♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. we begin this hour with the latest developments in ukraine where fierce battles continue in the country's southeast region. russia's defense ministry is threatening to increase attacks on the capital kyiv in response to what it calls sabotage in its territory. a ukrainian military spokesperson said on thursday that neptune anti-ship missiles

hit the russian cruiser, causing significant damage. the official said a fire broke out on the ship and it began to sink after a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the vessel. >> translator: it shows that ruia warships can only go to th bottom of the see. >> the british defense ministry sa the cruiser served a key role as both a command vessel and air defense node. it says russia will now likely review its maritime posture in the black sea. meanwhile, ukrainian forces are putting up fierce resistance in the east. they say they destroyed a bridge to prevent a russian convoy from reaching where russia is believed to be massing forces. russia's defense ministry sd on friday that its cruise misses had destroyed a military facility near kyiv.

mistry spokesperson claimed that the facility wd to produce and repair anti-aircraft missile systems and anti-ship missiles. >> translator: the number and scale of missile strikes against targets in ki yef will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or sabotage committed by the kyiv nationalist regime on the russian territories. >> on thursday, governors said ukraine sent missiles across the border you but ukrainians deny the accusations. u.n. officials are still struggling to figure out how many civilians have been killed in ukraine since fighting began 50 days ago. the official count is inching closer to 2,000, but that doesn't include the tens of thousands of people ukrainians say have died in mariupol and other cities devastated by ongoing attacks. the intensity of the fighting

there has made it impossible to confirm those reports. the head of the u.s. central intelligence agency says the threat of russia using nuclear weapons in ukraine cannot be taken lightly. cia director william burns made the comment at a university in the u.s. state of georgia on thursday. asked whether russia could use nuclear weapons, burns said a potential use of tactical or low-yield ones by the country was a possibility. citing setbacks and military operations, he said that russian president vladimir putin could deploy nuclear weapons out of desperation. but burns added that the cia had seen no practical evidence so far that russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons. shortly after russian forces invaded ukraine in february, putin ordered his country's deterrence forces to be put on high alert.

u.n. secretary-general antonio gutteres warned last month that the prospect of nuclear conflict once unthinkable is now back within the realm of possibility. military experts have their eyes on north korea as the nation celebrating the birth of its founder. kim il-sung was born 1 so years ago. north korea sees the day as an important national holiday and, perhaps, an opportunity to show off its military might. ten years ago authorities marked the occasion with this parade through pyongyang. that was when kim jong-un delivered his first public speech as leader of the nation and its military. intention to return to major weapons tests. and analysts worry friday's celebrations could include

another ballistic missile launch or its first nuclear test in nearly five years. the u.s. federal bureau of investigation says two groups of north korean hackers are responsible for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto assets tied to a popular online video game. the fbi issued a statement on thursday identifying lazarus group and apt38 as the parties behind the theft. the attack was reported on march 29th and resulted in the transfer of $620 million worth of cryptocurrency. "the washington post" reports the attack targeted the online video game axie infinity. the hackers pulled off the heist by breaking into ronan, the underlying blockchain network that powers the game.

the lazarus group and apt38 are believed to be associated with north korea's foreign intelligence service. cyberattacks have become an important revenue source for the nation's nuclear and missile development programs in recent years. meanwhile, diplomatic sources say washington is pressing members of the u.n. security council to strengthen sanctions against north korea for its missile launch last month. the u.s. was strongly critical of the noh's launch of a new type of icht cbm class missile and suggested it would submit new sanctions in response. the sources say washington has now circulated a draft resolution to security councilmembers. the new measures would reduce crude oil exports to north korea to 2 million barrels annually, down from the current 4 million. they would also have refined petroleum exsports to 250,000

barrel annually. it seems unlikely the resolution will pass as china and russia, which are permanent members of the security council, want to ease sanctions against the north instead. japan's greenhouse gas emissions hit a record low in the first year of the pandemic, but experts say the drop likely will not stick. the environment ministry says japan released 1.15 billion tons of carbon dioxide in fiscal 2020. it represents seven straight years of declines. the government wants to cut emissions by nearly half within eight years. it's pushing both conservation and renewable energy. but the ministry says the drop it mainly because of a manufacturing slowdown caused by

covid. that means we can expect emissions to rise once the economy rebounds. singapore's governing party has picked finance minister lawrence wong as its next leader, paving the way for him to become the country's future prime minister. prime minister lee shien loong announced the leader on wednesday, saying they supported wong as the next leader of the action ministry party. lee says his views were not included. wong has helped manage coronavirus measures. the 49-year-old became finance ng is widel tippe to be go. singapore's fourth prime minister following the general election to be held by 2025. the people's action party has

ruled the country since independence in 1965. videos posted online show some shanghai residents scuffling with police who are reportedly trying to enforce an anti-coronavirus measure. many areas of the city are still under lockdown. the videos went viral on social media on thursday. they reportedly captured scenes in the pudong district in eastern shanghai. city officials had been setting up quarantine facilities. a local resident has told nhk that officials have urged occupants of some apartment complexings to vacate their units so they can be used for quantine. shghai residents have been angry and frustrated as the lockdown drags on. they complain about a lack of food and other necessities as

well as restricted access to hospitals. president xi jinping's leadership has repeatedly emphasized the zero covid policy but the city logged nearly 28,000 new cases on wednesday, a second daily record in a row. a young japanese artist has been winning fans around the world with the ultralife-like pictures he makes using colored pencils. he's even inspired some to take up drawing themselves, unlocking their own innate talent, as we see in our next report. >> reporter: animals, beetles, pets, they are so realistic, you'd be forgiven for thinking these are close-up photos.

in fact, they are all drawings, painstakingly done by utomi, a university student living in yamagata prefecture. his only tools are colored pencils and a metal stylus. each piece takes him around 25 hours to complete. >> translator: when i'm drawing in the fur and the eyes, i feel like i'm breathing life into the pictures. i really enjoy that. >> reporter: he first came across colored pencil drawing five years ago. he was fascinated by the beauty of the detail. his talent blossomed rapidly. last year he held a solo exhibition in his hometown, which drew around 4,000 visit ers. he has also been posting some of his drawings online. this one of a cat got more than 160,000 likes from around the

world. >> translator: no, that's a photo. >> translator: amazing. >> translator: the fur looks so fluffy, i want to touch it. >> reporter: recentlyotami has begun live streaming as he works. this woman and her daughter have been following from their home in canada. >> translator: during the coronavirus lockdown, we came across otom icht's work. it felt really exciting and made us want to take up penl drawing rsels. >>eporr: on this day, kana shared her drawing with otomi. >> translator: i hoped your work. what do you think? >> translator: wow, that's great. it's really large, isn't it? >> translator: she colored in the nose using your drawing as a

guide. >> translator: you must have looked at it very closely. >>ranslator: he's phrasing you. >> translator: i think people may have got depressed during the pandemic, confined to their homes. i hope more people can discover that pick up a pencil and drawing something can really lift your spirits. >> reporter: after he graduates from university, otomi plans to become a professional artist. so he can delight even more people with his ultra-realistic drawings. it's time now for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. typhoon is impacting southern japan's ogasawara islands. >> hello there, typhoon has been

hitting the ogasawara islands. this storm is actually the strongest april typhoon to hit the region on record. it's a very powerful one. it caused april records in many places. 167 kilometers for wind gusts, the record for the month of april, and 132 millimeters in 24 hours. still a typhoon, a large typh typhoon, packing gusts of 180 miles an hour. even though the center is leaving the owing saw what ra islands at this moment, the storm center is quite big. that means winds will continue into the next several hours. winds will continue, waves will continue, too. for the main islands of japan, even though it's far, however, tokyo could see strong winds, northerly winds, that's why temperatures are much cooler than normal. tokyo's highs were only 11 degrees on friday but it's going

to go up to the 20-degree mark as we go into sunday. beautiful weather on sunday. chichiijima will be recovering and highs in the 20s for the next three days. morioka, cherry blossom season started yesterday and temperatures will be climbing into monday. kyoto could see a return of rain on monday. sunday is easter and this is your weather forecast. rabbit town in alabama could see rain but easter, texas, see a beautiful day on sunday. rabbit ears, oregon, could have record lows. meanwhile, it will be a warm day in kyiv with a high of 20 degrees but it will go down to the single digits as we go into saturday. unusually warm conditions will continue to pound western europe.

♪ mountain route running through japan's northern alps fully reopened to tourists on friday. the tateyama kurobe links two

towns in japan. it reopened following a winter break. it stretches more than 37 difficult meters and contains roads, a ropeway system and cable car systems. uyi no otani is a popular attraction on the route. its signature snow wall is up to 18 meters high this year. the highest its reached in the past five years. >> translator: expected it would be about as high as the third or fourth floor of a building, but it seems higher than that. >> the route's operators says it's looking forward to seeing many visitors after a sluggish two years due to the covid-19 pandemic. the route attracted about 300,000 visitors last year, about 1 million people used to visit the site annually before the pandemic. and that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. thanks for watching and stay with us for more.

xxxx . this is "newsline" biz. i'm gene otani. the head of the international monetary fund told nhk the ukraine crisis has taken a toll on the global economy. she said it's downgrading this year's growth projections for 143 countries. managing director crystalline that gore gooef va exclusively spoke to nhk on

gor g georgieva. >> the ruworld has not yet recovered from the covid-19 crisis and now we are hit by the war. devastating for ukraine. very bad for russia. but also it spills over to countries near and far. >> georgieva said inflation is up. she called this a clear and present danger for many economies. she said the imf's downgraded projections account for 80% of global gdp. she also cited china's economic slowdown as a risk factor. china is struggling to cope with covid. she said it also faces real estate problems. these issues are holding back consumer confidence. >> we expect that china would take policy measures to prevent

further sliding of the recovery for the sliding of growth. they have already introduced easing of interest rates to stimulate credit, and we would see probably some fiscal measures. >> georgieva said the chinese government has the fiscal leeway to take such steps. the operator of japan's uniglo clothing chain indicated it wants to continue operations in russia depending on the local situation. fast retailing has 50 uniqlo retail operations, all have been closed since march in the wake of russia's unvags of ukraine. the company's head said operating there became difficult because of both supply disruptions and intensifying conflict. he said he strongly opposes war of any kind. the company's core goals are to

offer clothing to every people. >> translator: each company and each individual should do their best to realize a peaceful society. even in the current situation. with that goal in mind, we will continue to do business around the world and make efforts to contribute to economic growth and secure jobs. >> he said his company has made a donation of $10 million and an offer of 200,000 clothing items through the united nations to help ukrainian refugees. japan airlines has revised down its group earnings forecast for fiscal 2021. the move is largely due to weaker than expected demand for domestic flights as the coronavirus omicron variant spread. jal said it expects a net loss of $1.4 billion in the business year that ended last month.

that's about $250 million deeper than the previous projected loss. the company will likely be in the red for two consecutive years. jal also cut its sales outlook by around $660 million to $5.4 billion. people refrain from air travel in january and march. the government put many parts of the country under a quasi state of emergency. rival airline operator ana holdings is also forecasting group net loss of $790 million for the year. travel companies in japan have begun selling package tours to hawaii for the first time in about two years. the islands are one of the most popular foreign destinations for japanese tourists, but the tours have been suspended since early in the pandemic. travel agency jtb began taking bookings friday with departures from april 28th. airline group ana holdings is

also jumping back in. their first flights leave a day later. the japanese government lowered its travel warning for the united states earlier this month from avoid all travel to avoid nonessential travel. officials from the japan association of travel agents visited hawaii and concluded that the state was ready to accept tourists again. tourism companies say they hope to resume tours to other regions. a jewelry store in tokyo is seeing a growing number of people trade gold for cash as the price of the precious metal hits a record high in japan. gold futures on the osaka exchange hit 8,014 yen or over $63 per gram at one stage wednesday evening. it marks the first time gold has gone above 8,000 yen. gold is considered a safe asset. its demand has been rising as investors worry about the future of the global economy on the

back of russia's invasion of ukraine. a jeweller in central tokyo says it's seeing more customers come in to sell their gold. others are buying the metal with the expectation that its price will ton rise. >> translator: amid the ukraine situation, i think many people realized they need to do something to hedge inflation. or they simply want to diversify their assets. let's look at what's happening in the week ahead. we'll have figures to assess the chinese economy. the gdp growth rate for the first quarter will be released at the start of the week. and on wednesday, the country's central bank will announce its benchmark interest rate. china's statistics bureau will release the gdp figure for the january to march figure on monday.

the economy grew 4% in the last three months of 2021 compared with a year earlier. that was slower than the previous quarter. behind the loss of the momentum was the shrinking real estate market, a slowdown in the sector illed ove to industrs such as construction materials and housing equipment. the chinese government's zero covid policy also put the brakes on economic activity in the first quarter. a resurgence of cases was seen in various parts of the coury and that is expecte to affect theumbers to be released next week. on wednesday the people's bank of china will announce its interest rate policy. the central bank has kept the loan prime rate unchanged since january after lowering it for two consecutive months. the focus will be on weather officials will extend -- for the economy as it struggles amid the rise in covid cases and impact from the war in ukraine. other key events on the

calendar are also expected to be seriously influenced by the ukraine situation. on tuesday, the international monetary fund will issue its world economic outlook. higher energy costs have been affecting japan's economy. the finance ministry will announce the trade statistics for march on wednesday. the country post. ed its seventh straight monthly trade deficit in february, surging prices for crude oil and natural gas are driving up the value of japan's imports. energy costs are expected to keep rising. that's eroding profitability at companies and weighing on household budgets. on friday, we'll have the purchasing manager's index, or pmi, for april in the eurozone. the business survey measures the performance of the manufacturing sector. a reading above 50 indicates an expansion compared to the previous month. the eurozone manufacturing pmi

was 56.5 in march, slumping to a 14-month low. a rise in geopolitical tensions was mentioned as a factor, weighing on demand and affecting business confidence. inflation for input prices are the purchasing cost for manufacturers reaccelerated in march. it hit a four-month high amid surging commodity, fuel and energy costs. all right. let's have a look at the markets.

for the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks very much for being with us. o7ñ;ñ;?kñçñqñqñqñqññññ#ñ#ww ñn

purple and carrying crosses during their pilgrimage. ♪ anchor: these are the headlines at "al jazeera." three palestinians killed by israeli forces in the west bank, a 14-year-old boy included. forces have been conducting raids for five raids after palestinian gunmen killed multiple people. these pictures are outside ramada, where vehicles are pelted with stones. earlier, an appeal can be heard about a sentence for a palestinian held i