hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. the u.n. security council is demanding an immediate end to the violence that has gripped myanmar for nearly two years. this first ever resolution on myanmar was adopted out of concern about the military's coup and the deadly crackdown that followed. the resolution also calls on the junta to release all of its political prisoners, including ousted de facto leader.

it was drafted by britain and supported by eleven other council members, russia, china and india abstained. >> today we've sent a firm message to the military that they should be in no doubt, we expect this resolution to be implemented in full. >> myanmar's u.n. ambassador was appointed by the administration overthrown last february. he insists the pro democracy unity government myanmar's only legitimate government. he says it welcomes the resolution as a first step. >> the unity government calls on the usc building on this reside lu resolution to take further action to end the military junta and its crimes. >> russia, china and india argued that the resolution would destabilize the situation in

myanmar. it does not stipulate to strong measures such as barring weapons exports by u.n. member states. officials in taiwan say they detected 39 chinese military air craft and three naval vessels around taiwan during the 24 hours through thursday morning. the defense ministry says one unmanned aircraft crossed the median line in the taiwan strait. it says 29 planes flew over waters south of the median line into taiwan's air defense identification zone. they included j-16 fighters, h-6 bombers, and y 20 refueling aircraft. the ministry says some passed over the bashi channel between taiwan and the philippines and entered areas southeast of taiwan before taking the same

route back to china. the aircraft carrier iin the pacific ocean near japan's okinawa prefecture. japan is alsoonducting joint the st chi sea.ith rsia in the covid wave sweeping through china has hospitals packed and global health officials worried. one big issue is a lack of data. >> i wouldn't like to say that china are actively not telling us what's going on. i think they're behind the curve in what's actually happening. >> the coronavirus has been spreading rapidly since beijing lifted its strict zero covid policy and eased up on rules for getting tested. crematories like this one are busy despite no newly reported covid deaths. the official count for december remains below ten. one health official said the

government is not counting any deaths among people with preexisting health issues. the world health organization says it's ready to help with both collecting data and bolstering the strained health care system. former u.s. president donald trump paid no income tax in his final year in office. that's according to records released by a congressional committee showing steep business losses for trump that year. the records show trump and his wife melania paid just $750 in the 2016 election year and in the following year, his first in office. in 2018, the couple reported paying about a million dollars. the year after that, they paid around $130,000. however, in 2020, the couple reported business losses of about $4.8 million bringing their income tax to 0. trump has refused to make his

tax returns public. his predecessors in the white house released them voluntarily even though it's not required by law. in november, the supreme court rejected trump's request to block the house committee from looking into the records. clearly the way for their release. japan's air self-defense force has announced it will hold joint fighter drills with the indian air force. the exercises will take place near tokyo next month. it appears to be an effort to strengthen defense ties between the two countries. officials say the drills will be held from january 16th to 26th around the air base in in prefecture. it's the first such training with india here in japan. the japanese side will be using

four f-2 and four f-15 fighter jets. indian is expected to bring four suhoy 30s and other aircraft. the air self-defense force says india is the fifth country to carry out joint fighter training in japan. the others were the u.s., australia, britain and germ nip. japan, india, the united states and australia make up the quad security alliance. the four countries have china's increasing maritime t.s in mind. japanese prime minister kishida fumio met with his indian counter part, narendra modi for a summit in may. they agreed joint fighter exercises should be arranged at an earlier date. three former executives of a japanese business suit retailer have admitted to bribing a tokyo olympic and paralympic games official for sponsorship rights. their trial opened thursday at

the tokyo district court. it's the first held in connection with a widening bid rigging scandal. aoki hironori was the chairman. he and two others paid about $210,000 to an executive on the tokyo games organizing committee. takahashi haruyuki had been given authority to solicit sponsors. by then tokyo games head and former prime minister mori o prosecutors say reached out to hiroaki, winning a bid to supply uniforms to japanese athletes. the company sold jackets with the game's emblem. the ongoing scandals have japan's northern city of sapporo to suspend promotional activities for its bid to host the 2030 olympics and

paralympics. japan's government has released a report that sought opinions on the state funeral for former prime minister abe shin sew. the ceremony in september triggered controversy over its costs and legal grounds. the government asked 21 experts from various fields for their opinions on the rare state ceremony. they included scholars on the constitution and administrative law. they were asked about the significance of the event. somehow, the positive view saying it was important to treat abe with honor. others say is left a negative legacy because expressions of sympathy should be an individual decision. opinions were also divided over the legal grounds for staging the ceremony. some experts said the cabinet already has the power to make the decision. others think it should be a democratic process and based in law. lastly, they discussed the

diet's involvement. some said the cabinet can make a decision and smexplain it to lawmakers later. others felt the diet should be involved beforehand to gain a wider consensus. the government will consider its response to the report including whether to establish rules on holding state funerals. japan's covid-19 cases have been rising. government officials are working to ensure the country has sufficient medical care ahead of the year end holiday season. japan's daily cases topped 200,000 on wednesday for the first time since this summer where the country was struggling with the 7th wave of infections. an expert panel says the number of people visiting entertainment during osaka, and other prefectures is the highest since the pandemic began.

the prime minister has met with leaders of local municipalities to request their assistance. >> translator: we're asking for more cooperation to secure medical systems for emergency transportation and outpatients, as well as ventilation. >> the health ministry meets friday with officials from broad areas including the medical association and the business federation. they'll be seeking ways to spread information to the public on how to prevent infections. efforts by the u.n. are underway to tackle plastic pollution. this waste is piling up more and more worldwide, including on the shores of a small community in japan's southwest. we sent nhk's to see the problem firsthand. >> reporter: soshima island is located halfway between japan's

main island and south korea. it's a popular get away for tourists. the allure is obvious. locals say they are very proud of the beautiful nature here, but some parts of the island are covered with plastic waste from all over the region. they're not only for fishery industries but household plastics like bottles and even stationaries. >> translator: this is a hand cream from japan. >> reporter: he has been cleaning up the shores for years. with an estimated 20 to 30,000 cubic meters of waste flowing to the island annually. he says he can't help but feel hopeless. >> translator: without the

waste, it is beautiful, with rich nature and clear water. i want to preserve this for future >> translator: this is all waste gathered from sushima's shores. >> reporter: fishing rope, plastic bottles, even refrigerators. the city says it's only able to collect about half of the plastic waste on shores, and just about 10% can be recycled. while sushima has to deal with the problem, it's not the main cause. the city says about 70% of the plastics that flows in

originates from south korea and china. >> the plastic waste ending up here is includesing every year. the world is connected by water. this problem cannot be solved only by sushima no matter how hard we try. >> reporter: it's a global issue, one the united nations environmental assembly is trying to solve. it's working on an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution. >> we have to deliver this by the end of 2024, which is very hectic, and very big. but i have seen japan step into leadership. i have seen europe. i've seen africa, america, and latin america as well as asia and so there are real determinations. >> reporter: as those negotiations continue, the piles grow. a worldwide problem with an unequal burden.

yoshida mayu, nhk toshima. ♪ it's time now for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. winter is in full force in japan with heavy snow and fringid temperatures on thursday. sayaka has more on the forecast. >> biting cold weather is affecting many places of the nation. it was minus 23 pnlt 7 degrees in parts of hokkaido making it the lowest temperature of the season so far, and thunder is the winter solstice in the northern memo northern hemisphere.

we have a tradition to take a hot bath. take a look at this video. treated to bath on thursday. bara is the largest living rodent native to south america. they are sensitive to low temperatures. this open air bath will continue, and they will need a hot bath because temperatures remain on the cold side. cold air from the continent will continue to blanket many places of the nation, accompanied by strong winds and also heavy snowfall. some areas already had more than 1.5 meters of snow on the ground. more snow is on the way across the northwestern flank of the nation. look at this, for the next three days or so, parts ochs sea of japan side could see more than 2 meters of snowfall. the risk of avalanches will remain very high, and it's going to be very dangerous if you go out, so authorities are urging people to stay indoors as much as you can, but if you have to drive, make sure that you bring

your winter survival kit. that includes water, food, lights, and jackets in case of emergency. now, we are looking at very low temperatures across the united states as well. and we saw minus 14 degrees in denver on wednesday at 4:00 p.m. local time. but one hour ago, it was about 8 degrees. so we saw a 22 degree drop in just one hour. the flash freeze conditions expected to flag south and ooeg east into the next several days. temperatures will be sub zero all day in atlanta on both friday as well as saturday. new york city could see a high of minus 5 on christmas eve. that's it for me. stay warm. ♪

♪ ♪ that's all for this edition of nhk nine. i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. thanks for watching and do stay with us for more.

♪ this is "newsline biz," i'm gene otani. japan's first large scale offshore wind farm has started commercial operations in the northern prefecture of akeda. it's part of an effort to build a neutral society. offshore wind farms use larger turbines that have more stable power generation than on shore facilities. turbines with 60 meter long blades started up thursday and 13 more are scheduled to come

online next month. they are expected to generate enough tlielectricity for 130 average households. a company invested about 100 billion yen or $760 million to build the 33 turbines. >> akita is blessed with good wind conditions which has excellent offshore geological features. we also had a lot of support from the local government. >> the japanese government has designated eight priority zones for offshore wind farms, at least 103 more turbines are slated to be installed into four zones by 2030. the government has revised up its economic outlook for fiscal 2023 othe expectation that a new stimulus package will spur domestic demand.

japan's gdp is projected to grow around 1 1/2%, up 0.4 points from the previous forecast released in july. officials expect private consumption to expand by 2.2% as more firms raise wages, they expect a 5% increase in capital spending. the government recently approved the $270 billion stimulus package to address rising prices. officials say it will encourage private investment, but the government downgraded its gdp forecast for the current fiscal year to growth of around 1.7% because of the impact of rising energy and food prices. that's 0.3 points lower than the previous projection. most workers at large firms in japan saw their seasonal bonuses rise for the first time in three years. retail and railway businesses led the way. their earnings improved after the lifting of coronavirus

restrictions. a survey by the japan business federation found that the average winter bonus was just over 890,000 yen or about $6,800. that's up nearly 9% from last year. the margin of the increase is the biggest since 1981. that's when the federation started tracking day that in the current form. about 160 companies with 500 or more employees, and 18 industries responded to the survey. workers at major manufacturing firms received 7% more in yen terms compared to last year. employees of nonservice firms and other manufacturers show a jump of nearly 17%. that came after drops of over 10% in each of the past two years. two car makers are raising their prices on electric vehicles as they struggle to absorb the soaring cost of raw materials. the price hikes by nissan motors and mitsubishi motors include

evs that they jointly developed and released earlier this year. nissan is increasing the price of its sakura mini ev by 3 to 6% from thursday. it says prices also go up for its flagship electric vehicle, by as much as 24%. mitsubishi will increase prices for the mini ev, the ek cross by 5% in february. the same goes for the car maker's main plug-in hybrid. batteries account for 1/3 of the cost of evs. the rising costs of lithium and cobalt are the main factors behind the price hikes. the car makers have tried to keep prices down but they apparently decided they now have no choice but to pass on some of their higher costs to consumers. people arriving until the country's central prefecture will be greeted by replicas of famous local creatures, statues

of dinosaurs will be visible from rail platforms when the bullet train line is extended to the prefecture in early 2024. the dinosaurs can already be seen on the rooftop of a tourism promotion center at fukui station. it was once home to scores of dinosaurs. fossils found in the prefectures include those of the etita. within of the replicas has a snow crab in its mouth. that's a local winter delicacy. if visitors scan qr codes they can get images of the prehistoric creatures roaming the modern landscape. >> translator: we hope seeing these adorable dinosaurs will make visitors feel welcome here. >> the rooftop section will be open to visitors in october next year to coincide with the opening of the tourism facility.

the savory pancake known as okonomiyaki is called the soul food of hiroshima, loved by people all over japan. now the dish is about to expand its horizons, nhk's >> reporter: preparing okonomiyaki at a popular station for almost 40 years ago. one year ago, he received an unusual request, could he bring it to jordan? the project was initiated by lina ammab, jordan's ambassador to japan. she maintains the hiroshima memorial ceremony every year. she was intrigued to learn that made from u.s. flour sustained

many people in hiroshima after the atomic bombing in 1945. she decided to share the dish and its history in jordan, which is home to many more refugees. she asked for help and they developed a recipe, designed to appeal to middle eastern people. >> i think it's most important to make that jordanins will like. >> he was careful to choose ingredients that were easy to find, such as chicken, and pasta. he tops it with a special sauce. in october, he visited a culinary school in jordan. >> translator: you spread this thinly. you don't need to use much

seasoning. >> he is teaching students how to prepare the okinomiyaki he has developed for the middle east. it seems to be a success. >> having the chef visit us was very enriching and very inspirational for us. >> later, he invites students to create their own take on okinomiyaki using local ingredients. he believes its popularity will grow if jordanians make it unique to their region. some studes use crunchy almonds and yogurt sauce to create an original, unlikely to ever be found on japanese plates. >> translator: i think that my mission will be accomplished if it is embraced as a new

jordanian dish. >> iichi is hopeful that okonomiyaki is a popular dish on the menu in the middle east as its unique flavors continue to spread across jordan. nhk world, hiroshima. let's have a look at the markets. ♪

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks for being with us.

culture. these objects are functional within our society. ♪ >> these are our top stories, vlad mers lenski is expected to visit washington dc on wednesday it will be his first trip overseas since -- volodymyr zelenskyy is expected to visit washington dc on wednesday it will be his first trip overseas since the invasion and february. former president patrick castillo