hello, thank you for joining us for this edition of "nhk newsline". we have the latest at this hour. health experts are warning of an explosive increase in the number of new coronavirus cases. the daily tally topped 100,000 on friday for the first time since early february. they blame it on the current

sub variant. they said the mass infections would lead to a serious number of covid-19 cases. the prime minister said earlier today, he does not intend to introduce new restrictions at this point. he held a meeting of the coronavirus task force ahead of the national long weekend. they did discuss ways to get people tested before heading home to visit elderly relatives. he says he will keep japan on high alert, and put the focus on boosting the medical system's ability to handle case counts. the government will continue the fourth vaccine doses. he urged people to take advantage of opportunities to get tested for free. >> there are 13,000 coronavirus free testing centers. i will set up additional centers at more than 100 locations, including major train stations and words, so people can take a test before returning to their home towns

for vacation. >> when the omicron variant went through japan, the government snapped orders shut again. the orders have loosened. as of june, small numbers of foreign tourists are allowed to visit on guided tours. so far, there are no plans to change that. tokyo reported nearly 20,000 new infections on friday. that is more than double the number recorded a week ago. despite the guided tours, the millions of chinese travelers used to visit japan each year have largely been absent. many are being held back by beijing's zero covid-19 policy.>> reporter: this japanese travel agent has come to japan's travel industry in beijing. he is here to pick up his chinese customers. there are only about 10. most are for study, not tourism. >> china limits travel.

we have received almost no inquiries about tourism visas. >> reporter: beijing is two people for the last 2.5 years, not to travel overseas, unless necessary. the demand is clearly still there. this may look like the back streets of tokyo. it is actually beijing. the dining facility opened this year with eight new restaurants offering a taste of japan. >> last time i went to japan was 3 years ago. i really want to go again. >> people have not been able to travel to japan due to the pandemic. i wanted to create a place that offers a similar experience. it has been popular.>> reporter: when that restrictions are

lifted, the quenching measures will remain a sticking point. this is a big fan of a japanese idol group. before the pandemic, she also visited japan to see her favorites performed. sometimes even once a month. since the pandemic started, she has been worried about the long quarantine required after coming home. >> i like to go next year, the quenching measures were returning to china are relaxed.>> reporter: the chinese government recently issued guidelines to shorten the isolation period from 14 period days through down to seven. with their quarantine policies in place, could be sometime before the tourism industry picks up again in japan.

[ indiscernible ] has officially stepped down as the president of sri lanka. this comes after months of antigovernment protesting over the worsening economic crisis. sri lanka's parliamentary speaker officially accepted the resignation on friday. earlier this week, the former leader fled the country with his wife. he is reportedly in singapore. it brings an end to nearly a decade of sri lanka is ruled by this dynasty. he and his brother have served as president, while relatives held key government positions. the largest city of colombo is under a state of emergency after a week of unrest. testers clash with security forces on wednesday. the official residences of the president and prime minister remain occupied by

demonstrators. the prime minister is serving as the acting press til a new one is elected next wednesday. there is hope that the new leadership will ease tensions and restore public trust. the country remains critically short on food and fuel. they lack the funding to import more. people here in japan and across the globe continue to mourn former prime minister, shinzo abe. there is growing scrutiny over the security in place when he was shot. experts are questioning how the gunman was able to get so close to shinzo abe. >> reporter: when we got to the death of shinzo abe, people are paying their respects on the street where he was killed. the shooting stunned people in japan, and left many wondering what went wrong. see mega of this kind of attack will never happen again. i hope police will take more

security measures. >> reporter: police have been focusing on how the 41-year-old suspect was able to make a gun, and for hair for the attack. japan's national police agency is also investigating security flaws. they sent a team to interview the local officers that were guarding shinzo abe. at a press conference, japan's leader called for scrutiny. >> [ speaking foreign language ] >> to be honest, i think the was a problem with the security arrangements. i hope the police will conduct a full investigation, and fix what needs to be fixed as soon as possible.>> reporter: video footage offers a sense of the situation. police say four men were assigned to guard shinzo abe, including one position behind him. the footage shows that officer may have been distracted by someone pushing a cart across the street. he faed to see the suspect walking toward shzo abe.

the former police chief calls the security operation a complete failure. >> there was a small number of security guards on alert toward the back. they were facing the wrong way. i think there were various gaps. >> reporter: experts a police in japan may not have asked variance with this type of attack. in the past, they have dealt with demonstrations with extremists, which targeted politicians. recently, there have been few incidents. the expert says that shinzo abe's death will force police to change. >> we entered an arab security where we have to protect important people and facilities from terrorists and invisible enemies, like lone wolves. police methods have changed a lot. i think we are entering such a

difficult time. >> reporter: japan will host world leaders at major events next year, including the g7 summit in hiroshima. they plan to review security measures for the vips in the wake of this attack. police are investigating how the suspect made the murder weapon himself, using materials that are easily acquired. police say they found what appeared to be bullet parts at a nearby mountain, where they believe the killer tested his homemade gun. investigators searched this mountain after the account of tetsuya yamagami of testing his weapon. he found fragments that appear to be bullet parts. other items were conch brick, a drum, and a wooden board that tetsuya yamagami may have used for target practice. they will examine items that he made it home, including possible bombs.

ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy , is accusing russian forces of what he calls, and open act of terrorism. they fired rockets at an office building, damaging residential buildings nearby, killing at least 23 people. the attack happened on thursday. the rescue crews are trying to find survivors. dozens are missing. authorities say the area has no military targets. >> the cruise missiles at two community facilities. houses were destroyed. a medical center was destroyed. cars and trains were on fire. this is an active russian terror. he addressed delegates from

40 countri together to coordinate investigations and war crim. he urged them to open a special tribunal. >> it likely will not be easy. there is merit in doing that with as many friends as possible from the international community. we will seek to support ukraine where we can. investigators with the international criminal court don't have jurisdiction over ukraine or russia. neither country is a member. the court's chief prosecutor says that the delegates were together, they can achieve justice. ukrainian government also says russian troops committed at least 407 war crimes against ukrainian cultural heritage. the lviv museum started to relocate its collection of february for the first time in its history. it made the decision because russian forces often destroy cultural assets during the invasion. a room for christian paintings has been emptied of all works. the director of the museum said

culture is the soul of people, and estate exists because of their culture. on thursday, russian president vladimir putin signed in several new laws, including one said to punish defection. it considers that russian citizens participation in a conflict, or military actions in a foreign state against the interests of russia as an act of defection. they are now considered treason, with a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison. japan ended the self- defense force, humanitarian mission to airlift commodities to ukraine. the mission was conducted upon request from the office of the un high commissioner for refugees, as a humanitarian relief operation, in line with japan's peace-cooperation act. they picked up supplies stockpiled in a warehouse in the united arab emirates. it was carried out from may 1

through june 27. a total of eight flights delivered about 103 tons of blankets, tarps, solar powered lanterns, and utensils to poland and romania. the defense ministry will continue working with other countries to assist displaced people from ukraine. atmospheric conditions have become unstable from western to northern japan. officials are warning people to watch for a sudden increase in rainfall in the southwest. the meteorological agency says warm, moist air is pulling into a front. officials predict of heavy rain clouds could develop overnight, and into saturday morning, bringing more rain to the southern and northern regions, as well as the yamaguchi prefecture. so send east on saturday, and it will bring localized downpours of 50 millimeters or more per hour. officials are advising

everyone to remain on alert for possible landslide and flooding in low-lying areas, and watch out for lightning and gusting wind. they advise residents to check the latest weather information, and follow evacuation advisories from local advisories and authorities. we won the outlook for japan as we go into a three day weekend in the world weather report. hello, we are seeing heavy rain impacting western areas of japan. kobayashi saw 214.5 millimeters of rainfall. that is an all-time record. you will notice more of the rain is moving in, surrounding this stationary front. is not technically a rainy season front. it is acting like it. whenever we have front like this, that just days over japan, we will see plenty of moisture flowing into it. it will continue to dump rain, sometimes heavy rain is a go during the overnight, it is

saturday morning. this is what we can expect. i will give you closer look with the model forecast. keep an eye on the arrows. they become yellow, that means the wind will be stronger. when you see purple, that is intense rainfall. we could see flash flooding with this type of moisture running through. here's the 24 hour forecast. we can see the heavy rainfall, with strong winds associated from the south. the focal point will shift into central portions of japan. we are talking about 22 millimeters of rainfall, with some areas getting 350 millimeters of rain. we are seeing a lot of the heavy rain happening overnight, and spreading to the northeast. by the time we hit late afternoon on saturday, we will see a lot more in terms of sunshine. tokyo will pick up on rainfall. that will last into sunday and monday. rain will return as we going

monday. make sure you review your evacuation plans. make sure you have emergency supplies in place. if you need to get out, with any warnings coming in, you will know what to do. make sure you charge your supplies as well, before you go to bed. you can keep an eye on what is going on. i hope you have a safe day, wherever you are.

that is all for now on this edition of "nhk newsline". coming up next is "newsline biz" . stay right there.

this is "nhk newsline". china's economy grew at the second slowest pace in 30 years over the last quarter, compared to a year ago. they are blaming the stifling effects of the stiff coronavirus measures. the economy grew 0.4% year on year in the april-june period.

that's the lowest quarterly expansion since officials lockdown the city of wuhan about 2 years ago, leading to negative gdp growth. for more insight, i spoke with our reporter in beijing. what is the biggest factor dragging down china's economy? district antivirus measures to get zero covid took a major toll. the effect of the lot imaging height was not just felt in that city, and its vicinity, but across the country. manufacturers connected to shanghai felt that supply chains were stopping reduction lines. the city of beijing imposed a ban on banning [ indiscernible ] until may. people's movement was restricted nationwide. this put a damper on consumption. the service sector suffered,

including restaurants and hotels. most experts believe that the figures underscored china be discouraged. the focus is on the extent to which the economy can recover. >> what is the outlook for recovery?>> reporter: the government lifted the stay at home orders in shanghai last month, once infections were brought under control. they're taking measures to shore up the economy, such as helping companies resume production and cutting taxes on car purchases. some data shows this is working. productions and sales have jumped. the economy is not in a downward spiral. uncertainty clouds the recovery picture.

infection numbers in shanghai have been on the rise. if the virus makes a comeback, the government could impose antivirus measures again. consumption will not pick up, and businesses would not invest in equipment unless people have hope for the future. with profit and growth, businesses would cut wages and the job market was ink. that is a vicious cycle that china's economy could find itself in. >> will beijing remain committed to the zero covid-19 policy?>> reporter: president xi jinping has stressed this is the most effective for china. it suggested will not go away anytime soon. the president is considered that the policy has had an adverse impact on the economy. i've a feeling that the government might take steps to mitigate the damage.

it's about how beijing can strike a balance between stimulating the economy and preventing the virus from spreading. last season's travel season shows how difficult this can be. it led to the nationwide spread of the virus. the government responded with stricter measures. that caused a sudden drop in travel demand. the case numbers are gradually rising in some cities. how beijing responds is a key focus. shane has she has lockdown affected japan. china's economy is the second largest in the world. the domestic covid-19 policy poses a risk outside its borders. the continued slowdown could hurt global growth. consumer prices in

argentina have made the biggest leap in 30 years. people are taking to the streets to protest. the national statistics bureau says the consumer price index rose in june from one year earlier by 64%. that is the biggest margin of increase since january 1992, and there are growing concerns about the future of the economy. russia's ongoing invasion of ukraine is pushing up prices of everything from food to fuel. people staged a rally to demand cash handouts to every household, and other measures. they say the skyrocketing inflation is making it difficult to survive. argentina's financial situation has seen it come close to defaulting on its debts in recent years. he received $44 billion of financial aid from the international monetary fund in a bid to rebuild its economy. in exchange for that financial support, argentina needs to start belt-tightening measures. any moved to do so is met with

public opposition. this led the economy minister to resign earlier this month. the g 20 finance ministers and finance chiefs kicked off a two day meeting on the indonesian island of bali. the countries remain divided on russia's invasion of ukraine. the delegates are hoping to find common ground on tackling the economic fallout from the conflict, in particular, runaway inflation. >> the war and the pric increase could worsen the global in inflation spike, and increased further, social instability. indonesia's finance minister says a humanitarian catastrophe is on the horizon if the g20 cannot work together. damage to the supply chains caused by the pandemic is been exasperated by the war in eastern europe. food and fuel prices are soaring around the world. the impact is being felt by the

average people in the richest western countries, and those in the poorest, developing nations. despite the global crisis, there is a high chance of an impasse after the g20 foreign minister summit ended with no joint communiqui. the western delegates have been pushing china, india, and south africa to sanction russia's government, but have so far been unsuccessful. amazon says the prime service holder purchase 300 million items during the annual summer sales event this week. the online retail giant says electronics and home products were especially popular during the prime day promotion. consumer research firms have dug into the numbers. as of eight shoppers for the two day sale, showing 80% said inflation weighed on their purchase choices. the firm says that 60% of the

orders were for food and daily necessities, costing $20 or less. they also say that the total online sales in the u.s. during the promion se 8.5%fr last year, hitting a record $11.9 billion. japan is facing possible power shortage this winter. the economy minister indicated that more nuclear reactors could be switched on. currently, only five reactors are in operation in japan. four others could soon pass regular safety inspections. >> [ speaking foreign language ] >> the government is preparing to put nuclear power reactors back in operation. we are doing all we can to secure maximum power capacity for winter. we are ensuring safety. >> he says he will secure the

capacity from about 10 thermal power units. he plans to ask electric power companies to restart dormant power stations. let's get a check on the markets.

that is it for "newsline biz". thank you very much for watching. six straight>> you'reg

al jazeera. the remainder of our top stories. the nationwide curfew has an intro anchor, brought on by massive protests -- in sri lanka, brought on by massive protests. thousands gathered outside the residence of the prime minister, demanding his resignation. he had taken over as acting president after former president rajapaksa fled the country. joe biden is on his first trip to the middle east as u.s. president. he with le