joining us on this edition of nhk newsline. japanese cabinet ministers have approved the budget for former prime minister shinzo abe's funeral. it is set for next month and comes with a roughly $1.8 million price tag. japan's government will be for all of it. they plan to invite 6000 guests.

will be held on september 27. about 1 1/2 million dollars is for preparing the venue. the rest will be spent on rentals fees, transportation and others. the budget does not include the cost for police. altars will be set up in a location separate public to pay tribute. the abe was fatally shot during a campaign speech in july. estate funeral will be only the second held for the former prime minister in the postwar history. the chief cabinet secretary says the government received a wide range of condolences from in and out of the country and decided it need to respond in line with international protocol but the plan has sparked controversy with some arguing the government should not pay for the event. >> >> translator: the government has decided that it is appropriate to hold the funeral. as an official national event with attendees from overseas.

>> i will continue to explain the idea that it is not expected that each citizen will mourn, nor should the state funeral is seen as a political issue. >> japanese government sources say washington is considering a plan for vice president kamala harris to attend the funeral. they say other possible attendees include barack obama and former german chancellor. coronavirus pandemic is putting a spotlight on japan's slow pace and developing vaccines compared to western nations. it has now picked 10 universities and laboratories for vaccine development research. the science ministry says the university of tokyo will be home to a new research first the project. it will conduct studies for viruses that can trigger future pandemics. researchers will collaborate on attacks. the government plans

to invest about $380 million in the project over the next five years. north korea's is a recent outbreak of fever in the countries north was caused by influenza, not covid-19. the parties newspaper reports four people experiencing symptoms have tested negative for the coronavirus. a lockdown in the province which borders china is now being lifted. earlier this month, kim jong-un decide declared the country had prevailed despite against covid- 19. they have eased much of the measures including the mask mandate except for people living near the chinese and south korean borders.

human rights spearheaded the investigation. the group says russians have used the widely banned weapons hundreds of times. it also reports a handful of attacks launched by ukraine. the new report cument the tax from the first four months of the invasion on top of the debts it also logged nearly 500 injuries. now cluster munitions the first smaller submunitions under a wide area usually striking civilians. and international treaty labels them cruel and bans them. they are urng themto sign on. it says the unexploded remnants of weapons used so far could remain a danger for many years. china and south korea marked the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties on wednesday. in business terms, the relationship is stronger than ever with china and now south korea's largest trading partner but is the next report explains it has left the neighbors at a

crossroads. >> a tradeshow opened earlier this month in china's province. hundreds of south korea companies took part. chinese influences were busy promoting south korean products. >> translator: south korean brands are wonderful. i feel like my skin has become so smooth. >> south korean entrepreneur is a familiar face at these events. he owns a factory in china that makes cables for car navigation systems. he says sales are up 10 times since the factory opened in 2007. but not even the pandemic slowed him down. >> translator: the chinese market is expanding explosively . if the two countries built trust and worked together, we can forge better relations and a better future.

>> despite the deepening economic ties, the mood in the country has started to change. the anti-china sentiment is on the rise. one survey asked people in their 20s and 30s to rank major countries on a scale of 1 to 10. the average favorability score for china was 2.7, lessan half that for the u.s. dearly since has caused the demise of a major project in this mountainous area outside salt. in 2019, chinese developers announced a plan to build a mega-themepark to showcase chinese culture. but, local residents protested. they worried the project could lead to an influx of chinese immigrants. with no sign of it to they withdrew their plan in april.

>> there is friction on the political front. sol is moving to deploy a u.s. missile defense system. beijing sees the advanced missile sealed as a security threat ignoring warnings from china, south korean president stresses that a stronger alliance with washington will benefit his country's security. >> are diplomatic principles and standards are based solely on national interest. the u.s. wants closer cooperation and technology as well, calling for japan, taiwan and south korea to work together on the semiconductor productions. they have announced their willingness to join. when expert believes beijing will respond by applying more pressure. >> translator: if even south

korea which is geopolitically and economically close to china, manages to distance itself from china, that would be a major blow to beijing's regional interest. so, beijing will likely try to coax it strategically. >> south korea is now being pressed to choose between china and the u.s. amid growing geopolitical tensions. on the 30th anniversary of bilateral ties, beijing is keeping a close eye on what path it takes. japan is considering a major policy shift around nuclear energy. more than a decade after the triple meltdown at the plant. the government wants to restart idol reactors and is even discussing the construction of new ones.

they address a list of concerns about the nation's power supply. >> 37,000 people in the village next to a nuclear power plant. it has been more than 11 years but among many, the government wants to restart. the idea is divisive here. >> translator: i think having nuclear plants is one of the most important steps to reach a carbon neutral society. i don't think the plan should be restarted protecting human lives should be the priority, even if it is inconvenient, it shouldn't happen. >> nuclear plants using the power supply but in 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami closed three reactors. it became controversial and the government took money plus

applying. it led to a huge power crunch. leaders say they need to change course on nuclear power. >> looking ahead to the next few years, the government will be ready and take action by considering all possible measures to prepare for power shortages. >> right now there are some in japan. the government wants to put seven more back on my next year. one of the world's largest plans in the vicinity not far from tokyo. but a meeting on wednesday, japan's prime minister hinted at a bigger plan. he suggested the government could extend the lives of its aging nuclear plants or even new ones.

>> some of these plans will take a long time, but, renewable and nuclear forms of energy are critical for japan to move towards realizing a carbon neutral society. >> the safety of nuclear power remains an issue in japan. scientists and engineers with japan's space agency are making final preparations for their mission to explore the moon. nasa's sls rocket will launch two extra small spacecraft in the next few days. one means hospitality in japanese. the first lunar lander. its mission is to land on the moon at the speed of about 180

kilometers per hour and send radio waves to the earth. it is outfitted with a shock absorber to avoid the heavy landing greer needed by previous landers on the moon and mars. the other spacecraft will test orbit control technology in the complex gravitational arena around the earth and moon. it will head to in orbit situated past the far side of the moon. >> we are really excited we finally got to the starting line. we will do our best as a team to make our mission a success. >> both probes weigh less than 13 kilograms. they say they are pushing the boundaries of the capabilities of small spacecraft in deep space. meanwhile, nasa and space x have pushed back their target date for the launch of the u.s. space agency's crew five mission to the international space station. the japanese astronaut now scheduled to depart october 3rd.

they say the adjustment allows for extra separation from other spacecraft traffic going to and from the space station. two nasa astronauts will stay at the ssi s for about six months. it includes experiment that will assist with the exploration of the moon and mars in the future. it will be the fifth spaceflight. next, a big happy birthday to the sport of baseball which marks 150 years since the introduction to japan. across the pacific u.s. major league teams have saved some special celebrations. the new york mets presented u.s./japan history night in the stadium before taking on the colorado rockies. the consul general of japan in new york through the ceremonial

first pitch. the mets had previously invited him to pitch in may. a mixup cause the occasion to be canceled but on thursday the ball bounced three times before reaching the catchers mitt. >> translator: i didn't make much of a pitch, but at least i was able to throw. we were thinking of other ways to celebrate this history of 150 years. >> other major league teams are celebrating with other events. some residents of china are seeing wildfires occur in the region stemming from extensive drought. they have the details for there and elsewhere in the world weather report. we have been talking about a heat wave along with some dry weather that has continued to plague a good portion of china and we have been watching out for these wildfires that have been popping up.

here's a look at some video coming out of the eastern portions of the country as a rear hit china's farmlands. people are seeing tackling the fire using what maps thursday and severely depleted over 70 extreme temperatures and rainfall attacks the basin of the river which supports one third of the countries props. we are looking at some thunderstorms in place with a return flow from a high that is going offshore, but, it is going to take a lot more rain to really tackle the drought situation. further to the south and west we do have one that will move over vietnam so that will be the big rainmaker for the region . across japan we have a stationary front along the eastern side of the country and that is going to be the focal point for some potentially heavy rainfall especially to

the west. be on the look for that as we go into the weekend. tokyo looking at a high of 33 and then after saturday things start to cool off a bit. meanwhile, we are watching out for the heavy rain as it impacts india also places like pakistan. we have the remnants of a tropical system rolling across india into pakistan as well but the instability is still in the region which means especially for those of you dealing with the persistent rainfall, you can be looking for the possibility of more flooding coming up on saturday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪

that concludes this edition of nhk newsline.

this is newsline biz. china will issue additional government bonds to boost infrastructure investments. a resurgence of coronavirus cases and a sluggish real estate market have been slowing down the economy. the central government announced that by the end of october, regional governments will issue new bonds worth 500,000,000,001 or $73 billion.

that will push the total above the sears cap for local government bonds of $530 billion. beijing is primarily looking to rebuild the economy ahead of the congress later this year. the meeting takes place every five years. japan's environment ministry is moving to provide financial support for small and medium- sized businesses in the push to d carbonized the supply chain. the government has set the year 2050 as the goal to achieve carbon neutrality. in the budget allocations for next fiscal year, the ministry plans to request %10 billion or about $73 million to help smaller businesses acquire technology that will reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide. that is more than double the figure for this fiscal year. the ministry also plans to ask for more than $10 million to

help companies draw up action plans for assessing and reducing their emissions. in total, the ministry is that request $5.4 billion in the budget framework for fiscal 2023. that is up by more than $600 million from its initial budget for this fiscal year. source pierre part plot in western japan has become testing the use of carbon dioxide recovered from exhaust gas for agriculture purposes. workers at the power plant installed a system which cools exhaust gas and collect co2 of high purity. about 300 kilograms of carbon dioxide is collected per day which is then piped to greenhouses in the compound. co2 helps vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes and strawberries photosynthesize and grow. the equipment was developed by mitsubishi's heavy engineering. >> translator: we are confident that the technology will prove

vital for carbon neutrality. >> officials hope to capture co2 and it will be used by the forestry industry as well. california has approved regulations to totally ban the sale of new gasoline and hybrid vehicles. the van will go into effect by 2035. the states environmental regulators say they improve the plan of following the government of governor gavin newsom's policy aimed at fighting climate change. >> we will be the first jurisdiction in the world to require all new cars to be sold to the b alternative fuel cars. >> it requires them to gradually increase the sale of electric or other zero emission vehicles from 2026 to 2035. the regulators say that by 2040, greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles in the state will be cut in half. automakers around the globe

have been scrambling to replace gasoline vehicles with ev's. the land rover plans to make its high-end brand all electric starting in 2025. germany's mercedes-benz aims to have all of its new vehicles electric by 2030. sony groups says soaring costs for parts have forced it to raise the price of the popular game consul playstation five. sony interactive entertainment will raise the price in japan on september 15th by %5500 or about $40. the retail price will also go up in europe, the middle east and in china but will remain unchanged in the u.s. now, in addition to higher costs for parts and materials, the company sites the weaker yen. sony officials say the decision was unavoidable as the current global economic environment leaves many industries with no choice but to raise prices.

japan's leading baked goods company is bung the packaged bread business of a smaller rival. the company signed the deal on friday. the business will be transferred by the end of february next year. the size of the deal has not been disclosed. they will retain the restaurant chain and other businesses. they hope to take advantage of the assets to increase manufacturing efficiency and strengthens sales in western japan. bread companies in the country are suffering from soaring material prices as well as the declining population. let's see what is happening in the week ahead. we have an international form on african development over the weekend. we also have key indicators being released later

in the week. some of these numbers could directly impact monitoring policies. the eighth installment of the tokyo international conference on african development will kickoff on saturday. heads of african nations as wells business and civic leaders around the world will spend two days working on ways to promote growth in africa. the initiative is led by the japanese government and cohosted by the united nations. the world bank and the african union commission. discussions will likely focus on how to tackle the pandemic as well as the food crisis in the wake of the war in ukraine. the market in africa was rapidly growing population is often seen as the last frontier of the global economy. japan is eyeing a bigger role in the region as china increases its influence through massive investments. the japanese prime minister

will attend the forum online after testing positive for the coronavirus. on wednesday, china will release the index for the month of august. the survey in july showed the factory activity fell below the 50 point threshold that separates contraction from growth. a worsening global outlook weighed on demand. that gloomy picture could continue in addition to deepening crisis in the property market, china struggling with power shortages during an intense heat wave. this has forced many factories to stop production. the nation's central bank on monday lowered its key interest rates to shore up the economy. now, while china loses steam, another country in asia, india, could perform strongly. the world's fifth largest economy is also set to overtake china next year as the most populous nation. india will release its latest numbers on wednesday. the country was also dealing with a heat wave in the april

to june period but analysts expect double-digit growth for the quarter largely due to pent- up demand. for the full fiscal year ending next march and could emerge as asia's strongest economy. many are forecasting growth of over 7%. investors will be taking a close look when the latest inflation number comes out on wednesday. the consumer prices rose to a record high in july. that prompted market participants for a rate hike next month. the european central bank raises policy rate for the first time in 11 years. monitoring tightening steps, as downside risk to the economy increase. natural gas prices in europe surged further after russia's state-owned energy giant said it would close the pipeline at the end of the month for three days. parts of europe are suffering droughts and low river levels causing more supply problems. and the latest job data from

the u.s. could signal how much federal reserve will raise its rate next month. the employment report for august comes out on friday. the labor market remains robust despite an aggressive dining. all jobs lost during the pandemic have been regained after more than expected were added in july. let's get a check on the markets. ♪

that is it from news live biz from tokyo. thank you very much for watching. ♪ ñcñcñcñcóñóñóñóñóñóñ f

♪ >> a quick check on the headlines here on al jazeera. thank you crane says richa has launchedded a missile attack on an eastern railway station killing 22 people. it's six months since the invasion began. is the u.n. security council held an open session to discuss the situation. the u.s. secretary general reminded members of human cost of