♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara. we begin here in japan where health authorities are reporting a record number of new coronavirus cases. more than 4,800 infections have been confirmed across japan on tuesday. the increase comes as the central government considers declaring another state of emergency for tokyo and three neighboring prefectures. kanagawa, saitama, and chiba. the area now accounts for half of the country's daily

infections. prime minister suga yoshihide says the government will make a final decision about the state of emergency on thursday. the measure is likely to remain in place for around a month. the declaration will give prefectural governors the legal authority to urge residents to cooperate with prevention efforts. >> translator: a state of emergency declaration will lead to stepped up measures. i hope they will be more effective. >> the four governors will ask people to refrain from non-essential outings after 8:00 p.m. they'll also request that bars and restaurants close by that time. but a state of emergency is less rigid in japan than in many western countries. it's so far relied on voluntary closures rather than strict lockdowns. suga says he'll submit a legal revision to the diet that would allow penalties for those who do not comply. with the number of serious ill

patients surging, governors around the capital are warning the health care system could collapse. front line medical workers say they hope the state of emergency will encourage people to be more alert. the state of emergency will look a lot different than when the entire country was affected in april. nhk world's nishikawa looks into the effectively of the government's latest strategy. >> reporter: the latest state of emergency would target outbreaks in places like this. busy areas where people come to eat and drink. people hope asking restaurants and bars to close earlier will help curb a surge in cases. it's a far cry from last april. businesses closed, schools were suspended and people made major changes to their habits. the work seemed to pay off with daily infection counts dropping by more than 95% from its peak

to 21 cases more than a month later when the emergency declaration was lifted. >> translator: when the first state of emergency was announced, people were shocked, and they cooperated to bring the outbreak under control. but i wonder if we can get the same level of cooperation as before, this time? >> reporter: there's reason to be concerned, since measures are mainly voluntary. tokyo officials say fewer people are following requests. some restaurants refuse to close early. experts say eating out is risky behavior, but eliminating the danger would require sacrifices. >> translator: if it's issued, food workers won't receive their salary, and we won't be able to eat out when we want to. i feel like we're deadlocked. >> there will be a lot of

opposition to closing the restaurants early, but i think we have to take care of ourselves. >> reporter: it's a more difficult promise to make for restaurant owners, already struggling under the effect of the pandemic. the latest ask is bringing many to their breaking point. this man runs eight restaurants in tokyo. he says the latest measure casts a shadow over his future. in april, he focused on takeout food, but it wasn't enough to make end's meet, even with subsidies. >> translator: i need to get a fair amount of financial support from the government, otherwise, ihink i'll go bankrupt. >> reporter: the government says monetary aid is part of its game changer strategy. so it's stricter enforcement. but that will take some time.

the prime minister is considering the legal change that would allow japan to fine anyone who breaks the rule. in the meantime, the effectiveness of the new advice could come down to how many people are willing to follow it. nishikawa mitsuko, nhk world. some of japan's top athletes are among those infected in the latest coronavirus wave. now, grand champion sumo wrestler yokozuna hakuho has tested positive. he developed problems with his sense of smell and took a pcr test on monday. an official with the association says the grand champion has no fever but will be admitted to a hospital following the guidance of public health authorities. all wrestlers who are thought to have been in contact at their shared sumo stable will undergo

testing. the grand champion will apparently miss this year's first tournament that starts in just five days. the mongolia-born athlete extended his title last march, but then he missed three tournaments after that due to knee surgery. in britain, prime minister johnson announced a new national lockdown for england to combat a variant of the coronavirus thought to be more contagious. johnson made the announcement in a televised speech on monday evening, as britain reported a record 58,784 new cases of vid-19. >> it's cle that we need to do more together to bringhis new variant under control, while our vaccines are rolled out. >> johnson said people can go out only for reasons including shopping and exercise. rule breakers will be fined 200

pounds. non-essential shops are asked to close. primary and secondary schools and colleges in england will move to remote classes. johnson said the virus can spread in schools, and from there, infect households. as of monday, there were nearly 27,000 coronavirus patients in hospitals in england. that's an increase of 40% from ten days earlier. more than the number recorded during the first wave last spring. scotland announced similar measures that will take effect on tuesday. inoculations using the covid-19 vaccine developed by astrazeneca and oxford universitiy started n britain on monday. the pfizer biontech is already in use, with many already receiving doses. in the united states, people who were first in line to receive the coronavirus vaccine are now getting their second

shots. inoculations with the pfizer biontech vaccine began in the u.s. on december 1th. the two shots are to be administered three weeks apart. on monday, critical care nurse sandra lindsey received her second dose in new york. she was among the first u.s. medical workers to get the initial shot. >> in addition to, you know, just looking at me, using me as an example that the vaccine is safe. >> the center for disease control and prevention says doses had been distributed nationwide as of monday, but it says the total number of doses administered stood at just over 4.5 million, falling far short of the federal government's target of 20 million people by the end of december. a vaccination center in florida ran out of stock in just two hours on monday. people hoping to get inoculated arrived in vehicles, forming a

waiting line several kilometers long. u.s. president donald trump and president-elect joe biden are campaigning in the state of georgia on the eve of two critical senate runoff elections. the result will determine which party holds the majority in the chamber. if democrats win both, they would effectively control the senate for the first time in years, since kamala harris would cast the deciding vote as vice president. if republicans win either seat, the party would retain a slim majority and could block biden's legislative agenda. democrats controlled majority of the house in the november elections. biden called for democratic support at a rally in atlanta on monday. he once again criticized trump's

handling of the coronavirus and pledged to speed up vaccinations. >> the president spends more time whining and complaining than doing something about the problem. i don't know why he still wants the job. he doesn't want to do the work. >> trump also held a rally in the state, attacking biden and stoking fears over the democrats' immigration policy. >> they'll throw open american borders, allow tens of millions of illegal immigrants to pour into our country from every corner of the globe. >> the latest polls suggest both democratic candidates have a slim lead over their republican rivals, as voters prepare to head to the polls. iran says it's resumed the process to enrich uranium to 20% purity. it's the latest in a string of violations that began after the u.s. unilaterally withdrew from

a landmark nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on iran in 2018. a government spokesperso say the process started on monday but did not say when it would reach the 20% level. some experts say uranium enriched at that level can be quickly converted for use in nuclear weapons. the 2015 nuclear pact iran signed with major world powers limited enrichment to under 5%, a level considered to be within the scope of peaceful activities. the international atomic energy agency confirmed iran has begun the enrichment process. in a report sent to member states, the u.n. nuclear watchdog earlier warned that tehran was stepping up activities. an expert says iran's latest move is meant to send a message, that it's not bound to any agreement. >> it is a tactic for the irthe

use, showing they were ready to move even further. it is sort of a blackmail. i mean, it is sort of a threat that they're now trying to use. >> the expert added that there is a chance that european countries and the incoming biden administration will work together to address the issue, and that iran may temper its uranium enrichment. but until then, he says tensions will remain high. staying with iran, the country seized a south korean flagged tanker in the persian gulf, claiming it violated environmental protocols. the revolutionary guard corps said on monday that the vessel had been transferred to a port in the untry's south. its 20 crew members have reportedly being detained. they include south korean and indonesian nationals. iran says it is planning a legal case, claiming the tanker

breached marine environmental protocols. south korea's foreign ministry says the vessel had been navigating waters off oman and moved toward iran at the request of authorities there. seoul demanded the immediate release of the vessel and its crew. a news agency is quoting an official from the tanker's operator, who denied the vessel breached any environmental protocols. south korea's defense ministry says it'll send troops to areas near the site where the ship was seized. turning to a serial killing in japan. the death sentence for a 30-year-old man convicted of killing nine people has been finalized after a deadline to appeal the ruling expired on monday. last month shiraishi takahiro was found guilty on a series of charges, including sexual assault, murder, and abandoning the victims' remains in coolers.

the remains were found in his apartment, located just outside tokyo, in 2017. he used social media to contact mostly female victims who posted that they were contemplating suicide. during last month's sentencing the presiding judge said the dignity the nine young victims should have had after death was trampled on. defense lawyers initially appealed the conviction, but shiraishi later withdrew the motion. time for a check of world weather with meteorologist jonathan oh. snow piles up in northern parts of japan. jonathan, how are things looking as we go through the next few days? >> hello. some of the oldest air of the season will be moving into japan as we head to the end of this weekend. a lot more snow is ahead. we already have plenty of it on the ground. yamagata prefecture, hijiori, we

talked about 2.5 millieters of , and now we're close to 3 meters into the rest of tuesday and wednesday. likely going to see this increasing, and even more so as we head to the end of this week. what's happening is, we had a low pressure system move through that helped bring in some of the colder air and continuing the snow process. but we are expecting another system to really push through as we head into the latter part of this week. here's a look at the forecast for the next 72 hours. what's happening is, we will see the snow intensifying as we go into thursday. you'll see this big, white wall showing up, and then we go toward friday. we'll see the snow continuing to fall in the area. yes, you'll need to keep an eye out for this snow as we go throughout the rest of this week. here's a look at the three-day forecast. sapporo looking at snow. thursday, the cold air push. niigata looking at snow the rest of the week. tokyo, look at this, going from 10 to 12 on thursday down to 8 on friday. osaka may see a few flurries and a big cooldown coming up on

friday. all in all, big push of cold air coming through. if you look at the wider picture in asia, the purple shades showing us really frigid air expected to move this way is going down south. beijing will see temperatures drop 5 to 7 degrees as we go into wednesday. a high of 10 degrees below zero on wednesday. 2 degrees below zero with snow throughout the day. down south, we're keeping an eye on this tropical system that's slowly moving toward the west. it is over the open waters at the moment, but we expect it to intensify throughout the next few days, and keep the strength together as it moves toward the west. madagascar may be in the sights of this system as we go into the weekend and first part of next week. keep an eye on that particular system. toward the north, across europe, we are expecting showers to be in the forecast here, as we have a system, a couple of them, located in the central and southern areas of the continent. we also have another system

moving into the united kingdom. we're looking at the possibility of some possible ice accumulation into the higher elevations. be on the lookout for that as we go throughout the next couple of days. that's a look at your forecast. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪ ♪

♪ here's one last story. the auction bell at tokyo's wholesale food market rang early on tuesday morning as trading got under way for the first time this year. the first auction of 2021 started shortly after 5:00 a.m.

and as is tradition, raw and frozen tuna from across japan was at the center of attention. attendance this year was limited as a precaution against the coronavirus. infections were reported among a group of traders last year. the top prize was a 208 kilogram blue fin tuna from o northern prefecture. it was purchased for about 20.8 million yen or around $200,000. >> translator: when i caught the tuna, i thought, this is really big. i originally expected a much higher price. but given the influence of the coronavirus, i have to accept it. >> this year's price was far below the record price of about $3 million set at the start of 2019. that is all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. thank you very much for joining us.

♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. ana holdings will reduce flights if a state of emergency is declared for tokyo and surrounding prefectures. >> translator: air transportation is key infrastructure for economic activities, but we have to reduce or cancel flights if demandalls significantly because we cannot afford to lose any more money. the cutwill be made mainly to

flights to and from tokyo. >> the coronavirus pandemic has pummelled the air travel industry. ana holdings expects a record group net loss of nearly $5 billion for the year ending in march. the ceo said the company's turnaround plan will involve cutting more than $3.8 billion of costs. the aim is to return to profits in the next fiscal year. he also said the company's biggest goal is to survive on its own. he dismissed the idea of an integration of its international flight business with rival japan airlines. the new york stock exchange says it has withdrawn plans to delist three major chinese telecom firms. that reverses an announcement on new year's eve that it'd comply with an executive order from president donald trump. the exchange had planned to remove shares of china telecom,

china mobile and china unicom from january 11th. the board says the new decision comes in light of further consultation with regulators. it doesn't give any further details. trump issued the order in november. it prohibited american investment in chinese firms with alleged ties to the military. beijing opposed the delisting and warned of countermeasures. it said the move went against market rules. shareholders of fiat chrysler and the parent company psa have given the go-aheado a merger. the move will create the world's fourth largest call maker to be called stellantis. the europe-based auto makers launched the talks two years ago. the eu granted anti-trust approval for the deal last month. >> we believe that the coming decade will redefine mobility as we have known it. we and our merger partners are

intent on playing a leading role in building this new future. and it is this addition that has brought us together. >> brands within the combined company will include peugot, fiat and jeep. stlantis will trail volkswagen and the nissan and mitsubishi alliance in terms of global sales. executives reportedly hope to focus their expertise and resources on the development of electr vecles. they're aiming to complete the deal by january 16th. on day two of our series of reports on key economic issues in 2021, we look at the global digital shift. the spread of the coronavirus

issued a new normal, accelerating the digitalization of society. but the changes are posing many challenges, especially in japan, which has been late in joining the trend. i spoke with a tech expert about the hurdles ahead. >> reporter: governments across the globe have initiated lockdowns and urged people to stay home amid the pandemic. the restrictions are transforming consumer behavior. the change has boosted i.t. giants, including google, apple, facebook, and amazon in their role as digital platform operators. china's leading tech firms are also seeing significant growth, as the government prioritizes digitalization of the world's second largest economy. much of the accelerated expansion in the u.s. and china is due to the collection and analysis of enormous amounts of user data. venture capitalist yamamoto says

the i. giants are using the so-called dp learning technology to meet changing stomer demand. >> they have this combination of the crowd and cutting-edge technology. that is a secret. >> reporter: but there are concerns over the unprecedented size and influence of the companies. lawsuits have been launched in the u.s. against facebook and google for stifling competition. the eu has also been cracking down on i.t. giants for allegedly abusing their market dominance. meanwhile, yamamoto says japan has the opportunity to take part in today's fast-moving digital business environment due to its own unique data. >> tokyo is a biggest city in the world. if they can't use this massive data in tokyo, they can have one

of the best in the world. they have the potential to grow. they need to brush up or acquire the cutting edge technology from outside. >> reporter: like the rest of the world, the pandemic has accelerated japan's online shift, including remote working. the government is pushing to establish a new digital agency. the private sector is moving to digitalize operations. however, yamamoto says the country needs more collaboration between various industries. management teams, he says, should include people with a variety of backgrounds. >> create a special -- mixed with the industry, such as hardware, software, and service. manufacturing company with software is important now. they need the apps. there is a great opportunity for changing its culture and the

mindset in this model. >> reporter: yamamoto says this diversity, along with the pandemic, pushing japanese corporations toward digitalization could be a tailwind in driving growth. 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. -

al jazeera, nairobi, kenya. >> this is al jazeera. these are the headlines. saudi arabia is opening its airspace and borders to qatar, in what are seen as big steps towards resolving a 3.5 year diplomatic crisis. kuwait has been mediating between qatar and 4 arab states. the announcement was made on the eve of a summit in saudi arabia.