China and d asean member statato resolve disputes through coconsultationon as well as steg confrontation between countries and the area. He said china hopes countries outside the region, including the u. S. , will respect the wishes and expectations of those in the region, instead of creating attention and seeking to profit from them. At the same meeting, japans foreign minister said hes concerned that unilateral efforts to change the status quo in the South China Sea have continued. Motegi toets meet urged nations involved, including china and the u. S. , to take constructive action to address the situation. He urged n nations involved, including china and the u. S. To take constructive action to address the situation. I translator i conveyed japans position and concerns to Chinese Foreign minister wang yi. I will conontinue to do so. Beijing asserts sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. Washington has described that claim as completely unlawful. China and the u. S. Have escalated their military activities in the disputed waters. The latest on the coronavirus. British pharmaceutical firm astrazeneca is pausing vaccine Clinical Trials after an participant developed an unexplainened illness. The e firm says there will b be independent review to assess safety data. Astrazeneca is developing the vaccine in partnership with the university of oxford. It had advanced to the final phase of development and was considered one of the front runners to secure regulatory approval. A british medical regulator said its, quote, urgently reviewing all the information and actively engaging with the resesearcherso determine whethther the trials should restatart as quickly as possible. The pause is expected to impact japan, which had agreed in principle to secure 120 million doses from astrazeneca once the vaccine was approved. The country is also negotiating with severeral european and u. S pharmaceceutical companies to receive vaccines. Meanwhile some countries appear to be rushing to offer vaccines before Clinical Trials are complete. In a august, russia approved a domestically developed vaccine that had not been shown to be safe and effective. In the united states, President Donald Trump has said a vaccine could be ready before the e endf the year, leading to specuculatn he may be putting pressure on drugmakers ahead of the upcoming election. Were going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date im talking about. An expert in Vaccine Development points out its routine for a Clinical Trial to pause for a safety reviewew and restart whenenafety is confirmed. Translator we should not react to each and every turn in the research prorocess and shou instead wait p patiently until safe vaccine is made available. In a show of solidarity, nine leading drug makers around the world issued a joint statement vowing to put safety first. They say theyll only seek approval or emergency use authorization for a vaccine after its safety and effectiveness are demonstrated through a phase three clinic study. In japap, more than 500 new cases of Coronavirus Infection were confirmed on wednesday. Tokyo reported 149 new cases. The pandemic is also continuing to take an economic toll around the world. Our next report is about businesses in japan and honduras that have joined forces to make it through an uncertain time. Reporter this Coffee Roastery opened last year. The shop is owned by emi, who carefully selects beans from honduras. Emu first visited hond rat in 2013, one of the poorest countries in south america. Its part of the japan overseas cooperation program. That was when she tasted the local coffee for the first time. Honduras has a robust industry that produces highquality beans. Since 2016, emi has been buying them directly from local distributors. She displays information about the growers and their farms in her store. Reporter but in may, imai received a message from nancy h hon. She explained she and fellow farmers had lost vital business because of the governments stayathome order to curve the spread of the coronavirus. Shes never asked me for money before, so i knew she was in big trouble. This man offered to collaborate with imai so she could help her friend overseas. Translator i came up with the idea of combining the flavors of her coffee and our distilled liquor. Collaboration makes us stronger. Reporter they started developing a new product that infusing barley with honduran coffee. The test batch was finally ready for tasting. I ms imai showed the child product in an online call. The label design incorpoporates the logo for her farm. She hopes the customers can imagine her far away farm as they s savor the liquid. Im so thankful for the support. Thank you for the collaboration. I strongly believe we can overcome hardship by working hardrd together. Imai offered the new liquouo to donors as a free gift. Shes raised about 17,000 u. S. , far surpassing her initial goal. And with no end to the pandemic in sight, mutual support among businesses may be one of the keys to surviving the covid e e. A spokekesperson for ththe kremlin says h he hopes japans next Prime Minister will remain committed to resolving an issue involving russian held items held by japan. The comments were reported by the state run task news agency. Peskov says abe focused ton resosolvingg the islands issue through dialogue and signing peace treaty. His comments come after Prime Minister abe shinzo announced his intention to step down to deal with health issues. Russia controls the islands, japan claims them. Japann says the islands were illegally occupieied afterer wo war ii. Japan maintains the islands are an inherent part of japan territory. Tokyo and moscow have yet to sign a peace treaty 75 years after the end of the war. Russia has been at odds with the west since it annexed the c Crimean Peninsula f from ukrain six yeaears ago. Relations have worsened lately. The Chinese Government says that australian Intelligence Officers searched the residences of reporters working for Chinese State media in late june. It said the Australian Government has not provided a reasonable explanation for the action. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson joaoly janua joaoly jan represented central television. He said they were questioned by the australian Security Intelligence organization. In fact their laptops and cell phones were seized. We asked the Australian Government to immediately stop such blatant irrational behavior and stop harassing and oppressing chinese personnel in australia. The spokesperson also said china has launched stern protest with the government. The comments come after two reporters were temporarily barred from leaving china this month. They were later allowed to return to australia. Relations between the two countries soured after australia requested an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year. More details are emerging about a large scale emoney scam in japan targeting bank accounts. Someone illegally withdrew money from the accounts of customers who were registered with the Service Operated by ntt docommo. The company is suspended new applications to the Service Starting thursday. Officials at ntt docomo will also beef up security members. Mobile m members wilill be reqe to send photos and other form of identification before they can resume using the service. Nhk has learned that 34 users have had a total of about 94,000 stolen. Ten banks were targeted. To use the service, customers must first register their personal and account information. They can make purchases and send money from their accounts linked to the system. Now a check on the World Weather with our meteorologist tsietsi monare. Hello tsietsi. The thick smoke from the wild fires in the u. S. Is causing Serious Health issues for residents and animals. How bad is the situation . The situation is quite dire. Theres been thousands and thousands of furs not just recently but over a long period of time. Just this past week we have seen more fires burning up and becoming a lot more disastrous for people and animals alike across much of the west coast states. It doesnt look like any relief in sight in the immediate future, but maybe towards the weekend as winds come in and temperatures start to cool down. Temperatures are quite high alonong the u. S. Coast a and humimidity is relatively l low. Lets takee a look at this vide where in oregon unprecedented wild fires destroyed five small towns. Several communities were evacuated and the first day of school postponed. On wednesday, 17 new large blazes were reported in the western states. Oregon was one of the hardest hit states in the u. S. Where nearly 100 extreme wild fires were sparked. You can see the disaster and damage it has caused along those part plus. Temperatures are fairly high across much of the u. S. , especially in places like seattle in toward portland, going down to california. Theres temperatures and humidity working hand and hand keeping the fire burning. If you notice any of those, report it as quickly as possible. Try to find out what Community Evacuation plans are. Gather any emergency supplies you might need and make sure you keep the smoke outside of your home. That should keep you a little bit safe in the meantime. Otherwise toward the eastern side of asia, western side of china, were seeing a little bit more rainfall. Dry weather is coming up toward south korea and also along the southern part of southeastern russia. For those that are going to be in japan, do expect a little bit of moisture. Some showers come in and also lightning can be seen late in the evenings or even in the afternoon. Your temperatures will be quite warm for tokyo, around 31 degrees. It is expected to cool down a little bit. 34. Temperatures in manila all the way to shanghai. Thats all for your weather. Take care. That brings us to end of this edition of nhk newsline. Thank you for watching and hope youll join us again. Hello and welcome to newsline in depth. Im shibuya aki. Empty stages, empty seats, performers robbed of a chance to do what they love. Make no mistake, the coronavirus pandemic has brought the Creative Industry to its knees. Today, we look at the work being done by one of europes most famous choirs anand one of japas finest orchestras to ensure the music never stops. And we start with the vienna boys choir. It has moree t than 500 years o history. And witith over 300 performrman each year, delights audiences around the world. The concert revenue supports most of its operating costs, including the young mens boarding and education. But one concert after another has been cancelled since the pandemic. Income has shrivelled up. If the choirs financial situation doesnt improve, its future could be silenced. Reporter recently, angelic voices rang out in an an unusual location. Some of the members rehearsed together beside the pool at the choir school. Keeping a distance reduces the risk of catching the virus. This set up is a marked improvement on recent months, as strict stayathome order was in place until may and the choir cocouldnt rehearse at all. Translator i like singing more than anything. Being able to sing again is very important to me. Reporter however, the choir is currently facing a financial crisis. 70 of its operating costs come from its concerts. But lots of events have been cancelled because of the pandemic. Now for the first time in history, the choir is making a flier to appeal to the nations. It shows huh to send money directly to its organizations bank a account. The choirs artistic director has been working hard to raise funds for the organization. We can handle, with our measurements, with using our staff for a while until about october, but then we will not have left any money to pay our employees. The choir had high hopes for a tour of japan scheduled for the autumn. The choir has been practicing. Translator im on a gondola in venice. The moon and the stars are dancing. Its so romantic at night. This is the mood we have to get people into and the atmosphere we have to create. Reporter one of the members, lewis, sings the part of second soprano. During the months he was unable to rehearse at school, he practiced diligently at home. Translator i would be so happy if we could go and sing for japanese people. R reporter but the virus continued toto spread anand in they had to cancel the tour to ensure safety of spectators. He appeared in an online video asking for financial support. Every contribution, however small, is very important and helpful. Thank you. Reporter the pandemic has plunged many people around the world into despair. Hopes that the choirs angelic voices will be able to lift spirits again. Nhk world, vienna. So that we can keep hearing those angelic voices, the choir is currently asking the government for help. Until now, it has operated as a private ngo. But should the government funding come through, it would be the first time in its five centuries of existence to receive such support. Next, we turn to tokyo, where a japanese conductor has looked to scientific methods to get his orchestra back on the stage. Reporter the tokyo metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, one of japans finest. About 60 members have gathered for the first time in three months. The goal is to perform safely amidst the pandemic. Spear heading this is onno kazushi. While orchestras in japan are eager to perform live again, the government has so far offered no safety guidelines, no ono and his colleagues plan to create some of their own through experiments. First, ono wants to establish how musicians can play while practicing social distancing. Reporter he starts by spacing musicians two meters apart. But its not working. The musicians normally sit close enough to coordinate their playing and breathing. That unity is essential but gets lost when theyre too far apart. Translator i can usually sense the tempo before i Start Playing by coordinating by breathing with other members, but this time i couldnt feel anything. Translator the distance meant i could sense the breathing of the people around me or make eye contact with people who are far away. Reporter though slightly closer fu finally they close the distance to one meter. Still farther apart than usual, but at least now they feel satisfied with their sound. But theres a liningering conce. Wind instruments and their possibly viruscarrying respiratory droplets. Using ten types of wind instruments, ono and his colleagues measure how far droplets can travel. Aa physician and an expert on particle analysis are on hand to give a scientific evaluation. Translator as far as i can see, the device hasnt detected any droplelets. Reporter analysis reveals that most of the white specks are dust. Many of these instruments have curved pipes. When the airflow is forced to curve, droplets collide with the pipe wall, likely containing them inside. The results, hardly any droplets. Based on the peerexperiments results, ono determines his orchestra can perform safely. Rehearsals resume in their normal configuration. Since the string and wind sections are spaced farther apart than usual, ono repeatedly checks how they sound togethehe. The orchestra h has overcome a major obstacle to restarting its concerts. Translator i hope creating guidelines based on scientififi data will give people more peace of mind. Reporter the tokyo metropolitan Symphony Orchestra has posted the results online to support other ensembles. Translator we have a responsibility to keep the music going. I hope experiencing this difficult time together will lead us to new creativity. Ono really took matters into his own hands, didnt he . And due to the success of his experiment, fans got to hear the tokyo metropolitan Symphony Orchestra live in july after waiting four months. And more good news for them with concerts schedules throughout the fall. Using science to conquer uncertainty, its also instilling confidence in performers, organizers and audience members. Live music is gradually pulsating back into our lives. In august, music fans were thrilled when the world famous sals burger fest vil could go on. Even though it was carefully modified to implement measures, such as drastically reducing venue and seating numrs. The live festival inspoored people in and out of its theaters. Musicians are determined to fill the world with the sound of music to lift peoples spirts. How to accomplish this in the safest way remains a challenge, but theyre moving forward beat by beat. I hope you enjoyed todays edition of newsline in depth. We leave you with scenes from a summer festival. Thank you for watching and see you soon. Thousands of lives left in limbo while a fire sweeps through europes refugee camp. T this is al jajazeera live m lolondon. Also coming up, wildfires blaze across several states on the u. S. West coast, including in oregon where five towns have now been destroyed. The u. K. Government rolls out new coronavirus restrictions in england as concern grows that the consistency message is not coming true. And arrested for criticizing the government clack down. An