hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." a crew of divers will investigate whether sunken debris in southwestern japan belongs to a missing self-defense force helicopter. the especially trained team will use a vehicle to reach the wreckage on the seafloor. the job will confirm whether or not it's the missing helicopter

and look for any sign of its crew. it took off from okinawa's island with ten members onboard. it dropped off the radar about ten minutes later while flying over the sea. defense ministry sources say an underwater camera first caught sight of the debris. they say more than one set of remains may have also been spotted. north korea now says it sent up a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile on thursday. it reportedly used solid fuel that enables quicker launches compared to conventional liquid fuel. state-run korean central television showed pyongyang conducting the first test launch of the hwasong 18. the ruling workers party newspaper says the missile has

three stages. the first stage was set to fly at a normal angle. the second and third stage were set to fly in a different, more lofted trajectory. the newspaper also reported the first and second stages fell into the sea of japan. they say leader kim jong-un, accompanied by his wife and daughter, witnessed the launch. it says north korean leadership says the missile is a primary strategic weapon of deterrence. north korea displayed a missile that may have been an icbm in february. military experts point out that it's difficult to catch prelaunch preparations for solid fuel missiles. the u.n. secretary-general strongly condemned north korea's missile launch. antonio gutierrez repeat his calls for the north to comply

with u.n. resolutions. he also called on pyongyang to reopen communication channels. now, the launch sent some in japan looking for shelter. the government issued an alert saying the missile could hit the country, then it dropped the warning. this incident and more are raising questions about the alert system's credibility. and one expert is calling for improvements. nhk world's ishita arisa reports. >> reporter: it was a startling morning for people in japan's north, including tourists from taiwan. >> nervous. nervous. the first time i've received an emergency alarm. >> reporter: trains were brought to a standstill, and schools delayed classes. it was the second time the jay alert had been issued.

the government says it sent out a warning about 30 minutes after becoming aware of the missile. it was the first time the alert was issued on the assumption a missile could hit japanese territory. 20 minutes later the government said that was no longer a possibility. the prime minister says it was appropriate to issue the alert. >> translator: the decision was made on the basis of prioritizing the safety of the public. >> reporter: there have been multiple problems with the system. in october a missile warning was issued to nine municipalities in tokyo's island region in error. the next month the government issued an alert that a missile was believed to be passing over japan. it later corrected itself saying nothing had flown over. >> if rth korehad launched a missile to impact japanese territory, the flight time must

be less than ten minutes. there is not enough time. >> reporter: this military expert said that means tracking it and telling the public in time is difficult but still important. >> the government must improve its information gathering and cooperation capabilities to enable more accurate ballistic calculations. >> reporter: he says with north korea continuing to launch missiles, japan must be prepared. ishika arisa, nhk world. the japanese government is setting up a new system in the cabinet secretaiate t conquer the spread of disinformation in

social media. >> translator: spreading fake information not only threatens universal values but could also affect security. >> matsuno told reporters friday officials will collect and analyze disinformation to prevent the confusion it can cause. he says officials in the prime minister's office will issue warnings about false information cooperating closely with relevant ministries and agencies. interpol has put a former japanese upper house member and youtuber on its wanted list at the request of japanese police. the gossip video maker gaazy is currently believed to be in the united arab emirates. he was expelled from the upper house in march for failing to attend any diet sessions since being elected last july. tokyo police have obtained an arrest warrantn suspicion he's repeatedly intimidated and slandered celebrities and business people in his online

videos. japan's foreign ministry ordered him to surrender his paspert by thursday but he reported to the japanese consulate general in dubai he had lost it. interpol issued a notice to collect information on himcluding his whereabouts. tokyo police are making arrangements to send investigators to the uae in a bid to secure cooperation. people in thailand vote in a general election in a months time. opinion polls give the largest opposition party a commanding lead with the ruling camp lagging behind. campaigning is under way nationwide in the country ruled by a military linked government. a survey in march showed nearly 50% of respondents backing the opposition party. 38% said its de facto leader is the best choice for prime minister. the daughter of the fugitive

prime minister has pledged to hike wages and strong support in rural areas. the prime minister prayut is running with the thai nation party formed by his supporters. he joined utn in january after losing popularity within the ruling party he led. utn has a support grade of under 12% in the latest poll. the armed forces have held sway over thailand's government since staging a coup nine years ago. the election on may 14th will choose 500 members of the lower house. all 250 senators in the upper house whose seats are not up for grabs this time were effectively picked by the military under the current constitution. all eyes are on weather the election will see power change hands and weaken the army's influence on thailand's government and society. a high-speed railway linking

china and laos has begun cross border passenger services after a delay due to the pandemic. the line connects china's southwestern city and the capital. the south trains departed on thursday. the 1,000 kilometer journey between the two cities takes 10 1/2 hours including immigration procedures. operation on the route began in decemb 2021, but passenger travel was limited to within each country due to china's coronavirus border restrictions. >> translator: this chinese hispeed train takes me directly to my destination in osch the train is very stable, safe, and comfortable. >> the project is part of china's belt and road initiative aimed at creating a massive onomic zone. tourism authorities in laos expect to welcome over 360,000

chinese travelers this year. that's up about 20% from last year. laosan officials hope the line will give a boost to the country's economy, which is sufferg from inflation and a weakingurrency. but critics warn it could end up being a debt trap amid beijing's rising influence in laos, and the ballooning loans the country has taken out for the for many people in south korea coffee is now an essential part of daily life. over the past nine years the number of coffee shops in the country has more than tripled. but that has led to a problem too many disposable cups and not enough recycling. a recent law aims to address that issue, but not everyone is happy about it.

nhk world has the story. >> reporter: every year about 14 million tourists visit the island of jeju off the south coast of the korean peninsula. and many of them like to carry their coffee around with them using disposable cups. that is why in december of 2022 a deposit system for single use coffee cups was introduced in jeju. when you buy a cup of coffee you'll be charged a deposit of around 20 u.s. cents for each paper or plastic cup. the idea is to promote recycling. and the program is backed by the central government. you can claim your refund on the spot when you return the cup. the shop then sends the used cups to a recycling facility.

all participating coffee shops must accept the returned cups. there's even a dedicated app where you can find the nearest location. >> to be honest it's a bit of a chore, but i think it's a good way to reduce plastic waste. >> reporter: very few other places in the world use single use cups this way. the law was introduced in south korea because so few people brought back their used cups. these days about 2.5 billion cups are thrown away in south korea each year, but only about 5% are recycled. however, some coffee shops on jeju island are not willing to participate in the deposit

system. they think it's unfair. this shops sell his coffee at a much cheaper price than other market chains. the owner says it would have a disproportionate impact on his overall price compare would more expensive coffee from other shops. >> translator: handling the returned cups meansfo us, but i staff. it's unreasonable to impose that burden on a small store without any compensation. >> the deposit system has been introduced despite widespread opposition, but the south korean government is hoping the new law will make pple think more about the environmental impact of their daily cup of coffee. nhk wod, seoul.

and this just in, sources close to japan's defense ministry say that the self-defense forces have suspended friday's search of underwater debris. the team was set to confirm whether or not it's a missing jsdf helicopter. the delay is due to some trouble with the equipment carrying the divers. the work will resume saturday morning. it's time for world weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. cherry blossoms in japan have been unfolding 1 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule this season. jonathan tells us how the

flowers are looking up north. >> hello, we've been dealing with a pretty warm season so far in term of the spring months. because of that we've been seeing cherry blossoms unfolding relatively quickly, and that also includes the northern areas of japan. take a look at this video coming out from the city as cherry blossoms in the city have reached first bloom friday 14 days earlier than average, earliest on record since 1953. that's over 70 years ago. now, we saw the average temperature in march highest in recorded history, and that led to the early blooming. we're expecting the full bloom to take place on april 19th. if you're wanting a chance to take a look at the flowers probably should do that early rather than later when it comes to this weekend with a low pressure system back to the top and west moving toward japan, and it's going to make it a wet weekend. you're going to need the umbrellas quite a bit, so as we go through saturday it'll move from the western to central areas of japan.

then we'll see it spreading through the north and east. so it's going to be quite wet. we'll get rain again late saturday. tokyo looking at the same time line or so. wet weather saturday, maybe a bit dryer by sunday. a little note here when it to comes to the yellow sand we're seeing a lot of the trajectory coming out of beijing on saturday and heading down to south korea and western areas of japan as we go into the latter part of the weekend. just be prepared for that as we see that moving through. down through australia ilsa landed as a category 5 storm on the coastal areas it went through friday. and we saw wind gusts up to 289 kilometers per hour with more than 130 millimeters of rainfall in 24 hours. now, the storm will continue its momentum through the central portions of of australia. and as it does we're looking for more wet weather and thunderstorms so be prepared for that. but areas should be a bit calmer

heading into the weekend. hope you have a good day wherever you are. that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo.

thanks for watching and do stay with us for more. this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. a high rise commercial complec has opened in tokyo's district. the area is known for its vibrant nightlife and there are hopes the new building will attract foreign tourists. the 225-meter tokyo tower has 48

floors above ground and five under ground levels. none of the floor space is used by corporate offices, which is different from most mix used buildings. instead there is a movie theater, music venues, and many shops. the second floor is home to drinking and dining establishments, which will stay open late to promote what has been called the district's nighttime economy. >> very beautiful. >> it's very beautiful. we like the atmosphere, the music, and the food's very good so far. >> translator: by offering the safest nighttime entertainment facility in japan we will make this an area a place people can enjoy until morning. >> two hotels are scheduled to open next month. one of them is offering a touch of luxury with nightly room rates averaging 80,000 yen or about $600 and up. and shuttle buses will provide direct access from the two

airports serving tokyo. japan, india, and france are leading a new push to help sri lanka battle a debt kris. their plan calls on nations lending money to the south asian country to enter talks and take other steps. >> the three countries unveiled the plan thursday in washington. finance ministers and central bank governors from the g20 nations were gathered in the u.s. capitol. china has made large loans to sri lanka but has not said the plan.t would participate in japan's finance minister said the three countries are open to all creditors voicing hope china will join in the effort. >> translator: i hope coordination among all parties concerned will make possible early restriction of sri lanka's

debt. >> sri lanka's finances have been hit hard by failed fiscal policies, surging prices due to russia's invasion of ukraine and sharp depreciationation of its currency. the country has suspended external debt repayments since april last year. a plan long in the making has taken a step forward now that the japanese government has approved a proposal to open the country's first resort featuring a casino in 2029. government officials concluded that the proposal from osaka prefecture and the city of osaka me the requirements. they were acting on a report from a panel that reviewed measures to combat gambling addiction, the financial stability of the businesses involved, and other factors. >> translator: we hope the resort will contribute to the development of the region after osaka hosts the world expo in

2025 as well as to the growth of japan. it is also expected to attract globals to japan. >> the integrated resort will include hotels and facilities for hosting internationalkrchs over 1 trillion yen or about $7.5 billion will be invested in building the resort on a man made island in osaka bay. the committee will review casino management and the government will need to issue a license before any gambling takes place. the japanese government says it will invest 4.2 billion yen or about $32 million to encourage wider use of quantum computing. this allows calculations much faster than even super computers. the industry ministry will subsidize the counsel that uses a quantum computer maintained by the university of tokyo. members of the counsel are both from academic and industrial

backgrounds including banks. quantum computing is seen as the next generation of tech which can support society. great efforts are concentrated in developing and using the technology. the model currently used by the counsel was developed by u.s. tech giant ibm. the university of tokyo charges usem fees. the government fund will cover part of those fees. the aim is to make it easier for startups and other companies to tap into the power of quantum computing. ukraine's economy plunged by almost one third last year as the russian invasion devastated agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, and construction. the country's statistics service said wednesday that 2022 gross domestic product contracted 29% from the previous year. agriculture and fisheries shrank more than 28%. the energy sector including

electricity and gas contracted 32.5%. manufacturing fell 43%, and construction dropped almost 68%. ukrae's economy ministry said last month that support from other countries was enabling recovery efforts, but it also noted consumption and investment were declining. next we have nhk world's john ledu with biz picks. >> every friday nhk world brings you the latest in business with biz picks. let's kick things off with a wrap on the tokyo market this week. the nikkei 225 rose 1.2% to 28,493. that was six straight days of gains. the index rose about 3.5% in the week. earlier new bank of japan governor ueda kazuo said

would continue easing. but the nikkei gained later in the week after u.s. consumer and producer price indices showed slowing inflation. now, let's have a look at what's happening in the week ahead. it's crunch time for the key figures from the world's three major economies. on tuesday we'll have china's january through march gdp. on wednesday the u.s. fed reports on the economy, and on friday we'll be getting japan's consumer price index. now tepid economic signals from china are heightening focus on the gdp numbers. we know china's economy slowed last year as the zero-covid policy crushed business economy. the economy then fell short of the annual growth target of

about 5.5%. this year beijing has set a goal of around 5%. the government plans to stimulate domestic demand and raise fiscal spending. but one expert we spoke to expressed skepticism. economists said authorities will struggle to achieve their objective. >> translator: the chinese government spent huge sums on under its zero covid program. this has left local governments struggling financially. it can't create fiscal stimulus even if they want to. >> china's economy also faces potential diplomatic challenges. washington has imposed expansive controls o exports of ships and her technologies. >> transtor: the xi jinping administration is fully aware of the economic importance of high

tech including semiconductors, but if china can't import cutting edge equipment, it won't be able to produce innovation on its own. i think the damage to the country will be more serious than we may think. >> on top of all that other problems for china include a shrinking property market and the serious debt burden of local governments. the signals suggest the country is at an economic cross roads between steady growth and slowing expansion. i'm john ladue, and that was this week's biz picks. all right, let's have a look at the markets.

and from the news line biz team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks for being with us. ññññoç

♪ tom: violent protests in if he appears in her original. plants integrate local forces into the national army have sparked a backlash. the government says the change is essential for national unity. so why is there such opposition and does it risk instability? this is "inside story." ♪ hello and welcome to the program.