hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." we begin in afghanistan. authorities there say the number of people killed in wednesday's earthquake now exceeds 1,000. that number could grow as the search continues. an unknown number of people are still believed to be trapped under debris. the magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurred in the eastern

province. authorities in a nearby province told nhk that an estimated 1600 have been injured. >> translator: the earthquake hit around 2:00 in the morning. it was too dangerous. we left home immediately. a lot of people were injured. >> rescue crews have been digging through the rubble of clay brick homes that collapsed from the tremors. u.n. agencies, such as the world health organization and the world food program are preparing to send relief goods to the affected area. but a senior u. official said efforts areeing hamred by theoads. >> the roads are poor in the best of times. so putting a plan in place is gog to be immediately to the area, to the region.s

i think thas going to be probably one of the big challenges. >> u.n. officials also say heavy rainfall has made rescue operations by helicopters difficult. it's also create add risk for landslides. the area has a history of seismic activity. a major earthquake in 2015 killed around 300 people in eastern afghanistan and neighboring pakistan. an international media watchdog has accused russian forces of murders a ukrainian journalist. reporters without borders says it has evidence that freelance photographer matt levin was executed in a forest near kyiv back in march. two others, including a bodyguard, were also killed. the organization says it submitted its findings to ukrainian authorities as well as the international criminal court, which are looking into

alleged war crimes. russia has consistently denied that its troops are targets civilians and journalists in ukraine. lithuania's prime minister says her country is following eu rules by denying the transport of russian steel and other metals into the exclave of kelininglad. >> any talk of a blockade of kelining l. kelininglad is a lie. >> it is a key strategic hub and the headquarters for the russian navy's baltic fleet. on land, it's

way the denial of goods violates oinl la international law, russia says. >> translator: appropriate measures are being worked out andill be taken in the near future. the consequences will have a serious, negative impact on the >> he says russia should increase security along its northwestern borders, adding that sweden and finland's recent bids for nato membership are also a threat. a human rights group in myanmar says more than 2,000 people have been killed since the military sized power in a coup last year. the assistant association for

political prisoners reports that a total of 2,007 civilians have died as of wednesday. myanmar's military seized control in february last year and detained a number of pro-democracy leaders, including aung san suu kyi. they have since continued with a violent military crackdown on citizens protesting against the coup with regular reports of shootings and beatings. the human rights group says many deaths are reported in a region in the northwest where fighting continues between the military and pro-democracy forces. the u.s. embassy in myanmar highlighted the civilian deaths on twitter on wednesday and said, quote, the military's nationwide inhumane atrocities committed against the people o burma underscore the urgency of holding its members accountable. unquote. the number of civilian deaths in the military crackdown continues to rise despite international

appeals for an end to the violence. the asocial of southeast asian nations has been trying to mediate between the junta and pro-democracy forces by sending a special envoy to myanmar. saudi arabia's crown prince has visited turkey for the first time since a saudi journalist was murdered there four years ago. his visit is seen as an effort to mend relations and draw a line under the murder. saudi crown prince talked with president erdogan. relations deter yait relations deteriorated after

jamal khashoggi was murdered. he's due to talk with president biden who has criticized saudi arabia's the first meeting of state parties to a u.n. treaty that would make nuclear weapons illegal is wrapping up. delegates are set to adopt an action plan aimed at bringing on board nations that are not part of the agreement. a draft of the plan calls for a group of scientific experts to be formed to deepen the understanding of the inhumanity of nuclear weapons. it also krincludes support for people who have been physically

affected by radiation from attacks or testing. the u.n. treaty entered into force in january of last year. so far, 65 states have ratified it. that list does not include any countries that possess the weapons or the nations they protect, including now we turn to major league baseball. japanese two-way star, shohei otani marked 13 strike outs as he earned his sixth win of the season. otani was starting pitcher and the designated hitter, batting second for the los angeles angels in a game against the kansas city royals on wednesday. in the first inning, otani allowed two hits in a row, but with two runners often base he lifted his career strike out

count to 300. that made otani the second major leaguer after babe ruth to post 100 home runs and 300 strikeouts. otani was dominant after the second inning, keeping command of both his fastball and breaking ball. otani tied his mlb career high of 12 strikeouts in the seventh inning. he added another in the eighth to set a new personal best of 13 strikeouts in a game. otani pitched eight inning, allowing only two hits and no runs. the angels won 5-0. people in japan's southern prefecture of okinawa are commemorating the 77th anniversary of one of the deadliest battles of worldar ii. more tha 200,000people, includin roughly one frth of the prefeure's residts, died

in tat matl of okina. june 2d 19 is recnizeds theinalay of organized confli between the japese imperial military and u.s. forces. on thursday, people attended an official ceremony at peace memorial park and observed a moment of silence. prime minister kishida fumio and other officials were among the 300 people who took part. >> translator: the horrors of war will never be repeated. i again promise to the spirits that i will stick to that resolute pledge and continue to make constant efforts to realize a world where everyone can live peacefully and happily.

>> kishida also acknowledged the long-standing frustrations from locals regarding the many u.s. military bases still operating in okinawa. he says the government will continue to try to reduce that burden. people also gathered at a different memorial site in the same park. this woman is 98 years old. during the battle, she surrendered to u.s. forces while hiding with 12 members of her family. >> translator: i am old, and this could be my last opportunity to come here, so i am sad. >> this man lost his grandmother and a aunt in the war. he attended a memorial with his grandchildren to teach them why peace is important. >> translator: i would like to come here again with my grand children. if you look at the situation in

ukraine, i'm struck by the tragedy of war. my grandchildren understand that peace is best. >> translator: i feel sad, because many people died in world war ii. >> elsewhere in the park stands this monday nuument called "the foundation of peace." the names of the people who died in the battle are engraved on that. names of the people were read for 22 hours a day this month. >> translator: by reading out every single name, we want everyone to feel the loss of these precious lives and also heed the calls for peace that come from okinawa.

>> one day after the start of campaigning for the upper house election, japanese nationals living abroad are casting their ballots. people living in south korea have a choice of paying a visit to the japanese embassy in seoul. it's one of more than 230 polling locations set up around the world. voters can cast two ballots. one for the last japanese electoral district they were registered in and another for the proportional representation system. as of tuesday, about 99,000 japanese citizens were registered as eligible voters across the globe. the overseas voting period differs by region but ends by july 4th. meanwhile, some voters living inside of japan also started to cast their ballots. they're ting part in advanced polling for those unable to vote on july 10th. during the last upper house election, over 15% of voters

opted to do so early. it's time for a check on the weather with our meteorologist, sayaka mori. it was quite cloudy here in tokyo but a different story in western japan where it was sunny and hot. sayaka has more in the forecast. >> the real summer heat is impacting western japan, although it's in the middle of the rainy season. 36. 36.1 degrees, making it a high for the month of june. so get ready. we are seeing a low pressure

system over korea. it has been bringing heavy rainfall. the rainy season started in south korea. the system will impact northern japan on friday and the sea of japan side on saturday. that includes ishikawa prefecture where strong earthquakes have occurred. it will be 34 in heatstroke is going to be a big problem. so refrain from outside activities during the heat of the day. and remember temperature inside vehicles can be quite high. so don't leave your pets and kids unattended inside cars. in southern argentina an avalanche kurd aoccurred and re operations took place. take a look at this footage. a woman who was injured in an

tuday.che has been rescued on th operation took seven hours in the middle of a snowstorm. the womanas skiing wit anothe person in the bk country when the snowslide occurred,eaving h unable to walk and had toe ten off b stretch. she was transported to a local hospital ralate at night. the southerly winds will push down temperatures over argentina and chile. the daytime highs are going to be 12 in buenos aires. do bundle up. that's it for me. stay safe.

and that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." thanks for watching, and do tsty

with us for more. this is "newsline" biz, i'm gene otani. south korea's government says air routes between kimpo airport in seoul and haneda airport in tokyo will reopen in the coming days. the passenger route has been suspended since march 2020 due to the pandemic. south korea's transport ministry said it had reached an agreement with the japanese side to reopen the route on june 29th.

there will be eight round trips or 16 flights per week. they plan to increase the number of flights. the transport minister says the kimpo-haneda route is a symbol of exchange between seoul and tokyo. they hope it will help revitalize travel between the countries. a japanese startup has announced a line of low-cost trucks. followfly says its new ev truck can carry a load of one ton and run about 300 kilometers on a single charge. the company plans to deliver

around 10,000 units to a logistics firm. it costs just under $30,000. the company says the price is low because it has no need to maintain a factory. it outsources assembling the truck to a chinese manufacturer. this business model is known as fablas but is unusual to see in auto makers. competition in the ev sector is heating up. hino motors will be the next to enter when it launches an electric truck later this summer. auto giant toyota stay will halt some production lines longer than expected next month

due to a shortage of parts caused by the coronavirus outbreak in shanghai. toyota initially said it would suspend lines at seven factories in japan for up to almost a week in early july. but it announced on wednesday it will extend that suspension at some of the line at two of those plants. the company blames the extension on the covid outbreak at one of its suppliers in china and has revised next month's global output plan downward to 800,000 vehicles, about 50,000 fewer than before. authorities in shanghai lifted the toughcoronavir coronavirus restrictions in june. other auto makers have halted operations, including super subaru and daihatsu.

an lcd company has released its latest line after posting losses avenue year f loss losses every year for the new line is made with more pixels than previous models and can produce images five times sharper than those of conventional smartphone screen. japan display hopes to brit monit bring the monitor to mass production by 2025. >> translator: we want to put out rots lots of new products a contribute to society in many

ways. >> japthey hope these new produ can become pillars of future growth. u.s. president joe biden has asked congress to suspend the federal gasoline tax for three months to bring down soaring prices. biden said he's calling on congress to suspend the tax through the busy summer travel season until the end of ep september. >> we can bring down the price of gas and give families just a littleit of relief. >> prices at the pump this month were 60% higher than a year ago, the highest on record. biden's support rate has been falling to the lowest level since i tohe took office. the federal gas tax is about 18

correct cents a gallon, but republicans and some democrats are skeptical. higher energy prices are just one factor fueling u.s. nation now at a 40-year high. both households and companies are feeling the pain. nhk world reports. >> reporter: stephanie lane is a homemaker in the state of pennsylvania. she lives with her husband and has four children. her family's only source of income is her husband's salary. they feel the weight of surging commodity prices. lane is acutely aware of so-called invisible inflation. >> i can tell you right now, the rolls have gotten smaller. >> reporter: people also call it

shrinkflation. combining the words "shrink" and "inflation." it's a hot topic on internet forums. an app even informs customers of price increases and helps them share information. the current wave of inflation is estimated to have pushed up u.s. monthly household expenditures by as much as $340 from last year. more people are trying to keep their heads above water. lane says she visits supermarkets less often. she instead goes to food banks where she can get items for free. >> oh, we've absolutely reached the limit of cutting down. i don't think there's anything else that we can cut back on. >> reporter: businesses also face tough challenges. this seafood wholesaler in san francisco is struggling with rising fish prices. fuel costs have doubled, so fewer fishing boats go out.

this means less fish is available. his company has been trying to trim costs. but it has had to raise its prices by up to 30%. he thousanow worries whether th price also hit sales. >> just try to get the best deals possible that we can pass along to our customers. it's definitely out of my control. >> reporter: companies using warehouses also feel the impact. tom which isener runs an event company. rents have nearly tripled. wisener says he can no longer afford the warehouse he had been using. he searched for cheaper alternatives and finally decided to store his items in three separate locations. he say it is now takes more time to transport his equipment so he

has had to decline some work offers. >> it's going to be a new world now. there's no such thing as what we used to, forget about it. we just have to adjust to the new reality is what it is. >> reporter: hopefully prices decrease sooner rather than later to decrease the burden on everyone. however, as long as this situation persists, people will have no choice but to continue adapting in their day to day lives. let's have a lack at the markets.

and from the biz team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks for joining us. kkkkkkkkcx

♪ >> this is al jazeera these are the top stories. state election officials have told the u.s. congress they were personally pressured by donald trump to overturn the result of the 2020 election. they testified in the hearing of the investigation into the january 6 insurrection into the u.s. capitol. reporter: what is notable is the lopsided balance of power. you had the president