at 18:30 (JST), December 05

Asian View
"Asian View" is a five-minute news segment broadcast by NHK WORLD-JAPAN. It features the latest news and deep analysis from Japan and the rest of Asia. Listen to "Asian View" and get the latest information from a region that's playing an increasingly important role in the world.





https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20231205183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : 11 climber dead
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231204_17/

At least 11 climbers have been confirmed dead in a massive eruption of the Marapi volcano in Indonesia. Twelve more reportedly remain missing.

The 2,885-meter-high volcano in West Sumatra province erupted on Sunday, spewing ash as high as 15,000 meters into the air.

Local authorities say a number of climbers went missing in the eruption and 11 bodies have been found so far near a crater.

They say three survivors have been rescued.

A minor eruption is continuing on Monday.

Key words : diver human
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231204_24/

The US Air Force says divers have found human remains and the main fuselage of the US Osprey aircraft that crashed into the sea off southwestern Japan last week. The Air Force says they have located five crewmembers, and recovered two of the bodies.

The tilt-rotor transport aircraft crashed off the island of Yakushima in Kagoshima Prefecture last Wednesday. The crash left one crewmember dead and the seven others missing.

The US military, Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Japan Coast Guard have been searching around the crash site.

Parts apparently from the Osprey that were earlier retrieved from the waters have already been handed over to US forces to help identify the cause of the crash.

Meanwhile, the Okinawa prefectural assembly convened a special committee on US military bases.

Prefectural officials explained that the US Air Force has grounded its fleet of CV-22 Ospreys, but that the US Marines are still flying another model, the MV-22.

The officials said that in the first 10 months of the year, a total of 22 Ospreys of the US Air Force had flown to Kadena Base in Okinawa. The total for all of last year was 13.

The committee confirmed that it will submit a draft statement on the crash and a draft resolution of protest at the current session of the assembly.

Key words : islamic responsibility retaliation
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231204_27/

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for a bombing at a university in the southern Philippines on Sunday that killed four people.

The explosion happened during a Catholic mass at a university gymnasium in Marawi City on Mindanao Island.

Philippine authorities say 50 others were injured.

ISIS disclosed in an online statement that its fighters detonated an explosive device.

Philippine authorities allege the explosion was an act of terror by an Islamic militant group after learning the explosive was a handmade device. They are investigating a possible link between the statement and the blast.

Marawi is a Muslim-majority city. In 2017, fierce fighting broke out between the Filipino forces and an armed Islamic militant group supporting ISIS, leaving many people dead or injured.

On Saturday, 11 militants, including a leader of an Islamic militant group, were killed in a military operation at a province neighboring Marawi.

Authorities say the latest explosion could have been an act of retaliation.

Key words : xi old friend
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231205_N01/

Chinese President Xi Jinping has welcomed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko back to Beijing. He met with Lukashenko on Monday, nine months after they last met in the capital.

Xi greeted Lukashenko as his "old friend." He said they have consolidated their "mutual trust." "China is willing to work with Belarus to strengthen cooperation and promote a shared future for mankind," Xi said.

Lukashenko has seen his country struggle under Western sanctions. So, he took the opportunity to promote economic ties with China. He said Belarusians are "very interested" in seeing China grow. "This is not only in our interest; it's in the interest of the entire planet," he said.

Xi said he wants Belarus to become a core member of his signature infrastructure program, the "Belt and Road Initiative." He and Lukashenko agreed to work together to promote more industrial cooperation.

Xi said the world right now is fraught with "turbulence and change." He will try to ease some of those tensions on Thursday when he welcomes European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen back to Beijing. Von der Leyen has called for what she called the "de-risking" of the EU's relationship with China.

Key words : south solid-fuel
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231204_23/

South Korea's Defense Ministry says the country has successfully test-fired a solid-fuel rocket, as it works to improve its launch technology and space-based monitoring of North Korea.

The ministry said on Monday that the third test flight of its kind was conducted off the southern island of Jeju in the early afternoon.

The rocket was carrying a small Earth observation satellite developed by a South Korean private defense firm.

South Korea had been subject to restrictions on developing solid-fuel rockets based on guidelines it signed with its ally the United States, but the guidelines were scrapped in 2021.

The successful test came two days after the country launched its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit on a rocket of US aerospace company SpaceX.

Meanwhile, South Korea's National Security Advisor Cho Tae-yong told the country's public broadcaster KBS on Sunday that the North failed to launch a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile on November 22.

Earlier last month, Pyongyang announced that it conducted its first ground combustion tests of solid-fuel engines for a new intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Key words : india victory
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231204_31/

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has swept to victory in three key state elections. The results are seen as a bellwether for the upcoming national vote, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to clinch a third term.

India's Election Commission announced on Sunday the results of four state legislative elections held in early November. The Hindu nationalist BJP won head-to-head battles against the main opposition Congress party, grabbing majorities in the western state of Rajasthan and central Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

In the previous elections in 2018, the BJP lost those states to Congress. Congress took southern Telangana state this time, defeating a regional party.

Addressing workers at BJP headquarters, Modi declared his party is set to win the general election on the strength of India's development. He called the election results "a parameter of India's economic growth" and said they will "bolster the world's trust" in the country.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat, but vowed to keep up the fight against the BJP. His party has formed a new alliance of opposition forces. The general election is slated to take place by next May.

Key words : researcher covid-19
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231203_07/

Japanese researchers say the country's COVID-19 vaccination program has greatly helped reduce the numbers of infections and fatalities.

A Kyoto University research group led by Professor Nishiura Hiroshi published their evaluation in the international science journal, Scientific Reports.

Using a mathematical model, the researchers simulated the numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths in the absence of vaccination for a period of 10 months from February 2021, when the inoculation began.

The simulation was based on the assumption that the actual number of infections, including asymptomatic cases, was four times greater than confirmed cases.

The researchers also considered people's movements, the characteristics of coronavirus variants, and other factors to draw up a transmission model.

The researchers say that, in the absence of vaccination, the cumulative numbers of infections and deaths during the study period would have been 63.3 million and 364,000, respectively.

The actual numbers of infections and deaths were respectively 4.7 million and 10,000.

They say the high effectiveness of the vaccines was likely due to herd immunity achieved by the vaccination rollout as it can protect unvaccinated people from the virus.

Professor Nishiura says that using this method, authorities can implement a vaccination program based on real-time observations of vaccines' effectiveness.

Inaba Hisashi, a project professor at the Tokyo Gakugei University, says it is impossible to actually observe how the infection situation would have been without the vaccines.

But he says the simulation using a mathematical model suggests that the vaccination program had significant, indirect effects.

Inaba says there are no established methods to assess the actual effectiveness of vaccination at population level. He says researchers need to continue to explore whether there are any other factors they should take into consideration.