BBC在线收听下载:日本明仁天皇退位

The BBC News. Hello, I'm Jerry Smit.

Japan's Emperor Akihito has abdicated during a formal ceremony at the imperial palace in Tokyo, the first emperor to do so in over two centuries. In his final speech as the Japanese monarch, Emperor Akihito thanked the country for its support. Laura Bicker has more details.

Eighty-five-year-old Emperor Akihito redefined what it meant to be a monarch in Japan. In the past, emperors were seen as gods among men, but Akihito knelt beside those suffering from disease and disaster after earthquakes and tsunamis hit the country. He married a commoner, the first emperor to do so, and he was given permission to abdicate after saying he felt unable to fulfill his role because of his age and declining health. In his final speech, he wished Japan and the world peace and said he was deeply grateful for the people who had accepted him as a symbol. His son, the Crown Prince, Naruhito will ascend the throne on Wednesday.

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on the country's military to back him and end, as he put it, President Nicolas Maduro's usurpation. In a video, Mr. Guaido urged Venezuelans to initiate the last phase of Operation Freedom. It shows him flanked by men in military uniform and with the opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who's under house arrest. But the Venezuelan government has said that it's confronting what it called a coup attempt.

The spread of Ebola in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is accelerating with the number of probable new cases recorded in the past four days, increasing to more than ninety. Mary Harper reports.

On Monday, a record 27 new cases were recorded, more than double the previous record of thirteen. There are several factors hindering efforts to control the outbreak, including insecurity, distrust of the international response, and superstitious beliefs about the disease. Some believe Ebola is a conspiracy invented by foreign countries or the Congolese government. Five Ebola centers have been attacked in the past two months, and a senior health official killed.

In a preliminary opinion that could have wide-ranging repercussions, EU Court officials have decided that the home rental company Airbnb provides an information service and should not be regulated like traditional companies. The case has been brought by the French hotel owners and others who argued that the company be subject to the same standards as estate brokers.
Reports from Syria say that there have been heavy airstrikes and shelling by government forces on rebel-held areas in Idlib and Hama. There are reports of casualties and of hundreds of people fleeing the region.

World news from the BBC.