glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsnews line. it's tuesday june 16th. kurdish fighters made progress. they have retaken a strategic boarder town cutting off is supply route. they are u.s. led coalition air strikes a. commander told nhk they advanced and gained control of 90% of the town. heavy fighting continues in surrounding areas. the coalition has stepped up its air and ground campaigns in the past week. the islamic state group.

they used the town as a hub for weapons and oil smuggled in and out of neighboring turkey. the fighting prompted citizens to flee homes and cross the boarder. authorities in turkey are monitoring the situation. humanitarian groups say as many as 20,000 people are displaced. police in hong kong say they have arrested nine people on suspicion of conspireing to make explosives. political tension has escalated in receipt days as lawmakers prepare to vote on a controversial reform plan for the 2017 elections. investigators say they are holding five men and four women in their 20s and 30s. they say they have seized chemicals that can be used to make bombs. police say they confiscated air rifles and maps of the districts where the territory's government is head quartered. hong kong lawmakers are due to

den bait debate forums. prodemocracy students and citizens returned to the streets over the weekend to protest. legislators are expected to vote by the end of the week. researchers of a swedish the think tank say the number of nuclear war heads around the world is decreasing but china is bucking that trend. the stockholm international peace research institute published its annual report on the world's arsenal and estimates as of january, nine countries maintain 15,850 nuclear war heads between them. that is down by about 500 compared to last year. the report says the prime reason for the decline is due to cuts by the world's two largest nuclear powers the u.s. and russia. but it points out that the reduction pace is slower than compared to a decade ago. the report notes the uk reduced its war heads by ten while france maintained the same level and china pursued a modest

increase adding an estimated ten to its arsenal. india, park stankistan and israel are believed to have kept them at the same levels and north core yeah ra core d korea is six to eight. none of the nuclear possessing countries will give them up in the near future. strong winds caused extensive damage. officials are warning people throughout japan to be on the lookout for more severe weather. more from. >> a driver trapped in her car captured in the storm. a convenience store is only a few feet away but she said she feared for her life.

another resident nearby filmed the storm from her room. residents say the weather changed suddenly. >> translator: i couldn't think straight. i couldn't believe what was going on. the ground was shaking and rumbling so loud. >> strong gusts of wind cause kpd tenseed extensive damage. the winds knocked over vehicles. two people were injured. police and rescue officials have been busy responding to emergency calls. >> the wind blew over and crush add five-meter long solar panel. long strips of the roof were

torn off this plant, the storm damaged buildings, stockyards and fences. >> it suddenly went pitch black, i couldn't see anything through the wind and hail. i never experienced this kind of storm before. >> weather officials issued tornado advisory shortly before the storm hit. soon afterwards clouds gathered in the area. at the same time a high air mass move in and the temperature dropped by nearly ten degrees in just 20 minutes. experts say these conditions may have caused down bursts of winds over 70 kilometers per hour. officials say weather conditions over many parts of japan will continue to remain unstable. today a warning residents to watch out for thunder, torrential rains and potential landslides.

lawmakers from japan's ruling and opposition parties are locked in a fierce debate over whether or not a set of security bills violates the constitution. the legislation would allow the country to the exercise its right to collective self-defense. a defense minister has cite add court ruling of more than 50 years ago to defend the proposal bills. a question was answered on monday at a lower house special committee. he said the 1959 supreme court ruling does not exclude collective self-defense. >> translator: the ruling says japan has the right to self-defense without specifying whether it's individual or collective. the ruling acre new mexicoknowledged we can maintain peace and security. >> the 1959 ruling involved demonstrators indicted for entering a u.s. base on the

outskirts of tokyo. the defendants argued the presence of the american military in japan violated article nine of the constitution. the article renounces war and use of force as a means of settling international disputes. academics dismissed the government's argument at the japan national press club. the university professor said the ruling was about whether the japan u.s. security treaty was the country's right to collective self-defense was never an issue at the trial. >> the government's argument that the ruling allows our country to exercise the right to collective self-defense runs counter to the science of law. >> the academics also called the proposal security bills unconstitutional at a lower house panel earlier this month. flooding in the former

soviet republic of georgia killed at least 14 and injured others. authorities are looking for 18 people missing. torrential rains caused muddy waters to swamp an area around the zoo. officials say lions, tigers and jaguars were either killed by high water or escaped from enclosures. police have shot dead wolves and lions fearing they could hurt people. zoo keepers recaptured animals. authorities looking for other animals that might be wondering the hills in the capital. rising concern over a possible greek default sent stock prices tumbling. good morning. >> good morning. here is the thing officials from greek and nations working level talks failed to narrow their differences and the concern is unless the two sides reach

agreement on bailout measures by the end of june greece may default on debt payments. major european markets prices plunged 4.7% from friday's close. they fell 2.4% in milan and nearly two 2% in frankfort. it spread to bond markets. the yield of ten-year greek government bonds soared to the 10% level and a rise in the yield of italian and spanish debt. and then wall street followed with losses the dow jones industrial average lost six-tenths and nasdaq falling. output in may was weaker than expected. so let's see how this is weighing on the markets here in tokyo. ramin mellegard. >> a lot of investors parking

money in a safer or less risky asset like u.s. government bonds and german bonds and really getting out of stock. let's have a look at how the nikkei and top picks are starting tuesday, june 16th and both in the negative following europe and u.s. markets and just a reminder, the nikkei ended lower. over shad codyingwshadowing overshadowing, overall sentiment of late and what is perceived as a moderate recovery here. greece taking center stage and investors waiting for central bank meetings and the federal reserve and u.s. and the bank of japan later this week as well. >> perhaps one of the biggest concerns now is for the single currency. how is the eros trading against major peers? >> a look how it is trading of late. possibility of last-minute agreement kept anytime a tight range, actually and some also talking about a greek exit from

the eros zone. investors piling into german and u.s. treasuries, the developments really pushing bond yields lower. the ten-year is 0.10% and an important survey for june. now on the flip side yields of italian and spanish bonds rising. about 2.3% traders seem to be regarding them as riskier assets. and the u.s. treasury notes being bought as safer ones as i mentioned the yields also fell after new york manufacturing data disappointed a lot of investors and came in at 2.3%. now as for the dollar it's trading in a pretty narrow range, traders choosing to stay on the sideline ahead of the fed meeting which kicks off today. we'll get an announcement on wednesday. in the asian pacific region, we'll continue to monitor key indexes such as shanghai

composite that closed down 2% on monday. the biggest one-day loss since the massive fall in may 28th. and of course, the mers outbreak in south korean shares and relaeted travel industry shares it's now trading at down 0.04%. we'll see how that progresses and also all the other asian indexes and how they relate to japan's companies, as well. the nikkei and topix trading in the negative. an oil industry association in japan says some of its computers have been infected with a virus. officials say about 27,000 personal records including names, addresses, and bank account numbers might have leaked as a result. officials at the petroleum association of japan say a security organization told them

early this month that several computers in their tokyo office have been hacked. they say the virus got into the machines through e-mails. they say most of the 27,000 records belonged to people who applied for water heater subsidies. they also confirm that there was a leak of documents on requests made by the association in relation to government policies. travelers in japan are taking advantage of tours that promote physical well being in addition to leisure. one think tank says the so-called health tourism market could be worth $32 billion a year. that has travel companies working hard to meet the growing demand. >> this is a resort called housen boss. 2.8 million people come here every year. last month, the operator debuted a new facility that focuses on

health. here visitors can get checkups for about 20 types of conditions. some of the services are free while others can cost thousands of dollars. this machine tracks body movements and can diagnose whether you're posture is out of alignment. this device scans the user's skin and determines how much ageing its gone through. >> i'm only 31 but it says i have the skin of a 37-year-old. >> visitors can even get checkups from the facilities on-sight doctor. >> some of your capillaries look to be normal but you have irregular ones as well this is caused by a lack of balance in your diet. >> i don't normally give too much thought to my health so i appreciate this service.

>> food is another focal point. the new facility has a restaurant with its own greenhouse for growing vegetables. >> our society is ageing so demand for this kind of service is on the rise. we want to make our facility the go-to destination for people when they feel unwell. >> another popular spot for health tourism is in western japan. this hotel organizes walking tours nearly every day. about 30 guests have gathered in the lobby, half of them are from the united states. the leisurely walk covers four kilometers in 40 minutes. the tour offers not only the chance to exercise but also to learn about local culture. like a 300-year-old stone wall

that protects the village from strong winds. >> the wall runs on for about 200 meters. >> guiding the tour is a woman the that helps run the hotel. 13 years ago she was diagnosed with cancer. she started going for walks as a way of maintaining her health. she's come to believe that providing healthy about tefctivities is the best hospitality she can offer to the guests. residents in the neighborhood lend a hand as well and welcome the tour groups into their homes and provide them with a fresh-made lunch. almost all the produce is grown locally. >> there is no meat in any of this. it's all vegetables. >> over the past six years about 40,000 people have taken part in her walking tours.

>> i've been four or five times. i enjoy the walk. it actually gets more fun each time i do it. >> i love walking and running, so this was, it was nice to be outside today. some fresh air. >> people come here from far away and all the walking is helping me to get healthier along with them. >> japanese officials are planning a certification program for businesses that offer health tourism. they hope the system will improve services. many people in the travel industry are hoping health tourism is a trend that won't go away. >> more for you in business next hour. i'll leave you with a check on markets.

70 years passed since the atom make bombings. as time goes on people in japan face the challenge of finding ways of keeping first-hand accounts of the tragedy alive. volunteers are doing their part to share stories told by survivors with people around the world. nhk world has their story. >> this memorable peace park is in the city near the enpi senta center

of the atom make bomb blast. inside are more than 100,000 artifacts and documents. they include names and photographs of the victims. plus what they went through during and after the bombing. in this section, visitors can watch more than 1200 testimonies by survivors. the videos convey the tragedy of the atomic bombing somehow translated into english and other languages. >> i can't explain. it was a little sensation in the same time. >> translating the videos takes time and resources. only about 10% have subtitles. this man is working to change

that. his father was killed by the atomic bomb. he used to be a newspaper reporter and he interviewed survivors. now he's a scholar and he's volunteering his time to translate the videos. >> people outside japan can't understand what the survivors are saying because it's in japanese. japanese. >> eight students have volunteered including some from japan who can speak english and foreign exchange students. today students from japan, china and south korea are teaming up. they are translating videos into english, chinese and korean.

some of the language in the video is difficult to understand. the students sometimes consult with professors so sometimes their translations are accurate. >> what does it mean? >> in english it means to crawl. it means the whole body is rising. oh, i see. >> it was difficult to find words that are familiar to korean and chinese people. >> working on this made me feel very strongly that wars shouldn't happen. >> he says he wants to recruit more volunteers and translate the videos into other languages. he says that will bring the stories of survivors to life

former people. >> people around the world should be able to share these accounts and teach us we most never again allow a tragedy caused by nuclear weapons. >> a group of volunteers is working to spread words spoken by survivors of the atomic bombing far and wide. their message is one of peace and hope for world free of nuclear weapons. people north of tokyo are trying to recover after a storm and are hoping the weather will co-op rat cooperate. >> we'll be seeing more thunderstorms flair up out here

and it's very similar conditions as we saw on monday. we have just the stationary boundary down towards the south. not directly associated with this but we're getting warm air coming in with it and cooler air aloft and when you get that you start to talk about the instability in the atmosphere combined with the day-time heating. this was more video from monday. now this is some new video that came into us here where we did see two people injured. this is large hail that came down and damaging wind destroying some structures out here. as far as the forecast is concerned, you could be seeing this even strong straight lined winds coming in with it and not to mention that risk of the possibility of some tornados or hail coming out of this, especially as we talk about inland with these storm systems continuing to flair up into the afternoon hours. they should be is latisolated to scattered. where it is more wide spread and persistent is back here towards the west. heavy rainfall there in parts

much of the region in the past 24 hours, you have seen well over 200 millimeters of rainfall and could see 100 millimeters in some areas through the next 24 to 48 hours with that moisture come moisture continuing to come in from the west. this front, it's not just lingering here but as we look towards the west with our stationary boundary it also is continuing to bring some heavy rainfall across parts of southern china, actually, in the past week now, this is from early last week to early this week, some area haves seen well over three to 500 millimeters of total precipitation and of course, that is causing some problems out here as well. let's go to more video we have coming out of china because this is just showing you what it looked like here on monday there where many streets were indicated, rainstorms started saturday night and it fell over 300 millimeters in this area this raising water you'll see flooded the streets there in the

city. also local authorities dispatched personnel trying to dismantle electric supplies because that is just definitely prone for elect kwugs. incredibly high amount of rainfall along that boundary. south of it we're actually starting to see the monsoon season kick in even in the philippines and strong storms on monday resulted in a roof collapse at a cinema there. several people injured but some pretty encredit pretty incredible images and the conveyer belt of moisture in the central u.s. lows towards the north wrapping around this area of high pressure over the southeastern u.s. bringing hot weather but really setting up just that heavy rainfall across this area. some areas, especially into texas you can see upwards of 3 to 400 millimeters of rain because we have a tropical

disturbance disturbance. temperatures on the hot side and southeast and the southwest, definitely want to stay hydrated out here. as far as forecast in europe a funnel cloud reported in spain and hail over towards southern portions of poland and germany and that is really going to remain unsettled not to mention towards georgia you have preacceptation in your forecast you do not need anymore out there, as well. that is a look at your world weather. i'll leave you with the extended outlook.

and that's all for this edition of "news line." i'm kath thanks for staying with us.

x

d a warm welcome. coming up, a garden artist turns city walls green. a gourmet chef temps pallets

with his vegetable cuisine. and concrete wonder. living in windowless homes. the royal expo 2015 has now entered its third week in milan. 20 million tourists are expected to visit. the buildings need to be stable enough to comment that many people and to make an impact. it is not an easy task.