Harder to provide treatment to people with serious symptoms. This is the right time to issue a red alert. Its a declaration of an emergency in medical care. Our First Priority will be protecting life the governor says the occupancy of the prefectures hospital beds set aside for serious cases is expected to soon reach 70 . On top of the call for people to stay home, officials plan to extend their requests for bars and restaurants to close early until december 15th. Officials here in tokyo reported 533 new cases on thursday. To date, the number of people who have tested positive in tokyo has exceeded 42,000. 54 are currently in serious condition. Tokyos hospitals have 150 beds for serious cases. The metropolitan government is asking them to increase that to 200. Officials say they want to prevent the spike in severe covid19 cases from affecting treatment for other diseases. Theyre also asking medical institutions to allocate more beds to coronavirus cases that are not serious. Authorities across japan have reported more than 156,000 cases since the pandemic began. Over 202,000 people have died. With the political scandal involving a former Prime Minister. Nhk has learned prosecutors are seeking to question shinzo abe over annual parties held for his supporters. The prosecutors are thought to be investigating abes secretary for violating the political funds control law. The secretary is believed to be accused of failing to report revenue for payments to hotels where parties were held on the eve of annual government funded gatherings for Cherry Blossom viewing. Costs over the five years through 2019 totalled about 200,000. Abes office is thought to have paid at least a third of that amount. The government was asked about the issue. Translator i would like to refrain from answering questions, because it involves the activities of investigative authorities. I believe former Prime Minister abe has provided as much explanation as possible in the diet. I also understand that he has pledged to fully cooperate with the investigation. Abe has repeatedly maintained that all expenses were paid by the participants. He said the office and support group werent involved in expenses. Sources told nhk earlier that a member of his office staff responsible for organizing the party told abe late last year there was no need for extra expenditure by the office. The sources said the staff member gave this misleading information to abe because the office did not report income and expenses. They said the staffer put abe in the position of stating something contrary to the facts in response to questions in the diet. Lawmakers are demanding abe respond to latest allegations in the diet. Translator i think its outrageous that Prime Minister abe repeatedly made false statements in the diet. Abe told reporters on thursday he hasnt heard any requests from prosecutors for questioning. Prosecutors are believed to be praring to question him on a voluntary basis after the diet session ends on satsd. Another major figurer in hong kongs Pro Democracy Movement is behind bars. A court has denied jimmy lie bail while he awaits trial, saying he was a flight risk. It comes a day after he and two Senior Executives at his company were charged with suspicion of fraud for violating the terms of their offi lease. His trial is adjourned uil april and will likely remain in detention until then and the other two accused were granted bail. He is the head of apple daily, a major pro democracy paper in hong kong. He was later released on bail and continued to raise his voice for freedom of speech and democracy in the territory. Authorities in hong kong are facing criticism after three other leading activists were sentenced to prison wednesday. Joshua wong, chow and lamb will each spend between 7 and 13 1 2 months behind bars for their role in one of last years major protests. The unauthorized rally took place before china passed the new National Security law for hong kong which many say has effectively silenced the movement. Wong, chow and lamb were senior members of the nowdefunct prodemocracy group. They helped lead a series of massive sitins that became known as the umbrella movement. After the court decision, British Foreign secretary dominick robb tweeted rights and freedoms in hong kong must be upheld and urged authorities to end their campaign to stifle opposition. A spokesperson for the European Union said the foreign minuistes would discuss the issue next weir. Nancy pelosi said this is clear proof that beijing will stop at nothing to stamp out dissent and destroy the freedoms and autonomy guaranteed to the people of hong kong. Joining me now is Senior Correspondent of nhk. He was based in china for more than a decade and has been following the situation closely. Youve been talking to people in hong kong with links to the prodemocracy movement. What have you been hearing from them . Yes, the people ive spoken to say they are disappointed by the rulings and are rprised by how long they are. They say its just another sign of beijings increasing crackdown, which has only intensified since the National Security law was passed this summer. People in hong kong are really depressed about it. But despite the setback, most say their hope for freedom and democracy remains, especially among young people. They may not be able to protest on the streets like they used to do, but they are still trying to find ways to keep the movement alive. Many supporters are waiting near the courthouse and Detention Centers to signal their support for the detainees. Others have been writing letters to their friends in jail to keep their spirits up and show them that they havent been forgotten. Another interesting thing they told me is that while joshua wong and agnes chow have become the faces of the protest, the movement is much bigger than three people. And their arrests do not mean the end of the fight for democracy. And as you know, the sentencing is drawing criticism from overseas as well. To what extent do you think this will influence chinas actions Going Forward . I think beijing is pretty much determined to show that antigovernment activities will not be tolerated and will use whatever means they can to suppress dissent regardless of what other countries say. Think back to the tiananmen incident 30 years ago. China was just starting to build its economy and wanted to develop strong relationships with international partners. But that doesnt sp them from deploying tanks and cracking down on prodemocracy activities. This time they have adopted different tactics. Instead of using tanks or guns, they are using the National Security law. Chinas also come a long way in the past three decades and is now a major world power. Beijing leaders know that many untries ve becom economically reliant on china, and they can use this as leverage to pursue their domestic agenda as they want. But i think its important to maintain pressure on china to show these types of actions are not acceptable. It also sends a message to the people of hong kong that the International Community stands with them. The United Nations chief has urged the world to Work Together to cut Carbon Dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050. He made his comments during an online speech wednesday at Columbia University in new york. Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Gutierrez called for immediate Global Action to store ecosystems and address what he called a planetary emergency. It is time to flip the green switch. We have a chance notply to reset the world economy, but to transform it. The sustainable economy driven by Renewable Energies will create new jobs and a resilient future. Gutierrez proposed Holding International meetings next year for all u. N. Member states to expedite efforts to cut emissions. He also praised more than 110 countries which have committed to Carbon Neutrality by 2050. The World Meteorological organization in geneva backed up gutierrezs call for action. 2020 is likely to be onef the three warmest years on record globally. The agency said on wednesday the average world temperature between january and october was 1. 2 degrees celsius higher than preindustrial levels. It highlighted how 2020 has been exceptionally warm in siberia with temperatures 5 Degrees Higher in places. It added siberias june temperatures hit 38 degrees whhe highest known temperature anywhere north of the arctic circle. Former french president who championed european integration has died after contracting the coronavirus. He was 94. He was elected president in 1974 at the age of 48. While in office he proposed that the leaders of the six major world economies meet to deepen policy coordination in the we of the oil crisis. Hinitiativ lohe g7 andh g 8 summits toiscuss inteatiol allenges. Alsoorked onrerms suc easing divce nditns. And heeft office after one term when he lost to socialist party leader in the 1981 president ial election. He was known as a proponent of european integration. He oversaw the drafting of a text that paved the way for the basic treaty of the European Union. The rescheduled tokyo paralympics games will take place in nine months time. The 2016 Rio De Janeiro olympics. No one got the home crowd more excited than daniel diaz. Diaz won four gold medals taking his career total to 14 gold m mels. Now 32 years ol hes preparing for the tokyo games. Translator i believe the paralympics has the power to change the world and the power to show the value of a person. He said the rio games changed. He noticed people began to pay less attention to his impairment and more to the spirit as a human being. Translator people in brazil call this an intangible legacy of the games. Sports fans and children have told me that i am a huge role model for them. These children didnt see my disability. They saw my strong will, guts and conviction. The pandemic has thrown a new test of this conviction. Brazil has seen more than 6 million Coronavirus Infections and the second highest number of fatalities in the world. Diaz could not train as his usual pool for over a month. Instead he was preparing at his home with the help of his three young children. Translator i joked that i have three weights like the ones at the gym. Theyre my first and second sons and my daughter. Diaz is now training at a pool again. He says that he is able to stay positive despite challenges because he believes in the power of thearalympics. I want people to believe we have the inner strength to break through any barrier that will surely leave a legacy if the paralympics are held. Diaz said the tokyo games is a chance to have a victory over hardship and adversity. Hes determined to lead the celebration. Now its time to check on World Weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. Its been another cloudy day in tokyo on thursday. Will this trend continue into the weekend . Were going to be dealing with a little bit more in terms of sunshine across tokyo after a cloudy day on thursday. To the north, were talking a little bit more in terms of snow. You can tell by the way the echoes are popping up that some of these areas towards the tohoku region saw more snow. We saw a little bit more in terms of rain to the south. It looks like this flowing pattern from the north and west will continue into friday. Thats going to help produce some more snow into hokkaido along the mountains. In tokyo, hopefully well see a little bit more in terms of sunshine as we see the front and the low pressure system that io other day. Heres a look at the forecast. We go into a partly cloudy pattern friday and saturday. Tokyo at or slightly above average for this week and the weekend but partly cloudy skies on the menu. In sri lanka it ended up dumping close to 200 millimeters ofain in a 24hour period. Heres a look at some video to give you an idea of how this storm came on shore over in sri lanka as this is the second cyclone that formed in the bay of bengal within a week. People have been evacuated from the coast and some businesses will be closed until at least friday. We are talking about some strong winds possible where we can see gusts up to 90 Kilometers Per Hour as we go through the next 24 hours. Eventually the storm will weaken as we go through the weekend, but it will continue to dump a significant amount of rain that can lead to flooding concerns as we go forward in time. Meanwhile its quite active across europe. Weve been dealing with strong winds as weve been dealing with one system moving into the Western Areas of europe. Another low down toward italy likely to produce more snow thursday and friday. Some locations might see gusts up to 100 miles an hour into the Balkan Peninsula and spain. Be on the lookout for that. Have the umbrella handy in paris and rome as we go through friday. Have a good day wherever you are. That concludes this edition of nhk newsline. Im radical ja prja pradhan in. This is newsline biz. Ntt docomo is set to launch a new service with relatively low fees. It also expects to cut charges for existing plans as the government calls on Telecom Firms to ssh prices. Starting in march, the new plan will cost around 30 a month. Users will get 20 gigabytes of data and aess to a 5g network. Domestic calls under five minutes will be free. Young people are the main target. Translar our company has been very weak at attracting young customers. We wont get them unless we offerervices that are more competitive than other carriers. Theeo says the firm will announce details of the price cuts for Current Services by year end. Nhk has learned that japans government plans to phase outs sales of new gasoline vehicles by the mid 2030s as it gets into gear for a greener future. Sources say the Economy Ministry wants to turn from sales of vehicles that run entirely on gasoline to alternatives such as hybrids or electric cars. It expects to officially adopt its goal by the end of this year after discussions by a panel of experts. The move follows prime minist ministers plan to set emissions to net zero by 2050. Nippon airways is planning to take part in an environmentally friendly fuel made from Carbon Dioxide. Theyre hoping the new fuel will start powering aircraft from the latter half of this decade. The plan involves chemically treating co2 emitted from factories using technologies developed by toshiba and toyo engineering. They say several challenges including maintaining quality and achieving stable production and supplies. Profitability is another concern. Ana is already using alternative fuels. Some of its aircraft ran on a substance made from food waste last month. The Aviation Industry is under pressure to reduce its carbon footprint. Aircraft produce more co2 than trains and other forms of transportation. Restrictions on Greenhouse Gas emissions on International Flights will be introduced next year. Legislation that could delist shares of chinese firms from u. S. Exchanges has been sent to President Trump after it was passed in the house of representatives on wednesday. The legislation toughens oversight on companies checking whether they have ties to foreign governments. They would be delisted if they failed to comply with audits for three years in a row. The legislation applies to companies from any country but its seen as targeting those from china. It has already cleared the senate and now the president is expected to sign it into law. More than 200 Chinese Companies list their shares on exchanges in the u. S. The u. S. Government and congress suspect that the Chinese Communist party backs or has involvement in the firms management. Meanwhile, china has revealed the first items to be hit by its new law controlling sensitive exports. They listedroducts and Software Related to data encryption. They include devices used for quantum cryptography. The law requires government approval for experts that could be converted for military use. Shipments to blacklisted foreign firms can be banned or restricts. Manufacturers in japan and other places have been worried controls will cover the rare earth metals they need to make hightech products. The metals werent on wednesdays list but Companies Remain concern as beijing is expected to add other items. Department stores and other retailers in england are open for business again as the British Government relaxes strict coronavirus restrictions. Shoppers crowded into Central London wednesday as stores threw open their doors for the first time in about a month. If people respect the social distancing and the Face Covering and stuff, i think we should be okay. Half of me is excited because it feels like we havent had it for a long time. Its a doubleedged sword. All shops have been forced to shut in early november. But the government is easing restrictions now pointing to signs the outbreak is slowing as retailers head into the crucial Christmas Shopping season. In germany the government is taking a different approach. Angela merkel is extending antiinfection measures until january 10th. Its the second extension and will keep bars and restaurants closed over the festive period. Germany reported its highest daily number of coronavirus related deaths on wednesday. In japan, some Department Stores are rolling out special measures to avoid a crush of seasonal shoppers. Lucky bags usually go on sale in the first days of the new year. This year, the campaigns are getting underway a lot earlier. Lucky bags contain items whose total worth is much more than the bags price tag. The only catch is, shoppers dont know whats inside until they buy one and take a look inside. A branch in tokyo of the Department Store started selling lucky bags on thursday. Some contain socks and lounge wear to suit this years stayathome lifestyle. The branch plans to offer more bags in late december and early january. Translator we started selling them today because we want to make our customers feel safe while shopping. Some other Department Stores in tokyo will move forward the starti ining dates of their luc bag sales to late december. Lets get a check on the markets. Thats it for newsline biz. Thank you so much for watching. Bgbgbgncncnc butler, al jazeer, paris. This is al jazeera and these are the top stories. U. K. Government has approved the pfizer and biontech vaccine to be rolled out. Prime minister Boris Johnson praised scientists for their work but said they still need to be cautious. It will take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected. Long, cold months. It is all the more vital that as we celebrate this scientific achievement, we are not carried away with over optimism or fall into the