hello, and thank you for joining us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan from tokyo with the latest from this hour. business elites and oligarchs are prompted to leave the country, according to a thenn intelligence update.

work is under way to criminalize speaking out against the invasion and the state. the report says migration applications suggest 15,000 russian millionaires are her tryi already trying to leave the county, and in an attempt to escape financial sanctions. russian force are focussed on sievierodonetsk, the last stronghold in the eastern region of luhansk. more than 500 people, including a few dozen children remain in shelters at a chemical plant. and the constant shelling and fighting ma fighting makes it impossible for them to escape. president zelenskyy is digging in his heels. meanwhile, japan is providing

loans. ukrainian finance minister says the money will be used for essential public services. russian president vladimir putin is scheduled to deliver a speech at an international economic forum in st. petersburg, friday afternoon. it comes one day after the leaders of france, germany, italy and romania met with zelenskyy in kyiv and pledged their continued support, including military aid. a senior u.s. official has announced an initiative to boost engagement with pacific island nations. it comes as china is also seeking to expand its influence. >> white house indo-pacific coordinator curt campbell told a u.s.-based think tank his country will partner with like-mind govnments. >> to make sure of an

environment that's open, healthy, productive and free from coercion. >> the initiative involves strengthening maritime domain awareness through multi-national surveillance, including the use of satellites. last month the leaders of japan, the u.s., australia and india met in tokyo for the quad summit. they agreed to provide technology and training to pacific countries facing maritime problems such as illegal fishing. it comes after china's top diplomat recently wrapped up a tour of island nations. beijing will continue to seek closer ties. china has launched its third aircraft carrier, and it's said to be the most technologically-advanced yet. it was put into the water friday at a share moceremony a a shang dock. it allows the pnes t carry a

mo extsive weapons load as wells external fuel tank. it will be able to launch a variety of aircraft. this is necessary to project naval power at a greater range. they have already deployed two aircraft carriers. both are now in service but are smaller. they employ the so-called ski jump style to launch aircraft. it's expected to take several years before one of them goes into service. china has been building uppity naval capabilities as part of the goal of creating a world class military by the middle of the century. beijing continues to step up military activities in the taiwan strait. and taipei is showing off an armored fighting vehicle. reporters were invited to the factory that builds the clouded leopard.

the eight-wheeled vehicle can hit a top speed of 100 kilometers per immediahour. the officer in charge of the program said it shows taiwan's ability to develop an effective defense system at home. >> translator: taiwan needs to become self-reliant in its defense capabilities. the recent conflict between russia and ukraine has made that clear. >> the taiwanese president wants her government to move away from reliance on foreign arms imports. in particular, much of their military vehicles are supplied b by the united states. seven navy russian vessels were spotted off chiba

prefecture near tokyo. it included destroyers and frigates. the fleet sailed southwest, about 180 kilometer from the prefecture. the ships traveled south wednesday, about 280 kilometers southeast of hokkaido in northern japan. five of them were spotted in the same region last week, too. the ships are believed to be part of a massive naval by russia. officials say the same two ships were in japan's south earlier this month and passed through the strait of nagasaki prefecture to reach the sea of japan. in other news, the first meeting of a u.n. treaty to ban nuclear weapons will take place in austria next week. but japanese representatives will not be there, even as observers. nhk spoke with a government

official about the commission which has angered atomic bomb survivors. it was adopted in 2017 and entered into force last year. it's the first international agreement to make the weapons illegal. but the world's nuclear-armed states have not signed the treaty. others that rely on the so-call the nuclear umbrella including japan, have not joined either. japan announced they would not send a representative to the meeting, despite repeated calls from hibakusha or atomic bomb survivors. a foreign ministry official says the government is focussing on what he called realistic approaches on disarmament. >> we have to remember that to achieve a world without nuclear weapons, we will need the cooperation, involvement of nuclear weapons states. we have to remember that tpnw, none of these tpnw states are

party to this treaty. >> the official says japan is encouraging countries to ratify other treaties to achieve a nuclear-free world. they include bank on nucles on material. >> it has to be based on the confidence and trust with its ally, the united states of america. >> they will send a representative to a separate event in vienna next week. they had host the conference on the humanitarian impact on nuclear weapons. authorities in shanghai

lifted most coronavirus restrictions earlier this month afterwo months of a strict ckdown. now china's economic powerhouse is lurching back to hivlife, bu the impact of the shutdown is lingering here in japan. >> reporter: there's a small stock of air conditioners left at this appliance store in tokyo. and it probably won't last long. there's big demand for the units before the summer arrives. >> translator: it's been hot, so customers are coming earlier than normal. >> reporter: the condition had 100 units on hand, five times its normal stock. but they're almost sold out. >> translator: i've never seen our inventory showing zero before. >> reporter: the company says the issue stems from the world's largest port in shanghai. the city's two-month lockdown

called a backlog of tens of,000 of shipping containers. and that's led to dee halays ar the world, even in japan. >> translator: even if we order add new stockpile i don't flow when it would arrive. >> reporter: these onions are destined for restaurants in tokyo. they are peeled in shanghai. the lockdown stop production and the price rose 40%. >> translator: our customers are asking how long price also stay high. but i don't know. >> reporter: there's also an impact on domestic products. the price hikes for chinese onions caused a surge in demand for japanese ones. their price has doubled, frustrating customers.

>> translator: i'm using fewer onions than before. >> translator: i often use onions when i cook. i hope the price will go down soon. >> translator: this won't only affect onion, but also other products. there could be a lockdown again. and this situation will repeat itself. i'm worried about that. >> reporter: for now, experts will see a slow return to normal. they say it's hard to predict the future, with china's zero covid approach. >> translator: we are gradually the decision to leave china, because that is happening. it will take time for the chinese supply chain to return to normal.

>> reporter: he says, unless china changes course on covid, life could look a lot different, including on store shelves around the world. yo nhk world. turning to north korea where people are grappling with another outbreak. intestinal conditions have affected 800 households as of tri. the ruling party's newspaper reported the outbreak on thursday. the newspaper does not name the disease or reveal its symptoms. south korea's yonhap news agency suggest it is could be typhoid or cholera. it was reported friday leading party officials including kim jong un's younger sister are sending medicines to households in the affected area. it is putting further strange on north korea's health care

system. they continue to report thousands of covid-19 cases each day.

southwestern japan are staying on alert for floods. our meteorologist jonathan oh explains the situation in our weather report. >> hello. we have been seeing some pretty heavy rain that's been impacting okinawa as the rainy season front continues to rehasn't in t the area. some locations like naha, we'rary going to continue to monitor this because we're looking at the possibility of heavy rain as we go throughout the weekend, especially for southern kyushu. we're looking at the possibility of seeing heavy rainfall that could be a concern. so those of you living in the area, make sure you know about your evacuation plans, keeping in mind ahead of time in case something should happen. we're looking at heavy reain.

it's feeling like early july, and it's still the middle of june. it's going to remain dry in toerk yoe througho tokyo through the weekend. notice near 30 degrees in tokyo and osaka as we go through the first part of next week. contrast to that, it's dry for the southwestern areas of the united states. that's also causing wildfires. a smoke twister was spotted near flagstaff. and over 800 hectares of land have been burned. a man has been arrested. in angeles national forest, fires began wednesday afternoon and burned about a tenth of a hectare.

but we're seeing here a huge jet and three helicopters dropping retardant and trying to contain the blaze. but, you know, the weather is not going to be helping out at all, continuing to remain dry in the area. so be on the lookout for that. eastern portions of the u.s. seeing active areas and the heat remains as we go through friday. hope you have a good day wherever you are.

and that concludes this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan from tokyo. coming up next is "newsline" biz

with ramin mellegard, so please, stay with us. this is "newsline" biz. i'm ramin mellegard. staying the course. that is the conclusion that bank of japan policymakers came to when they wrapped up their two-day meeting on friday. policymakers have agreed to keep their benchmark in negative territory. and will continue asset purchases to hold long-term rates around 0%. it is in contrast with other

central banks around the world which have been tightening policies to control inflation. the governor has said we stay the course. now the decision follows one made on thursday by the swiss national bank. it defied investors' expectations by announcing its first interest rate hike in 15 years in an attempt to stop prices from rising further. the boj's decision to further accelerate the yen's slip against the dollar. >> translator: the boj will firmly support the economy by persistently continuing monetary easing. >> occur okuroda said it was im for it to stay in line. it is making it difficult for companies to draw up their business plans.

that it is necessary to pay close attention to currency market trends and their impact on prices in japan. and the yen remains volatile against the dollar in tokyo. after the bank of japan said it would keep its monetary easing policy in place. the japanese currency was traded between the 132 and 133 levels on friday morning. it weakened to the 134 level at one point after the boj announced its decision. the slide is the result of a widening gap between interest rates in japan and the u.s. that disparity is prompting investors to dump yen-denominated assets in favor of higher yields on the greenback. indications by the federal reserve that it will use rate hikes to curb inflation is causing speculation that the gap will grow. the benchmark finished below the 26,000 mark for the first time in more than a month.

investors are worry thied that monetary tightening could put a brake on the global economy. the nikkei finished at 25,963, down 468 points from thursday's close. investors unload shares across a wide range of sectors with the index briefly drop more than 700 points. and delegates from around the world have wrapped up a ministerial world trade organization conference in switzerland. they've emerged from several days of tough negotiations with deals on a range of subjects. reesentative from me than 160 countries and regions met from sunday through friday morning. high on the agenda was food security. it's an issue that's taken on ad added importance since russia's invasion of ukraine cut off shipments of grain to ports.

they also agreed to draw up rules it to ensure that all countries get fair access to coronavirus vaccines and medicines and they made efforts to regulate fisheries, considered a major factor in overfishing. and japan's government is planning a huge subsidy for a factory being pibuilt in the country pby the world's largest contract chip maker. the aim is to ensure stable chip production inside japan and boost economic security. >> translator: this is only the start of true challenges that are sure to follow. the governmen will wor with local officials and relevant ministries to see that the plant takes root in the region and achieves sustainable growth. >> tsmc is building the plant in

kumamoto prefecture, western japan together with sony and denso. they aim to start production in december 2024. and officials at toyota motor say a parts shortage is forcing them to suspend operations at some assembly lines in japan in june and july. 11 line at seven plants will be affected. one is in aichi, central japan. and another is toyota motor in miyagi prefecture. theuspensions will last no longer than 11 days. the toyota officials say they're having difficulty getting parts from suppliers in shanghai where many workers are off the job due to the coronavirus. the production of about 40,000 vehicles will be affected. the officials say toyota will make about 750,000 units in japan and abroad in june. that's down by 50,000 from the original target.

now shanghai's virtually lifted its strict coronavirus lockdown on june 1st. but toyota's operations are still affected. the car maker says it will continue efforts to deliver as many vehicles as possible to customers by analyzing its parts supply chain while avoiding sudden production cuts. okay. let's take a look at what's coming up in the week ahead. we'll start with how prices at the cash register have been moving in both the uk and japan. on wednesday, the uk office for national statistics will announce the consumer price inflation for may. it rose, up from 7% in march, britain's highest rate on

record. japan's may consumer price index numbers will be released on friday inflation in april excluding fresh food jumped 2.1% from a year earlier. that was up for the eighth straight month. the soaring price of crude oil was the major factor. 2% inflation has been the goal ever since he took the helm in a 2013. the target has never been achieved in what he describes as a sustainable and stable manner. now we will also see key gauges of business sentiment from the european single currency block and the world's number one economy. the eurozone's index will be released on thursday. the index fell to a four-month low of 54.8 in may, down from

55.8 in april. while the headline measure was still indicative of economic growth across the euro area, it highlighted a lauoss of momentu. it was the result of a softer service now on the same day, the u.s. composite pmi for june will be released. signal a signaling a solid but slower increase. it reflected slower increases in manufacturing and service sectors amid hikes and supply chain disruption. on friday, data for new home sales will be released for may. april saw the number slide 16.6%

to a two-year low, the fourth straight month of declines. higher mortgage rates and record prices squeezed first-time buyers and people in search of entry-level properties out of the housing market. but the slow down is likely to be limited by record-low inventory. the federal reserve is raising costs to tame inflation. housing sales is the segment rt economy most sensitive to interest rates. 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 watching. ■x■xñcñcñcñcw

>> this is al jazeera, and these are the top stories. a suspect has confessed to burying two men who went missing in the amazon. body parts have been found. the two went missing within a week ago. we have been following the latest developments from rio de janeiro. >> one of the two suspects, the one they detained more recently, he confessed.