at 18:00 (JST), November 11 (Ai-CC by Clipchamp)

at 18:00 (JST), November 11 

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

We begin right here in Tokyo. Ishiba Shigeru has been re-elected Prime Minister of Japan following a runoff vote in the Diet's lower house, the first of its kind in 30 years.

Ishiba, who leads the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party, won in the second vote, beating Constitutional Democratic Party leader Noda Yoshihiko. The LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in last month's lower house election. But the LDP is still the largest party in the House, and opposition parties failed to rally behind one candidate. Ahead of the voting, the LDP's Lukaga Fukushiro was chosen to return to his role as the chamber's speaker. Ishiba is now expected to announce his new cabinet. While most ministers will stay on, a few newcomers will be named to replace those who lost their seats. 
The Emperor will ceremonially endorse Ishiba and his chosen cabinet at the Imperial Palace later in the day. After that ceremony, Ishiba is expected to hold a news conference to discuss his next moves.

A Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force minesweeper, which caught fire off southwestern Japan, has sunk. One crew member remains missing.
A search is underway for a 33-year-old officer who was on duty in the engine compartment when the fire broke out.
MSDF officials say the minesweeper, Ukushima, caught fire in waters off Fukuoka Prefecture on Sunday morning.
They say flames consumed the ship for more than 14 hours before it capsized early Monday. The vessel had a wooden hull to prevent explosions due to magnetic reactions with mines. The MSDF has set up a committee to investigate the fire's cause. The Japan Transport Safety Board is sending two investigators to the site.

Senior Saudi Arabian and Iranian military officials have discussed cooperating on defense. The two regional rivals may be moving closer together in response to hardline anti-Iran, pro-Israel stances by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Iran's state-run TV reported that Saudi Armed Forces Chief of Staff Fayyad al-Ruwali met his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Baghari in Tehran on Sunday. It said Bulgaria expressed interest in Saudi Arabia participating in Iranian naval exercise next year. The broadcaster added that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Iranian President Masoud Peseskian spoke by phone on Sunday. It noted that they expressed hope bilateral cooperation would grow.

The two countries have supported opposing sides in some wars across the Middle East, but relations have been improving since the China-mediated agreement to normalize diplomatic ties in March 2023.

Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, received U.S. backing to explore better ties with Israel during Trump's presidency, although they oppose Israeli military action in Gaza and elsewhere in the region.

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And for more details on these news, please access the NHK World Japan website. 

A major U.S. newspaper says President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone on Thursday. They reportedly discussed the war in Ukraine. The Washington Post broke the news on Sunday. It quoted one source as saying Trump advised Putin not to escalate the war. The paper also cited several sources as saying the two men discussed the goal of peace on the European continent. The sources say Trump expressed an interest in follow-up conversations on how to resolve the war soon. The paper says Trump has signaled privately he would support a deal where Russia kept some captured territory. Trump said in his election campaign he would bring an immediate end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but he has not offered details about how he intends to achieve that. 
In a related development,The Wall Street Journal reported last week that advisors to Trump have made several proposals on ending the war in Ukraine. The paper quoted sources close to the president-elect. The proposals reportedly all break from the approach of President Joe Biden that allows Ukraine to decide when peace talks should begin.

The report says the proposals uniformly recommend freezing the war in place, cementing Russia's seizure of roughly 20-percent of Ukraine... and forcing Ukraine to temporarily suspend its quest to join NATO.

Quoting people close to Trump, the paper says he has not approved a specific peace plan, adding that only the president-elect, in consultation with key aides, will decide how to handle the sensitive and high-stakes diplomacy.

The newspaper says some NATO allies who view Russia's aggression as an immediate threat to their own countries will offer stiff resistance. The article also says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would have to contend with the public that views ceding territory as capitulation.

Concerns are growing over reports North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to help with the Russian invasion. Ukraine's president says they have already faced off against this country's forces. Earlier, I spoke with our former Seoul bureau chief Aoki Yoshiyuki about Pyongyang's possible involvement.

It's been a lot of news about this, but how much do we actually know about the deployment?

Miki, you may have seen videos on social media claiming the show to show the troops in North Korea, no troops in Russia rather. But much of their involvement is still largely a mystery. Neither North Korea nor Russia has publicly admitted their involvement, their deployment. Based on what Ukraine and the USA, North Korean troops have been sent to Russia's Kursk region.
That's the area Ukraine forces have occupied for a month following a surprising incursion. However, we still need to see what's happening on the front lines. The New York Times reports a significant number of the North's troops died in a fight against Ukraine forces, but it does not say when or where that happened.

Well, whether or not they are fighting, sending troops to another country is a big undertaking.

That's right. 

What is motivating Pyongyang? 

Many, many see this as a quid pro quo situation. Moscow has lost a lot of soldiers and is looking for help. And Pyongyang seems willing to fill that gap in return for support to fulfill its own goals. Leader Kim Jong Un seems to want Russia's technology to help with his nuclear and ballistic missile development, as well as spy satellite projects. The deployment may also provide some valuable trainings.
Japan's Defense Ministry says the north has 1.2 million troops, one of the largest armies on the planet, but but that force has not had much experience on the frontline since the 1950s.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim are increasingly isolated these days, Putin because of his invasion and Kim due to his own provocation. So the two have to rely on each other more and more.
They signed a comprehensive partnership treaty in June to strengthen security and military. ties.

Well, Pyongyang's potential direct involvement in Russia's invasion is certainly raising a lot of alarm bells. But let's zero in into the quid pro quo part that you've mentioned. How big of a deal is this?

Miki, many here in our region would see the possible trade as a huge threat to East Asia. And South Korea is especially concerned, and its president has suggested something that's capturing a lot of attention. Please take a listen.

If Russia provides military technology to North Korea, that will pose a deadly threat to our security. Our support for Ukraine will have to change depending on how much the North gets involved in the conflict. We will not rule out providing weapons to Ukraine.

So Seoul has so far only provided humanitarian assistance, so weapons would be a big step. In Son Yo's office says he discussed North Korea in a phone call with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. So a lot of players involved in different things to gain or lose and a long list of unknowns. But we could be at the beginning of a major chapter as this conflict gets closer and closer to the three-year mark.

And it is time now to check on the world weather with our meteorologist Jonathan Oh. So Jonathan, looks like people in the Philippines cannot catch a break with tropical systems battering them one after another. What's the latest? 

Hello. Once again, we're keeping an eye out on another tropical system in Toraji as it smacks across the northern portion of the Philippines. We've been telling you about the issues. That this part of the country has experienced for weeks.
And guess what?

That's not the end of the story. See another one back toward the east, another system now making its way to the West. And so we're looking at continued impacts with heavy rainfall and strong gusts continuing overnight into the day on Tuesday before it starts to move away. But for those who have been impacted by these storms, this additional storm is just not welcome news. And another one coming up behind it could also cause additional problems when it comes to flooding and landslides.

We'll continue to monitor and keep you posted on the progress of these storms, but it has been a hard time not catching a break for those living there. We're seeing some impacts also up into portions of Japan over in the Okinawa region because of the moisture flow that's impacting the region. Take a look at this video that's coming out of Nago where warm, moist air has been treating unstable weather conditions with Rain in southwestern Japan with parts of Okinawa seeing record-breaking rainfall, more than 480 millimeters of rain on Sunday afternoon.

Officials were warning people to be on the alert for landslides, flooding and strong gusts. We should be seeing things backing off a bit might see some shower possibilities for the area on Tuesday.

We're looking at other portions of Japan relatively dry for most of the day, but then we'll have a low coming out of continental Asia and that's going to bring some showers into places like Hokkaido and the far northeastern portions of the country as we go forward in time. Partly cloudy skies against shower possibilities with the instability down toward Naha as we go through Tuesday. Niigata and Sapporo looking at some wet weather for the day.

Quick note on Europe, relatively calm weather at the moment, quite warm into the Balkan Peninsula but we're looking at relatively calm weather on Mondays with some showers to Istanbul as we go into Monday. Hope you have a good day wherever you are.

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That's all for this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Yamato Miki in Tokyo. Thank you very much for staying with us.