>> >> a crucial popularity test for president recep tayyip erdogan, as millions vote in local elections. >> hello. you are watching al jazeera live from doha. also ahead - a diplomatic push. secretary of state john kerry and sergei lavrov are due to hold talks to find a solution to the crisis in ukraine. >> a suicide bomb attack at a lebanese army checkpoint leaves three dead near the syrian border. counting or dividing - myanmar's

first census is criticised for spa sparking violence. >> a vote seen as a referendum on the leadership of prime minister recep tayyip erdogan. millions of turks are voting in local elections across the country. recep tayyip erdogan has been campaigning for his party has people choose mayors and counsellors, it's a -- and council lorks it's a crucial time has recep tayyip erdogan faces scandal over corrupt policies. we'll go there live later. >> the u.s. secretary of state is in paris to meet his counterpart for talks on the ukrainian crisis. >> sergei lavrov, and john kerry will meet after vladimir putin and president obama discussed a

diplomatic solution. >> the former prime minister of ukraine will go head to head with a confectionary billionaire. yulia tymoschenko, released from gaol in february, promised to unify the country. if she wins the presidency she'll demand an investigation into the invasion of crimea. petro porashenko has the backing the vitaly klitschko. he pulled out to run for mayor of kiev. crimea switched to moscow times, symbolically finalising the region's incorporation into russia. hundreds of people gathered at the main railway station simferepol to watch the clock shift. crimea introduced the russian ruble as its currency. mouny is a pressing issue and its economy is in debt, in need of investment. russia is promising to come to the rescue with billions worth

of investment. nick spicer reports. >> a new economic future is unfolding in crimea. one under russia, a richer country with ukraine, but blighted by corruption. the new leaders annexed from ukraine promised better. >> we expect economic boom and growth. crimea was a region where the rate of development and per cap ita income were below average under-ukraine. the population is poor and infrastructure underdeveloped. we hope all of this will change. >> the main sectors of the crimean economy are agriculture and tourism. in the past the majority came to the ukrainian mainland, it's far from certain they'll be willing or able to come back. moscow is planning to spend a billion a year to help the economy, and private investors may spend $4 billion annually.

this business leader says local entrepreneurs hope there'll be new opportunities in the russian market, but wary. >> translation: we heard the promises, but know how the soviet money does not trickle down to the ordinary people. >> however much money is spent, moscow wants to show crimeans and the world that the annexation is success. the hope is that moscow will spend freely. as long as moscow can afford it and sanctions don't damage the russian economy and budget. >> three soldiers have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in lebanon. it happened at an army checkpoint, close to the syrian border. four others were injured. the army closed all roads to the check point. it is home to thousands much

refugees and saw an increase in violence. it is used as a refuge by retreating syrian rebels. >> translation: such attacks are expected because there are now hundreds of terrorists inside lebanon, due to developments in syria. therefore we have put in place a security plan to fight terrorism of all kinds. hezbollah's involvement affected relationships between the shirrian and lebanese people. if there was a force controlling the borders between the two countries, hezbollah would not interfere in this conflict to fight terrorism. >> the death toll from a landslide in the united states has risen to 18. emergency crews paused for a minute's silence. as the death toll climbed the list decreased from 90 to 30 people. the landslide happened without warning a week ago, sending a wall of mud cascading over

dozens of homes. >> in chile protesters fought with police on the outskirts of san diego. they were demonstrating. it's a day held in memory of two brothers killed by the police when protesting in 1985. 26 people have been detained. and there has been more protest violence in venezuela. the street battles in caracas followed rallies, and a protest by their rival pro-government supporters. more than 30 died when protests started three months ago. protesters are angry about high inflation, rising crime and food shortages. >> a military commander in a western city of san christobal is warning of a crackdown. the opposition was arrested and accused of encouraging violence.

we have more from san cristobal. >> this continues to fill like a city under siege with dozens of barricades across most of town, most of the neighbour hood where protesters built barricades and continue to build them back every time the police or the military step in and clash with them. today has been a relatively calm day following another night of clashes, but there are great expectations here about what could happen later tonight, especially after local military commander said that they were going to come in, crackdown on the protesters, and clean up the city. he said by monday. >> back to our top story, the local elections held in turkey. we have our correspondent joining us live from istanbul. how are things going there and

what are people saying? >> things are going quite smoothly. there's a constant stream of people. i don't know if you can see them behind me. the gait is basically that way, and we'll be speaking to a lot of people. they described the atmosphere as peaceful. however. it is overshadowed by political sensitivities because society has been polarized by the ongoing allegations of core ugs against the prime minister and his -- corruption against the prime minister and his government. the atmosphere at the polling station is clear, peaceful. when you speak to people, they seem to be divided and polarized. this is a key election for the entire nation, i would say. how important are the elections for the government and the opposition. i mean we talked about how this

is seen as a referendum on the government of recep tayyip erdogan, the prime minister. >> absolutely, the opposition is trying to capitalize on the opposition, and when you attend speeches, this is their time and they are hoping they'll capitalize on all of the anti-government sentiments. on the other hand the government and representatives, of course, the prime minister, is calling on his supporters to come out in large numbers and vote for his government, for his ruling party. so you have both sides of the divide trying to consolidate and show the level of support they have on the streets here in turkey. >> reporting to us from istanbul. >> cuba is making moves to open up to the outside world. the national assembly passed a

law. it's part of the raul castro's attempt to reform the economy. we have this report from havana. >> this may be quaint. for many cuban workers, it's peanuts. the cuban authorities have, for the past few years, been opening up their economy, but it's not enough. >> one of the problems the cuban economy has is in providing incentives. cuban workers, especially in the state sector, are not happy because the state pays so little. >> a special session of the cuban parliament has taken a step to open the economy to greater foreign investment. it will create a special development zone in havana, partly financed by brazil.

foreign investors will pay less of their profits to the cuban government, while working with greater security, guarantees and flexibility. >> foreign investment like this helped to save cuba after the collapse of its backer, the soviet union, more than 20 years ago. this new expansion, which some call a necessary evil, will have to be tightly controlled. >> the move was partly fuelled by fears that cheap oil from venezuela might dry up. certain pillars of the cuban revolution, such as health and education will remain off limits to foreign investors. >> the state has opinion too involved in all businesses, and that's been a mistake. the state does not have to control everything. only the fundamental areas like education, health - but not the small personal enterprises. >> foreign companies have been deterred by the 50-year u.s.

embargo. they'll want the cuban authorities to tackle their own problems like poor internet service, a suffocating bureaucracy and inefficiency. many have long wanted to invest in an island they feel has great potential and will study the new laws carefully. >> coming up in the next 15 minutes - housing headaches. why a plan to create homes in nigeria's capital has ended up causing more problems. >> white gold for parliament in southern philippines. why an area hit by violence is hoping for a brighter future.

>> hello again. the top stories on al jazeera. millions are voting in local elections in turkey, seen as a referendum on the leadership of recep tayyip erdogan. after a number of corruption scandals. the u.s. secretary of state is in paris to meet his russian counterpart for more discussions on the ukrainian crisis. the meeting follows a phone call by vladimir putin, by u.s. president obama to talk about a diplomatic solution. >> a suicide car bomb killed 3,000. four soldiers were injured in a blast at an army checkpoint. >> more on turkey's elections.

scandals rocking recep tayyip erdogan are not the only issues. the economy is worth $800 billion, and is one of the 20 biggest economies. it was growing at a 9% rate and faring well during the global economic recession. the world bank said growth slowed to 4.3% in 2013. the rate of inflation rose to 7.4% last year, above the government's target of 5%. this is a financial analysis and he will join me via skype from istanbul. thank you for being with us. let's talk about the growing inflation rate. i mean, obviously the turkish economy has grown in leaps and bounds over the last decade. but this growing inflation rate has to be a concern for a lot of voters, hasn't it? >> it's a major concern. it's 8%, probably 9, 9.5% in a couple of months.

it may effect some of the sentiment. until c perform i reaches -- cpi reaches double digits, they probably will not care. the turkey economic performance has been week and that will be substantially important in the elections. i think it could be 4 to 5%. in other words, a kp scored 50% in 2011 general elections. poor economy is not the only reason, but it is one of the reasons and as a result of which i expect akp to score around 43% today. the poor economy will become an important factor in the upcoming elections. turkey is an election marathon. in august we'll elect the president next july or june, and

we'll add to the ballots once again for the general election. i think today's election will not solve the controversies in politics. uncertainty will continue, and the feedback between uncertainty and weaker performance will reflect poorly on hap in the presidential race. >> the international monetary fund, which is a global lender to countries like turkey and others, are saying that turkey's economic model is unsustainable. what do they base it on? is it a view that you share? >> there are two ways to grow. a country grows by adding to the wealth, the chinese model. the second way to grow is borrowing from abroad, and investing into things that does not increase an economy's productivity. turkey is unfortunately choosing the second path, that $800

billion economy has unfortunately been built on excessive leverage. this is a viewpoint shared by fitch and moody's over the last two weeks. the ratios have been lowered, but the households borrowed excessively. the corporate sector has borrowed from abroad in foreign currencies in relation to the low interest rates. what is true for a person is true for an economy. you can't forever borrow unless you have an income to pay it back. in the last five years turkish borrowing has far exceeded its income. good to get your thoughts on this. thank you very much. >> now, french voters are going to the polls this sunday for a second round of local elections. that poll is likely to deliver

bad news for francis hollande's socialist party. nadine barber reports from where the far right national front makes gains. >> there are few busier people than the local secretary of the national front. he showed al jazeera around party headquarters days after an election was won. they are aiming to persuade people to vote far rite and predict a breakthrough nationally. >> it's a long time since the national front had so many representatives. it will be a true opposition force. >> for decades this part of northern france was held by the left. the party hopes their success here can be repeated across the country. at the local market no one was

willing to talk about why they support the national front, suggesting there's a stigma attached to the party. the mining town has been hit hard with one in five people unemployed, and the national front benefitting from people that feel they've been forgotten about. >> people like david was a social party member. >> translation: people i talk to are fed up. taxes are rising, there's unemployment and know businesses. pensioners attacks, even though they don't have much. the national front used to be viewed by many french voters as an angry party for people that didn't like foreigners. in recent years they tapped into a feeling that main stream parties abandoned voters. >> before it was a communist party, up to 25 person in the

'70s, now it's the national front. many french men are disgruntled and think that the national front could be a last resort. the question is not whether francis hollande's socialists will take a knock in the elections, it's how badly they'll suffer. >> myanmar is conducting its first sensis in more than 30 years. that's despite calls for it to be postponed over ethnic and religious tensions. the nation-wide survey asked people to choose its ethnicity and religion. some groups are not recognised by the government. census has been barred in some areas. 60 million people, many buddhists, live in myanmar. >> this senior international legal advisor at the

international community of joourists says that myanmar is not ready for the census because of tensions. >> the issue is not the importance of the census, but the time. when you have some groups, when they say that now is not the right time, as well as controversy on all sides within myanmar, on the ethnic side. the real question is not whether, but when. there are few countries in which it would be 100% smooth, but in myanmar there are conflicts. a united party that expressed difficulties and dispute as to whether or not they want to cooperate, and a state where the ethnic buddhists said they don't wish this to go forward or the

rohingyas to talk about their ethnicity, and them upset that their ethnicity is not listed among 135 listed. the risk is that already heightened situation of interpretation will be exacerbated. if there's a credible doubt that that could be the case, it's incumbent on the ufk and the government of myanmar to postpone until the situation has subsided. >> a taiwan ship has blocked a chinese ship. the -- a chineseship has blocked taiwan ship delivering goods to the philippines. it is an area fought over. >> the signing of a peace agreement between the philippine

government and the moro islamic liberation front hopes to bring an end to fighting. it hopes to bring development to a region that is large line undeveloped. >> farmers of the southern philippines call this their white gold. the area was at the center of a muslim insurgency, but not any more. now these are growing, where once there was baron land. the project was set up in 2012 by the local government. an economic solution for a region battered by armed conflict. it appears to be working. around 2,000 farmers are benefitting from the project. they are from different tribes and religious groups. despite their differences, the initiative has given them a chance to work together. the philippine government signed

a peace agreement, the moro islamic liberation front, ending decades of fighting that killed 150,000 people. war has left most of the area poor and undeveloped. the economic potential is huge. >> this peace agreement may pave the way for foreign investment to come into the region. >> we hope that the peace agreement brings progress. we know that if there's development in the area, there won't be conflict. >> this man has been a fighter of the moro islamic liberation front since the '70s, this has given him a chance to look at the future with optimism. >> translation: it gives us unity across tribes, livelihood and the right to live with dignity, even if you are a muslim or from another tribe. >> in his '70s, he's ready to

lay down his weapons. the group plans to expand to far-flung villages and reach out to others in need of help. everything is possible because peace has come to their land. >> sen gal closed its border with guinea where there's an outbreak of ebola virus. the outbreak began in rural areas of guinea, killing 70 people so for, and there's panic in the capital where there are eight confirmed cases, including one death. ebola is one of the world's deadliest viruses with no cure or vaccine. >> three months of fighting in south sudan forced a million people to leave their homes. the united nations estimates that a further 5 million are in need of aid. the president's troops are

battling rebels loyal to riek machar. a ceasefire signed in jan ended. peace talks in ethiopia are making lit the progress. >> violence broke out in john barasso, during a process against government austerity measures. activists threw rocks and fire crackers. the police responded with batons, around a quarter of the workforce is unemployed and the country is continuing to battle an economic crisis. >> millions of people in 150 countries are taking part in the earth hour campaign. city after city has tape turns to shut off lights to show their commitment to the planet. we have this report. >> it was sydney that started the earth hour movement eight years ago - a bright idea for a city to go dark, to raise awareness about the environment. today the campaign is planet wide. 7,000 cities taking turns to switch off their lights at

8:30pm local time. hong kong's harbour distinguishable. paris, the city of light without its usual glow from the eiffel tower. landmarks in moscow, tehran and dubai - sitting in the blackness of night. >> it's a voice to stand up and be counted. it started with a few million, and now is nearly two. it's 1.8 million standing up saying it can't be business as usual, we have to do something about the planet. >> earth hour aims to raise money through the internet for green projects - from a turtle center in italy to providing biogas access in nepalese villages. it's not just about powering down, but also to keep the conversation about climate

change and the environment going strong. and to show that every little bit counts. >> and as always there's lots more on the website aljazeera.com. get the latest on all the stories we are following. aljazeera.com. >> it's been 300 years how jener figured out how to oh smal stop small pox. this is "inside story."