♪ hello, and welcome to this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. people in china and across the globe are responding to the death of former chinese president jiang zemin. he died of leukemia wednesday at the age of 896. jiang led china out of occupation after the protests in 1989. he promoted economic reforms that led to a decade of explosive growth. he was credited with setting the foundation for the country to become the world's second

largest economy. people in beijing are paying their respects. >> translator: he is a leader who made a great contribution to china's delopment. i offered my condolences. >> western media are also reporting on jiang's death with a focus on his reforms. "the new york times" said china emerged as an economic rival of developed countries under his leadership. now, russian president vladimir putin sent a message of condolence to chinese president xi jinping. putin says he'll remembered jiang as an authoritative politician and extraordinary person. he was set to have an influence on china's top leadership after he stepped down. his clout had decreased significantly as people close to him were dismissed for corruption. and expect president xi to further strengthen his power base now that a key figure who kept him in check is gone.

the united states says the head of the islamic state militant group has been killed in an operation in syria. abu al-hasan al-hashimi al-qurashi became leader just nine months ago. u.s. central command said he died in mid october. he was killed during fighting with the free syrian army, a western-backed rebel group that opposes the syrian government. this is the second blow to isis leadership this year. the group's previous leader blew himself up during a raid by u.s. forces in northwestern syria in february. >> we are pleased to see the removal of isis's top leaders in such quick succession. the united states remains committed to countering the global threat from isis and stands ready to work with international partners who share that same goal. >> isis continues to carry out terror attacks despite losing much of its territory in syria and iraq.

the group has already named a new leader. russia and china have landed strategic bombers on each other's airfields for the first time. the joint exercise happened wednesday over the sea of japan and the east china sea. the russian defense ministry says its bombers and fighter jets flew at chinese bombers. the mission was part of the 2022 military cooperation plan and was not directed against any third country. japan's defense ministry said the bombers flew between okinawa prefecture's main island out to the pacific ocean. they passed between the two japanese islands again before flying away. in response, japan's scrambled air force self-fighter jets but there was no intrusion in japanese airspace. as moscow and beijing are deepening ties, the self-defense forces and u.s. forces in japan have launched the bilateral

intelligence analysis cell. the joint unit will share, analyze and process data gathered from their assets including drones. >> the operation conducted by this cell will lead to the japan, u.s. bilateral capabilities. the building of serious defense posture, and further strengthening of the response capables. >> the shared japan, u.s. defense initiatives, resulting from shared mutual defense interests in the region. as global threats have increased, so has the cooperation imperative for us. >> japan's defense ministry says this is the first organization of its kind in its partnership with the united states. researchers in brazil say deforestation in the amazon has slowed somewhat but the chunk of

rain forest they estimate was lost over a 12-month period was the size of qatar. staff at the national institute for space research blamed the deforestation on forest fires and illegal logging. they estime the aa lt in the year through july was about 11,600 square meters. that's 11% less than the year before but more than 10,000 square meters for the fourth president jair bolsonaro actively supportsevelopment of the amazon region. western governments and environmental activists have accused him of speeding of global warming. president-elect luis innas yoda sil silva suggested protecting t rain forest. suggests holdi the cop 25 in the amazon region. in other news, a japanese eye doctor has received an award known as asia's noble prize.

honored for providing free eye surgery to more than 25,000 people in vietnam. the ceremony for recipients of the ramon magaaysay award, an blindness. the 58-year-old has used his money to help vietnamese who need eye surgery but can't get medical service. he says he wants his work to have a lasting impact. >> translator: i think the important thing is not to lose sight of the purpose. i want to continue my work as long as possible. and i also want to train younger people. i think i will act as a bridge between the next generation, then step down little by little. >> the annual award recognizes people in groups that have contribud to peace and development in asia.

the three other sinrecipients t year are a pchiatristrom caodia, environmentalist from france and a pediatrician from the philippines. ♪ municipal officials in central japan say they have uncovered abuse involving teachers at a private day care. authorities are preparing to file a criminal implacomplaint. they say school operators tried to cover it up. officials in sosono city, say a group of 1-year-olds attending the nursery school were abused between june and august this year. three female teachers were involved in over a dozen incidents. they involved holding toddlers in the air by their legs and threatening them with knives. the school required all

authorities to give written oaths. nhk spoke to some of the children who went to the day care. >> reporter: to be honest, i am shocked. i really trusted the teacher. >> translator: it makes me furious to think my child might have been abused. i can't sleep at night gl on top of a criminal probe, shizuoka prefecture and the city are planning to issue a special audit of the school. japan is urging residents to bundle up and power down. the government expects a major strain on electricity this winter as it and countries around the world fight an energy crunch. in our next report, we look at what people are doing to prepare. >> stores are stalking up on hot products. they expect to fly off the shelves as temperatures cool. fuzzy house coats and cozy slippers seem more important

this winter. >> translator: many cusmers say they want to bring down their electricity bills and use their heaters as little as possible. we want people to save electricity while enjoying shopping. >> reporter: the government is pushing an energy diet, straight through march. it says reserves will guarantee a stable supply nationwide. but global instability caused by record inflation fuels shortages and fighting in europe presents a wild card, with russia poised to further starve the market of liquid natural gas. many nations are concerned. >> i am personally calling on countries to help japan secure l and g. we are making efforts to secure a stable supply of electricity. >> some facilities are struggling to cut back on electricity. this nursing home is heavily

ventilating rooms to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. so it takes more to keep them heated. having entire facilities set to the same temperature helps but leaves two other issues. >> translator: each elderly resident is different. a certain temperature may be fine for some people but others may say they're cold. it's difficult to protect everyone's health. >> reporter: that's why japan is focusing on small changes like turning auoff computers and printers before leaving work or throwing on a sweater instead of cranking up the therm sat. officials hope people will bad those habits before january when demand is at its and now to the men's soccer world cup in qatar. japan is gearing up for its

crucial group match with spain and eyeing a spot in the next round. the samurai blue slumped to a loss against costa rica after shocking germany 2-1 first time out. they'll be looking to improve against 2010 champion spain, again among the favorites this time around. japan needs at least a tie depending on the results in the game between germany and costa rica. coach's players are looking to advance for the second consecutive tournament. >> translator: i really feel this isn't the end of our world cup. we proved against germany that we can do our best and beat strong opponents. i want to show that again. >> we will fight to the end to get a result that will please everyone. >> meanwhile, the spanish squad has welcomed back mid fielder gabi after his injury against

germany. the coach is wary of japan's threat. >> japan has a very dynamic and fast team. they're difficult opponents in the sense that they don't give us time to think. >> the match kicks off at 10:00 p.m. thursday in qatar. and on saturday, we'll see the final 16 kicking off matches in the knockout stage. eight teams are already through. december 3rd sees the netherlands up against the united states while argentina will face australia. england faces senegal the following day while france takes on poland. we'll know the first last 16 lineup after the group stage finishes on friday. ♪

turning now to the weather, residents of the southern united states are expecting to see frigid conditions after a stormy couple of days. our meteorologist jonathan oh has the details in our world weather report. hello, we were talking about the concern for severe thunderstorms down to southeastern areas of the united states. the satellite perspective showing us these bright white clouds as they roll through the region and finally exiting out of the southeast. but take a look at this video, it will show you the idea of what's happening on the ground as stormy weather damaged several homes including a fire station in alabama and mississippi on tuesday. the conditions tore off roofs from apartments and trapped some people in a grocery store. local media say two people have been killed by a falling tree and according to the national weather service, these storms were fueled by record high temperatures in the area.

here's the thing, though, we go from really warm weather to a lot cooler weather as high pressure moves through the eastern areas of the united states and brings a southerly flow. expect temperatures to be a lot cooler than what we have been experiencing the last few days. the pacific northwest, you're getting really hit by some winter storm conditions, upper rockies with plenty of snow as we go forward in time, and then we're talking about the big chill already behind that high over to the east, bringing the colder air. once again, as we go to the end of the week, a big push of cold air into the northern half of canada. six degrees below 0 with a high of 3 in chicago. 8 in washington, d.c. and around freezing still in seattle as we go through thursday. it was a lot colder here in japan as well. with plenty of snow to talk about up toward the north in portions of hokkaido. around 14 centimeters and that snow machine really continues on

through, cranking up the wintry weather. and temperatures are going to be on the cooler side. just to let you know, snowfall in some of these places can see up to 40 centimeters of snow in a 4 hour period. 13 for tokyo with snow continuing in sapporo as we go through friday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪ ♪

and one more story to share with you before we go. unesco has decided to add a group of traditional japanese dancers perform throughout the nation to its intangible cultural heritage list. the united nations cultural agency is holding a capital in morocco's capital. they unanimously decided to register the dances as intangible cultural heritage.

♪ ritual folk dancers accompanied by lively music. japan's cultural affairs agency says the dances have been passed down in communities for generations. the agency says the dances are an important part of japan's culture. it also has a social role. the dances can offer spiritual comfort to people affected by natural disasters. >> translator: i'm very happy with the decision. >> only one traditional event in 24 of japan's prefectures will join unesco's list. people across the country are celebrating the decision. all right. 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, tokyo's stocks gained on thursday following an overnight rally in new york. now, it came after u.s. federal reserve chair jerome powell indicated policy makers may scale back the pace of rate hikes. the nikkei average ended the day at 28,226. the close was up 257 points or a 0.9% from wednesday's finish. the index briefly climbed more

than 450 points during trading. the nikkei 225 advanced for the first time in five trading days. investors bought tech shares such as semiconductor firms and electronic parts makers. powell suggested they could introduce a smaller interest rate hike than the previous 3/4 of a percentage point as early as the fed's december meeting. and the combined profits of companies hit a record high from the july to september quarter, thanks to strong earnings by auto manufacturers and the services sector. the finance ministry says combined ordinary profits for the three-month period came to nearly 20 trillion yen or about $145 billion. that's an 18% increase from a year earlier. it's the highest in yen terms for the period since comparable data became available in 1954. auto makers and other manufacturers saw earnings increase by 35% as production

recovered amidst the easing of a parts shortage. in the nonmanufacturing sector, prochl proch profits at hotels and other service businesses rose 5%, following the easing of covid-19 restrictions. the ministry said that capital spending grew almost 10% from the same period last year. investment in the manufacturing sector rose 8% while it increased by nearly 11% at nonmanufacturers. the japanese telecom giant kddi has started using the starlink network to provide mobile phone connectivity anywhere in the country including remote islands. the service started thursday on an island south of tokyo. officials demonstrated conducting a video conference using the satellite network operated by u.s. firm spacex. kddi plans to connect some 1,200 to the networ to eliminate untry coverage dead spots.

the company says that will be useful in the event of any disaster. >> translator: it is very beneficial for our customers to be able to use mobile phones anywhere, and i think it is very important for us in terms of contributing to society. >> kddi rivals entity toke moe and softbank also plan to create networks using satellites. now messaging giant line is looking to put more medical services at users' finger tips in japan. the operator of the app has laurc launched start-to-finish telemedicine for 90 million accounts in the country. the rollout is an expansion of online consultations that line has offered since 2020. the new features include services such as medication deliveries. competing companies usually require the use of multiple apps for similar services.

the japanese government has been promoting the telemedicine since the coronavirus pandemic began. but the health ministry says telemedicine accounts for less than 1% of prescriptions. now, another cryptocurrency exchange has run into trouble this time in japan. the company's financial authorities have suspended tokyo based digital asset a month for being short of funds. the kanto local finance bureau says xia has insufficient capital making it unable to make payments to vendors on wednesday. authorities say the firm has not secured customer information. the parent company made it leave the tokyo office where it was headquartered. the firm currently has no physical address. the bureau says the company has not adequately protected the crypto assets of customers. it has ordered xia to report on the status of customer funds and

keep users informed. nhk has learned that struggling japanese conglomerate toshiba has been told to sell more assets as a pre-condition for loans. toshiba is trying to end management turmoil caused by a rift with foreign activist investors who hold roughly 25% of the company's shares. the company has a restructuring plan and has chosen japan industrial partners as the preferred bidder. the investment fund intended to acquire 100% of toshiba shares and take the company private. just under half of the buyout would be financed with one trillion yen or about $7.2 billion from a group of japanese companies. the rest of the funding would be in the form of loans from toshiba's main banks. sources say the banks are calling for the sale of additional assets as a condition for providing that amount of loans. it's not clear whether toshiba will agree to the condition as

the company has been reluctant to accept a further breakup of its business empire. lebanon in the middle east, now in case you didn't know this, is one of the world's oldest wine growing countries. now, a new range of special lebanese wines has been released in japan. with the goal of promoting peace. nhk world's matsuki report. >> reporter: this wine arrives in southern japan in october. they came all the way from lebanon. he works in the film industry with projects focusing on the promotion of world peace. sakina is passionate about wine. initially he thought about becoming a wine maker as he

explored how he could combine his passion for wine with a quest for peace. he discovered these lebanese wines. >> translator: i sensed a lot of potential and i began to pursue my dreams about wine from a different angle. >> reporter: last year sekine visited the winery in lebanon. he was greeted by abdullah richi, a referee from neighboring syria who works at this vineyard. for over a decade, a civil war has torn through syria. as a result, about 13 million people, more than half its population have been forced from their homes. among them is richi who is separated from his family. the vineyard owner is eddie chami, a lebanese national, against the backdrop of chronic

rolling blackouts due to lebanon's economic crisis. chami is teaching richi the art of wine making. >> i don't see him from a different country or different religion. >> your brother. >> yes. >> reporter: sekine was deeply touched by the two men transcending nationality and religion to collaborate and make wine, despite challenging odds. sekine vowed to support richi's dream of one day creating his own winery at home in syria. in october shipment, sekine received two types of sparkling wine and one red. the red wine is named after rihi's wife hanan. >> translator: first and

foremost, i want people to simply enjoy the taste of the wine made by abdullah and eddie. secondly, i hope people will reflect on the story behind its production and learn from it. >> reporter: sekine will donate a portion of profits supporting syrian refugees in lebanon. he hopes that both the producer and t csumer will enjoy a taste of peace through these special wines. nhk world, fukuoka. let's get a check of the markets. ♪

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

the space and learn better. ♪ >> time for a quick check on the headlines. in the u.s., the founder of the right wing oathkeepers group has been convicted of seditious conspiracy. steward rhodes was convicted of planning an attack to block joe biden's 2020 victory over then-president trump. >> the debate has always been was this just a riot that got out of control? for many of those on trial or have been charged, these are the arguments the