In a statement on thursday, the government said the serious situation has eased enough that authorities can enforce the regular laws. Bangkok has seen eight Straight Days of unrest since last wednesday. Tens of thousands of protesters marched to the Government House demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister. Organizers put the figure at close to 50,000. In a televised address on wednesday, the Prime Minister said an extraordinary session of parliament will be held next week to discuss the demonstrations. Translator the only way to a lasting solution for all sides is to discuss and resolve these differences through the parliamentary process. Protest organizeers have issued a threeyda ultimatum to the Prime Minister calling on him to resign or face another flood of people in the streets. The japanese government is mulling further easing entry restrictions for Business Travelers. It is considering an exemption of quarantine requirement for short stays of up to 72 hours. The exemption would cover those coming from countries and regions where the coronavirus is largely under control. Travelers would have to submit the results of virus tests as well as activity plans stating places they plan to visit. The government hopes to put the measure into effect as early as next month. Japan has already resumed Business Travel with several countries, including south korea and singapore. It has also eased entry restrictions for foreign nationals from around the world who have been approved for mid and longterm stays. Tokyo officials on thursday reported 185 new coronavirus cases. That brings the total number in the capital to more than 29,500. The head of south koreas governing party has called for better ties with japan. Bilateral relations have soured over a wartime labor issue. Democratic party leader lee nakyon met the japese ambassador to south korea tomita koji. Lee was Prime Minister until january of this year. He said the two countries cannot help but Work Together given the importance of bilateral ties and recent developments in the world order. Tomita reportedly replied he would continue to work to improve ties under prime minist minist minist minist minister Suga Yoshihide who took office last month. Lee told reporters he thinks wartime labor and other issues with japan can be resolved through promoting diplomatic talks, such as on the issue of whether Japanese Companies should compensate south koreans who say they were forced to work for the firms during world war ii. The japanese government maintains the right to claim compensation was settled by a 1965 agreement. Lee said on wednesday the issue could be resolved before next years Tokyo Olympics through diplomatic talks. On another issue, lee ntes old the ambassador japan should btain approval through the International Community on how to dispose of radioactive waste water accumulating at the crippled Fukushima DaiichiNuclear Power plant. Japanese officials have indicated releasing the water into the ocean is a feasible option. Next, there are only two weeks to go before the u. S. President ial election. Both camps are taking aim at battleground states. Catherine kobayashi has more from our studio in new york. Hello there. Im Catherine Kobayashi in new york. One of the biggest stars of the u. S. Democratic party has been missing on the campaign trail. Barack obama has supported his former Vice President joe biden in videos and on social media. Now the former president has made his first appearance in person. Hello philadelphia obama stumped for biden at a drivein rally in pennsylvania. The democrats lost the state four years ago to president donald trump. Both candidates have returned there over and over. Now obama has come in to make the case for biden. You guys delivered for me twice, and i am back here tonight to ask you to deliver the white house for joe biden and kamala harris. This is not a reality show. This is reality. The rest of us have had to live with the consequences of him proving himself incapable of taking the job seriously. President trump headed to another state he spent a lot of time in. North carolina could go either way. Were going to win this st e state, 13 days. This great, great state. And were going to win four more years in the white house. Americans are breaking records for early voting. Tens of millions have already cast their ballots. Trump and biden will meet again thursday night facetoface. Theyll appear in their second and final debate to try to sway those who have not made up their minds. This campaign has been so divisive. Many voters wonder how anyone could still be undecided. Were joined by professor paul sore ras sick from youngstown state in ohio. Trump and biden were supposed to debate a week ago. Instead they appeared in separate Television Town halls. Now theyll face off again. What will be different this time . The big thing thats going to be different and what everyone is talking about is the muting of the mics. Each will be given two minutes to respond to questions. While they are responding to the question at least initially the mic of their opponent will be muted. In the first debate, the big story was all the crotalssking, all the debating, people couldn gett through their arguments. Theyll be able to do that. Thats going to be the first big difference that well see. Also, several weeks have gone by since the last debate. We tend to forget because things move so quickly. President trump has both contracted and recover from covid19 during the time in between. So that perhaps gives him a little different perspective on the virus coming out of that. Finally, were starting to vote. As you mentioned in your prior story, were already voting now in the united states, many as many as a quarter of the people who will vote in 2020 have already voted. So several distances. What will each candidate try to achieve in this debate . Well, i think for former Vice President biden, hes going to continue to talk about the general theme of bringing america together. Thats been the theme of his recent Campaign Commercials in the united states, and hes trying to counter donald trump on that. The other thing hes going to probably talk about is covid19 which is a strong issue for him, particularly with older voters who seem to be turning against President Trump a little bit. For President Trump, i think the things hes going to talk about is the economic achievements that he had prior to covid and give voters the sense that thats what they have to look forward to when we come out of the covid virus if hes still president. I also expect him to emphasize his achievements in the areas of trade, renegotiating nafta. Thats important to swing state voters, most of whom still have not voted. Finally, i think hes going to try to find a way to bring up Vice President bidens son and the laptop that has allegedly appeared with the emails. Something hes going to try to goad biden into responding to because Vice President biden hasnt responded to it yet. President trump intensified his attack on hunter biden recently. Trump has accused the bidens of wrongdoing in regards to ukraine and china while joe biden was Vice President. Joe biden denies the allegations. How could these attacks alter bidens probability of winning . Well, again, its late to move voters, but there still are a small segment of voters who are unsure who theyre going to vote for, who are undecided, and this argument might be able to sway them a little bit, that perha former Vice President biden isnt perhaps as clean as they thought he was, that there will be scandals in a new biden administration. It explains the connection between former Vice President biden and china. Thats an issue in the background of the campaign, how both of these candidates view china and the threat of china in the coming years. Thank you very much. Well have to wait and see how things unfold. Professor sriracic, thank you for your insights. Thank you. Ill hand it back to our studio in tokyo. U. S. Intelligence Officials Say iran and russia have atte t attempted to interfere in the outcome. The fbi says those countries have obtained u. S. Voter Registration Data and are using the information to try to influence the electorate. This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sew chaos and undermine your confidence in american democracy. Fbi director Christopher Wray was alongside his boss christopher radcliffe. Iran has sent spoof emails to voters in a bid to intimdate them. They added iran distributed an online video that implies fraudulent ballots are being cast from overseas. Officials did not reveal details on how they believe russia was using the data. Researchers in japan say theyve started using immune cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells in a Clinical Trial for Cancer Treatment i. Marks the first such use of ips criminals. Organizations including Chiba University began the trial this month. The researchers use the ips method to create cells called natural killer t or nkt cells. They injected the nkt cells into a patient with head and neck cancer. The patient will receive a total of tree insections and has not shown any Adverse Reactions so far. Translator we think this method will work gradually over the long term rather than working quickly. We also believe it has few side effects and will become a gateway to treatment using ipf cells. The group says it hopes the method can be used for Cancer Treatment. Nkt cells can be mass produced with ips cells. Researchers plan to inject tens of millions of nkt cells into the patient and spend two years studying the efficacy and safety of the method. Employers are required to im ploy workers with disabilities. Currently the figure is 2. 2 . Less than half such Companies Meet this requirement. As we see in our next report, a global coffee shop cin hais blazing a trail in japan by creating a place where people with disabilities play the starring role. Reporter at this coffee shop that opened in june in tokyo, empyeeslo communicate using sign language as about 80 of them are deaf or hard of hearing. For the woman who helped set up this branch, this store was a longtime dream. Reporter o tsuka who last her hearing as a baby enjoys working with people. Five years ago she joined this company which offers Service Industry careers to the deaf. The work was rewarding, but communication could be difficult. She became frustrated that her condition w baasrring her from taking on a role with more responsibility so she pitched an idea to her company, a store staffed by the deaf, and she landed the chance to do a popup where everyone would work in sign language. It was a runaway success. At that point the company had no promotion protocol for employees with disabilities, but from this experience, they became mindful of something very important. Translator until now we have the tendency to open andpla ce employees with disabilities in safe positions. Now were aware that this hindered their growth and chances to advance. Reporter after months of preparation the store opened, yet challenges surfaced. One of them was the milk for cappuccinos. According to the company manual, baristas must listen to the sound of the nozzle as it foams the milk. Otsuka teaches a method she developed based on sight and vibration. Customers have various ordering options including writing on a tablet or pointing to the menus. Reporter kindling new connections, inspiring new ways of communication, celebrating diversity, otsuka and her team are creating a space with interaction and infinite possibilities. Time now for a check on the weather with meteorologist jonathan oh. Jonathan, it was relatively dry on thursday. People in western japan got doused with heavy rain. Whats ahead for friday . It looks like a lot of us are going to need our umbrellas at least some part of the day on friday as weve been dealing with plenty of rain for the western portion of japan due to a few low pressure areas. Thats all starting to move toward the east. It has been a heavier rain day for those located in places like kyushu, portions of nye ngata prefecture received 150 millimeters in just over six hours. In goto, this years rainfall up to october 22nd, more than three meters of rain falling on the ground. That hasnt happened in 21 years. It has certainly been very wet for that particular area. It has been a wet day. This is an 18hour radar pattern here. Notice some of the heavier bands moving through kyushu into the schick cocoa regions. All of this is moving toward the east. Friday is a wet day. We are expecting for these systems to all move toward the east and lifting toward the north as well. By the time we head to the weekend, except for hokkaido, you may be dealing with sunnier weather. Here is a look at the forecast here. Sapporo, rain through at leaster think thursday. As we head late friday for the Western Areas and into saturday in tokyo and eastern area, well see dry weather, pleasant conditions, slightly above 20 degrees as we go through saturday and sunday. To the south we have a die foon. Saudel is expected to weaken. The first target is likely going to impact the island of hainan as it moves to the west. Still bringing a lot of rain to the central portions of vietnam. You dont need any more rain. Likely this weekend into the first part of next week it will be quite wet. We have a frontal boundary moving through into the area. Another low is crossing over into the upper plains. Thats bringing winter storm conditions. Some areas could see not only snow but also ice. You want to be very careful of that. As this low moves to the east, well see the instability. Cold air continues to be a big part of the story. Denver youre about to go for a wild ride in terms of daytime highs, down to negative six for the high on sunday. Hope you have a good day whreveer you are. That concludes this edition of nhk newsline. Im raja pradhan in tokyo. Coming up next is newsline biz with ramin mellegard, so stay right there. This is newsline biz. Im ramin mellegard. September was another tough month for Japanese Department stores. Sales tumbled by about onethird from last year, largely due to coronavirus pandemic. The Japanese Department store association say sales plunged to about 3. 2 billion. The year on year drop was bigger than august. Thats because sales in september last year were a artificially high. When compared with typical data from september two years ago, the decline smaller at 18. 7 . Japans growing ranks of Senior Citizens are driving up demand for adult diapers. Its prompted one firm to come up with recycling the old. The technology is set to meet official hygienic standards. Uni charm plans to build recycling plants in more than ten locations by 2030. The challenge is to keep Carbon Emissions low. Most are disposed of by insin ration. Translaor in a sense our plan is based on the ideal Business Model which involves recycling something and giving it new value for the world. The company will collaborate with local governments to find the most efficient way to collect the diapers. Nhk has learned that japanese Supermarket Chain aeon has been negotiating to secure over 570 million in loans. The funding is to boost the companys Financial Base allowing it to expand the online supermarket business. It has been building an automated logistics facility since it tied up with a british Online Grocery store operator. Sources say the partner online banks including the bank of japan is deciding whether or not to extended 573 million in subordinated loans. Part of the financing would be regarded as its own capital. The European Union and britain have agreed to return to the negotiation table to work out a post brexit trade deal. The talks stalled after the uk reacted sharply to the eus call for compromise last week. Translator i believe despite the difficulties an agreement is within reach if fogt sides are ready to work in a constructive manner with the aim of compromise. Britains chief negotiator david frost said on twitter it will restart the talks on thursday in london. The new round is to last four days. The two sides have been negotiating a free trade deal since the uk exited the block earlier this year. They remain divided over fishing rights, government subsidies to businesses and other issues. The transition period ends at the end of december, but the deadline is expected to be early next month due to administrative procedures. One of the largest tech shows in asia opened this week. Unlike past years, sea tech is taking place completely online because of the pandemic. Its showingec thnologies to satisfy demands of a changing society. Nhk kako reports. Reporter for 20 years ceatec has been held at a maor ven near tokyo. Today its on the web. 150 companies from japan and abroad are there. Over 140,000 people came to ceatec in recent years. The challenge was how to get people to attend online. Could reach up to real 100 accomplishment on this platform. On the other hand, thanks to the virtual platform advantage which is i would say realtime communication. Reporter one solution was a chat room for visitors to speak direct directly to company representatives. Speeches by experts and Company Owners can be viewed live. The focus is all about the coronavirus. Mitsubishi electric is introducing an aerial touch screen. It appears to float in the air. The button can be pressed without actually touching them. The display is projected from a special screen. A sensor reads the movement of your fingers. The technology is being considered for 80 machines and door locks. Translator we think the locations where technology will be needed are increasing because of the coronavirus. Were exploring ways to speed up our research into the field. Reporter another project with real world potential came from a team of doctors, universities and i. T. Ventures. Its a way to take pcr samples remotely. A doctor operates a robotic arm from afar while looking at the monitor. The technology is so sensitive that the doctor experiences it as if the robot arm was his own. Translator it feels 100 like were doing it ourselves. Reporter the researchers envision a world in which the robots collect the pcr samples themselves. Translator unlike industry, not much of the work done by doctors is quantified knew mayor clay. We hope to create a database that can be used to improve the field of medicine itself. Reporter the pandemic is causing technology to evolve in surprising ways. Its also rewriting the playbook for events like ceatec, tomura kei keiko, nhk world. Okay. Lets get a collect on the markets. Hey, im darius rucker. Coming up onreel south. [darius] from mobile to birmingham, alabamas Gay Community is no longer silent. [searcy] you know, my roots are definitely southern. [darius] and the struggle to change state laws and attitudes has gained ground. [patricia] for somebody like me whos a political junkie and an activist, this is the front lines. [darius] but in many cases, families lives have been upended. [kinley]nce again, our life is put on hold. This is about the whole state. This is about every single gay person whos en denied rights. [darius] witness labama bound onreel south. [female narrator] support for this program is provided by south arts, sponsors of the southern circuit tour of independent filmmakers, with funding from the National Endowment for the arts