hello. this is the latest at this hour. the u.n. secretary-general has expressed his resolve to work toward a world without nuclear weapons during a visit to nagasaki. he is the first u.n. to visit the city. he arrived in nagasaki from tokyo on thursday. he met with six bomb survivors at the atomic bomb museum. they spoke of the human tragedies caused by the bomb.

>> it makes me very humble. >> it took 65 years for a u.n. chief to go to nagasaki. afterwards the secretary-general laid flowers at a memorial erected at ground zero. he laid flowers at an ethnic memorial. he visited a catholic cathedral which houses the head of a virgin mary statute that escaped the bomb.

he saw when it was taken to a nuclear proliferation conference. he will go to hiroshima on august 6th. we have a week of special coverage of the hiroshima and nagasaki memorial ceremonies. today we have a story from hiroshima. the average age of the atomic bomb survivors there is about 77. to prepare for the day whether no survivors will be available to tell their story, some hiroshima residents are searching for ways to serve

their memories and message of peace. >> reporter: roof tiles warped and distorted by the heat of the bomb blast 65 years ago. to teach children about these events that happened before they were born, the hiroshima peace memorial museum has visited schools since april with objects from the fateful day. >> reporter: people don't usually get a chance to actually see and touch items, not even the children of hiroshima. >> translator: we hope events like these help prevent war memories from gradually fading away. >> reporter: one inescapable reality prompts the museum to make this effort. the aged survivors will not be with us much longer. >> reporter: this woman is 79 years old. she stands exactly where she was when the bomb exploded about 2.3 kilometers from ground zero. she was working at a factory

making parts for airplanes. she was 14 when the bomb was dropped. although she was trapped beneath the wreckage of the factory, she managed to crawl out. >> reporter: she lost her father and friends in the blast. ten years ago she began speaking to children about her experience. she felt it was her duty as a survivor.

>> reporter: she suffers from a chronic illness. giving these talks gets harder each year. many times she has to stop because they came too ill. she fears she will not be able to continue her mission. >> translator: i really want to visit as many schools as possible. i need to talk as many people as i can, because i don't know when my body is going to give out. i'm definitely feeling pressed for time. >> reporter: she hopes to keep he had et indicating people about the bombing even after her death. she will leave behind paintings that show the horror of the bombing.

>> reporter: about a year ago she began sharing her memories with local high school students. the force of the blast that knocked down buildings buried her and killed many of her friends. they include corpses of people that reached the river in desperate need of water. a mother who tried to protect her child in her arms, but both were reduced to ashes.

one by one high school students give shape to her memories. >> translator: i know i only have a limited amount of time left. i want people to know and see what took place here in hiroshima. it's a beautiful city now, but once it looked like this. i pray this never happens again. >> the bomb exploded. the important work of recording the survivors' sorrow continues so they're never forgotten. nhk world. >> atomic bomb survivors used nine of the students' paintings as a graphic illustration of what happened in hiroshima 65 years ago. stevie wonder visiting in japan has called on national leaders to set aside their egos to abolish nuclear weapons. he made the appeal on thursday

in tokyo. he's visited japan for the first time in three years to perform at a music event. wonder said he's heard the growing calls around the world for nuclear abolition and thinks it can be achieved if people think seriously about humanity. >> leaders have to get rid of their ego and find that place of love in their spirits. i think we have to value this very thing that we are in, and that's life. that's how we can have a nuclear-free world. >> wonder was appointed a u.n. peace ambassador last year and is known for his years of work supporting racial equality. during his 50-year career, wonder has had many hit songs including "i just called to say i love you" and "ebony and ivory."

south korea has begun a large scale anti-submarine drill in the yellow sea off the peninsula. north korea has already denounced it as a serious challenge. the five-day drill began on thursday in waters. 4500 personnel from the army, navy and air force are taking part in the drill along with 20 ships including destroyers and submarines and 50 aircraft. it includes torpedo drill in an exercise to be held to prevent for preventing landings by north korea special forces. it's near the location where the south korean ship sank in march. according to south korea's joint chiefs of staff, it's to improve the country's defense capability and discourage north korea from engaging in further provocation.

north korea's committee for the peaceful reunification for korea has denounced the drill. it says if the south provokes it to retaliate, it may do so without mercy. students graduating from universities in japan are having a harder time to find a job. the survey was conducted by the education ministry. of the 540,000 people who graduated in march this year, about 330,000, ovnly 61%, found jobs. that's the largest drop since the government began collecting data more than 60 years ago. this year's rate is nearly 20 points lower than in 1991, the peak employment year of the past two decades. more cases of missing

centenarians are coming to light across japan. officials are visiting the registered addresses of the country's oldest people to carry out check after tokyo's oldest man was found died and the oldest woman was missing. the latest cases include a 100-year-old man in northern japan whose registered address is now a parking lot. officials in western japan discovered that a 101-year-old woman has been missing since she left home around 1960. a 103-year-old man in western japan is also missing. nhk has learned that as of thursday municipalities are unable to locate at least 17 centenarians. the cases of missing elderly people raise doubts about japan's image about the world leader for longevity.

at the end of the july before the problem came to life, the health and welfare ministry announced the average life span for japanese women was 86.44, up 0.39 years from 2008. the figure for japanese men was 79.59 years up 0.3 years. the ministry said both were record highs for the fourth year in row. by country japanese women remain at the top for the 25th consecutive year. japan was followed by hong kong, france, switzerland and spain. as for men, qatar came first with 81 years followed by hong kong, iceland and switzerland. japanese men are ranked fifth. overseas media reports express skepticism that japanese people live longer than anyone else. >> in south korea where the

population is aging just like japan, they aired a detailed report about a 113-year-old woman in tokyo whose whereabouts are unknown. the health and welfare ministry is planning to check the whereabouts of the country's old est residents. their reputation is at stake as it casts doubts on the reliability of the statistics. the evening edition carried an article, is the status of a country with longevity a scam? they say they're not managing the elderly population due to the collapse of the traditional sfaem and other factors. according to last year's data people aged 65 or older accounted for roughly 11% of the overall population in south

korea with the number of elderly people living alone on the rise. some reports point out that similar incidents could happen in south korea. the global times newspaper affiliated with the communist party mouthpiece reported it the disappearance of senior citizens shocked japan. japan's reputation is being called into question. the beijing youth daily said the japanese government claims the country has more than 40,000 centenarians but it now doubts that the figure is correct. in italy another country whose population is rapidly aging,ed influential newspaper ran a story titled "mystery surrounding japan's centenarians." it said the back-to-back revelations have raised questions about japan's demographic statistics. the chairman of the sumo association who said he would step down says now he will be staying on to deal with the

gambling scandal. he spoke with reporters after a meeting on thursday. he was suspended from duty after it was learned that sumo wrestlers in his stable were involved in illegal gambling. this was his first time in public since his suspension ended. after asking why he changed his mind, he said that he must do all that he can to lead the association. >> translator: we must listen to various opinions and then carry out the reform plans. it is time for the association to unite and regenerate itself so that we can put the present difficulties behind us. >> the returning chairman said that he wanted to offer his apologies at the sumo tournament many july but that he couldn't because of an illness. a former prosecutor, who has

served as acting chairman, was released from the role on thursday. prime minister naoto kan has faced opposition. he has asked the opposition to cooperate to prevent political dead lock. the budget committees ended four days of debate on thursday. during these sessions, kap repeatedly urged them to cooperate. >> we plan to draft a budget that promotes economic growth. in steering japan out of deflation, we will also consider opposition opinions. >> kan has also apologized for forcing bills through the diet that had been refused in the

past. our commentator talks about this. >> what is the reason behind this? >> well, since the ruling lost the majority in the upper house in july, it has been very difficult for the coalition. so kan has no choice but to ask them for help so that he can stay in office. but they have so far rejected the possibility of the coalition. kan is trying to listen to the opinions of the parties on each policy to obtain their cooperation for passing necessary bills. at least on a case by case basis, the opposition even made a sarcastic remark about the prime minister's behavior. >> translator: i really liked you when you were in opposition.

you used to be energetic. what happened to you? >>. >> translator: come on, prime minister. take a firm attitude. >> so it seems that prime minister kan is tolerating criticisms. >> he has a very aggressive style. he strongly criticized members of the government when he was in position. >> translator: you are responsible for appointing a finance minister who had to resign for being drunk at a news conference. you should apologize for this shame. >> as the prime minister, kan seems to have changed his style. he has been very evasive.

>> translator: we lost our majority in the upper house. i need the opposition parties to cooperate to implement the necessary agenda for the public's sake. >> his stance really has changed a lot. i remember he was once called irritable kan. was he really humble to the end? >> well, no, i don't think so. on wednesday he finally, finally revealed his true nature, his very short temper. >> translator: just criticizing the ruling coalition and asking the government to do everything first is wrong. the opposition should also show its plan to move forward.

>> so what do you think will happen to japan's prime minister and japanese government? >> well, first kan has been re-elected in the dpj race in september in order to stay in office because his term as party president expireses in two months. but even within his own party there are some movements against his re-election. >> translator: you mentioned raising the consumption tax during the campaign and we lost the people's trust. >> some members are planning to have someone else around for party president. it seems that kan is facing problems internally and externally. changing prime ministers too frequently is no good for japan. but we will soon see if kan will be able to survive or has to leave office as yet another

short-lived japanese prime minister. >> yes, we will see. thank you very much. >> here's some of the news received from broad kafting stations across asia. we begin with china. chinese prime minister visited where the torrential rains have left over 140 people dead or missing since july 20th. the premier visited emergency shelters and engaged soldiers in relief operations. he also urged relief teams to help with transport services and supplies of water, gas, and electricity as soon as possible. malaysia is stepping up scrutiny of imported chinese rice crackers after the presence of bacteria was found in the product on thursday. they directed the food safety

division to collect samples for laboratory tests. the minister says that they have imported over 3,000 boxes of the crackers. he wasn't sure how many were still on the market or whether they were contaminated. bangladesh's finance minister has talked about the ability to reduce credit in order to help with the poverty. he spoke at a ceremony on thursday. he said that many small-scale ent tra from nurs because of legal hindrances and added that a major obstacle. they need to encourage small businesses by steam lining the credit system and create various kinds of stimulus packages. hi, there.

time for another update on the world's weather. in eastern asia we're looking at a tropical low over the philippines which is starting to head into the southern coast of china. it's a slow-moving low pressure system but it enhances the monsoonal rain across the philippines and now across southeastern china. they're going to get very heavy downpours on friday. also, we have a line of thunderstorms heading up into southeastern russia. this is going to push further to the east, so allowing for some clearing in northeastern china. that's good news. we've had a few days of rain here, but it comes into the korean peninsula. so a soggy and stormy day here. in japan it's mostly going to be thunderstorms during daytime heating rather than any prolonged rainfall. we're looking good across much of mongolia and northern portions of china. temperatures will remain very hot, particularly for central into southern parts of china. 34 in shanghai for friday, 32 in

tokyo, and 32 also in beijing. all right. into north america we go. we're going to be talking about three front lines draped across the region at the moment, but it's this one down here to the south, the southern plains, and stretching into the northeast, that is going to be the problematic one, the big rainmaker. you see particularly bad storms and downpours in part of maryland, virginia and delaware so the mid-atlantic really getting it. a few thunderstorms across the northern fronts, but it will be quieter. we have high pressure across central canada and the northern plains into the great lakes. a much calmer picture here than we've seen earlier on in the week. as for the southeast, the heat has been the main story. it remains the main story, although these showers are moving down into the southeast. it's going to be a -- continue to be incredibly hot with excessive heat warnings posted for many areas. 36 in houston and 36 for atlanta. washington, d.c. has storms today and also storms in new york city, 34 for the high.

let's take a look now at your europe. more storms here i'm afraid, and these ones stretch from scandinavia down into the mediterranean. pushing further to the east, but still it's really central europe that sees that rain and storms. the heaviest of the rain is found in hungary on your friday, but the heaviest storms, the strongest storms, thunder and lightning, will be in northern parts of italy. then in behind that a bit of a gentler day for you in parts of england, but another system coming into the british isles brings showers across scotland and parts of ireland and northern ireland.

nice and dry for iberia, and also for much of paris -- france and the low countries and its dry to the east, too. that's not what we want. we need rain into western parts of russia. what we look at here is the air. look although the color of the skies. really smoggy here. the fumes in the air from the fires just toxic. people are being told to stay indoors or if you have to go outside wearing a mask is a good idea. look at the temperatures on friday. not going down at all. 38 degrees in moscow, very hot in kiev as well, much better out towards the west in the low 20s there for you. here's your extended forecast.

that's it for this edition

of "newsline." we'll be back in half an hour. thanks for joining us on nhk world. jj