♪ ♪ "newsline." beginning in eastern afghanistan, where humanitarian agencies are struggling to get help to areas devastated by wednesday's earthquake. at least 1,000 people were killed and survivors living in remote villages are running out of essential supplies. the 5.9 magnitude quake struck in the early morning hours on

wednesday. officials in the provinces estimate that more than 1600 were injured. people were jolted awake by the tremors. many were trapped when their houses collapsed. the afghanistan spokesperson with the u.n. refugee agency told nhk that aid groups are working in a dangerous environment. >> very remote, very mountainous. they've been heavily affected by war in the last 20 years, wi, you know, already we're receiving warnings of unexploded ordnance and other weapons. so our teams have been warneto be careful. >> he says he'aware of efforts to rush supplies like tents and blankets to sheltered earthquake survivors who have lost their homes. >> the amount of people in need will have increased. we still don't he an idea of the scale of the impact of this disaster, but clearly it's important that the needs are

addressed. >> the disaster comes as afghanistan continues to face challenges sparked by last year's taliban takeover, on top of decades of economic troubles. many afghans were already dealing with food shortages. the unhcr has called on the international community to come together to support them. u.s. senators have passed a modest but landmark package of gun safety measures. a string of mass shootings has reignited debate on the volatile political issue. >> the yeas are 65, the nays are 33. the motion to concur with an amendment is agreed to. >> it's the most significant gun control legislation to pass in almost three decades. next, the bill will head to the democrat-controlled house.

president joe biden called it the action families in texas and buffalo demanded. both are sites of recent killings. in uvalde, an 18-year-old turned a semiautomatic weapon on a elementary school, shooting 19 students and 2 teachers dead. the package would tighten background checks for gun buyers under 21 and make it easier for local authorities to take away firearms from people deemed dangerous. but it would not ban the sale of assault rifles. the tense political divide on the issue was underscored by a u.s. supreme court decision. the justices ruled that the constitution protects the right to carry handguns in public overturning a new york law that put limits on concealed weapons. friday marks four months since russia launched its

invasion of ukraine, since then officials in kyiv have been working to strengthen ties with friendly western countries. now they're one step closer toward gaining status as a member of the european union. >> translator: this decision i believe is not only for ukraine it's the most significant step which could be done right now toward strengthening europe. >> on thursday, eu leaders agreed to make ukraine a candidate for a membership in the bloc along with moldova. but the eu membership process can take years. >> the countries all have to do homework before moving to the next stage of the accession

process. >> the announcement comes as the invasion of ukraine drags on, much of the fighting is concentrated in the cities of severodonetsk. fend off russian ground strikes. meanwhile, the country's artillery units have gained a new tool in its arsenal, the delivery of mobile rocket launchers from the u.s., they can hit further and more precisely than similar artillery systems currently used by ukraine. the country has repeatedly called on the u.s. and other western countries to provide more advance firepower saying it's still outgunned against russia. the philippines has terminated talks with china over joint oil and gas exploration in the south china sea.

the country's foreign secretary cited concerns the project could undermine the nation's sovereignty. outgoing president rodrigo duterte signed a memorandum with chinese president xi jinping in 2018 on joint exploration. china later proposed a project in the philippines exclusive economic zone. one condition set by beijing was to put aside an arbitration ruling that rejected china's claim over most of the south china sea, but the two countries could not resolve territorial claims in the waters. the foreign secretary said that president duterte ordered the complete termination of the discussions. >> three years on and we have not achieved our objective of developing oil and gas resources so critical for the philippines. but not at the price of sovereignty. not even a particle of it.

>> the foreign secretary also called on the incoming philippine administration to protect the country's sovereignty. the president-elect is set to take office on thursday. separately, the philippines appears to be strengthening ties with japan. japan's air self-defense force and philippine air force have held joint drills. they are also aiming to build up a partnership in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance. about 70 personnel took part in exercises at clark air base. they practiced responding together to emergencies such as typhoons and volcanic eruptions in the philippines. members of the media observed the men training to use forklift

to unload cargo from transport aircraft. officials say they practiced parachuing supplies from an aircraft for the first time. they made clear more regular joint exercises will follow. >> translator: these exercises are the basis for working together in japan, the philippines and elsewhere in the world. >> security cooperation is of growing interest to the two countries. their foreign and defense ministers held their first two-plus-two meeting in april. officials in a city of western japan are trying to reassure nearly 500,000 saying they found usb drives containing their personal information. the drives were reported lost on thursday. the data covered all the residents of the city near osaka, being used by a company contracted by the city to dispurse pandemic subsidies.

one of the company's workers reportedly went out drinking and realized he had lost his bag after waking up on the street. >> translator: we sincerely apologize for misplacing important information and causing serious concerns for residents and the city. >> the ceo of the contractor says his employee cooperated with the police to find the bag. there's no evidence they were tampered with, he says his firm will strengthen its rules on handling data. people in northern japan have commemorated the two-month anniversary of the sinking of a

tour boat. it set sail with 26 people on board. 14 died and a dozen are still missing. in this next report, we hear what locals are doing to ensure this tragedy is not repeated. >> reporter: police officers prayed in the direction of the accident site. they spent the last three days heavily searching the waters again. the boat sank off the shiretoko peninsula in hokkaido in april. it was brought to the surface in may. japan's transport ministry then revoked the company's license to operate a tour boat over concerns that basic safety rules were not followed. two bodies were found in may in one of the russian-controlled islands that japan claims. the japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japan's territory. it says they were illegally occupied after world war ii. russian officials say the dna samples from the remains match those of a crew member and a passenger. dimitri sokov works at a nature

reserve and he found the bodies on the shore. he visited hokkaido's main island four years ago. >> translator: the twoslands are very close geographically, and i would say we are the closest of neighbors. i have great sympathy for the bereaved families. >> reporter: tour boat operators have created new safety guidelines in response to the sinking. operators from different companies must agree that conditions are safe and they have to be accompanied by another vessel. >> translator: it's best to have two boats to be prepared for any risk. we can feel assured when we know there's a safety system. >> reporter: he says he and his fellow fishers are ready to share their knowledge on the sea and weather. >> translator: i think the incident created an impression

that shiretoko is a dangerous place. it will take more than a year or two to get rid of such an image. but we'll make steady efforts to convey that it is safe to come here. >> reporter: he says everyone must work together so that tourists can feel safe enjoying the area's spectacular scenes. soccer's world governing body has decided to increase the maximum number of players allowed on each squad by three to 26. for the men's 2022 world cup in qatar. fifa says that's to better deal with the possible impact of covid-19 as well as the unique timing of this year's event, for the first time ever it will be held in the northern hemisphere winter, srting in

november. in addition, up to 15 substitutes will be allowed the sit on the bench, meaning all players in the squad is available to come on during a game. similar measures were introduced for other major events, including last year's pandemic-delayed european championship. weather officials are telling people in japan to get ready for an early blast of summer heat. don't worry about turning your air conditioners. the government says for now, there's enough power to go around. the industry ministry mapped out the supply of electricity for the next week, when temperatures across the country are expected to rise. for now, major utilities say they can handle it. but the government says, if temperatures rise to once in a decade levels, supplies will be tight. it is best to call on the public's health to save power next month for the first time in seven years. that includes things like

switching off lights when you don't need them and not overdoing it on the air conditioner. while much of the nation prepares for scorching heat, heavy rain is pelting japan's north. parts of hokkaido got a sudden downpour that officials are concerned about mudslides and flooding. one city got more than 45 millimetersover rain in just one hour on friday morning. people in the north and kushu in the west are also in the weather system's path. elsewhere, people are seeing the start of that unseasonably warm weather >> translator: it's hot. when i was walking i just couldn't stop sweating. >> temperatures in parts of western and eastern japan are already topping 35 degrees celsius with more heat on the way. it's time for world weather with our meteorologist -- with

more on the heat expected across japan in the coming days. >> hello there. they're experiencing sweltering hot conditions, the high rose to 37.1 degrees. beating the all-time record. tokyo, 33 degrees, hottest temperature of the season so far. we'll see conditions getting even worse into next week. for example, kumagaya's high could be in the mid-30s for every day into next week. 33 degrees on monday. to avoid heat stroke, drink plenty of liquid, of course not alcohol, stay out of the sunshine and wear light-colored clothing. meanwhile we're seeing heavy rainfall hitting northern japan, even record-breaking heavy rain is hitting parts of

hokkaido. it's the monsoon season for the southwestern united states, many lightning strikes were detected in california. take a looat this footage. eyewitness footages shows numerous lightning bolts in hollister, california, on wednesday. local reports say there have been more than 66,000 lightning strikes in southern california, between wednesday and thursday morning. typically, the north america monsoon season continues until september. so more thunderstorms expected for southwestern united states, but temperatures are going to be on the rise in seattle, finally the high could be 27 during the weekend in seattle. dallas could see dangerously hot conditions for the next couple of days. sacramento will stay in the mid to upper 30s every day through the weekend.

that's it for me. stay cool. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." from tokyo, thanks for watching

and stay with us for more. ♪ ♪ ♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. consumer prices in japan rose by more than 2% in may from a year earlier. higher energy costs were a big factor behind the increase. the internal affairs ministry says the consumer price index, excluding fresh food, gained 2.1%. the figure stayed above 2% for a second-consecutive month. it has been on an uptrend for

nine months. the soaring price of crude oil continued to pressure the index and combine energy costs surged 17%. electricity bills jumped almost one-fifth and gasoline was up 13%. overall food price rose 2.7%. cooking oil by one-third. it mainly uses raw materials imported from abroad. ministry officials say a trend towards higher prices for everyday items like food continues. they will closely monitor the situation as some food producers are planning to raise prices. the bank of japan has set an inflation target of 2% in a bid to pull the country out of deflation. the boj officials warns that current price rises are not as beneficial to the economy because they are not accompanied by increases in wages and consumer demand. a major japanese maker of housing fixtures will raise

pri pricing for some of its products starting in september. lixil cites the rising cost of materials such as aluminum, copper and plastic resins. the prices will increase by 27% on some items. that include toilets, kitchen fittings and entrance doors. lixil says the weaker yen and high shipping costs are forcing its to charge more. their domestic rival is taking similar steps. they are planning to raise prices on toilets and kitchen sets from october. the world's contract ship maker has opened a research center near tokyo. they make chip materials and equipment. contributed about half the funds for the roughly $275 million project. >> this cooperation for more

innovations that are essential in the global industry. >> japan's knowledge to accelerate research in the field. research is intensifying. crucial for communication networks and self-driving technologies. governments around the world are heavily investing in chips to enhance their economic security. the financial group have announced it will acquire a stake in japanese online banking giant sbi holdings, the megabank will invest $590 million to form a capital business alliance. it will make the largest shareholder in the sbi. the two companies plan to expand their digital security

businesses. the companies say they plan to develop integrated digital services for individual customers, they'll have a signal app for bank transactions, credit card payments and online securities trading. sales at japan's department stores continue to rebound in may. they rose for the third-consecutive month. the japan department store association reported a 50% jump from years earlier. sales were brisk for luxury goods like precious metals and jewelry. the figures were driven by a marked increase of shoppers during the spring holiday. it was the first vacation period unaffected by the government's covid restrictions since before the pandemic in 2019. a government survey shows that one in four japanese companies allow their employees to stay on the job until they are 70 years old.

the labor ministry poll asked 230,000 firms with 21 or more workers about policies concerns older employees. the survey was conducted in june last year. it found that 25% of the companies had introduced systems, enabling employees to continue working until that age. nearly one-fifth of all the firms allow workers to stay on past their designed retirement ages. 4% abolished retirement altogether. about 2% raised their working age limits. an increasing number of japan's elderly remain in the workforce as the population ages. and a labor shortage grows more severe. a new law allows companies to do what they can to keep workers on the payroll until age 70. ♪ ♪ let's take a look at what's happening in the week ahead. first, there will be a g7 summit

in the u.k. leaders of the united states, britain, japan, among other g7 nations, plus the european union, will hold a three-day meeting in germany from sunday. u.s. president joe biden is expected to launch a global infrastructure partnership to counter china's belt and road initiative. white house national security adviser jake sullivan said last week the u.s.-initiated partnership will provide an alternative to what the chinese are offering. beijing is increasing its influence in developing nations from asia and europe through infrastructure investment projects. on monday, the bank of japan will release a summary of opinions by their board members voiced at a policy meeting last week. they decided to maintain the current monetary easing. the boj's stance is in sharp contrast to tightening measures by other major central banks around the world that's meant to

tackle inflation. the increasing dvergence has caused the yen to decrease among other currencies. japanese consumers were already facing higher prices, a trend that's been made worse by the weaker yen. pressure is mounting on the central bank to change course to curb the currency slide. analysts will be watching to see if policymakers express such a view during the meeting. toshiba will hold its shareholder meeting on tuesday. the troubled conglomerate has been locked in a number of battles in recent years. now, it has another potential headache on its hands. one of toshiba's external directors has objected to the nominations of two activist hedge fund members in the board. the director said that the board already has activists and investors, adding more investors could

undermine its impartiality. the list of nominees will be put to a vote next week. thursday sees the purchasing manager index for june. the industries for manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors plunged in march and april, due to the country's zero-covid policy. both recovered somewhat in may but remained below the 50-point level, indicating a contraction. in shanghai, a two-month lockdown has been gradually easing since june. but some restrictions remin in place and factories are still not fully operating. economists expect it wl take some time r businesses to return to normal. also on thursday, the u.s. commerce department will release a personal consumption expenditures price index for may. core inflation is watched by the u.s. federal reserve to determine policy. it has come down from a multi-decade high indicating price pressures eased slightly. the fed decided last week to raise its benchmark interest

rate by 0.75%. that's the most aggressive hike in 27 years. investors will be looking for any sign of inflation accelerating. that's because fed chair jerome powell left the door open to another big rate increase at the meeting in july. let's have a look at the markets. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks very much for joining us. x e

gaining ground in mali. ♪ host: this is al jazeera, and these are the top stories. the taliban government has appealed for international aid after afghanistan was hit by its deadliest earthquake in 20 is. -- years. >> entire villages have been brought to the ground. assets are frozen. it is done whatever it