welcome to nhk "newsline." hundreds of fighters trapped in the facility. many of them injured. ukraine is negotiating with mou moscow to get the wounded out in exchange for russian prisoners. russian troops are pushing to take control of south eastern ukraine. officials in mariupol says all escape groups had been cut-off. members shared images of their wounded and pleading for help. meanwhile the wives of the trapped fighters are looking for assistance from the vatican. they visited pope francis.

the catholic leader told them he would do everything possible to help >> as russian forces advanced in south. ukraine's military says it had recapture several towns in the northeast. ukrainian commander says a successful attack managed to drive back a cluster of russian troops. it happened in kharkiv, another ukrainian city devastated by weeks of russian bombs and artillery shells. the war in ukraine is having many impact on other cities, nhk

world reporting from moldova capital. >> reporter: industries and in dire economy. this week, the head of the u.n. meeting with refugees. >> moldova is in a very difficult situation. we need massive support. >> reporter: moldova is under russia's way for years. in 1990, the eastern region

declared independence. it is home to many ethnic russians and decided conflicts between separatists and moldova. russia has two stations there, calling them peace keepers. last month, a number of explosions in the region. >> translator: people are worried about tir family and worried of moldova. we must be consul >> he says they were meant to set the stage

invasi invasion. russia is threaten to cut-off moldova's main source of energy. moldova relied on russia for all of its natural gas. last month russia stopped their flow of gas. there is concerns it could make the same move. officials are rushing to find other sources. the war in ukraine is causing the price to rise. >> the main problem is the high price with the gas. we are -- let's say exposed to this situation in the gas

markets around the world of high prices. it is putting more strain on one of europe's poorest country where the war next door is casting dark shadows. nhk world. moldova. ♪ i the european union sayst wants to take a more active role in the indo-pacific. there was one of the main takeaways om thursy's meeting between japan's prime minister and eu leaders. european council says european commission president are in tokyo. they met with japanese president. russia's ongoing invasion of ukraine was a big focus. >> translator: japan will cooperate with the g-7 to impose

sanctions on russia. we will continue to support ukraine. >> he says they agreed to call on other asian and african nations for cooperation in responding to the conflict. he underlined the importance of the eu and japan's partnership. >> together, we are providing significant humanitarian financial and military support to ukraine and its people. we also present our operation to prevent the sanctions and combat this information. we are convinced those responsible for war crimes must be and will be brought to justice. >> security in the indo-pacific where china's influence is growing was also on the agenda for thursday's meetings. the three leaders agreed that

stronger ties will help to maintain a free and open region for all. >> the indo-pacific is a thriving region. it is also a theater of tensions. take the situation in the eastern south china sea or the constant threat of the dprk. >> this is the eu leaders' first visit to japan since they took office in 2019. she visited the peace memorial museum on friday.

people on an airliner in china have to evacuate when it veered off the runway and caught fire. the incident happened thursday in the inland city of -- it was about to depart the region when it ran off the rway. chinese aviation authorities say and nine crew members.engers they say everyone was evacuated but at 36 people suffered minor injuries. officials say the crew noticed an abnormality in the plane and aborted the takeoff. they sake the plane then left the runway and that part of it hit the ground. eu members in the country lift the requirements of people must wear face masks on planes as part of the measures for coronavirus. t the new measure will take effect starting next monday. the eu aviation authorities say the decision is bed on multiple factors including vaccination levels and easing of restrictions across european

country. its executive director says it will mark a big step forward in the normalization of air travels. travelers will be required to put on masks if requested by airline companies. many are easing or ending their mask mandates. france will lift their mask mandate next week. the rule will remain in effect in some places including hospitals. some of japan's row mote island in okinawa lack healthcare. not everyone in the region is comfortable with that. it stems from fierce fighting

there during world war ii. residents are sensitive regarding to the activity of any uniform personnel. as we see in this next story, the sdf is hoping to win their trust. >> reporter: late at night a phone call came into japan's self defense force based in naha requesting patient transport. personnel lift into action and in 15 minutes, the helicopter is ready for take off with two doctors on board. the services are essential to protect the lives of people on remote islands. nine years ago, kaori needed to do an emergency c-section

without a moment to spare. her baby boy weighs 500 grams at birth. he would have been in danger without the transport. >> my son was born safely because of the people involved in the emergency air lift. >> reporter: the transport program began in 1972. some residents worried deployment of the self-defense force even for medical purposes may set the stage for potential use in another war. >> ichi was in the sdf when they started the service. >> translator: we were proud of our residents by helping okinawa by transporting patients. >> reporter: because of local

opposition, the personnel would send to okinawa in a way that would avoid tension. >> on the day of my transfer, i received deployment in the morning, two hours later, we. >> reporter: in the air were in the air. >> translator: we focus our efforts on emergency air lifts to build trust with people. >> reporter: the mission can be dangerous, personnel have died in planes and hoelicopter crashes. >> we run more than 10,000 air lifts but i am not proud of this record. i believe the best interests of residents would be served by having adequate healthcare right

where they live. that way they would not need us. >> reporter: until then, personnel standing by ready for the next time the phone rings. we have some updates for our top story, japan's government says north korea fired what may be a ballistic missile. it landed in the sea of japan outside of japan's economic zone. north korea conducted missile tests every month since the start of the year. japanese officials are analyzing the latest launch along with their u.s. and south korean counterparts. it is time now for world weather. people in much of japan are bracing for extremely heavy rain and strong winds.

our meteorologist sayaka mori has the details. >> hello there. western japan experiencing torrential rainfall. the western island of japan experienced 210 millimeters which is more than a month of rainfall for may and heavy rain is shifting towards the east. this pressure system drifting along the coastal locations, we'll see intense winds as well as rainfall. for tokyo will be friday morning and another system moving into japan on friday into saturday. two rounds of stormy conditions. total rainfall into saturday morning could be up to 400 milliliters for western japan. meanwhile strong winds at texas, gusts reaching 140 kilometers in

the state. because of strong winds, an unprecedented scene was captured. take a look at this video. a huge sand storm hit amarillo, texas, on tuesday evening. videos posted on social media captured the amount of dusts which turned the clouds orange. it reduced visibility and made driving difficult. windy and low humidity conditions will cause a fire danger in and around new mexico as well as colorado and then there is a chance for severe thunderstorms in the northern as well as central places of the united states. minnesota had fiver reports of tornados and more tornados could happen in these locations. the reasons for bad weather is warm weather and cooler conditions behind it. it is more like february in

seattle on thursday. that's it for me, stay safe. that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline," thank you for

watching and do stay with us more for. ♪ this is newsline biz, i am gene otani. soft bank posts record of a net loss. soft bank says its net loss is 1.7 trillion yen.

the group promised investors many start uups overseas. the stock value kupan failed. a drop of $7 billion. >> translator: we were more carefully choose where to make new investment. this is a time where we should be conservative. >> the group's net income in the prooe previous fiscal year was almost 5 million yen. that was the highest ever for a japanese company. subaru announced plans to build a factory specifically for the production of electric vehicles. it will be the first automakers to have dedicated facility in japan. the factory will be in guma

prefecture. it is kpenexpected to start operating in 2027 or later. japanese automakers are using assembly lines to produce evs. subaru plan to invest $1.9 billion over the five years of ev production. >> translator: the market responds to electric vehicles have changed rapidly over the past year. there had been significant shift the last six months. >> the company is set to roll out electric models, developed by toyota later this year. it plans to use toyota's production facility for the time being. japan's current account balance was in the plus for fiscal 2021. surpl surplus shrunk for the fourth

straight year. surplus is 12.6 trillion yen or the trade balance turned in a deficit of about $12 billion higher import cost of crude oil the primary income to about $167 billion. an increase in dividends from subsidiary companies and the weaker yen from the dollar contributed to the surplus. a bank of japan document show, board members proposed a policy change and curving the weakening of the yen. the boj decided to maintain its money easing at a meeting last month. the policy includes unlimited purchases of government of bonds effective effectily on a daily . that action accelerated the

decline. it released a summary of the opinion from the discussions. one official says it is not appropriate that the bank change its policy with the aim of controlling foreign exchange rates. one reason is the yen's depreciation. the bank should maintain its monetary easing in a straightforward manner. they said this should if this continues, the price ability target is successfully achieved. the impact from the pandemic continue to weighs on china's autoindustry. the china association of automobile manufactures rolled off the lot of dealers last month and now it is down 48%

year on year. it was the second straight month of decline. april marks the biggest drop since february of 2020 where the company was experiencing the initial outbreak of coronavirus. lockdown disrupted supply chains and presented automakers getting to the factory. consumption is clearly declining. april sank to the lowest levels for decades. the situation is gradually turning for the better. companies are expecting may and june will make ufor the loss. russia's invasion of ukraine is sending wheat prices soaring. russia and ukraine together

account for 30% of global wheat exports. that may sound like an opportunity for farmers else where will but as nhk world reports is not quite simple. >> this is our farm and this is our wheat. >> reporter: nicole berg produces 2,000 tons of wheat a year. she had not been able to capitalize on it. the russian invasion of ukraine increase concerns of supplies from both countries may drop. with no end to the war insight, the situation is only expected to get worse. the united states seemed to be in prime position to make up the shortfall. it is already the world's second largest wheat exporter.

but, it was not just the price of wheat that shot up. fertilizers have been scarce, too. >> we saw the price of fertilizers going up before the ukraine war and now with ukraine and russia war, we saw it going up even more. if you don't have enough fertilizers too on it, your quality goes down. >> reporter: a ton of fe fertilizers now is more than $800 compares to 30$300 last ye. fuel prices also hitting the roof making it tougher for wheat farmers. the price of machinery skyrocketed since the invasion. berg says all prices are three

times. berg decided to visit fuel e efficient machinery to cut costs. >> family farms dongo out of business because of the rising cost. the russrussia/ukraine invasion affecting farmers. >> reporter: one expert says even if the war were to end tomorrow, we'll see wheat shortages for the next two years. >> in my opinion, this is the most uncertain, the most risk times that farmers in the united states have everfaced. both from a price standpoint and a production standpoint and from a financial standpoint. >> reporter: the world bank

warns for every one percent foot rises, the war in ukraine endangering people's lives far beyond the combat zone. ryu frank, nhk world. >> all right, let's have a look at the markets.

from the newsline biz team in tokyo, i am gene otani, thank you very much for being with us. q