Topped 500. Experts monitoring the situation in the capital say the latest sevenday average is about 326 daily cases, up from 244 the week before. The metropolitan government raised the alert. It is not asking businesses to reduce operating hours but the governor is asking residents to take thorough prevention measures when they dine in a group as they plan yearend gettogethers. Translator we advise people with preexisting conditions not to dine in a group. Anyone to lives with family members with a higher risk of falling seriously ill are advised to refrain from such outings. Osaka, aichi, hokkaido, and other prefectures also reported a Record Number of daily cases on thursday. The recent spike comes as residents take advantage of government subsidies on dining, lodging, transportation. Officials say the goto travel and goto eat campaigns are necessary to get the economy back on track, but as nhk worlds Shirakawa Marina reports, the Japan Medical Association is speaking out. Translator its not clear that go to travel led to a surge in the number of infections. But there is no doubt that it was the trigger. Considering the growth in infections and the timing of the increase, i think the go to campaigns can be linked here. Reporter the president of the jma says its time to be flexible and review the policies. The government, though, has no immediate plans to halt its campaigns. Translator both tourism operators and travelers are implementing measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. We believe the risk of infection from travel can be reduced if such measures are taken properly. Reporter a top official from governing ldp says tourists and Restaurant Industries are finally on the verge of being able to cope with economic fallout from the pandemic and that canceling or limiting go to will be another blow in the very tough year. There are signs of some recovery from earlier in 2020. Personal consumption, which accounts for more than half of japans gdp, grew by 4. 7 quarter on quarter. The government tourism subsidies boosted spending on travel and dining out. But at this trel agency, wodbe tourists have recently been canceling trips. Translator the spread of the coronavirus appears to have discouraged customers from traveling. Reporter murayama says clients ask if its really okay to travel with so many cases being reported. But since the government hasnt ruled it out, he feels he has to say its all right. He adds, it may be better to suspend the campaign. People in tokyo also voiced confliction over the program. Translator i dont use this kind of campaign. After all, i think i should refrain from going out. I try not to go to crowded places. Translator even if there are contradictions, i think Japan Economy is holding on thanks to the campaign. In that sense, i cant say no to it. Reporter the upcoming threeday weekend could be a dangerous situation, said the jma president. Hes calling it a weekend of patience, urging people to stay cautious and refrain from traveling to and from areas where cases are surging. But after nearly a full year of adjusting to the uncertainty of the coronavirus, many wonder if patience is running out. Shirakawa marina, nhk world, tokyo. Now the United NationsChildrens Fund or unicef says those under 20 years of age account for 11 of all global coronavirus infections. Its calling on government leaders to ensure that all children have necessary resources amid the pandemic. Unicef expressed concern over covid19s longterm impact on Childrens Health and education in a report released thursday. It says disruptions to Critical Health care for children, such as routine vaccinations, posed the most serious threat. The report notes that 360 million children are missing out on meals because of school closures. The organization suggested that if basic Safety Measures are in place, the benefits of keeping schools open outweigh the costs of closing them. Johns Hopkins University in the u. S. Reports there are over 56 Million People infected globally. A total of 1. 4 million have died. The Australian Military says its found credible evidence its troops in afghanistan unlawfully killed farmers and other civilians. Such behavior profoundly betrayed the trust placed in us by the afghan people, who had asked us to their country to help them. The general apologized to the people of afghanistan. A fouryear inquiry looked into the conduct of special forces personnel stationed there between 2005 and 2016. Australian soldiers reportedly killed dozens of people outside the heat of battle. In some cases junior soldiers were coerced into shooting a prisoner in order to gain the first kill. There have been growing calls to investigate since australian public broadster abc reported the pottial war cme in 2017. Last week, Prime MinisterScott Morrison announced the governme will set upn inpendent investitive tas force to look into the allegations. Turning now to the asiapacific Economic Cooperation forum, the leaders of 21 countries and territories have begun a virtual summit. Translator we will not reverse course or run against historical trend by decoupling or forming a small circle to keep others out. We welcome coopetion with every other region, country, or company that wants to do so. That statement was seen as veiled criticism of the United States. President xi said china will continue to open its markets wider and contribute to Global Economic recovery. He said market openness is one of chinas basic policies and will not change, whatever happens. The summit is expected to adopt a joint statement on friday. It remains to be seen whether members can find ways to cooperate on rebuilding economies hit by the pandemic. Top diplomats from five western countries are criticize is china after a handful of prodemocracy lawmakers in hong kong were disqualified from holding office. Foreign ministers from the u. S. , the uk, canada, australia, and new zealand said in a joint Statement Released wednesday the move further undermines hong kongs autonomy. They say it appears to be part of a campaign to silence critical voices in the semiautonomous territory. And theyre urging beijing to immediately reinstate the disqualified legislative councilmembers. Last week, four opposition politicians were removed from hong kongs legislature after beijing gave officials there authority to disqualify legislators deemed a threat to national security. That led the entire prodemocracy camp in the chamber to resign in protest. The statement also urges china to live up to its international commitments, a likely reference to the 1997 handover agreement with the uk. Its supposed to guarantee hong kongs autonomy for 50 years. Chinas Foreign Ministry has criticized similar statements in the past, saying they interfere in the countrys internal affairs. Officials in taiwan have decided not to renew the broadcast license of a popular prochina cable news channel. The National Communications commission on wednesday rejected the application from ctitv. Its current license is due to expire next month. The commission cited the channel for repeated instances of inaccurate reporting. It also said a major shareholder had interfered in ctitvs operation. The channels operated by a Media Company controlled by a probeijing businessman. Translator the biggest problem is external interference in the tv stations news production and broadcasts. Ctitv is criticizing the ruling, alleging its politically motivated. Taiwans prochina nationalist party says the move will undermine freedom of the press. But the taiwanese government, which is led by the democratic progressive party, is standing by the decision. It says the commission is an independent body whose members are approved by parliament. Now taiwan is widely seen as having one of the most open media environment in asia. It was ranked second highest in the region in the latest press Freedom Index from reporters without borders. Now to the United States where president elect joe biden says that the trump administrations failure to recognize his victory is delaying his transition teams efforts to draw up Coronavirus Response plans. Theres a whole lot of things that are just we just dont have available to us, which unless its available soon, were going to be behind by weeks and months. Biden was talking with frontline workers, including nurses and firefighters. He said his team has been unable to get Vital Information about government stockpiles and potential vaccines. Biden also said that he will call on all state governors to implement stricter measures, including mandatory maskwearing and testing. Representatives of a group of frontline workers told biden theyre still short of personal protective gear. He promised to make sure that they get all the equipment they need. State governors across the United States are imposing or reimposing measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The lockdowns have prompted some residents to rush into Grocery Stores in a state of panic buying. Many have arrived to find their neighbors got there first. Nhk worlds Catherine Kobayashi has more government shutdown, lockdown again. Reporter shoppers in new mexico cant find the things they came for. No toilet paper, no paper towels or cleaning supplies. Those who got here before them cleaned out the shelves. I see lots of people coming out here with ten their whole cart filled with bottled water and things. So i hope people are mindful of that. Reporter yet again. Same scene in washington, colorado, across the country. Governors in nearly every state have seen infections climb. Many have imposed new restrictions, mask mandates, travel bans, lockdowns. Some residents responded in a panic. Now autumn is starting to remind many of spring. Its scary because the last time they said two weeks and it ended up being three months. Reporter store managers have learned from their experiences earlr this yr. Me are liting puhases of me produs. And those who study supply chains say the links are strong. People who go to the grocery store, theyre buying larger amounts. So theyre not shopping as frequently. Reporter consumers just ask others to be reasonable. And i think if everyone just purchases what they need at the moment, there will be enough for everyone to go around. Reporter Many Americans are sure to ignore her advice. Theyre getting what they need now to hunker down for the long winter ahead. Catherine kobayashi, nhk world, new york. A novel by japanesebased korean writer yu miri has been awarded one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the United States. Yus tokyo ueno station won the prize for best translated work at the National Book awards. Tokyo ueno station was published in japanese in 2014. It tells the story of an elderly homeless man from Fukushima Prefecture who had moved to tokyo in order to find work to support his family. Instead, he spends his days in tokyos ueno park. The novel depicts in detail the life of the homeless, highlighting inequalities widely overlooked by Japanese Society during years of economic growth. Translator the Global Pandemic is growing, and theres the problem of people being marginalized by society. So my story seems to have been read with sympathy around the world. Yu moved to fukushima four years after the region was hit by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. An antifraud campaign out of hong kong is attracting attention for the wrong reason. Police in hong kong unveiled the mascot little grape. Its name features the same name as the character in demon slayer. Some people on social media say the similarities go further. They say a nearcomplete copy of the character in grape form. Hong kong prodemocracy activist agnes chow said shes saddened its becoming a tool for the territorys police. The Police Counter the grape is their own original creation. Its time now for a check on the weather with meteorologist jonathan oh. It was breezy in tokyo on thursday but a warm day, just like the beginning of autumn. Whats ahead for friday and the weekend . Hello. Were going to still be dealing with the warmth at least for one more day in tokyo, as we are seeing High Pressure starting to move toward the east. But cold weather is on the way, so its going to feel more like where were supposed to be for november as opposed to september. We did see clouds rolling in from the west. Areas to the north like sapporo starting to get rain. Western areas of japan picking up rain as well. Through thursday, a couple of pictures from tokyo. Beautiful colors now starting to set in as we see the fall coming in. Again, it felt more like september, because of the temperatures being warm. So theres that cold front thats going to be moving through. Were going to see scattered showers across japan as we go through friday. And then once the rain pushes out, well see temperatures really sinking. So dont get too comfortable with these warm temperatures, because by the time we go into next week, reality will be setting in. Sapporo going from 17 on friday to 4 on monday with some snow in the forecast. Were going to see the descending of temperatures in tokyo down to 15 for the high on monday. Osaka will be seeing midteens as well as we go through the weekend. Much cooler pattern coming up soon. Meanwhile, we are talking about some strong winds and maybe a little bit of a pattern to the north on the western side of the United States. Thats causing some problems in nevada. Take a look at this video coming out from near reno where firefighters are tackling the blazes of the southwestern part of the city thats threatening some houses due to wild winds. The Fire Department asking people to voluntarily evacuate their homes. An Elementary School had to be placed on a precautionary code yellow lockdown cue to the threat. Crews north of reno are battling a vegetation fire that forced the closure of a highway. High pressure is going to be moving in, the winds are going to be relaxing a bit, so we should be seeing a little calmer pattern moving through. Lower moving through, one moving across canada, as it does so bringing snow from winnipeg to points eastward. To the south and east we are talking about temperatures a bit on the chilly side. Were looking at temperatures to stay on the cool side a couple of days as cold air has moved into the area. 13 in d. C. New york a high of 8. Snow expected wednesday with a high of 2 as we go through thursday. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. 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. Indonesias central bank has cut its key Interest Rate in a bid to boost the economy hit hard by the pandemic. Southeast asias largest economy is experiencing its first downturn since the Asian Financial crisis of the late 1990s policymakers trimmed the benchmark sevenday reverse repurchase rate by a quarter of a point to 3. 75 . The rate is the lowest on record. Thursdays cut follows one in july and is the fifth this year. Market watchers were not expecting the central bank to lower the rate at its latest meeting. Even so, indonesias fallen into a technical recession for the first time in over two decades as the impact of covid19 continues to take a toll on the economy. A group of Japanese Companies is planning to use a Digital Currency in an experiment. The trial involving digital yen gets under way next fiscal year. A Diverse Group of nearly 40 companies, including mega banks, telecom carriers, and power utilities, have agreed to take part. The experiment was proposed by the current, a Cryptocurrency Exchange operator. In the trial crypto banks will disburse the yen. Translator deposits at banks are widely used for settling payments, including among companies. So we plan to use the Digital Currency based on banks debt. The Digital Currency will be transferred and used for making payments. The experiments will be conducted separately for each industry group, including retail, manufacturing, and power. People across japan are increasingly concerned about the resurgence in coronavirus cases, and their growing anxiety is putting a damper on plans for the festive season. Many bosses say they wont throw parties for their employees this year. A Research Firm surveyed more than 10,000 companies about their plans to celebrate the end of 2020 and the start of 2021. Almost 90 said they wont have any parties. Among big companies, it was nearly 93 . By prefecture, hokkaido was at the top of the list. 93 of firms there said theyll scrap the festivities this year. Tokyo and osaka were next, both above 90 . The Research Firm also found that between january and october, restaurants and bars across the country went bankrupt at a record pace, with 730 shutting for good. The firm says the decision by most companies not to hold parties will cause even more pain for restaurant