welcome to "nhk newsline." it is tuesday, january 12. a strain of the coronavirus spreading across the u.s. west coast has been sde tected in japan. researchers from the school of medicine have been analyzing samples taken from 13 hospitals nationwide. the team says the person in the region was infected with the strain known as 20 c. it's been prevalent in the

united states and not been detected in japan since last may. the patient had not traveled abroad. researchers say the strain does not appear to have changed in nature. the current outbreak comprises two other variants that persisted following the first wave of infections. quarantine officials are stepping up measures to keep out variants found in britain and south africa. both are said to be highly transmissible. >> analyzed machines of coronavirus strains nationwide and grasp the situation quickly and accurately. >> the government is considering expanding its state of emergency to counter a steep rise in coronavirus infections. the declaration covers tokyo skpo three neighboring prefectures.

it went into effect last friday and will remain in place until february 7th. the updated members about the situation on tuesday. >> translator: outside the tokyo area, infections are spreading rapidly in osaka and other prefectures. the government will consider expanding the state of emergency to cover these. >> osaka is expected to be include d in the measure as eary as tuesday. governors have also asked that the declaration be in their prefectures. a state of emergency is less strict in japan than other countries. it gives governors legal authority to urge residents to cooperate, but there's no legal penalties for failing to comply. officials in tokyo reported 970 new coronavirus cases on tuesday

after a long weekend. 144 people in the capital are in serious condition. that figure is the highest to date. experts say the strain on the medical system in the capital is much more serious than during the first wave of infections last spring. >> translator: if the daily count res main as high as 2,000, it will be difficult to keep up. as soon as we expand capacity, it is filled immediately. >> officials from the central government have consulted with lawmakers from the main ruling democratic party about plans to revise a keyen antivirus law. it would enable governors to take preemptive measures before a state of emergency is declared it would also allow penalties for businesses thatten don't comply with requests to shorten their operating hours.

across the country, health authorities reported more than 4,500 new coronavirus cases on tuesday. tokyo is on day five of a state of emergency, but rl indications show that the declaration may not be having its intended effect. our next story looks at why people are still venturing out and how one expert thigs this stricter restrictions may be needed to stem the surging number of infections. >> reporter: across many parts of tokyo, it was business as usual. people keen on mauk imake the most of their three-day weekend. >> translator: we had the tickets and didn't want to waste them. >> translator: i know we're under the state of emergency, but it doesn't ban going out so everyone is going out. >> reporter: data shows foot traffic has decreased suns the

state of emergency was imposed last week. but the number of people in major districts is still more than doubled compared to last year's state of emergency. this is what should be famed scramble crossing looked like last april. this is what it looked like sunday. during the last state of emergency schools and wide range of businesses were asked to close. this time restrictions are limited and concentrated with a focus on restaurants and bars. >> translator: i'm trying to be careful in my own way. i must admit i feel less wary than before. >> reporter: a public health expert says the government may not be conveying the urgency of the situation effectively. and additional measures may be necessary. >> translator: the declaration asks people to refrain from going out unless it's necessary, especially after 8:00 p.m. it's regrettable that it gives the impression that only going at night is restricted.

>> reporter: the government expressed concern more stringent measures could negatively impact the country's financial outlook. but, with infection continuing to rise, officials are faced with finding a way to balance public health and the economy. head of the organizing committee for tokyo olympic and paralympic games has expressed his commitment to hold those events this summer as planned. he delivered a new years a address to 3500 staff members virtually on tuesday. translator: if i waiver or have any bit of indecisiveness, i think it will affect everything. we will calmly go ahead with >> he says hwants to work together to help bring people joy after a long period of darkness. a reference to the pandemic.

the committee's director general also addssed the members. he said it's his duty to think about how to hold the games and not to speculate about what will happen to them. the committee says it will have staff members work remotely as much as possible. that is in line with the state of emergency currently in place. turning to washington and the fallout from a riot, house democrats produced an impeachment solution against donald trump on monday. democrats criticized trump for his role in the storming of the capitol last week. the impeachment article says trump incited violence against the government and that he will remain a threat to national

security and democracy despite having just over a week left in his term. the resolution is expected to be approved in the democrat-controlled house of representatives. if approved the process moves to the senate which holds a trial. it would make trump the first ever u.s. president to be impeached twice. the first time in december 2019 over allegations of applying improper pressure on ukraine. a two-thirds vote of the senate is required to convict and remove the president. but without broad republican support it appears unlikely the trump will be removed from office. the democrats were seeking unanimous consent for a resolution that calls on vice president mike pence to convene the cabinet and invoke 25th amendment to remove trump. republicans oppose the move. a vote on it is planned for tuesday. the chaos in the capitol is

prompting some of america's biggest companies to consider who gets their political donations. on monday, american express announced it will suspend donations to lawmakers who objected to the certification of joe biden's election win. in memo to employees, ceo said the steps taken by some congressional members does not align with the company's values. other big names, citigroup, goldman sachs, google and facebook. meanwhile the fbi is reportedly warning that armed protests are possible in washington, d.c. and all 50 state capitals leading up to inauguration day. u.s. media say an internal fbi bulletin advises relevant authorities that demonstrations are being planned from january 16th to 20th. that's when joe biden will be sworn in as president.

the agency has also reportedly been told one armed group is warning of a possible uprising if trump is removed from office before his term ends. authorities are stepping up security in the capitol. metal fences nearly two meters high have been erected near the inauguration site. around 10,000 members of the national guard will be mobilized in the city by the end of this week. the mayor of washington has issued a statement from governors from maryland and virginia urging people to stay away from the area. taiwan is rolling out a confusing its citizens with with chinese nationals. officials say they were motivated by complaints of

passport holders who were subjected to pandemic travel restrictions faplace uotsuried chinese nationals. >> is. >> translator: i think having the word taiwan is great. >> thaiwan is also making changs aimed at ensuring it gets proper credit for foreign aid. these cargo planes now feature an outline of the island. authorities have used to have 6 million donated masks to dozens of countries. but some thought it came from china. each year in people in hawaii commemorate the attack on pearl harbor.

a group of students have joined up to try to create a more peaceful world. nhk world has the details. >> 20 years ago it began a peefl progress. in recent years students traveled to hiroshima to listen to the stories from survivors of the u.s. attack. and to meet with locals on how to build a better future. last year it was one of the three students chosen. she hoped to follow in the footsteps of the most famous graduate. forler u.s. president barack

obama. in 20 obama became the first american leader to visit hiroshima. he offered traditional origami crane as message of hope and peace. one of them is on display in an exhibition on pearl harbor. it sits next to a crane made by a famous bombing victim exposed to the radiation and died at the age of 12. >> i was interested in what he was doing and who he was. i still believe he was a strong person. especially for his efforts. >> but the pandemic presented her classmates from making the trip. so they decided to emulate obama

as a gesture of peace. they hope to spread the message by exchanging origami with studentings around the world. she was inspired by her grandfather. during world war ii he was interned as an enemy in a location camp because of his japanese heritage. he later joined the u.s. army and fought in the vietnam r. that caud post-traumatic stress disorder and he was harmed by a chemical called agent orange. >> at the end of his life four years ago, he was suffering from a lot of pain buzz of the symptoms from that event. so seeing how he lived and how he suffered made me wish for a

more peaceful world so others wouldn't have to experience the same. >> she and her friends tried something new. they made a video to help elementary students see hawaii learn about the importance of peace. they believe the first step is recognizing the humanity opt others. >> i believe anyone can push that message of peace and create a better world if we're willing to do so. >> in hawaii the attack on pearl heart boar still seems fresh, even though it happened 79 years ago. young people are determined to use those painful memories to push for a more peaceful future.

nhk world, hawaii. it's time for a check on the weather with meteorologist jonathan oh. it was a wet day in doak owe, but heavy snow continued to fall in many areas of japan. how are things looking for wednesday? >> we're going to be dealing with a little more in terms of snow as we go through wednesday. we have been dealing with this pattern of snowy weather along the sea of japan, but we had a system coming in from the south. as it did so, we saw rain and sleet reported in tokyo as it went through the ta. moisture move d to the north an east. and the process bringing some of that precipitation. i want to show you some visit yoe out of osaka where we saw plenty of snowfall. this is part of the story of many areas seeing snow along the sea of japan. local media saying more than a thousand vehicles being stuck on the motor way along the northern prefecture. this so far some areas seeing

more than twice their normal amounts with more snow on the way. we saw snowfall amounts of around 8 centimeters in just a 6-hour period. that's a lot of snow in a short period of time. as we go forward through wednesday, we have some more low pressure areas moving through. as it continues to move through this pattern one after the other, we still have snow as a part of the forecast. alistening the toll and regions of japan, we'll see the pattern in place. and then we should be seeing a warm-up area down to the pacific side of japan. the high on wednesday, much warmer than what we have been seeing for some time. 14 for thursday. we'll see that warmer pattern continuing as we head into the weekend. meanwhile down to the south in ind anesthesonesia, we have bee about heavy rain in the area. western portions of the country. because of that, we saw a

landslide that took police on monday. and that really caused some issues for those located there. 27 are missing. and the dufltty is because of the unstable soil and the rough terrain. that's continued to cause issues. and rain continues to be part of the story. that's going to make things worse throughout the next couple days. let's go to the pacific northwest of the united states. we have a lot of rain continuing. the rain still in place. the reason we had this pattern in place is the moisture will continue to move into the area as we go forward. that's a look at your forecast.

>> that's all for this hour on nhk "newsline." thank you for watching. do stay with us for more.

>> this is "newsline" biz. i'm ramin mellegard. tokyo's benchmark stock indexes ended on a high after a long weekend in japan. it was companies leading the charge. up nearly 1 b tenth of a% from friday's close. that's the highest from 1990. pharmaceuticals also pushed the

index up after reports of another effective covid-19 treatment. it added more than 4% and expanded its winning streak to three days. but somg investors were worried by news that parts of western japan may soon be under a state of emergency. japan's financial services agent us is is trying to make it easier for foreign investment funds to set up shop in the country. it launched an english-speaking team to navigate the language barriers. financial service ises minister members will help foreign firms with everything from providing consul dagss and expect things to screening documents and overseeing operations. it's part of the government eers push to turn japan into asia's leading financial hub. the taxes are higher than in other major economies.

mitsubishi plans to launch its first jet have been dealt a new blow. the firm says one of its customers in the u.s. has cancelled an order for up to 20 space jets. aviation ordered ten jets in 2016 with an option to buy ten more. but the company cancelled the order at the end of december after mitsubishi put the brakes on the plane's development. mitsubishi has been working since 2008. the first planes were supposed to reach customers in 2013. but the project ran into mechanical and logistical problems and froze the development in october. it also slashed the annual budget for the program by 90%. parent company has spent about 9.6 billion dollars on the space jet program. it still has orders for 287

planes, but the decision could spur other clients to follow suit. as small business owners and individuals across japan are increase iingly relying on loano survive the coronavirus pandemic they continue to borrow more in december pushing the amount owed to banks nationwide to record highs. the bank of japan report says outstanding debts last month averaged more than 577 trillion yen or about $5.5 trillion. that's the highest amount owed since 2000 when data became available. the figures climbed each month since october. big corporations appear to be borrowing less but individual operators are still struggle in. and there's likely to be more pain ahead. the poj is warning that the state of emergency in tokyo and b surrounding prefectures could put another dent in the economy.

fpz fpz. one of the world's largest technology trade fairs has kicked off. the electronics show tracks over 100,000 visitors who crowd into a venue las vegas. this year, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the event to go fully online. the media got a glimpse of ces on monday. companies showed off their products and services. over 1,800 are taking part. that is less than half compared

to last year. panasonic is showcasing a new technology called emotion and physical condition sensing. it takes images of physical faces and analyzes features and subtle changes in expressions. it reveals data, feelings and personally. in colors and shapes. >> translator: it helps people make smooth communication and also gives them a chance to see themselves in a new light. >> japanese telecon giant has a high speed network that will harness technologies that improve on driving and farming. china's leading internet search company says it's teaming up amazon has suspended par already life-support.

parlor was suspend ed from amazn on monday. amazon said parlor failed to deal with the number of posts it fed a lsuit in ce. injunction in deral cour googalnd apple hav also suspend poler fm their p stor. > china's leading internet search company says its teaming up with a major automaker. it's setting up a subsidiary with the holdings group. the new company will make them sell electronic cars. it provides the technology for self-driving while geely had will handle the production. china's the biggest market. demand for electric cars is

going fast. let's get a check on the markets.

that's it for news line biz. thank you for watching.

on board. >> good to have you with us. u.s. house democrats introduced a resolution to impeach donald trump for incrithing violence and declaring trump unfit. the f.b.i. is warning of armed protests in washington d.c. and all 50 states in the days leading up to biden's inauguration. security is being stepped. the