a. hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. china state run media reports the former premier li friday. li was from the communist youth league of china. he took charge of hunan province

in 1999 becoming the country's youngest provincial governor. party leaders promoted him to the group's bureau in 2007. he joined it at the same time as current chinese president xijipening. li became premier in 2013 and served two terms. he stepped down in march when his term expired under a constitutional provision. state run media reports li died in shanghai due to a sudden heart attack. he was 68 years old. for more on this kanako sachno spoke with nhk world's nakamura genta in beijing. >> genta, how are people responding to li's death? >> well, it cght many by surprise because it felt so abrupt. li stepped down as premier just seven months ago. here's what some in the country

told us. >> translator: i'm very sorry and so sad. the former premier contributed a lot to china. i was surprised that he passed away so quickly. >> translator: he worked hard for the country. i think it was not easy to maintain economic growth amid the escalating trade dispute with the united states. >> i remember li looking pale when he attended the national peoples congress in march. some observers said his health may not have been in a good state. li was long considered president xi jinping's biggest rival. back as xi has tightened his grip on power, li was gradually side lined in the critical circle. and after his retirement, li was not seen much in the public or

reports. >> what kind of impact do you see his death having on domestic politics in. >> well, it's unlikely to have any major effect. xi has already whittled away his power and political faction. that's where xi got an unprecedented third term as leader. meantime, li was removed from the party leadership and pushed toward full retirement even though he had not reached the conventional retirement age. it's worth mentioning -- as well. he say also from the communist youth league and once viewed to be the next premier. but he was not promote today the top leadership committee. in fact, he was kicked out. >> even though li's political career didn't end the way he wanted, he did serve as premier for a long time. what will people remember about his time in office?

>> well, his economic approach will be the one that sticks out in many peoples' minds. li consistently promoted the private economy and foreign investment. however, a large part of the decision making authority of policy has been absolve by xi's inner circle. some experts point out this has increased the crack down on the private sector and hindered momentum of economic development. foreign companies are finding it increasingly difficult to do business in china. as the country's economic situation worsens, some may begin to miss the days when he was in charge of steering the economy. the u.s. and china's militaries are accusing each other of dangerous maneuvers around the south china sea.

this week they both released competing videos to support their claims. u.s. military officials say a chinese fighter pilot intercepted one of its b-52 bombers this week in a way that was unsafe and unprofessional. they say the jet flew within 3 meters of the b-52 putting both aircraft in danger of collision. they say the u.s. plane was carrying out a routine operation in international airspace. they add the intercept took place at night with limited visibility. the pentagon says there have been more than 180 incidents like this in the last two years involving chinese and u.s. military planes over the east and south china seas. meanwhile, china's defense ministry says the u.s. is the one making provocations. their clip purports to show a u.s. destroyer maneuvering dangerously close to a chinese destroyer. they accuse it of making a short

turn, suddenly accelerating and eventually crossing the bow of the chinese ship. the incident reportedly took place near a group of islands near the south china sea in august. china claims the territory. >> translator: it was the u.s. side that came to china's doorstep to provoke and stir up troubles. >> china's defense ministry spokesperson says it'll take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty and maritime interests. 20 days have passed since hamas carried out its fatal attack in israel, killing nearly 1,400 people and kidnapping at least 200 hosts. since then israeli forces have been escalating their air strikes in the gaza strip. palestinian authorities say those strikes have now killed at least 7,000 people including

3,000 children in the palestinian enclave. israeli defense forces officers say they hit at least 250 targets in their latest air strikes including hamas command centers and rocket launchers. they say they killed the deputy commander of the hamas intelligence section as well as other leaders responsible for the surprise assault earlier this month on their territory. the israelis say they also sent tanks into northern gaza to prepare for expanded operations. a former high ranking israeli intelligence official tells nhk that israel's military is likely to use special forces. their mission is expected to back up the ground offensive. >> it's an elite unit in our military, trying to enter the tunnels, dismantle any weapons

they have there, charges they have there, explosives they have there, blow up the tunnels. >> but he suggests israel's ground offensive will be limited in scale and it's likely large scale air strikes will continue for the time being. that's to ensure the lebanon based shia military group hezbollah does not enter into the conflict. in a social media post hamas' armed wing says approximately 50 hostages have died as a result of the israeli attacks. the u.s. military says it's conducted what it called self-defense strikes on two iran related facilities in eastern syria. defense secretary lloyd austin said in a statement the action targeted locations used by iran's islamic revolutionary guard corp and affiliated group. he said that this was in response to a series of attacks

on u.s. forces stationed in iraq and syria. according to the pentagon drone and rocket attacks in the ten days since october 17th have left 21 u.s. personnel with minor injuries. austin said the attacks must stop and vowed to take further necessary measures if they continue. the united states is concerned that parties backed by iran may escalate tensions in the middle east amid the ongoing conflict between israel and hamas. nhk has learned that japan is sending a fact finding team to lebanon on friday. it's a preparatory measure in case japan's self-defense force personnel need to evacuate their nationals by air. sources say the team from the defense ministry will collect information and coordinate with lebanese authorities. three sdf aircraft have already been dispatched to evacuate japanese nationals from israel.

fighting between the israeli military and the shia militant group hezbollah in border areas between israel and lebanon is causing civilian casualties. it erupted the ongoing conflict between israel and hamas which controls the gaza strip. japan's foreign ministry is urging japanese nationals in lebanon's border areas with israel to evacuate immediately. it's also calling on japanese in other parts of lebanon to consider leaving. last friday it raised its danger alert to its highest level of 4. it increased it foolevel 3 for other parts of lebanon. the ministry says that as of october last year, 74 japanese nationals were staying in lebanon.

just before recent violence erupted between israel and hamas, three teenage palestinian refugees from the gaza strip visited hiroshima. the visit gave them the chance to reflect on daily life in gaza and sparked hopes of peace after a conflict. nhk world reports. >> reporter: in early october three palestinian refugees age 13 and 14 visited a school in higoshy hiroshima with support from a relief agency. the trip enabled them to experience the recovery of a facility widely destroyed in world war ii. >> in 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped by america in the town of hiroshima. >> peace was the main theme.

japanese high school students talked about the atomic bombing and the peace movement. >> we are different between culture or religious -- religion or language, but we are the same feelings. we have the same feelings. it's peace and love for every child in this world. >> reporter: they've been studying at u.n. schools in gaza. they hope to become journalists and scientists and promote peace in the gaza strip. the trio urged their japanese counter parts to appreciate the happiness of living an ordinary peaceful life. >> the reality that i have faced five wars, countless years of conflict, six years of losing

family, friends, myself maybe. we have lives like other children in this world, and just we want to live peace. >> education is our only hope in the gaza strip. >> translator: it made us realize that education cannot be taken for granted. >> the palestinian students also visited the hiroshima peace memorial museum. in their eyes the situation in gaza strip echoes hiroshima after the atomic bomb. >> i'm so surprised that japan was before 80 years old, they were suffering like us in gaza. i can't imagine this developing country was suffering before for 80 years. >> reporter: inspired by

hiroshima's recovery from the ashes of devastation, the trio felt a sense of hope for the country's future. >> we want to get up again and we want to be like hiroshima. >> reporter: after their visit, they were unable to return to gaza due to the latest conflict. as violence escalates, we hope they can soon go home and hold onto their dreams of living a life of peace. nhk world, hiroshima. it's time for a check on the weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. we had some strong storms popping up in parts of japan friday. jonathan has the latest. >> hello. we had a relatively fair day in eastern areas of japan, but other areas along the sea of japan and back towards the west, we had some strong storms. you may notice the red spots so

we're not talking about a widespread event but a wide area so these little isolated pockets of strong storms popping up, and that did cause some problems. take a look at this video and take a look at nagasaki prefecture. unseasonable upper level cold air with the prefecture seeing hail piling up like snow on a road stranding a truck and also causing some traffic problems. yeah, that's quite a bit there. also lightening was captured striking a tower of the castle. no injuries reported, but security cameras monitoring the area had a bit of problem with lightening strikes popping up and electronics not work so well. and that was the case for friday. the cold air coming around this low still in place, so here's the story coming up for the weekend. we're going to be seeing generally fair weather especially from tokyo back to the west. but because unstable air, at times you'll see those thunderstorms popping up from

time to time and be on the lookout for that. 23 in tokyo saturday and sunday, 20 again and generally fair with the possibility of a thunderstorm here and there scattered in different places. may see more of a sustained rain for saturday before we see dry air for sunday. meanwhile stormy weather across western areas of europe. some places in addition to this seeing more than 100 millimeters of rainfall in a 24-hour period. we're seeing a lot of that focus switching towards the east and toward the united kingdom really well-developed and bringing strong winds and thunderstorms as well. london on friday 13 for the high. thunderstorms into rome and viania, 14. maybe some snow possible into moscow as we go into friday. that's a look at your forecast. hope you have a good day wherever you are.

that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline."

i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. thanks for watching and do stay with us for more. ♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. shoppers at a supermarket in japan no longer need to check out their items. they can simply walk out of the store once they've collected their purchases. the new system is at a section of the food style in yokohama. it was launched on friday. customers need to download a

smart phone app. this gives them a qr code. they let a scanner read the code when entering a section. and the shopper leaves the store with theirimes. 35 cameras in the ceiling and weight sensors embedded in the store shelves identify the products being sold. the system can determine that items are not purchased if customers pick them up and put them on the shelf. about 400 products are on offer. many are boxed meals and beverages. >> translator: you can finish your shopping quickly during the morning rush or other busy hours just by taking the items leaving. >> the officials at the supermarket operator say they'll consider the future development of the section by carefully monitoring customers. the total value of sales at japan's major supermarkets was up in september for the seventh

straight month. the increase was driven by the rising costs of many items. the japan chain store association says sales stood at 1.07 trillion yen or about $7.1 billion. that's up 2.8% from a year earlier. sales of food products were up 4.8% even though consumers are becoming more budget conscious. clothes sales dropped by 3.5% as items for the fall season proved up popular due to the prolonged late summer heat. home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines fell by 19%. the association says sales have been sustained by higher prices despite the number of items sold remaining low. official say they are worried that inflation could keep hurting personal spending. the latest inflation figures for tokyo are out, and they show signs of broadening price pressures. growth in the inflation rate in october accelerated for the

first time in four months. the internal affairs ministry says the consumer price index for the capital central 23 wards rose 2.7% year on year. that's up 0.2 points from the previous month. it excludes volatile fresh food prices which fluctuate based on the weather. tokyo consumers continue to face higher prices in super markets. the cost of food again excluding fresh items soared by 7.3%. meanwhile, electricity bills dropped more than 18% while gas was down 14%. but the margin of decline was smaller compared with the september numbers as government subsidies for utility deals were halved. the figures for the capital are seen as a key indicator for nationwide inflation. we'll get those numbers on november 24th. next, nhk world's john ladue is here with "biz picks."

every friday we bring you the latest in business with "biz picks." first, a wrap of the markets this week. the nikkei average closed higher friday from the previous day but was down on the week. surging bond yields and a tech sell-off in the u.s. weighed on tokyo stocks. as for the yen, it fell to its lowest level this year at one point on thursday. investors don't expect to see a narrowing of the interest rate gap between japan and the u.s. anytime soon. now, let's take a look at the week ahead. britain will open the world's first global artificial intelligence safety summit on wednesday. monetary decisions will also be a focus. many economists predict the federal reserve will leave rates on whole as wednesday as rising bond yields could have the same effect as another tightening. in japan experts are divided over whether the central bank

will announce changes in its policy on tuesday. on our feature this week we hear an economist forecast for the decision. in july the bank added greater flexibility to its so-called yeerd curve control policy. it signaled it would tolerate an increase in ten-year japanese government bond yields to as high as 1%. thinks the boj will announce changes in its policy next week. >> we're expecting the boj to raise the long-term ten-year yield target from current around 0% to 0.5%. at the same time the boj had a cap of the ten-year yield of 1.0% up to it's going to be raised, and boj pub lged the report which present the board member's view on economy and inflation. and we believe that their assessment of underlying

inflation has risen from since july last time and second is the market ten-year yield has risen. the actual market is higher than 0.8% so it's better to align and also raising the cap from 1.0 to 1.5. but he says departing from its policy rate would be a momentous shift. the boj will need a very strong rationale. he sees such an increase will probably come in april next year given the likely flow of events. >> once the boj can confirm the spring rate negotiation outcome by middle of march. and second point is april 2024 is the timing of the boj board

members present the latest report which includes the gdp and cpi forecast through fiscal year 2026. and i think this is better for the boj to present this 2026, we believe inflation will be 2%. therefore we can end the extraordinary economic policy. >> with so much at stake, market watchers will be closely dissecting all the policy meetings in the lead-up to the potentially big one in april. i'm john ladue, and that was this week's "biz picks." artificial intelligence developer open a.i. says it will form a team to study potential catastrophic risks with what it calls frontier a.i. the risks involve cyber security and nuclear threats.

u.s. based open a.i. is the creator of chat gpt. it announced on its website on thursday the launch of its preparedness team. the company explained that frontier a.i. models will exceed the capabilities found in today's most advanced models. it said these systems have the potential to benefit all of humanity but also pose increasingly severe risks. open a.i. said it is necessary to understand the dangers that highly capable a.i. systems can pose when they are abused and how they might be used if stolen. ford motor says a recent strike will cost the company $1.3 billion for this year, affecting its earnings. the u.s. auto maker says earnings in the july to september period still reverses a net loss recorded a year earlier, but it also said the strike by the united auto workers union has led to lost

production of about 80,000 vehicles this year. the company also withdraw its operating results guidance for all of 2023. the strike started on september 15th. ford reached a tentative agreement with the union on wednesday. the deal includes a wage hike of 25% over the next 4 1/2 years. let's have a look at the markets.

and from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks very much for joining us.

>> what can the united to and israel's war on gaza? the u.n. chief has pointed to violations of international humanitarian law. israel and its supporters refuse any talk of a cease-fire. does this policy -- doesn't diplomacy stand any chance? this is inside story. ♪ >> welcome to the program.