you're watching nhk "newslinine." here's some of the stories we're watching this hour. hour. an historic address. a white house aide gives details of the preparations for barack obama's speech in the atomic bomb city of hiroshima. getting ready to vote. the japanese government has set the date for an upper house

election. kids age 17 and 18 will be able to take part for the first time. and fruits for their labor. they are changing the growing market to suit their area. almost one week has passed since u.s. president barack obama made a historic speech in hiroshima, japan. a senior white house aide has shared some details about obama's speech preparations. nhk world's chie yamagishi reports. >> 71 years ago, on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed. >> a handwritten excerpt from u.s. president barack obama's historic speech in hiroshima last week. it was p posted onliline by ama national security adviser ben rhodes. rhodes also posted about obama's process behind the speech. he said the president worked hard to make sure his speech

would be a broader reflection on what we must learn from history. he also said obama wanted to balance realism with idealism. >> among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without it. we may not realize this goal in my lifetime, but persistent efforts can roll back the possibility of catastrophe. >> reporter: some criticized the speech because it did not offer concrete steps for abolishing nuclear weapons. but obama's words resonated with many. including this atomic bomb survivor. >> translator: i told him in person the use of atomic bombs

was a disaster and a mistake for mankind. i was excited to hear the president's speech, stating what we should do to achieve happiness for mankind. >> reporter: a day after the speech, both realism and idealism were on people's minds. >> translator: the speech was great. it seems to be coming from the bottom of his heart. i think the most important thing is that people in hiroshima and japan believe in its ideal and pursuit of world peace. >> reporter: president obama called for a world without nuclear weapons. i'm not really sure if there is anything that he can actually do for that. but we better have hope in our minds. >> reporter: ben rhodes also

posted a picture of a message obama left in the guest book at the hiroshima peace memorial museum. it reads, we have known the avenue of war. let us now find the courage, together, to express peace and personal words, without nuclear weapons. this time obama chose a message of hope. chie yamagishi, nhk world. and people in nagasaki are already looking ahead to august. that's when they will commemorate the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombing of their city. they're adding new names to a list of victims who have died since last august. the practice started nearly half a century ago to ensure future generations remember all that was lost. takao morita is taking part for the 15th year. her parents' names are listed in nagasaki's register. >> translator: i will continue to do my job in order to pass on

to as many people as possible the tragedy of the atomic bomb, as well as the importance of peace. >> as of last august there were 168,767 victims listed. about 3,500 names will be added this year. the register will be placed in a cenotaph on august 9th. the japanese government has set the date for an upper house election. citizens will vote on july 10th. people aged 18 and 19 will be able to take part for the first time. candidates are allowed to campaign for 18 days. the government added a day to avoid a clash with the world war ii anniversary. one decisive issue will be prime minister shinzo abe's economic policy. >> translator: i am achieving

results, although it is still a work in progress. i am sticking to my fundamental position that we cannot achieve sound government finances unless we revitalize the economy. >> translator: it's obvious that abeconomics has reached its limit. we would change its policy. we would aim to make the economy grow and distribute the wealth. >> candidates will chase 121 seats and they'll try to win support from a new pool of voters. the voting age was raised this year from 20 to 18. that means 214 million more people on the election roll. we have more on the world of business. delegates from the 13 members of the organization of the petroleum exporting

countries are meeting in vienna. they're debating whether to set a freeze or a cap on production. some of them argue that action is need to do stabilize oil markets and support the revival of crude prices. but iran has previously indicated it wants to increase its output. back in april ministers from opec countries and five non-opec nations discussed f freezing prproduction altogethther. they failed to reach a deal. crude oil prices have been recovering since a wildfire ravaged an oil-producing area in canada. the price of ice brent crude oil briefly topped $50 a barrel. analysts expect the meeting to not reach an agreement on production control. they said that could cause prices to tumble again. checking the markets, stock prices in tokyo stuck on a stronger yen and at its lowest levels in more than a week. we go to the tokyo stock

exchange. phoebe? >> reporter: the prime minister shinzo abe was concerned about the delay of the hike. let's say investors wanted a clearer signal from abe. he talked about the order but didn't give any details. it is the biggest loss in a month, ending at 16,562 and the topics at 1,331. the united states dollar is lower in two weeks. the yen drags down exporters. the u.s. and european market sales are lower at 3%. tdk at 6 percent. honda lower at 4%, nissan 2

percent, toyota 1.49%. it will be interesting to see what comes out of the opec meeting held on thursday. i'm feeb oe a mrphoebe amoroso. the shang eye went from 29 to 25. it ended at a four-week high. sidney's s&p index declining by .83%. many marketers speculated the strong tdp amounts lowered it. the philippines retreating from yesterday's two-week high, dropping a half a percent. japanese government

officials want to accelerate work on a maglev train line. sources say they may offer a loan of about $27 billion to help finish the line much sooner than planned. officials with central japan railway company are already building the first part of the line from tokyo to nagoya. it's due to open in 2027. the line to osaka will open in 2025. they want to see the line as soon as possible. they're hoping the extra money will bring the schedule up by a total of eight years. the total? $80 billion. here's a look at other stories we're following. japanese government surveys suggest consumers are feeling a little bit more positive. the sentiment went up 38.9, up 1% since april. they say rising stock prices

helped, but they have not changed their view that sentiment is leveling off. the infrastructure fund market greeted the market just over a year ago. they're counting on the strategy of driving invesenent in infrastructure. the people at hitachi say they've designed an artificially intelligent program that can help bosses make decisions. engineers say the technology can analyze vast amounts of data in just minutes then offer a range of opinions that are free of human bias. the company plans to put the software into use by 2019. japan is known for its high-tech gadgets but not necessarily for being wi-fi friendly. but all of that is changing with the upcoming olympics and paralympic games. businesses are starting to embrace wi-fi and taking it to

another level. nhk reports. >> reporter: a home game in japan's professional soccer league for kawasaki, but the home team had their eye on another match. the game was being followed on smartphone and tablets. >> i'm watching our rival's game. if they lose andnd we win today we'll top the league. >> reporter: portable devices allow fans to keep track of what's happening in the league. kawasaki is the first team in the league to offer free wi-fi in the stadium. that has not added just smart reception but attractions. you don't want to miss a bit of the action. that technology is delivered right here to their seats. fans can now sit back and enjoy

the game with their meals. the clclub has set up tablelets their premium seats. fans check venues and order hot dogs, sodas and other snacks. a few minutes later, the food is delivered. >> there is a long line at the vendor. i don't have to go and line up, so it's very convenient. >> reporter: we want to establish what we call stadium businesses offering more entertainment for our attendees and boosting our profits. >> reporter: local cities are also using free wi-fi to reduce revenues. hiroshima's visiting president barack obama is one of them. tourists often visit the bomb sites. the city wants to persuade them to stay longer.

wi-fi has been put in popular tourist spots. they receive pop-up notices for other attractions when they access the service. visitors can also go to a dedicated tour website. they came to the spot after find tg on the website. >> it talked about how to get here with the siri, and we learned about the hoshima shrine and the other things we can do here. >> translator: we want to boost ththe local economy so we need e tourists to o do more sight-seeing. then they would stay longer. we hope our information page and the pop-ups will help do that. vo >> reporter: a manager at the telecom company that started this wants it to spread nationwide. >> as i said, it's an holistic marketing solution, not just an internet solution.

streaming the olympics is a good target for us. >> reporter: at japan's 2020 olympics approach, the future looks bright. that's a look at business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets.

the u.n. security council is condemning north korea's recent missile activities. it said in a statement that the north's repeated launch attempts are in grave violation of the country's international obligations under the council resolutions. the u.n. body also says the country is diverting resources towards ballistic missiles, even though citizens there are in great need. north korea is believed to have fired a missile tuesday that failed. south korean officials say it was a new type of medium range missile. the council is also urging all member states to fully implement tough sanctions against the country. in washington, u.s. treasury officials are moving to step them up to block pyongyang's funding for its nuclear and missile programs.

the u.s. treasury department declared wednesday the north is a primary money laundering concern. the move aims to cut off another financial option for north korea by barring u.s. financial institutions from maintaining corresponding accounts with the north. it's in addition to an existing ban on direct transactions. the department says the measure is aimed at further isolating north korea from the international financial system. it says it's essential for all countries to take action to prevent the country from a abusg financial institutions around the world. north korean leaders showed no sign of bending to the pressure. a high-ranking official has reportedly told chinese president xi jinping that his country will continue to develop nuclear weapons. ri song is the vice chairman of the ruling workers party. he met with xi wednesday in beijing. north korea's state-run news

agency quoted ri as saying last month party leaders addressed the issue. they made it clear that pyongyang's two-track policy of developing nuclear weapons, and the economy, will remain in place. the repoport also saysys ri tol that north korea will work to boost friendly ties with china. china's state run xinhua news agency repororted that xi reiterated china's position of seeking to denuclearize the korean peninsula. he told ri that beijing's stance is consistent and clear. more than a month after powerful earthquakes hit central japan, airports are finally getting back to business as

usual. all domestic flights resumed service thursday at kamomoto airport. >> translator: this is very good news. i hope we can r return to our normal lives as soon as possible. >> the quake damaged the terminal building and caused the ceiling to collapse. all airplanes were grounded for three days. since then, domestic flights have gradually resumed. international service is set to restart on friday, beginning with flights to and from kaoshung in taiwan. but airport officials say they still don't know when airplanes will be able to fly to hong kong and seoul. more and more japanese farmers are looking for export opportunities but they're finding pesticide opportunities are standing in the way of getting fruit abroad. the next story looks at changes they're making to growing practices to ensure their fruit is not forbidden.

>> reporter: premium strawberries are a specialty of this prefecture, and there is strong interest from taiwan. >> translator: this is really good. sales of japanese produce in taiwan are on the rise. >> reporter: however, taiwan has very strict import regulations regarding residual pesticide levels and rejected strawberries from this area in 2014. this farmer is trying a natural alternative to chemicals, tiny bees just 2 millimetres long. the bees lay their eggs in the aphids, and when the larvae hatch, they kill the aphids. however, he's hadad to come up with other pesticides, too, to make sure they don't harm the bees. >> translator: as a farmer, i'm nervous about changing the chemicals i use. i was worried about how it would turn out.

>> reporter: thanks to his rigorous efforts, the strawberries passed the stringent taiwanese import checks this year. across japan, local governments are encouraging farmers to export. the aromatic citrus known as yuzu has proved a hit in the eu. the prefecture host aid professional tour for french writers and pastry chefs. there was a demand for the fruit. mandarin oranges are another key crop in tokashima, but exporting them are not so easy. chemicals are used on the fruit to prevent damage by insects such as scale bugs. but eu rules on pestiticides ar also very strict. this year a special orchard was set aside to test chemicals that meet european requirements. the fruit received approval. but another problem arose.

for sale in the eu, all mandarin oranges must have their peel disinfected. local officials had to be mobilized to help wipe and dry each mandarin orange individually. >> translator: there is a lot of hidden labor involved. that's what we found out. it's hard because we don't have the know-how yet. >> reporter: just as industrial exporters have done in the past, japanese farmers are finding they have to adjust their practices to meet standards abroad. it's time now for the world weather. flood watches are in effect in southwestern australia. rain is on the way. >> reporter: sidney expererienc thee warmemest and fififth driry

on record, but with the start of june, they're expecting a delule of heavy rainfall. there are multiple systems moving into o the east in areasf australia. two systems expecteded to m me into the south a and into the carolilina coast b by sunday, s heavy rains and strong winds are anticipated. the sydney area may see up to 200 metres witith flash floods. the sydney festival is taking place which is the light event. the rain will start on saturday and the peak on sunday. as for the gold coast, the peak will be on saturday and will contntinue into sunday. as for north america, we have been talking about severe flooding in texas. ththe worst flooding is taking place in 100 yeyears.

at least nine people have been killed in flooding so far. more rain is expected in the eaststern half of texas. we're expecting 100 millimetres of rainfall for the next three days or so. the ground is very saturated. flooding is already taking place. rain will add to additional floods even further. dallas will see heavy rains continuing into your saturday. dallas will see clear conditions on your sunday, but austin and houston will remain on the wet side on your sunday. there is potential for thunderstorms across ontario and along tss cold front that will move into the eastern areas of the unitited states for the nex cocouple of days. there is a low pressure system near the mid-atlantic coast which used to be a tropical depression named boony, and this will continue to bring heavy rain to the north carolina coast. 32 in atlanta, humidity and high temperatures for washington, d.c. and across the west we have heat advisories and heat

watches. temperatures expected to rise as follows. 45 degrees on your friday in yuma, even rising to 46 degrees on your saturday. so watchch out for heatatstroke. take care of your health. across europe, france will see large hail and heavy rainfall. we have videoeo out of france t show the flooding situtuion. the river seinne and highways caused severe in undation in northern france. france has experienced the wettest month of may since records began 150 years ago. sesevere weather wil likelel happen across france and central parts of europe as we go into the next 24 hours or so. temperatures are going to be as follows. 18 degrees in paris, beautiful for the peninsula, but lquite ht

in oslo as we go into your saturday. wet and windy across the north, across the south as well, but in the middle, dry and geororgeous weather will likely continue in tokyo. here's your extended forecast.

that brings us to the end of nhk "newsline" for this hour. we'll have more for you the next hour. i'm minori takao. thanks for joining us.

24.ou are watching france around the world, these are the headlines. german parliament officially recognizes the world war i era massacre of armenians by ottoman forces as genocide. that vote could have a real impact on europe's ties with turkey. thousands of people are evacuated in france as flooding claims its first victim. the prime minister is touring the areas worst hit today.