♪ >> hello and thank you for joining us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan. we start here in japan where prime minister kishida fumio has just announced new sanctions on russia. it comes amid growing calls for moscow to be held responsible for the mass killings of civilians in ukraine. >> translator: russian troops have killed civilians, and have

attacked nuclear facilities. gravely violating the international humanitarian low. it is an act of war crime that can never be tolerated. such inhumane act needs to be held severely accountable. >> kishida said japan will support independent investigations by the international criminal court and the u.n. japan will ban the import of russian coal and some other products, including machinery and timber. it will also ban new investments in russia, and freeze the assets of the country's largest financial institution and its fourth largest bank. japan will also freeze the assets of an additional nearly 400 individuals and about 20 organizations. kishida noted ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy spoke to japan's diet last month, and calls for continued pressure on russia to end the violence.

>> translator: japan, with the other countries, we will not tolerate russia's outrage and japan stands together, stands with ukraine. we need to make sure that we will display our attitude through support from japan. >> now, leaders in ukraine are warning civilians in the east to evacuate as soon as possible as attacks by russian forces are expected to intensify. the ukrainians hope to avoid the kind of violence they have seen against civilians elsewhere in the country. deputy prime minister made an urgent appeal to residents on wednesday. the following day, the mayor of the eastern city of luhansk also urged residents to flee. he said the next few days will be the last chance. he he warned the russians are trying to close the evacuation route. in other parts of the country,

more details of the destruction are coming to light. the town of borodianka outside kyiv was one of the places hardest hit. ukraine's public broadcaster says around 13,000 people lived there before the invasion. it's now been almost completely destroyed. ukraine's prosecutor general said the devastation could be even worse than in bucha where images of dead bodies have shocked the world. russia's defense ministry said on thursday its forces had destroyed several petroleum storage bases. they were in the southern city of mykolaiv, zaporizhzhia in the southeast, and elsewhere. the western city of lviv is harboring around 200,000 evacuees. the mayor spoke to nhk on thursday. he said the city had accepted around 3,000 evacuees from the donetsk region on that day alone. >> we completely rebuild our school, theater, and thousand,

thousand citizens host refugees in home. food, clothes, medical supplies very, very difficult item. >> he said more temporary houses are being prepared for around a thousand people. western leaders accuse russia of killing civilians across the country in what amounts to war crimes. meanwhile, the president of russia's ally, belarus, said his country conducted a some operation to rescue belarusians in ukraine. president alexander lukashenko did not provide details on when orrer where the operation took place, or whether the military was involved. the u.n. refugee agency estimates at least 4.3 million people have fled ukraine since the invasion began six weeks ago. many have taken refuge in neighboring moldova. it is a difficult situation for one of europe's poorest countries. a team from japan flew there last month to assess what could

be done for the evacuees and the moldovan government. a team from the japan international cooperation agency, or jica, arrived on march 20th. the members visited evacuation centers, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities. on friday, they heldn online news conference to dcuss their findings. one member noted medicine imported from ukraine before the fighting started is expected to run short. another said the locals are worried more evacuees will flood in if russia escalates the conflict. the head of the team said the country's medical capacity is limited. some hospitals use equipment that's decades old. others face manpower shortages. >> i hope working with moldovan people and the people of ukraine and also other countries. >> as team members made their assessment, they also shared

japan's knowledge in the area of natural disaster response. jica says it will use the team's reports to help it map out how best to continue supporting the evacuees and their hopes. the invasion has prompted some ukrainian athletes to give up a symbol of their hard work. in our next report, we hear from an olympian who hopes selling his bronze medal will help support his embattled country. near constant bombardment, staggering losses, and the separation of families. he is one of many ukrainians who decided not to flee, so he could patrol the damaged streets of his homeland. >> if i want to stay in the country, i want to be useful. so, that's why i'm here in this uniform. >> before the fighting began, he spent his days training and

competing. at last year's tokyo olympics, the world-class athlete won the bronze medal in karate but he decided to give it up. he says of the 200 medals he won over his 19-year career, that was the most valuable. >> symbolizes every victory on my way to the olympics, and i want to sell it at auction to support my people at this difficult time. >> other athletes are doing the same. serhil won the gold medal in canoeing at the tokyo pa paralympics. he told followers on social media that he was selling it to help ukrainian people defending the country. that sacrifice was noticed in tokyo. watanabe was volunteering at the

games and felt compelled to reach out. >> translator: i told him, the gold medal may be out of your hands but it remns in your heart. i wrote that i would pray for his safety, and for peace in ukraine. he replied, we are holding on. >> having personally watched him celebrate as he crossed the finish line, watanabe has an idea of how much the medal meant to him, and she is sorry that it has come to this. but the athletes feel sure of their decisions. his 2-year-old son and wife are taking refuge in hungary. they hold onto the medal until it's sold. >> i understand that if we lose the war, i will not approximate happy with this medal. so if this medal can be transferred to money and in this

way, i can support my country. >> japan's defense minister has called russia's aggression in ukraine totally unacceptable. he made the remark at a meeting with his counterpart from the philippines. >> translator: killing of innocent civilians is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, and can never be condoned. >> he met with philippine defense secretary thursday in tokyo. they discussed russia's aggression in ukraine. they said they would not tolerate any unilateral use of force in the asia pacif region, and discussed defense cooperation. they also talked about cooperating on a free and open indo-pacific amid china's

growing maritime activities. beijing and manila have been at odds over territory in the region. people in shanghai are struggling to find food and other necessities amid tough coronavirus restrictions. officials confirmed over 21,000 new coronavirus infections in the city. the figure hit a new high for the seventh-straight day. most of the cases were asymptomatic. a lockdown has been effect in the city since march 28th. on thursday, authorities announced they would conduct mass coronavirus testing again. they did not say when they will end the lockdown. residents say it' boming more difficult to get food and other daily essentials. japanese nationals in the city are also voicing concern. some have contacted japan's consulate general to ask for help. staff in shanghai are working from home. they say they will provide support so japanese citizens can meet their daily needs. next, in a historic vote, the u.s. senate has confirmed

judge ketanji brown jackson to the supreme court. she will become the first black woman to serve on the top court. the senate approved president joe biden's nominee on thursday in a 53-47 vote. jackson will be formally sworn in this summer. confirmation was a historic s moment for our nation. we have taken another step toward making our highest cou reflect the diverty of america. the nine justices of the supreme courtake falecisns on sociallyivisive issues such aborti, gun contl,nd same-sex marriage. cuently,herere six conservatis and tee berals. jackson is seen as a liberal. she will succeed retiring justice stephen breyer who is also a liberal. the ideological balance on the court is expected to remain unchanged.

>> japanese baseball superstar ohtani shohei has kicked off his fifth season in the united states. it was the first time in major league history a starting pitcher also led off an opening game at the plate. now, ohtani and the los angeles angels face the houston astros last year's american league champs. >> go angels! >> fans are hoping ohtani will repeat his historic season last year. he started on the mound with a strike-out in a scoreless first inning. and at the plate, he hit the first pitch but grounded out.

ohtani allowed one run in the third inning but he struck out all three batters in the fourth. he had a total of nine strike-outs before leaving the game as pitcher in the middle of the fifth inning. in the eighth inning, ohtani hit a towering fly ball but his night ended without a hit. the astros beat the angels 3-1, and ohtani took his first loss of the year. >> translator: in my last at bat, i thought it might be a home run but i didn't hit it hard enough. i thought my swing was good, so i will focus on doing my best tomorrow. ♪

moving now to the weather. residents of southeastern australia, including sydney, have seen significant floods cover their region. our meteorologist jonathon oh has more for there and elsewhere on our world weather report. >> hello. we have been monitoring this pattern of heavy rainfall that's been impacting the eastern areas of australia over the past several weeks and once again into new south wales we are seeing some heavy rain into places like sydney and on the eastern side of new south wales. here is a look at some of the video to give you an idea of the situation. as sydney received nearly a month' worth of rain in just one day. devastating floods took place with roads in urban areas turning into rivers. a man has died in the southwe portion of sydney when his car was submerged and local media say a nursing home had to be evacuated and people in the area were advised to refrain from traveling. the story's not over, though. we are seeing more of the rain in place as we continue on into

saturday. this is the 48-hour forecast. notice, plenty of rainfall continuing to impact the coastal areas, so that's going to be part of the story. meanwhile, we are keeping eye out on this system continuing to move down toward the south. it is going to stall but it is eventually -- the remnants of it at least -- will make its way down toward new zealand so we need to be keeping an eye on that as we go into next week. in the meantime, the main portion of rain going from brisbane, sydney, also new caledonia in the area as we go into saturday. meanwhile, keeping an eye out on a developing system where we are looking at this tropical storm moving toward the north and it's going to eventually intensify, so that is the biggest concern here is it's going to eventually get stronger. looking at a typhoon by next week. and we'll see where it's headed but for the moment, it's going to be relatively out on the open waters. calm weather across japan and it is warm. it is feeling more like late spring, into even early summer some locations.

looking at highs to the mid-20s at places like tokyo. but look at this. near 20 in sapporo. coming up by the first part of next week, 25 by sunday in tokyo. and osaka, fukuoka, picking up some rain as we go into monday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> that's all for now on this edition of nhk "newsline." i i am raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard, so don't go away.

♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. japan's current account balance was in the black for the first time in three months in february. but its surplus shrank more than 40% from a year earlier as higher energy prices contributed to a trade deficit. finance ministry's preliminary data show the surplus was 1.6 trillion yen, or about $13 billion. the current account is a key gage of japan's trade and investment with the rest of the

world. the trade deficit stood at $1.4 billion due to higher import costs of crude oil and liquified natural gas. the primary income surplus widened from january to $18 billion. and that shows interest and dividends from overseas security investments. interest payments from u.s. treasuries were the main factor. some economists fear japan's current account surplus might shrink further due to higher prices of crude oil after russia's invasion of ukraine. the international energy agency has decided on its largest-ever release of oil reserves. the move is aimed at easing surging prices. the iea says its member states will tap an additional 120 million barrels over the next six months. they agreed on this amount last week. half will come from the united states. japan's amount is 15 million barrels. this is second time this year the iea has decided on a

coordinated oil stock release. the other time was last month. iea executive director calls the two emergency moves taking place a month apart unprecedented. he says they reflect a determination of member countries to protect the global economy from the social and economic impacts of an oil shock following russia's aggression against ukraine. the u.s. also plans an independent release of more of its stockpile. and the british government has published its plans for beefing up nuclear power generation to boost the energies that the country's energy independence. the new strategy comes amid a post-covid recovery of demand and soaring energy prices following russia's invasion of ukraine. britain will build as many as eight nuclear reactors by 2030. it hopes to source up to 25% of its energy needs from nuclear power by 2050. >> never again subject to the

vagaries of the global gas price. we can't be subject to blackmail as it were from people such as vladimir putin. >> the strategy also aims to increase production from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. japanese telecom giant ntt group has decided to stop using and buying software developed by russian cybersecurity firm. the group cited possible national security and supply chain risks as reasons, although it says it hasn't found any technical problems related to security. they have offices in over 30 countries worldwide, and has over 400 million users for its products, such as anti-virus software. the u.s. federal communications commission said on march 25th that it had added it to its list of entities that pose a risk to national security. businesses in the united states are barred from using federal subsidies to buy any products or

ntt group says the software it's currently using will gradually be replaced by other firms' products. now, the one-year countdown to the end of bank of japan governor's tenure begins friday. a weakening yen and rising prices will make his final year at the helm especially challenging. kuroda took office in march 2013. he is the longest-serving boj head. his policies focus on massive monetary easing, targeting, and inflation rate of 2%. observers say that japan could hit that target as early as this month due to surging commodity prices. but kuroda has hinted he will not exit from ultra loose monitor policy until wages and demand increase. that stance is in a stark contrast to other central banks. many have turned to monetary tightening to tame inflation, including the u.s. federal

reserve. the yen's weakening has accelerated as a result of these different policy expectation prolonged monetary easing in japan could weaken the yen and raise prices of imported raw materials. but a switch to monetary tightening would risk cooling the economy. kuroda faces a delicate balancing act. toy animation will resume releasing new episodes for broadcast on tv for the first time in about a month following a cyberattack in march. sources close to the anime giant say its internal computer system was apparently attacked by ransomware. the company said after the attack it had partially shut down its production system for investigation. the unauthorized access halted the airing of new episodes of four animation series. they included dragon quest, the adventure of di, and one piece. the company says it is not sure when its system will be fully restored, which is affecting production of the movie "dragon

ball super super hero." the movie was to be released on april 22nd, but has already been postponed. okay. now, let's take a look at what's happening in the week ahead. russia's invasion of ukraine is likely to cast a shadow on many of the gages due out next week. the first of those is the economic sentiment index for germany. europe's largest economy. april's zew indicator of economic sentiment, which tracks the mood of business experts is due out on tuesday. the key gage suffered a record slide in march due to the war in ukraine, and economic sanctions on russia. it plunged to minus 39 points from plus 54 in february. the biggest drop since the survey began in 1991. zew institute said a recession is becoming more likely. it noted that collapsing

economic expectations were accompanied by an extreme rise in inflation expectations. consumer prices in the euro zone rose by a record 7.5% in march from a year earlier. now on the same day, the u.s. consumer price index from march will be released. u.s. inflation jumped 7.9% year on year in february. that was the largest increase in 40 years, forcing americans to dig deeper to pay for rent, food, and gasoline. inflation is poised to accelerate even further as the conflict in ukraine drives up commodity prices. the u.s. federal reserve raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point last month in a pid to curb rising prices with inflation running at nearly four times the fed's 2% target, economists are expecting the pace of further tightening to accelerate this year. wednesday sees the release of japan's machinery orders for february. the figure is a key measure of capital spending. private sector machinery orders

excluding volatile orders for ships and from electric utilities fell by 2% in january from the previous month. that was the first decline in five months. the cabinet office maintained its view that japan's machineries are recovering but it added the downside risks are emerging. they include a surge in prices of resources triggered by russia's invasion of ukraine. and later in the week, there are central bank meetings in asia and europe. policymakers in seoul will announce their decision on the key interest rate on thursday. the bank of korea kept its base rate unchanged at 1.25% after the february meeting. that followed a quarter-point increase in january, which returned the rate to its pre-pandemic level. at the last meeting, the bank also upgraded its inflation forecast for this year to 3.1% from 2%. analysts expect the board to raise the base rate to 1.75% by the end of 2022. lastly, also on thursday, the

european central bank will hold a policy meeting. last month, the ecb decided to scale back its bond purchase program ahead of schedule. it could end sometime between july and september. the decision reflects concern that rapidly rising energy prices could drive up inflation. ecb board member says earlier this month that the bank planned to raise interest rates sometime after winding down its stimulus program. but policy tightening now risks crashing an economy that's already near stagnation as the war in ukraine saps consumer spending power and depresses business investment. okay let's get a check on the markets. ♪ ♪

>> that's it for "newsline biz" from tokyo. i'm ramin mellegard. thank you very much for joining us. ñgññgñgñgñpipúce■x■xo7ñ;ñ;?k

♪ you are watching al jazeera. a reminder of our top stories. ukraine says more evidence of torture and execution are being found every day in cities near the capital. moscow insists the atrocities are fake. new video shows captured russian soldiers being killed. the footage shows a man in ukrainian army fatigues shooting