great to have you with us. we begin with some news from the war in ukraine. russia says its troops have fully captured the ukrainian city of bakhmut. kyiv has denied those claims, but if true, it could mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15 month war. russia has been trying to take bakhmut since last year in a grinding war of attrition. and in the last hours, the russian news agency interfax has said president putin congratulated his troops and the paramilitary wagner group for capturing the city. earlier, ukraine had said its units were still fighting in the city. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has been on a whirlwind tour in an effort to drum up support and weapons for an expected counteroffensive against russia. it s been a busy few hours for zelensky, touching down injapan on saturday fo diplomatic talks touching down injapan on saturday for diplomatic talks with many of the gathered heads of the g7 nations. that includes prime minist
Campaign against hamas could last several months. The idf says the next stage a widely anticipated Ground Offensive would happen soon. Now lets focus on the Business News and today the International Atomic Energy Agency completes a visit to take and assess marine samples near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power station. Since a 2011 tsunami, which severely damaged the Fukushima Nuclear plant, more than a Million Tonnes of treated waste water has accumulated there. Japan began discharging it in august, in a process that will take 30 years to complete. Despite Environmental Concerns the iaea endorsed the release plan but some countries from the region, notably china, have raised concerns. China has said it would ban alljapanese seafood imports. Last year, it imported 571 million worth of seafood from japan. Russia last week also suspended seafood trade. So are the bans likely to continue and how much could it harm japans economy and trade relations . Joining me now is professor Seijiro T
Great to have you with us. we begin with some news from the war in ukraine. russia says its troops have fully captured the ukrainian city of bakhmut. kyiv has denied those claims, but if true, it could mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15 month war. russia has been trying to take bakhmut since last year in a grinding war of attrition. and in the last hours, the russian news agency interfax has said president putin congratulated his troops and the paramilitary wagner group for capturing the city. earlier, ukraine had said its units were still fighting in the city. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has been on a whirlwind tour in an effort to drum up support and weapons for an expected counteroffensive against russia. it s been a busy few hours for zelensky, touching down injapan on saturday fo diplomatic talks touching down injapan on saturday for diplomatic talks with many of the gathered heads of the g7 nations. that includes prime minister rishi s
Touched down injapan, hashimoto didn t rule out those from high risk countries being denied entry. the headaches for organisers continue. on wednesday, 10,000 volunteers quit amid concerns that the olympics will become a super spreader. translation: still, - there are loud voices saying we are not doing enough. and of course, the ioc could still say maybe we shouldn t be holding the games. in that case, even though we have very little time, we would put all their efforts into finding areas where we could improve and make our best efforts to put on the games. for many injapan, these games pose an unwanted risk, but hashimoto is adamant that next month, athletes from around the world will be stepping onto these podiums, celebrating victory against all the odds. laura scott, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter i m @benmboulos.
Attitudes will change to say it is ok to have the games. how will you deal with any outbreak of coronavirus during the games? translation: if an outbreak should i happen during the games that amounts to a crisis or an emergency situation, then i believe we must be prepared to have these games without any spectators. hashimoto s a seven time olympian winning bronze for speed skating at the 1992 games, so she s well aware of the focus required to perform at this level. whether it s synchronised swimmers in spain, boxers in uganda or divers in the uk, tokyo s hopefuls have been trying to block out the uncertainty. yet, as the first of the teams touched down injapan, hashimoto didn t rule out those from high risk countries being denied entry. the headaches for organisers continue. on wednesday, 10,000 volunteers quit amid concerns that the olympics will become a super spreader.