at 18:00 (JST), September 03 (CC modified by Copilot)

 Hello and welcome to NHK Newsline. 

A school bus crash in eastern China has reportedly killed 11 people including five children, 13 others are injured, one person in serious condition. It happened Tuesday morning in Taian, Shandong Province. China Central Television reports that the bus lost control at a middle school and crashed into a line of children and parents. The driver has been taken into custody.

The past few months have been hot. In fact, they were some of the hottest ever, tied with last year’s record-breaking summer according to Japanese weather officials. The Meteorological Agency says the temperature from June to August was higher than the average by 1.76 degrees Celsius. The same margin was seen last summer, which set a new record. The agency held a meeting of experts on Monday to discuss the record heat. “This year’s heat is clearly abnormal. It is becoming more likely to see higher temperatures than in the past.” Officials say the heat was dangerous in July with daytime highs on one day soaring to 40 degrees or higher at six locations. They also say August was marked by high pressure systems that covered the archipelago, especially western Japan, bringing sunny skies and intense heat. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency says more than 83,000 people who developed heat stroke were taken to hospitals over the past four months. 108 people died. Experts say long-term global warming is raising temperatures and hot weather may continue.

Now we look at one of the ways people in Japan can escape the extreme heat and avoid heat-related illness. Earlier I spoke to NHK World’s Ryuchi. Can you tell us more about where you are right now? “Yes. I am here at a part of the designated schooling shelter in Tokyo, in a district right across from a famous temple. It is one of 1,000 cooling temperatures authorities are set up in the city to lower the risk of heat stroke on really hot days. See, there’s a refreshing mist coming out of the exterior of the building. It was actually raining until a few minutes ago, but now we see the sun. It is getting really hot and humid, so the mist like this feels really nice on days like today. Let’s go into the building. This building is actually a culture and tourism center for the area. So it operates just normally. The idea is people can come inside where it is air conditioned and they can head to the sixth floor of this building to rest and recuperate. We spoke to a few tourists here about how they are finding summer in Japan and the idea of cooling shelters.” “Here in Japan there is more humidity, so we are sweating more than normally. For the people, it is probably most of the time you have to go to a restaurant or someplace you have to pay for a soda or a beer, so I think it is special.” “So how do you find that assistance?” “I think it is fantastic. It is so nice having the opportunity to rest for one moment a while as we go around the city, and you can rest almost everywhere here and I think it is great.” Other shelters have been set up inside nursing care homes and museums and pharmacies and so on. Now, because heat waves are considered natural disasters in Japan, if you are, say, in Tokyo you can find a shelter in your area by looking at the municipality’s disaster prevention map online. Starting this spring, Japan has implemented a new special heat stroke alert. If that gets issued in the event of dangerously high temperatures, local governments are expected to open up cooling shelters. So spaces like this are especially important for the elderly who are the most at risk of heat-related illness. This center right here is equipped with a water station at the front entrance so people can fill up their own water bottles and stay hydrated. As scorching temperatures become more common in Japan these shelters will be even more important in keeping people cool and saving lives.

We now turn to Israel where anger against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is fuelling protests across the country. They come after Israeli forces found the bodies of six hostages killed in Gaza and as cease-fire talks continue to stall. Demonstrators are urging the government to reach a deal with Hamas as soon as possible. Outrage was sparked after authorities revealed the six hostages may have been killed within days of being found by Israeli soldiers. Labor unions and other organizations staged a large-scale strike to put pressure on the government, disrupting international flights and other services. News website “Axios” reports the U.S. plans to present a proposal to Israel and Hamas later this week, aimed at finally securing a deal to bring the hostages home. Meanwhile, the British government says it is suspending around 30 of its arm export licenses with Israel. It says there’s a risk the items could be used to violate international humanitarian law. UK media outlets say British arms exports amount to around 1% of all of the arms Israel receives. And an operation to protect Gaza’s children from polio continues under a limited pause in the fighting. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is distributing the vaccinations in central Gaza. It says its teams have reported appalling conditions. The agency says what Palestinians really need most is for Israel and Hamas to agree to a complete cease-fire.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has suggested she is against a proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Japanese counterpart Nippon Steel. “U.S. Steel is an historic American company and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies, and I couldn’t agree more with President Biden. U.S. Steel should remain American owned and American operated.” She made the comments during a campaign rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The state is a battleground and home to U.S. Steel’s corporate headquarters and production facility. Both U.S. President Joe Biden and former-President Donald Trump oppose the deal. Harris’s apparent aim is to emphasize her alignment with Biden’s policy on labor unions to garner support from those voters. In response, Nippon Steel says it is confident the acquisition is the best option to revitalize what is known as the Rust Belt and benefit American workers, communities and national security. The company says it hopes the effects of the acquisition would be supported by an objective review by regulators and that the deal will be finalized soon.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa has announced he will run for the presidency of the country’s main ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The winner of the race is expected to become the next prime minister. “Next year will be the 30th anniversary of my career as a lawmaker. I would like to give all of my experience to this country. I always want to communicate like I am playing catch with the members of the party and the public, to improve my policies. I would like to implement policies that we create together with the people.” Hayashi has held several cabinet positions including defense, agriculture and foreign minister. It will be his second bid to head the party. Hayashi is the fourth person to enter the race after former economic security minister Kaub, Shigeru, Kobayashi Takayuki, and Kono Taro. The election will be held on the 27th.

The health ministry released results of a survey suggesting tobacco use in Japan is trending downward. It found a ratio of people who smoke on a regular basis hit an all-time low in 2022. 5,000 people age 20 or older were quizzed on cigarette use, and about 15% said they light up habitually. That’s the lowest since the survey was first held in 2003. The ministry points to tougher laws on indoor smoking as pushing more people to stop. Also, about 22% of men who smoke regularly and 36% of women say they want to quit. Health officials say they plan to provide more resources to people trying to break the habit for good.

Now it is time for a check on the world weather with our meteorologist, Jonathan Oh. So it has been a bit of a wet day for the Tokyo area Tuesday. How are things looking for Wednesday, Jonathan?

"Hello. We have been dealing with a bit of a dreary, cold – well, not cold but cooler day with the rain that’s in place, cooler than what we’ve been experiencing earlier this week and last week especially. But it looks like we will be seeing the weather come back later on, but we still have to contend with this frontal boundary that’s in place and it is pushing in plenty of moisture and cloud cover. So we have one more day of seeing this cloudy, cooler weather before we see the temperatures starting to move back up. So looking for more rainfall in place as we go throughout the day on Wednesday. Other areas looking at dry weather and temperatures also will be on the warmer side, too. Look at this. 34 in Osaka. 33 in Fukuoka and down towards Nara. It is near 30 degrees coming up on Wednesday. That is a bit on the warmer side, so make sure you take precautions if you will be spending some time outdoors. Broadening out the view on East Asia, continuing to move away from the Philippines after causing problems there and setting aside southern areas of China as well as getting stronger. We will have to keep an eye on that as well as Yagi will make its way through the northern portions of Vietnam through the rest of the week. Manila looking at rain as well. Showers in Beijing with a high of 28. Meanwhile, we are keeping an eye on this low that’s still in Texas and it continues to stay in place, which means more rain is possible. That could lead to some localized flooding concerns going forward in time. So be on the look out for that, especially for the central portion of the state where we will continue to see rain hovering in the area. High of 32 in Houston on Tuesday. Dry weather on the eastern seaboard with sunny skies from New York through Atlanta. High pressure keeping most of the continent dry. Hope you have a good day wherever you are.

That wraps up this edition of NHK “Newsline.” Thank you for watching.