hello and welcome to nhk news. we start in japan where the main opposition party is locking horns with the ruling coalition, only days before the current session comes to an end. the country's lower house has voted down a no-confidence motion against the prime

minister's cabinet. the constitutional democratic party submitted the motion on thursday. the party's leader criticized the cab fled for failing to take action against soaring prices that have dampened consumption. the prime minister says that he won a mandate in the diet. he says he wants to continue fulfill his responsibilities. the main opposition party submitted a separate no- confidence motion against lower house speaker saying that he's not fit for the position. they said that he failed to explain sexual harassment allegations. they also questions his remarks that criticized a government- approved electoral reform plan. the motion was also rejected with a majority. north korea's ruling workers party has opened a key meeting amid signs that country

may soon conduct a nuclear test. state-run media reported that preliminary meeting of the party's central committee began on wednesday. north korean leader kim jung un was in attendance. it did not state what officials discussed at the meeting. analysts are waiting to hear if pyongyang will talk about the u.s. officials say that it's preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test. >> the

reopened. komint or kmt chairman eric chu freighted the opening of the office in washington on wednesday. >> the tension era, we do need all the support from the world. especially from our friend in the united states. >> the office closed in 2008 when the kmt was reported they were aiming to lower its u.s. profile and engage beijing in a more conciliatory dialogue. the reopening comes as the kmt struggles to regain confidence having lost taiwan's last two presidential elections. the party wants to win back power in a future election by dispelling the idea that it's

softened its stands against beijing. >> doctors in japan could soon have another tool to tackle covid 19. the british pharmaceutical term astro seneca has applied for an antibody drug. officials say that it helps cut the death and prevent the onset. the drug is administered by injection. they want japan to give emergency approval. a clinical trial covered by more than 5000 people who did not have the virus, the drug cuts the symptomatic disease by 70%. another trial involving people with mild and moderate symptoms. they say that cut the risk of

severe symptoms and death by 50%. in the u.s. and europe, the drug has been approved as a form of protection before exposure to the coronavirus. an unusual outbreak of monkeypox continues to grow. the world health organization says there have been more than 29,000 cases in the world. >> the risk of monkeypox established in non-endemic countries are risk. we are concerned about the risk of this country for vulnerable groups, including children and pregnant women. >> no death has been reported so far. he says that countries will cases should make efforts to curb the spread such as tracking the travel of people

with monkeypox. >> monkeypox has only been seen in africa, but since the development to europe and the u.s., interpersonal contact is the main way that virus spreads but can be transmitted airborne droplets, too. they urge medical people to be careful. two children east people have opinion arrested for leaking a test online. the suspect took a picture of the math test on exam, sending it to a third party. it was meant for international

students. police say that the 22-year-old suspect passed the exam and enrolled in the university. the men were arrested on suspicion of fraudulent on trucks of business. the officials have not disclosed whether they admitted to the crime. nhk learned that tokyo and washington are making plans to hold their first two plus two economic talks this summer. the u.s. and japanese government are hoping to meet in washington on july 29th. participants will include foreign minister and economy strayed and min tri minister from japan. the secondary of plate blinken and secondary gina raimondo from the u.s. will attend. topics will include cutting-

edge technology such as semiconductors and climate change. the japanese government is keen to step up economic cooperation with the u.s. in part effort to create a free indo asian economic. women must make up at least 40% of nonexecutive board members or 33% of all board members. when two candidates of different sexes are equally qualified, companies will have to choose the underrepresented candidate. >> the agreement was reached between the eu council and the european parliament on tuesday. it is expected to be enacted after being approved by the council and others. the eu has set gender equality

as its goal, including closing the wage gap. women hold about 20% of the cabinet positions in france and just 8% in cyprus. the eu president said that diversity is not only a matter of fairness but also drives growth a innovation. a ward in tokyo conduct its first survey of the of the modern society has bedelved japan. one local government is looking for ways to bring them out of isolation. located on the eastern edge

of tokyo, edagawara is a residential known. local 0 officials say that roughly one percent of the people there are refusing to go outside. there is a survey conducted find out about the hikikomori. the ward's mass says that survey was about identifying people in need and finding out what they need. >> before, we didn't know who they were or anything about their situations. now, we can cover individual support. >> reporter: results showed that many of the majority of the hikimori need support, receiving treatment for ailment. but a third of them say they

don't want anything. a expert says he isaccident of any respond exhibit who responnt who says they don't want any help. >> we want to do what we can to help them. >> once a hikimori, she now overs a support group. she says that people need to understand that breaking away from socialization is a huge adjustment. >> they want to work but they're not ready for that mentally and physically. if they start working before being ready, they can get exhausted and unable to move. >> reporter: but now, the ward says it will keep in touch with

the residents providing access to its residence but not forcing them to do anything. it also says it will create an online community for people living in isolation to give them a space to talk about their issues and find support among others, ♪ ♪

it's time for world weather with our meteorologist. while wildfires are impacting spain, flooding rains are pouring through southern europe. >> the weather has been rough over central europe. in land, damaging lightning hit the area and also italy damaged large hail but that was a different in the iberian peninsula. a wildfire broke out on a spanish mountain side wednesday and forced dozens of residents in a nearby town to evacuate.

the blaze created a huge cloud of smoke that could be seen from 30 kilometers away. people had to help people leave the area while businesses had to take their equipment inside. strong wind are making it hard for firefighters to contain the brain as the fire spread quickly throughout the area and to make things worse, it's going to be even hotter later this week. this system which used to be alex will affect western europe and the iberian peninsula due to the wind from africa. it could be the first heat wave for spain. two tornadoes were reported in ohio and a lot of damaging winds hit the eastern united states and severe weather could affect the central plains and late-season atmospheric refer which is a plume of moisture

from the tropic could batter the pacific northwest. strong wind and rain will batter this area starting thursday. a dangerous and deadly heat wave is underway for the southwestern united states. temperatures could hit the 50 degrees mark in hot valley saturday. the highs could reach 5 degrees on tuesday.

and before we go, sightseers are flocking to a park in japan where lillys of the valley are in full bloom. the flowers began to blossom on

the hillside park outside of sa pporo late last month. the name means at a

time of high prices. kuroda made the original remarks in a speech on monday. opposition lawmakers and social media posts called it out of touch. they say that kuroda was unaware of the impact of higher prices. a company was launched to develop a digital platform in so-called smart cities. they are targeting cities. the companies say it can be used to operate self-driving buses and optimize customer track. the project offers tremendous growth potential that can be used anywhere in the world. >> any major city could be a candidate. we expect a very large market

once the technology is developed. >> smart cities utilize cutting edge technology to make communities more energy efficient and improve quality of life. mistui and kddi have already worked together to predict the movement of people using data and ai technology. inflation in russia remained high last month due to tough international sanctions imposed in response to the country's invasion of ukraine. on wednesday, the consumer price index in may rose 17.1% from a year earlier. food prices surged 20%. although the cost of living continues to arise, the pace of inflation slowed in april when the index jumped nearly 18%. a tech company is hiring

ukrainian engineers as a way to support people based in the country. about 15 employees worked there before the russian invasion, now, there is only one while others are working online from where they are living after evacuating. the company hired last month a ukrainian man and his japanese wife who have evacuated to tokyo. the couple will help i-3 design, recruit ukrainian it engineers to work online. ukraine is known for its number of high skilled professionals. >> creating jobs for talented young engineers in ukraine is one way that we can make a contribution. >> the company's president says he wants to continue

ukrainians basis. family sliced wood as food wrapper called kiogi. but, today, the conventional eco friendly approach is making a comeback. >> when you buy a rice bowl from this shop, you get a package in japanese red pine. the wood looks good and maintains moisture. it's ideal for oniri. >> kyogi is as thin as spliced paper and is said to deter bacteria. the city used to have a

thriving kyogi industry. however, plastic became pre- eminent and a number of manufacturers dwindled. only one such company remains in the city. the family has been in the business for 70 years. the machine is used that's been on the job for half a century. it turns lumber into thin slices of kyogi. adjustments are made to match the hartness of the wood and the amount of resins. >> even three of the sale pad have differences. i keep their characteristic in mind as i slice them. shippakura's son is lening the trade. >> i have not reached my

father's level of skill yet. >> hirikori has work with the office of tourism. he has come to realized the importance of kyogi to the community. >> the product that our family business turns out is valuable. i would like to make sure that future generations can enjoy it, too. >> hiroaki takes pictures of the protest and posts them online, a visual introduction to kyogi. recently, the city expressed interest in reducing kyogi to reduce plastic waste. the city happens to hold a national sporting event this year. the boxes will use kyogi.

>> i'm glad that our kygogi and i hope that we can keep the momentum going for many years. >> the technique and material may be wrapped up in the past but kyogi is being repackaged for an environmentally friendly future. let's have a weather.

these are the top stories now. the un's as the world must act immediately or there will be an explosion of child deaths in the horn of africa. 14 million bullard risk of starvation as the region deals with the worst route in 40 years. ukrainian troops are battling to defend an eastern industrial city. russia has sent more troops to encircle the area,ut