hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." it's tuesday, june 26, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. the embargo is part of the sanctions against the iranian states nuclear program. nhk reports from luxembourg.

>> an embargo on iranian oil imports. >> foreign ministries approved embargo in luxembourg on monday, over refusal to hold iranian enrichment. this followed last week's meeting in moscow when iran and five permanent members of the u.n. security council plus germany. ministers will also ban eu-based firms from insuring recruiting uranium oil. oil experts will be cut by 20% or one-half if the united states ban is included. the iranian government said it will continue its enrichment despite the blow to its weakened economy. >> does this new oil embargo help toward filling the gaps?

>> those sanctiore there to try and keep that pressure in order that the regime in iran understands that this is about trying to get them to take those concerns seriously and address them. >> eu representative said she hopes to solve the nuclear standoff through dialogue. nhk world, luxembourg. >> the spanish government on monday officially asked a european union for assistance to prop up its struggling banks. banks in the eurozone's fourth largest economy are suffering from their fourth largest loss if loans. an overseas accounting firm indicated up to 60 billion euros would be required. the eu expressed its willingness to help. its assistance would be limited to aiding commercial banks, not the government to that suffering from heavy budget deficit much

like greece. it's not considered easy to calm market worries about spain's fiscal trouble. the eu aid would further increase the amount of its debt. ours after spain's announcement, a cyprus said it would also apply for eu rescue funds. cyprus is the fudge country to ask for such a bailout after greece, ireland, portugal and spain. muslim brotherhood candidate mohamed morsi has been declared winner of the presidential election in egypt. but the new president election faces challenges bridging divisions in his country. nhk world reports from cairo. >> reporter: after the big celebrations of morsi's victory, people are still occupying the square to protest against the morsi government. >> egypt remains in upheaval. the military has passed laws limiting the new president's powers. young protesters in cairo's tahrir square are not happy.

>> translator: i will be here till the military withdraws. don't let them make laws or a constitution on theiown. >> translator: the military regime used to hand over power. >> reporter: the spring military council ordered the dissolution of parliament after ruling over the constitutional court. the council also revised a provision of the constitution. seizing parliament's power to draw out -- and budget. morsi was supported by many young people in last year's uprising. now, these supporters are watching to see how he deals with the military. >> translator: i will support morsi as long as he works toward reform. but if he takes the wrong direction, i will act to get us back on the right track. >> reporter: as the first freely

elected president of egypt, morsi faces many trials ahead to keep his nation on the path to democracy. nhk world, cairo. an iranian news agency reported the president is willing to restore ties with iran. the two countries severed diplomatic relations more than 30 years ago. mohamed morsi repeatedly said he wants to establish a strategic balance in the middle east. iranian president congratulated morsy's victory. people in japan's southern most prefecture is remembering one of the bloodiest chapters in their history. the war left lasting scars on the island. a look back at history show us us why. >> april, 1945. u.s. forces land on the main

island of okinawa. they have the advantage in troop numbers and firepower. but the japanese army puts up fierce resistance. the american advance is slow and each advance comes at a huge cost in lives. artillery and bombs pound the tropical island. the intense barrage flattens whole mountains. locals call it iron rain. many civilians are killed. some are caught in the crossfire. others drafted by the japanese army, parish in combat. casualties include school girls mobilized as nurses. the brutal fighting continues for three months. the final death toll, including american soldiers, 200,000 people. half of okinawa residents. one in every four living on the island. u.s. forces built bases on the island. from here it could stage raids

on japan's main islands. 67 years later, the bases remain. the u.s. military has more than 20,000 troops deployed on the island and okinawa remains its most strategic limb imported site? east asia. >> despite the advance, memories of the war are fading. the population of okinawa is aging rapidly. one woman spent more than deck two decades trying to ensure the horror does not happen again. she shares her experiences with students across the country. >> miyagi is a story teller and the subject is personal. the battle of okinawa. she is 86 years old and spent 24 years old as a peace guide recounting her experiences. >> my body doesn't work as well as i'd like. it's hard. >> this is miyagi's old school,

the one she left to go to war. >> translator: how old were you when the war broke out? >> translator: i was 16. so i was 19 when the war ended. >> the imperial army sent her to a field hospital as a nurse with her classmates. >> translator: one soldier kept telling me he was scared. doctors were going to amputate his leg without anesthesia. they used a saw. so it made a ripping sound. it was terrible. >> memories that most people would rather forget. why does she talk about them?

miyagi's hometown is next to the military base. she lived right next to the base for decades. she says the planes overhead are a reminder that peace is fragile. >> translator: i have a sense of crisis, so much so that i feel that war could break out today or tomorrow. but young people don't know war so they are content with the illusion of peace time. >> miyagi lost 33 classmates. before letter last talk she announces her memorial to the victims. >> translator: i want to continue talking about my experiences but my body just won't let me do so. i'm very sorry but it's time to put an end to my career as a peace guide.

>> this is talk number 319 for miyagi. it is also her last. >> translator: what do you want young people to do now? >> translator: it's hard for you to understand why war breaks out. or why there are military bases. young people have to work together to think about those issues. old people, like me, cannot do that. i count on you. >> the peace guide's own story has come to an end. the hope for peace, miyagi says, is now in the hands of younger generations.

>> just a touching story there, isn't it? one young person has already taken up the torch. a student who listened to miyagi's story while visiting okinawa and later moved to the island. she's now telling stories about the war as a bus guide. the philippines says long running tensions with china near a contested shore on the south china sea have finally eased. our bangkok buro has an update. >> more than two months have passed since a standoff near disputed outcrops in the south china sea. the philippine government on monday announced that both sides have pulled all their ships from the area. but it remains unclear whether any player up and tension can be

avoided for long. nhk world, reports. >> the confrontation over scarborough shoal involved surveillance if other ships from the philippines and china. both countries assert sovereignty over the shoal. philippine foreign secretary says robert dell osario in a statement on monday that there are no longer any boats from either the philippines or china inside the shoal. he referred to the shoal usingity philippine name. the announcement puts an end to theter toral issue for now. but the dispute is far from being resolved. both countries cited poor weather for the withdraw of their ships. that allowed them to avoid looking like they were making any concessions. at a news conference on monday, the chinese government spokesperson issues a warning.

>> translator: the situation around the area seems to be eased in general. but china has continued our jurisdiction and the monitoring of the area. >> the territorial issue is turning into something like a game of wham-a-mole. no sooner is one issue resolved than another one pops up in its place. last week, vietnam's parliament passed legislation naming the parasail island as its own territory. the chinese government made its own move. integrating administration of the paris sail sprat ly and macclesfield. the new area is between vietnam and china.

the south china sea issue is a real source of potential conflict. the issue may be taken up but a reading of the regional forroom next month. in cam cambodia action seems unlikely and a problem to this long simmering problem seems a long world off. cnn news, manila. >> former top prime minister ruled out the possibility of going home any time soon. he also suggests in that he has in immediate plans to return to front line politics. he was ousted in a military coup six years ago. he was later convicted of corruption before fleeing thailand it live in self imposed exile. his supporters are preparing legislation to pardon him. those moves have triggered protests among his opponents.

even so, he told nhk in an exclusive interview, nhk friday, that the time was for him to return it thailand. >> after that, yes, can i come back. but if i were to come back and add more conflict, i better stay outside. >> so you mean, the time has not come yet? >> not now. not now. >> he also stressed that should he decide to return to thailand, his official role in politics will be limited. >> at this age, i better do advisory low. >> he is the brother of current prime minister. his words suggest that any return to politics may be kept off stage given thailand's delicate political situation. that wraps up our bulletin in

bangkok. >> preparing for dizaster is a part of life in japan. seismologist and emergency officials know the 2011 earthquake and tsunami won't be the country's last. they are constantly working on contingency plans. officials have learned a lot from what happened on march 11 last year. some of the lessons have come from sendai, the city closest to the kwam's epicenter. we see what happened there. >> on the evening of the massive quake, the center of he is not d sendai was in total darkness. there were no lights to be seen. except one building, the sendai trust tower. driven by the lights, thousands of people gathered inside the building. the quake brought the entire

transportation system to a halt, stranding many visiting businessmen and tourists. this gentleman is from tokyo. he was in sendai on business that day. he had no idea where to find shelter until he spotted the lights in the sendai trust tower. > . >> translator: when i saw the lights shining out of the complete darkness, i field so relieved. i headed right towards them as if drawn by a magnet. >> 180 meter tower, the tallest building in northeast japan. open just eight months earlier, the structure is designed to observe earth trimmers. because it has offices and hotel. it has a large generator that supply snuff electricity for three days. thanks to twitter and other social media, people flock to the building.

some 3,600 people stayed there for as much as a week. experts say the same thing would happen in tokyo and other cities after similar natural disaster. >> if a massive quake hits a major city, it will cause power outages in many areas. but with the sky scrapers, the lights are likely to stay on. more build thousands of people may well flock to them just like they did in sendai. >> earlier, otani spoke with nhk world. >> what happened after so many people converged on the sendai high rise? >> yeah. first of all, there was not enough hurt for medical equipment for evacuees. . high rise buildings didn't stock up on enough food and water and emergency supplies.

it is not feasible for them to buy provisions for large numbers of evacuees. north problem is that the tour was not officially considered a public shelter. our building wasn't designated as an usual shelter for evacuees. we didn't receive emergency supplies for other sorts of aid from authorities. another issue was insuring people's safety. tonight is building that are willing to shelter eevacuees due to worries about this legal standing were sustained on the premise. >> translator: as building management, we bear the responsibility. the question of whether we might be exempted from this responsibility in the event of an emergency is something that need to be addressed. so is anything being done to

tackle these issues then? >> experts say it's vital for local authorities and companies to work together to insure that people can find shelter with as little as disruption as possible. >> city authorities need to know ahead of time how many people can be accommodated in each of the buildings and be prepared to guide people to them following a natural disaster. at the same time, it's essential that plans are drawn up dealing with the most efficient way of utilizing the limited resources in each area, including evacuation sta silts and stockpiles of food and medicine. >> the lesson learned from the situation in sendai will be essential for planning ahead for future possible disasters. it is occurring in cities all around the world.

>> time now to take a look at market figures. people in south korea are dealing with some unusual weather. seoul is facing its worst drought in more than 100 years. government officials are taking new measures to reduce the risk of heatstroke.

forecasters say a pressure system stalled over the peninsula. they have had less than 11 millimeters of rain since may 1st. it's 5% of the average. it hasn't rained in seoul for the past week. temperatures reached 33 degrees celsius monday. >> translator: it's already hot like in july or august. many roadside trees have died from lack of rain. >> emergency officials are carrying bags of ice in ambulances to treat heatstroke patients. authorities plan to ask schools to shorten class hours if the extreme heat continues. the weather has damaged crops, pushing up wholesale prices of some vegetables by more than 20%. sioki sigh aka mori joins us

now. when will we have break from the heat? >> temperatures will remain 30 degrees at least until friday in seoul. in tokyo, quite seasonal temperatures with sunny weather. definitely a nice break in the rainy season. today rain ban is lying over the southern islands producing intense showers as well as thunderstorms. the heavy rain will be also extending into tomorrow. the same line is affecting areas along the river as as much as 100 to 150 millimeters is likely over the next 24 hours. then down towards the south, a newly formed tropical depression east of the philippines, still far from the country, lu also bringing ample moisture particularly in the country and as it moves toward the west, more heavy rain is coming down over the next several days. temperatures, heat has assisted

over much of china. 27 degrees in beijing but still in the hot side on seoul with a high of 31 degrees. all right, heading over to the americas. tropical storm debby continues to head towards the florida peninsula. right now packing sustained winds of 75 kilometers far with gusts of 93. it has weakened a little bit. sunday still a tropical storm. it is expected to make a direct hit on northwestern florida and cross the peninsula and head out to sea by friday as tropical depression. tropical stone force winds and heavy rain are already affecting much of florida and in terms of rain fall, as much as 200 millimeters are more is likely over the next 48 hours and the total rain fall could be about 630 in some locations. so heavy rain is coming down. so flat warnings are posted across the wide area. in addition to that, high waves

are a concern along the coast. so we will keep you posted on its situation. >> meanwhile, wet weather along the eastern seaboard will ease. however, eastern quebec as well as canadian maritimes and new england states will continue to see rain at least in the next 24 hours. and out west we've got a several area of rain moving in towards the east and we have an area of severe weather in and around montana. neighbors are not out of the question. still windy and hot. kegs are ideal for wildfires. 39 in denver. 38 in houston but looking quite mild along the eastern seaboard with a high of 24 for new york city and 27 in washington, d.c. finally, let's go over to europe. stormy weather shifting towards the eastern portion of europe and out west scattiered showers. to the south, hot kegs are still

remaining across the eye beerian peninsula. lisbon, 24. warming up to 30 degrees on your thursday. is the extended forecast.

that wraps up this edition

of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.