Welcome back to NHK Newsline. Here's the latest we have for you at this hour.
Iran Conflict Mediators: 'Encouraging Progress' in US-Iran Talks
Mediators from Qatar and Pakistan say there has been encouraging progress in the first round of talks to end the conflict between the US and Iran.
Under a memorandum of understanding, the US and Iran had agreed to hold negotiations toward reaching a final agreement within 60 days.
A joint statement by the mediator said the parties agreed to establish a high-level committee to lead working groups focused on nuclear issues and sanctions against Iran.
A communication line has also been set up to avoid incidents and miscommunication for the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the statement, the parties have also agreed to create a team that includes them and Lebanon to ensure the termination of military operations in that country.
It says technical talks will continue this week in Switzerland.
A senior US diplomat engaged in the talks said they included building deconfliction mechanisms to ensure the Strait of Hormuz will remain fully open.
The diplomat added that they included enforcing the ceasefire in southern Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed Shia Muslim group Hezbollah.
The diplomat also said robust discussions on all elements of the nuclear deal have been held.
Trump-Backed Candidate Set to Become Colombia's President
A right-wing candidate backed by US President Donald Trump has declared victory in Colombia's presidential runoff election.
Local media outlets have reported that lawyer Abelardo De la Espriella has won.
If verified, the country will is expected to join an increasing rightward power shift in South America.
Election authorities say that de la Espieja had received nearly 50 percent in Sunday's election with almost all votes counted.
He was leading leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda with nearly 49 percent of the vote.
Cepeda had campaigned on continuing President Gustavo Petro's policies.
De la Espriella declared victory in a video post. He expressed gratitude to those who he said preferred a miraculous homeland over one of misery.
De la Espriella said Trump congratulated him after the election.
Trump also wrote on social media that de la Espriella had won big.
De la Espriella advocates for closer cooperation with the Trump administration.
That would include strengthening measures against drug trafficking.
Colombia's election results suggest that the Trump administration's influence over the region will likely grow.
War in Ukraine
Zelenskyy: Ukraine Launches 2,000km Attacks Inside Russia
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a Ukrainian drone attack has hit a Russian oil-processing facility more than 2,000 kilometers from the border.
The Ukrainian president made the announcement in a video address on Saturday.
He said upgraded drones developed by a Ukrainian defense company hit a Russian facility in the western Siberian region of Tumen.
He called the attack a fully justified response to Russian strikes against Ukraine.
The president also announced on Sunday that Ukraine struck targets in the southern region of Crimea, including an oil depot.
Russia unilaterally annexed the region in 2014.
Ukraine also struck an oil refinery in Moscow on Thursday.
Analysts say Ukraine hopes the succession of attacks on oil-related facilities will help force Russia to accept peace.
Meanwhile, Ukraine says Russian strikes through Saturday killed seven people.
Zelenskyy is urging people in Ukraine to take air raid alerts, especially seriously, claiming that Russia has prepared for what he called a new massive strike.
6 Arrested for Smuggling Gold in Life-Sized Dolls
Authorities have arrested six people suspected of smuggling gold into Japan by hiding it in life-sized dolls. Police say one suspect is Japanese and the rest are Chinese nationals.
One of them is the president of a company selling precious metals in Tokyo.
According to police, his name is Cho King Kwang.
Authorities say the gold was hidden in steel pipes inside the dolls.
They were then flown from China to Tokyo's Narita Airport.
The customs declaration claimed they were mannequins.
Authorities suspect the group smuggled 49 kilograms of gold this way, worth over a billion yen, or about $6.6 million.
They also allegedly violated customs and tax laws by not paying the consumption tax and other costs.
Tokyo Police Arrest Suspected Senior Intl. Fraud Group Member
Tokyo police have arrested a suspected senior member of what authorities have called one of Asia's largest criminal enterprises.
Investigative sources say the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested a 44-year-old Cypriot national named Fu Xi and two Chinese nationals.
Authorities believe they were involved in the falsification of Fu's residence documents.
The sources say Fu serves as representative director of a company in Tokyo, but they say Fu is in fact a senior member of a Cambodia-based multinational conglomerate called Prince Holding Group.
US authorities have sanctioned the group, accusing it of committing large-scale online fraud and describing it as one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations.
The Cambodian government detained the group's chairman, Chen Ji, and extradited him to China in January.
Investigators say Hu told them a representative handled all transactions involving his residence documents.
The two Chinese suspects have denied the allegations against them.
Japan's Imperial Couple Visiting Belgian Royal Family
Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako have had dinner with the Belgian royal family at a castle in southern Belgium.
The imperial couple arrived in the country on Saturday after completing their state visit to the Netherlands.
Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde invited the emperor and empress to the castle of Xiaogon, which the royal family uses as a retreat.
Japan's imperial family and Belgium's royal family have enjoyed close ties for many years.
Then-Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako made an official visit to Belgium in 1999 to attend the wedding of then-Crown Prince Philippe.
The Belgian royal couple visited Japan as state guests in 2016.
Japan's Imperial Household Agency says that the state guests had dinner with the king and queen, as well as their children, in the castle's garden.
It says they enjoyed the scenery during the meal, which lasted around an hour and a half.
The emperor and empress will move to the Belgian capital, Brussels, on Monday.
The next day, they will attend a welcome ceremony and a banquet hosted by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde.
South Korea Protesters Demanding Election Do-Over
People are out in droves in South Korea protesting what they say is an election debacle.
Demonstrations are now approaching their third week and don't appear to be slowing down.
Earlier, I spoke to NHQ World's Kim Chan-ju in Seoul. She was covering the latest controversy surrounding this month's nationwide local elections.
00:07:46 話者 2/Kim Chan-ju
I'm outside ballot counting center in Seoul that's at the heart of the protests we've been seeing. People are blockading this site.
They're doing this because they say election officials did not provide enough ballots during the June 3 election.
About 90 polling stations across South Korea reported a shortage of ballots.
It's not clear yet how many voters have been affected, but the shortage meant many people simply couldn't vote at all.
Election officials say they didn't expect so many people to turn up on voting day itself because they had such a large turnout during advance voting in the days leading up to the election.
So they didn't prepare the number of ballots they ended up needing, and that miscalculation is now costing them. Protesters here have dug in.
They gathered here all weekend demanding a re-election.
00:08:50 話者 13
I voted, but after hearing from people who said they couldn't vote, I couldn't ignore that and can't hold back.
00:08:59 話者 14
We are appealing this. We have to hold a re-election so we get a fair outcome.
00:09:08 話者 1
Well, Chan-ju, nearly three weeks of protesting is quite long.
How is this affecting people's lives?
00:09:19 話者 2
It's definitely a disruption.
Demonstrations nearby are making it hard for people to get into their offices.
It's normally a sports center that houses various organizations, so they're also feeling the squeeze. South Korea's national fencing team is among them.
They couldn't access the building to get some of their equipment, so they had to leave
or the Asian Championships in New Delhi without it.
00:09:50 話者 1
Well, what's been the response so far from the National Election Commission?
00:09:59 話者 2
Well, the Election Commission has apologized.
They promise to investigate how this happened.
Its chairperson has even taken responsibility and resigned over this.
Local media are reporting that the police are also involved as well as prosecutors.
They are questioning election officials and polling station workers.
They want to know how the ballot shortage happened and how these decisions were made.
The election commission is an independent body, so the government can't interfere with it. It's meant to ensure free and fair elections in South Korea, so an incident on this scale is being treated very seriously.
00:10:45 話者 1
Is there any hope that all of these actions might satisfy the protesters?
Is it enough to return things to normal?
00:10:57 話者 2
It doesn't seem like it.
Police have tried to persuade the demonstrator to go home, but it hasn't worked.
And using force is risky since people could get hurt.
So it's not clear when things might calm down, but this will certainly remain a major issue for South Koreans until officials find out exactly how this happened.
Business
00:11:23 話者 1
Now let's see what's happening in the world of business.
Here's Ramin Mellegard from The Biz Desk.
00:11:29 話者 5/Ramin Mellegard
Thank you very much indeed.
Nikkei 225 Sets Record High Close for 6th Straight Day
Now, Japanese stocks had a strong start to the week on Monday.
The Nikkei 225 index closed at a record high for the sixth straight trading day on optimism about US-Iran peace talks.
The Tokyo benchmark rose 1.5%, led by AI, and semiconductor-related shares.
It finished above the 72,000 mark for the first time.
The index surged to 72,831 earlier in the session to an all-time record.
Analysts say it later trimmed some of the gains on profit-taking.
The broader Topics benchmark also set intraday and closing highs.
It ended at 4,095, gaining 1.2%.
Japan's Inflation Under 2% as Subsidies Blunt Price Hikes
Japan's inflation for May stayed below the Bank of Japan's 2 percent target for a fourth straight month. Government subsidies for households helped keep the rate down.
But consumers did have to spend more at the grocery store as food prices continued to rise.
The Internal Affairs Ministry says the consumer price index was up 1.4 percent from a year earlier. That's the same rate as it was in April.
The CPI doesn't include fresh food prices because those fluctuate based on weather.
The small figures attributed to lower gasoline prices backed by subsidies.
A government program to reduce education costs was also a factor.
But overall, food prices, excluding fresh items, rose 3.5 percent year-on-year.
Coffee beans surged nearly 38 percent, chocolate jumped about 26 percent, and boxed lunches rose roughly
Food manufacturers face rising packaging costs as a result of the situation in the Middle East and are passing them on to consumers.
Japan Food Industry Responds to Penny-Pinching Shoppers
Japan's food companies are coming up with a range of budget-priced offerings as shoppers seek relief from increasing food prices.
Supermarket chain Aeon says it's capping the price of its box meals by cutting the number of ingredients.
One meal of fried noodles doesn't contain meat or vegetables, but the amount of noodles has tripled. The company says the product is selling better than expected.
Eon plans to repeat the success with a soba lunch box.
It will contain double the amount of buckwheat noodles with no garnishes.
Stores are also getting in on the trend by using an online platform to offer bargain-priced leftover products.
A Tokyo sandwich store offers deals. A university student bought 3 sandwiches for 800 yen, or about $5. That's less than half, the usual price.
00:14:17 話者 24
The service is quite helpful because university students need money for other expenses.
00:14:24 話者 5
The online service provider says the number of users has grown this year by more than 10,000 every month.
Japan's 3 Megabanks to Jointly Issue Stablecoin in FY2026
Japan's 3 megabanks plan to jointly issue a stablecoin by next March.
They hope to promote its use as a payment method for trading stocks and other financial products.
Stablecoins employ blockchain technology and are typically pegged to a fiat currency, such as the yen or the dollar.
They enable low-cost international transfers and instant payments.
MUFGs, Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho may tie up with brokerages to promote use of the digital currency for financial investments.
The global stablecoin market is now estimated to be worth about $300 billion with dollar-pegged assets, making up the vast majority.
Japan Bookstores Team Up in Drive to Revive Profits
Bookstores in Japan are joining hands to improve efficiency and lower distribution costs.
They hope to reverse a decline in profits that has forced many stores to close.
Fifteen bookstore chains have outlined their strategy through March 2028, which includes the sharing of inventories.
This is to cut the percentage of books returned to publishers to 20 percent from 30 percent.
The stores also aim to buy about half of their books directly from publishers to reduce the cost of using wholesalers.
00:15:53 話者 6/Takai Masashi/Chairman, Kinokuniya
It's hard to pass on the higher logistical costs to customers, as it would only turn them away from physical books.
We have to think of ways to improve efficiency in sales and distribution.
00:16:09 話者 5
An industry organization says the number of bookstores in Japan fell to about 9,900 as of the end of March.
It's the first time the figure dipped below 10,000 since the organization's records began in 1994.
Markets
Okay, let's get a check on the markets.
And that is it for Business News.
In Focus
As the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is in effect in the Gaza Strip since last October, Israeli military attacks continue in the enclave.
Gaza Children Drawing Through Trauma
The situation is having a profound impact on the hearts and minds of local children.
Making matters worse, many schools that were open before the fighting have either been destroyed or are being used as shelters.
At one school set up by a local NGO, children are encouraged to express their feelings about the conflict.
00:17:36 話者 7/Narrator: Bill Sullivan/Reporters: Tsuchiya Utami, Ramzi Amer
This refugee camp is located in Al-Mawasi, southwestern Gaza.
Before the fighting, the area was home to about 9,000 people.
But amid Israeli military operations, the number of displaced people who came here surged to as high as 1 million.
The Watan School was established in a corner of the camp with support from UNICEF and international crowdfunding.
Classes are held in tents. The school has about 1,500 students from age 4 to 14.
Its 22 teachers provide instruction in four subjects: Arabic, English, math, and science.
00:18:28 話者 36/Abdelhalim Abusamra/Founder, Watan School
For people in Gaza, education is the only way forward.
Raising and educating the next generation is the key to giving them a future.
00:18:43 話者 7
On this day, paper and colored pencils, items rarely available in the camp, are handed out to the children.
Randa Khalil leads the school's self-expression program, one of its key areas of focus.
00:19:04 話者 33/Randa Khalil/Teacher, Watan School
Expression helps people release suppressed emotions and puts them on the right path.
That's why I always tell the children to let their feelings out.
00:19:17 話者 7
The students let the colors flow freely, expressing what they feel through their drawings.
00:19:26 話者 32
It's a mosque, the Palestinian flag, and a rainbow.
00:19:35 話者 34
This is a roundhouse. I worked hard on the details.
00:19:41 話者 35
This is the missile that destroyed my home.
00:19:49 話者 7
This drawing of tears flowing endlessly from a large eye was created by Maram Lahham.
00:19:59 話者 37/Maram Lahham
Gaza is always filled with sadness and tears of pain.
00:20:07 話者 7
Khalil has been taking special care of Maram.
00:20:14 話者 33
When I first met Maram, she was deeply hurt and wasn't sure how to express herself.
00:20:23 話者 7
Every day, Maram goes to fetch about four liters of water. With water under strict rationing, she walks about 10 minutes each way to get it from a supply truck.
Since losing her home in an airstrike two years ago, Maram has been taking shelter here with her parents and four siblings.
Her family has almost no income and relies entirely on food aid such as bread.
More than anything, Maram has been devastated by the loss of her best friend in an airstrike.
00:21:08 話者 37
I always keep this doll with me. My best friend loved it.
She died just two days after giving it to me.
When we evacuated, I grabbed it and ran with my parents.
Since losing my friend, I haven't felt safe for a single day.
I live with the constant feeling that I could die at any moment.
00:21:43 話者 38/Maram's mother
Our children's lives have been reduced to nothing but fear. It feels as though children who were once so young have suddenly been forced to grow up overnight.
00:22:02 話者 7
To help Maram find a way to cope with her situation, Khalil encouraged her to express herself through art.
Maram's drawings reveal emotions she was never able to put into words.
This one depicts a girl holding a stuffed toy.
00:22:30 話者 37
This is reality in Gaza. We've been left alone for so long.
Before I started going to the school, I felt completely alone.
But now, I know there are people who support me.
Drawing makes me happy and helps me release some of the sadness inside.
00:23:01 話者 33
Children have been stripped of education, playtime and the right to simply be children.
Through education, we aim to restore what has been taken from those growing up in war.
00:23:13 話者 7
Even now, the Watan school sometimes has to close due to the impact of attacks by the Israeli military.
Another reminder that children's right to education in the Gaza Strip remains unprotected.
Breaking News: British PM Starmer Announces Resignation
00:23:31 話者 1
And now we have breaking news.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced his resignation.
00:23:38 話者 44/Keir Starmer/British Prime Minister
Every decision I've taken has been about putting the country I love first.
That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.
00:23:49 話者 1
He made the announcement on Monday.
He said he will remain prime minister until the party's next leader is chosen.
Starmer has been facing pressure to resign after the party's heavy losses in local elections in May.
The result of a lower house by-election earlier this month pushed him further into a corner.
Once again, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced his resignation.
He made the announcement on Monday.
He said he will remain prime minister until the party's next leader is chosen.
Starmer has been facing pressure to resign after the party's heavy losses in local elections in May.
The result of a lower house by-election earlier this month pushed him further into a corner.
Weather
And now we have world weather.
A powerful typhoon is already causing problems for those in parts of the Philippines, but those in Okinawa are keeping a watchful eye on the storm.
Our meteorologist, Jonathan Oh, has the details.
00:24:48 話者 4/Jonathan Oh
Hello, Mekkhala continues to spin in the Pacific, the Western Pacific, and getting awfully close to Luzon.
Now, we're not expecting to make actual direct landfall, but the impacts are being felt certainly with the winds and also with the monsoonal pattern in place.
The system is drawing all that moisture, which means heavy rainfall is going to be a part of the story again as we go into the day on Tuesday.
Now, the system is expected to make more toward the north and northeasterly turn over the next couple of days.
And as it does so, Okinawa may also be coming under the influence of this particular system.
So make sure that you are prepared for this pattern to be taking place over the next couple of days.
Up to the north, we have the stationary front, the rainy season front that's in place.
And it's going to essentially be a containment wall in terms of the moisture, which means a place like Kyushu may be dealing with very heavy rainfall over the next few days as the system approaches.
And so be on the lookout for some potential downpours and some issues with potential flash flooding as well as we go forward in time.
Looking at the forecast for in East Asia, Seoul and Tokyo looking at highs at 29 degrees, thunderstorms in Beijing with a high of 30.
Meanwhile, heat has also been a story across the western portions of Europe, but seeing some storms firing up along with that in Germany.
Take a look at this video that's coming out from the country.
A violent thunderstorm struck Berlin Sunday amid a record heat wave.
The fire brigade said that severe storms caused about 250 incidents across the city.
At an outdoor pool, people trying to escape the heat wave found themselves caught by a sudden storm, which forced them to flee.
Germany's weather agency is warning of more thunderstorms, strong wind gusts, and hail in parts of the country until Tuesday.
So we do have the heat still in place for the central and western portions of the continent as we go through the day on Monday.
And yes, even though we're looking at high 20 in Berlin on Monday, instability will be a part of the story as we go through the day as well.
Hope you have a good day wherever you are.
♫～ 3-DAY FORECAST ～♫
00:27:35 話者 1
That brings us to the end of this edition of NHK Newsline.
We'll have more for you very soon. Thanks for watching.
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