We are all in this together. We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship and unify together as one nation and one family. Trump made the announcement in a National Address on wednesday, saying the u. S. Will suspend all passenger travel from most of europe for the next 30 days from the end of friday. American citizens and their families are not included. The United Kingdom is also exempt from the suspension, although trump did not explain why. He said the European Union had failed to take the same precautions as the u. S. To combat the virus. The president also announced economic measures including a payroll tax relief, but emphatically said this is not a financial crisis. It happened on the same day the countrys capital declared a state of emergency. Washington d. C. , mayor Muriel Bowser also recommended canceling or postponing gatherings of more than 1,000 people until the end of this month. That includes the citys famous Cherry Blossom festival. The number of infections is increasing across the country. As of tuesday afternoon at least 29 people are dead and over 900 infected. U. S. Actor tom hanks tweeted thursday that he and his wife actress rita wilson tested positive for coronavirus while visiting australia. On wednesday the head of the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak is officially a pandemic recognizing the worldwide spread of the new disease. Around the world, the w. H. O. Says there have been over 118,000 confirmed infections with more than 4,200 deaths. In italy, the Prime Minister has announced all shops and restaurants must stay closed as the infection is rapidly spreading. Pharmacies and Grocery Stores that deal with daily necessities will be excluded from the mandates. The rampup comes amid the highest cases since the pandemic began. Translator r if we all respt these rules, we will get out of this emergency more ququickly. The cocountry needs s each one s to be responsible. Cononte added thahat deliver services by restauaurants as we as factory operations will be alallowed. Mail delivery, banking, and Public Transportation services will continue. On t tuesday the Italian Government asked people across the nation to refrain from going out unless absolutely necessary or urgent, but the number of infected people reached 12,462 on wednesday. 827 people have died. Concerns are growing if the infection continues to spread, medical services may collapse. In a televised announcement, conte rereassured italians that the effects of their efforts would be seen in a couple of weeks. Now to china, where Health Officials say the worst is behind them. Overall, the outbreak peak in china is now over. The National Health commissions announcement comes after a decline in newly confirmed cases. On wednesday 15 new cases were reported including 8 in the epicenter city of wuhan. People there have been under lockdown since late january and public frustration is mounting. Its unclear when the measures will be lifted, bubut Health Officials s say theyll continu efforts to contain t the virus. Across the mainland, over 8080,0 people have e been infected and more than 3,00hahave died. To the battle against the coronavirus here in japan, the lower house diet passed a bill that would allow the Prime Minister to declare a state of emergency. The upper house is expected to enact the law this week. An Emergency Declaration by the Prime Minister would allow governors to order people to take preventive measures such as staying at home. Local governments would also be able to control the operating hours of some businesses. And they would be able to use buildings and land for medical purposes without the consent of owners. Lower house lawmakers are concerned about infringing peoples rights. Theyre urging the pririme ministerer to report to the die before hee declares a statete o erergency if h he has titime the vote came after diet debate was suspended for hours over remarks by Justice Minister masako mori. Translator when the great east japan earthquake happened, prosecutors fled the city before the public. Before they fled, they released more than ten detainees for no reason. Opposition parties accused her of showing contempt for public prosecutors. Mori later got a reprimand from the Prime Minister and made a public apology. Translator r my remarks wer not in line with facts confirmed by the justice ministry. They were extremely inappropriate for the Justice Minister who oversees the public prosecutors office. I sincerely regret them and would like to withdraw them. I sincerely apologize. Mori says she wants to explain herself in the diet. A japanese woman battling the coronavirus in hospital has described how she thought she was suffering from a cold. The woman in her 20s s was speaking to nhk on condition of anonymity. She was diagnosed lastst week. Her mother who works in sapporo tested positive for the virus two days earlier. The woman says she may have caught the virus while taking care of her sick mother. The woman had a fever of over 38 degrees celsius at one point. But her condition is now stable. She said shes concerned of being shunned by people around her. The number of confirmed cases in japan stands at more than 620. That d does not include about 7 people from the diamond princess cruise ship or over a dozen who were repatriated from mainland china. 17 people have died from the virus in japan as well as 7 from the cruise ship. Worries of a coronavirus n pandemic have been decimating the sporting calendar with more casualties this week. The worlds figure skating championships have been canceled in canada, and the National Basketball associations season was abruptly suspended in the united states. The skating championship had been scheduled for between march 16th and 22nd in montreal. The International Skating union says it cannot postpone or rerelocate the event due to uncertainty over the outbreak. Two time olympic Gold Medalist hanu and nathan chen had been set to take to the ice. Across the border in the u. S. , the nba suspended its season after a player on the utah jazz tested positive for the virus. The nba has yet to decide when it will play out the rest of the season. Now questions continue to swirl over the fate of one of the worlds premiere and most expensive sporting events. The Tokyo Olympics and paralympics are four months away. There are fears the virus could disrupt the games. Nhk world has more. Reporter athletes have spent years training for the games. These japanese runners will continue to do so despite the coronavirus. Translator ive been preparing for the tokyo games withthout thinking about whethe it will be postpononed or not. Translator im worried about what will happen from now on. All i can do is dodo what i i c. Reporter this swimmer won three gold medals. She told the press last month she cant imagine having the games canceled calling it a nightmare for athletes. The spread of the virus has already canceled or postponed ololympic quifyings in m many sports including wrestling, judo, and baseball. Its also impacting training schedules. Many cities across japan like here in takasagi were set to welcome athletes from around the world. It was set to host a judo Training Camp this month, but not anymore. A team from poland was expected to train here, but it canceled because of the coronavirus. Its now planned to come in july. Translator we were well prepared for this Training Camp. It was very regrettable. Reporter a welcocome event r the athlete s was also called off. The modern olympics have never been canceled other than for war. Organizers and tokyos governor wants to ensure it remains that way. Translator i think its impossible to cancel the tokyo games. We will keep cooperating with the organizing committee, the japanese government, and the ioc to make utmost efforts to prepare for the games. Reporter only the International Olympic committee can decide whether the games will go ahead as planned. Last week, there are some doubts. Japans minister in charge of the olympics says the end of may will be a crucial time for the ioc to decide what to do. In the meantime, officials in japan continue to prepare with some slight adjustment. Climbing was held last week. Staff members were used instead of athletes. The hope is, come july, when the games are supposed to start, it will be the olympians competing. Nhk world, tokyo. A Japanese High Court has sentenced a man to ten years in prison for sexually assaulting his own daughter. The case sparked public outrage last year when a lower court judge found the father not guilty, saying the daughter could have resisted. Under the japanese criminal code, prosecutors must prove victims werere incapable of resisting the assault. In a new trial at the nagoya high court, the prosecutors argued the teenage victim was psychologically unable to fight back. The court agreed, overturning the not guilty verdict on thursday, and handing down the tenyear prison sentence requested by the prosecution. After the sentencing was announced, the victims attorneys released their clients statement to the press. The young woman wrote, it was hard for her to fee people didnt believe she was sexually assaululted, but she hopes the experience will be easier for other survivors. Rights groups of the victims began protesting the original outcome of the case last year. Theyre now demanding the gogovernment review the crimimi code. Over in the united states, disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and Sexual Assault. The move in new york is being hailed as a lond mark victandmar the global me too movement. The court handed down the sentence on wednesday. That comes after a jury last month found weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting an assistant in 2006 and raping an actress in 2013. More than a hundred women have accused the producer of sexual misconduct. Justice james burke told weinstein this is your first conviction. Its not your first offense. An actress who accused weinstein expressed relief. I know that that was hard. I knew it. Yeah, i am happy to be contributing to the change. 67yearold weinstein maintains the sex was consensual. His defense team says he wilill appeal to a higher court. Justice is supposed to be blind, a and because today the w yorkrk city criminal Justice System s saw a sentence handed down that is three t times the mean of the state average. Police are investigating three more Sexual Assault cases related to weinstein. Switching gears now for a check on the w World Weather wi our m meteorologist jonatathan. It was a little bit cooler and it seems like spring is still dealing with plenty of changes. Yeah, were seeing tastes of different phases of spring, and were going to be dealing with that as we go throughout the next few days. We had highs hitting 20 degrees on wednesday. Then were down to the midteens on this thursday. And it looks like were going to try to race toward that mark for tokyo on friday and things start to cool down. We have High Pressure that is in place and thats continuing to control the weather, but were going to see the southerly flow coming in. As it does so, were going to be dealing with warmer weather and dry weather for friday for most of japan. Some showers expected up toward the north, but then we have a cold front that is coming out of asia, and as that moves to the south and east, were going to see a change. Were going to see much cooler temperatures for the weekend, and have the umbrellas nearby because youre going to also want them because we are talking about some wet weather as we head toward the weekend. Here say look at the threeday forecast, sapporo, wet on friday. Down to 3 for the high on saturday and sunday. Tokyo and osaka and fukuoka, rain comes in and the colder temperatures, were talking about highs in the low teens as we go into saturday and sunday. So maybe almost close to a taste of late winter in terms of the daytime high temperatures, be on the lookout for that. We are seeing some rain develop back toward the west. We have a stationary front that is going to be moving east out of china. So as it does so, were going to be dealing with some rain into places like shahanghai becauses is going to be on the wet side. Cold front to the north not only bringing rainn to jajapan, but o seeing showers developing into places like were dealing with high of around 8 with wet weather on friday. Looking at showers from shanghai, down toward taipei as well, beijing at 10 and chongqing, partly cloudy skies, high of 18 as we wrap up thehe workweek. Here is a look at what is happening across north america. One system after another moving through the eastern side of the united states, and now we have this cutoff low pressure system down toward the southwest. This will continue to be moving slowly to the north and east, but it is cut off, meaning not really a pushing mechanism with this. Well still be dealing with rain and it is going to last for a few more days. Yeah, were talking about a long prolonged period of rain with this and then were seeing a little bit of a messy scenario into the Central Plains as we have a couple of areas of low pressure. Thats bringing wet weather as we go forward throughout the day on thursday. Well develop a little bit more, i think much more of a significant system toward the east as we head toward friday. Showers in denver on thursday. Chicago also seeing some wet weather for the day. Thats a look at your forecast. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. And that concludes this edition of nhk newsline. Im raja pradhan in tokyo. Coming up next is newsline biz with ramin mellegard. So stay right there. This is newsline biz. Im ramin mellegard. Tokyos benchmark index nosedived on thursday to close at the lowest level in nearly three years. This comes after the World Health Organization announced the pandemic and President Trump said the u. S. Will suspend travel from europe. The nikkei average ended at 18,559, down 4. 4 . Trumps address took place during the morning market session. It triggered an accelerated selloff. Le the nikkei briefly plunged 5 . In addition to the temporary travel ban, trump said hes asking congress to add 50 billion to a low Interest Loan Program for small businesses. Analysts say the planned assistance fell short of investors expectations and that the travel l restriction fueled their concerns over the global economy. Indexes are in the negative as selloffs intensified after the white house speech. Mumbais benchmark plunged 8. 2 and sydney tumbled 4. 4 . Seoul down 3. 9 , extending losses from a three year low marked on wednesday. Now the governor of the bank of japan said he is ready to respond to the volatility. Translator we will keep a close watch on the situation and act in an appropriate and timely manner without hesitation if necessary. Kuroda made the comment after meeting Prime Minister shinzo abe to discuss the economy and fluctuating Financial Markets. Kuroda said the boj has been providing ample liquidity, the Financial Markets to the Financial Markets and buying Exchange Traded funds. A Government Survey shows that sentiment among major the poll by an Industry Association covers 87 Bus Companies in the northern prefecture. At least 12,000 servicesooked for the first half of this year have been canceled. In sales terms, that works out to a loss of 860 million yen or about 8. 3 million when compared with initial estimates. The Association Says the First Services to be scrubbed were for tourists from overseas and dmoe domestic visitors started calling off their plans. An Auto Industry group in china reports new vehicle sales plummeted last month. The Association Says sales in february were down by nearly 80 from a year earlier to just 310,000 units. It says restrictions on transport were a big factor. It also notes that many dealerships were closed. But t the groroup claims the negative impact of the Public Health crisis peaked last month, and sales will start recovering from this month. Production has resumed at most of chinas assembly plants, excluding those in Hubei Province where the outbreak began. More than 20 of the workforce is yet to go back to work, suggesting a recovery in output could take time. The coronavirus pandemic is dealing a major blow to countries that rely heavily on tourism. The impact is especially severe in one of thailands most popular destinations, which should be in peak season right now. This area is knonown for its picturesque beaches where tourists come from all over the world. But resorts that usually cater to a large number of Chinese Tourists are virtually empty in peak season. Chinese accounted for a quarter of the 40 million foreign visitors thailand welcomed last year. But there has been a huge decrease since beijing bannedd Outbound Group tours in late january. One company that offers marine sport experiences is putting much of its fleet in storage. It is keeping on its 300 workers for the time being. Translator we cut our workers hours in half and their wages in half. We hadad to do that to savave t company. Reporter this us about compabus Company Bought more vehicles to meet rising demand. Now it is having a hard time paying back the loan. Ive contemplated suicide. I asked t the bankk for help, b got turned down. The government hasnt offered a bailout and ive beeeen threated by debt collectors. Ifif worse comes to worse, wel go out of business. Reporter this hotels clientele is largely from russia and europe. So the manager thought he wouldnt see much of an impact. Bubut therere has been a wave o cancellatitions, as people beco cautiousus about traveling to asia. Tour guides who normally show Chinese Tourists around have suddenly found themselves out of work. One of them is this man who worked as a guide for over 20 years. He has a wife and two c childre to support, but they have to tighten their belt. Translator we have gottenn throrough difficult times in th past, including the 2004 tsunami. This time there is no w way to know when things will return to normal. Reporter someone recently found a helping hand. An eatery that opened last month provides three meals a d day fr of charge to guides who used to work with chinese toururists. The project is funded byy wealty tour agencywners of chihinese descent in thailand. The owners hope to hire the tour guides again once the coronavirus panic passsses. Translatotor the outbreak st a shock wave throughout industry and nobody was prepared. I wanted to do something to hehelp, but couldnt. We tour guides havent found a solution. Reporter economic lososses from the decrease in Chinese Tourists are estimated at 1. 7 billion. People in phukets Tourism Industry are waiting for the day visitors return. Okay, lets get a check on the markets. And thats it for newsline biz from our tokyo studios. Im ramin mellegard. Thank you very much for watching. Covid19. Donald trump announces a travel ban for most of europe for 90 days. The president saying as an attempt to contain the spread of the disease. In lockdown. Shops and restaurants are closed, flights canceled, and empty acrosseets the country. Over 800,h toll of now the highes