Public health. The government laid out a threephased approach for easing restrictions. In phase onne, schools wouldld reremain closed. People would be encouraged to telework and not hold gatherings of more than ten people. In phase two, classes would be back in session and the ban on nonessential travel would be lifted. In the final third phase, businesses would be able to resume regular staffing at work sites. Trump emphasized governors will have the power to tailor their response. He also said states which had beenn less seriously h hit by t viruus could begin t to reopen almost immediately. Now the governor of new york has been cautious about lifting the measures he says are working. Andrew cuomo reported the fewest deaths from the virus in ten days. Still, more than 600 people died so he is extending the shutdown. New york has come to a pause. That is how the governor says he controls what he calls a beast but the lockdown is not over yet. He has extended it until may 15th. What happens after then, i dont know. We will see depending on what the data shows. Reporter cuomo says the rate considerably before he eased restrictions. He says testing is the best tool to inform decisions, and he says it is essential to reopening businesses. Even then, that would only happen in phases. The governors of three western states say they, too, will wait until the rate of infection has declined. Those in california, washington, and oregon will coordinate their plans. Cuomo realilizes peopople cross ststate lines,s, so he, too, is coorddinating with the g gover of neighboring states. No political decisions. No emotional decisions. Data and science were talking about human lives here. Reporter cuomo saays he undderstands people nneed certainty and clarity, but he says for now ththey have to ke doing what theyve been doing. Nhkk world, new w york. Now the japanese government is also expanding measuures to control the outbreak broadening its current state of emergency to cover the entire country. Translator in order to curb the spread of ththe virus from urban to rural areas, and minimize the movvement o of peo during the long holiday period from late april through early may, we havee deccided to put a 47 prefectctures under r a staf emergenccy. As tthe holiday periood apppproaches, we e want prefect authororities to urge reresideno avvoid nononessential trips to other prefecture to prevent spreading the virus. The government declared the state of emergency for tokyo, osaka, and five other prefectures last week. But the number of infected people has been rising in other prefectures as well. Officials want to reduce humantohuman contact by 80 to limit the spread of the virus before the declaration expires on may 6th. The state of emergency allows governors to ask residents to stay at home as much as possible. They can also ask certain businesses to close or limit their opening hours. Can seize land and buildings for use as emergency medical facilities without the owners consent. Translator i think it is wise and also desirable to restrict peoples movements all at once in order to contain the spread. Translator we have an increasing number of cases where infection routes are unclear. We are at a critical phase. About 9,300 people have tested positive in japan. That does not include 712 cases linked to the diamond princess cruise ship which was quarantined in yokohama in february. Over 200 people have died, including 13 from the ship. Tokyo has reported more than a quarter of all confirmed infections in japanan. Ofofficials announcedd 149 new cases on thursday. Leaders of the groups of seven Major Economies are reaffirming the need to Work Together to Research Treatments and vaccine for the coronavirus. The leaders discussed a number of issues during thhursdays Video Conference one month after their initial meeting. Leaders expressed support for the World Health Organization two days after trump halted funding to the international agency. Japanese Prime Minister wants to work as closely as possible for treatments. Doctors say this can ease symptoms. Abe said the government wants to expand Clinical Trials of the medicine overseas. The leaders reportedly coordinated on a need for research and stressed there should be stronger support for countries with more Vulnerable Health systems. Meanwhile, the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics and paralympics and the internatioonal Olympic Committee have decided to Work Together to further cut costs of the postponed games. Weve already applied to take so many cuts out of the games in 2020 taking it to the next level. The 2020 summer games have been postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. That has raised the question of what additional costs will be incurred and how to share the burden. The Tokyo Organizing Committee and the ioc held a Video Conference and issued a joint statement. Ioc Coordination Commission chair john coates said the costs should be reduced further through a rigorous review of Service Levels for all areas of the games. Coates stopped short of mentioning what the iocs share of any additional costs would be, but he said the ioc will not stand by and see our International Federations collapse. The ioc and the japanese side agree that the present plans for the venues and competition schedules will be retained almost unchanged, and they will discuss the matter with officials of the games venues. With millions of people around the world required to stay home these days, concerns about Domestic Violence are growingng. U. N. Secretary general is urging governments to take this into account as they craft measures to slow down the virus. Nhk worlds reporter tells us whats been done in austria. Reporter restaurants, stores, and schools were closed when the austrian government imposed severe restrictions weeks ago. People were ordered to stay home except when shopping for groceries and e essenttials. Ththis family lilives in the wen part of the country. Translator this used to be our living room but we turned it into my husbands office space. Reporter for a while distancing rules were stricter than the rest of austria. The state has a border with italy where the number of deaths from covid19 is among the worst in the world. The baumgartners and their 18monthold child have all been together all day long for a month. The stress has been building. Translator my son constantly comes up to me and bangs on my keyboaard. Traranslator somemetimes i on the verge of losing my temper. Reporter around the country some people are beyond the verge. A support group for Domestic Violence victims says consultations are up more than 70 . Recently a man living and working from home in the outskirts of vienna nearly beat his wife to death. The stress of confinement is thought to have been a factor. Womemen who are stuck at home wh a verbally abusive spouse have been reaching out for help. Translator were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Im worried about women who dont contact us because they cant use their phones or computers without being noticed. The National Government has launched a 24hour line for victims. It has also increased the staffing of online chat rooms which people can access without being overheard. Translator the fear of losing your job is all around. That and other forms of stress may be leading to Domestic Violence. In ordinary times people often feel there is no place like home, but under the current conditions, problems may have nowhere else to go. Alexandra koller, nhk world, vienna. Lets check out the World Weather with our meteorologist. Yoko, a powerful storm is on its way to japan. Tell us what people need to watch out for. We are expecting heavy rain and damaging winds this weekend with the potential for a landslide and flooding. A low pressure system is now moving across the Korean Peninsula bringing showers and strong winds. This storm system will eventually push into japan as it intensifies. Strong winds will occur during the day on saturday. Gusts could reach 108 kilometers per hour. You may see heavy downpours and dangerous, high waves as high as 5 meters especially on the pacific side of the country. Heavy downpours will be the main concern. People in the regions are expecting 100 to 300 millimeters of rain as we go into saturday. Watch out for rising rivers and landslides. Expect Stormy Weather in tokyo and osaka on saturday. Things will ease up on sunday. But another storm will bring more showers early next week. Temperatures will be a bit chilly in tokyo with a high of 16 degrees on friday but warming up is expected as we go into sunday. In the u. S. , after snowfall hit chicago on wednesday, another storm system is knocking at the door. A loww pressure system over the central u. S. Will bring more snow to the area with up to 30 centimeters of snow possible. Also severe thunderstorms may develop with the cold front and will spread across the Southern Plains ninto the deep south. Weather is expected in Oklahoma City and houston on friday. Cooler temperatures will remain in denver and chicago and with a chance of sleet or snow. New york will have a high of 9 degrees on friday and rain may turn to snow in inland areas. Thats all for now. Stay safe. Thats nhk newsline at this hour. Wherever you are, please stay safe and stay healthy. Xxx welcome to newsline in depth. Traditional as well as popular Japanese Culture has fans worldwide. Here at home people are exploring ancient traditions and adapting them for contemporary times. So to help people through these days of selfisolation due to the coronavirus, we have put together stories about an old profession, an artisan reimagining his family craft, as well as a woman looking to tradition and reaching people worldwide. Japans coolest clan of covert agents, ninja. What do we really know about them . There is something about ninja that never fails to captivate. Maybe its the ingenious weapons or the distinctive garb or maybe it is their very Specialized Skill set. But one thing is for certain. They were good at their art. So good it is virtually impossible to know exactly what they did and how. One professor and his colleagues have been sleuthing andd unveiling some truths. It was an arsenal of cool weapons and clever techniquees. You guessed it. Ninja. They date back tto the 14th century. They have since reemerged in popular culture, from literature to animae. Today ninja have true appeal but there has been little Serious Research into what they were really like. A graduate school is leading the way. Centuries ago the prefecture was a hotbed of ninja activity. The students are pouring over a document. Were studying how they lived and their various techniques of breathing, spaying ks or sneaking into places. It is quite fascinating. Ninja skills are so cool. The teacher at the school has made it his mission to discover how they really lived. Translator ninja are also called shinobe which means covert agents and they haave signifficant meaniing in japane culture. Ninja ststudy is essential to gaining a better understanding of japans culture. Reporter during his free time he travels around the country to unearth long lost documents. Last summer he extend his search as far as washington. He believes the u. S. Occupying forces may have taken some secrets back home. He visited the library of congress and was alloweded to photograph archives to unearth later in japan. By examining the materials he came across a tactics manual. Here a man dropping spikes often used by ninja to stop their pursuers. Interestingly, he is in the clothes of a regular samurai, a far cry from the typical art work. He believes it is a much more accurrate depiction. In other words, the ninja used disguises to hide in plain sightht. Its typipical samurai c cg of tthe era. I believe warrriorss who worked undercover in this clothing style were called shinobe. He says the main role was to act as informants for their masters. They had an array of tricks up their sleeve. A firstyear stuudent used one f the tactics to write an essay. At first her paper appeared blank but it comes with a separate note of dry heat. When heated, the words emerged. I was soo impressed. That was after i lectured about the ninjas subtle communication methods including invisible ink. The report was submitted by this student. While classmates wrote their reports on computers, she thought about using the ninja technique. So she ground soybeans after soaking them overnight. She squeezed them into a paste to make the invisible ink just like a ninja. Since it was a report for my ninja class i thought why not use a ninja method . I somehow sensed the actual woworld of ninja. The professor plans to continue his research to get a better understanding g of thees covvert warriors. Translator ththey werere n allowed to l leave a trace of their names as well as their writings. But they were actually so good at completing their missions. I wanant to reveal an accurate picture of ninja, so that people around the world become even more interested. Reporter the mystique around ninja has been a huge part of their appeal but thanks to yamada and his studentss the truth is p proving just as fascinating. Keisuke mino, nhk world. Weve seen how ninja have been romanticized not only in japan but around the world. Ninja is actually a coined word that only first came into usage from the late 1950s. Professor yamada and his colleagues are busy separating facts from fiction to unmask ninja myths. And by studying their training manuals they are discovering how ninja explored complex subjects such as medical science and meterology and the university is examining the methods to see whether they may be useful today. Now a story about the traditional rush flooring around at the time of the ninja. It has a history of more than 1,000 years. Once found in every jan naes home they have fallen out of vogue in reents years but one craftsman is looking to revive the tradition by experimenting with new designs and customized sizes and giving tatami a contemporary twist. Reporter this tatami is woven deep into his family history. He is a fifth generation owner of a shop. The mats he is currently working on come together to form a dragon. Yamada started out working in housing construction. He saw first hand how most homes these days have no japanese size rooms. He realized the tatami makers didnt adapt, if they didnt adapt they would soon be out of business. He eventually took over the family business. One day a customer asked him to fit the back of a car with tatami. He said the experience was a real eye opener. Translator the fit was much better than i expected. It made me think, you know, maybe e i can dodo more with my tatami. Reporter he started to experiment and his unique designs quickly became a hit. The prices are more than twice that of normal tatami but he still receives orders from customers around the country. This woman asked yamada to install tatami in her apartment. She wanted the mats to add Something Different to her living room. I chose this tatami because i wanted something that looked different depending on lighting. Its come out better than i could have hoped. Reporter the owner of this inn wanted to add some modern spice to the 90yearold building. He came to yamada. Over 400 tatami mats later, the property has a completely different atmosphere. Now yamada is moving on to the next big thing. G. He is working on designs that use small hexagonal mats. We are only just scratching the surface of what we can do with tatami. We want to take it further and do even more. Reporter yamada has created an english language website setting his sites firmly on overseas customers. For him, it seems like the natural next step in the evolution of tatami. Ayako sasa, nhk world. A new generation of crafts people is guarding tradition while pursuing contemporary elements. This approach seems to be paying off with products suited to a contemporary way of life, winning fans in japan and overseas. Finally, we look at a former instructor who is creating miniature works of art and crafts. Her rernderings of tiny cut glas have won her a large following on social media. She has been creating her mini cut glass works since 2018. Using acrylic rods with a 1 centimeter diameter she engraves just one piece per day due to tthe delicate anand time consum nature of her process. Right now she is offering free onlinee tutorials for parents ad their kids who are riding out the coronavirus at home. Thats it for todays newsline in depth. Thank you for watching and see you again next time. Xxx a decade of low unemployment wiped out in a matter of weeks. Economics paints a stark picture of the u. S. Future after the coronavirus. I am barbara. Youre watching al jazeera live from london. Also coming up, the new normal for a bit longer. Do you get extends its lockdown restrictions for a few more weeks. Why are people from minority backgrounds more likely to get seriously ill from covid19 in the u. K. . An inquiry is launched. Nigeria forces