>>> hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. we begin in the japanese diet where lawmakers are taking a small step back toward life before covid. they have agreed that anyone addressing a plenary session in either chamber no longer has to wear a mask. party representatives say a speaker without a mask must stand behind a clear partition and keep plenty of distance from other lawmakers. they'll bring in the looser rules when the diet begins an ordinary session next week. and they'll consider whether to apply them in committee meetings. >> translator: i think it's significant that the diet is taking the initiative by doing this. >> meanwhile, the government plans to recategorize covid within a few months so as to treat it the same way as seasonal flu. that would allow more hospitals to accept patients and authorities would no longer urge people to limit their activities. but people would have to start paying some of the cost of covid tests and hospital stays out of their own pockets. officials are looking at easing the transition

♪ >>> hello and welcome to nhk "newsline."'m yoshi on the grougasawara i >>> japan's prime minister is calling on ministers to look at downgrading the perceived risk of covid-19 to similar to the flu. kishida fumio wants the reclassification to happen as early as this spring so japan can begin rolling back its strict restrictions. >> translator: in order to get back to a more peaceful time in japan, the government plans to gradually downgrade various policies and measures that have been taken while further promoting efforts to get the country back to normal. we will make concrete arrangements. >> but kishida says japan will keep up its all-out efforts to fight the current wave of infections as deaths rise. covid-19 is now ranked at a level almost equivalent to category 2. that's the second most severe tier on japan's classification system for infectious diseases. that lets authorities take strict measures to stop the virus spreading, including urging people to limit their movements. but in light of its impact on socioeconomic

nhk world. ♪ ♪ >>> turning now to the weather.ts of oman are seeing a plunge in temperatures. jonathan oh. >> hello, we don't usually talk about snow in the middle east that often but we are talking about some right now as we had snow rolling through oman. here's a look at some video of how people were taking in this winter phenomena. experienced rare snowfall on thursday. people throwing snowballs sometimes at the people recording the video here. some areas in the country had subzero temperatures as well. so definitely getting a taste of winter and we are expecting the precipitation to still be in place as we go through today on friday and so be othe lookout of seeing wet or even stormy weather. speaking of wet weather, down toward madagascar, this system continues to move down toward the south and west, a slow-moving system, areas already dealing with some flooded areas you're going to see the possibility of seeing more precipitation. hopefully it won't compound the situation at this point. meanwhile, we're also got some serious

>>> glad to have you with us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. >>> japanese prime minister kishida fumio has arrived in washington. i'll his first visit to the united states since taking office and his last stop on a week-long tour of five western powers. he's set to meet president joe biden at the white house friday morning. the leaders are expected to reaffirm unity on a range of issues including food, energy, and ukraine. it comes as japan is preparing to host the g7 summit in may. kishida is also expected to brief biden on a major shift in japan's security policy announced last month. they include a boost in defens spending and jap's ability to launch counterstrikes against attackers. the two are expected to discuss closer cooperation in developing cutting-edge technology as well, such as semiconductors, quantum computing, and biotech. >>> on thursday, the u.s. and japanese defense ministers held talks at the pentagon. they say the u.s. will strengthen its commitment to extended deterrence for japan,

♪ >>> hello, and welcome to this edition of nhk "newsline."'m raja pradhan in tokyo with the latest at this hour. it's been years into the coronavirus pandemic with scientists battling a recurring issue, how to protect against an ever evolving disease, but u.s. health experts say updated boosters will make a difference against the predominant new strain. scientists at the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention studied the xbb related sub variants of omicron. they found boosters provided nearly 50% protection against symptomatic infection among adults up to age 49. the number dipped slightly for those above 50. the cdc suggests the sub variant is now the most common strain spreading through the united states, and it encourages anyone eligible to get the latest booster. now health experts here in japan are voicing the need to maintain free covid-19 vaccinations even as government plans to downgrade the disease to the same class as seasonal flu. health authorities are considering recategorizing covid-19 from the second highest to the low

♪ >>> hello, and welcome to this edition of nhk "newsline."'m raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. chinese health authorities have not updated daily covid-19 case counts since sunday, even as infections continue to surge and that has global experts concerned. the center for disease control and prevention had been posting daily updates on both cases and deaths online. but that ended on the weekend along with beijing's so-called zero covid policy. it marks a major shift from buyers prevention to treatment. the government plans to announce data once a month. the world health organization says the data cna does provide doesn't projects how things are. >> heavily under reported from china, and this is in relation to the definitions that have used. >> the w.h.o. says china has not even given enough information to understand which variants are spreading. it's sparking fears that new virus strain could tear through the country. a surge in coronavirus cases in china means people arriving from japan face controls when they arrive. they responded by su

>>> hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. we begin in china, where officials have announced one giant leap for the country's manned space program. the state-owned company says a newly constructed chinese space station is set to become fully operational. an official statement confirms construction was completed last year. the space station is made up of three main parts. a core dubbed tianhe and two lab modules. it's planned to stay in operation for over a decade and host experiments involving scientists from 17 countries. the announcement comes amid a growing space race between china and the u.s. beijing is launching probes to the moon and mars. nasa is working on the artemis program to bring the first humans to the lunar surface in over half a century. >>> china and the philippines say they will restart negotiations on oil and gas development. while it could lead to huge opportunities, key territorial disputes remain. chinese president xi jingping met with president fernand marcos jr. in beijing monday. xi told marcos they w

♪ >>> hello and welcome to nhk "newsline."'m yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. >>> we begin with an order to pause attacks in ukraine to mark orthodox christmas. russian president vladimir putin has told troops to hold their fire for 36 hours, but the ukrainians are dismissing the truce as a trick. putin says he's honoring an appeal from the head of the russian orthodox church, and he called on ukrainian forces to declare a cease-fire. but ukraine's leader rejected the offer as hypocrisy. volodymyr zelenskyy says the war will end when the russians leave or are thrown out. >> translator: they want to use christmas as a cover to stop the advance of our boys in donbas, at least for a while, and bring equipment, ammunition, and conscripts closer to our positions. >> meanwhile, u.s. president joe biden agreed to provide more money and security help for ukraine during a phone call with the german chancellor on thursday. germany says it will send armored vehicles and the patriot air defense system. it's the first time the country will provid

at this nhk, only 33% of the population supports kishida, three less than in december. those who do not agree with the policy of the japanese prime minister 45% for support. he went west in a week visited five countries france italy to the uk canada and of course that the states in beijing called this tour anti-china japan's further rapprochement the us is deeply alarming but not a surprise following its historic shift in defense policy that will have a long-term and far - reaching china and the regional security landscape. even on the eve of the meeting between biden and kisida, it became. it is known that the states plan to strengthen the weapons of the american forces. in japan, now slightly corrected the presence of their military on the island of okinawa, the american press does not hide this is necessary to strengthen the anti-robbery capabilities that will be required in the event of china's invasion of taiwan. for this, the americans are doing everything possible, lieutenant general james burman command . the us marine corps in an interview with the financial ti

ñl >>> hello and welcome to nhk. russia says

. >>> from her studios here in tokyo, this is nhk newsline.iversary on tuesday of the great earthquake.

. >>> hello there, and welcome to nhk newsline.ommanders have thrown wave after wave of soldiers into the fight for eastern ukraine. they have been trying for months to break through defensive positions and dislodgment ukrainian tr

e-mail your comments to outreach@dem >>> hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline." minori in new york. western leaders have tried to maintain a unified front in providing weapons to their allies in ukraine, but some find themselves closer to the battlefield and look upon the fighting from a different perspective, and now they're showing their coalition has some cracks. the allies bve

worked as a social worker, led to marilyn's child protective service agency. o;o;ó7ó7 start hello, to nhk president zelenskyy says his allies have everything necessary to stop russian aggression. he pushed them again to provide him with more weapons, what he called a new level of modern military equipment.

o;o;ó7ó7 >>> hello and welcome back to "nhk newsline ." >>> authorities in brazil have restored order seat of their government. supporters of former president made claims about a stolen election, then stormed the capitol. some can't help but compare the events to a similar sequence in the u.s. both

." ♪ ♪ >>> welcome to nhk "newsline."riticism is mounting in russia against the country's military commanders after dozens of russian soldiers were killed in a ukrainian rocket strike in the eastern donetsk region. russian defense ministry officials said on wednesday the attack destroy

stomach hello and welcome back to nhk newsline. i am takao minori in new york. have grappled for months over sending tanks to ukraine. those in germany finally relented to the pressure, and now, those in the u.s. have too.

o;o;ó7ó7 >>> hello, and welcome back to "nhk newsline". i am in new york. and japan have signed a defense pact, boosting cooperation between the japanese defense more and british military. calling it the most significant in over a century.

i want to thank you dontÉ stallworth as well as william rh ♪ ♪ >>> hello and welcome to nhk "newslinenew york. russian president vladimir putin has entered the new year determined to press ahead with the war in ukraine. his invasion has not gone the way he had hoped. but now he says he has weapons that other countries can't match. putin met with some of his senior commanders to charge strategy. he announced he pl

♪ >>> hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline."ori in new york. >>> ukrainian leaders pressed their allies in the west for more modern weapons. now they are set to receive hardware that could be decisive. they say advanced tanks will give their troops a punching fist. ukrainians have been asking

i'm trying to search my bloomberg terminal here because we also had a line from nhk yesterday.t japan will be downgrading covid 19, the classification on may 8. there we go, as we round up the morning session, the data point which came out a few hours back, the leading indicator for nationwide numbers, 4.4%. my producers will help me out. 4.2%, 10-year gilts off, breaking off the ceiling. we are inching closer to that level. will the change in the boj be inevitable? rishaad: we will see. the new governor taking the helm in april. let's take a look at the first word news. sources telling us japan as well as the netherlands are set to join the u.s. and limiting china's access to semiconductor machinery. were told they will be setting limits as soon as today. it will further cut beijing's ambitions to build its own domestic chip capabilities. the international monetary fund urging the boj and bank of japan to consider boosting flexibility, suggesting options to include raising the 10-year yield target using an unusually strong tone for policy advice. the boj tweaked its yield ban