welcome to bbc news. i'm our top stories: president biden is on his first visit to japan since taking office, as the us seeks to bolster its regional influence against a dominant china. we report on howjapan is boosting its own military, amid fears of chinese aggression towards taiwan. if china did try to invade taiwan, despite all of the impressive naval power on display here in tokyo bay, it is not clear at all whether the united states and its japanese allies now have the ability to stop them. i will well and truly serve the commonwealth of australia, her land and her people in the office of prime minister. anthony albanese becomes australia's 31st prime minister

before heading to tokyo for talks with president biden, and the other quad leaders. and we meet the pampered pooches riding japan's iconic bullet train in style. hello, thanks for joining hello, thanks forjoining us. how to keep a lid on china's ambitions in the pacific: that is the key issue confronting president biden as he has arrived injapan for his first visit to asia since becoming president. it's also his first summit with america's asian allies since the russian invasion of ukraine. in tokyo, he will hold talks with the prime ministers of japan, india and australia. the fallout from ukraine appears set to dominate discussions, but much of the focus will be

on china's territorial intentions, in particular its claim on taiwan. many analysts believe china's massive military gives it the wherewithal to invade taiwan, and to hold off the us and its allies if they try to intervene. our correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes filed this report from tokyo. this is something that hadn't been seen for more than 70 years, a fighterjet landing on board a japanese aircraft carrier. the jet is american, butjapan has a0 of them on order. this is a sleek new mogami class stealth frigate being commissioned last month. it's the first of 22. japan is quietly abandoning seven decades of pacifism, and the reason is simple — china. after ukraine, japan's former prime minister shinzo abe is warning that a chinese invasion of taiwan

could be next. translation: a taiwan - emergency is our emergency, forjapan and for the us—japan alliance. president xi jingping should not make any mistake in recognising this. taiwan is a vibrant and boisterous democracy. butjust like ukraine, is claimed by a much bigger, more powerful neighbour. i think whoever is in power in china, be it xijinping, or whomever comes after him, it is baked into the cake inside the communist party that china must get taiwan back. it's impossible to see any leaders stepping back from that position, and if they did step back from that position, they'd be out of a job. just south of tokyo, ships of the us seventh fleet lie at anchor next to those of its japanese ally. for decades, these ships have a guaranteed american domination of the western

pacific, but not any more. russia's invasion of ukraine has highlighted two very uncomfortable truths for the united states and its allies here in asia. the first is that when china says it is determined to reunify taiwan, by force if necessary, it actually means it. the second is that if china did try and invade taiwan, despite all of the impressive naval power on display here in tokyo bay, it is not clear at all whether the united states, and its japanese allies, now have the ability to stop them. china's current military build—up is unprecendented in peacetime. many of these new weapons are designed specifically to defeat any attempt by the us orjapan to intervene in the taiwan strait. between now and 2030, if there is an assessment that china will have significant conventional military advantages in this period.

so this is the period that everybody is most concerned that china will have conventional military advantage. and could be tempted to use it. as they meet in tokyo this week, the challenge for the us and its allies is how do they make it clear to president xi jinping that despite his newly acquired military might, using force to take taiwan would be just as much a disasterfor him as invading ukraine has been for president putin? rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. it throws up a lot of questions, doesn't it? barry pavel is the senior vice president and director of the scowcroft centre for strategy and security at the atlantic council, he joins us now from washington. thanks very much indeed for your time. thanks very much indeed for yourtime. i don't thanks very much indeed for your time. i don't think many people would doubt that china has the military might to push

ahead in an attack on taiwan should it so wish. do you think thatis should it so wish. do you think that is remotely realistic at the moment?— that is remotely realistic at the moment? ., ., �* ~ ., the moment? no, i don't. at no time in the _ the moment? no, i don't. at no time in the near _ the moment? no, i don't. at no time in the near term _ the moment? no, i don't. at no time in the near term will- the moment? no, i don't. at no time in the near term will stop i time in the near term will stop xijinping has his hands full with an economy that is not growing nearly at the rate that his entire population has come to expect, with a covid lockdown that has created unprecedented protest, with a strategic alliance with russia which just invaded a strategic alliance with russia whichjust invaded a much smaller country and is utterly failing. and xijinping needs things as stable as possible for the november party congress where he hopes to be anointed president for life. he needs stability and calmness. there is not a chance he will invade taiwan anytime this year. even that timeframe, _ taiwan anytime this year. even that timeframe, barry, - taiwan anytime this year. even that timeframe, barry, is - that timeframe, barry, is interesting. this is not something that has just sprung up something that has just sprung up overnight. it has been on xi

jinping's agenda for a good while now. i wonder, were china to do something in let's say the next two years, when go by that would still be president, would the us intervene? that is a huge question that needs answering. a huge question that needs answering-— a huge question that needs answerinu. , ~ ., answering. yes. and so, one certainly _ answering. yes. and so, one certainly cannot _ answering. yes. and so, one certainly cannot rule - answering. yes. and so, one certainly cannot rule out - answering. yes. and so, one certainly cannot rule out a i certainly cannot rule out a chinese invasion, but i personally think a military heavy invasion at this point, after what we have seen in ukraine is very unlikely, but you cannot rule it out. the us would undoubtedly come to the defence of taiwan, with its allies including japan, because if you did not, if taiwan was lost, it would give the chinese leadership a new strategic advantage from which the united states and its allies would have a very, very hard time. we were just _ have a very, very hard time. we were just looking at some werejust looking at some pictures, i think we can bring them to you now, of president biden and emperor nehra ito in conversation a little earlier,

just a few minutes ago. i think we have those pictures for you somewhere. as we wait to see if we have, it is an interesting aspect of, isn't it, seeing japan building its military might. presumably that is entirely built around china's own military growth, is it? yes, and sojapan is own military growth, is it? yes, and so japan is very wary of china. it has been for a very long time. it is slowly moving toward a much stronger leadership role. the us is encouraging this. it will soon go beyond the enshrined i% of gdp for defence spending and looking towards 2% like nato. it is talking about counter attack capabilities which could include pre—emption of missile sites and command and control. it has really been encouraged in this because the united states needs allies in both the indo—pacific as well as europe, to up their roles, to up their capability so that together we

can all seek to deter china and russia. . ., , , can all seek to deter china and russia. . . , , ., russia. yeah. that is been a - re russia. yeah. that is been a pretty patchy _ russia. yeah. that is been a pretty patchy track - russia. yeah. that is been a pretty patchy track record i russia. yeah. that is been a pretty patchy track record as well in the last b years for the us in the region. thank you very much indeed forjoining us, barry pavel. we willjust stay on the theme. australia's labor party leader, anthony albanese, has been sworn in as the country's new prime minister. he's expected to fly to tokyo shortly to meet the leaders of the quad group which includes the us, japan and india. let's get the latest on that story from our correspondent, phil mercer whojoins me now from sydney. straight into action, certainly. pretty important as a first meeting from an australian perspective, given that it does represent most of the attention will be focused on china. we know what australia's relations with china have been like in last b years. china have been like in last b ears. , ., , ., years. yes, not good. they have deteriorated _ years. yes, not good. they have deteriorated in _ years. yes, not good. they have deteriorated in spectacular- deteriorated in spectacular fashion in recent times over

beria's geopolitical and trade disputes. sometime ago, australia's called for an independent enquiry into the origins of covid—i9 which infuriated beijing. it responded with a raft of trade restrictions on australian and more recently kinder has struck a security accord with solomon islands. this is a melanesian archipelago to the north—east of australia traditionally in australia's sphere of influence. there are concerns about china's ambitions in the pacific. plenty for anthony albanese to mile as he heads north on his birthday in his newjob to tokyo. he has already had a telephone call from president biden and been congratulated by modi on twitter. he is going to tokyo to shore up very important foreign policy allies is as far

as australia is concerned. does as australia is concerned. does a labor party — as australia is concerned. does a labor party dominated - a labor party dominated government represent perhaps a softer touch from a beijing perspective? softer touch from a bei'ing perspectiveai softer touch from a bei'ing perspective? softer touch from a bei'ing --ersective? ~ ., . . ., ., perspective? well, according to the outgoing — perspective? well, according to the outgoing prime _ perspective? well, according to the outgoing prime minister- the outgoing prime minister scott morrison that is most definitely what he said in pretty explosive claims made during the australian election. essentially mr morrison was saying that the labor party was conniving in some way with beijing. that has been roundly rejected by mr albanese. i think what we will see is a softer diplomacy from the labor party when it comes to abhorent policy. the indications are that mr albanese the's new government will seek to shore up government will seek to shore up these alliances in the asia—pacific region and the indo—pacific region with countries such as japan and india and others. to try to counter china's growing assertiveness. that is what makes this quad meeting on tuesday in tokyo so important for australia as a new man gets

down to business on his first day in his newjob. bud down to business on his first day in his newjob.— down to business on his first day in his newjob. day in his new 'ob. and the new man is day in his new job. and the new man is expected _ day in his new job. and the new man is expected to _ day in his new job. and the new man is expected to go - day in his new job. and the new man is expected to go his - day in his new job. and the new man is expected to go his way l man is expected to go his way pretty soon now. thank you very much phil mercer in sydney. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines: iranian state media says a senior military officer has been assassinated in tehran. two people on a motorcycle are reported to have shot dead colonel sayyad khodaie outside his home. he was a member of the powerful iranian revolutionary guards. russia's invasion of ukraine has pushed the number of forcibly displaced people from around 90 million to more than 100 million, according to the united nations. millions have fled conflict violence, human rights violations and persecution in ethiopia, burkina faso, myanmar, nigeria, afghanistan and the democratic republic of the congo. days of flooding and landslides in parts of bangladesh and eastern india, have affected millions of people and left more than 50 people dead. bangladesh's north—east region has seen some of the worst flooding

for nearly two decades. the two countries are prone to flooding and experts say that climate change is increasing the likelihood of events like this around the world. monkeypox has now been detected in three more countries, bringing the total to 15, as scientists say they are still unsure what is causing the outbreak. austria, israel and switzerland are the latest to report the presence of the virus, which can be transmitted from animals to humans, as well as human to human, although the illness is generally mild. the virus is most common in remote parts of central and west africa and this outbreak has taken scientists by surprise. britain's health security agency has said high risk contacts of people with monkeypox should self—isolate for three weeks. they will also be offered a smallpox vaccine. dr amesh adalja is a senior scholar and infectious diseases physician at thejohns hopkins centre for health security.

any time a virus is doing something unusual or spreading in a new manner, we need to be concerned and we need to find the answers. that being said, although we are seeing monkeypox spread in communities without links to travel, it is not the same level of panic we had during covid—i9 or with the new influenza virus. because even though this is scary and there are open questions to be answered, we understand monkeypox in a different way because we have tools that we know can be put to bear on this outbreak and stop it. once we understand the epidemiology of how people are getting infected. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: all aboard for these pampered pooches. howjapan is making a special effort to please its canine commuters. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen,

up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletic events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, lscuffles which led to fighting, | fighting to full—scale riot as the liverpool fans - broke out of their area and. into the juventus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. i the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 4,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, i has announced _ she's left the spice girls. argh! i don't believe it! she's the woman with the bounce, the go, girl power. not geri. why?

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: president biden is on his first visit to japan since taking office as the us seeks to bolster its regional influence against a rising china. australia's new prime minister has been sworn in. he'll now head to tokyo for talks with president biden and the other quad leaders. let's turn to russia now, where it's a crime to call the invasion of ukraine a "war" and anyone who contradicts the official line on russian military action risks up to 15 years in prison. dozens of people have already been prosecuted, including the opposition activist vladimir kara—murza, who accused russia of war crimes. moscow maintains that it doesn't target civilians. 0ur eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford reports from ukraine. walking through the ruins of russia's war on its neighbour, evidence of its cruelty

in every crushed street and home, in every story of civilians targeted and killed. but russia itself is silencing those facts, denying what's clear to see on the ground and it's arresting those who dare to speak out, even abroad. the whole world sees what the putin regime is doing to ukraine — the cluster bombs on residential areas, the bombings of maternity wards and hospitals and schools — the war crimes. these are war crimes. for that speech, vladimir kara—murza is now facing ten years behind bars. his wife already lives abroad for safety. vladimir was poisoned twice in russia and nearly died, but evgenia says he refused to be silenced. he was charged, basically, for speaking the truth about the war and about the russian army's atrocities committed in ukraine.

with this war, evgenia tells me, the repression has only intensified. truth is actually the regime's main enemy, and this is why i believe this regime is using this law to squash all dissent in russia and to scare people into silence. this is the result of an all—out war. but in russia, it's a crime to call it that or to criticise what was done here as vladimir putin's army tried to seize ukraine's capital. in andriivka, we found a team from the un collecting evidence of suspected war crimes — stories that most russians will never hear. the village elder told me 13 civilians were executed here, hands tied and shot in the head. and when i asked who they were, he listed the dead one by one.

list names in ukrainian. translation: we didn't need protecting. - just look how they protected us — they killed so many people. i've got no words for it. they're swine. all of this destruction, russia's war on ukraine, hasn't come from nowhere. vladimir putin has spent two decades dismantling democracy in his country, crushing his critics, silencing the free media and now, criminalising the truth — eliminating all checks on his power to make this possible. but there are russians resisting even now — like this reporter heading for a ukrainian front line and seeing for herself the destruction caused by russian bombs.

the war started. it was an immediate, "i need to be there. "i need to be there right now". lily writes for a website now blocked in russia — like almost all independent news — but she is determined to go on reporting what the kremlin doesn't want people to hear. do you think about the risk to you personally in the future? co nsta ntly, yea h. yea h, co nsta ntly. it's difficult. it's disturbing. it hurts sometimes to write because i know that, yeah, i will say that, for sure, because i can't hide facts, but am i going to jailfor that? the risks are far higher for ukrainians — that's clear on every street. but as war so devastates this country, in russia, vladimir putin has declared war on truth itself. sarah rainsford,

bbc news, andriivka. femicide is the killing of women simply because of their gender. it's often the result of domestic violence. in bolivia, the number of cases has led to indigenous women in the country developing an app that they hope will help to save lives. wendy urquhart reports. el alto is bolivia's second biggest city and is also one of the poorest in the country. gender violence is rife. 180 cases against women were reported in 2021 and 3a cases have been registered by may 8th this year, but that could be just the tip of the iceberg. translation: where | live, j nobody talks about violence. it goes unnoticed and women stay silent because they are afraid of being assaulted again by their husbands. plus, there's nojustice, so there's no place to report these cases. now, a group of women

in the city have created an app that could save the lives of those being assaulted. translation: this is the sos button. l when you log onto the app on your mobile phone, it requests three close contacts. the minute you experience violence, you press the sos button and those three people are notified that you are in trouble. the app has been downloaded more than 500 time since it was launched in november last year. the aim is to let women know what their rights are and help them to find legal, psychological and physical assistance if they are in danger and to save lives. wendy urquhart, bbc news. in afghanistan, female television presenters have begun appearing on air with theirfaces covered after the taliban brought in new rules. women who would previously have covered their hair have started to obscure part of their faces a day after some defied the order to cover up fully in public.

0ne executive said many female presenters feared the next step would be to take them off air completely. heather barr is from the women's rights division at human rights watch. she spoke to the bbc earlier. it is part of a parade of horribles which has been steadily increasing since the taliban took power on august 15th — in spite of the fact that afghanistan feels very forgotten by the world at the moment. i think it's wonderful to see malejournalists doing this in solidarity and i hope that they continue to cover their faces as long as their female colleagues are obliged to do so. i think, you know, a lot of afghan women's rights activists have been pointing out that there's been a lack of widespread male solidarity over the last nine months since these attacks on women's rights started happening. you know, women came out and began protesting against this rollback of their rights within days of the taliban taking over, but they were protesting alone — there have been very few examples of men protesting with them — so, this move by male journalists

is extremely welcome. a military plane carrying 35 tonnes of powdered baby milk has arrived in the united states from europe. it's hoped this will help address a critical shortage of the formula in the us. global supply chain problems were made worse in the us by a product recall and after a production plant closed in february because of a health scare. president biden invoked the cold war—era defense production act to help increase supplies. they are lifesavers to so many children and so many parents and i'm sure that's not only babies are going to be able to go to sleep comfortably tonight because their parents are going to know that they actually have food to be able to provide to them. and finally, japan's famous shinkansen bullet train service flouted its own rules at the weekend, allowing a special group of passengers to travel without the restrictions they would usually face. it's this lot.

21 dogs, who would normally have had to be taken on board the train inside pet carriers, but were able to sit freely inside the carriages with their human companions. the high—speed train took the canine commuters on an hour—long journey from tokyo to the mountains north—west of the capital. dog ownership is big business injapan. the doting owners appreciated the relaxation of the rules. translation: we travel a lot together but in the past, - i felt really bad about keeping my dog in a cage, so when i heard that we could be together on this train, i applied straight away. translation: he has to stay in a carrier all the time - when travelling, so we can check in regularly. —— when travelling, so we can check him regularly. today, we don't need to do that — i can see his face. we can travel more comfortably this way. as has been pointed out, they did cover the seats in plastic. let me remind you of our top story, president biden on his

first visit to japan since taking office as the us seeks to bolster its regional influence against a dominant china. that's bbc news. hello. after the warmth of last week, when both scotland and england recorded their highest temperatures of the year so far, things are looking cooler this week, especially where it was so warm last week. it'll be breezier, windy by wednesday. it'll be wet at times — not all the time, mostly in the form of showers. a rather cloudy—looking picture for monday and messy on the chart here with quite a few weather fronts around as well, so we are going to see some wet weather at times. this is how we start the day. this weather front here with cloud and some patchy rain stretching through parts of england. still raining into the north and north—west of scotland after a damp sunday. that rain, though, just beginning to fizzle out, allowing some brighter skies and a few showers and elsewhere, although there will be a lot of cloud around, there will be a few bright

spells — but notice the showers becoming more widespread late morning and into the afternoon. some heavy, perhaps with a rumble of thunder. an area of rain also for parts of south east england and east anglia later in the day. some uncertainty about how far north and west that will get but don't get caught out by it, and it will make for a cooler day compared with sunday. and overnight and into tuesday, eastern areas most likely to see cloud and some outbreaks of rain. showers around elsewhere through england and wales. northern scotland and northern ireland becoming mainly dry here with some clear spells and probably the lowest temperatures as tuesday begins. and then on tuesday, we will continue across some eastern areas to have some rain, perhaps initially toward south east scotland and running southwards through the eastern side of england. elsewhere, it's a case of sunny spells, perhaps catching a shower. a lot of them fading, though, from western areas later in the day, and similar temperatures. a breezy day on tuesday. wednesday's looking like a windier day because one low pressure's moving away, another one's coming in, with weather fronts bringing another shot of wet weather from west to east during the day and lifting that wind.

looks to be wettest in western scotland for a time, although even here, turning showery. the rain more patchy the more further south you are. further showers following on behind, though. i think increasingly dry and sunny towards the end of wednesday. a blustery day, wherever you are. gusts in scotland, northern ireland, northern england, perhaps around a0 mph or so. looks like we'll see another weather system coming in on thursday with further outbreaks of rain pushing further south across the uk before high pressure settles things down for friday and, indeed, into next weekend. that's your latest forecast.

this is bbc news. the headlines: president biden has had a meeting with emperor naruhito of japan during the second leg of a trip to east asia, that's intended to reinforce ties to its allies in the region. mr biden is dues to hold talk with the politcal leaders of japan, india and australia. australia's labor party leader, anthony albanese, has been sworn in as the country's new prime minister, ending nearly a decade of rule by the conservative coalition. the swearing—in was accelerated so that mr albanese could attend a quad leaders' meeting in tokyo, in an official capacity. the monkeypox virus has now been detected in three more countries, austria, israel and switzerland, bringing the total to 15.