Tokyo

JAPAN'S Emperor Akihito will step down on April 30, 2019, the country's prime minister announced on Friday, the first retirement in more than two centuries in the imperial family believed to be the world's oldest. "We decided that the implementation (of a special law allowing the emperor to abdicate) should be on April 30, 2019," Shinzo Abe told reporters after meeting the emperor.

Mr Abe said that he was "deeply moved" at the "smooth decision" taken after a special meeting of the Imperial Council to decide on the date.