welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm yamaguchi hiroaki in tokyo. it has been more than three weeks since the attack of russia into ukraine. russia's defense ministry says on friday promoscow forces are

taking its encirclement of the city. the information had not been confirmed by ukrainian officials. rescuers scrambled to pull survivors from the rubble of this bombed theater where hundreds of people had been sheltering. 130 survivors have been rescued. up to 100 explosions a day forcing more and more people from here homes. the mayor of the western city of lviv says missiles hit the city near the airport on friday. a senior u.s. defense official says the russians are trying to improve their ability to attack kyiv from afar. the pentan offial says the russians have moved artillery unit from the rear to join their advancing elements. the official also says there are

signs that russian moral is dragging, troops of shortages and fuels and other supplies. meanwhile negotiators from both sides continue to talk by a video link. ukraine is demanding an immediate cease-fire and withdraw of russian forces. both parties are believed to be discussing a framework to ensure ukraine's security without the country joining nato. pescov said on thursday negotiators are ready to work around the clock. vladimir putin's close aide urged u.s. officials to exert influence on kyiv nin order to achieve speedty progress in negotiations. russia also targeted many hospitals in ukraine. the endless bombings made it

impossible to get a growing number of injured people out. an unprecedented crisis and w warning some of the i mages in this story may be disturbing. >> reporter: it was a brutal attack that wounded 17 people. russia's military shelled a maternity hospital in the city of mariupol. an injured pregnant woman emerged and she later died and so did her >> we saw people who died because of lack of medication and there are a lot of people inside mariupol and many people who were killed and injured and

they are just lying on the grou ground. it was a shocking description. he's worked for some of the world's most violent war zones like syria and south sudan. he says the humanitarian crisis in ukraine could be the worst in a century. >> the bombardment and gunfire and also shelling. in such condition, our medical humanitarian assistance facing huge challenges to provide our aid to the people in need. >> reporter: u.n. human rights officials say the attack injured more than 1200 people including 68 children. but they say the actual numbers are likely much higher because they can't get information from

places like mariupol. many of the injured could die without immediate help. >> aside from casualties and patients, tens of thousands of people relying on access of those hospitals who are deprived. >> reporter: countries haveeen urging russia to provide safe passage for aid and let people leave. that largely failed. civilians must be protected no matter where they are. >> those humanitarian corridors must not be used excuse for armed forces to attack civilians and hospitals and schools. >> reporter: a cease-fire could be the only way to help people now. those negotiations are ongoing.

he says it is a race against time. nhk world. japan is further opening its doors to ukrainian evacuees. the government says starting friday, it will accept any who applies. >> translator: we hope japan can provide people who fleeing severe conditions in ukraine with the government support they need. >> japan is speeding up and simplifying the visa process. one person can file applications force the entire group. people from ukraine will be exempted from rules requiring a negative covid test. a test

build al life in japan. in just the past two weeks, japan brought in 73 ukrainian v evacuees, all have ties to japan but that's no longer a requirement. the russian tv broadcast who interrupted the broadcast says she's not going anywhere. she held up a sign calling the news propaganda. osyvikova, h job allowed her to see wh's gng on. most russians can't. france offered asylum but she won't go. >> i am a patriot, i want to stay and live in my country with

my family. >> she's a mother of two, she hos her children will one day understand why she was compelled to protest despite the risk. ♪ peru constitutional court ordered the release of former president fujimori. he was a japanese decent credited for rebuilding his economy and improving security in the country after taking office in 1990. he also faced criticism for heavy handed rule. after retiring, he received 25 years prison sentence in 2010. he was been found guilty of commandeering civilian forces that killed civilians.

he had committed grave human rights violations. after the constitutional court, nullified the ratification on thursday. fujimori's lawyer tweeted the news would be delivered to the president. the 83-year-old had been repeatedly hospitalized due to heart disease and other heart problems. people in north eastern japan are still feeling the impact of the magnitude of 7.4 earthquake that struck off the pacific coast on wednesday. residents are preparing for rain and snow expected through saturday. in fukushima prefecture, people have been stalking up on water, more than 10,000 households in the prefecture are without service. and some are also busy repairing their quake damaged homes.

many have broken windows and falling roof tiles. >> translator: i am trying to cover the house as soon as possible, prevent rain water from entering. nobody can stop the rain. transportation had been widely disrupted. east japan railway says service is still suspended on some parts of the shinkansen bullet train. sendai airport was crowded with passengers flying to tokyo. >> translator: i usually take an airplane once a month, i am surprised because i never see such a long line of people. >> on friday, jr bus increased the number of trips from sendai to tokyo. all the bus seats are booked for the day and most are reserved for tomorrow.

last year, a book by american arthur introducing the people light and culture of a small town was published in the u.s. called "water wood and wild things," it had sold well and will soon come out in paper back as well. we went to find out more about the author and her fascination of life in japan. misty richards. the smell of cypress and sake permeates the air. >> for hanna kirshner, this town is not just her second home but it is her focus for her writing. from her first visit six years ago, she was captivated by the

lifestyle and craftsmanship she found there. now she switches her time between yanaka and new york. >> he meets will of the local artisans. takehito is a traditional wood churner. a traditional style. his product has a very contemporary feel. >> translator: i like to explore new techniques and materials but i never lose sight of my value.

>> how is it all connected and how is it apart of a community and a culture. >> for the last three years, kirshner has been visiting breweries to get a hand-on understanding of the way it is made. >> kirshner's work have encouraged him and given him a lot of encouragement in his work. >> in the u.s. business oftentimes think we have to make everything modern. people are more selective about what they replace, keep the part of the traditional way and where you need to or want to make an improvement. >> translator: although machinery is old, we can fix it quickly if it breaks. she told us this kind of flexibility is oneeason why

our brewery is great and that's given us more belief in what we do. >> matsura, he feels it kept his sake's brewing philosophy and the importance of treasuring every single grain of rice. >> coming here, in a lot of way felt like coming home and at the same time being on the biggest adventure of my life. >> kirshner plans to hold an event in new york to introduce the traditional culture that continues to evolve there. nhk world. it is time for a look at the weather with our meteorologist

sayaka mori. >> hello there. sunny weather completely spoiled me. having a wet and cold basis definitely tough. it is happening today. yesterday at 2:00 p.m., tokyo's highs was 22 degrees. it is more like mid winter on friday and heavy rain is pounding parts of the country. okinawa experiencing record breaking heavy rain for the month of march. sleet is falling in place like fukushima prefecture. those areas were hit by a strong earthquake the other day. continuing the north, 80 centimeters in the high elevation in tokyo. rain could continue into the morning hours and then there is a chance for thunderstorms in late afternoon.

7 for the highs and beijing. bangkok at 35 degrees. a santand sand storm hit one of driest places in the world. covering the area with a thick cloud. the storm caused more than 9,000 homes to lose power. in addition, roads wer blocked because of rain and hail in the region and 75 homesere damaged. talking about sand, sand from the sahara, sand from algeria covers most of portugal and spain and turning orange. hot weather expected many places in western europe, the warm weather will affect kyiv late this weekend and next week. that's it for me, stay safe. ♪

>> that's all for this edition of nhk u"newsline," thank you fr

watching and do stay with us for more. ♪ this is newsline biz, i am gene otani. policymakers decided on friday to keep the bank short term interest rate in negative territory and they said they'll continue buying government bonds

so the long-term rate stays around zero percent. the decision of downgrading the assessment of the economy. policymakers picked up overall but shown weakness in areas. one is rising prices for consumer goods. >> translator: inflation could reach 2% and stay around that level in while and certain periods after that. it depends on crude oil trends and the government's response for that. >> kuroda says the incree of pricing will hurt the budget. the bank's policymakers said another factor that's clouding the outlook of the economy is the conflict in ukraine. there is a lot of uncertainty how it will impact financial markets and commodity prices.

consumers in japan are starting to feel the pinch of inflation more acutely. key measure of prices and roads for the six straight months as people are paying more for gasoline and electricity. the internal affairs ministry says the consumer price index was up, 0.6% from a year ago in february, the gain excludes fresh food, overall energy prices surge more than 20%. that's the biggest jump in 41 years and is not fully facred in the impact of russia's invasion of ukraine. gasoline was up 22% and kerosene of 33%. food prices rose by 2.8%. groceries count for a large portion of spending by households. russia is under growing pressure to meet its debt obligation, this is while facing crushing western sanctions. moscow was running up against the deadline but finance

ministry official say they made good on interest payments on two bonds. the transfer have seen or have been seen as a test of whether the officials can keep up with their debt in the face of sanctions. the freezing of russia's foreign reserve could prevent them paying in dollars. they may have to pay in rubles instead. credit ratings animalysts say turning the term of payment will also constitute default. russia stepping up its sanctions around the country. the listing includes semiconductors and diesel engines. japan has spllapped a single ba on russia belarus.

it imported on export ban on more than 230 items in response to russia's annexation, crimea in 2014. bridge stone says a cyber attack hits its u.s. subsidiary last month. the incident prompted a temporary shutdown of its factories. the japanese company says bridge stone in america confirmed unauthorized access to itself i.t. system on february 27th. this was to contain any further dama damage. officials decided to suspend any operations for up to about a week. all since resumed operations. the breach involved ransom ware, it is looking into the incident with specialists, a group of

hackers had since claim responsibility. it uses malware for holding in ransom. the group dissemimated data that took from the bridge stone group. this hacking incident targeting auto supplies. it prompted toyota to stop its production around japan. denso receives threats from hackers, the firm is a major toyota supplier. they plan to revoke this certificate that hino motors need to manufacture a handful of its models. the move follows an admission by hino earlier this month that

fal falsified figures to get the fortification. hino replaced a key component in its duty engines and during the testing to inflate their performance. they say the truck maker also altered a setting and major equipment to give the impression that it is heavy duty engines were fuel efficient and hino conducted numerous fuel efficiency test on light duty model before picking the most favorably data. buses made with toyota and izuzu's hino engines have also been affected. the meeting is scheduled for next friday. let's take a look at what's happening in the week ahead. we'll see earnings results from a chinese tech chiegiant as wel

ascii indicators out of the u.k. and the u.s. china based tencent will release its earnings up to october and the full year of 2021. the firm is facing a potential fine that could be in the hundreds of millions of yuan or higher. financial regulators found that the wii ct pay violated china's regulations. president xi jinping sa administration have been stepping up measure on major high-tech firms since 2020. alibaba was fined a record of 18 billion yuan for antimonopoly violations. t the cpi rose by 5.5% in the 12

months of january 2022. up slightly from the annual 5%. this is the highest yearly cpi rate on record. housing and household services are responsible for rising prices of gas and electricity pushing inflation higher and on wednesday, the u.s. department of commerce will announce new wholesales for february, sales of single family houses in january fell 4.5%. record low inventory on homets. demands expected to remain strong even as mortgage rates rise, that means affordability will be further eroded especially for first time buyers given the high prices. >> we'll see key gauges from business sentiment from the u.s. and germany later in the week.

the u.s. compensate purchasing managers index for march will be released on thursday. the figure for february was 55.9 up from 51.1 from the prooeevio month. the latest data signals a sharp expansion of business activity, regain momentum at many manufactures and service providers. a sentiment report for europe's biggest economy. it rose 98 points in february. up from 96 points in january. companies more satisfied with the current business. there was an improvement in the german economy. the escalation of the crisis in ukraine remains a risk factor.

and from the newsline biz team in tokyo, i am gene otani, thank you very much for joining us.

let's get around up of our top story. mariupol, a theater destroyed. the number of casualties is not yet known. russian rockets hit a convoy fleeing the city earlier, injuring five people. the u.s. embassy in says russian forces have shot several ukrainians. the international court of justice has ordered russia to immediately cease military