i'm mariko oi in tokyo. the headlines: emperor akihito is to formally give up his throne, the first japanese emperor to step down in more than 200 years. a new era is set to begin as his heir, crown prince naruhito, prepares to ascend the chrysanthemum throne. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: us deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who appointed robert mueller to investigate links between russia and donald trump's presidential campaign, resigns. islamic state releases a new video. if it is authentic, it will be the first time its leader, abu bakr al—baghdadi,

has been seen in years. hello. it is 1:00am in london and 9:00am in the morning here in tokyo, where for the first time in more than 200 years, a japanese emperor is about to resign. on tuesday afternoon, emperor akihito will enter a ceremonial room in the imperial palace and formally give up his throne. under japan's constitution, emperor akihito is not allowed to retire, so the government had to pass a special one—off law to allow him to do so. he will be succeeded by his eldest son, crown prince naruhito, on wednesday. as part of the celebrations for the imperial succession,

japan's golden week holidays, usually a week long, have been extended to ten days. we are already seeing a lot of tourists and people gathering outside the imperial palace. i managed to get to the town yesterday and speak to some of them and gauge the mood. here on the streets of tokyo, there a sense of celebration, anticipation, and even a tinge of sadness, as the country enters a imperial era. emperor akihito is a well respected and popular figure, so many are sad to see him step down, but most understand and sympathise with the 85—year—old's desire to abdicate. translation: he's our country's symbol, and i've always had the impression that he's kind and gentle, so i feel sad. translation: i support the current emperor's decision to abdicate, given his age. translation: on wednesday, there'll be a new emperor. how do you feel?

translation: i look forward to having the new emperor. when his son, crown prince naruhito, takes to the chrysanthemum throne, japan quite literally enters a new era. that is because the country uses an emperor's reign to mark time. so, when naruhito becomes the new emperor, the era of heisei ends, and japan enters the era of reiwa. translated, it means "beautiful harmony." a lot of thought went into choosing that name, and it's supposed to represent the mood of the country. and since it was announced, a month ago, the name has been everywhere. even some cafes are getting in on the act. translation: when the new era's name was announced, all of japan was in the mood to celebrate, and many creators expressed that through their art. as a latte artist, i wanted to celebrate very well, by making this.

are very creative latte art marking the start of the new era there —— crown prince naruhito very creative. i spoke to shihoko goto, an analyst onjapan with the think tank the wilson centre. she told me about how emperor akihito will be remembered. he is actually a man who represents a continuum, first and foremost of all. remember that his father was emperor hirohito. he has really atoned for that by reaching out to the people, being at one, reaching out to the nation ofjapan at times of great suffering, including especially during natural disasters. but he's also taken a very pro—active role in reaching out to countries that suffered underjapanese aggression, during world war ii and before that. in that respect, he's also taken

on a political role. but he has been respected, and his son is expected to continue that tradition of bridging divides. and he will be succeeded by his eldest son, crown prince naruhito, on wednesday. he and his wife will bring a lot of firsts for the imperial family — university educated, they lived abroad for many years as well. what kind of era do you expect from the new emperor? actually, for the viewers of the bbc, the fact that they both went to oxford is particularly noteworthy, and crown prince naruhito has said in public that one of the happiest times he spent during his life was actually at oxford. they are very cosmopolitan in that respect. princess masako, before she married, was a korean diplomat. —— career diplomat.

her lineage also comes from that tradition of diplomacy. so certainly they would want to use their linguistic abilities, their general cosmopolitan flair, to enhance imperial diplomacy, as well. the challenge, though, is the system itself. the imperial household agency has a lot of constraints that would prevent them to perhaps be as effective as they could be. we will be back with mariko a little later on newsday. now let's catch up on some of the day's other news: the us deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, has said he is resigning from his post. mr rosenstein appointed special counsel robert mueller in 2017 to invesigate links between the russian government and president trump's campaign. in his resignation letter, mr rosenstein said he served without fear or favour, and that truth is not determined by opinion polls. our washington correspondent dan johnson has more. everyone had been expecting rod rosenstein to go. in fact, it was something

of a surprise that he didn't resign late last year, when it was revealed that at one stage he'd actually suggested wearing a wire to secretly record president trump. that was just one thing that had made him unpopular with the president, his involvement with appointing robert mueller to head up investigation into rough nonaggression interference,. his constant defence of that process, that investigation, was another thing that made him unpopular with the president, even though at one stage he is alleged to have said that he would make sure the president was protected from that investigation. so rod rosenstein has been a figure who throughout, really, his two years in office has trodden a difficult tightrope of trying to maintain the support of the president, to retain hisjob, but also trying to maintain the impartiality of the law and the office that he held as number two in the justice department. but in terms of the russia investigation, he was a more important figure, because the attorney general, jeff sessions, had stood back from that investigation because of potential

conflicts of interests. that's why rod rosenstein, despite only being the deputy attorney general, has been such an interesting, key figure over the last few months. and really, the only way he's clung on so long is because, i think, there was an acceptance that the mueller report need needed to have been concluded, needed to have been finalised, before he left office. but there is an announcement he will go within two weeks. no surprise, really, because the new attorney general, william barr, had already announced a successoi’, had appointed somebody to take over when he took office in february, so rod rosenstein really had been facing a ticking clock. the man believed to be the leader of the so—called islamic state group, abu bakr al—baghdadi, has reappeared on camera. he was last seen in 2014, when the is militants had captured large swathes of territory in iraq and syria. in a video, he vows to seek revenge following the fall of the caliphate. quentin sommerville has this update from beirut.

throughout his message, and that video was something like 18 minutes long, he kept referring to the stea dfastness long, he kept referring to the steadfastness of long, he kept referring to the stea dfastness of is long, he kept referring to the steadfastness of is supporters. and we experienced a lot of that when we we re we experienced a lot of that when we were reporting on the fall of the caliphate in the beginning of this year. time and time again we would meet is men and is women who told us that they still believed in islamic state group's hateful mission and that they believed women would be reunited with their husbands, the husbands would take up arms again, and that there caliphate, baghdadi, hadn't forsaken them. what is interesting about this video is that abu bakr al—baghdadi has bookmarked, if you like, the life of the caliphate. the last time we saw him was just after the official announcement of the caliphate's creation, in mosul, where he gave a sermon creation, in mosul, where he gave a sermon at the mosque there. now we have another message after the caliphate has been destroyed, and in

that message, we can date it because he refers to the recent israeli elections, he refers to recent events in sudan, and he sent that message is not just events in sudan, and he sent that message is notjust to the west, that is is still a threat, but also to those steadfast supporters. more on that story a little later in the programme. in other news: presidential hopeful joe biden has kicked off his campaign for the democratic nomination. the former vice president addressed a rally in pittsburgh, laying out his vision for the country's middle class. mr biden announced his 2020 bid last week, and opinion polls suggest he is currently leading the democratic field. the head of boeing has defended the safety of the 737 max aircraft, saying he is sorry for the loss of life and insisting the company has a duty to eliminate risk. dennis muilenburg made the comments as he appeared in front of shareholders just hours after it was revealed the us aviation regulator has received four phone calls from current and former boeing employees about

the safety of the aircraft. indonesia's president has announced plans to relocate the country's capital city. jakarta is on the crowded main island of java, and is plagued by flooding and subsidence. the indonesian planning minister says the new site for the capital has yet to be chosen. china's hopes of a first world snooker champion are over for another year. both ding junhui and zhou yuelong have been knocked out in the second round. both held leads going into the final session of their respective matches, and both were beaten by englishmen, ali carter beating zhou and judd trump putting out 2016 finalist ding. the united states has delivered a new warning that allowing huawei to help build the uk's new 56 data network would pose an unacceptable risk.

a senior american security official warned that the us would reconsider how it shared intelligence with any western ally which let huawei play a part in building 56 networks. our security correspondent gordon corera reports. it is the promise of a new, high—tech future. 56 data networks will connect almost every device and aspect of our lives, from our cars to our homes. but should this future be made in china, and by this company, huawei? washington has been arguing that the risk of china spying on or switching off 56 through the company is too great, and today, a top us diplomat told me there would be consequences to using huawei. if countries put unsecured, untrusted vendors into their 56 networks, in any place, we're letting countries know that we're going to have to consider the risk that that produces to our information—sharing arrangements with them.

it was here last week that the uk's national security council met to decide what to do about 56. details of those discussions promptly leaked, leading to an ongoing inquiry. but it reportedly decided that the risks of using huawei could be managed. that is a view washington won't be happy about. the chancellor has been in china in the last few days to encourage trade, and deciding whether to give huawei a role involves balancing the economic benefits with the national security risks, as well as the potential of falling out with washington or beijing. i think the british government is extremely worried. because on the one hand, they are looking forward to forging ever—closer economic ties with china in a post—brexit scenario. whereas on the other hand, under america's pressure, the uk have to work out what are the security risks involved by using a 56 system from huawei? uk security officials believe they can keep huawei's technology

out of the most sensitive, core parts of the 56 network, managing the risk. but that was a view rejected today by washington. we don't believe that any part of a 56 network should have untrustworthy vendors. what people referred to as the non—core, or the edge, over time will be a critical part of the network. the us says using huawei would be like handing bejing a loaded gun, and the bbc has been told that the major telecom companies who plan to use huawei equipment have been asked to attend a meeting at the us embassy in london tomorrow, as washington's pressure continues. gordon corera, bbc news. you are watching newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko oi, live in tokyo. still to come on the programme: we will have more on the end of emperor aikihito's reign injapan. also on the programme: underwater, and maybe uncercover. is this beluga whale, found off the coast of norway, in fact a russian spy?

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 help to build better 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 mariko oi, in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: emperor akihito is set to formally give up his throne, the first time a japanese emperor has stepped down in more than 200 years. us deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who appointed robert mueller to investigate links between russia and donald trump's presidential campaign, submits his resignation. let's have a look at the front pages of the newspapers around the world: the philippines star is covering the ongoing spat over a shipment full of canadian waste currently sitting in port in manila. the paper says president duterte has threatened to declare war on canada

if they didn't take the waste back by the 15th of may. the south china morning post is focusing on the ongoing us—china trade war. with talks set to restart, the paper predicts that although some trade deals may be made there will be plenty more battles to come. and as we've been hearing from mariko, the international eddition of the japan times is focusing on the last day of emperor akihito's reign. they've picked this image of the emperor kneeling with evacuees after a volcano eruption in 1991 as one of the defining images of the emperor's reign. let's get more now on the leader of the so called islamic state group, abu bakr al—baghdadi, who has has re—appeared on camera. he was last seen in 2014 when the is militants had captured large swathes of territory in iraq and syria. in a video he vows to seek revenge following the fall of the caliphate.

earlier we heard from mia bloom, a professor at georgia state university who has been researching is propaganda for a number of years. the video is clearly intended to boost the morale of the isis supporters at a time in which i'm sure having lost the territorial caliphate, they're at their lowest point and so what he has done in the video is claimed that 90 different terrorist attacks across eight countries in order to give this feeling of steadfastness, in fact he uses the word several times, and he's projecting his power and influence. and what you make of this suggestion that the motivation for the attacks in sri lanka on easter sunday on the churches in sri lanka, that it wasn't for what happened in christchurch, but in fact for what happened in baghouz, the fall of the caliphate? this makes more sense because the fall of baghouz is also

related to the attack in austria, there was a, as you remember, another christmas market. and it makes more sense in terms of the amount of time it takes to plan such a sophisticated attack. you need more than three weeks to plan multiple suicide attacks with eight different operatives. so it never made sense to me to blame a march 15 event and then say that three weeks goes by and you can have an attack of this sophistication. because the first information that was given by the indian security agency was april 4th, which was two and a half weeks after the attack. he also talks about the prospect of another potential attack, a warning, a thread, what do we make of this? a warning, a threat, what do we make of this? he's basically saying that even though the territorial caliphate no longer exists, he is still able to command and control multiple attacks and he mentioned sri lanka, he is also talking about mali and places in africa, as well as showing that he can project his power despite losing his

territorial base of operations. the strange discovery of a whale wearing a harness off norway's far north east coast has rasied suspicions of russia's military using the mammals as part of a special ops force. the beluga whale was found wearing a strap that could hold a camera or weapon, near the small fishing village of inga. georgina smyth has more. an unlikely wild encounter with a dark twist. this white beluga whale seem to be tame, swimming up to swimming vessels and trying to pull straps off boats. fishermen noticed rope that was clipped into a harness that could hold a camera or weapon. translation: there were clips on the harness like these that were on the whale, we tried to reach those clips and open them,

my colleague and i try to do this for some time but we couldn't do it. evermore curious, one of the fishermen got into a survival suit and jumped into the water. translation: then, afterl got in, he came up along the side of me and i could reach the clip and opened it. written on the side of the harness with the words "equipment of saint petersburg." marine experts believe that the whale probably escaped from the russian navy which has a long history of using marine animals for warfare and spying. a military spokesperson speaking on russian radio did not deny that it could have escaped from the russian navy. georgina smyth, bbc news. the oscar—nominated director john singleton has died aged 51. his family asked doctors to turn off the life support machine he had been dependent on since suffering a stroke earlier this month.

his debut film, boyz n the hood, led to him being the youngest person to be nominated for the best director academy award. sophie long has more on his life. ina in a statement from john singleton's family, it is with heavy heart that we announce thatjohn singleton passed away today due to complications from a stroke he suffered last wednesday. he was most famous for his debut film boyz n the hood, he made itjust months after film school. he went on to be nominated for best direct and best screenplay. the first african—american and youngest person ever to be nominated for a oscarfor best director. tribute is being paid. the film poignantly depicted the struggles in west la. the best

film of the generation, and person said. another said, a brilliant artist whose gift made room for so many. i think that is what we are hearing from a number of people, that he was encouraging of talent coming up behind him. one talked about how he encouraged the creator of grey's anatomy. shortly after boyz n the hood exploded on the scene, she spoke to him and he told never to stop writing. in a statement from his family, we got a sense of the man outside of hollywood. he spent 30 years making film and television. outside of that, him had a passion for the sea,

his greatest joy was that, him had a passion for the sea, his greatestjoy was sailing his abode. up and down the pacific coast. we have worked withjohn and assailed with john coast. we have worked withjohn and assailed withjohn know coast. we have worked withjohn and assailed with john know the creativity and come he created for so many. we must now navigate the storm with counting. it is heartbreaking. a huge loss to the film industry. evenif a huge loss to the film industry. even if the weather seems to have taken a sombre mood injapan? even if the weather seems to have taken a sombre mood in japan? that's right. despite the heavy rain, we are surrounded by hundreds of tourists and well—wishers who have come to the imperial palace to mark the last day of emperor akihito. what i have noticed personally, when the current emperor took to the

phone, the country was morning the death of the previous emperor. — to the throne stop but today people are looking forward to the new era. there are issues, including how the imperialfamily there are issues, including how the imperial family is running there are issues, including how the imperialfamily is running out of male heirs. there are challenges left. still, the mood is celebratory. at 5pm, emperor akihito will hold a formal ceremony to step down from the throne. crown prince naruhito we'll take to the throne. beginning a new area. we will be back with him throughout this historic week forjapan.

i'm kasia madera in london. we will catch up with you again later. bye bye for now. hello there. we are likely to see warmer weather over the eastern parts of the uk over the next few days. there was more cloud around yesterday around the south of england. it was fairly thin. we have clear skies right now. further west we have this weather front sneaking in, it's going to bring some patchy rain and drizzle but it is moving very slowly into that area of high pressure. for many parts it is still dry by the morning. temperatures in the clearer skies dipping away to 3—5. we have some sunshine or northern scotland. patchy rain coming into the father west of scotland. for england and wales, we are yet to see any rain crossing the sea, some mist and fog patches crossing eastern england,

we should see decent spells of sunshine. you can see how slowly this rain pushes over the irish sea into some western coasts, into scotland, perhaps, but ahead of it, some sunshine. 18 or 19 in the midlands. as we move into the evening and overnight, again this patchy rain is pushing its way further into wales, to the south—west of england, to the north—west of england and further into scotland as well. more cloud putting into more of the country means it should be quite as chilly, temperatures 7—9. this zone of cloud elsewhere, though, producing showers at this stage and they could be rather hit and miss. but with more cloud in general, even for eastern areas, it won't be quite as warm as tuesday. looking at thursday, we've still got this fairly cloudy picture.

there will be some showers developing, potentially thundery. more significant, though, that weather front could provide some patchy rain moving southwards. it's what's happening to the north that is more crucial because if you follow the wind arrows, our wind from the arctic. otherwise the winds will not be too strong. but they will turn colder everywhere by the end of the week before temperatures recoverjust a little bit as we head into the weekend.

you are watching bbc news. our top story: it is a moment of history forjapan. for the first time in more than 200 years, a japanese emperor is about to abdicate. emperor akihito will formally give up his throne. a new era now begins, with crown prince naruhito becoming the emperor. us deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who appointed robert mueller to investigate links between russia and donald trump's campaign, is resigning his post. mueller‘s investigation did not establish evidence that trump's campaign illegally conspired with the russian government. and this video is trending on bbc.com. is this beluga whale, found off the coast of norway, a spy trained by the russian navy? it was found off norway's coast wearing a russian harness, which has now been removed. that's all, stay with bbc world news. our top uk story: further talks have taken place

between the government