Welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Morishita Erika in Tokyo.
Officials from Iran, China and Russia are reportedly set to meet in Beijing Friday. The talks will likely focus on Tehran's nuclear program. The Iranian government announced a meeting Wednesday. The three countries are also expected to discuss the United States.
US President Donald Trump said last week that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Washington sent a letter to Tehran calling for negotiations. But Iran reacted sharply to Trump's pressure, which included tougher sanctions. The country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday Trump is trying to mislead public opinion.
He said the president is trying to suggest Iran isn't willing to talk.
Police in Japan have conducted their first-ever survey into online gambling in this country. They found that millions are likely placing bets at cyber casinos and many don't realize what they are doing is illegal.
The National Police Agency surveyed more than 27,000 people in Japan.
Based on the results, the agency estimates over 3.3 million people have bet money online at some point. Almost 2 million are believed to currently be active users.
And they believe an around $8.4 billion worth of bets are being placed from Japan annually.
Japanese law forbids online gambling even on websites based in countries where the practice is legal. But police say 44 percent of respondents out of 7,000 gamblers and non-gamblers did not know that it's illegal to bet money online from Japan.
Police also say they found the number of online casinos using the Japanese language exclusively. suggesting Japanese users are being targeted despite the law. The survey found over half of Japan's online gamblers admit to being addicted, while nearly half say they've borrowed money to fund their gambling. These are especially big issues among younger people.
Police say the survey shows how widespread online gambling has become in Japan, and they plan to raise awareness so more people know. It's against the law.
Moving on to Pakistan, where an anti-government armed group hijacked the train carrying over 400 passengers.
The country's military says 25 hostages and security personnel died as a result of the rescue operation.
The Associated Press released a video shared by the militant group, which allegedly shows the moment the hijacking took place. The Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, blew up the trucks and hijacked the train in Balchistan province on Tuesday.
The militants said they took the hostages seeking the release of Baloch political prisoners. On Wednesday, a Pakistani military spokesperson said that 33 militants were killed in the rescue operation. He added that the hostages had been killed by attackers before the rescue operation began. In the mineral-rich province of Baltistan, the Pakistani government is working with China to exploit natural resources and construct ports. The BLA insists Islamabad is exploiting Baltistan's resources and has carried out attacks in recent years.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has arrived in The Hague to face trial for crimes against humanity.
He was charged for his brutal war on drugs while in office.
Duterte was flown from his country to the Netherlands. Officials of the International Criminal Court took him into custody on Wednesday. The ICC has been investigating Duterte over the crackdown that claimed thousands of lives. The court issued an arrest warrant for him last Friday.
In a statement, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan called Duterte's arrest a crucial step in the court's work to ensure accountability for victims of the campaign. Duterte posted a video on Facebook, apparently taken in a plane, shortly before he was handed over to the court. He said he will take responsibility for everything.
This will be along legal proceedings. I say to you, I will continue to serve my country.
Duterte was mayor of Davao in the southern Philippines before serving as the country's president for six years from 2016.
Nearly 160 countries and territories will take part in the event.
But will the public show up?
NHK World's Tashiro Kyoko was at the site to bring us the latest.
Hello. In just a few weeks, this island right outside central Osaka will be welcoming people from around the world. And we see behind me, pavilions gathered around this area, getting prepared to greet all those guests. We will take a closer look in those in just a moment. But first, let me give you the bird's eye view. As you see, the expo's centerpiece, called the Grand Ring, was finally finished two weeks ago. It now holds the record for being the world's largest wooden architectural structure. It circles the main venue, though there's pavilions both in and outside of it. Now, those are obviously the main attraction. Countries and territories are building over 40 pavilions, but most are still under construction. Only a few have finished their exteriors so far.
The latest to cross the finish line is the Nordic Pavilion. It's housing exhibits from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
When you go inside, you will be able to see Nordic life. We will be able to see how we live, how we solve everyday problems. And we're looking forward to it. And please visit us at Expo 2025.
And as you heard, solving problems is a big catch for this expo. The main theme is designing future society for our lives. It focuses on sustainable solutions for humankind using new concepts That's new technologies. And we're going to look at one example using this pavilion. Yes, this is a pavilion. It has no roof, no walls.
It's meant to exist without creating borders with the outside world. Now, when guests come here, they'll be handed this device. It looks like a stone, and when you hold it, it starts vibrating.
And you might not see it, but it's happening now. I'm feeling it. And what happened is the stone, it it feels like it's moving in a certain way to force my body to, in a certain way, is telling me to turn this way and pulling me towards the pavilion. Well, to explain, the vibration stimulates the nerves in my hands to trick my brain into thinking the stone itself is moving. That's logic, but it still feels weird. This technology will be used to guide the guests here through the exhibits, but developers are looking to the future and whether it can be used to support people with visible disabilities. This is just one example of the many exhibits throughout the expo. The big question now is how many people will actually be here to see it all? The event has been plagued with slow ticket head sales. Officials have set a goal of selling 14 million advance tickets. Right now, they're at 8 million. One potential reason that's been pointed out is that many Japanese people might not be that interested in coming. And perhaps that's because not enough information has been put out there about the content yet. So staff are rushing to get prepared.
At the site, they're setting up signboards and lights and putting benches in place and as I said before many participants are also still racing to get their pavilion set up on time and the clock is ticking. A test run is scheduled for the first week of April. 40,000 locals will be invited to actually explore the site. That means people will have access to the pavilions for the very first time and officials are hoping that might help ignite some excitement towards the event.
We will see how that all goes when Expo 2025 opens right here on April 13.
Former US Ambassador to Japan Michael Armacost has died at the age of 87. He was known as Mr. Gai-atsu, or Mr. Foreign Pressure, for pushing Japan to dispatchits Self-Defense Forces during the 1991 Gulf War.
Armacost earned his doctorate in public law and government in 1965 from Columbia University before entering the State Department. He became Special Assistant to the US Ambassador to Japan from 1972 to 1974. After serving as ambassador to the Philippines and as Undersecretary of State, Armacost was appointed as ambassador to Japan in 1989 under Republican President George H.W. Bush. He urged Tokyo to proceed with deregulation, such as opening the rice market amid serious Japan-US trade friction.
He retired after four years and took up the position of president of the Brooklyn Institution. He later served as a distinguished fellow for Stanford University until 2021. Armacost's family says he died at his home near San Francisco on Saturday.
It's now time to check out the world weather. In the southern hemisphere, cyclones and the rainy season are still in full swing. Our meteorologist Yumi Hirano has the details.
Moving to South America, people in parts of Bolivia is experiencing disruptive downpours just before the end of the rainy season.
Residents in the mountain community in the country are dealing with heavy rain.
According to media reports, the wet weather caused rivers to overflow, flooding homes and farmland. The main crops of the local economy were also destroyed. The Associated Press reports officials saying about 6,000 people in the region have been affected by the rain.
The rainy season usually continues until the end of March, so the total amount of rainfall is still increasing, so extra caution is needed for more flats and landslides. Showers are also possible in La Paz and Brasilia, but heat is still a concern in Rio de Janeiro with a high of 38.
Finally, across Asia, a stationary front is stretching along southern China.
Up to 70 millimeters of rainfall is possible in Hujin Province by Friday afternoon. The rain will also spread into western Japan by Saturday. On Friday, showers are possible in Chongqing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei. But Tokyo may see sunny skies with a high of 20, which is as warm as it was on Thursday.
That's all for the weather. Have a nice day.
♫～
That's all for this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Morishita Erika in Tokyo.
Thank you for watching.
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