The Iraqi Military says its confident they can retake mosul from the militant group. The militants took control of the city in Northern Iraq two years ago. Translator we can completely recapture nineveh province sometime between this year and the first few months of next year. He says units on the Northern Front are being reinforced with weapons and armored vehicles. He says the militants will lose their will to fight if Iraqi Forces Recapture the central city of fallujah. He says that will also give a boost to the troops trying to retake mosul. The militants are launching counter offensives with suicide bombers and chemical weapons and using civilians as human shields. More people are fleeing the areas near mosul as Government Forces step up offensives to retake the city. About 200 families have reportedly arrived at a refugee camp east of mosul in the past two weeks. A man who recently arrived there says Islamic State fighters fear the u. S. Led coalitions air strikes. He says many civilians take advantage of that confusion to flee. Another man says he was wounded and his friend was killed as they tried to escape. He says he holds out hope mosul will be liberated. A Kurdish Militant Group is claiming responsibility for a car bomb attack in istanbul. The target was a police bus. The bomb went off in a parked car on tuesday as the bus passed by. The Kurdistan Freedom falcons is a militant Group Operating in turkey. He they said ate tack was a retaliation. The group has claimed responsibility for wednesdays bomb attack on a Police Station in midyat in the countrys southeast. The Turkish Military is responding with air strikes against militant strongholds in Northern Iraq. South korean prosecutors have raided the offices of the countrys fifth largest conglomerate. Lotte group. Theyre investigating a suspected slush funds allegedly through Asset Transactions among affiliates. Investigators searched 17 locations including the groups headquarters in seoul and the homes of executives. They raided the groups founder and the home of his younger son, who is a group chairman. The Public Relations office for the lotte group declined to comment on the raid but said the group will cooperate with the investigation. Lotte drew attention after a feud emerged between members of the founding family over control of tokyo based lotte holdings. The defense ministers of japan and east timor have met in the Southeast Asian country. Theyve agreed on the importance of peacefully resolving maritime disputes according to international law. Nakatani and his counterpart expressed concern over chinas increased maritime activities. On thursday, a Chinese Navy Vessel entered an area just outside japans territorial waters in the Senkaku Islands in the east china sea. Japan controls the island. China and taiwan claim them. The japanese government maintain the islands are an inherent part of of japans territory. The defense ministers confirmed that their countries will cooperate more closely on defense. Nakatani pledged that his countrys selfdefense forces will help east timor improve capabilities. Japans government will consider a port call by vessels in east timor later this year. Translator we agreed that chinas unilateral action to raise tensions is a matter of concern for the International Community. Nakatani said its important to make it clear to china that the high seas should remain open to all nations. Four indian naval vessels have arrived at a port in southwestern japan. Their crews will take part in exercises with japan and the u. S. Officers of the three countries say they will work for peace and stability of sea lanes. The four indian vessels arrived on friday morning at sasebo. The port hosts ships of japans selfdefense Maritime Force and the u. S. Navy. A japanese destroyer, a u. S. Nuclear powered Aircraft Carrier and a frigate will take part in the drills. The officers commented to beijings claim to most of the south china sea. As of now all of us are enjoying the freedom of navigation and i hope it continues. Translator its important for the International Community to strengthen coordination to ensure peace and freedom at sea. We will continue, the United States navy and also our friend, to operate in the open seas and in accordance with the laws of navigation and continue to do so for security, peace and Economic Prosperity in the regions. The drill will take part in waters east of okinawa in southwestern japan and will last eight days. In cambodia the testimony of a former cadre of the brutal khmer rouge regime has shed light on the killing of foreigners in the 1970s. An event long shrouded in mystery. Patchari raksawong in bangkok is following the story. The former prison chief said a leader commonly known as brother number two ordered him to execute a group of western captives. He gave the testimony in a case against a deputy of the late leader pol pot at a special tribunal set up with the assistance of the united nations. The former prison chief said that he personally ordered the killing of the westerners. These included two americans. Translator now i can repeat that i was ordered to kill all four westerners and burn them to ashes. This was to avoid leaving any evidence behind, to prove they were arrested and killed here. More than 14,000 people were killed in the notorious prison in the capital phnom penh. Critics say he hasnt revealed the whole picture. The documentation of cambodia an ngo researching the atrocity, said at least 79 foreigners were killed in the prison. Through the mid to the late 1970s, khmer rouge imposed a violent regime in the name of social reform. Its goal was to build a utopian society said to be modeled on communist chinas cultural revolution. It considered city dwellers to be enemies of the revolution and relocated them to peasant farming villages. At least 1. 7 million were executed, starved to death or died during forced labor. In bangladesh, assailants killed a hindu on friday in the northwestern district. Police suspect its the latest in a spate of attacks on religious minorities and secular activists. Police say a 60yearold man was hacked to death while he was taking a walk near his ashram. The killing came days after suspected islamic militants murdered an elderly hindu priest and a christian in separate attacks. Members of religious minorities and secular activists have become targets in the muslim majority country. Police launched a crackdown on islamist militants who are suspected in involvement of over 40 murders over the last three years. The government of Prime Minister sheikh ashinha has come under increasing international and domestic pressure to end the series of gruesome killings by suspected jihadists. Chinas ambitious plan to build a Train Network across Southeast Asia looks like it might be going off the rails. Work on a major section through thailand has stalled amid squabbles over costs. Once an enthusiastic partner, thailand has now begun scaling back the project as nhk world reports. Reporter thailand and chinas agreement last december to cooperate on a railway across the Southeast Asian country was supposed to be a win win. Translator the project will not only help the local economy but will also increase national competitiveness. Translator deepening our bilateral relationship brings benefits to the economy as well as security. Reporter the 870kilometer railroad would connect nankai in northeast thailand with bangkok and rayong, a Major Industrial zone. The railroad would use chinese Rolling Stock and operating systems. Construction was supposed to start in may. But negotiations stalled when china estimated the price at around 15 billion. Thailand called for cost reductions, and for china to finance 70 of the joint business project. Demands that the chinese have rejected. With negotiations deadlocked in march the Thai Government began working on its own. Its building shorter stretches near bangkok, less than a third the length of the overall plan. Translator the government has decided to build the first stretch, as we dont yet know when the other stretches will be built, well delay construction until were prepared. Reporter northeastern thailand was a planned stop on the original route. Now that the overall plan has been called into question, municipal officials who were expecting the project to bring local economic revitalizations are becoming increasingly concerned. Local authorities have been preparing to build a network ahead of the railroad construction, but at this point, the railroad will not reach khon kaen. Translator it may negatively affect the economy in the future. My fear is the Economic Growth in the province may slow down. Reporter behind the disruptions is chinas request for development concessions, not only for the railroad but the areas along it too. Thailand believes it would give china too much influence. Translator china knows it will not profit from the trains operation. Thats why it requested rights not directly related to the Railway Project but those Development Rights are thailands, as the project belongs to the Thai Government. Reporter chinas grand scheme is to build a railway to singapore via laos, thailand and malaysia. The asean nations are closely watching how china responds to thailands lastminute concern. Nhk world, bangkok. That wraps up our bulletin. Im Patchari Raksawong in bangkok. The Tokyo Stock Exchange has approved an initial Public Offering for messaging app operator line. Executives at the firm want to raise money to expand overseas. The companys five year old free messaging application is ranked by some at seventh for Global Market share. Shares in what will be one of japans largest ipos of the year are expected to debut in july. Lines initial market capitalization will be about 5. 6 billion. The company is eyeing a listing on the new york stock exchange. Line is a subsidiary of a south of a major korean i. T. Firm. Its headquarters are in tokyo. It provides services in more than 230 countries and territories to over 218 million people. Were going to look at the companys history and strategy for the future. Lines Business Model links paid Digital Content like games and music streaming to its free messaging app. Partnerships with Credit Card Companies make other features like money transfers possible. One factor behind its quick rise is a feature called stickers. They are images people can post to express their feelings. Its especially popular among young users and Many Companies have created their own stickers. Translator for messages like okay, i always use stickers. Translator the app is a necessity for me. The Service Launched in 2011, the same year a massive earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern japan. Telephone lines were disrupted in the aftermath, and that led to the idea of a free messaging service that uses cell phone data. It helped in kumamoto during earthquakes that hit in april. Doctors used it to share information in what was an unstable communication situation. While line has grown quickly in some areas, one of its challenges is the relatively limited market. 70 of users are concentrated in japan, taiwan, thailand and indonesia. Translator i am often in contact with people abroad, but line is not that popular everywhere. So i rarely use it. In areas like the United States and europe, line users are on the decline, dropping by 15 million over 12 months. The Company Hopes the simultaneous listings in japan and the u. S. Will boost its international profile. It also wants to use funds raised on stock markets to strengthen its sales and ad strategies. In japan the company is looking to increase its use beyond young people and with a larger segment of the population. Seniors. Translator i use email a lot. I never use line. With around half of japanese people sticking to older types of phones, line is looking more broadly. Its announced that it will soon enter the lowpriced smartphone business, an expansion that would take it much further than the original app. Finance ministers of the Member Nation of the asiaeurope meeting have expressed concern over the possible impact of geopolitical tensions on the world economy. They released a statement after their conference in the monogoal mongolian capital. The statement says recovery in the Global Economy continues, but that the pace of growth varies among regions and countries. The document mentions risks facing the Global Economy. It cites economic slowdowns in emerging countries and the possible effect on those countries if the u. S. Federal reserve raises its key interest rate. The statement also says geopolitical tensions and other challenges could have a Significant Impact on Economic Growth. Britain will hold a referendum on june 23rd, to decide whether it will leave the european union. After the meeting, japanese finance minister taro aso touched on britains upcoming referendu translator considering political effects, i believe it will be better if britain does not leave the eu. But its necessary to compare the benefits of britain leaving the eu with those of the country staying in the bloc. The asem statement says Member Nations will carry out structural reform and other policy measures if necessary in order to booto boost growth in Global Economy. Heres a look at other business stories were following. Japans transport ministry is getting tough with automakers under fire for fuel economy falsification. The Ministry Says surprise inspections will target firms as they measure the fuel consumption of their cars. Any wrongdoing will result in naming and shaming of the manufacturer and models with manipulated data will be refused government certification. The Asian Development bank has approved a 100 million loan for a highway in pakistan. It is the banks first cofinancing with the chinaled Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank which will match the loan amount this month. The adb called the approval an historic milestone. Bank of japan Officials Say the Producer Price index in may marked its 14th straight month in negative territory. The figure was down 4. 2 year on year. The officials blame the stronger yen. And lower prices of resources. Agricultural minister Hiroshi Moriyama said japan is ahead of schedule in its target to export 1 trillion yen of Food Products by 2020. He said the growing popularity of japanese cuisine abroad says the target worth more than 9 billion could be hit a year early. Japan shipped a record 7 billion worth of Food Products last year. Ties between taiwan and japans Kumamoto Prefecture have become stronger. The mayors of the cities have delivered donations to help the region recover from recent earthquakes. They gave about 1. 5 billion to kumamoto governor. The mayors began seeking donations soon after the quake struck in april. Translator kumamoto, you can do it. Chen says she hopes people affected by the quakes can get their lives back to normal. Translator im filled with gratitude. My prefecture will carefully use donations to help those affected and support recovery efforts. Kumamoto has an International Exchange relationship with him. And the southwestern japanese prefecture donated money there after the city suffered earthquake damage in february. The two mayors will visit affected areas in kumamoto before returning home on sunday. Police say they found a womans body in a Mountain Forest in akita prefecture northern japan, shes onof four people suspected to have recently been killed by bears in kazuno city. Police and firefighters found the body on friday. They believe its suzuki who has been missing since wednesday. Shes believed to have entered the forest to gather bamboo shoots. Police say the body was severely mauled and showed signs of a bear attack. Theyre working to confirm the identity. Three other people are thought to have been killed by bears in kazuno in the past few weeks. The attacks happened only a few kilometers apart. Residents are alarmed. Translator the forest over there is bear country. Every year its full of bears. Thats why i never go near there. Last time i went, i saw a bear running across the field toward the west. Experts say the same bear could have been involved in all the attacks. Tr