t the hour's top stories. the lives of residents in mosul are increasingly at risk as militants tighten their control one year after islamic state groups seized the iraqi city. south korea's president is postponing a visit to the u.s. as health authorities try to contain an outbreak of middle

east respiratory syndrome that's killed nine people. and international scientists have added a japanese puffer fish to their list of newly discovered species. life for the residents of iraq's second largest city has drastically changed over the last year. people in mosul live in fear from islamic state. nhk world's hiroshim shi sake has more. >> reporter: nhk has a recent video of mosul secretly recorded by a resident. a motorcade is seen careening through the city's streets with islamic state militants inside waving their black flag. this was once a government office building. it's now under the control of the insurgents.

downtown shops are closed. islamic state militants are restricting cell phone usage to avoid leaks of information. this camp is 70 kilometers east of mosul in the suburbs of the northern iraqi city of arbil. people here say the number of those displaced from mosul have dwindled in recent months. mosul is now full of checkpoints and residents are strictly forbidden to leave the city. a man who escaped said people in mosul must obey news of the islamic state militants who have imposed a sharia law. >> translator: women are not

allowed to leave the house with a scarf covering their faces. smoking is prohibited. violators are whipped ten times. >> reporter: the man also said the insurgents have started enrolling children into what they say is a school to undergo training and become fighters. >> translator: children are now forced to join the islamic state fighting force. these children are being taught how to kill. >> reporter: he also said islamic state insurgents have recently prepared to fend off future attacks by iraqi government forces. >> translator: residents have been forced to move to the front lines. turning them into human shields. >> reporter: iraqi government forces are preparing to take back mosul.

some 3,000 sunni muslim who is evacuated are also preparing to take part in the fighting. this is the mountain area close to mosul. now the training for sunni tribes are going on. the majority of iraqi government forces are shia muslims. they say sunni muslim residents will play an indispensable role. >> translator: we are determined to take back mosul and are willing to take part in the military operation. >> reporter: the fighting to drive out islamic state insurgents from mosul has now raised. but it's hard to know when those displaced can return to their homes in mosul. and when the people still

trapped inside the city will be liberated. hiroshi shimazaki, nhk world, arbil. >> thanks for that report. south korea's president has postponed a u.s. trip to supervise the handling of the mers respiratory virus. park geun-hye's officials say she's putting on public anxiety while the number of cases are growing daily. officials reported wednesday that a ninth person has died from mers. and they say another 13 had contradict contracted the virus. bringing the number of confirmed cases to 108. >> translator: we need the trust and cooperation of the public to prevent mers from spreading further. >> all the patients have been infected at hospitals. officials have provided a list of the facilities. they urge people to check the list and report to the

authorities if they start showing symptoms. the president's office announced that park would delay next week's visit to washington. officials from the world health organization have begun to analyze the virus and review the response. they warned the infection could spread unless potential patients are tracked and quarantine measures put in place. now automakers trying to ratchet up sales might have to readjust their targets as gene otani tells us. >> and we are obviously talking about china. economic data from the country shows continuing signs of a slowdown. the world's largest car market and second largest economy has shown signs of slumping auto sales. officials say about 1.9 million cars were sold in may. that's a drop of 0.4% from the previous year. it's also the second straight month of decline in sales of sedans as well as commercial

vehicles have been sluggish. german firms took the highest market share. accounted for 19% of total vehicle sales. japan follows with nearly 18%. south korea 8%. executives at a major japanese insurer has their eyes on overseas expansion. they announced a $7.5 billion takeover. tokyo marine holdings will buy all outstanding shares of hcc insurance holdings. tokio marine executives say they expect to complete the acquisition by year's end. they say they want to expand overseas process. hcc insurance deals with risks not covered by ordinary insurance. it covers agriculture and aviation. the firm operates in the u.s. and europe. japanese life insurers face a

shrinking domestic market due to facts as a declining population. analysts say this may prompt more firms to search for business in u.s., asia and europe. many investors bought the yen against the dollar on wednesday. comments from the bank of japan governor at a lower house panel sparked the buying spree. he said the yen will probably not lose more ground against the dollar. occur row da said it will have a certain prediction of the yen's future, real effective exchange rate. immediately following his remark, the japanese currency gained more than one yen against the dollar to the lower 123 yen level. that sharp rebound in the yen triggered volatility with stocks. the nikkei extending the losing streak to a fourth day. it shed .25% to just above

20,000. some investors were initially cheered by the upbeat machinery orders report for prilssapril. but then it quickly turned the sentiment negative. in shanghai, the composite ended a touch lower at 5 106. some investigationers were disappointed that msci held off with china listed shares. taiwan was happy with the news as many market players believed if the listing goes ahead it would divert away from china. the taiex rose more than 1% rebounding from a near five-month low. indonesia recovered from an 11-month low ending the day up .7%. hong kong fell more than 1% finishing the session at its lowest level in two months. sydney rebounded after posting six days of losses. higher crude oil prices lifted energy-related shares. managers at japanese

companies are spending more to upgrade their factories. machinery orders in april rose for a second month in a row hitting their highest level in six years and nine months. the cabinet office says companies in japan placed orders worth more than $7.2 billion. that's up more than 3.8% in yen terms since march. it doesn't include in the shipbuilding and power sectors. orders from manufacturers rose more than 10%. makers of automobiles and electrical machinery increased their orders. orders from non-manufacturers fell 4.6%. and we have another indicator from japan's corporate sector. prices of goods traded among companies fell last month. that marks the second straight month of declines. bank of japan officials say the producer price index dropped in may from the same month last year. they say the decline is due to the drop in prices of gasoline and chemical products.

these fell by more than 21%. crude oil prices bottomed out in january and the prices of materials are on the rise due to a weaker yen. members of a japanese government panel have drafted a set of proposals to help balance the nation's budget. they include a midterm goal of cutting the balance deficit to 1% gdp by the end of fiscal 2018. it is the country's amount of net borrowing. the government aims to achieve a primary balance surplus by fiscal 2020. this would allow the government to fund spending without issuing new bonds. members of the council on economic and fiscal policy compiled the draft based on their stats that fiscal reconstruction is impossible without economic revival. they propose implementing a vitalization plan over the next five years. under the plan the government should carry out intensive

reforms three years from next april. all areas should be thoroughly reviewed and curbed where possible. the government plans to gain cabinet approval by the end of this month. leaders of a major japanese economic organization say more than 12,000 pieces of data may have been stolen in a cyber attack. the announcement follows that reported theft of more than 1 million pieces of personal data from japan's public pension management body. officials at the tokyo chamber of commerce suspect hackers have taken contact information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers of the chamber's member firms. officials also suspect phone numbers and e-mail addresses of individual officials have been compromised. the organization has about 70,000 member companies. the chamber says so far it's unlikely the leak included financial information such as credit card numbers. officials suspect staff may have

opened an e-mail attachment containing a computer virus. they say they will consult police to find the cause of the incident. the people who run some of the life insurance companies in japan are feeling the effects of the lingering low interest rate. they've been forced to rethink their portfolios and they're now looking at investments that yield better returns but may come with a higher risk. >> reporter: this distribution center is in a tokyo suburb. more than 10 million cds and dvds are stored here to be shipped across the country. the facility is owned by one of major japanese insurance companies nippon life insurance. the firm's executives are betting that online sales of dvds will expand. the company leases the facility to a logistics company. >> translator: how's the

occupancy rate? >> translator: by september all the vacant spaces will be filled so we'll be operating at full capacity. >> reporter: losing tenants is always a risk. but the insurance company expects stable revenues. >> translator: this logistics facility plays an important part in our plans. we'll be going more deeply into this area. >> reporter: the insurance company is also expanding its investments overseas. the firm's president recently paid a visit to an affiliated company in singapore. he emphasized his intention to accelerate investment in road construction and other infrastructure projects that can benefit from economic growth in asia. >> translator: we expect you to lead the way in expanding our

overseas and asset management business. >> reporter: the firm plans to invest up to $8 billion in those sectors in the next three years. >> translator: we guarantee a certain level of yield to our policy holders in this era of super low interest rates. we want to manage our funds to at least match that guarantee. >> reporter: life insurance is big business. about 80% of japanese people are said to have a policy. and that's made insurers find new ways to secure the future for themselves and their clients. >> that's it for business news. i'll leafve you with the markets.

south korea's foreign minister may pay his first visit to japan since taking office two years ago. he would make the trip to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. yung will likely attend a commemorative event on june 22nd and he may sit down for talks with japanese foreign minister fumio kishida. relationships have been sour over historical issues. shinzo abe and park geun-hye

have yet to hold a summit meeting. officials from the two countries have also failed to narrow differences on the bid to get industrial areas on the unesco world heritage list. authorities in seoul point out that people from the korean peninsula were conscripted to work at some of those sites. a japanese cabinet minister has defended proposed legislation being debated in the diet. the legislation would allow japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense. nakatani says the bills are constitutional. nakatani was responding to a lawmaker from the opposition democratic party. soouj mow toe was before the diet panel. the experts said they believe the bills are unconstitutional. sugimoto said it was becoming widespread. nakatani responded by saying japan is facing a drastically

changing security environment. he says the legislation is the result of coming up with a way of protecting the japanese people. he says the bills conform to past interpretations of article 9 of the constitution. that article renounces war. nakatani said the government believes the constitution can't be seen as banning defense measures necessary to maintain japan's peace and security and to ensure its survival. people in japan gather every august to remember one of the most devastating events in their history. this year they'll mark the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of hiroshima. two survivors continue to update the records to include the names of victims, people who died in the past year and others identified for the first time. the two offered a prayer for the dead. they began updating the list

with 2,700 new names and dates of death. ikiamei has been in charge of the names for 26 years. >> translator: i'll put my heart into every letter when i write the names of those who died. i'll pray for the victims and world peace. >> more than 290,000 names are on the list of victims. their families will be the -- will put the updated list in the park in august. a panel of international scientists have updated the top plants and animals recently discovered. and they've added a japanese fish to their list that has been at the center of a 20-year-long mystery of the deep.

>> reporter: on the sea floor of southwest japan is a strange sight. it looks like a work of art. the artist that created this two meter wide design is a small puffer fish. last month researchers from around the world selected it as one of their top ten new species of 2015. okata, an underwater photographer discovered this new species. okata has taken photographs in waters all over the world. he first came across the designs can 20 years ago off the coast of an island. he had never seen anything like them before. >> translator: i was startled. i wondered what a design like that would be doing there. >> reporter: the years passed. o ka ta saw the same pattern many times. he and his colleagues used to speculate about how they were made.

>> translator: local divers and i started calling it the mystery circle. >> reporter: then four years ago okata saw something unexpected while photographing a circle. a small puffer fish appeared. it started digging a groove. wiggling its body, it dug a groove in the sand. moving up and back again, it steadily deepened the groove. then it moves to the central area. it used its fins like a broom. in the space of a week, the tiny fish had created a beautiful design two meters wide. in human terms, that's the equivalent of 30 meters across. mail

the ridges are thought to protect eggs from currents. it's rare for fish to create such complex designs for this purpose. last year okata and japanese researchers announced the new species naming it the white spotted puffer fish. global fame followed last month when they won a top ten ranking from the institute for species exploration. the u.s. based group uses the list to promote awareness of biodiversity. >> translator: i didn't know it was a new species. i'm proud it was selected as one of the top ten in the world. >> reporter: the institute lists about 2 million known species around the globe. it estimates about 10 million more have yet to be discovered. >> translator: each year 18,000 new species are discovered. anyone could find one. but if no action is taken when something unusual is discovered

it will go unrecognized. i think interest and curiosity are very important. >> reporter: scientists now know what the patterns are for, but they haven't yet discovered why they're so large and beautiful. perhaps it's a case of males trying to impress females. that's something any species can relate to. >> no matter what the species, a lot of effort goes into the courtship, doesn't it? okay. it's time to bring jonathan oh into the picture as he tells us about some worrying news from the arabian peninsula. >> hello. we are keeping an eye on this storm and the latest is this storm will continue to move to the north and west and is already bringing some clouds into the area and more of an impact when it comes to rain and wind as we progress into the next 24 hours. here's a look at the system ashobaa as it continues to move to the west/northwest. a slow mover, though so as it's

bringing its moisture in it's going to take some time. that means it's going to bring a decent amount of rain in the process. winds gusting up to 105. the system will come on shore again. in the next 24 hours it will push its way toward the west as we move forward to the weekend. rain definitely a big part of the picture. a quick mention about india, the southwest monsoon is really still isolated down toward the southern portions of the country. we are seeing maybe a few scattered showers. going to take some time before the front moves to the north. until then we're still talking about pretty warm temperatures hot temperatures for the northern portions of the country. now here's a look at what's happening over in east asia. the rainy season extends all the way back into china. so we're talking about lots of rainfall. and i want to take you over into china once again because the big story is rain. this video comes from monday but we will continue to see the rainy season being a part of the weather story as we go

throughout the month of june. you can see here that the pictures from the western and eastern portions of china showing the homes being flooded. a maximum rainfall total recorded at 300 millimeters monday. you can see here also triggering landslides and damaging homes and blocking some roadways in the process. that's something that we'll be continuing to see those types of pictures as these heavy rain bands continues to fall over the southern portions of china. now, on a little bit of a contrast on the northern edge of that front, we saw this night picture on tuesday. so the cloud cover as it's continued to move into the picture, it will return back into the picture as the front moves solely toward the north and east. which means tokyo, we're going to need the umbrellas here. staying relatively here before the rain starts moving in closer to the weekend. more rainfall is expected.

so tokyo, 27. and down toward the south looking for some rain as we go throughout the rest of the week. some thunderstorms are also part of the forecast. now as we take a look at the forecast for north america, we have that coastal front still bringing rain into the southeastern portion of the united states. and others bringing rain and storms into the central and southern portions of canada. so we'll be keeping an eye out on that as we progress throughout wednesday. look at this. toronto looking at thunderstorms. and down into atlanta, miami, and houston. meanwhile back toward the west, dry with highs in the 20s from vancouver into l.a. throughout the day. now, speaking of unstable weather, portions of europe dealing with that as we have this unstable pattern of a stationary front. all the rain with thunderstorms. and towards the north staying dry from vienna and paris as we go throughout the day. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook.

and with that we wrap up this hour's "newsline." more to come here on nhk world

so stay with us.

' adlines. the mers epidemic in south korea claims a ninth victim. thousands of people have been quarantined, and the total number of cases continues to rise. last chance peace talks sponsored by the unr underway on libya, but the country's two rivalries failed to agree with each other or even with themselves. 8 and into the massive hack of a french international tv channel two months ago. it may have originated in russia. also coming up, in business we will be talking about free trade