hello, everyone. this is newsday. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: officials in sri lanka revise down the death toll from the easter suicide attacks by a hundred — 253 people are now believed to have lost their lives. in christchurch — prince william delivers a powerful messsage on defeating extremism as he visits al noor mosque where 42 people were killed in a terrorist attack. the message from christchurch and the message from al noor and linwood mosques could not be more clear. the global ideology of hate will fail to divide us. i'm kasia madera in london.

also in the programme: the leaders of north korea and russia toast their first ever summit — kimjong—un describes the talks as meaningful. and the up coming abdication of japan's emperor akihito reignites the debate over the country's male—only succession rule. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 8am in singapore, 1o‘clock in london and 5:30 in the morning in sri lanka, where the government has sharply lowered the number of people it says were killed in sunday's suicide bombings. the health ministry now says 253 people were killed — more than a hundred fewer than the previous figure. the ministry has blamed a calculation error for the original death toll. and the country's defence minister has resigned — saying sri lanka's security institutions failed to do theirjob. nick beake is in

the capital colombo. clearly these have been devastating attacks for sri lanka and they are continuing to bury their dead but there has been tonight a significant announcement from the health ministry and they have drastically revised downward the number of people killed. we were told initially 359 but now, 253 people lost their lives. the funerals continue nonetheless and this is a country that remains in a state of emergency. there is a curfew once again overnight for the fifth night running and we are told around 7000 soldiers are part of a nationwide security operation and the priority is to try and track down any remaining members of this cell which has already wrought great devastation on this country. worrying signs today, though, more arrests. in particular, three people

were picked up and they had with them hand grenades and also swords. there was a blast as well in this city, colombo, this morning, that was to the east of the city. no—one was injured in that blast but it took place near a court and so that has been a cause for concern as well. all these things being put together by the british intelligence, that's led them to make the decision this evening, telling all their citizens, british citizens, to stay away from sri lanka unless it's absolutely necessary so the security investigation continues, they desperately are trying to piece together who the suspects may be. this is a nationwide operation and all the time, sri lankans who are trying to grieve and bury their loved ones, they are faced by this ongoing terror threat. nick beake in colombo. and rico will be speaking to

sri lanka's permanent representative to the un on newsday a little later. but first let's take a look at some of the day's other news. cyclone kenneth has reached northern mozambique, with winds expected to exceed 200km/h. last month, cyclone idai caused hundreds of deaths in the region. forecasters predict catastrophic flooding and storm surges of up to 5m. mozambique‘s national institute of disaster management said 30,000 people had been evacuated from vulnerable areas. also making news today, world leaders are gathering in beijing for a summit on china's belt and road initiative which aims to expand global trade links. the project has funded trains, roads, and ports in many countries, but has left some saddled with debt. chinese officials have tried to address concerns surrounding the project, which is expected to involve more than i trillion dollars in investments.

the former nissan chairman, carlos ghosn, has leftjail after posting nearly five million dollars in bail. the 65—year—old is facing four charges of financial misconduct, over allegations he concealed part of his salary and syphoned off nissan funds for personal use. mr ghosn denies the charges. and 007 fans are abuzz after details of the 25th official james bond film were unveiled today, with the 0scar—winning actor rami malek to play the villain. the cast and creative team gathered at a launch event injamaica however the movie to be released next april is still yet to receive an official title. watch this space. returning to our top story — sri lanka's health ministry has made a radical revision to the number of people killed in the deadly bomb attacks on easter sunday. the revised death toll is around 253 — that's more than 100 fewer than originally thought to have been killed.

a little earlier i spoke to dr amrith rohan perera, sri lanka's permanent representative to the un. of course, there is much concern being expressed out here in new york and this is one of the most... ..tragic events that has taken place in recent times on one of the most sacred days, not only to the christians, although catholic churches were attacked, but on a holy day affecting all faiths, all religions. basically cherishing human values in a multi—religious society that we all value. my deepest sympathies indeed to all the victims that were killed and to the families

in the bombings on sunday but what do you say, dr perera, to the sril lankan people and to the victims about this colossal failure of intelligence, that this wouldn't have happened if there was enough intelligence to avoid this incident? this is a matter this is receiving attention of the highest levels of government. investigations are ongoing. matters have been looked into in order to address the lapses that have now been reported. the defence minister is saying there was a failure in the institutions, and now there is a new report that the health ministry has miscalculated the death toll by 100,

from 353 to 253. yes, in the event of a tragedy of this magnitude, there will always be miscalculations. but as the dust settles down, and things begin to emerge with greater clarity, there will always be revisions. so dr perera, how does a country go about restoring itself and its people after such a devastating attack? sri lanka has faced numerous challenges of this nature, we've just come out of a 30—year conflict and with each experience, we have come out with strength and this is no different. what is happening is in the immediate aftermath, there was a tremendous response by way of humanitarian gestures, a large turnout of people to donate blood.

the response of the international community, the world leaders, the secretary—general of the united nations, has been tremendous. speaking for new york city, for the last few days, i've been very busy attending a number of multi—faith religious observances and these are being held in churches, in buddhist temples, in muslim mosques. ijust concluded a special multi—religious memorial at the permanent mission of sri lanka at the united nations yesterday, the biggest ever attendance of ambassadors and other well—wishers of sri lanka. the common message was that it is through multi—faith observations of this nature that we can inculcate the values,

the human values which will discourage this type of outbreak. it had long been rumoured, but now it's official, joe biden is running for us president. the former us vice president has launched his bid for the democratic party's nomination in 2020. it's the third time he's tried to get the top job, over the course of a long political career, as katty kay explains. joe biden became a politician in 1972. to put that in context, in ‘72, america was still at war with vietnam... i, richard milhous nixon... ..and richard nixon was the country's president. biden has known his fair share of tragedy. he lost his first wife and infant daughter in a car crash. hi, how are you? joe biden's my name. in his many years in politics, he became a champion of working people, an advocate for gun control...

it took me seven years to get the first ban put in place. more controversially, biden led the anita hill hearings and was noticeably tough on a woman accusing a supreme court nominee of sexual harassment. the next president of the united states, joe biden. in 1988, he made his first run for the presidency. thank you! 20 years later, he tried and failed again. his consolation prize was eight years as vice—president to barack 0bama. the two are still friends. i'm announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. today, joe biden is running again. we have to remember who we are. this is america. he is 76 years old. that makes him a year younger than bernie sanders and just a little older than donald trump. even if 70 is the new 60, that still makes a bunch of old white men the three

frontrunners for next president the united states. katty kay, bbc news, washington. earlier i asked jane 0'brien in washington whether there was any doubtjoe biden would declare a presidential bid because the rumours had been so strong. they were indeed but as we said earlier, it is still a game—changer becausejoe biden is the big name in this very diverse and now very lengthy democratic league table of would—be nominees. so he enters the race already in a commanding position. he's topping the polls. he has this extraordinary name recognition that he has gained after almost half a century in politics as we were just hearing from katty there. so he's got a lot of advantages. but the perceived disadvantage for a party that's moving proressively left is his age, and the fact that he is a white man. in this era of the me too movement

and a party that is trying to embrace more diversity and more women, that could be a problem but i think what is more interesting, given the ideological push from the democrats, what they want most of all is somebody who can beat donald trump, and they, a lot of them, believe thatjoe biden could be it. his official video, when he came out with this, the fact that he is standing, he was very much targeting it to donald trump. he was almost speaking directly to him. that's right, he really isn't taking on his rivals at this point, and there are 19 of them. he is taking aim directly at the white house, the president incumbent, drawing a contrast between the direction that donald trump has taken america and the direction thatjoe biden to a certain extent already represents, eight years

as vice—president under the 0bama administration. people already know what his values are, they know what the country could look like under him. so he doesn't actually have to sell much of a vision at this point. it's really, can he consolidate his name recognition, the support that he would receive in those critical four states where he needs to win, and that's iowa, pennsylvania, ohio and florida. can he also bring enough of those younger voters and those more progressive democrats on side in order to secure, first of all, the nomination and then the white house? the duke of cambridge has begun the second day of his visit to new zealand by meeting the hospital medics who helped save lives in the aftermath of the christchurch mosque attacks in which 50 people were killed. prince william went on to visit masjid al noor, the christchurch mosque at which 42 people died during the terrorist attack.

the prince spoke about the example new zealand had showed the world in the wake of the tragedy. the message from christchurch and the message from al noor and linwood mosques could not be more clear. the global ideology of hate will fail to divide us. and just as new zealand is taking swift action to ban physical tools of violence, we must unite to reform the social technology that allowed hateful propaganda to inspire the murder of innocents. the bbc‘s phil mercer is in christchurch, and a short time ago he told me more about prince william's visit. prince william tapping into the innate optimism, as he was describing it, of the new zealand people. prince william saying that the atrocity perpetrated here six weeks ago was an act of unspeakable hate. and he also said that the gunman responsible wanted to spread fear and mistrust in this country. and that was something that new zealand had not done and had avoided.

so prince william's words will be of great comfort to the 160 people inside the mosque. inside we also heard from the imam and one of the survivors, in a wheelchair, one of the many survivors of the al noor mosque attack. you have to remember, rico, exactly six weeks ago 50 people were murdered in this city. 42 of them in the al noor mosque behind me. so a very poignant time for prince william to visit this city. and he also talked about mental health and that first responders must be talking to each other. absolutely. he arrived in christchurch after a visit to an anzac day service in the city of auckland. and prince william visited

those first responders, those paramedics, those police officers who had to confront the grim aftermath of the attacks here at the al noor mosque and also at the linwood mosque a few minutes‘ drive away. taking particular interest in their mental health, how they were coping with what they'd seen, how they were coping with what they had to do to save lives. and, according to a senior police officer, prince william's visit was overwhelming for some of those first responders. so prince william has been offering some comfort and support to those people at the very sharp end of this atrocity perpetrated here a month and a half ago. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the north korean leader and the russian president toast their first ever summit — kim jong—un describes their talks as "meaningful". also on the programme: controversy injapan over the male—only succession rule. is it a threat to the imperial family?

nothing, it seems, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls for government to build better government housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they've taken the capital, which they've been fighting for for so long. it was 7 o'clock in the morning, the day when power began to pass from the minority to the majority,

when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its last white colony. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. i'm kasia madera, in london. our top stories: officials in sri lanka revise down the death toll from the easter sunday suicide attacks by a hundred — 253 people are now believed to have lost their lives. in christchurch, prince wiliam has delivered a powerful messsage on defeating extremism, as he meets victims of the mosques attacks in new zealand. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world: the south china morning post leads on the summit on china's belt and road initiative being held in beijing. the sweeping infrastructure project aims to expand global trade links

but it's been met with growing criticism. the straits times leads on the sexual misconduct scandal engulfing the national university of singapore. the university has vowed to set up a victim support unit and improve campus security. and the international edition of the new york times speaks to notre—dame‘s three organists who feared that their beloved instrument was lost in the fire. luckily it survived and they tell the paper that they can't wait to play it again. that is good news. kimjong—un has told north korea's state media that peace and security in the korean peninsula will depend entirely on the future attitude

of the united states. his warning comes as the first ever talks between him and russia's president putin have now come to an end. the issue of denuclearization on the korean peninsula was top of the agenda. this summit, in the far—eastern russian city of vladivostok, comes two months after president trump's summit with kimjong—un broke down in a nuclear stalemate. earlier i spoke with our correspondent laura bicker in seoul about the latest state media reports. quoting kim jong—un as saying that washington came to the talks in hanoi with unilateral attitude and acted in bad faith and blamed in hanoi with a unilateral attitude and acted in bad faith and blamed that for the breakup of the talks and then both of those leaders walking away without a deal. he went on to say that it would have to be a change of attitude from washington if things were to get back to a negotiation table. i think when it comes to exactly what kim jong—un has wanted from these talks with vladimir putin, he has kind of got it.

he has managed to get out a global message that he believes that he's being reasonable, that he's coming to the talks with the right attitude. it was interesting to hear what vladimir putin had to say also. he talked about how it was a case of north korea, yes, disarming or taking certain disarmament steps, but needing security guarantees in return. and those guarantees would have to come from washington and would probably include the kind of things like the bases of us troops based on this peninsula. laura, i know it is impossible to say, but briefly if you would, going forward, what happens next? will we see a kim—trump summit mark three? well, i think when it comes to kim, trump and another summit, the united states has said they are willing to engage. but whether or not the timing is right. i think it will take quite a lot of or a change of the original deal

for kim jong—un and donald trump to have to sit down again. the coming abdication of japanese emperor akihito next week has reignited debate on the country's male—only succession rule. although princess aiko is the only child of japan's crown prince naruhito, she will not ascend the throne because she is female. the bbc‘s mariko 0i explains how the future of japan's imperial family, one of the oldest in the world, may be in doubt if the rule isn't changed. japan's about to get a new emperor, naruhito. he's the eldest son of the outgoing emperor. but this person, naruhito's only child, isn't it next in line. it's his younger brother — then his nephew. that's because japan actually has a law where a woman can't be on the throne. and that's a problem for them, because the imperial family is running out of male heirs.

recent polls have shown many japanese are fine with a female emperor. and there have been women on the throne in the past. in fact, there have been eight female emperors, the last one ruled about 250 years ago. so why doesn't japan change this rule? well, the same family has been on the throne for 2,500 years. the emperor was either worshipped as a god and soldiers would die him. the emperor was either worshipped as a god and soldiers would die for him. the monarchy has also been central to japanese identity. traditionalists believe that only a man can preserve this lineage. in 1889, japan's government put into a constitution that only a man can be on the throne. this was the start of a big problem for the imperial family. why? because after world war ii japan introduced another law, saying the emperor could only come from this specific branch

of the family. and that family just kept having girls. by the mid—2000s there were no male heirs in the youngest generation. so the japanese government sat down and prepared to change the law. but then this happened. prince hisahito was born. now he's the youngest person in line to the throne. unless he gets married and has a son ofjapan will run out of emperors. unless he gets married and has a son japan will run out of emperors. the current government is pretty conservative, so it's unlikely to change the laws. but in a few decades japan might not have a choice. we will be in tokyo live for the abdication and the enthronement ceremony. and i'm rico hizon, in singapore.

and before we go, we'd like to leave you with some pictures of a cat who has adopted four baby squirrels. the orphaned baby squirrels were brought to a park in southern crimea by a visitor when they were just four weeks old. hello there. after the warm easter weather that we saw last weekend, it's been turning gradually cooler and also more unsettled over the past couple of days. and that unsettled theme continues for the next few days too. this amazing picture was taken as the sun set on thursday evening in salford. you can see the big shower clouds that we had, the heavy downpours. a similar picture on friday. there will be some sunshine around, equally some heavy showers in the forecast too. and things will start to feel cold over the next few days. you can see the blue colours, that is a colder air mass building in from the north—west. the warm weather that has been with us is now pushing further east across europe.

so for friday morning we have got some clear skies for many eastern areas to start off the day. more cloud already in the west, with some showery rain for northern ireland, wales, the south—west of england through the morning. that should then push its way eastwards into south—west scotland, northern england too, before the next bands of showers arrive from the west later in the afternoon. so temperatures for the likes of belfast and cardiff, only around 11—12, but we could still see 17 degrees 01’ so across eastern parts of england. but some heavy showers almost anywhere on and off through the day. into friday evening and saturday, that's when things turn particularly stormy. storm hannah moving its way in from the atlantic. that's going to be quite a troublemaker, i think, bringing a wet and a particularly windy start to saturday, wherever you are. so let's take a look at storm hannah. it's moving its way in from the atlantic through friday night and into the early hours of saturday. so this developing area of low pressure has got a lot of isobars associated with it, particularly on the southern edge. so it will be across ireland that we see the very strong winds, but they're also going to push into wales and the south—west of england. widespread gales likely here on saturday, with winds gusting around 60, even 70 mph.

so notjust the strength of the wind, but also some really heavy showery rain for many areas through the day on saturday. the heaviest of the showers and the strongest of the winds pushing eastwards through the day across central and eastern parts of england. should dry up for northern ireland, north—west scotland, and the south—west of england later in the day. but it will feel cold, with temperatures generally around 10—12 degrees on saturday. when you add on the windchill it is going to feel pretty chilly and we could well see some disruption due to the strength of the wind. as that area of low pressure then clears to the east into sunday we see a smaller ridge of high pressure building in. so sunday the quieter day of the weekend. not wall—to—wall sunshine, i think, quite a lot of cloud around still. perhaps one or two showers just lingering in the east, and then more showery rain moving on from the west later in the day. not as cold, though, as saturday, with top temperatures for most of us around about 13 or 1a degrees. bye for now.

i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story. the sri lankan government has sharply lowered the number of people it says were killed in easter sunday's attacks. it now says 253 people died, that's more than a hundred fewer than the previous figure. the defence minister has resigned, saying the country's security institutions had failed to do theirjob. the uk has warned against ‘all but essential travel‘ to sri lanka. in christchurch — prince wiliam has delivered a powerful messsage on defeating extremism. he also praised new zealanders for their compassion in the aftermath of the mosques attacks which claimed 50 lives. and this story is trending on bbc.com. the cast of the 25th james bond film, has been announced. daniel craig will play 007 for the fifth time. the 0scar—winning star of bohemian rhapsody,