welcome to "nhk newsline." i am raja padran with the news from tokyo. we begin in seoul where japanese, u.s. and south korean envoys met for high-level talks. their focus, security on the korean peninsula. this comes amid growing concerns north korea plans to conduct a nuclear test soon. the group met friday morning. south korea's intelligence agency says pyongyang has completed all preparations and

is now just waiting for the right moment. this would be the north's first test since 2017. >> provocation, including a nuclear test is possible. we need to discuss in depth how we would respond to the administration. >> u.s. representative song kim is >> north korea has already conducted 16 missile test launches this year. the meeting of envoys is the first of its kind since south korean president yoon took office. it appears to be meant to show close coordination amongst regional powers against pyongyang's provocation. the u.s. government is once again slamming china, accusing it of detaining large numbers of muslims in internment camps. it estimates more than 1 million uyghurs and others have been detained in the region since 2017.

>> china continues its genocide and repression of predominantly muslim uighurs and other minority group. >> the department says china uses a.i. and facial recognition to survey and maintain control of an open-air prison. it also says beijing is continuing its crack down with buddhists with torture on the ones promoting their culture. china has yet to respond to the report. ukraine's president says one fifth of his nation's territory is now controlled by russia. the update comes 100 days into the war as moscow tightens its grip on the east as ukrainian military waits for a new supply of weapons. russian forces are trying to capture the last stronghold in the luhansk region. ukrainian officials say most of

the city has already fallen and that senseless shelling has ensured the occupied land is little more than ruins. >> translator: as of today, the occupiers control almost 20% of our territory, almost 125,000 square kilometers. this is mu larger than the combined areas of belgium, netherlands and luxembourg. >> zelenskyy says ukrainians are fighting a war of courage. he says the russians have lost more than 30,000 soldiers and that tens of thousands of ukrainians have been killed. but his forces still fight. they're stepping up their counter offensive,hose in the east and in the south. to keep it going, ukraine says it needs more support from abroad. and nations are answering the call. german chancellor olaf scholz has pledged to supply ukraine with state of the art antiaircraft missiles. he said the modern system can protect an entire city from

russian air attacks. the united states also promised more arms support, including long range rocket systems. that's despite warnings from russia. moscow has accused the u.s. and its allies of bringing more suffering to ukrainians by supplying the country with modern weapons. despite ongoing tensions with russia, the u.s. president says it's important to resume bilateral talks of limiting both countries' nuclear arsenals. biden stressed the point in a letter to the arms control association, a u.s. based private think tank. he said washington needs to engage with moscow on issues of strategic stability. biden said not since the cold war has it been more important to work towards nuclear de-escalation. fresh talks around strategic arms control began last year, after a summit between biden and russian president vladimir putin. they were aimed at moving beyond the two countries' nuclear reduction treaty which expires in 2026.

but the dialogue was end ed indefinitely after russia launched its invasion in ukraine. more kids killed by guns than on duty cops. how much more carnage are you willing to accept. how much is enough is enough? biden wants to see assault weapons banned. he wants them out of reach to anyone younger than 21. that's after reports, a shooter who killed 19 elementary students and two teachers, able to buy the weapons after his 18th birthday.

republicans have been against the move to restrict the rights of gun owners. those measures have been in

place since april 2020. government officials are now discussing a regular flight between the international airport near seoul, and hanada airport. japan's government has decided to lift an evacuation order for part of a no-go zone in the nuclear power plant. june 12th will be the first time residents will be able to move back into their homes since the 2011 disaster. 20% of the village was designated a difficult to return zone due to high levels of radiation. the prime minister made the decision to partially lift the order after meeting with officials on friday. residents of about 6% of the affected area will be allowed back in long-term. it will also be designated a priority zone for

decontamination and infrastructure development. >> translator: lifting the evacuation order for areas designated as difficult to return is important for fukushima prefecture's full fledged reconstruction and revitalization. >> >> they will do all they can to help evacuees return to their homes. 330 square kilometers near the fukushima plant remains a difficult to return zone. the war in ukraine has captured the world's attention with video images that document the devastation in real time. an exhibition at university in

tokyo looks at the conflict from a different perspective, the eyes of artists who are affected, including those from ukraine. nhk world's anastasia morocova reports on the ray of hope the exhibition seeks to offer. >> reporter: work by seven artists, including those from russia and belarus are on display at this exhibition at the tokyo university of foreign study. they include photograph, paintings and calligraphy. the exhibition was the idea of a photographer from ukraine who is based in japan. she came to japan in 2001. one of her recent projects was to photograph a traditional house. this got her thinking about the many in ukraine who have seen their homes destroyed or have been forced to flee them. it made her ask the question, what makes a home? >> translator: i really want people now ask themselves, what is home for them. people don't think about it when they take it for granted. when a person asks oneself the question, he or she begins to build some kind of plan of action. >> reporter: so home became a central theme of the exhibition.

the venue was chosen after some staff at the university viewing the war in ukraine from afar saw the need to get involved. a professor of russian literature is one of them. she was quick to offer her help in staging the show. >> translator: i cannot stop the war, and it seemed there was little i could do, but i had to do something. each person has to do something in their position. >> reporter: in a corner of the room, some colorful pictures caught my attention. these paintings are by an artist who is still in kyiv. some of her inspiration comes from storks and the traditional fork patterns of ukrainian embroidery. she's staying in kyiv with her family. she has not let the war slow down her work as an artist. >> translator: if i stopped drawing, then i think it's very

likely that something not good would happen to me. to survive, yes, that'first thing, but secondly, iave to find a way to keep myself sane. >> reporter: aloyna was born in kyiv but will to evacuate after the chernobyl accident in 1986. after almost 20 years, she moved back to kyiv. she hoped she would live peacefully with her husband and son and that she would continue drawing in the city she loves, but that piece has ended. when kyiv came under attack she started to draw storks in the colors of the ukrainian flag, blue and yellow. she sees the storks as offering a kind of protection for the city. >> translator: even during a time of war, creativity will continue. >> reporter: the fact is that artists do not give up. >> translator:y friends started to send me messas

saying thank you very much for supporting us with your work. your paintings are supporting us. they're like a beam of light. >> translator: this exhibition has shown me people there actually lost their homes. >> translator: i think it is good when artwork can encourage people to move on. >> reporter: artists who are reacting to the war in ukraine hope people in japan and other places will take their messages of peace to heart. nhk world. ♪

now, it's time for the check of the world weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. people in tokyo were surprised at a sudden burst of showers and thunderstorms on friday afternoon. jonathan, tell us the details. >> hello, at nhk in tokyo, we saw the skies getting dark and lightning flashes from time to time. we had thunderstorms roll through the eastern and northern areas of japan. looking at the satellite and radar, you see these areas of red popping up here and there. that's where we saw these thunderstorms firing up. here's some of the effects looking at the video, heavy rain as the sky suddenly getting dark over tokyo around noon, with many lightning strikes reported. authorities had to issue a tornado alert in the greater tokyo area because of it because of weather unstable over japan this week. thursday golf ball-sized hail

was over the prefecture, and also impacted by this as well. we are looking at the instability to be hanging around a little bit as that low pushes off toward the east. then we'll be dry for the day on saturday. then we go into sunday, and we have another developing system from the west, and from the west, pushing toward the east, we'll be seeing the rain picking up and then the bottom drops out with the temperatures here. tokyo down to 19 coming up on monday, so that's a little bit of a shock to the system, right. naha still in the rainy season, rain continuing, osaka picking up on the rain on sunday. keeping an eye on the system that used to be back toward the west or east pacific but now it's trying to gather itself together and move from the north to east. cuba and florida, keep your eyes on this, moving across this area the next few days, picking up strength with some of the stronger winds along with heavy rain.

you want to be on the lookout for that. up toward the north, high pressure in central areas of the west but developing system in the southwest. the northwest also on the wet side as well. coming up on friday. thunderstorms coming up on friday with a high of 16. that's a look at your forecast, hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪ ♪

before we go, over a thousand evacuees have come to japan. the group spent the weekend north of tokyo. before departing, they took

their traditional ukrainian meal using beet and they use sugar as secret sauce and vinegar to give the soup a deep, red color. some of the lucky locals got to taste test the dish. >> good. one of the students said it was a first time in months she was able to taste home. >> it brings memory from home. the students are now relocating to another meet kilometers away where they'll be studying japanese and settling in japan.

that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline," i am raja dran. coming up is ramin mellegard with "newsline biz." stay right there. ramin mellegard. now the aim iso enable businesses and other contents more easily.

the aim is to create a database covering all creative works in japan including cases where the right holders are outline known. people who want to use such works will have to contact the organization responsible for the database. the government is planning to submit the necessary bills to the diet in the session starting january. japanese government officials are pledging more support for the science and technology sectors. they say innovations across these fields will help navigate changes in global security. officials drawn up a strategy that commits a fund of 10 trillion yen or around $77 billion for the university for research and personnel training. the strategy identifies quantum and artificial intelligence of two key areas of academic research. it says the government offering more financial backing to get

start ups off the ground. it plans to secure as much as $920 billion from the public and private sectors by fiscal 2025 to support research and development at such firms. university researchers teamed up with city officials south of tokyo to launch a new recycling project. they'll turn discarded plastic items eninto products. >> a machine starts the process by breaking down. the 3-d printer use it to build a project. the idea is not just to cut waste but also promote awareness.

>> it would great if this gives people a better understanding of recycling so they take more care when celebrating their weights each day. the team in charge says from july, members of the public will be able to contribute their plastic waste to the project by doci depositing it in collection boxes. demand for air conditioners rises when conditions get hot. some manufactures say their production and shipment volumes have been affected by the global chip shortage and the coronavirus lockdown in shanghai. an appliance store in tokyo says many modelled could not be procured from wholesalers. the store is trying to keep 100 units in stock. that's five times more than the usual year. staff at the store do not know when the product will be

delivered. they see the possibility of running out the air conditioners once summer starts. it is hard to get new products, although we have placed orders but never experienced the situation like this in may or june. >> manufactures are advising people to test their air conditioner now to be the possible rush to a place repairing units. >> now therapy robots developed by japanese researchers and students are carrying ukrainian vevacuees. two facilities in poland will get a pair of the robot. the devices have been approved for medical use in europe. they plan to uses the robots to help lower stress and improve

sleep quality among evacuees. it was developed by industrial science located near tokyo. >> i am hoping this marks discussions of how to get involved with helping vevacuees not only in poland but other countries. the robot have been used to help the mental health of people who experienced large earthquakes in japan. a robot designed to rice paddies in japan. the one meter long robot is developed by adventure firm is solar power and moving by program for up to 10 hours. it turns the water in the

paddies and removing young weed. the robot is expected to be as kpes effective as the ducks used by some farmers. the owner of the paddies says he hope the robot will ease the burden of weeding. the advance technology should make farming fun and many encourage more people to take it up. >> let's look at what will be happening in the week ahead. now, on monday, apple will kickoff its annual event to share information with developers around the world. the tech giant plans the reveal updates to appear on this platform later this year. the conference will be held online as it was the previous year. developers will be able to join the five haday event for free. some can also get onon-one

guidance with apple engineer designers and experts. the european central bank will announce policy direction on thursday. the ecb is shifting away from easing stance in the face of rising prices. president lagarde gave some hints on may 3rd. interest rates will lift off from july and negative interest rates will become a thing of the past by the end of september. now, on friday we are going to see inflation numbers from the world's three biggest economy, the u.s., china and japan. prices are basically rising worldwide. trends are showing distinct differences by country and sector. japan central bank will release the price index for ppi in may.

data for april shows wholesale inflation accelerated, hitting a 41-year high. the weaker yen pushed up the cost of crude oil and raw materials. companies in people experiencing different kiepds nds of price t. japanese companies tend to be reluctant to hike their prices. doing so would result in sales. the u.s. labor department will release its cpi for may, strong c consumpti consumption. they rose 8.3% in april, hovering a four decade high. the pace slowed for the first time in eight months. the federal reserve paid more attention on expenditure than cpi. fed policymaker are currently in a battle against inflation.

the national statistic of china will release both cpi and ppi, surging global commodity prices so far had little effect of the country. the major driver seems to be covid-19 lockdown. consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in five months. analysts say likely because the lockdown. the index was 8% year on year in april, marking a 1-year low. the chinese government has been trying to stabilize prices. those efforts may have prevented inflation spikes. okay, let's get a check on the markets.

that's it for "newsline biz" from tokyo, i am ramin mellegard, thank you very much for watching. y>y>y>y>y>y>y>y>y>k ♪

>> these are the headlines on al jazeera at this hour, russia's accuse the united states of adding fuel to the fire, by supplying advanced precision guided rockets to ukraine. the kremlin says it does not trust assurances from washington, that the rockets will not be fired into russia. the 18-year-old suspect in the supermarket shooting in buffalo, new york is facing 25 counts of murder and domestic terrorism. he is accused of opening fire, killing 10 african-americans.