football and loved seeing him play, and his patriotism, his love for the argentine flag, his humble origin, the way he represented ordinary people. it is not possible to explain

how i feel. it moved me to see him play. it touched me. >> scuffles took place as the authorities started to clear the square outside the palace until police resorted to the use of rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse the crowd. meanwhile, in the italian city of naples, crowds placed flowers, candles, and scarves st outside the grounds of his former club, fnapoli. major athletes and world leaders, including argentina-born pope francis, have paid tribute to the sporting legend. they met several times at the vatican. maradona took part in a number of benefit games called matches for peace to drum up support for education in developing countries. people in parts of india are dealing with recovery efforts from a strong cyclone. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us now for the latest. sayaka? >> hello, there. cyclone ivar made landfall in southern india thursday, killing several people, and more than

1,000 trees have been uprooted. the system has weakened to a low pressure system, but it's still over the south of india. more heavy rain is likely, and more heavy rain is possible into next week because we have another disturbance. this system will likely intensify and will likely hit sri lanka first by tuesday, and then it could make landfall in india once again. so more heavy rain is possible for the southern portions of india. be careful of flooding as well as landslides. hey rainfalllso hit saudi arabia, whi is typically dry. this is the aftermath. people took video showing cars and trucks driving in water in saudi arabia on thursday. thunderstorms brought heavy rain to jeddah, causing traffic delayed on thursday. no casualties or major delays have been reported. this time 11 years ago, jeddah was also hit by very severe floods that s the worst in decades.

this area is typically dry but heavy rain caused flooding. the heavy rainmaker is heading east. it's likely to see heavy rainfall over iran as well as iraq into the weekend. more than 100 millimeters of rain is possible. flooding is going to be a high risk there during the weekend. a massive heat dome will blanket most portions of australia. friday we saw a high of 46 in parts of south australia. it looks like the excessive heat will mainly pound the mid portions of the continent and also the eastern areas of the country. the highs will be 45 in burrsville saturday and even warmer into monday. marla could see 47 with gusty conditions on saturday. be careful of heatstroke. sydney could see a high of nearly 43 degrees on sunday. there's a high risk for bush

fires. meanwhile across asia, a cold air mass is gripping most northern places. we will see very low temperatures, temperatures nearly 5 degrees lower than average in beijing as well as seoul. tokyo will be the exception, 18 for the high, but winds are going to be strong on saturday. that's it for me. have a nice weekend.

that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. thank you very much for watching, and do stay with us for more.

♪ ♪ this is "newsline" busy. i'm gene otani. toyota motor will bring electric vehicles to the competitive auto markets of southeast asia. toyota announced it will start in thailand and indonesia with a compact suv from its luxury lexus line. it can run 360 kilometers on a single charge. they will be shipped from japan with a sticker price around $120,000. the announcement comes as several countries plan to ban

sales of new bass vehicles to fight global warming. thailand and indonesia are promoting electric vehicles and also inviting automakers to produce them locally. nhk has gained exclusive access to the details of a new japanese government export plan. the strategy covers farm, forestry and fishery products as well as alcohol. the government wants to increase the value of annual shipments to 5 trillion yen or about $48 billion by 2030. the draft document focuses on 27 items, including beef, rice, apples, yellow tail fish, and japanese sake. it sets a midterm export target of $19 billion by 2025. the strategy involves boosting annual beef shipments to $1.5 billion by that time. it calls for a tailored approach to meet the needs of different markets. the main ones include hong kong, taiwan, and the u.s. for sake, the goal is to increase the value of shipments

to nearly $580 million. the primary destinations are the u.s., china, and europe. the target for yellow tail is about $520 million. the draft says producers will need to create more processed goods for the u.s. and chinese markets to reach that figure. the government plans to offer a range of support to businesses as part of the strategy, including help to improve their facilities. china is targeting australian wine in the latest trade retaliation as tensions between the two countries rise. china's commerce ministry claims discounted australian wine is being dumped into the chinese market, reducing the competitiveness of domestic producers. importers of australian wine will be required to pay deposits for the time being to chinese authorities, starting saturday. australia's agriculture minister criticized the move and promised a vigorous fight. ties between beijing and canberra have soured this year.

australian prime minister scott morrison in april called for an independent inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus. china responded by halting imports of some australian meat products and slapped barley from the country with additional tariffs. china's biggest fin tech group was on track to raise the world's largest initial public offering estimated at $34 billion, until beijing slammed the brakes less than two days before the ceremonial gong was to ring at the hong kong stock exchange. nhk world takes a look at what prompted the chinese authority's abrupt move earlier this month. >> reporter: named after a tiny insect that has power in numbers, ant group is a giant in the world of financial

technology. it runs online payment system ali pay, said to process $17 trillion of transactions annually for over 1 billion users. the affiliates of the e-commerce giant alibaba group has branched off into financial services like small to medium-sized loans. it uses big data to evaluate debtors' ability to repay. its high-speed services gained popularity among small businesses and individuals who often find the barriers too high at other financial institutions. wan song relies on ant's loans to expand his business of selling produce from his hometown online. his line of credit was determined by his payment history on ali pay and sales records on online shopping sites.

>> translator: without ant's loans, my business will be seriously affected. in a worst-case scenario, i may have to close my business. >> reporter: but ant's financial empire may have spread too fast and too far. an economist says the chinese government is wary of online micro finance businesses and the impact micro loans could have on an impending credit bubble. >> translator: ali pay has more than 800 million users. it became a giant financial power after cooperating with financial institutions. ant has huge influence and is a monopoly in the platform economy. the authorities have begun to think it must be managed and served. >> reporter: ant may reduce loan amounts because of new draft regulations issued by beijing earlier in november. the group will now have to contribute at least 30% to a

loan. before, it could put up 1%, relying on affiliated banks to fund the rest. this means ant will have to take on more risk. dr. liu adds that recent comments by jack ma, the alibaba founder, may have been a tipping point. in a speech in october, ma argued that anverly regulated financial sector wastifling novation. >> translator: ma's speech was filled with a surprisingly provocative attitude. anyone in the chinese government would have been very angry listening to his speech. it prompted the tightening of regulations in the supervisory department. >> reporter: ant group has said it will follow the new rules, but with authorities lightening the grip on china's financial sector, it's unclear what the company's next move will be.

okay, let's have a look at the markets.

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks very much for joining us. e

abolished worldwide? the u.s. allows for more methods for execution as you and resolution against the practice is rejected. why is capital punishment favored in many areas? this is "inside story." welcome to the program. the death penalty is one of the world. it has been abolished in much