welcome to residents are a still dealing with the aftermath of the earthquakes. thursday marked two weeks since first quake struck. hundreds of thousands of people are living without water or gas. it's straug l for some parents to take care of their children's basic needs.

busy for any mother.is but when the quake took away lifeline utilities, this mother faced even bigger challenges. with no hot water for baths, diaper rash became a daily battle. she made do, boiling water and using a laundry basket. after 12 days, the first real bath felt like a luxury. >> this family are some of the lucky ones. tens of thousands of people are still living in shelters. and for the littlest family members, the cramped quarters pose a real danger. they're exposed to infectious diseases such as cold and flu. this woman is trying to ease some of those problems, she's a maternity nurse and she's checking out evacuees,

especially those sleeping in their cars. she's been visiting the miyamoto family. this parking lot is now their home. their house was destroyed along with their parents' houses. the packed evacuation centers are not an option for them. they worry about their children's loud voices bothering others. she is concerned about their youngest, who is 2 months old. >> other evacuees are about to become parents. this woman is spending the remaining nights of her

pregnancy in her car. >> translator: even my parents' house is damaged and i cannot live there. i don't know where i will live after the baby arrives. >> one option could be this temporary shelter for newborns and their mothers. a local association of maternity nurses is volunteering round-the-clock care and providing necessities. >> translator: i hope other facilities will follow us to provide places for newborn babies. and their families. >> assistance in kumamoto is shifting from emergency aid to long-term sport. and while there are efforts underway to secure temporary housing for those in need, it's not yet known how long that will take. takafumi terui, nhk world, tokyo.

u.s. and south korean defense officials say north korea tried to launch a second midrange ballistic missile on thursday night, by failed again. they say the same type of missile was fired early in the morning, but crashed seconds later. south korea military sources say they were launched from wonsan. the second exploded right after its launch. they believe each attempt involved a muse dan ballistic missile. the missile exploded in the air. earlier in the day, south korean president said there's a possibility the north could conduct another nuclear test ahead of next week's ruling workers party congress. she issued a stern warning. >> translator: north korea will have no future if it conducts a nuclear test. >> japanese defense minister nakatani said he could not rule out the possibility of more provocative actions by korea.

>> translator: japan's defense ministry will work with the united states and south korea on information gathering and surveillance activities. >> the government wants local officials to check the j alert system that issues emergency information to the public, including news of a missile launch. in a speech in beijing, chinese president xi jinping vowed to keep peace on the korean peninsula. >> translator: as a neighbor, we will not allow war to break out on the peninsula. >> xi urged north korea to refrain from more missile launches or nuclear tests. and he called for a resumption

of six-pointed talks. on the north's nuclear development program. nhk has laurened a north korean cargo passenger vessel was operate ng same waters as a submarine when the north fired what appeared to be a submarine launched ballistic missile last weekend. sources from japanese and south korean intelligence services told nhk they have established where the cargo passenger ship was sailing by analyzing satellite imagery and other evidence. the sources say the vessel's movements were coordinated with the north korean submarine when an apparent slbm launch took place in the sea of japan on april 23rd. the sources say the north may have used a ship instead of a military vessel to collect data on the suspected test launch so its military moves would not be

detected. it used to travel between its home port. the ship has been banned from entering japanese ports for a decade as part of the nation's sanctions against north korea for its nuclear test and ballistic missile launches. bank of japan policy makers have resisted calls to ramp up their monetary stimulus. they say they may need more time to achieve their 2% inflation target. the policy makers spent two days looking at the state of the economy and deciding how best to respond. they focused on sluggish consumer spending and weakening growth in emerging economies. the fallout from the kumamoto earthquakes is another risk. analysts say bank officials want more time to judge how effective their negative rate policy has been. the policy makers previously said they were aiming to reach their 2% inflation target in the

first half of fiscal 2017. now they've widened the timeframe to all of fiscal 2017, essentially giving themselves another six months to get there. they say the reason for that is the slump in oil prices. it's the fourth time they've adjusted the timeline. governor haruhiko kuroda says the bank's monetary easing measures, coupled with the negative interest rate are already having an impact. >> translator: i will examine risks to economic activities and prices, and if i think it is necessary for achieving the inflation target, then i won't hesitate to take additional easing measures in terms of three dimensions, quantity, quality and interest rate. >> he said it's possible that improvements in japan are being overshadowed by uncertainties to emerging countries. he said the bank will press on with its measures until the effects are felt throughout the whole economy. the u.s. commerce department says the country's economic growth slowed between january and march, compared to the

previous quarter. the latest data shows the preliminary growth figure for the gross domestic product is 0.5%. but the market forecast was around 0.7%. it's lower than the 1.4% growth of the october to december period. by category, housing investment gained nearly 15%, but personal consumption which makes up about 70% of gdp, lost steam because of weaker auto sales. it rose around 2%. corporate spending on plants and equipment fell about 6%. partly due to the negative effects of lower crude oil prices. exports also dipped more than 2%, owing to economic slowdowns abroad. both business investment and exports reported negative growth for the second quarter in a row. market sources say the slowdown is only temporary, blaming it on cheaper prices for crude oil and stocks.

they're interested to see if an expansion in employment will lead to increases in wages and consumption, which might help the economy recover a growth rate of above 2%. people in japan are getting excited about the olympics, they're following the torch relay toward rio de janeiro. and they're debating where the olympic flame should burn, when it comes to tokyo in 2020. nhk world's keita kato has more. >> reporter: the olympic flame was lit in greece. it was handed to the organizers of the rio games 100 days before the opening ceremonies. the cauldron in the main stadium is traditionally placed where

it's highly visible. in london, it was movable. it was lit in the center of the stadium during the opening ceremonies. then it was moved to the thames. in rio, the cauldron is expected to be lit in the main stadium. then the flame will be taken to a public square. people in tokyo are debating where the cauldron should go in 2020. >> translator: it should be behind the stands so people can look up and see it. >> how about the middle of the field? if it's movable, it can be in different places at different times. >> translator: they should put a beam across the opening in the roof and hang the cauldron there, that would be great.

>> reporter: members of the government working group decided a basic policy. they suggest placing the cauldron on the field or outside the stadium. they say putting it on the roof would make it invisible to more than half the spectators. and they say putting it in the stands would sacrifice space needed for seats. >> translator: the suggestions are pretty much in line with my ideas. >> reporter: the stadium is far behind schedule. prime minister shinzo abe scrapped the original design because of a ballooning price tag. the working group was formed last month after organizers realized there was no place for the cauldron. keita kato, nhk world.

thai authorities are warning the united states has sent aircraft from its philippine base to patrol the south china sea. officials are concerned that china may be planning new landfill work in a disputed area near the philippines. air force officials say a-10 thunderbolt fighters and hh-60 helicopters took off from the clark air base on april 19th. they say the mission is scheduled to last several weeks. u.s. aircraft flew through international airspace in the vicinity of scarborough shoal, about 300 kilometers from the capital manila. the shoal lies within the exclusive economic zone claimed by the philippines. but the area has been under china's control since 2012.

its patrol ships began operating there after chinese fishing boats were seized by philippine authorities. u.s. government officials expressed strong concern last month over chinese vessels that were spotted conducting what appeared to be survey work around the shoal. china reacted sharply. >> translator: what we want to stress is that the island belongs to china. so whatever actions we take, they are done under chinese sovereignty. >> the spokesperson criticized news media for attempting to predict chinas's future actions. russia has successfully launched its first rocket from a newly built space center in the far eastern region of amore. the government began construction of the facility four years ago as a new base for space development. a rocket blasted off on

thursday. russian space agency officials said the rocket released a satellite their designated orbits at 500 kilometers. president putin watched a launch and called it a big step forward for russia's space program, but added there's much work left to do to prepare for manneding rocket launches. the facility will replace the cos moez drone in kazakhstan, which russia has been relying on for its rocket launches. space agency officials plan to continue work on the new drone and launch a manned rocket from there as early as 2024. officials say a group completed a preliminary assessment to grasp the extent of construction at the world heritage site.

it's home to monumental ruins from the first and second centuries. in the assessment the officials say an arch was destroyed and a temple smashed. the team had to examine damage to another temple at a distance. nhk world tells us how treasures from afghanistan ended up in japan. >> reporter: some are more than 2,000 years old. it's more recent history that brought them here. they're all smuggled artifacts

that later turned up in japan. nhk was able to talk to an african journalist who spoke about how the artifacts entered japan. long standing conflict force add shady route. he's an expert in african art. he was part of team by famous

painter. experts say created by museums. it makes it hard for collectors to know what to make. we met a woman who purchased artifacts stolen from african museum without realizing. she said an art dealer showed her this 2,000-year-old glass vase. i had no idea officials in afghanistan were searching for it. amateur collectors like me would never receive such information. >> reporter: after learning the vase was stolen, she responded to calls from the team and gave them the artifact.

maeda believes more needs to be done. >> translator: conservation of culture property should be part of efforts to restore peace in the war torn country. i strongly feel we should spare no effort in making that happen. >> reporter: the items on display will be returned to african-americans about the exhibition. a new animated film is about to make its debut. it's a story the people know too well. our next report looks at how the film's creator asked survivors to participate in it instead of using actors. >> reporter: the film is called

anguish. as a resident, he understood the suffering of people as they dealt with disaster and the pain of losing people. people from the devastated town voiced the characters. the film grow from an earlier project. he sent the plays to show support for the people there. he noticed that many survivors keep their feelings bottled up. he decides to create an animated

film. it's base ed on a story, a volunteer firefighter. on march 11, 2011, a massive tsunami swept away about 600 houses. fellow rescue irs were forced to stop the next day. the authorities imposed a nuclear evacuation order.

p the sear he relieves the search efforts through characters. he also helps the voice actors. by taking part in the film, survivors could express the pain that still hauntss them. >> the actors are no pretending. you can keel this comes from their true experiences. them. >> the actors are no pretending.

you can keel this comes from their true experiences. >> reporter: people in fukushima saw first screening. organizations and even from overseas have plans to screen the film. the voices of the survivors are reaching far and wide. >> the survivors doing what they can to heal after the events of 2011. it's time for a check of the weather with robert speta. many people across japan are heading out for what's called the golden week holiday. it's looking nice. will the weather continue to

cooperate? >> things will be getting better. until we get there, in the tokyo area we do have sunny skies. you can see it's clearing up back here towards the west. north japan on the other hand, you're looking at a totally different season. feeling like winter out there. eastern areas of okkaido. 12 centimeters of snow. definitely very breezy combined with temperatures. around minus 1 here in your early morning hours. back towards the north things will be warming up as well. you do have snow but temperatures are improving. by early next week you'll have strong southerly winds working their way in. it looks like winter. over towards kyoto, a lot of

people go there during the holidays. 31 for the high. feeling very summer like. even towards tokyo, 25 degrees on sunday into monday as well. definitely good day to get out and about. high pressure coming in from the west bringing the clearer skies. also transporting some cooler air down towards the south. bringing some thunderstorms across parts of the philippines. you'll be looking at stormsongo region. there's some good news. bangkok you'll see a high of 36 with the storms on your friday. talking about some flooding or some storms, that is across much of the central u.s. we have been seeing these storms back on tuesday. wednesday now into thursday along the eastern seaboards. this was what we have seen in gulf port, mississippi. one of the areas got hit quite hard by hurricane katrina in 2005.

you can see there a lot of people having to be rescued with the latest storm systems that pull through causing some severe flooding. about 20 to 30 people picked up by boat and truck there. as we go ahead through your friday, things will be starting to clear out, but just towards the west we got another little bit of a low pocket of energy blowing through. that will fire up strong to severe thunderstorms across parts of texas. even heavy rainfall coming out of this could cause flooding. a little farther toward the north. we saw the flooding there in gulf port. temperatures look like there. staying on the chilly side. denver for a high of 2. snow in your forecast. chicago at 8. toronto at 12. things staying warm back towards there east atlanta. we have the storm system blowing across the british isles.

you could be seeing ten centimeters above 2 to 300 meters. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook. >> that wraps up this edition of

"newsline." thanks for joining us.

on this edition of "native report," we attend the national training program and the society of american indian government employees. we learn about saiges native youth track, designed to help native students learn about careers in the federal government. come down the see prairie island and see what our history is. we interviewed the prairie island indian community president, ron johnson. we also learn about leadership in indian country and hear from our elders on this edition of "native report." production of "native report" is made possible by grants from the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community, the blandin foundation, and the duluth superior area community foundation [music playing]