♪ hello, and welcome to this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. myanmar's military says it will release an imprisoned japanese journalist. kubota toru was facing a ten-year sentence for incitement and violating a telecommunications law. a military court found him guilty last month. he had been detained by security authorities in yangon for filming tourists against the

junta. the junta has arrested more than 16,000 people since seizing power as part of a violent crackdown on dissent. state-run media now say thousands of prisoners are set to go free on myanmar national day. japan's chief cabinet secretary said on thursday afternoon, kubota is set to come back to japan as early as friday and is in good health. >> translator: the japanese government, including the ambassador to myanmar, has repeatedly and strongly demanded that mr. kubota be released as soon as possible. myanmar explained his release is from a strong request of the japanese government. >> kubota is one of four foreigners receiving amnesty. that includes sean turnell, who was accused of violating the state's secrets law. the australian economist served as an adviser to aung sasuu kyi. former uk ambassador to myanmar vicky bowman and her pro-democracy activist husband htein lin will also be pardoned. south korea's military says pyongyang has fired a short-range ballistic missile

towards the sea of japan. it comes a day after the leaders of the group of 20 nations wrapped up talks in asia. -- indonesia. north korea has been conducting more frequent missile launches than ever before in recent months. at includes a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile two weeks ago. pyongyang has also condemned a trilateral summit held on sunday between japan, the u.s., and south korea. the three nations called out north korea and pledged to strengthen extended deterrents. but the country's foreign minister choe son hui warned they could push tensions to an unpredictable phase. now, world leaders including many who attended the g20 summit in bali have gathered in bang kolk for the asia pacific economic forum. xi jinping sat down to discuss a major partnership. they watched a video feed of a

test run, featuring indonesia's new high-speed train. chinese firms are building the roughly 140-kilometer line. it's part of beijing's belton road initiative. >> translator: the project not only benefits the people of both countries but has positive impacts on a global level. it demonstrates that unity and cooperation between developing nations can bring about win-win achievements. >> china outbid japan to build the rail link between jakarta and bang doon. the project has faced funding and planning issues. but it's now on track to launch next year. video footage shows the rare, candid moment from the chinese president. cameras caught xi scolding canadian leader justin trudeau at the g20 summit. he accused him of leaking details of the closed-door meeting. the video shows xi speaking through a translator. he told trudeau it was inappropriate to leak what they discussed to the media.

>> we will continue to work constructively together, but there will continue to be things we disagree on. >> media reports say trudeau raised concerns about alleged chinese interference in canadian elections during their meeting on tuesday. tensions between the countries have been running high sin 2018 at's wn canadi authorities tainedn executive from chinese tech giant huai on fraud charges. ♪ moving now to the united states where republicans will win back the house of representatives. that means president joe biden will have to work with the split congress and a legislative challenges that come with the division.

republicans went into election day last week boasting they would overwhelm democrats in a red wave. but only now have they captured the 218 seats they needed to take the chamber back. both sides are waiting to see who will win a runoff next month for a senate seat in georgia. but the democrats have already captured the 50 they need to retain control of the chber. the constitution gives vice president kamala harris the tiebreaking vote. the president's party almost always loses support in these elections, something known as a midterm curse. but the democrats avoided the full scale of predicted losses and defied history. and people are now looking toward the next major race, which is the 2024 presidential election. former president trump is hoping to make a political comeback. >> in order to make america great and glorious again, i am announcing my candidacy for president of the united states.

>> earlier gene otani spoke with nhk world's political correspondent for more on trump's bid. why do you think he announced his candidacy at this time? >> yes, some are seeing this as an attempt to change the conversation. trump likes to brag of his influence and he backed many republican candidates in the midterms. but a number of them lost in some highly watched races. for example, in pennsylvania, not only did the senate candidate he backed lose, the state actually flipped with the democrats taking control. so he's facing critics questioning if his influence is waning or even part of the party right now. >> trump is coming into the spotlight again with that hanging over him, so what other hurdles lie ahead as he tries to get on the republican ticket? >> trump is facing several criminal and civil

investigations. they are leaving him family and his businesses potentially vulnerable. trump has always faced some opposition by members from his own party, but there are some new faces disncing theelves. rhaps mt notably,is key partner in the white house duri his term. theorme ve president ke a liste to what mike pence ld abc news wn asked if trp suld ever b president again. >> i think that's up to the americaneople. but i tnk wll have bter choices in the future. >> it's worth noting that pence hasn't yet confirmed if he will run for president, but hearing him talk about trump this way is remarkable. despite these challenges, trump still has measured support. last month, i covered a pro trump rally in pennsylvania, church leaders, activists and others took the stage for ten

hours. there were 2,000 people there, even though trump himself didn't attend it. hearing them and speaking with the people in the crowd, trump sounded like a religious figure. so he had support, but divisions within the party could hurt his chances. >> if trump becomes the party's nominee, his main challenge of course will be beating the democratic party candidate. what's the latest on that side? >> president joe biden is also facing pressure from within his own party. some democrats are concerned about his age. he's the country's oldest president ever. and some are pushing for a new candidate as biden's approval rating has dropped significantly. biden says he intends to run again, but his final decision is expected early next year. that's when more candidates are also expected to start announcing their bids.

and the 2024 race begins to heat up. >> nhk world, japanese authorities have arrested a former employee of tokyo based game maker square on sus fission of insider training. they are known for making hit video game titles such as dragon question. they were arrested on thursday. prosecutors alleged the men learned square enix was developing a new game with a tokyo-based game company. they believe the two then bought around $340,000 worth of shares in the firm's square enix was partnering with. the prosecutor suspects he told him about the joint project to

allow him to make a profit. it has not been disclosed how they have responded to the accusation. japan's national police agency has conducted its first ever inquiry into suspected cases of racial profiling. that's when people are targeted or questions by police based on their ethnicity or nationality. out of 40 cases last year, authorities said they found only six credible cases. the agency for the police departments and public safety commissions across the country. in one instance, a police officer asked for a person's nationality using rude expressions. in another, an officer requested a person's residence card because they had a foreign sounding name. the npa also reported the case where an officer implied that people with dreld dread locks tend to have ill league drugs. the agency claims none of the officers involved had discriminatory intent. but it says it wants to take steps to prevent behavior that could be considered prejudicial.

earlier this year, the tokyo bar association surveyed over 2,000 people on racial profiling. it found over 60% of respondents reported being questioned by japanese police because of foreign roots. we turn now to the role of public broadcasting. the bbc's direct general tim dafy has stressed its importance and warned media freedom is under threat in many parts of the world. >> we have now entered a period when all those who believe in democracy will have to be much more vocal in the championing of the values that under pin it. >> davie spoke in tokyo at a meeting of public broadcasters international. the group included nhk and south korea's kbs. he quoted a survey by reporters without borders on 180 countries and territories. he says it shows 70% completely or partly blocked journalism. he added bbc correspondents have

been forced to leave china and russia. >> the big warning of the press freedom report was around a stark increase in media polarization. and of course we're seeing polarization at international level as autocratic regimes seek to control the media and wage a propaganda war. >> davie said it's vital to protect audiences from disinformation. next, brazil's president-effect has promised to work on ending deforestation in the amazon by the year 2030. lieu weiss e n he made the announcement at the climate conference. >> translator: the fight against climate change will have the highest priority in the next government. >> lula also said brazil hopes to host the cop30 meeting in

2025 with a venue in the amazon. the area is the world's largest rain forest. about 2/3 of it is in brazil. deforestation of the amazon accelerated under the outgoing administration as it pushed for development. an estimated 13,200 square from august 2020 to july 2021.ed scntists say the loss of the amazon speeds up global warming. shifting now to the weather. residents of southeastern parts of australia have been dealing with an exceptionally wet year. our meteorologist jonathan oh has the details on that in our world weather report. hello, we have been talking about a rain pattern that has been drenching new south wales over the past, well, several months. look at the numbers here for sydney. over ten-month span, almost 2.4 meters of rain fell, and the annual average is about half of that, and you can imagine what

that does to the ground. here's a look at some video coming out of new south wales. we'll show you what's happening now as aerial footage shows the impacts of the flooding that took place in the state wednesday. both farm lanllands and busines were inundated with water. they are facing a rare multila nina phenomenon. 14 people were rescued from the top of a building at night as this particular flooding incident was in place. we should be seeing a little bit of dry air pattern. most of the rain now moving toward new zealand and so that's going to dry things up for the region as we go forward through the day on friday. so mainly the rainfall will be over to new zealand within anywhere from 100 to 120 millimeters of wet weather and precipitation. sydney, partly cloudy skies, brisbane at 27. new caledonia looking at thunderstorms coming up on friday. meanwhile, across japan, if you

woke up this morning in tokyo you're going it's chillier because it felt more like late november as lows drops to 7.7 degrees as we woke up in the morning. during the day we warmed up a bit, and we expect that range to continue. as high pressure rolls in the area, it's pushing the northerly flowing helping to keep the temperatures down in the morning, and the sunshine helps to bring the temperature back up. sapporo looking at snow as we go through friday. tokyo at 18 with partly cloudy skies. a quick note, chilly weather. still the big story across north korea and that would be the kats -- case as we go through the day on thursday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪on thursday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪thursday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪day on thursday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪thursday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪

♪ ♪ well, the world cup in qatar is just around the corner, and one of the most famous soccer ball's in the tournament history has scored a massive sum at auction. the ball is from the quarter final of the 1986 mexico world

cup. it was hit by late argentinian soccer legend diego maradona into the goal during his country's match against england. the point was judged to be a header, but later it showed maradona's left hand hitting the ball before it found the net. the feat was dubbed the hand of god goal. argentina went on to win the world cup trophy. the ball was owned by a referee who claimed it after the match. it was auctioned off on wednesday for $2.4 million. in may, the jersey maradona wore in the match fetched about $9 million in an online auction. the football legend died in 2020 at the age of 60. and that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard. so don't go away.

♪ this is "newsline biz," i'm ramin mellegard. now, japan extended its run of trade deficits to 15 months in october as soaring energy prices and a weaker yen purshed up the value of imports. the finance ministry says the deficits came in at 2.1 trillion yen or about 15 and a half billion dollars. that's 24 times the figure recorded a year earlier. it's also the biggest deficit in yen terms for the month of ocber. imports surged to 11 trillion

yen or $80 billion. that's a record for any month. costs for liquified natural gas were up 2 1/2 times, and crude oil nearly doubled. exports rose increasing to 9 trillion yen or $64 million. that's yet another monthly record. shipments of vehicles to the u.s. were strong, so were shipments of semiconductors and other electronic parts to asia. while the value of exports was well up, it wasn't enough to match the steep rise in the value of imports. now, the u.s. congress says it will hold a hearing to investigate the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange, ftx. the company's fall has put more than 1 million users at risk of losing billions of dollars in assets. ftx trading and about 130 related companies filed for bankruptcy with a u.s. court last week. the house committee on financial services announced on wednesday it plans to call on several people involved with the firm to

testify next month. they include former ceo sam bankman-fried. committee chairwoman maxine waters sd the exchange's collapse posed tremendous harm to its users. she added the house probe would help identify what legislative action neelds to be taken to ensure this never happens again. meanwhile crypto investors filed a class action lawsuit, seeking damages from celebrities who promoted ftx. baseball super star, owe hanny show shay, and osaka naomi are blamed in the suit. they convinced them the platform was trust worthy. the amount of damages being sought has not been specified. now, the company's japanese unit, ftx japan has responded to demands by local authorities for a plan on how it will protect its customers' assets. this comes after the finance

ministry ordered the subsidiary to halt activities last week, as it lacked the systems necessary to carry out its business. ftx japan has not disclosed the details of its plan but the finance ministry provided assurances that the customers' assets had not yet been transferred outside the country. >> and toyota motor has unveiled an all new version of the prius, the model that first brought hybrid cars to the mass market. the new release is highlighting the ability to achieve carbon neutrality, even though users increasingly turn to fully electric vehicles. the japanese automotive giant on wednesday premiered the first full model change for the mainstay hybrid brand in seven years. toyota says the cutting edge hybrid sysm achieves powerful acceleration while maintaining high fuel efficiency. it will be rolled out in japan

and other major markets includes the united states and europe. although evs are seen as the standard for the future an affordable ecocar is still needed. >> the prius is an eco car within everyone's reach. in order to achieve carbon neutrality, everyone in the world must participate. >> british research firm lmc automotive says roughly 78 million new cars were sold in 2020, and nearly 90% of them were gasoline models. evs and hybrids only accounted for around 3% each of sales. now, global new car sales are projected to reach 105 million in 2030. the ratio of gasoline vehicles is expected to fall to 38% while that of evs will rise to 35%. hybrids are projected to account for about 10%. sales in unit terms are expected to grow four fold from 2020 levels. now, it's beaujolais nouveau

time again, but this year, the french wine may live a bitter taste for japanese consumers. prices have surged due to the conflict in ukraine and the weak yen. the wine made with this year's harvest of grapes from the beaujolais nouveau region goes on sale the third thursday of november. a bar in tokyo held the first in-person count down event in three years to celebrate the wine's arrival. >> translator: the price is higher than last year, but the taste is so good, it's still worth it. i want to buy one more my mother. >> japanese beverage company santori says prices are 40 to 120% higher than last year. freight costs have risen because air craft are taking longer routes from europe to japan to avoid russian airspace. the japanese currency's steep depreciation has also made

imports more expensive. now, many japanese executives have seen an ageing population drive down their opportunities. but those in one company are changing that downturn into a u-turn. nhk world's >> reporter: it's not auroften exercises in the area, this company has embraced the idea of diversifying. here instructors attach physical fitness classes, packed with driving school know how. seniors learn movements involved in putting on a seat belt also helps when washing their backs

at home. the company also offers driving rehabilitation services. among its enthusiasts. he suffered a stroke that left him with paralysis on the right side of his body. special driving lessons not only train him physically but have also given him a new zest for life. >> thank you very much. >> translator: how was today? >> translator: it was exciting. >> reporter: the company's welfare services are popular accounting today for 20% of its total revenue. >> translator: our industry will continue to slow down if we give up and do nothing. we can compensate for losses causes by shrinking population if we develop a business model adapted to the times in which we live. >> reporter: from this year, those over 75 who have driving violation records must take a

proficiency test in order to renew their licenses. tapping into this new regulation, the company has developed a special training car for elderly drivers. multiple cameras record 360 degree images. its gps has only a 3 centimeter margin of error. and the sensor detects sudden changes in speed. >> translator: please speed up to 40 kilometers per hour along that straight line. >> reporter: the car's technology is able to highlight the driving habilitates of 77-year-old sakamoto. >> translator: see, the car over crossed the line by this amount. you must drive between these lines. >> reporter: kamamoto was unaware of this.

>>. >> translator: i seem to have some incorrect habits after driving for 50 years. >> the driving school's mission is to help people recognize if their driving is dangerous. cars are often still necessities in rural communities. i want to encourage people to attend driving schools on a regular basis. >> reporter: as japan's population continues to age, the company is planning to promote this innovative new business model nationwide. takigawa, nhk world. okay. let's get a check on the markets. ♪

that's it for "newsline biz" from tokyo. i'm ramin mellegard. thank you very much for watching.

♪ >> this is al jazeera, and these are the top stories. nato says it's looking into an explosion and eastern poland which ukraine is blamed on russian missiles. two people were killed in the blast in a village near the ukrainian border. moscow denies carrying out strikes in the area. international reaction has been cautious, many eu members have voiced alarm, saying every inch of nato territ