here in japan it's 7:00 p.m. on a monday. here is some of the stories we're following this hour. message from hiroshima. g7 foreign ministers have concluded their meeting and released a declaration focusing on nuclear disarmaments. unusual moves. south korea has confirmed that north korean senior officials

defected to the south last year. this can be seen as an indication of significant changes in the north's leadership. and rebuilding a reputation. asai brewer trying to convince people that products from fukushima are safe and delicious. foreign ministers from the group of seven countries are calling on leaders and people around the world to visit hiroshima and nagasaki. the ministers concluded a two-day meeting on monday and released a declaration that focuses on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. as the host of the conference, foreign minister fumio kishida announced their joint statement, including the hiroshima declaration. the document says that the pepeople of hiroshima and nanagi experienced immense devastation and suffering as a result of the u.s. atomic bombing, and they reaffirmed their commitment to creating a world without nuclear weapons.

the ministers urged all states to work on practical and realistic initiatives that can promote meaningful dialog between countries with and without nuclear weapons. they also urged other nuclear weapons states to enhance transparency. diplomatic sources say the country the foreign ministers had in mind was china, which has not disclosed how many nuclear warheads it owns. >> translator: the hiroshima declaration and our visit to the sites related to the bombing have marked a historic step forward to reinvigorate international momentum toward a world without nuclear weapons. >> a separate communique from the meeting emphasizes the importance of countering terrorism and violent extremism. it says the g7 leaders will adopt an action plan when they meet in may, and also talked about sanctions against north korea for the continuing threat posed by its nuclear and missile

programs. earlier, the g7 visitors paid their respects to the peace memorial park. the group laid wreaths and walked to the atomic bomb dome at the suggestion of u.s. secretary of state john kerry. kerry is the first sitting u.s. cabinet member to visit the park. it was also the first time for the foreign ministers of britain and france. all three countries have nuclear weapons. the foreign ministers visited the peace memorial parks and laid wreaths dedicated to the victims. how significant was that? >> reporter: it was a historic moment. as we have been reporting, it's the first time the foreign

ministers of nuclear weapons states in the g7 have visited hiroshima. significance for the visit was given by u.s. secretary of state john kerry. many say the bombs were justified because it saved the lives of u.s. troops by bringing an end to world war ii. >> translator: i want the ministers to realize how hiroshima has continued to suffer from the dark past of the bombing. >> translator: i want the world to be a peaceful place and hope the ministers will make this visit an opportunity to deliver that message to the world. >> reporter: kerry later called a display of the bombing gut

wrenching. >> it reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices in war and of what war does. >> reporter: japan, as the host country, wanted to deliver a strong message about peace in the world from hiroshima. >> do you think the visit will help the commitment to create a world without nuclear weapons? >> reporter: well, he succeeded in having his ministers see the devastation of nuclear bombing. achieving a world without nuclear weapons is a tall task. north korea has been ramping up its nuclear program. it carried out its fourth test in january. talks of nuclear disarmaments

between the u.s. and russia are at a stand-still. but cuthey hope more leaders around the world will understand what they call the inhumanity of nuclear weapons. so they hope kerry's visit will pave the way for president obama's visit to the city and provide a push for nuclear disarmament. >> thanks very much. south korea has confirmed senior level officials from pyongyang defected to the south last year. a ministry spokesperson noted that the defections could be seen as a symptom of cracks in the north's leadership. one of the defectors was formerly a senior officer with the general reconnaissance bureau of the north's military intelligence unit and the other

was a diplomat who had been stationed in africa. they separately sought asylum in the south. >> translator: it can be seen as an example of unusual movements among ththe north's elite. >> meanwhile, south korea's news agency quotes a source saying the former spy agency officer is the highest ranking military official to ever defect from the north. the source also reportedly said the defector had probably divulged details of the bureau's operations against south korea to authorities in seoul. hong kong is the largest importer of produce in the world. hong kong authorities imposed restrictions on imports from the fukushima prefecture after the nuclear accident five years ago. nhk world explain how one local

saki brewer is trying to get its liquor back on store shelves. >> reporter: this brewery has been producing prestigious saki for over 200 years, but since the nuclear disaster he has had a tough time selling his product overseas. his brewery is more than 100 kilometers away from the nuclear plant. he also says all the ingredients he uses to make saki, rice mold and water, as well as the finished product, undergo radiation checks. hong kong authorities prohibit the import of vegetables, fruits and dairy products from fukushima and surrounding prefectures. saki is exempted from the embargoed items but many consumers continue to associate the name "fukushima" with the

nuclear accident. >> translator: i don't b buy thingsgs from fukushimima. >> translator: people's rejection of our saki shouldn't stop us. we need to talk to people face to face. >> reporter: he tries his pitch at a large shopping complex. but he fails to win over any converts. >> reporteter: >> translator: it all boils down to the word fukushima. i did anticipate the outcome, but it's still disappointing. >> reporter: he did manage to get his message through to some people. this firm deals in high-end wines from arnold the world. iwata has been talking with the firm's managers for the last six months. they now know that his saki undergoes rigid safety checks

and has even won an award at an international contest. they have agreed to import about 200 bottles from his brewery. >> once they accept that try the product they realize it's a good quality product. then we're quite confident that it will sell quite well. >> translator: fukushima is a nice and safe place, and i am convinced that people will understand that if we send the proper message. >> reporter: he is also trying other ways to spread his message. on this day, he visits a local travel agency. he proposes that the asian change his itinerary to include a visit to natural and traditional sites in his home region. >> reporter: iwata is hoping that the negative perception

linked to the wordd "fukushima will fade away once more people visit and get a taste of the land. the travel agency is set to organize a package tour that will include an overnight stay in fukushima. he believes in his product and in his home prefecture and is determined to keep on promoting them arounund the world. nhk world, hong kong. government officials have released figures indicating what japanese companies are investing in. gene otani has the details along with other business headlines. the latest data on capital spending among japanese firms doesn't project a bright picture. machine orders fell for the first time in more than three momonths. the c cabinet office says it waa 9.2% drop from the previous month. the figures exclude the ship

building and power sectors which see large fluctuations. orders from manufacturers recorded a more than 30% decline, the sharpest drop since fiscal 2005 when comparable data became available. officials see this as a downturn from the previous month when steel makers placed bulk orders. meanwhile, orders by non-manufacturers marked a 10% rise as financial institutions and real estate firms upgraded their computer systems. economists see the february drop as temporary. they think orders will pick up unchanged. officials at the national bureau of statistics say the consumer price index for march rose 2.3% from a year earlier. the cpi was unchanged from the previous month but wasn't as strong as what most analysts had expected. it remained below the government target of about 3%. prices of pork and vegetables surged due to falling supplies, but the inflation on non-food

foi items remained low at 1%. the price index was down 4.3% and slightly better than market expectations. the market is still weak at home and abroad. tokyo stocks ended the day lower on a stronger yen. the higher currency weighs on profits of exporters when repatriated. let's go to the tokyo stock exchange. . >> the yenen strength is a big concern for investors and caused another selloff on monday. the nikkei fell 4.4% finishing at 15,751. the broader topix down.61%. a 17-month high against the dollar during tokyo trading hours. chief cabinet secretary said the currency's moves are one-sided

and japan will take action if necessary. major exporters were in for losses as olympus fell 4% and car makers toyota and honda were also lower. the nikkei started the week on the back feet with manany trade wondering if japanese authorities will intervene to stem the yen's assent. moving on to other markets, let's look at shanghai composite, up by 1.64%. 3,033 the closing number. analysts say data showing lower than expected consumer prices in china fueled expectations. the authorities will continue monetary easing. market players picked up bargains after the index fell for three sessions in a row. taiwan extending gains by .25 of 1%. some major companies released sales reports.

in hong kong, they add .4% with a rise in a broad range of shares. indonesia falling by 1.25%. shares in sydney off by 0.1%, pulled down by financials. a sharp rebound in oil prices supported energy shares. here is a look at some of the other business stories we're following today. the bank of japan's quarterly survey shows more people are worrying about the economy, about 2,000 respondents compared its current state to a year ago. the index dropped 5 points to minus 22.5. financial regulators in japan are concerned about the expansion of high-speed trading by hedge fund managers. some managers warn that it contributed to sharp

fluctuations in share prices. officials at the financial services agencies say they will have a panel of experts evaluate the effects of the trading starting this month. they'll also assess the impact of system failures. let's look at the global economic calendar for the week. on tuesday indian officials post the consumer price index for march, relatively mild inflation provided room for last week's rate cut by the central bank. the next day the bank of japan released the producer price index for march, lower oil prices have been holding this indicator down. a group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors gather to kick off a two-day meeting in washington on thursday. and friday china comes out with gdp growth figures for the last quarter. every monday we ask specialists to share their views on the week in this edition of expert view we hear from chief economist at daiichi life research institute.

he's expecting china's gdp results to show a slight slowdown in growth for the january through march quarter. >> translator: for the january and march quarter i expect china's economy to grow by around 6.7% year on year. this is one notch lower than the 6.8% growth we saw in the october-december period. production in the first quarter was sluggish, especially in the manufacturing sector. it's true personal spending and some other figures show steadiness but i don't think they are enough to boost the economy. as for the april-june period, i expect the situation will improve somewhat. the pmir purchasing manager's index for march recovered strongly thanks to stimulus measures announced at the national people's congress. china's imports in february declined in terms of value. but in terms of volume, imports of steel, coal, copper and crude

oil were quite strong. i think this will lead to an increase in produduction g goin forward. >> he says sustainable growth will only happen when china reforms its state-owned enterprises which are mired in debt. but he says the government will have to tread carefully. >> translator: various sectors of the chinese economy are saddled with excess capacity. supply-side reform is the right strategy to solve the problem. however, reforming everything at once will result in massive unemployment so china must find the balance between speed of reform and sustaining the economy. >> that's a look at biz news. i'll leave you with the markets.

u.s. naval forces are leading more than 30 nations in a maritime exercise in the middle east. the drills include maneuvers to protect shipping routes against terrorists and other threats. on sunday personnel trained in the persian gulf simulating a scenario in which militants in high speed boats planted mines. troops practiced using an unmanned vehicle to investigate mines. >> by doing this exercise we can

help to mitigate terrorism. >> 6500 people are taking part in the exercise including members of japan's maritime self-defense force. it will continue until april 26. ukraine's prime minister has announced he'll be stepping down. he has been under fire for moving too slowly to fight corruption. he said in a televised address on sunday that he'll submit his resignation to the parliament on tuesday. he became prime minister after the fall of the pro-russian government in 2014 as a supporter of president petro poroshenko. recent polls indicate that the approval rating for his party has fallen below 1%. he survived a no-confidence vote in february, but some members of the ruling coalition voted against him. two parties left the coalition to protest the failure to oust him. more on the "panama papers"

revelation. british prime minister david cameron released a summary of his tax records following crcriticism that he benefited fm an offshore fund set up by his lalate faer. cacameron posted a report containing six years of income and tax records on the website of the prime minister's office. he said on thursday that he sold his shares in the fund at a profit of about $27,000 before becoming prime minister in may 2010. the records show that cameron has received no stock dividends since april 2011. an accounting firm notes on the website that cameron has no other taxable income or gains. from either the u.k. or overseas aside from what's listed in the report. cameron n also announced that h receceived a tax-free gift of around $282,000 from his mother in 2011. the gift will only become taxable if she dies within seven years of giving it.

british media are speculating that the money could have come from his father's offshore fund. they also say that the money may have been given to avoid inheritance taxes. now for weather here on nhk "newsline." fair weather prevails in tokyo but jonathan oh joins us to sell us why it was so gusty. >> reporter: we are seeing a couple areas of two differing pressures, one a high pressure system west of japan and then another low pressure system to the east of japan. and these two systems are powerful in their own right. when they're so close together we typically have very strong winds. because they're coming from the north, it made temperatures feel a lot cooler outside. winds gusting up to 95 kilometers per hour monday in fukushima. we are expecting this to change as we head into tuesday. the reason why is because the low pressure system will be pushing further to the east. high pressure will be the dominant force throughout the day tuesday. now, we are expecting the

potential for some snowfall, yes, as we go throughout the day on tuesday for the northern portions of japan. further down towards the south ststaying dranand sunnnny. clouds will be on the increase asas we go into wednesday becau of a stationary front down toward the south that's going to wiggle its way toward the north. that will bring the possibility of some additional moisture. now, that stationary front is also expected to cause a lot more problems down toward the southeastern portions of china we have more than rainy type season in place. when that occurs, we're going to see heavy rainfall. some extra force of moisture will come into play throughout the e next couple of days. some areas will be dealing with flash floodingng. 100 millimeters of rainfall in a short period of time as we go through the middle of the week. so be prepared for the possibility of very heavy rainfall. you also need your umbrellas. coming up on tuesday from shanghai to chonquing and hong conning and taipei, wet weather

and ulan bator wet weather. the rain should come back into the picture as we go to the middle of this week. as we look at the forecast for north america, we're talking about some very strongg thununderstorms that are rollin through the southern plainsns. look at these clouds. they just pop up on the screen. whenevever you have clclouds do that, it means we have unstable air in place. because of the unable weather pattern, hail reports, 42 of them, on sunday between north texas into missouri. the low pressure system will move to the north and east, but that's going to bring a lot more heavier rainfall, flash flooding possible into the deep south and severe thunderstorms expected and possible for places like arkansas and louisiana, be prepared and be on the lookout for this on monday. to the north, another low pressure system is rolling through and bringing in cold air. so along with moisture we're looking at the possibility of heavy snowfall.

so, just be on the lookout for a very wild weather day for monday depending where you are. further to the north into ontario and portions of quebec looking at snow. south into toronto looking at rain. and new york and washington, d.c. thunderstorms into oklahoma city and houston. rain to denver, and vancouverer looking for a chance for rain, a high of 13 degrees. wrapping things up with a look at europe. we have one low pressure system bringing heavier rainfall into the balkans and turkey. another low on shore for the iberian peninsula will range gusts of up to 110 kilometers per hour into portugal and spain monday. you need your umbrellas in paris. mid teens with thunderstorms through the day. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here is your extended outlook.

videos of reconstruction efforts are being projected onto the walls of buildings in the northeastern japanese city of miyako which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. a local npo launched the event

on sunday to show how the district of the city of iwate in the prefecture has been recovering from the disaster. members of the group pr45 project videos onto the exteriors of six buildings including some damaged b by the tsununami. the leader of the organization has visited ththe district more than 100 times to record the lives of the people there since the disaster. >> translator: i have been watching the town recover from the tsunami. i want more people to know about the town and come here to help revitalize it. >> translator: people in the video were full of life. i am glad to see that the recovery effort is moving forward. the displays will be shown in the early evening through april 17th. a wall for camaraderie and not separation. with that we conclude this hour's nhk "newsline," but stay

with us for more to come here on nhk world. ]ñ]ñ]ñíñíñíñéñéñéñéñéñ

genie: you are watching "france 24." i'm genie godula. here these are the headlines. u.s. secretary of state john kerry makes a historic trip to the city of hiroshima. he is the most senior official to have gone to the site of the atomic bomb hit in world war ii. fireorld in yemen, a news