Its the second day in a row that the figure topped 300. So far, more than 33,000 people have tested positive in the metropolis. Translator we should be on high alert for a possible rapid spread of infection. We would like to ask residents yet again to wash their hands, wear face masks, and maintain social distancing. During winter, we tend to shut up rooms while we use heating. But we should ventilate them from time to time. The western prefecture of osaka registered 231 new cases. And in hokkaido, it was a record 236. The northern prefecture is facing a surge in cases as cold weather sets in. Government officials and experts analyzed the current situations. The minister in charge of the Coronavirus Response expressed great concern. Translator we need to prevent an explosive spread of infections. We need tone tensible conduct pcr tests to deal with cluster infections. Well continue to take thorough antivirus measures while maintaining economic activities. Officials have decided to maintain the capacity limits on largescale public events. Currently, stadiums are allowed to accept spectators up to half capacity. Meanwhile, britain has become the first country in europe to record more than 50,000 deaths from the coronavirus. European governments have imposed lockdowns again after a surge in cases. British Health Authorities confirmed nearly 600 deaths on wednesday, bringing the total to 50,365. The British Government is struggling to stop the virus from spreading. It imposed the second lockdown in england last thursday. Ive got to stress that were not out of the woods yet. It does still require everybody to follow the guidance, do the right thing to suppress the disease in the way that we all understand. Hungary imposed a 30day curfew on wednesday. That came after more than 5,000 people tested positive on saturday. People in hungary must stay home from 8 00 p. M. To 5 00 a. M. And wear face masks in public. Bars and restaurants are closed, and gatherings are banned. Johns Hopkins University says confirmed coronavirus cases around the world have surpassed 52 million. It say the the global death toll is over 1. 2 million. The political fallout continues in hong kong. The four politicians were removed from hong kongs Legislative Council. Earlier the same day, china Gave Authority to disqualify lawmakers being a threat to national security. Four politicians were removed from hong kongs Legislative Councils the same day. We lost our second man in power. Power in hong kong has always rested in the chief executives head. The Hong Kong Legislative Council held a meeting on thursday, but most of the seats for prodemocracy lawmakers were emptied. Beijings latest move is seemed to be aimed at tightening its control over hong kong, effectively making the legislature a rubber stamp government. On the streets, people expressed disappointment. Translator the Legislative Council is already over. We have lost all of our opportunities. Any law could be passed now. Translator theres no point going to vote anymore. Our battle over the last few years was in vain. Western countries have denounced beijing, but the Chinese Ministry spokesperson had no time for criticism thursday. Translator the qualifications for hong kongs Legislative Councilmembers are purely chinas internal matter. No country has the right to interfere. Wong said any attempts to undermine chinas sovereignty is doomed to fail. Leaders of ten Southeast Asian nations are Holding Virtual talks that are certain to center on security and economic issues. The association named asean will discuss ways to address chinese behavior in the South China Sea and likely take an important step toward building the Worlds Largest trade alliance. Vietnams general secretary of the communist party kicked off the Online Meeting with a call for International Unity to ease rising regional nsions. Translator we can only end clashes by resolving conflicts of interest and differences in thinking with a trusting and constructive spirit and a positive attitude by all parties. Beijings movements in disputed waters of the South China Sea have drawn international attention, including condemnation from the United States. Vietnam lodged a protest against china in april after a collision with a chinese patrol vessel sunk a vietnamese fishing boat. Its still unclear if Member States will be united in these concerns. In the past, cambodia, which has close ties with china, has been resistant. But nhk has obtained a draft of the final communique which addresses the pressing regional issue. The asean chair has also expressed a desire to sign a massive trade deal on the sidelines. Parties to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership held a meeting this week to work out final negotiations. 15 countries including japan and china are expected to sign the deal. The door remains open to india. Moving on to bilateral relations between japan and the United States, in his first call with president elect joe biden, Prime MinisterSuga Yoshihide discussed security and biden assured him the u. S. Is committed to a bilateral treaty which covers the Senkaku Islands in the east china sea. Biden and suga spoke on thursday for about ten minutes. The talks covered the pact under which both countries are obligated to respond to an armed attack against either of them in the territories under the administration of japan. Translator president elect biden has told me that he is 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 there is no issue of sovereignty to be resolved over them. Biden has spoken with a number of leaders since his victory was announced, adding both south korean president moon jaein and australian Prime MinisterScott Morrison to the list on the same day. The president elects team says biden and the south Korean Leader agreed to strengthen their alliance and work closely on north koreas denuclearization. Moon tweeted that the two leaders are committed to a robust south korea u. S. Alliance and a peaceful and prosperous korean peninsula. Biden has chosen his chief of staff, further preparing his move to the white house even as President Donald Trump refuses to concede. Move to the white ho President Donald Trump refuses to concede. Ron klain has been advising biden for a long time, first working with him as a senator in the late 1980s and later during his tenure as Vice President. Klain will be key to bidens Coronavirus Response with experience dealing with the 2014 ebola outbreak. Trump appeared in public earlier wednesday for the First Time Since bidens victory speech. He visited Arlington National cemetery for a ceremony commemorating veterans day. The normally outspoken president made no remarks, but on twitter he repeated unsubstantiated allegations of fraud, writing, we will win. Georgias secretary of state says the key battleground 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. While the political wrangling continues, bidens win is already changing expectations on a range of international issues, including nuclear arms control. One American Peace activist hopes that a Biden Administration will improve the prospects for global abolition. Nhk worlds nochi haruka reports. Reporter for decades, steve leer has been calling for an end to Nuclear Weapons. He moved to hiroshima in the 1980s as a business consultant. But his life took a dramatic turn after translating a book about atomic bomb victims. He later became the first nonjapanese to chair the foundation that runs hiroshimas renowned peace museum. Now a seasoned activist, hes cautiously optimistic about how president elect biden will proceed. Hell do some things that will bring the United States back into at least into communication with the other countries and maybe some kind of arms control mechanism he will agree to. On the campaign trail, biden promised to reduce the role of Nuclear Weapons. We also pledged to rejoin a key agreement with iran, which the Obama Administration helped broker. Those promises come at a precarious time in the world of nuclear nonproliferation. President donald trump pulled the u. S. Out of the iran deal as well as an agreement with russia that dated back to the cold war. Leeper says survivors are hopeful that biden will add momentum to the movement by traveling to either hiroshima or nagasaki, as president barack obama did. They would definitely like to have biden visit. They would definitely want him to make some strong moves to eliminate Nuclear Weapons. And they they will be trying to communicate that with him. Many are keenly aware that time is running out to get their message across. The average age of the survivors from the two atomic bombings is now 83. Translator biden has said he will follow in former president Barack Obamas footsteps. I expect the United States under biden to spearhead efforts to eliminate nuclear arms. Translator many survivors have passed away, and we dont know how long the rest of us will live. But we hope very much that Nuclear Weapons will be abolished in our lifetime. Reporter one encouraging sign is the United Nations treaty banning Nuclear Weapons that will come into force in january after being ratified by 50 countries. But the five Major Nuclear powers, including the u. S. , have not signed on. Leeper believes, compared to trump, biden might be less reluctant to get involved in Nuclear Abolition if people across the globe heed the survivors calls. I do think he will be more open when the rest of the world is pushing on him. If the whole world goes in that direction, then i think theres a real possibility that a politician like biden would start moving in that direction himself. Reporter after watching the Nuclear Issue closely for years, leeper says it is now at a critical point. The next u. S. President will play a crucial role in determining where things go from here. Nochi haruka, nhk world. The United NationsNuclear Watchdog says irans stockpile of lowenriched uranium far exceeds the limit set in a 2015 deal it signed with major world powers. Its the latest in a string of violations that began after the u. S. Unilaterally withdrew from the pact and reimposed sanctions on iran in 2018. The International AtomicEnergy Agency presented its latest report on Irans Nuclear development on wednesday. It says as of november 2nd, irans stockpile of lowenriched uranium is 12 times beyond the limit set by the deal aimed at curbing its nuclear program. The iaea says iran has also begun relocating advanced centrifuges to an underground facility in central iran. It comes after a fire damaged a key facility earlier this year. Iranian officials have said the incident was a result of sabotage. Observers are waiting to see if u. S. President elect joe biden will alter his countrys hardline stance on iran. The landmark deal was signed while he was Vice President , and he said he would rejoin it if iran complies with the terms. Typhoon vamko has made landfall in the northern philippines in full force. Our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us now with the latest. Sayaka . Last week vanko was the fifth named storm to strike the philippines of the year. It has dumped more than 350 millimeters of rain. This is much more than the monthly rainfall for november. Powerful winds battered the same island as well. Vamko has become a severe tropical storm, so its no longer a typhoon. It started to pull away from the philippines, but its likely to intensify to a typhoon once again. And as a weaker storm is projected to make landfall in the indochina peninsula, this will hit central vietnam. Well see more than 200 millimeters of rain in the Central Region of the country. Vietnam has been experiencing Copious Amounts of heavy rainfall since last month. Weve got nearly 3,000 millimeters of rainfall already in the central provinces of the country. More rain is possible, and so far seven named storms approached or even struck the country since october. So if the next one hits vietnam, it could be the eighth one. Meanwhile, northern india is experiencing bad air condition. Take a look at this video. Poor air quality has plagued north india in agra where the taj mahal is located. The air quality index dropped to very unhealthy levels. In addition, the contaminated air is changing the color of the taj mahal from white to yellow as winter approaches smog becomes a very big issue across northern india every year. Weather will remain sunny. It looks like the bad air quality will continue at least into saturday in agra. Some rain is in the forecast on sunday, so hopefully that could mediate the conditions. Heavy rain is possible across the southern places of the subcontinent. Onethird of japan experienced subzero temperatures in the Morning Hours on thursday, but temperatures will be on the rise into the weekend. These are the expected highs staying in the doubledigits in sapporo into the weekend, and tokyo will see unusually warm conditions into the weekend. Enjoy. Thats it for me. Stay safe. That is all for this edition of nhk newsline. Thanks for watching and do stay with us for more. This is newsline biz. Im gene otani. Nissan motor is forecasting a net loss of 615 billion yen or about 5. 8 billion for the Business Year through march. The prediction comes as the japanese automaker struggles to reverse a slump in global sales. The firm says it suffered a net loss in the apriltoseptember period of about 3. 1 billion. Translator were facing uncertainties such as the coronavirus pandemic and the Global Economic situation in the second half of this Business Year. We need to put our business in a stronger, more sustainable position by becoming more financially disciplined. Nissan raised its full year forecast for global sales to 4. 16 million units, an increase of about 1 from its previous forecast in july. The pandemic hit the Auto Industry across the board, but some firms, including toyota and honda, are weathering the storm better than others. Stock prices of those two automakers are just 3 down from the beginning of the year. While nissan has shed more than 30 in value. Chinese consumers are using government handouts to spend big at car dealerships. They drove vehicle sales higher again in october, extending the winning streak to seven months. Industry Officials Say motorists flashed out on more than 2. 5 million new vehicles, up more than 12 from the same month last year. Passenger car sales were up by over 9 , and sales of large trucks and other commercial vehicles increased by about 30 . Numbers for electric cars and other Green Energy Vehicles more than doubled. That result was spurred largely by local government subsidies for rural residents who wanted to upgrade to more ecofriendly models. Industry officials have projected a big drop in annual sales but they are now forecasting a decline of just 5 or less. Britains economy expanded at a record quarterly rate in the summer as the country emerged from the lockdown. The office for National Statistics says gdp shot up by 15. 5 during the julytoseptember period. Its the fastest growth since analysts started keeping tabs more than 60 years ago. But experts caution that the recovery is already petering out as england goes back into lockdown to counter another surge in coronavirus cases. Other parts of the world have also been reporting big rebounds. U. S. Output grew at an annual rate of 33 following a record slump, and the 19nation eurozone reported Third Quarter gdp growth of over 12 from the previous quarter. Analysts say japans economy is set for a doubledigit bounce from the term following its record 28 contraction the previous quarter. That figure is due out monday. Mushrooms are a prized autumn delicacy in japan. In recent years, china has become the main overseas supplier for this market. But a problem has surfaced in the supply chain. Nhk worlds Kobayashi Takeshi has the story. Reporter a vast array of mushrooms is on display at the market in hunan province. China is the producer of the fungi. Translator these mushrooms cost around 81 per kilo. Theyre the best among todays crop. Reporter prices are high, and so is demand. The mushrooms are showing up in more and more kitchens across china. Nurtured by the growing taste for japanese cuisine. Translator theyre tasty. I always order them. Reporter but the popularity has created a problem. The prized mushrooms grow in pine forests. Attracted by high prices, more people are heading into the mountains to collect them. And thats led to excessive harvesting. Translator i come here, as no one controls this area. Reporter there are rules for harvesting the mushrooms, but not everyone is following them. In this area, people are only allowed to collect mature mushrooms. They must be bigger than 5 centimeters. But at this market, many smaller ones are on sale. Translator i put all my energy into picking them all day long. I want to sell even small ones. Reporter this man has been farming for many years. Alarmed by the reckless harvest i ing, hes now managing the mushroom habitat and sharing knowhow with other farmers. He teaches pickers how to boost their profits while also protecting the habitat. Translator this is too small to pick. Lets cover it with a lid to protect it. As its been harmed by insects. Reporter strict controls and careful management seem to be paying off. He said the harvest had started to increase. Translator ill keep a close watch over the habitat, to protect the species and grow ones of higher quality. Reporter pu has planted a seed. Hes now waiting to see if sustainable mushroom warming takes root. Kobayashi takeshi, nhk world. Lets have a look at the markets. From the newsline biz team in tokyo, im gene otani. Thanks very much for joining us. And unpaid wages. C1 reminder of our top stories. The coronavirus death toll mounts in europe. The u. K. Has reported 595 deaths in 24 hours. 620 three new fatalities were recorded in italy. Restrictions are being reimposed in several states across the u. S. The state of georgia has announced it will be recounting all votes by hand which were requested by the trump campaign. President elect joe bidens secure the election without georgia, but he is also leading by