♪ hello there and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm kathryn cobb kobayashi in tokyo. political showdown, japan's prime minister with a tax hike and oppositions parties with a no confidence motion against his cabinets in response. recovering from trama. a psychiatrist with disaster experience helps children there after the quake. and display, people around the world get a chance to see mars during its closest approach to the earth in a decade.

japanese prime minister shinzo abe has confirmed he intends to delay a planned consumption tax hike by another two and a half years, and he vowed to do it without dissolving the lower house for a snap election. abe told his plans to senior members of his liberal democratic party and its coalition partner komeito on monday. the tax is supposed to rise from 8 to 10% in april, but the government will need to pass another bill to approve the delay. he also met with finance minister taro aso, who had until now taken a cautious stance on the idea, and had called for an election to get the approval of voters. but he eventually accepted abe's plan. abe will hold a news conference on wednesday at the earliest to explain his decision. the leaders of four opposition parties, though, charge the pushback means abe's economic policy dubbed abenomics has failed. they say he bears the responsibility.

they plan to jointly submit a no confidence motion against abe's cabinet to the lower house on tuesday and a vote on it is expected the same day. the ruling coalition holds more than two-thirds of the seats in the chamber. now putting off the consumption have brought surface to air interceptor missiles. members of the maritime self-defense force will deploy dels str destroyers to the waters around japan. it's equipped with radar system and interceptor missiles. the government issued a similar order in march but lifted it off north korea's workers party finished its congress. south korea's news agency reports that the country's military has detected signs of preparation for firing an

intermediate range ballistic missile from around the north korean city. in april, missile appeared to be fired on three occasions, but they all exploded immediately after launch. they say it's difficult to detect them because it uses a mobile operator. a vacuum to clear radio active debris from a damaged reactor. the top floor of the number one reactor building has small pieces of rubble scattered around it including parts of iron frames and concrete. on monday, a device measuring 13 meters long and five meters high was lifted by crane into the building. it's fitted with a hose capable of sucking up objects. tokyo electric wants to complete the work in july and move on to

larger pieces of debris next year. it hopes to remove the nuclear fuel rods from a cooling pool in about four years. they came under fire in 2013 when work to remove rubble from the number three reactor building result in radio active substances and surrounding areas. the company says workers are spraying chemical agents and taking steps to prevent radio active dust from spreading. it adds that during the work on monday, no abnormalities were detected in radiation levels or in the radio active particles coun count. >> many are in shock following the earthquakes in april. the trama can be deep. in the next story, you'll meet a psychiatrist from the devastating 2011 earthquake and had been visiting to counsel

childre children. >> a tent has been placed up as a play space for children in this evacuation center. psychiatrist norihiko koyama has come here to help the children recover from the trauma of the quakes. he has been trying to get the children to open up a bit about what they went through. >> translator: because children's language skills have not developed fully, it's harder for them to express their feelings. it's important to ease their emotional trauma before too much time passes. >> reporter: 9-year-old's home badly damaged in the quake. as his stay in the emergency shelter drags on, he is getting irritable and getting into fights. while he talked with him, he gave him some clay and asked him to make some of the things he likes about his village. >> translator: what do you like about this area? >> translator: everyone is kind. >> translator: on that night, what were you doing? >> translator: i was fast asleep.

a lot of people gathered at the intersection where the bus stop is and we slept the night there. >> reporter: earlier his mother keiko mentioned that he cried loudly throughout the evacuation. however, the boy did not mention that at all. he was concerned that the boy was holding on to his trauma deep inside. so he decided to take them back to his ruined house. >> translator: come over here. it was the middle of the night and really dark. we just kept running. little by little, with his mother's encouragement, he starts to recall what happened. at their next counseling session, he again asked about the quake. >> translator: your mom told me you were crying a lot as you and your family fled.

do you >> translator: i was crying the whole time in the car. i thought our house was damaged the worst. i couldn't understand why it was only our house. >> reporter: finally, he has begun to express the feelings he had been blocking. he tells parents it's important to communicate with their children frankly. >> translator: unless people sort out what happen and deal with it, they may develop problems to do with post traumatic stress. if parents express their feelings, children are able to let their feelings out too. >> reporter: everyone here faces constant uncertainty. no one knows when they will recover their normal lives. that's why it's crucial they're encouraged to share their

feelings. now it's time for eye on asia. facing fierce resistance to retake the city of fallujah. militants struck back claiming a series of deadly suicide bombs in nearby baghdad. the army announced monday would be advancing into fallujah by u.s.-led air strikes. >> the troops started offensive at 5:00 a.m. today to retake the city. the troops advanced from various pivots from advanced extremists. >> the fighting is fierce in a town just to the northwest of fallujah. the military launched the assault last week. as it continues the push, there are concerns about possible civilian casualties.

tens of thousands of residents are believed to be still inside the city. the philippine parliament has officially declared duterte the next president. he won a landslide victory earlier this month. duterte grabbed nearly 40% of voters. he'll be sworn in at the end of next month. the 71-year-old talked tough on crime and corruption during his campaign. he made international headlines for controversial comments, and he has indicate head would consider shelving territorial h consider shelving territorial claims in exchange for financial aid. the philippines, china, and other asian countries have competing claims in the south china sea. outgoing president benigno aquino has strengthened ties including the u.s. and japan. animal experts in india say they know the cause of a frightening trend. they say more and more elephants are wreaking havoc on

residential areas as their habitat disappears. nhk world reports on the new ways people are trying to co-exist with the animals. >> reporter: a wild indian elephant wandered into a residential area and went on a rampage, destroying more than 100 buildings. similar incidents are said to claim the lives of some 400 people every year. elephants are traditionally worshipped in india, but many residents here have become scared. >> translator: the elephants come here almost every day to eat the coconuts, even if we throw bricks at them, they don't go away. >> reporter: a huge male elephant stops next to some farmland.

it carries on eating, showing no signs of being afraid of the people. an elephant approaches a busy road. apparently not scared of the cars. ajay dasai is a consultant with worldwide fund for nature. he has studied the ecology of elephants for more than 30 years. he says they are facing food shortages due to exploitation of forests amid fast economic growth. >> all these contributing for the elephants, and then they are obligated to raid because they have no resources for survival. >> reporter: this young elephant was left behind in a village. it got separated from its herd when being chased away from farmland. >> we tried for four days to rejoin him to the herd, but nothing works.

sure, he'll miss his mother. >> reporter: indian elephants are an endangered species and protected by the government. killing or wounding them is prohibited. several measures have been put in place to bring about peaceful co-existence. this deep ditch was dug along the forest boundary to stop elephants from coming out. but security camera footage shows an elephant climbing the bank. for now, locals must depend on their eyes. they stand guard in watchtowers from dusk until dawn, chasing elephants back into the forest with firecrackers. the local government has a new tactic. countering elephants with elephants. wild elephants are taught to be

afraid of the domesticated ones because the latter are usually large, well fed and accompanied by their trainer. [ siren ] this site is developing an alarm with the worldwide fund for nature. it senses animals' heat and warns residents when elephants are approaching. >> it would take a very crude approach of things. saying this is elephant habitat and that is people, it may not work to the best interests of both. but midpoint is balance in a way and management in a way which allows ideal conditions for both. >> reporter: this site and

others in india continue to seek new ways to help elephants and humans co-exist in peace. abhishek dhulia, nhk world, new delhi. >> that wraps up eye an asia. let's look at the latest business news. japanese officials released a bach of indicators with former business. what are the numbers telling us? >> we get a slew of data here in japan at the end of every month. they tell us things like people's spending habits, industrial productivity and also employment. the latest data this morning is all for the month of april. let's start with household spending. consumers in japan are keeping their pursestrings tightly closed. household spending declined for the second month in a row. officials say spending by all house holds with two or more members was down 0.4% from a year ago. average household spending was

about 298,000 yen. that's just about 20 -- that's nearly $2700 a month. now managers at japanese companies saw more activity on their factory floors. the economy ministry says industrial output was up for the second straight month of increase. production of chemicals and electrical machinery increased compared to a month earlier. looking ahead, the officials are predicting growth of 2.2% in may, 0.3% in june. internal affairs ministry officials say the unemployment rate in april stood at 3.2%. the figure was unchanged from the previous month. meanwhile, officials at the labor ministry say the ratio of job offers to people looking for work stood at 1.34, that means there were 1 34 openings for every 100 job seekers. so what were analysts expecting?

well, household spending was not as bad as market expectations, and industrial output came in quite a bit stronger than what analysts had thought. so let's see how markets are reacting to this. we'll go to ramine. good morning. tell us what you're seeing over there. >> very good morning to you. with the u.s. markets having been closed for a public holiday on monday. for tuesday, may 31st, let's look at the opening levels. they are slightly in the negative for both indexes, nikkei and broader topix. we're at the levels we haven't seen since late april. yesterday the nikkei closed up 1.4% helped largely by the weaker yen or stronger dollar, if you will and we'll check key export sectors today, as well with autos, high tech, precision instruments and heavy industrial

equipment makers all in big focus. the dollar has risen steadily since janet yellen's speech on saturday when she said a rate hike in the coming months would be appropriate. now many also will be watching the price of crude oil. that's really been a driver of the global markets and crude oil futures wti have dipped to touch after traded over $50 a barrel last we're if you remember but they are now trading a touch below that key level. the opec meeting on thursday will definitely be a big focus. >> ramine get us updated because since last friday, looks like the dollar has been inching up gradually rising. what is going on today? >> exactly. it had been inching up but look at it now. it's just coming down below the 111 levels. actually just before stocks opened trading. 110 spot, 84 right now. the key data point this week

will no doubt be the u.s. jobs figures and unemployment but let's not forget, manufacturing and services data will also be watched closely and the eros, let's not forget the eros. the bank meets on thursday for the policy meeting. the president mario has tried to call markets with regards to the pace of inflation as he's tried to boost growth in the eurozone. let's have a quick look at the asian markets open now. s&p, asx 200 down. china markets will open in an hour and a half but the shanghai composite inched up on monday but heads towards the biggest monthly loss since last year's devaluation, big drag on the chinese economy, of course, has a rippling effect and will have a rippling effect on neighboring economies we shall check. back to you. >> thanks a lot always for your updates and we'll touch base in

a few hours time, thanks a lot. ramine from the tokyo stock exchange. >> for centuries art zisevens he made a porcelain but changing tastes are weighing on demand. they hope to reverse the trend by trying something new. nhk world explains. the world's largest interior design exhibition took place last month in milan. officials held their own show in the city that featured simple modern designs or strikingly different from conventional. for example, this piece is completely gray and it's creator

broke with tradition by deliberately applying an uneven glaze. >> i think this would be very successful in the united states. >> it's beautiful. it's fantastic. you can really see the quality and the craftmenship. >> would you collaborate with this? >> definitely. >> this line of dishware was created in partnership with interior designers in europe. such designers took part in the project. they say their golfs to produce modern tableware that reflects centuries of tradition. an old flower design was one of the inspirations to create modern touch they sprinkle the plate with white dots to represent the pedals. >> all the handwriting, all the colors, all the contours, the

outlines of the plates are all the same, actually. actually, it's just we shuffled the traditional a bit. >> featuring novel designs is gradually catching on in europe. the first porcelain made its way to the netherlands in the 17th century. a national art museum announced and traced its history on display were pieces made four centuries ago side by side with modern interpretations by european designers. >> we try to do is combine the past, the present and the future because we think it's very important there is a next step. >> the tradition of craft mmensp from japan is keeping up with columbia combining with old with the new. that's the latest in

business news. i'll leave you now with a check on markets. time to get a check on weather. robert speta has the latest. >> actually, as we go ahead through the afternoon into the evening hours, we should look at clearing skies out there, at least into the downtown tokyo area. now, just along the northern regions including the prefollowing the accidepr prefecture, showers. it's really going to be spotty

at best for some of you. further towards the north, definitely looking at the showers out there. we have an area of low pressure moving across much of the far eastern russia and brought winds out there 65 kilometers per hour and will trigger up thunderstorms with that, as well. we have a cooler air continuing to spill in, some daytime heating. some storms can produce very high winds, also there is that potential of funnel clouds and maybe a tornado or two across parts. the tail end of the front, though, will be extending just along northern. as far as tokyo is concerned, partly cloudy skies. i do think if you are out there and through the overnight hours you might be able to get a good look at mars across much of the tokyo but western japan definitely going to be able to get a view in. towards the korean peninsula, high pressure is dominating. it is making for an absolutely beautiful condition. the big threat is the temperatures because it will get on the hot side and some of those locations here could be

pushing into the 40s as far as the head index. definitely do want to stay cool. the rainy season dominating down here towards the south. much of southeastern china flooding and landslides and really this is just a seasonal front. it's not going anywhere very fast. it's really just set up between the months of may over towards june. slowly works it's way off towards the north as the high settles in and eventually going to make its way towards japan as we go ahead into june and early july before summer sets in and the front dissipates. for now, still looking at showers out there across eastern china including taiwan and taipei. 33 with showers in the forecast on tuesday. do want to talk about the rough weather over here towards europe, as well. how about southern germany? i'll show you video out of here back over on monday. let's go ahead and roll that. just to get an idea of what happened here.

actually, on sunday night we had flooding, heavy rain and very strong thunderstorms that roll through this area. this is the aftermath. look at that, cars just were swept through the middle of town. many buildings were damaged and some of them -- one of them -- several of them were completely destroyed over three people were actually killed in these floods this past weekend. very gray, very serious situation. definitely dangerous. lightning is also a big issue. we had a football match on sunday. one person was hit by lightning but three people seriously injured that were nearby. so definitely that is something you want to watch out for. if you ever hear lightning, head indoors. still potential, large hail, three centimeters in diameter reported. that is still possible, as well. cut off lows will continue to impact the area and back towards the east, we can see thunderstorms around slovakia and bulgaria could become rather potent.

i'll leave you with the extended out look. the marshawch shons are com. people around this planet are getting a chance to see it.

the national observatory of japan says the red planet will appear three times larger than its smallest appearance this year. those living cities should be able to see it with the naked eye. mars circles the sun in an or bit outside earth. the two planets are closest about every 26 months. in this cycle, that means only about 75 million kilometers. >> translator: it's hard to see the detailed patterns on mars, but there is a possibility that this time we'll get to see the black portions on the planet, which people used to believe were canals. >> the observatory says the red planet will be visible for about a week and as robert was saying, skies should be clearing up here in tokyo so be on the lookout for the red planet later on. i'm kathryn kobayashi. thanks for joining us. ♪ ♪

>> euro max highlights. and here is your host. >> greetings from berlin and welcome to our highlights edition. a wonderfully mixed bag as usual with these topics. double trouble. the hahner twins are germany's fastest female marathon runners. flower power. a peek into cordoban courtyards at the fiesta de los patios. and number crunchers. data cuisine aims to make statistics easier to digest. catalan architect antoni gaudi was apparently unruffled when asked about delays in the building progress of his masterpiece, the sagrada familia. my client is not in a hurry, he's quoted as saying. and ever since, the basilica in