at 18:00 (JST), November 13 (Ai-CC by Clipchamp)

 

20241113180000_english_1.mp3

Welcome back to NHK Newsline. Here's the latest we have for you at this hour.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned to take responsibility for the handling of a child abuse scandal. It involved a male lawyer associated with the Church of England who allegedly abused children and young men over the course of several decades.
In a statement, Justin Welby said he must take personal and institutional responsibility for the scandal. He said he hopes his decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and its profound commitment to creating a safer church. The alleged abuse came to light in 2016. The lawyer had allegedly abused boys since the 1970s during summer camps in Britain and South Africa. A report found the violence involved sexually motivated beatings. Walby has faced growing calls to resign after an independent investigation found earlier this month that he had been informed of the allegations in 2013, but failed to tell police. The report also says the abuse continued until the lawyer's death in 2018 and involved up to 130 victims. There are some 85 million Anglicans around the world.

The next U.S. administration is coming further into focus. President-elect Donald Trump's picks include a TV host, a governor, and a well-known billionaire.
Trump has announced entrepreneur Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead what he calls the Department of Government Efficiency. He says the organization will provide advice and guidance from outside of government to drive structural reform.
Pete Hegseth has been tapped for Defense Secretary. He's a Fox News host and military veteran who was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trump called Hegseth a courageous and patriotic champion of the peace through strength policy.

John Ratcliffe has been nominated for CIA director. He served as Director of National Intelligence during Trump's first term. The president-elect has chosen South Dakota Governor Christy Noem to lead Homeland Security. She was a staunch Trump supporter during his campaign.
Noem will be tasked with carrying out his pledge for tighter border security and mass deportations. Trump has also picked Mike Waltz for national security advisor. The Florida congressman served in the Middle East and Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army's elite Green Beret. Waltz opposes U.S. military support for Ukraine.

Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election may grind the legal cases against him to a halt. He was supposed to be sentenced later this month for his conviction in a hush money trial. His lawyers say the case should be thrown out, but the judge has delayed a decision on that matter by a week.

Prosecutors have reportedly told the judge that they need to reconsider their approach in light of the inauguration in January. A jury has already returned a guilty verdict in the case. It found that Trump falsified business records to pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual encounter in 2006. But the Supreme Court decided in July that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts. Trump's lawyers called to dismiss the case. Three other criminal indictments have been filed against him, and he's already the first U.S. president with a criminal record.

People in China's Guangdong province are mourning the victims of a deadly car attack. They're laying flowers and offering prayers for the 35 people killed Monday night when a man mowed down people exercising in a sports center.
The public grieving began Tuesday night when authorities announced news of the incident.

This is in front of the gate. We can see many flowers left from local people.

Police say the attack in the city of Chuhai also left 43 people injured.

We've all been living here for decades. I came to express condolences to those who were killed. I hope nothing like this ever happens again.

There's been a spate of violent public attacks in China, but Monday's incident was one of the deadliest in recent years and has left people stunned. For more on this, I earlier spoke with our Beijing correspondent, Nakamura Genta.

Genta, how is this incident being received in China? 

Well, state media has widely reported the police announcements, though it has largely refrained from covering details of the incident itself. Meanwhile, social media is filled with messages expressing condolences for the victims.
However, videos purportedly showing the scene of the incident have been removed, suggesting a cautious approach by the authorities. Well, there has been a rash of violent incidents in China this year, including the targeting of Japanese schools. Now, why would you say that these things are happening?

No doubt, people within Chinese society are growing increasingly dissatisfied. It is often said that recent economic downturn is exacerbating a widespread sense of pessimism. China's once rapid growth has come to an end. And it's it's becoming difficult for many people now to see any economic benefits. Dissatisfaction with the with the current situation appears to be building up among those left behind. As for this incident, the authorities have referred to the driver's divorce situation. This is seen as his motive. They seem to want to deflect blame away from society or the system by attributing the motives to personal reasons.

Well, how is President Xi Jinping's leadership handling the situation?

After the series of incidents that have shocked the society, they seem to be feeling impatient and that some kind of action is necessary. An instruction that Xi issued on Tuesday underscores his impatience. He calls on relevant departments to make their utmost efforts to maintain social stability by reducing risk factors, resolving conflicts, and preventing extreme incidents. There is no doubt that Xi's leadership is concerned about social unrest and its impact on the system. She's apparently concerned that social stagnation may be caused by the rule of the Chinese Communist Party and government administration. For these reasons, it is possible that authorities could resort to heavy-handed methods to nip any perceived threats in the bad.

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And please access the NHK World Japan website for more details.

Next, Russia's Security Council Secretary is in China for talks with a clear message Sergei Shoigu says their most important task is to stand up to U.S. efforts to contain them. Former Defense Minister Shoigu met Tuesday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and hailed their strategic ties.

Comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation of Russia and China is an example of cooperation between two countries in the modern world.

China's foreign ministry says Wang called for solidarity to safeguard their common interests. It says Shuigu and Wang reached new common understandings. Shuigu is reportedly scheduled to visit an air show in southern China that's featuring Russia's latest fighter jet. A media outlet close to the Chinese Communist Party ran a quote saying the visit is designed to promote military technology cooperation between China and Russia.

The U.S. has confirmed that North Korean soldiers have started taking part in combat operations against Ukrainian forces.

Most of them have moved to the far western Kursk oblast, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces.

Ukrainian troops are engaged in a cross-border offensive in Kursk. Patel said that over 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia. This is the first time the U.S. government has officially acknowledged North Korean troops' participation in combat. Patel added that Russia's battlefield success will largely depend on how well it can integrate the foreign soldiers into its military. He said Russia's challenges include interoperability, the language barrier, command and control, and communications. The United States has indicated that it is increasingly concerned about ties between Moscow and Pyongyang.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is attending a meeting in Brussels until Wednesday. He and other foreign ministers are discussing support for Ukraine.

And it is time now for a check on the world weather with our meteorologist Jonathan Oh. It looks like not one, but two storms are heading toward the Philippines. Jonathan, what's the latest?

Hello, we have been talking about multiple storms impacting the Philippines, not just in the past week, but the past few weeks. And now as we look at the rest of this week, we have two storms that are going to add on top of the problems that have been impacting the northern areas of the Philippines.
Usagi is going to be the first one making this impact, especially during the overnight period into the day on Thursday. And then as that departs and leaves the scene, we have another system behind that that will be arriving as we go to the latter part of this week.

There's really not much you can do in terms of preparation. Evacuation really is the best way to stay away from the northern portion of Lausanne because the ground is just absolutely smacked with water in the area. So there's not much you can do except to escape and leave from the area. So make sure you listen to what the officials are telling you and make sure you take the action as they are guiding you in that situation. We go down to the South, keeping an eye on what's happening over in New Zealand, where you've been dealing with some really strong winds as these storms have been moving by in the area with some more rain in the forecast. That'll be the case as we go toward the day on Thursday. Eastern areas of Australia also seeing some wet weather here from Brisbane into Sydney, Auckland and Wellington also seeing some rain again, some strong wind possibilities continuing as we go today on Thursday.

Meanwhile in South America, we told you about what's been happening over in portion of Colombia, but also now we're seeing some. Heavy rainfall has impacted places like Peru. Take a look at this video when I start in Peru to give you an idea of what's the situation on the ground as central parts of the country had a month's worth of rain in just two hours Monday, and that led to some landslides. At least 30 homes were destroyed, another 300 partially damaged. People using heavy machinery are trying to clean up the mud and debris. Now over in Colombia's capital, Bogota, you can see the torrential rain leading to road barriers being swept away on a flooded St. This comes after the country declared a state of disaster on Sunday. More rain is in the forecast as we go forward in time as this unstable pattern remains in place, which means more of a messy situation likely as a look ahead, looking at rain in Bogota with a high of 19 on Wednesday.

Hope you have a good day wherever you are.

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And that wraps up this edition of NHK Newsline. We'll have more for you soon.
Thanks for watching.