Shinzo abes meeting leaders from five opposition parties. He wants their support to pass legislslation, giving h him the option of declaring a state o o ememergency if the outbreak worsens. Should it be called a state of emergency wouould give abe and governors more power. Theyd be able to take steps such as curb beiing opening houf Department Stores and movie theaters. Authorities would be able to use buildings and land without the consent of owners for medical purposes. Meanwhile, schools across the country have been closed for lessons since monday, but some are opening classrooms for students to use. In nagoya, students have been completing homework assignments and reading books. Theyve been told not to sit too close to each other and wash their hands every hour. Translator i can concentrate better w with myy studies than home. Translator we hope to continue to open classrooms and consider what we are able to offer our students. While schools are closed, teenagers are gathering at game centers, karaoke parlors and fast food outlets. Translator im Walking Around doing some window shopping, and i also did some occasi karaoke. Translator i was told not to go outside, but its boring to stay at home. Some Amusement Centers are turning teenagers away. Young people are being criticized on social media for ignoring advice to stay home. Other posts question whether the School Closures are necessary or effective. The virus continues to spread around the globe, but the number of new cases has been dropping in the country it started, china. Major cities there are taking stepss to ensure it stays that way. Shanghai is quarantining people arriving from countries hit hard by the outbreak, including japan. Theyll be required to stay home or in designated facilities for 14 days. Similar measures have been taken in beijing and in other cities. There are growing concerns the measures wl h hper foreign businesses operating in the country. The vast jofrt theore than 80,0,000 nexex in china are in hubei province. There were four new cases reported. As new cases are on the decline in china, south kororea has seea sharp increase. E. It marked anotherer grim mileste on wednesday when the number of cases topopped 5600. Ababout 90 c countrieses and territitories around t t world have either banned or imposed entry restrictions against people arriving from the country. Among them is india. It stopped issuing visas to south koreans and to other nationals from countries with large outbreaks, including japan, iran and italy. Meanwhile, the u. S. President said he may expand travel restrictions. We are watching italy very closely, south korea very closelely, even japan very closely, and well make the right d determination at the rit time. The n number of deaths in th u. S. Has increased to nine. The country iss taking multiple body temperature checks on anyone who enters by direct flight from airports in south korea and italy. Nhk calculates that outside Mainland China and japan the number of deaths has increased. Turning to the u. S. Where a clearer picture of the first day of major elections is showing that joe biden has won texas. There were 14 state the up tor gra for grabs in the democratic primary on tuesday. Abc news says biden has gained 331 delegates and won nine states in total. Bernie sanders has 262 delegates and won three states. Elizabeth warren has won 25 delegates and former new york mayor Michael Bloomberg follows with 11. The results leave every candidate still far short of securing a majority of delegates, 1,191 needed to earn the nomination and square off against President Trump. Widen is riding a wave of mo momentum following south carolinas primary last weekend. We are very much alive make no mistake about it, this campaign will send donald trump packing sanders argued that hes got the momentum to become the next president. We are going to win, because the people understand it is our campaign, our movement which is best positioned to defeat trump. Now, all eyes are on california, the state is the most important of super tuesday states, because it has 416 delegates, by far the largest number. Sanders is currently in the lead. With more primaries scheduled over the next two weeks, tuesdays results will be influential in helping determine voters choices in other states. Voting is still under way in california, one of the most closelywatched races. Earlier, our reporter was at a cafe where Bernie Sanders supporters are gathering. Reporter now this has turned into a real party. Although results are still coming in, people here declared their own victory several hours ago. Many volunteers headed to polling stations where people are still waiting to cast ballots. The state is dealing with some technical glitches with its new electronic votingg system. California has more than 400 delegates and is a mustwin state for a candidate. Iiti i visited a pololling s site wh people were excited do take part in super tuesday. Bernie sanders and his team were always expecting a win here but it was unclear how big the win would be. He was a clear front runner early in the primary season, getting strong support from young and progressive voters. Lately, sanders has made an effort to expand his base. But that wasnt enough to stop joe bidens homomentum heading into super tuesday. Hes taken some prominent states tonight and has established himself as the best option for moderate democrats. People here know they need to keep fighting for Bernie Sanders as it clearly seems to have become a twoman race. Earlier, minori takao spoke with a professor who specializes in american politics. How do you see the results so far . Biden has more mepledges than sanders. Abc says that biden takes texas. I wasas wondering how well bloomberg would do. It was a big blow to warren. The race now seems to have come down do sanders versus biden, and sanders representing the progressive wing and biden representing more of the centrist wing of the Democratic Party. And as far as so far, its been a good day for particularly for biden, because he won minnesota and commumassachusetts and texa. We are still waiting for california to come in, but considering there are so many candidates, how do they move from here . Certainly, theres a very strong split between the Progressive Side and the centrist side, so they have to come together in order to win the presidency. And last week i was in california, and i met many Bernie Sanders supporters, and they said that they would support whoever the candidate of the Democratic Party, because their common and biggest enemy is President Trump. So unlike four years ago when sanders supporters sit out the elections without voting for hillary clinton, i thihink this time m may be different, but still, as the fight continues the emotions may get worse and sort of promoting division. This is just about super tuesday. We have more states coming in. Right. But then again, as you say, its all about the president ial election coming up in november. Mmhm. So do you think the Democratic Party has a chance to topple trump at all . Yes, i think the chance is 50 50. And when incumbent, usually incumbent president s tend to get reelected when economy is good, so President Trump has an advantage here, but at t the sa time, his disfavorable rate is higher than approval rate and the poll suggests he is not so competitivee in the rust belt which brought him a victory four years ago. If demococratic succeeds unitin the party, the democrat has a chance. And considering for the economy,y, what do you think is their chances again . The biggest unstable thing is ththe coronavirus. It could affect the economy. And it might bring up the problem of health care in the united states. So that may help the democrats. We now go to a refugee crisis at the greece turkey border. The European Union is supporting greek efforts to protect its borders with an aid grant of 780 million. People are massed at the border trying to reach europe. Theyve gathered there after turkey eased restrictions following the military offensive in northwestern syria. Greece is beefing up security to prevent them from entering. The greek Prime Minister is criticizing turkey for breaching the 2016 deal to host refugees and migrants in return for aid. He held a press conference. Migrants and refugees cannot be used as instruments, as pawns in a geopolitical game. They are the true victims of these types of policies, and this is an approach that cannot be deemed acceptable. They say the eu does not want a repeat ever the syrian refugee crisis five years ago. Nine years have passed since 2011 when a massive tsunami k p crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. But the Evacuation Order has been lifted for some in futaba town. [ speaking in japanese ] the order was laifted on wednesday for nearly 5 of the town which cohosts the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The area covers the North Eastern part of the town where radiation levels have been relativelyly low, and one secti of a noentry zonone near a rai station whose high levels of radiation have been reduced by decontamination work. Futaba is the only municipality whose entire area has been under an Evacuation Order for the past nine years. This is also the first time that such an order has been lifted for a noentry zone. But town Officials Say no residents will be returning for the time being because of the slow progress in building basic infrastructure. Officials say theyre building an Industrial Complex and public facilities so evacuees can start to return in 2022. Following the partial lifting, the town Liaison Office opened near f futaba railwayay station. The main office has been temporarily moved to a nearby city. Time now for World Weather with our meteorologist, sayaka mori. Hello, sayaka. March has begun, but heavy snow could impact parts of northern japan. How much snow is in the forecast . It looks Like Northern japan could see more than one meter of snow. Even the hokuriku region which experienced very small amounts of snow in winter will see significant snowfall at least into friday. The total snowfall could be up to 1. 3 meters in parts of hokkaido. We have a low pressure system approaching japan and one more storm in the south. This system is expected to bring heavier rainfall and strong winds to the kanto region, including tokyo tonight. These storms will merge into one bigg storm and cauause signific snow overr the north. Again, up to 1. 3 meters o of sn is possible into friday in hokkaido a and also winds coulde very strong. The combination will cause very dangerous conditions. And waves are going to be up to seven meters. Temperatures are going to be above zero in many places. Sapporo two and niigata eight. And as we go into sunday temperatures are going to be warming up. Tokyo will see sunny weather on thursday, but its going to be wednesday. But winds will be calm as we go into friday and temperatures will be 14 degrees on sunday. Theres a heine o of rainfaline the south of china. So rain is in the forecast. For taipipei, hong kong and bangkok on your thursday. Deadly tornados have hit central tennessee, including nashville. We have some video coming out of the area. A tornado was lit up by lightning flashes on tuesday early morning. Powerful tornados tore through nashville, tennessee and surrounding counties. An airport was extensively damaged. Airplanes and structures were crush t crushed by the tornado. Very dangerous conditions occcc. And in fact, 25 people have been killed in tennessee because of twisters. The storm system is now pushing towards the south theres a line of thunderstorms across the gulf states. Theres a concern for more Severe Weather across the southern united states. That includes tornados, large hail as well as damaging winds. Rain will be very hard as well. So watch out for flash floods. And temperatures are going to be 30 in miami and 14 in atlanta, snowy weather for toronto. Thats it for me. Stay safe. And t thats all it for thi hour on nhk newsline. Thank you very much for watching, and do stay with us for more. The spread of the coronavirus is it taking a serious toll on japans biggest car maker. Officials at Toyota Motors say the market in china has plunged. Toyota says new car sales in the Worlds Largest auto market were down 70 for february from the previous year. It sold nearly 24,000 units. Highend lexus models have been a key driver for toyota in china, but sales tumbled after the outbreak forced many dealerships to close for a long period. Some outlets that have resumed business say visitor numbers remain low. Analysts say other japanese auto makers are also likely to see poor results. This is newsline biz, im gene otani. The virus is making it harder for Japanese Companies to operate in india. The government has announced new Visa Conditions on countries with high infection rates. Japanese people will be denied entry if they received their visas on or before tuesday. The country has also stopped issuing visas to japanese at its airports. The measures do not apply to people already in india. Suzuki motor is responding by ordering japanese employees in india not to leave the country unless absolutely necessary. Suzuki controls more than 50 of the countrys auto market. Elsewhere, toshiba has notified all its employees working abroad to remain in their respective countries. The Electronics Firm s ss o oth governments may take similar measures as india and employees could find it difficult to reenter a country once they depart. Many travel agencies in japan say they are canceling tours to india. Japans Tourism Industry has reported a sharp decline in bookings for travel and ac accommodation due to the coronavirus outbreak. Reservations for Domestic Travel in march have fallen 34 , compared to the same period last year. Bookings for april tumbled 50 . Reservations for overseas travel have declined 39 for march and 50 for april. A survey of tour Bus Operators shows more than 11,000 reservations for sightseeing and School Excursion bus tours in january through april have been canceled. The companies are projecting year on year declines of about 50 in their march and april sales. The Tourism Industry could suffer another hit after the governments recent call to close schools. Officials with japans biggest trade union group say the outbreak is causing a great deal of anxiety for workers. Theyve set up a dedicated hotline to answer questions on the matter. The Officials Say i in recent weeks they have been getting more and more inquiries, main lay from contract and parttime staff. They say one caller was worrrri he h had the virus andnd wanted know if he would still get paid if he took time off. Translator the c callers ha been expressing a w wide range concerns. Wewell worork witith relevant s to address their problems. An officiaial with the union says the government needs to act quickly t to offer protection t workers. The number of fresh infections from the new coronavirus is reportedly falling in Mainland China, excluding in the hardesthit, hubei province. Some factories around the country have been allowed to resume operations, but getting back into full running order is proving harder than imagined. Nhk worlds talk yoe baba reports. Reporter in late february, more than 30 news outlets from yoev seas took part in a tour of plants south of hubei province. The event was organized by the local government to alleviate concerns about the impact. The new coronavirus outbreak was having on corporate activities. Participants traveled in areas under heightened alert. The body temperatures were taken at a checkpoint on a major road. At each plant they visited, they had to go through the same procedure before they could enter. A banner at this major hope electric appliance maker offered encouragement. The firm mainly manufacturers microwave ovens and air conditioners and exports 70 of its products. But some products on lines werent in operation. [ speaking in japanese ] translator some employees have been unable to come to work because public transport has been suspended and other problems. Reporter at the time, the firm was struggling to get by with only 80 of its 5,000 employees. This worker works on air cleaners used and other appliances. They have been receiving more orders from firms that assemble products for hospitals, but it is running at only half capacity because of a labor shortage. Adding to its problems is turmoil in the supply chain. Operators in wu hahan dont kno when theyll be able too get g ourrunning again. Production, we want to curb the outbreaks influence on our sales. Reporter beijing intends to step up measures, including tax cuts to spur small and Mediumsized Companies that have been hard hit, but with no end in sight to the turmoil, government officials are still dealing with a plan to combat the crisis. All right, lets have a look at the markets. From the newsline biz team in tokyo, im gene otani. Thanks very much for joining us. Anchor a very y warm welcome to france 24. It is 1 00 p. M. In the french capital. Here are the headlines. Democrats in 14 states have been choosing who they want to take on donald trump in the november election. Joe biden wins texas, giving him the secondbiggest delegate prize of super