China sea. The talks cover the pact under which both countries are obligated to respond to an armed attack against their territories. Translator president elect biden has told me that hes committed to the application of article v of the japan u. S. Security treaty to the senkaku islands. Mr. Biden also told me he looks forward to working together to strengthen the japan u. S. Alliance and also move towards peace and stability in the indopacific region. Japan controls the islands. China and taiwan claim them. The japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japans territory in terms of history and international law. It says theres no issue of sovereignty to be resolved over them. The pair also discussed plans to combat the coronavirus and the importance of tackling climate change. Suga plans to visit washington as soon as possible to meet biden in person. Now, as biden carries on with matters of diplomacy, President Donald Trump refuses to concede. He appeared in public wednesday for the First Time Since bidens win was declared, but said nothing. President trump visited Arlington National cemetery alongside the first lady and Vice President mike pence. He observed a moment of silence for veterans commemorating veterans day. The president made no comment on the many legal challenges his team launched. But on twitter, he repeated claims of fraud, writing, we will win. Georgias secretary of state sa the key Battle Ground is launching a hand recount of all ballots. In michigan, Trumps Campaign filed a federal lawsuit to try to block the state from certifying its ballots. At the same time, the Washington Post is reporting that some of the president s closest aides have voiced concerns about a lack of evidence. Now for more on where things stand and what lies ahead for the president elect, our catherine kobashi spoke with nhk new york general bureau chief of america kono kenji. What are the Biggest Challenges for biden . I think t the biggest headac at this moment is that the official transition of the Biden Administration is being delayed because of president trumps refusal to concede. And until the head of gsa, General Services administration, which is part of the government, ascertains the results, no money will be given to the wibiden te. Biden team will not get any funding for transition or any access to the classified information. And theres a lesson to learn in the year 2000 when bush and gore disputed in florida, kind of delayed at that time. They kind of wasted a whole month for the transitional process. And years later, the 9 11 Commission Said in the report that the delay kind of hampered the preparedness of the incoming administration. So the people awarded that they are going to make another mistake again. As we know, there are other challenges. The ball lance ance of power in senate rests with one state, georgia. None of the candidates in the races for the states two seats captured a majority. So in january, voters will cast ballots again in a runoff election. Before the election last week, republicans held a 5247 majority. Now they have 50 seats. The democrats have 48, and theyre pushing hard in georgia to even things up. Now, under the constitution, the Vice President presides over the senate. So Vice President elect Kamala Harris could cast tiebreaking votes to carry out the democratic agenda. So kenji, what is the likelihood of that scenario of the democrats achieving a balance in the senate . I would say likelihood is very slim. Its going to be an uphill battle to win two races, two seats at the same time. In georgia, they havent elected the democrats for the senate since 2005. So if democrats cannot take majority of the senate, its going to be very hard for biden to make a Bold Decision on the policies such as big spending on infrastructure or high Corporate Tax hike, things like he promised in the campaign. So he has to he would have to work with the republicans. But the good thing is that he knows the senate. He was the senator for more than 30 years. So he knows the people there. And hes basically a centrist, moderate democrat. So i would think that he would take a more pragmatic approach, making some bipartisan micomprose, if necessary. But this would run the risk of alienating the progressive wing in the party, which is increasingly influential these days. And hes covered five u. S. President ial elections. What stands out from this one . There are three points that i would make. Number one is the public polling, which turned out to be wrong again. The polls were supposed to be improved, have been improved this time around. But they were not. Im sure this election has given pollsters a huge homework on how to correct and adjust the polls for the next time. Secondly, im personally and truly impressed by the Record Number of voters who participated in the election under this current covid19 environment. Often, the president s statement made us concern what happened to american democracy. This high turnout kind of dispelled such concerns. Number three, mr. Trumps strength that he showed. He is losing in the election. But he has acquired almost 9 million more votes than four years ago. He is so popular still. He saved a lot of republican incumbent candidates from losing their seats. There is talk there will be blue wave in the congressional race. But that didnt happen. He prevented it. Theres even talk that he may be thinking of running for 2024. Right . In socalled trumpism would remain as a Major Political force. At the same time, we will see more and more progressive, liberal minded Young Millennials coming into play more. That means the whole country will be more divided and increasingly polarized. That would give biden to have hardship to unify the country as he promised in the campaign and his victory speech. He promised to restore the soul of america. Thanks very much for your time. Thanks for having me. Moving on to saudi arabia, where an explosion at a member rans day ceremony has injured at least two people. The blast went off at a ceremony to remember the victims of world war i. Media reports say people from western embassies were at the event, including the greek official who sustained minor injuries. Investigators believe they were targeted. The embassies of france, greece and three other nations condemned the attack. They called it cowardly and shameful. Its the latest in a string of incidents targeting france. A teacher was killed last month after allegedly showing cartoons of the prophet mohammed in class. The french president later responded by defending freedom of expression. Then a Saudi Arabian man stabbed a guard at the french consulate general in jeddah. Alibaba says sales reached nearly 74 billion during the singles day sale. It says the figure for the first 11 days of this month was up sharply from last year. The big reason is that alibaba extended the single day period for 2020. It added the first three days of november to prevent a surge of orders concentrated in a single day. The discounts were available on november 11th last year. It is known as singles day in china because the number one symbolizes people without partners. Online retailers hold sales campaigns on this date. Analysts say the coronavirus pandemic helped fuel the nationwide shopping spree this year. They note consumers are doing more purchasing online. Foreign products are popular as most people cannot go overseas. Lets check out the World Weather with our meteorologist tsietsi monare. People in the philippines have been devastated by flooding and winds after a typhoon made landfall there on wednesday. Its still turning above the island. Whats the biggest concern . The biggest concern are the damaging winds. They are powerful, very strong and quite large as well. Even though the storm might be further away from the philippines, it might still reach certain parts. Thats a big issue. Also, another thing is that landslides could be prevalent because the soil is so saturated. Theres been a lot of storms. Theres been lots of rainfall, which has led to some swelling up of rivers and soil being well saturated. Look at the amount of rainfall in certain parts of the philippines. Well above 200 millimeters in a short period of time. That will lead to flooding and more other disasters are expected there. The storm is large. It made landfall in city areas between wednesday and thursday morning, around central luzon, bringing disastrous conditions there. Lets look at this video. You will see a lot of damage. The city received more than 300 millimeters of rainfall. R thats in the past 24 hours. Many homes were flooded. More than 12,000 residents were moved to evacuation centers. The biggest concern is that a lot of debris could fly around and could be dangerous for people outdoors. You need to make sure you find your evacuation spot and go there as quickly as you can. This is the movement of the storm. Once it moves into open water, it will gain more strength and it will head towards central vietnam. Its a place tt has received a lot of typhoons recently, in the last seven weeks or so. Its been disastrous in vietnam. More rainfall is not really welcome along this part. Its expected, up to 500 millimeters. Basically, just asking for a break in terms of the storms coming in towards central vietnam. You look at the rest of asia, it will be sunny for the northern part. High pressure keeping things clear for beijing, seoul and even into tokyo. Sunny skies are expected. Speaking of sunny skies, you wont see much towards the eastern part of the united states. There is a strong frontal movement there bringing cooler conditions. Heavy rainfall along florida. With that frontal system there, temperatures are still going to remain fairly warm for most parts of the eastern side of the united states. New york, it will be closer to the upper teens and lower 20s. Its been into lower 20s for the last six days or so. Quite warm weather persists along those parts. Thats all your weather. Take ce. Ar thats nhk newsline for this hour. Im Yamamoto Miki in tokyo. Well be back at the top of the hour. Welcome to newsline in depth. Im yanaka marie. Today, we look at the deep impact the pandemic is having on arts and culture. Exhibition and Performance Space have become less available. But all is not lost. We take you behind the scenes to meet people working to protect arts and culture as well as our connections to it. First, we go to france. The birthplace of cinema. Late last month, paris issued a second stay at home order. Once again, the curtain came down on movie theaters, which had onlyt jusd reopened. We spoke with one owner in paris just as he was encouraging audiences to return after the first lockdown. This cinema has screened hand selected films from around the world for many years. In addition to fears of covid19 and delays in the release of new films, the comfort of streaming movies in ones home is resulting in fewer people going to the cinema. Dialogue between filmgoers and people in the Film Industry is a longstanding tradition in france. This fourth generation owner of the cinema is preserving this tradition. He runs the cinema with his family. They share the views of its role in french society. Translator its a place for people to meet, let just to go to see films. Translator one appeal of cinema is that it provides opportunities for discovery. The familys relationship with film reinforces their mission to keep the macinep op. Translator my great grandfather built the familys first cinema on this street. That cinema was built in 1937. Because he was jewish, his great grandfather fled to the united stateshen naziermany heas entalled by the scree found america. After the war, he ilt the first cinemaom cplex in paris. Translator i dont run this cinema just to make money. Im motivated to pass on my ancestors heritage. He has begun discounting tickets for young people. A measure designed to bring new audiences into the cinema and kill the seats again. Having more cuomers helps increase discussion at the cinema. He talks directly with the filmgoers, sharing his enthusiasm for the movies. Translator im screening more films that appeal to younger audiences with theope that this prompts an awareness of issues. I want them not only to watch the films but also to be inspired to think deeply. Moviehe taters provide a venue for people to connect through film. His mission is to keep the flame of cinema culture burning for years to come. Maria peterson, nhk world, paris. Even with the second lockdown in place, he believes that movie viewing should be a collective experience. He isnt planning to screen them online. But he is turning to social media to strengthen the connection with film buffs. Next, we focus on childrens artwork. A japanese painter is helping create a Brighter Future for some Young Artists in east africa. This man is a painter whose work explodes with colors and erengy. The arst is a relar visir rwanda. Ach chilen howo paint. Te vo he tn buys e chdrens a d sellst in jan, forwarding the proceeds to their fami. Suzuki moved to rwandan20 andpent fe years teaing after turninto japan, never rgot t peoplhe had t there. Stla year, he went back to rwanda for the first time in three years. During the trip, hhad e a chance to teach painting to children with single mothers. He was blown away by what they created. Translator they watched me carefully while i painted. I really felt like they were trying to capture the spirit of my work. They absorbed little of that energy and then converted it into their own energy which they used to int. Pa i felt their pictures were full of spirit. Nspired by his work, the chilen odrpened up and expressed all the feelings they had been holding back. To help the children become independent, he bought the art they had created. He paid several thousand dollars for each painting. The equivalent of about two weeks wages for the average person from rwanda. He displayed the work in cafes and restaurants in japan and sold nearly 80 pieces. Translator i didnt feel comfortable just sending them their best. Elling them to do from a humanitiaar an standpoin i think its really important to show that u eacan crte something amid hardship, get paid for it and use that to make a living. He was inspiredy on be of his students. He was born with severe liver disease. But his brush strokes and bold use of color showed he also had a rare talent. Suzuki worked hard to sell davids paintings in japan to raise money for a lifesaving operation. But davids condition got worse and he passed away at the age of 16. Translator i regretted that i couldnt help him. However, it has made me even mo determined to do what i can to save the next david. The next rising stars. So they dont go to their graves taking their talent with them. Rwandas borders closed in march due toon the coravirus. Suzuki was ublnae to visit. In august,e brought totherge chdrenil in japan and rwanda for a joinonneait li pntt. G even tie teacagr heai lg onr toave nfidenceur wk. Believe it bs value. And to trust in your own pontl. Ia plani to contin helueping elue n enildr iay wisdr. He nisow developing an ay dn their painl ve rwaas bord resertrtionics ow eased. Pcst. Octoberfter taking a in t middle an ofart class. How many Young Artists are there with you . There a tenre children. Im surprisedhat you can hold a workshowith covid19. There are almost no infected people in is area. Th so we are gettintogeg ther about two or three tes a week. Youave h y connecting rwandan crehilddan withhe t peoe japan ungsi social me sa. Swhat yo du hopeo thehild cren earnrom fthe experice . En newri ppleoe w. Ghnot kinengma c aonctn onioitlin h ii pele arod e thworld will be a wonderful peexrience for the children. I want them to feel the joy of seeing each other, not just by how you look. You are in the midst of ds crtingea an Online Platform for sellg twarorink. How is that going . Or n fow, artworfromk japan and set up a stem ysthat alloww i want to keep doingnlin oe workshops regardless where i am. Its important to establish a business where local people work depeinndently onpeinheir own. I hope people see whats happening in africa. The internet will let them kn ow more about african people. Thank you so much. Thank y. Ou they are showing we canind new ways to nuw ure rte thbondse have with otrs dheespite the obstacles posed by covid19. Through that, discover new possibilities for art. Thats all for todays newsline in depth. Thanks for tuning in and make in susure to xtdo so ne te,im too. Dangers of lifting restrictions as italy reports 623 coronavirus deaths and the u. K. Deaths toll passes 50,000. You were watching al jazeera live from our headquarters. Coming up the u. S. State of georgia announces a full recount of ballots by president elect joe biden says his transition plans are moving forward. Also they outlined clear steps for reaching these elections. Host the