at 18:00 (JST), October 28 (AI-CC by Clipchamp)

 

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20241028180000_english_1.mp3

Hello, glad to have you with us on NHK Newsline. I'm Yamamoto Miki in Tokyo.

Japan's Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru says his party's coalition will seek to stay in power despite suffering a crushing blow in the lower houseelection.

We have received an exceptionally harsh judgment from the public. To avoid stagnation in national politics, I am committed to addressing political reform and economic issues, with the goal of revitalizing Japan.

The Liberal Democratic Party secured 191 seats, far below the 247 it had going into the election. Its coalition partner Komeito won 24 seats. Together, the two parties fell short of the 233 they needed to secure a majority. That had been Ishiba's benchmark for victory. One of the party's executive members has already stepped down. Koizumi Shinjiro was the chairperson of the Election Strategy Committee. He said he's taking responsibility after the party did not reach its target. But it was a good night for the opposition parties. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan took 148 seats, and the Democratic Party for the People secured four times what it had going into the race. Ishiba vowed to bring in major reforms to gain the public's trust. He also said he will try to work with other parties in the House.

We are not thinking of instantly forming a new coalition at this point. I think we need to start by discussing how to introduce each party's policies with a humble attitude. In the process, we will work to build a relationship of trust with other parties so that people will have faith in us, that we are working together for the sake of the people. That is a responsibility that we need to fulfill as a party that has won the most votes.

However, the CDP, the largest opposition party, is also courting the other camps to counter the coalition. The newly elected lawmakers, as well as the upper house, will vote for prime minister in the coming weeks. The outcome of the lower house election has drawn reactions from overseas. Our Beijing correspondent Nakamura Ginta explains China's view of the situation. 

The government typically avoids commenting on the internal affairs of other nations. And so far, there has been no official response. Yet, when it became clear that the ruling coalition had lost its majority, China's major media outlets swiftly blocked the news. So there seems to have been widespread interest in the outcome. Now, the spotlight in Beijing seems to be shifting toward whether Prime Minister Yeshiba's administration can keep the ship steady. 
Earlier this month,When Premier Li Qiang met with Ishiba, the two leaders emphasized the importance of building what they called a constructive and stable bilateral ties. Ishiba has maintained a firm stance on the diplomatic and security fronts, but he has consistently emphasized the importance of dialogue with China, a position that had raised considerable hopes in Beijing. 

And it's no secret why. China's economy is still struggling to find its footing, trade relations with the EU are showing signs of strain, and the U.S. presidential election looms on the horizon in what is expected to be a grossly fought race. This is why stabilizing economic ties with Japan is seen as a crucial move to help steer China's own economy back on course. People in Beijing will likely continue keeping a close watch On Japan's evolving political landscape.

North Korea says it has proof a crashed drone came from its southern neighbor. Pyongyang warned that a future intrusion could force it to retaliate.
North Korea has been investigating the drone, which was discovered on October 13th. It says the South Korean military uses this specific kind of reconnaissance machine. A defense ministry spokesperson gave more details in North Korea's ruling Workers' Party newspaper Monday. The statement claims data retrieved from the drone showed it took off from Paenyeong Island on October 8th. That's near the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea.

The drone reportedly reached Pyongyang about two hours later. The statement says it scattered propaganda leaflets around the foreign and defense ministries. It also claims flight logs prove the drone was in South Korea up until the incursion. Pyongyang says that's evidence Seoul was behind the hostile infringement of its sovereignty. North Korea said if it happens again, it would not hesitate to act. It warned that the source of the provocations would disappear forever. South Korea said it cannot confirm Pyongyang's claims.

Ukraine's president has repeated his call on Western nations to help his country boost its air defense capabilities. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia has used over 11-hundred guided aerial bombs and more than 560 strike drones against his country last week alone. He made the claim on his social media account on Sunday. Zelensky also uploaded videos showing damage from Russian attacks. A message reads quote Ukraine needs more air defense systems. We need strong support from our partners. Missile and drone attacks on the capital Kiev and the eastern city of Dnipro killed 6 civilians on Friday and Saturday. In a related development, Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Agency has reported on a truck carrying North Korean soldiers heading to Kursk. The region in western Russia is where Ukrainian forces are conducting a cross-border operation. 
On Sunday, the agency released on social media... what it said were intercepted radio communications of Russian officials talking about the truck. Zelensky had said he expects that North Korean troops who were dispatched to Russia will enter combat zones as early as Sunday.

Israeli forces have been intensifying their attacks in the northern Gaza Strip to eliminate Hamas militants causing many casualties. Local media in Gaza reported that Israeli strikes from late Saturday to Sunday on houses and schools sheltering many civilians, killed at least 69 people. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement he is shocked by the hurrowing levels of death, injury and destruction in northern Gaza. He repeated his appeal for an immediate ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that the head of the Mossad intelligence agency traveled to Qatar on Sunday for talks with the director of the CIA on a ceasefire and the return of hostages.

A Saudi Arabian TV station reported that Hamas,presented negotiators with a deal for an immediate end to the fighting. The group proposed a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in the exchange of a certain number of Palestinian detainees in return for the release of all Israeli hostages at once. 

The President of Georgia has called for protests after election officials said the pro-Russia ruling party had won a majority in Saturday's parliamentary election.

As the last independent institution in this country, I must clearly state that I do not recognize these elections. Recognizing them would be tantamount to legitimizing Russia's takeover of Georgia.

Salomezura Vishvili called for supporters of the opposition to rally on Monday in the capital, Tbilisi. The Central Election Commission announced the ruling Georgian Dream Party got 54-percent of the vote. The party is seen as having a conciliatory stance toward Moscow, leading to worsening relations with Western nations.
The pro-Western opposition parties have rejected the results, saying the election was rigged. They are pushing for Georgia to become a member of the European Union. Georgia is a former Soviet Republic.

The head of the European Parliament's monitoring delegation said on Sunday his teams had seen voter intimidation and physical assaults on observers. The EU issued a statement calling on the Election Commission and other relevant authorities to investigate electoral irregularities.

Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force has grounded all of its Osprey aircraft after one was damaged in a failed take-off. It happened during training Sunday morning at Camp Yonaguni in southern Japan's Okinawa Prefecture. The defense ministry says the aircraft lost balance and swung from side to side and an engine exhaust vent hit the ground. There were no reported injuries. 

The force says it's believed to be the first time one of its ospreys was damaged since it began to introduce the transport plane in 2020. The force has 17 of them. It has set up a panel to investigate the incident. Okinawa's governor says he is concerned about what happened.

It is extremely regrettable that such an incident occurred, despite our request that Osprey aircraft not be used in training.

The U.S. grounded its Osprey aircraft late last year following a crash that killed eight of its military personnel. It resumed flights earlier this year.

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And it is time now for a check on the weather with our meteorologist Jonathan Oh. Jonathan, people in Vietnam has been dealt with another blow with a powerful tropical system bringing damaging winds and heavy rain. What's the situation there now?

Hello, we've been keeping an eye out on Chami as it made its way from the Philippines over toward Vietnam and also impacting portions of China as well. It has left a bit of destruction in its wake. Take a look at this video when it started off in central Vietnam, where Chami hit the region Sunday, bringing rain, heavy rain and strong winds. Parts of the region received more than 600 millimeters of precipitation in 24 hours. The wind toppled advertising boards and trees. And blocked traffic. Authorities closed several airports and advised people to stay indoors. The storm still has all its moisture associated with it, and so portion of China into Vietnam will see more heavy rain as the storm continues to still linger in the area. 

We have another tropical system toward the east of the Philippines. Kong Ray continues to gather itself together. Now, unlike Chami, it looks like it's less likely to go straight over the Philippines and more toward the north. And so those over into the smaller islands of Okinawa, you may be dealing with some of the impacts of this system as go into the mid to latter part of this week as the storm tries to gather itself and bring all of its intense winds and heavy rainfall. But even portion of the Philippines, especially for the coastal areas, you may still be dealing with some high waves with that system.

Broadening out the view and going toward the north high pressure controlling the continental portions of East Asia, Japan looking at a couple of cold fronts moving on through. And so we're looking at rain in Tokyo with a high of 17, 19 in Seoul, 18 in Beijing and a bit colder up to Ula Batar with a high of 5 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, speaking of cold weather over in North America, the western areas of the United States into Canada, looking at a big push of cold air. And so it's going to be a bit on the chilly side, so be prepared for that. But withmoisture mixed in, we're talking about some snow into the mountainous areas as well, so we'll be looking at some of that more wintry precipitation as we go into the day on Monday. Hope you have a good day wherever you are.

That is all for this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Yamato Miki in Tokyo. Thank you for staying with us on NHK World Japan.