daily. glad to have you with us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from toque co. as japan's self-defense aircraft is heading for africa as the the sdf prepares to evacuate japanese nationals from sudan. it comes as a paramilitary group clashing with sudan's armed forces says it's agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire on humanitarian grounds. a statement from the sudanese

rapid support forces says it'll -- with a truce. two previous attempts have failed with fierce fighting in the capital. the u.n. says at least 330 people killed and thousands injured in nearly a week of fighting in the african country. the u.n. refugee agency says a large number of people have crossed into neighboring chad. it says people who wantly need food, water, and shelter. there are reports civilian airports have suffered extensive damage alongside military air bases making it hard for people to escape the violence. >> translator: we want to get out of here but no planes are flying. the airport is closed. >> the u.s. state department says it's confirmed the death of a u.s. citizen in sudan but it's not disclosed any other details.

a japan self-defense air force plane is heading to djibouti to prepare for the evacuations. two other sdf aircraft are scheduled to leave soon. south korea's government says president yoon has ordered the dispatch of military aircraft to help his country's citizens flee the violence in sudan. and for more on japan's evacuation plan nhk world's hatori naoto spoke with a former commander for the self-defense air force and was responsible for the afghanistan evacuation in 2021. >> reporter: the general says the japanese government only uses sdf as a last resort. officials must have thought it was the best option for the transportation of japanese nationals overseas.

kanako said that's a wise call andaid it's a good thing they moved quily. >> it can provi a time frame for deployment and preparation and execution. >> reporter: the sdf airlift unit will operate out of nearby djibouti. he said it would take about a day to deploy, so being close is key. >> the unit be on alert 24 hours. in addition the unit also can get -- support, supplies including aviation fuel, accommodation, and security are very important for sustainable

units. the duration of standing by will be long. >> reporter: but he said it would be unclear if every evacuee could reach the rendezvous point safely. with so many moving parts kaneko stressed the importance of keeping the task force well-informed. >> regarding the afghanistan case in 2021 the situations were strained. lots o actions were taken simultaneously. as a result of the joint task force commander -- >> reporter: he said a lot depends on the situation on the grounds. he said his team will have to gather information and adapt, but he thinks the evacuation is likely to succeed. the japanese defense ministry

said the sdf unit should be ready as early as this weekend. hatori naoko, nhk world. hong kong police have arrested a university student over comments they say she posted on social media while she was in japan. officials accuse her of violating the territory's national security law. police say the 23-year-old was arrested when she returned to hong kong last month. they say her online comments were aimed at promoting the territory's independence movement. she was released on bail but authorities took away her passport. this is believed to be the first time the national security law has been applied to activities in japan. it went into force three years ago. it's meant to crack down on anti-government activities including those carried out overseas. japanese experts are warning

people authorities can apply the law to comments made anywhere in the world. the chinese foreign minister has blamed activists in taiwan seeking independence from china and a handful of countries for undermining stability across the taiwan strait. he said at an international forum taiwan has been part of chinese territory sinceane sh a times and both sides of the strait belong to china. >> translator: it is not the chinese mainland but the taiwan separatist forces and other countries taking advantage of taiwan independence that are disrupting international rules, changing the status quo and undermining stability across the strait. >> a joint statement from the group of foreign seven ministers on tuesday expressed strong opposition to china's attempts to change the status quo through coercion. it also stressed the importance of peace and stability in the taiwan strait.

he said those who play with fire regarding taiwan will eventually get burned. now, beijing and seoul are trading barbs over comments from south korea's president. yoon called taiwan a global issue. yoon discussed taiwan in a recent media interview. he said he opposed attempts to change the status quo by force, which he blamed for causing increased tensions. china denounced yoon's comments calling on south korea to prudently handle matters related to taiwan. >> translator: the taiwan question is purely an internal affair at the center of china's core interests. its resolution is a matter for the chinese who do not need to be told what should or should not be done. >> south korea called the remarks a serious diplomatic discourtesy. it summoned china's ambassador to launch a protest over the criticism. the move comes ahead of yoon's state visit to the united states next week. north korea has also reacted sharply to the statement by the

g7 foreign ministers. in it they condemn the north's ballistic missile launches and said the country will never achieve the status of a nuclear weapon state. north korean foreign minister defied that pronouncement. she called her country's position as a nuclear weapon state an undeniable reality that isn't granted by other countries. she branded the g7 statement as an illegal interference in north korea's internal affairs. and she warned any attempt to infringe on the north's sovereignty would be met with a strong counter action. on wednesday north korea announced it's completed work on its first ever military reconnaissance satellite. in other news local media in myanmar say military forces have burned down a hospital built with japanese aid and killed 19

people including medical workers. it comes on the brutal crack down on pro-democracy strong holds. the attack reportedly took place tuesday in a village in the central region. the military claims pro-democracy activists were known to be hiding in the area. it says its forces seized weapons and detained 30 individuals in total but did not clarify whether they had targeted the hospital. the japanese embassy says the building pictured in reports appears to be a hospital founded in 2014 with grant aid from the japanese government. it's calling on the military to provide more information on the attack. myanmar's military has recently been ramping up a crack down on pro-democracy groups. earlier this month they conducted an air strike on a village in the northwest killing about 170 people including children.

a japanese court has sentenced the former head of a business suit retailer over his involvement in a tokyo olympic bribery scandal. the ex-chairman of aoki holdings and two former executives were on trial for allegedly paying bribes worth $210,000 to an olympic executive. it was to secure a major sponsorship deal. they pled guilty to the charges. aoki holdings supplied japanese athletes with uniforms after becoming one of the official sponsors. at the tokyo district court the presiding judge sentenced aoki to 2 1/2 years in prison

suspended for four years. friday's ruling is the first to be handed down in a series of bribery and corruption cases connected to the games. in addition to this advertising giant densu group, five other firms, and seven individuals have been indicted in alleged bid rigging related to the tokyo olympics and paralympics. these scandals have led to the japanese city of sapporo to pause its bid for the 2030 winter games. japan's governing coalition and main opposition parties have begun talks to revise the controversial immigration laws. the current policy has come under fire for causing long detentions. senior members of the two sides started the discussions on the government sponsored bills on friday. the draft legislation calls for changes to the screening process for asylum seekers. currently japan suspends deportation orders for peoples whose refugee status applications are being

processed. the government wants an exemption for people who have applied for the status more than two times. officials argue some applicants just want to avoid deportation. the opposition proposed a third party panel to make the screening process more transparent. the ruling coalition responded saying they'll consider the proposal. human rights lawyers and activists are protesting the bill. they say they cannot accept the idea of just sending foreigners away rather than accepting those who cannot return to their home countries. they criticized japan's immigration policy saying only a handful of asylum seekers receive refugee status each year, far fewer than other g7 nations. next, japan is assisting in the rehabilitation of ukraine's energy infrastructure which was damaged by russian attacks. japan has provided power generators to ukraine to help alleviate the country's serious power shortages. a ceremony was held near kyiv on thursday to mark the delivery of

77 large generators through the united nation's development program. russian attacks on ukraine's power grid knocked out heating and electric supplies during the winter. the generators are expected to be utilized if ukraine again faces electricity shortages. >> translator: we hope to send as many power generators as possible to regions throughout ukraine to help create a more resilient energy system in the country. >> ukrainian deputy infrastructure minister thanked japan for its contribution. he says he hopes the countries will further deepen their cooperation. the generators will be used at medical and educational institutions and at water and sewer facilities across ukraine. japan's greenhouse gas emissions increased in fiscal 2021. it was the first time since 2013 the figure wept up from the

previous year. data released by the environment industry on friday showed domestic emissions in fiscal 2021 amounted to 1.17 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. that's a rise of 2% from the previous year. the ministry attributed the rise mainly to an increase in energy consumption in the industrial and transport sectors. >> translator: japan will do its utmost to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. >> the government aims by fiscal 2030 to cut emissions by 46% compared with fiscal 2013 levels. this is to achieve the goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees celsius above preindustrial levels. the ministry notes the latest increase in emissions will have no immediate impact on japan's efforts to achieve those goals. switching now to the weather, a number of areas throughout japan have reached

temperatures above the monthly average on friday. our meteorologist has more in our world weather report. >> hi there, yes. we've seen warm air coming in from the south affecting many parts of southwestern japan going into southwestern japan. the good news is there's going to be quite a change. look at the numbers we're seeing across gifu as well as guma prefectures where you saw temperatures going above 13 degrees, all-time record if the month of april and also highest for the year so far. so this warm air has basically been leading to high temperatures. take a look at the following video as well and you can see how people have been dealing with these increasing temperatures, which are very unusual for this time of year. many cities such as central tokyo as you said as well as nagoya saw the highest temperatures for the year on friday. it exceeded 30 degrees celsius in parts of the region which is actually the first time in five years for this region for this

time of the year. so it just looks like things are getting warmer and warmer as we go on due to climate change and due to what the planet is going through. now, fortunately, there's a blast of cool air coming in from the north. we'll cool things down as we move through the tohoku region into central japan. but the combination of both the warm air and cool air will bring some stormy conditions particularly towards nagoya and later on into next week by tuesday do expect showers to come your way. and all these blue shades here you can see there is a bit of an improvement coming up so you can get a bit of a break from these extremely hot temperatures. we're seeing unstable weather coming into the southern part of the british aisles and also up north into norway where they could see some mountain snow. rainy conditions coming up all the way into turkey which could also see unstable weather for the next few days. 18 for istanbul and wet weather for london, and also when you

get into the african continent we'll be seeing dry weather for the desert and extremely hot for this year at around 43 degrees. that's all for the weather. bye for now. that's all for now on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz"

with ramin mellegard, so stay right there. ♪ this is "newsline biz"mism i'm ramin mellegard. japan's latest inflation figures so that in the past year consumers have been hit with the biggest price jumps in over four decades. price hikes have been especially severe for food and electricity. the internal affairs ministry says the consumer price index for fiscal 2022 was 3% higher than the previous fiscal year.

the reading excludes fresh items because weather conditions caused their prices to fluctuate widely. now, this marks the biggest leap since fiscal 1981 when an oil shock was pushing up prices. japan's fiscal year starts april and ends in march. let's look at the index on the monthly level. now, in march the figure rose 3.1% from a year earlier. february marked the same margin of increase. but that was a slow down from january when a 4.2% increase was the biggest in 41 years. one reason for that slow down was government subsidies for household energy use. now, japan is heading into its spring holiday season and leisure facilities are preparing for an influx of visitors. as these destinations struggle with higher operating costs some have been forced to raise admission fees.

ticket prices rose earlier this yean by about 100 yen or about 75 cents. adults need to pay about $14 and the entry fee for young children is almost $7. the facility has been struggling with rising electricity bills which are up 30% from a year ago. prices have also been surging for meat and other feed for the animals. cutting down on-air conditioning for animal enclosures where feed is not an option as that would affect the animal's health. instead efforts are focused on saving energy in the staff areas. >> translator: as a family we're already struggling with higher grocery costs, but we only come to places like this a few times a year, and we want our kids to enjoy the animals. so it's okay to pay a bit more. >> the zoo is expecting over 11,000 visitors during the spring holiday or 20% more than the same period last year as coronavirus measures have been

eased. and g7 agriculture ministers meeting this weekend in japan are expected to announce support for rebuilding the farming sector in ukraine. the country's a major producer of cereals such as wheat and corn but the russian damage has inflicted damage on farmland and facilities. exports have been repeatedly disrupted and that is having an impact on global security. the support is expected to include removing land mines from farmlands. g7 members will share their expertise in rebuilding agriculture facilities with ukraine. in addition the ministers are expected to agree to help the country's farmers obtain financing. it is hoped the g7 support for ukraine's agriculture sector will lead to stability of global food supply. the ministerial meeting starts on saturday in miyazaki city in southwestern japan.

a japanese company will try out leasing used electric vehicles to municipalities in an effort to get them to catch on. the auto service will start the trial in may or later in suburbs of osaka. it plans to eventually expand to other regions. the company says used electric vehicles can be obtained for about half the cost of new ones. the mileage is not as good getting around 10 kilometers or more per charge, but the company says that is enough for the cars that municipalities use for official business. >> translator: we will be sure to give the cars frequent maintenance and check on the batteries so there will be less hesitancy to use secondhand electric cars. >> now, rural areas of japan have declining populations and fewer gas stations. this is one factor in the switch to evs. the company expects demand will especially pick up in mountainous areas.

now, fisheries in western japan are hoping to revitalize the market for bonito, a local delicacy that's just come into season. fishing boats arrived on the island of shicokoku. first catch of the season is especially prized because the fish are very lean. the local fisheries cooperative says at the peak of the season daily catch coming into the port totals about 30 tons. the price of the fish fell 20 to 30% in recent years as demand flagged during the coronavirus pandemic but the cooperative says the prices surged this year to levels seen before the pandemic or even higher. the head of the cooperative expects hauls around shikoku to increase as the temperature rises. >> translator: i heard the people who enjoy the taste of

bonito will be able to forget the stress caused by the pandemic. >> the port will continue to accept catches through june. now, next nhk world's yanaka marie is here with biz picks. every friday we bring the latest in business with biz picks. let's kick off with what's happened in the tokyo stock market this week. the nikkei average closed at 28,564 on friday. for the week the bench mark index gained a quarter of a percent. the nikkei touched its highest level this year on hopes that resurgent tourism will boost the japanese economy, but the gains were modest as investors were cautious ahead of key earnings reports next week. next a look at what's happening in the week ahead.

south korea will release gdp figures the january to march quarter on tuesday followed by the united states on thursday. and on friday the bank of japan will wrap up its two-day policy meeting. it will be the first time the new governor comes out with a policy decision. so this week's featured biz pick is the boj policy meeting. ueda has stated he'll continue current monetary easing measures until there's sustainable inflation of 2% accompanied by wage hikes. so when might ueda change policy? former boj policymaker who used to work with ueda says there are two points that might be telling at the coming meeting. the first is whether ueda will signal a change in its yield curve control policy. known as ycc it's one of the

ways the boj is keeping long-term interest rates low. >> translator: ycc had side effects such as des torsions in the bond market. however, if that happens and long-term interest rates rise it's likely to increase borrowing rates for housing and smaller size prices. i think the boj will find that difficult to tolerate in the current economic climate of uncertainty. >> for these reasons he says we won't be seeing any revision of yield curve control at this meeting. that's why his second focus this meeting is how the boj forecasts prices in its new outlook report. japan's key inflation gauge surpassed the bank's 2% target last year and remains high. however, the boj projected in its january report that it would dip back down in fiscal 2023 as

the impacts of higher import prices subsides. >> translator: if the boj's inflation outlook is around 2% for fiscal 2024 and 2025, it could be a sign it'll achieve its target which may serve as a signal to change course on policy. but even if the outlook does rise that far, the bank won't change course immediately given the prevailing uncertainty. >> he thinks the boj will track prices and wages until spring wage negotiations next year before making a decision. he describes ueda as a person who makes comprehensive judgments based on both theory and the state of the real economy. we'll see in the months ahead if those judgments are right. i'm yanaka marie and that was this week's biz picks. okay, let's get a check on the markets.

and that's all for business news.

folly: church processions, banned in nicaragua. the latest clampdown by president daniel ortega, as he seeks to prevent anti-government unrest. opposed by the u.s. and accused of human rights abuses, ortega has also moved closer to china and russia. so, what's next for nicaragua? this is "inside story." ♪ hello, and welcome to the program. i'm folly bah thibault. daniel ortega is one of latin america's