i'm gene otani. resumed on the tokyo stock exchange on friday after it was h halted by a technical glitch for all of thursday. the session ended without any disruptions. trading kicked offff at the usu time at 9:00 a.m. bringing some relief to market participants. tse officials said thursday the glititch was tririggered by y a hardware failure in n the syste switching to a backup device also failed making it impossible for market information to be distributed. the tse replaced the equipment that caused the failure and confirmed that there was no problem with the trading system. the outage had a wide ranging impact. local exchanges use the same system as tokyo to execute trades. they also reopened on friday after a hiatus the previous day. the nikkei average finished .7% lower, compared to wednesday's close. the index tumbled after u.s. president t donald trumpmp twee he and the first lady tested positive for covid-19. some investors were in a wait-and-see mood as they were still worried about the sys

i'm gene otani.ociation representing the world's feature airlines calls for flexibility, increasing the cargo capacity of passenger jets so they can transport covid-19 vaccines. it is estimated the equivalent of 8,000 boeing 747 cargo planes will be needed to carry enough vaccine to give all 7.8 bilioln people in the world a single dose. iata says 60% of the passenger aircraft have been grounded due to the pandemic, drastically cutting cargo capacity. iata's head of cargo, glen hughes, said three to four weeks will be needed for maintenance and test flights before the grounded planes can resume operations. he said the shortage of cargo capacity may continue once vaccines are available. >> a number of carriers have taken the seats out of their passenger aircrft and worked with the civil aviation authorities to approve those aircraft for use of cargo-only transport. >> hughes indicated that aviation regulators need to show similar flexibility in improving conversation -- conversions, rather, to transpo

i'm gene otani. it expects to raise more than $34 billion.ny is an affiliate of e-commerce giant alibaba group i. announced initial public offering prices on monday. a listing is planned for both the shanghai and hong kong exchanges as soon as next week. the record for the largest ipo is currently held by oil giant saudi aramco which went public last year. its listing was worth over $29 billion. the number of people using ant group's plan in china is believed to be around $900 million. they also offer online investing. the hong kong listing is scheduled for november 5th. it plans to list in shanghai the same day. >>> japan's communications minister unveiled a plan that aims to super competition among mobile phone carriers, and it includes measures to make it easier for customers to switch to lower-priced companies. >> translator: by structuring a healthy market, i expect the domestic pricing level would get close to international standards. >> the ministry intends to launch a website by year end that will explain the procedures for changing f

i'm gene otani.m corporate earnings season in japan is being head lined by a crushing decline at one of the country's major air carriers. japan airlis is forecasting a group net loss of at least $2.3 billion for the business year that ends next march. the coronavirus pandemic is impacting companies across the board. jal reports sales during the april to september period fell 74% from a year earlier. the net loss is more than $1.5 billion. the main cause is a large drop in passenger numbers on both international and domestic flights. jal officials say they aim to cut costs by about $960 million this fiscal year by cutting staff and reducing the airline's fleet. they also plan to seek an additional credit line to secure a total of $2.9 billion the carrier needs to stay afloat. jal will post the first group loss since a business restructure in 2012 that brought it out of bankruptcy. >>> the operator of japan's disney theme parks has booked a net loss of 30 billion yen or about $288 million for the first

i'm gene otani.stock exchange officials are racing to fix a major system failure that halted trading for the entire day on thursday. they say they are aiming to have the exchange ready to reopen on friday. tse president and ceo apologized to investorsrs for the outage. officials say a glitch appears to be preventingng the system fm sending out infoformation on stk prices and trading data. they sayay they are planning to replace the hardware. >> translator: we feel a grerea sense of responsisibility. we will conduct a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the problem and do whatever is necessary to ensure it doesn't happen again. >> he said the timing was unfortunate given the government is considering a plan to create an international financial center within japan. officials announced the halt shortly before trading was due to begin at a at 9d /* 9:00 a.m local titime.. inveorors couldn't s sharere th roughly 3,700 shares listed on the exchange. brokerage firms were inundated with calls fr

i'm gene otani. the covid-19 pandemic has taken a massive toll on business for east japan railway.ny has posted a net loss of $264 billion yen or about $2.5 billion for the april to september period. it's the group's first loss for the period since 1992. that's when it began releasing half-year results. the train operator known as jre says its group sales in the six months plunged by almost half from last year. demand for the train travel -- demand for train travel dried up. sales also declined at its commercial facilities, hotels and station buildings. the company expects to see its first annual net loss of about $4 billion through march. east japan railway says it aims to cut costs by around $960 million this fiscal year. the company will reduce executive compensation and advertising expenses. it will also move up the departure times of last train services on many lines in and around tokyo starting next march. >>> business leaders from japan and the u.s. have called for strengthening free and fair trade. they urge their countries to diversify supply chains to help offset risks th

this hour libya is set to resume oil production after an 8th month located by forces loyal to wall otani fuck off tom and a 3rd attempt to uphold a cease fire between armenia and azerbaijan the us urges both sides to respect the latest troops. i'm going to go with all the dates for the los angeles dodgers take a new base pairs world series to move to within one win of their 1st championship since 1988. thank you very much for joining us corona virus cases are rising sharply across europe with several countries reporting record numbers of new infections on sunday france announced more than 50000 new cases for the 1st time italy and spain are struggling with a 2nd wave. while hopes for a vaccine are growing in the u.k. the british health secretary says the government is preparing for a mass rollout in the 1st half of next year but in the us the trump administration has been accused of giving up the fight against covert 19 white house chief of staff mark meadows has conceded the u.s. is not going to control the pandemic while we have me standing by in london but 1st we go to our white house

i'm gene otani.of foreign travelers coming to japan during the first half of 2020 plunged 77% from a year earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic. it was the first decline in nine years. the immigration services agency of japan said 3.4 million foreign visitors entered the country in the january to june period. the number fell for the first time since 2011, when a huge earthquake and tsunami struck the country. about 97% of the arrivals stayed for a short term. they included tourists. most visited in january and february. visitotors from china topped th list, followed by taiwan. both figures fell more than 70% from a year earlier. travelers from south korea ranked third. the figure tumbled nearly 90%. the immigration agency said the entry ban is being eased gradually, but restrictions for tourists will continue. >>> a report by the boj highlights prices in japan are under downward pressure amid the pandemic. the central bank estimates that japan's output gap stood at minus 4.83% in the april to june

i'm gene otani. japanese automaker subaru has unveiled the newest version of the levorg model.on wagon features advanced driving support. there's a camera installed near the driver's seat and two radars at the front. the brakes engage automatically when the equipment senses danger. one option allows hands-free driving in congested traffic on exprpressways. another enable automomatic lane changing relying on radarar tha monitors vehicles to the rear. overall, auto sales globally have plunged since the pandemic began, but vehicles with driving support features are currently proving popular. >>> the operator of the clothing chain uniglo is the latest to report losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. retail earnings report shows revenue fell to about $19 billion. that's down around 12% year on year. net profit tumbled by more than 44%, largely due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis. the emergency forced the firm to temporarily close stotores arou the world and continues to dampen consumer sentiment. >> translator: the pandemic is definitely a global crisis, but it can turn out

i'm gene otani. mitsubishi electric has constructed an energy self-sufficient building as part of efforts to devevelop power-saving technologies. the test facility is in cam cure raniere tokyo and features a temperature control system that uses the flow of warm or cool water to keep its rooms comfortable. solar panels on the roof and window awnings increase powerer generation while large windows absorb plentiful sunshine. the company aims to conduct experiments and other activities at the facility that will translate into more energy efficient construction. >> translator: there is a growing commitment among people to consider the environment in the way they live. >> the japanese government provides subsidies for the introduction of technologies that reduce power consumption. >>> the global airline industry has been thrown into crisis by the coronavirus pandemic, but a new japanese low-cost carrier has risen to the challenge by launching internationanal passenger r services. zipair tokyo started passe

i'm gene otani. japanese automaker mitsubishi is slashing winter bonuses this year.g they're shaving 20% off the payout for most of the domestic workforce. the company is trying to cut costs and rebuild its business in an unpektsdly tough year. sources say the labor unions have agrd eeto the cutbacks whichh will affect around 13,00 people. mitsubishi managers already negotiated a lower than usual winter bonus, but now they say they can't hit that target. it's the first time in 16 years that they've had to cut bonuses after agreeing to a figure. the automaker is also planning to shed about 550 domestic workers by offering voluntary retirement packages for next month. >>> fresh data from show both imports and exports rebounded sharply in september. that suggests business activity is recovering both at home and abroad. customs data show imports surged by double digits for the first time in three months. exports grew just under 10% f fm aa year earlier. it was the fourth consecutive month of gains. some of the activity reflected robust demand for masks and medical equipm

i'm gene otani.anese authorities are investigating a tokyo-based auto parts maker for data falsification. joyson safety systems japan allegedly shipped seat belts that did not meet legal safety standards. the transnsport ministry says t company's factory in shiga prefecture may have falsified quality-related data including diermt. the ministry says there have been no reports of defects in the seatbelts so far. the company took over the operations of failed japanese air bag maker takata in 2018 that went bankrupt due to a devastating safety scandal that saw massive global recalls of its air bags. joyson's parent company in the u.s. says the firm is reviewing data related to the matter over a 20-year period. joyson does business with several japanese automakers. toyota motors says it's told the parts maker to provide detailed data to assess the impact on safety and the need for recalls. other automakers including honda and nissan are also l looking io the issue. >>> semi conductor manufacturers are sho