mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world. >>> it's time now to get a check of the weather.ple in many areas of japan are dealing with the rainy season and those in southern regions are getting hit hard. mai shoji joins us from the latest. >> well, as you know the rainy season is very important for the country, especially for the agriculture, however it's really bringing down the rainfall and pouring especially across southern kush yu. pulling into these locations, especially in couplea moto. people are forced to evacuate, so far, 40,000 people are forced to evacuate. the rain has been continuing. moisture flowing off the rainy season front continues to collide with the mountains, that's why we're looking at a few locations in the region which have seen about 380 millimeters of rainfall in the past 72 hours. heavy rainfall warnings and landslide warnings are in place and people are also advised to be aware of flash flooding. at the very least, it will be a slow commute for the residents in parts of queue shoe this morning. we're likely to see 200 millimeters of rainfall very

mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world. >>> iraqi government forces are stepping up their offensive against islamic state militants. they're getting help from allies, be u the militants are fighting back with suicide attacks. they are in a fierce battle to retake ramadi the key city in the western province of anbar was captured by militants in mid may. local officials say government forces launched air strikes monday against militant strongholds in northern and western iraq. they say shia fighters captured a base on tuesday about 70 kilometers north of baghdad. militants are packing armored vehicles with exploes iivessives. the militants have close adam in ramadi to cut the water supply to supporters of the government forces. now members of an international coalition pledge support for baghdad's plan to retake ramadi. top diplomats for 24 nations nations met in paris. iraqi prime minister revealed plans to boost military and police forces and recapture the city. u.s. secretary of state john kerry joined by telephone. he said the u.s. will supply anti-tank rockets to the forces. members released a j