Emperor Akihito has become the first monarch to abdicate the Chrysanthemum Throne, and hand it over to his son to usher in a new era. 
Emperor Akihito will abdicate in favour of 59-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito in a set of solemn ceremonies, also kicking off the new imperial 'Reiwa' era that will last throughout the new monarch's reign. 
The ritual-bound process began on Tuesday morning with the emperor, dressed in golden-brown robes and a black headpiece, "reporting" his abdication to his ancestors and the Gods at several "sanctuaries" at the palace, while the main event will be held at 5:00 pm local time, when the 85-year-old emperor will formally step down in a 10-minute ceremony.

Emperor Akihito has become the first monarch to abdicate the Chrysanthemum Throne, and hand it over to his son to usher in a new era. Emperor Akihito will abdicate in favour of 59-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito in a set of solemn ceremonies, also kicking off the new imperial 'Reiwa' era that will last throughout the new monarch's reign. The ritual-bound process began on Tuesday morning with the emperor, dressed in golden-brown robes and a black headpiece, "reporting" his abdication to his ancestors and the Gods at several "sanctuaries" at the palace, while the main event will be held at 5:00 pm local time, when the 85-year-old emperor will formally step down in a 10-minute ceremony.

As&nbsp;coronavirus outbreak&nbsp;continues to batter China, the country's central bank has implemented a new strategy to contain the virus -- deep cleaning and destroying potentially infected cash. The new measures, announced by the People's Bank of China, aims to contain the spread of the virus which has&nbsp;infected more than 71,000 people&nbsp;globally and killed over 1,700.&nbsp;All Chinese banks must now literally launder their cash, disinfecting it with ultraviolet light and high temperatures, then storing it for seven to 14 days before releasing it to customers.&nbsp;And in the central bank's Guangzhou branch, these high-risk banknotes may be destroyed instead of merely disinfected, according to&nbsp;state-run Global Times.&nbsp;

A powerful suicide bombing killed ten people and wounded at least 16 others in Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province on Monday. The bomber struck an Islamist rally in the regional capital near Quetta's press club, where dozens of supporters for a Sunni militant group had gathered. Police officers were among those killed. Baluch separatist groups, as well as rival Shiite and Sunni militants, operate in the province and have staged similar attacks before.&nbsp;

Britain issued five severe flood alerts on Monday, warning of a danger to life after Storm Dennis flooded many places. The severe flood warnings were for the central English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and&nbsp;Shropshire. Britain's meteorological agency issued another 221 flood warnings for England, along with 24 for Wales and 12 for Scotland. Forecasters said river levels in parts of northern England had yet to reach their peak.&nbsp;

An important assertion by Pakistan Prime Minister&nbsp;Imran&nbsp;Khan as the global anti-money laundering watchdog - the&nbsp;Financial Action Task Force meets in Paris. Speaking at an international conference, Khan has said that&nbsp;there are no "safe havens" for terror groups in Pakistan "right now". He went on to admit that&nbsp;it was possible that such safe heavens were operating in the country, saying, "Whatever the situation might have been in the past, right now, I can tell you... there is one thing we want: peace in Afghanistan." India, the United States and Afghanistan have long accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to terror groups like the Taliban and the Haqqani network. Also, the timing of his statement is important as&nbsp;Pakistan is trying to wriggle out of being blacklisted by the FATF for not doing enough to combat terror financing, a meeting which is on in Paris.

Stating that Erdogan&rsquo;s remarks are &lsquo;completely unacceptable&rsquo;,&nbsp;India has issued a strong demarche to Turkey on the remarks made by&nbsp;Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Jammu and Kashmir&nbsp;during his Pakistan visit. MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Erdogan&rsquo;s remarks reflect neither an understanding of history nor of the conduct of diplomacy. He also added that the remarks distort events of the past to advance a narrow minded view of the present. The demarche was sent to the Ambassador of Turkey in New Delhi.&nbsp;

China is considering a rare move to postpone its annual parliament session scheduled to be held in early March as the country grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. This as China on Monday reported 105 new deaths due to the coronavirus, increasing the overall death toll to 1,770.&nbsp;The 13th National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, is due to hold its annual session in Beijing on March 5. But amid the spread of the coronavirus the NPC Standing Committee is to discuss postponing this year's NPC plenary session, the state-run China Daily reported.&nbsp;If the NPC, which is held every year along with the advisory body Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is postponed, it will be regarded as an unprecedented move.

India on Sunday rejected UN chief Antonio Guterres's offer of mediation on Kashmir and said the real issue that needed to be addressed is to vacate territories 'illegally and forcibly' occupied by Pakistan. India's response came after the UN chief, who is on a 4-day visit to Islamabad said he was concerned over the situation in Kashmir, and that he was ready to mediate between the two countries. MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Jammu and Kashmir is and will continue to be an integral part of India and urged the UN to press Pakistan to take credible and irreversible action to stop cross-border terrorism against India.

India will soon send a consignment of medical supplies to China to assist Beijing in combating the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Expressing solidarity with the people of China in their fight against the epidemic, Indian Ambassador to China said this is a concrete measure which will fully demonstrate the goodwill, solidarity and friendship of the people and Government of India with the Chinese people. Meanwhile, the death toll from the outbreak in China has climbed to 1,665 after 142 more people died, mostly in the worst-hit Hubei province.&nbsp;

Two planes carrying Americans from the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess have returned home. The aircraft chartered by the US government departed Tokyo's Haneda Airport in the early hours of Monday. There were some 400 Americans on board the ship, which has been held since the 3rd of February due to infections from the new coronavirus. At least 40 US citizens are infected and will be treated in Japan. The Diamond Princess has been quarantined in Japan's port of Yokohama with some 3,700 passengers and crew on board. It has the largest cluster of coronavirus cases outside China.

Costa Rican officials have seized more than five tons of cocaine, the largest such haul in the country's history. The drugs were hidden in a consignment of flowers headed for the Netherlands. When the authorities searched a suspicious shipping container on Saturday, they discovered 202 suitcases containing a total of 5,048 packages of cocaine weighing around 1 kg each. A 46-year-old Costa Rican suspect has been arrested.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday convened a meeting with medical and scientific experts to discuss measures to contain the spread of a new virus that has sickened thousands in the region. Separately, during a government task force meeting on the novel coronavirus, Abe confirmed that passengers of the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship will be able to end leave the ship on February 19 after a final health check.&nbsp;A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers,&nbsp;were among the 3,711 people on board the ship, Diamond Princess, that arrived at the Japanese coast earlier this month.&nbsp;

Locked down, shut down, citizens forced to isolate themselves. But there is no stopping this marathon runner even as the deadly outbreak has taken over 1600 lives. In a viral video,&nbsp;Pan Shancu, can be seen pacing inside his house, covering an estimated 31 miles! Shancu&nbsp;says 'could not bear sitting down any more'. His post went viral and netizens&nbsp;had varied reaction including one which said 'someone get this man a treadmill'.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and this case from Karachi shows just that. A groom was beaten up by the family of his first wife when they discovered he was getting married for the third time without the prior permission of his first wife. According to the police, both parties have been advised to visit a civil court to settle the dispute. While the groom said his relation with his first wife has ended, the wife claimed this is the second time her husband is getting married without telling her.
&nbsp;

Pakistan is likely to remain on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force at its plenary meeting in Paris. Pakistan is still not fully compliant on 13 of the 27 actions, suggested by the global terror watchdog. While these 13 actions mostly pertain to terror funding, Pakistan has been deemed compliant on other points related to money laundering. Reports say, there is no doubt that Pakistan will continue on the grey list, but is unlikely that it could be moved to the black list. Pakistan&rsquo;s case will come up for review at the FATF plenary in Paris from February 16 to 21.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Saturday called for tighter regulation of harmful content on social media, adding that it was not for companies like his to decide what counts as legitimate free speech. Citing China as an example, he said excessive control also risked stifling individual expression. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Zuckerberg added that Facebook was seeing election interference coming more from domestic sources, but he was 'more confident' about Facebook's security in the face of 'increasingly sophisticated' threats.

The death toll from China's coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,665 on Sunday after 142 more people died, although the number of new cases dropped for a third consecutive day. According to China's national health commission, there were 2,009 new cases reported across the country &mdash; the third day of declining cases after a spike earlier in the week due to a change in the way cases were counted. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 68,500. The World Health Organization (WHO) has however said, that it is impossible to predict the direction that the coronavirus will take.

They may be astronauts on board the ISS, but they're also just human, so just like you and me, they have cravings. And NASA is making sure they're satisfied. A cargo ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Saturday, carrying candy and cheese to satisfy the cravings of astronauts. The nearly 4-ton shipment should arrive at the orbiting lab on Tuesday. Besides the usual experimental equipment and gear, the capsule is carrying cheddar and manchego cheeses, fresh fruit and vegetables, chocolate and three kinds of gummy candy specially requested by the three station astronauts.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Saturday one of its warplanes was shot down over a mountainous northern province while providing air support to government forces fighting the country's rebels. The Houthi rebels claimed responsibility, saying they shot down the warplane with an advanced ground-to-air missile. The United Nations said 31 civilians, including women and children, were killed in Saudi air strikes in al-Jawf on Saturday.

An 80-year-old Chinese tourist has died from the new coronavirus in France. This is the first death confirmed outside of Asia, French Health Minister Agn&egrave;s Buzyn&nbsp;said on Saturday. She said the patient who was admitted in a Paris hospital in January&nbsp;died late on Friday. The patient&rsquo;s condition &lsquo;had deteriorated rapidly&rsquo; after several critical days. The virus originated late last year in China, where it has since infected more than 66,000 people and killed more than 1,500. Three deaths from the virus have so far been recorded outside China.&nbsp;

In a firm repartee, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told a senior US Senator that India will &lsquo;settle&rsquo; the Kashmir issue on its own when the American lawmaker brought up the issue during an interaction at the Munich Security Conference. Referring to the Kashmir issue during a panel discussion, Senator Lindsey Graham said the best way to sell democracy will be to settle the Kashmir issue in a democratic way, PTI reported.&nbsp;To this, Jaishankar promptly responded, &ldquo;Do not worry, Senator. One democracy will settle it and you know which one.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Japan's emperor abdicates throne and hands it over to son

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