at 18:00 (JST), December 17 (Ai-CC by Clipchamp)

20241217180000_english_1.mp3

Hello, welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Yama Motomiki in Tokyo.

Russia says a senior military official has been killed in an explosion in Moscow. The country's investigative authorities say Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov died in a blast outside the entrance to his home on Tuesday. They're looking into the incident as a criminal case. There have been several explosions and drone attacks in Russia since the country launched its invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

South Korea's Constitutional Court has asked President Yoon Son-yol to appear at his impeachment trial. He has also been given seven days to provide written answers to the court following his failed attempt to impose martial law this month.
Justices have moved ahead with trial preparations after parliament passed an impeachment vote on Saturday. They will decide whether Yoon's choice to deploy troops in Seoul justifies his removal from office. A court spokesperson says documents were sent to the president on Monday. Yoon's reply is expected within a week of receiving them. Justices will hold their first hearing December 27.
Meanwhile, he has apparently yet to respond to summons from multiple teams probing his actions. A joint unit of police and other investigators is waiting to see whether Yoon complies with a request to appear for questioning by 10 a.m. Wednesday. And a team of prosecutors has issued a second call for Yoon to answer their queries after the president snubbed them over the weekend.
One of his lawyers says Yoon does not recognize his actions as a criminal of insurrection at all, and he will state his position in court confidently.
His defense team will be divided into groups to deal with the investigation and the trials.

Kitakyushu City in western Japan is gripped with anxiety after two junior high school students were stabbed at a fast food restaurant. The attacker remains at large.
A man fatally stabbed a 15-year-old girl at a McDonald's on Saturday night and seriously injured a boy of the same age.
The city's Board of Education says more than 4,100 elementary, junior and senior high school students refrained from going to school on Monday. It says 340 of them attended classes online. Board officials have stepped up patrols along routes to and from schools.
The board is planning to set up meetings with students at the junior high school where the victims were classmates. It says counselors will work to support students who are in distress.

The Japanese government has decided to employ a raft of new measures to tackle crimes committed by people recruited online. That includes allowing police to conceal who they are to conduct investigations.
In order to arrest the perpetrators but also the criminal masterminds, we have decided to conduct a thorough crackdown by using false identities.
Investigators will be able to use an assumed name to apply for so-called shady part-time jobs to contact criminal groups. The government plans to lay down the necessary guidelines to begin such operations soon.
Other measures include efforts to raise awareness that it is illegal for employers to recruit part-timers without giving their name, contact address, or explanation of the business. There are also plans to increase the use of warnings that automatically pop up on the screen of people who do internet searches, with terms such as immediate cash payment.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says a Japanese tech conglomerate is planning a major investment in the U.S. He says SoftBank Group will lay out 100 billion dollars to boost the economy and create at least 100,000 jobs. Trump spoke to reporters with SoftBank Group CEO Son Masayoshi at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

This historic investment is a monumental demonstration of confidence in America's future, and it will help ensure that artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and other industries of tomorrow are built, created, and grown right here in the USA.

Son says his confidence in the US economy has tremendously increased since Trump's election.

I say President Trump is a double-down president. I'm going to have to double down, you know, $100 billion and 100,000 job. This is, you know, my my confidence level.

The $100 billion figure is double the amount SoftBank pledged to invest during Trump's first term.
Now, after the meeting, Trump said he picked George Glass to be the next U.S. ambassador to Japan.

Trump made the announcement on social media on Monday. He said that as a former president of an investment bank, Glass will bring his business acumen to the ambassador position. He added that Glass will always put America first.
Glass helped Trump win the 2016 presidential election as a major donor.
He is also said to have supported Trump's bid for a second term as president by helping him raise funds for his campaign.
Glass is known as a critic of China.
As U.S. ambassador to Portugal in Trump's first term, he told local media that the country had to choose between the United States and China. He said Portugal could expect security issues if it favored China in relation to the development of telecom networks and others.
At a news conference on Monday, Trump described Glass as highly respected.

He's an ambassador before, did a fantastic job. We consider Japan very important.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that the current U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, plans to leave Japan at the start of the new year before Trump's inauguration.

Emanuel expressed intent to leave the country soon at a U.S. Embassy event this month.

Now,Would you help run a Japanese town? Apparently many are saying no. Municipalities across the country say they can't find enough people to become local politicians. It's leading to uncontested elections and unfilled seats. We took a closer look at why.

This is Kasagi, a small town of about a thousand in Kyoto Prefecture.
Its town assemblyhas eight seats, and last election only had eight candidates. They were all confirmed without a single ballot being cast.
Three of them are Yamamotos. Yamamoto Katsuki in the middle was an incumbent, but his son, Yamamoto Shota and his relative, Yamamoto Maya, were also recently appointed. It's not uncommon to have family members run together.
Nishi Akio is the chair of the town assembly. He said before the election, there were only 5 contenders for the town's eight seats. Desperate, Akio asked people he knew if they were interested in running.

I approached about 30 people, but they all turned me down.

With few options, he looked to his wife, Tomoko.

My husband asked me if I was interested in running. I decided I wanted to do something for our town.

She stood as a candidate and, like the others, secured her seat without a single vote.

I had mixed feelings about it, honestly. While it's not exactly wrong to urge a relative to run, I don't feel like it's right either.

One reason it's hard to find candidates? Low pay. On top of being the assembly chair, Nishi also works part-time. He needs both jobs to make ends meet. He says he works about 10 shifts a month. His schedule is split between his official duties in red and his side gig in green.

It's really difficult to earn a living on an assembly member's salary. The more effort I put into my official duties, the harder it is on me financially. It's eating into my savings.

It's not the only town grappling with these issues. Urahoro, in Hokkaido Prefecture, is hoping some major reforms can help attract new candidates.
It's specifically trying to get women and young people involved in local politics, by introducing things like online attendance and maternity leave.
The council also raised its pay by 20% to about 210,000 yen, or $1,300 per month.
Now, three of the council's 11 members are young women. They were elected for the first time last year.

As I learned more about the council, I started thinking I could serve the town and still keep on top of my other duties.

For me, the fact that there was pre and postnatal leave pushed me to join, that could allow many people to get involved in the council.

An expert on local politics in Japan says it's a step in the right direction. But much more needs to be done to address the lack of candidates.

Local governments need to consider whether they've actually been listening to the diverse voices of the public. They need to become places where the younger generation feels they can change their communities.

With a declining and aging population. Japan is facing the challenge of getting younger people involved, even if it takes new, flexible ideas.

It is time now for a check on the world weather with our meteorologist Jonathan Oh. Jonathan, people in Mozambique are dealing with the aftermath of a tropical system that came on shore. What's the latest?

Hello, we've been keeping an eye out on Chido, the storm that was moving across which of Madagascar and Mayo before making landfall in in Mozambique. Now the system itself has mainly dissipated, but there's a lot of problems left in its wake. Take a look at this video to get an idea of the situation on the ground.
After hitting Mayo, Chido also made landfall in northern Mozambique. Now it quickly weakened and was reclassified as a tropical storm Sunday, but still destroyed several homes, schools and health facilities. And authorities warned that there was a high risk of landslides.
The storm devastated large parts of East Africa over the weekend with winds of more than 200 kilometers per hour. That led to the cut of power lines and also water supplies. And I mentioned that a lot of that moisture has not moved toward the West. So most of Mozambique and places toward Madagascar are on the drier side, which will give folks a break and being able to go through the recovery effort in the aftermath of the storm, we broaden out the view central areas of Africa looking temperatures into the mid 30s. relatively dry pattern for the central and northern portions of the continent as we go through the day on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, up to Europe we go. We have a low toward the east that's bringing rain and snow toward places like Ukraine and also to Russia. High pressure dominating most of the areas toward the center and the western portions of the continent. So for Tuesday we're looking at 8 for the high in Paris, 11 Vienna, but showers from Stockholm down toward Kiev for Tuesday.

Let's look at what's happening across North America. We have a cold front that's just really dragging its its feet trying to move through the Deep South and we're looking at the possibility of seeing some strong thunderstorms from a low pressure system that's located in the area. Please be looking out for that. Pacific Northwest, another low nearby bringing some more rain as we go through the day on Tuesday with snow into the higher elevations.
Quick note on Northeast Asia, low pressure near Japan bringing in northwesterly flow. More snow in the forecast for the region as we go through Wednesday.

That's look at your forecast. Hope you have a good day wherever you are.

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And that is all for this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Yamoto Miki in Tokyo. Thank you for staying with us.