hello, i'm kasia madera, this is outside source. donald trump is set to meet kimjong un at a summit in singapore on the 12th ofjune. the announcement came just hours after three american detainees released by north korea arrived back in the united states to a presidential welcome. israel says its attack on iranian military locations in syria was an "appropriate response" saying iran crossed a red line with its missile strikes. and we'll be live in lisbon to cover the eurovision song contest — looking at performances — and the political undertones. welcome to the programme. we have a date! june the 12th is when president trump will sit down for his historic summit with north korea. we also have a location. it's going

to be singapore. the tiny city state, ofjust 5 million people located off the tip of malaysia. heather nauert from the us state department told the bbc earlier why singapore was chosen. it's a place we can all get to. not a place that is not too far for the chairman that he could actually get there. another i think is a well—established large city with the infrastructure. when you have that many journalist and people from around the world coming and you need an infrastructure that can best support that. as was said there, distance is important. singapore is about 5,000 kilometres from north korea. that enables kim jong—un‘s planes to actually reach the destination. today the us president confirmed the location, by tweet of course. we will bring that up for you later.

he said: "the highly anticipated meeting will take place in singapore on june 12th. adding: "we will both try to make it a very special moment for world peace!" a lot of anticipation about this. and so the countdown is on, just under 33 days to go. barbara joins us. barbara, barbarajoins us. barbara, it's barbara joins us. barbara, it's a lot of anticipation, a lot of expectation and of course finally we've got a date and a place. yes, nice to get something concrete after all of this lead up and anticipation, we at least have a date and a place. singapore as heather was saying there. it's got the infrastructure, it's got the location. kim jong—un likes to travel by train, which has raised the question of whether he had a plane in good enough condition to fly far enough to go to a different venue, but it seems that he does because he's agreed to this one. it

is quite suitable. it is neutral, so it has good relations with the us, north korea, north korea has an embassy there, it's acceptable to china which is north korea's major ally, it has a track record of hosting international summits and meetings, it has very good security and the president as we know wanted to do this in a demilitarized zone between the two koreas, it seemed to have been quite set on that but his aides finally tenant —— finally convinced him to go to this place which is more of a safe bet because they thought perhaps the dnc might bea they thought perhaps the dnc might be a little bit too much being on kim jong—un‘s tereza we have the place now and the time, the 12th of june. donald trump had said it would be towards the end of may and he said earlyjune and now we know it is the middle ofjune. said earlyjune and now we know it is the middle ofjune. yes in deed and of course distance, how far kim jong—un had to travel is very important. that announcement came after three american detainees released by north korea arrived back on us soil. president trump went to andrews air force base near washington at 3:00 in the morning us time, to greet them as they arrived.

let's look at some of the images. hak song, tony kim and kim dong—chul came out of the plane, two fingers were raised in a peace sign to the crowd below. lots of cheering from the crowd. president trump greeting them. for president trump, it's perhaps a high point of his presidency to date. here's what he had to say. my proudest achievement will be — this is a part of it — but will be when we denuclearise that entire peninsula. this is what people have been waiting for for a long time. nobody thought we could be on this track in terms of speed, so i'm very honoured to have helped the three folks. the detainees release was negotiated by mike pompeo on his trip to pyongyang. let's hear more from heather nauert who was part of the state department delegation — barbara's been speaking with her, here's what she said about their release.

it was incredible to see them walk on the plane as we were in pyongyang. we met them for the first time, they shook our hands and said to me, "god bless america, i couldn't be more proud of being an american." and we all cheered up, they sat down and started to get the medical care that they needed and on their way home to freedom. arbor speaking to heather a little bit earlier. she's talking about how incredible it is —— barbara speaking to her. it is quite incredible seeing all the cameras, the entourage that came to greet them, the president and at three in the morning local time. the president and at three in the morning localtime. very important for donald trump. i asked heather about that because the state department policy is really to keep the privacy of hostages released until they've had a chance to notify families and see their families and so on families and see their families and so on and i know the journalist who are travelling with the secretary, they were kept separate from the released prisoners as part of that policy and yet when they landed

suddenly they were on a tv show it seemed. i said why did things happen differently this time? she said they wa nted differently this time? she said they wanted to tell their story, that is what she said. of course one of them did say something, not in english, he spoke in korean, but certainly donald trump i think also wanted to tell their story and he wanted to show off his diplomatic achievement, which it was. and to send a message that he thought this was a sign that kimjong—un that he thought this was a sign that kim jong—un wanted to set a good atmosphere for the summit. so, he got the morning news shows that he needed and he also sent the message that he wanted to send. thank you very much because i know you just did that interview with heather a short time ago so thank you for bringing that to us. turning to the recent attacks we have been covering across bbc news. israel says it's attacked almost all of iran's military infrastructure in syria. this is its biggest assault since the start of the war there. the strikes come after 20 rockets were fired at israeli military positions in the occupied golan heights overnight. the isreali defence force released

this map showing the areas they struck inside syria. 35 sites hit by fighterjets. some of which were clustered near damascus. we also have some footage filmed in the syrian capital in the early hours of the morning. it is rockets and missiles in the sky. it's obviously hard to see what they're targeting. but israel says it struck intelligence facilities, weapons factories and launch sites. many of them are thought to have belonged to the quds, the special forces of iran's revolutionary guard. but there are differing narratives of what happened. this is how syrian state media are reporting the strikes. this night—time footage was filmed by a group called ‘central war media'.

it's said to show the syrian air defence system intercepting missiles. syrian state media says at least half were shot down. the exact number of casualties is also disputed. syria's military says three soldiers were killed. 0pposition activists claim at least eight iranians were killed in one of the strikes. this image was shown on the syrian 0bservatory of human rights website. it gives us a better idea of the force of the rocket attacks. this smoke is rising from a weapons depot struck near damascus. the message from israel today is clear. israel's minister of public security and strategic affairs tweeting: "we will not hesitate to strike #iranian targets in #syria. we will hold syria accountable for attacks from its territory. we are not bluffing." but although israel insists it will "counter iran's terror anywhere," israel insists it doesn't want war.

here's prime minister bejamin neta nyahu earlier. iran crossed a red line, we responded accordingly. the idf carried out a large—scale attack against iranian targets in syria. thanks to the proper deployment of our forces, both in the attack and in the defence, the iranian action failed. no rocket landed in israeli territory. lets get some background to this. iran and israel are enemies. just hours before these israeli strikes, israel claimed that iran had carried out 20 rocket attacks on the 0ccupied golan heights. that's a rocky plateau, 50 km from the syrian capital damascus, was occupied by israel in 1967. it was later annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. this is normally

israel's quietest border. but as you can see here there is a heavy military presence. troops now are on high alert. tensions between israel and iran have been high for months. israel has attacked iranian facilities inside syria several times, and was anticipating retaliation. iran is one of syria's president's closest allies. it has repeatedly called for the end of the jewish state. they have troops fighting in syria. so far there's been no direct response from iran. but we can see how this is being covered on the islamic republic news agency. "damascus seriously repels zionist aggression." the article says the syrian capital is now in full combat readiness for a crushing response to israeli aggression. tom bateman is in the occupied golan heights for us. he sent this report.

from this vantage point you can see directly into syrian territory, that's the town of quneitra across the line and it divides syrian territory from israeli territory where we are standing. 0ne uk—based monitoring group has said that there was effectively a border skirmish here, there was artillery fire between israeli troops and forces on the other side of the line here. within a short time, after that there was then rocket fire from a military base south of damascus. that's where israel says that 20 rockets were fired by iran's elite unit from that particular site. israel says that 16 of those rockets did not reach israeli territory and another four were intercepted by its defence system. within a short space of time after that there was then a major strike by the israeli air force that described it as a widescale strike that targeted iranian facilities inside syria. they say their intelligence

facilities and munitions warehouse had also the launcher from where those rockets had, and they say that was destroyed. as for what happens next, israel has said, and we've just been speaking to a military spokesman, that it does not seek an escalation, it says its entire purpose is to try to prevent an iranian entrenchment inside syria that it sees as threatening israel. as for the syrians though, they described this as israeli aggression. they say that many of the missiles fired by the israelis were intercepted by iran itself, we'll have to see what happens next because there has been a theory inside israel that iran was seeking to avenge a strike from last month by israel, or attributed to israel, in which a number of iranians were killed. tom bateman reporting.

stay with us on 0utside source — still to come: we will look at the latest in the mute r kelly campaign — as spotify says the singer doesn't reflect its values. here, the bank of england says the uk economy has hit a temporary soft patch which means interest rates will remain unchanged at 0.5%. economists had been widely expecting rates to rise this month. an increase is still expected later this year. the bank blamed the bad weather — the beast from the east — for the slowdown which disrupted construction and kept shoppers at home. the bank's governor, mark carney has been speaking to our economics editor kamal ahmed. we expect that the uk economy is going to pick back up, not rocket back up, but pick back up, largely driven by those exporters and businesses investing, less so on household spending and overall

we see an environment where the economy is going to continue to use up resources, in factories, if you will, and also hire more people. and a consequence of that, we think that in the end we will need to do some adjustments, some increases in interest rates over time, but at a pretty gentle pace. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story is donald trump is set to meet kimjong un —— at a summit in singapore on the twelfth ofjune. the us president is set to meet a north korean leader for the first time ever —— at a summit in singapore on the twelfth ofjune. let's ta ke let's take a look at some of the other stories we're covering in the bbc newsroom. the sacked former head of the catalan regional government in spain, carles puigdemont, has

given up on attempts to reclaim hisjob and instead named his preferred successor. he is quim torra, a political newcomer. pakistan's top judge, has ordered the first official investigation, into a massacre at an army—run school in peshawar, which killed 1111 people, if; 5,145.3": é”!"‘:fi":,"ma—a i the development could mean large amounts of ash and rocks are soon thrown from the volcano. let's get the focus on business news. the us treasury department has imposed sanctions on six people it linked to the iranian revolutionary guards, as well as three iranian organisations. the treasury said they were part of a large—scale currency exchange network run by the elite

iranian force. joe miller is in new york. talk us through what we know so far. we already know that the white house intends to essentially reimpose the sanctions that existed before the iran deal, those heavy sanctions against iran to prevent american businesses and we spoke yesterday like bowling, of doing business with iran, prevent american banks doing business with iran, but today the us treasury department has gone even further by imposing new sanctions on the individuals that it says are involved with the very lucrative currency exchange system, which essentially provides hundreds of millions of dollars directly to the iran revolutionary guard, at least so iran revolutionary guard, at least so the us treasury claims edits by sanctioning them is trying to cut off that funding, cut off that supply. there is every evidence this sort of thing really does hurt the

iranian economy, which is already going through credit crisis, so this move, along with moves coming later in the year, the of sanctions that existed before the deal, are likely to have quite an negative effect the right —— the reimposition of sanctions. what about us market? i think these moves, company will price that we have seen the result would really weigh on us markets, instead we are seeing a quite bright day on the us stock exchange. the dowjones has day on the us stock exchange. the dow jones has now day on the us stock exchange. the dowjones has now recovered all the losses in may this year so it's up for 2018 and the reason for that really is that a site for the iran deal all investors are looking at is the prospect of inflation and a key figure for inflation came in lower than expected today and that's really calm investors nervous about the prospect of there being more interest rate rises this year. that is why we are seeing happy times on wall street, despite the rising oil prices and despite all the tension with iran. happy times on wall

street. we will leave it there. thank you very much as always. the royal bank of scotland is going to pay a 4.9 billion dollar penalty over the mis—selling of mortgages securities in the run—up to the crisis. my colleague kim has been following the details on this story. this is one of those times when a $4.9 billion fine is actually a bit of good news for the bank. many people here in the us thought the fine could be as high as $11 billion. in many ways this is a fine that had been much anticipated. it came in lower than many analysts had been expecting, that's why we saw rbf share price go up slightly higher after the settlement was announced. i want to save the final details have not been hammered out so we details have not been hammered out so we heard from the department of justice that while they had agreed to this $4.9 billion fine in principle they were not saying it

was a done and dusted dealjust yet. nonetheless this brings the total amount of fines the department of justice has collected from banks both here in the us and abroad to $65 billion, which is not an instant —— which is not an insignificant chunk of change. the world's biggest streaming service, spotify has removed r kelly from its playlists as part of a new "hate content & hateful conduct" policy. r kelly, best known for hits including i believe i can fly, has faced numerous accusations of sexual misconduct. in a statement spotify said: "we want our editorial decisions — what we choose to program — to reflect our values". 0ur north america tech correspondent dave lee from san francisico with more. explain what action spotify has taken — is r kelly banned from the service? what are they doing? no, he's not

being removed, if you still have our chilli meat —— music in your own playlist you've made or you want to search for it and play some of his music that will still be available on the service. the say will never censor someone in on the service. the say will never censor someone in that way for something they do outside of their own music. as r kelly is alleged to have done in this case. what spotify have done in this case. what spotify have said they've done however is quite a powerful statement. they said he would no longer be included in any playlist that the company itself creates, so that could be through algorithmic playlist that are generated based on a person's type of music they like to listen to sell r kelly will no longer be automatically suggested to people. nor will the company include r kelly's music in any of the manually created or curated playlists that the company puts together. those playlists are incredibly popular. this could of course have an impact on the revenues that r kelly and his record label mate from his music. i had a quick check before coming on airand his most had a quick check before coming on air and his most popular song ignition has been streamed 320

million times. but the popular song regardless of whether it's on a playlist or not, however having his music in fewer places, being pushed to fewer spotify users may have an impact particularly given the streaming is now the main way people hear their music. a symbolic move by spotify, i think. hear their music. a symbolic move by spotify, ithink. interesting to hear their music. a symbolic move by spotify, i think. interesting to see what will happen with that. thank you very much as always. the eurovision semi finals are on. and as is often the case — politics isn't far from the surface. one of the biggest talking points is this woman — yulia samoilova, representing russia. last year, the 28—year—old singer was banned from the contest yulia samoilova, representing russia. last year, the 28—year—old singer was banned from the contest in ukraine over the row between moscow and kiev. she had violated ukrainian law by performing in crimea, which russia annexed in 2014. well, russia has picked her again to represent her country at this year's competition, which is being held in lisbon, portugal. and earlier this week,

she gave reporters a little taste of what to expect. # that was a practice, tonight she's been on stage singing that song for real in the semifinals. steve holden is there for sly. 0bviously steve holden is there for sly. obviously we cannot have eurovision without a bit of politics and the russian entry we know her from last year, she did not perform but she is back this time. what is everyone making it? she's already performed tonight and interestingly right now in the ukraine her rival is performing onstage at the moment. they have been drawn in the same semifinal. she's been doing a lot of press this week, yulia samoilova, representing russia saying how grateful she is to portugalfor the to perform. the song is not really

getting too much of the buzz here, i'd say it is kind of middling. i don't know whether we are going through tonight but as has been the cave she's finally having the chance to make her mark, prove her point and she was obviously banned last yearfor and she was obviously banned last year for competing and she's been on the stage tonight triumphant. let's move away from the politics and get a sum of the music because steve wrote an article on our website about some of the favourites to win. he talked about cypress‘s entry. she's enlisted from greece where she is one of the country's biggest stars so they are hopeful with her. she's also the bookie's favourite. a snippet from her semifinal performance. # you are taking me higher. with get steve back in on this because your article about cypress‘s entry was very positive. yes, she was actually

born in albania and she left during the civil war in the 1990s, grew up in greece, she says herfamily came from nothing. she was enlisted by cypress to appear for them this year, her song is called fuego meaning fire and put together with the performance she has some intense choreography, a lot of hairflipping going on, it is now the favourite. interesting i would like to talk about alexander, norway's competitor. he's performing in the semifinal tonight. he won in 2009 in norway, but he got a huge amount of point and he came back today, tonight, to represent norway again having another shot at trying to win. normally when this kind of thing happens they flop entirely, it does not go very well and it happened to ireland with the winner from 93, she came back later and absolutely failed but he's currently the second favourite behind all any from cypress so don't be surprised if you see him high up on the scoreboard on saturday night. what

are the issues this year —— one of theissues are the issues this year —— one of the issues have been some of the co ntesta nts the issues have been some of the contestants staying in tune. what is happening there? are they sounding better? i have to agree with you. eurovision now have so much high production people sent their biggest p0p production people sent their biggest pop stars, they send as an cypress‘s case they enlisted greece's biggest p0p case they enlisted greece's biggest pop star but they get the best songwriters from other countries may be in the standard is so incredibly high that now it's getting harder to predict who will win. cyprus, israel has been highly tipped, norway as well, the french injury is all about the nigerian baby called mercy who was born on a boat in the mediterranean and that's getting loads of buzz. the quality is very high this year. thank you very much. steve's article on the website. very complementary about the cyprus entry as well so interesting to see who will win the final of course on saturday. # bbdo as if you would like to make any comments. —— bbc

os. like to make any comments. —— bbc time to have a look at the weather allow various parts of the world and we will start with the forecast in europe and the cool weather that is across the uk right now have spread into other parts of the continent as well. look at this big weather front stretching from the norwegian sea around the uk throughout the north coast of africa, behind it we have a dip in thejet stream coast of africa, behind it we have a dip in the jet stream here and that is where the cooler oceanic air is coming in and the hot air has been pushed towards central and eastern parts of europe where this high—pressure is here. on friday the hotair remains high—pressure is here. on friday the hot air remains across poland for example, these block of blue you can see, those are thunderstorms. temperatures in warsaw around 27 whereas here back home you can see in london around 19 and across southern parts of france temperatures also making around the lower mid 20s. that was friday, a look at saturday's weather forecast and you can see the temperatures continue to drop although a bit of a rise across western and central parts of europe and frankfurt back

up parts of europe and frankfurt back up to around 26 but very unsettled it will remain across western areas of the continent. look at all of these storms that have been brewing across southern parts of india here. the monsoon has not reached this pa rt the monsoon has not reached this part of the world yet, but it will not be long before it does. it's forecast to be pretty much on time and this monsoon season is forecast to be around average, that is the projection for now. these are the rainstorms anticipated during the course of saturday. as we go to the next few days into next week it could turn very globally, very dusty across some northwestern parts of and we are forecasting sandstorms in fa ct. and we are forecasting sandstorms in fact. a quick look at the weather. perhaps you are heading off to the asia—pacific region in the next few days or so it remains very hot, humid and stormy across southeastern parts of asia as you would expect this time of year. the same goes for malaysia and down into indonesia as well. a very different story across australia, particularly southeastern parts. we are having a real blast of

cold air, cooled air have come in all the way from the south from the antarctic region and is talking in the airof antarctic region and is talking in the air of low pressure you can see a big low spinning around this tasmania here, victoria, new south wales, very strong wind, gale force wind here and the blue indicates that cold air at humming and through thursday, friday and also into saturday as well —— coming in. the air is cold enough to bring some snow but mostly across the mountainous regions, but there will be some blizzards as well and in fa ct be some blizzards as well and in fact some places are in for a very, very cold day on friday, potentially one of the coldest days this time of yearin one of the coldest days this time of year in decades. also there'll be rain around sydney and temperatures will be mostly in the teens. back home we have the rather for the week ahead coming up in half an hour but ahead coming up in half an hour but a quick summary already and it looked like it will stay cool with some rain times. bye—bye. hello, i'm kasia madera, this is 0utside source, and these are the main stories here in the bbc newsroom. donald trump is set to meet kimjong—un at a summit in singapore on the 12th ofjune.

israel says its attack on iranian military locations in syria was an "appropriate response" saying iran crossed a red line with its missile strikes the anti—establishment five star movement and the hard—right league appear close to forming italy's first populist government. we'll examine how this coalition will work. every day, 0utside source features bbc journalists working in over 30 languages. your questions are always welcome. #bbcos is the hashtag let's turn the focus to payments that were made to a company set up by president trump's personal lawyer michael cohen. the compa ny‘s called essential consultants and mr cohen created it in 2016 to pay off the porn star stormy daniels,

who claimed she had an affair with donald trump. on tuesday, us media reported that a company called columbus nova — linked to the russian oligarch viktor vekselberg — had since made a $500,000 payment to essential consultants. 0ther corporations directly affected by us federal government decisions also made substantial payments. they are at&t, which at the time was trying to acquire time warner. also the pharmaceutical company novartis, which faced possible government controls on drug prices. and korea aerospace, which was looking to secure a multibillion—dollar government contract. these companies are being asked to explain why they made these payments. all this came when stormy daniels‘ lawyer michael avenatti circulated on twitter this picture of a document,

purporting to show a detailed accounting of those wire transfers made to mr cohen's company essential consultants. anthony zurcher is in washington to untangle all this for us. we will start with the companies these allegations, have we had an erection? no reaction officially from the white house. we have a basic denialfrom the from the white house. we have a basic denial from the white house they had anything to do with this. michael cohen was operating on his own at this junction, he was not operating with the knowledge of donald trump and so they are disavowing all of this, saying it was not something they knew about. michael cohen was freelancing, which is not unusual in washington, dc when people are connected to power,

people who have a position of influence, using the position to set up influence, using the position to set up consulting. what was unusual in this instance was that michael cohen was still working as donald trump ‘s lawyer and michael cohen was not doing this publicly but essentially without advertising that he was consulting, he was taking this money privately and the county setup, he was using that in 2016 to make a payment to a woman alleging that she had an affair with donald trump. while the idea that michael cohen was getting money from companies in order to leveraged his access to people in power is unusual —— is not unusual but what is unusual is details plus the russian connection. we have seen a lot of reaction on twitter. some people talking about the truly remarkable thing that companies knew to make big payments

ina companies knew to make big payments in a totally unknown company. a lot of reaction also worth looking at what anthony is tweeting because he is always across what is going on in washington. explain why would michael cohen use the same company that he used to pay off stormy daniels to receive these payments. it is difficult to understand. that is what is so remarkable and unusual about this. he set up this shell corporation which he used to pay $150,000, hundred and $30,000 to stormy daniels to secure her silence right before the 2016 presidential election, having her sign a nondisclosure agreement when she was in negotiations with media companies to share her story about an alleged

2006 romantic tryst with donald trump and then he kept the shell company open and used it for consulting fees. it boggles the mind he would mix them and that is why you have people alleging it could be a slush fund that michael cohen was using to do off the books work for donald trump, including to pay hush money to people allegedly having an affair. a remarkable development but it looks like they have bank records that were leaked. stormy daniels, to her lawyer and they show payments, and at&t confirmed they paid michael cohen a consulting fee and the same with other companies so we have confirmation this actually happened. boggles the mind is one way of describing it. thank you. always worth looking at anthony's tweets. italy is on the brink of forming its first populist government, seven weeks after elections,

where no single party or alliance won a majority. the breakthrough finally came when this man, silvio berlusconi, the former prime minister, stepped aside from efforts to build a coalition. this leaves the hard—right league led by 48—year—old matteo salvini to form a government with the anti—establishment five—star movement led by 31—year—old luigi di maio. these two leaders will have to decide who'll be prime minister. the prospect of a government run by these parties is another step in europe's populist surge. the bbc‘s sara monetta was at the five star headquarters on election night for us. i asked her whether she was surprised it took so long to get here. i think everyone was surprised it took so long because it was the only possible result, an alliance between the parties. even when they chose a

spokesperson of the two houses of parliament, it happened quickly, taking a couple of days when it usually takes weeks in italy, which meantan usually takes weeks in italy, which meant an alliance was about to be formed. then what happened, after the nomination of the two speakers of the house, the five star movement came under criticism because they elected someone alloy list of silvio berlusconi and then they tried to distance themselves and say we want an alliance with you guys but we do not want berlusconi in the middle. what do you make of this, five star movement and league. a first for italy. it definitely is. these are two small parties, used to be small. the five star movement did not exist a few years ago. they are against

everything italy is used to sew a surprising outcome and unpredictable so this is the real issue. even the president, he has been uncertain in giving them the way to go because he is afraid of what could happen. today, on the day they announced they would make a government he reminded italians that it is time to give more credit to europe. this is because the northern league and five star movement are clearly anti—european union and so he is trying to tell them, you guys, you need to be institutional parties. the time of being a protest movement is finished. they are renowned, populist, antiestablishment, against europe. we need to look at the northern league because it has been in power previously and so they have

more experience of government. they are the ones who can try to moderate the five star movement. the five star movement is a big question mark. nobody knows what they will do next. there is a question mark over the leader of the five star movement, he is unknown, very young. tell me more about him. he is fascinating. 31 years old. a university dropout. he has never had a properjob in his life untilfive yea rs a properjob in his life untilfive years ago. he was selling beverages at the stadium as a steward. he is made fun of in italy because he does not speak italian to a high level. now they say this man, he could end up now they say this man, he could end up being italy's foreign minister.‘ lot more as always on the website. and all the other stories we are

covering the bbc newsroom. another country gearing up for an election is turkey. their president — recep tayyip erdogan — called for a snap election to be held june 24th, 18 months ahead of schedule. he's up against five other candidates. whoever wins is guaranteed sweeping powers. erdogan has led the country since 2003. one of his legacies has been reinvigorating religious teaching — or as he says — putting religion at the heart of national life. he called for this to be a ‘pious generation‘ and one ‘that will work for the construction of a new civilisation‘. but could that be changing? there‘s been debate inside the country that some turks are losing theirfaith. we spoke to some young conservatives about how they feel. this is their story.

i teach religion to schoolchildren but i do not know whether god exists or not and i do not care. i was a believer of radical islam, now this headscarf is the only thing left that connects me to it. one morning i woke that connects me to it. one morning iwoke up that connects me to it. one morning i woke up feeling depressed. i cried for hours. i decided to pray and started speaking to god, i am desperate, show me a way out, i said, but as i was praying i noticed i doubted whether there was anyone who heard me. i thought i would either go crazy or kill myself. the next day i realised i had lost my faith. i thought about islam‘s teachings. i do not believe in heaven or hell, i do not believe in any of it i said. first i stopped praying and then i dropped all religious practices. my family has no idea of what i went through. i

thought i should get rid of my headscarf also will stop i decided not to wear it home. the first time i met not to wear it home. the first time imeta not to wear it home. the first time i met a man without my headscarf, i felt really awkward. but now it comes all very naturally. this is who i am now. i am a college student. i study theology. i studied in religious schools since i was a kid. until recently, i was a sympathiser of radical groups such as islamic state or al-qaeda. today, lam as islamic state or al-qaeda. today, iaman as islamic state or al-qaeda. today, i am an atheist. i initially wanted to find logic in islam but i could not, i became atheist. i only believed in god and rejected all religions. then i started questioning god. i cannot tell my familyl questioning god. i cannot tell my family i am an atheist. my father is very religious. my mother prays

seven times a day. they cannot possibly take it. i used to support the islamist government here. they used to be humanists. but oppression breed s revolution. they wanted to oppress us and we started to react. clever animation expressing some of the views from young people in turkey. and we will stay with the theme of election. iraq is holding a parliamentary election on saturday. the first to be held since the government declared an emphatic victory over the so—called islamic state last year. hoping for re—election is this man incumbent prime minister haider al abbadi. he heads the shia nasr coalition, which means "victory" in arabic. nearly 7000 candidates from 87 parties are competing, splintered among shia, sunni and kurdish coalitions.

iraqis are hoping this election will herald in a new era of stability. the priority is rebuilding the country after years of upheaval. 0ne city ravaged by war was falluja, close to baghdad. some of the fiercest battles with islamic state were fought there. yalda hikim has travelled to falluja to see how it‘s recovering. in a cafe in downtown falluja, this is what life after isis looks like. this war generation is trying to move beyond this city‘s violent legacy. these young men were not able to study under islamic state and are trying to make up for lost time. translation: life under isis was restricted, but things have changed. we can hang out outside with friends and have fun. there are cafes, restaurants, shops. everything is here. falluja is iraq‘s sunni heartland.

since the fall of saddam, some of the fiercest battles were fought here along sectarian lines. but the divisions that have ravaged the city are showing signs of easing. the hope is that this election will bring a new era of stability. translation: after 2003, there were divisions between the iraqi people, but, at this time, after the liberation of our city, things are gradually returning to normal. but the pain of the recent past is not easily forgotten. this woman said when falluja was retaken from isis in 2016, seven family members were taken by the shia militia. they separated the men from the women

and then handcuffed them. they put bags over the top of their heads and took them away. we have seen a lot of violence in iraq in the last 15 years. the cycle of violence continues. do you think it will ever end? translation: it is going to get worse. the same suffering, the same humiliation. nothing has changed. this bridge is a symbol of the turmoil the city has suffered. it was here in 2004 that four american security contractors were beaten, burnt and hanged. in the battle to retake falluja in 2016 from isis, this bridge was destroyed. it is now being rebuilt. it is testament to how the city manages to revive itself time and again. still, there are fears that isis could return. translation: the lack of job opportunities are not compensating those affected by the war and could lead to serious consequences. it could push young

men into extremism. for years, falluja has been defined by bloodshed. but the people here are tired of the fighting. they now want to bring change through the ballot box. now we will turn to malaysia — where the country has just elected a new prime minister — well not exactly new. mahathir mohamad is 92 years old and he‘s returning to the office of prime minister after more than a decade out of power. this was the scene outside the national palace. his supporters taking time to enjoy the moment. the opposition‘s victory moves the country into uncharted waters, unseating the bn party, which has governed malaysia since independence 57 years ago. after being sworn in mahathir told his supporters his priority was maintaining the rule of law. we are keen to ensure the

constitution is upheld and that the laws of the country are what will guide us through our administration. jonathan head has been watching the days events in kuala lumpur, and gave us this look at what‘s next. one big transformation has to happen with this government and that is what has been promised all along by mahathir mohamad and he repeated the promise after winning witches in two yea rs promise after winning witches in two years he will hand over to a man he once put in prison, his chosen successor, anwar ibrahim. he started the first serious opposition movement and it has taken 20 years to get here. anwar ibrahim has been put injailagain by to get here. anwar ibrahim has been put injail again by the previous

government and doctor mahathir mohamad is promising him a pardon and he says in two years he will hand over, and incredible reconciliation between once bitter enemies. portugal now. the president of portugal has blocked a move to make it easier for people to change their gender identity and name in official documents. it blocks a law that would allow people under the age of 18 the right self—determine their gender. currently only five european countries — malta, norway, denmark, ireland and belgium — use that model and, on april 18th, portuguese lawmakers voted to join that group. president marcelo rebelo de sousa told mps to consider the need of a test for those under the age of 18. his statement went on the presidential website calling for "the provision of prior medical evaluation for citizens under 18 years of age".

earlier alison roberts in lisbon told me more. the president yesterday vetoed a law passed last month by parliament. not overwhelmingly but with the majority of the deputies who voted that would allow anyone over 16 to change gender in the official civil register and that would be without the need of any kind of medical report, as long as they have the consent of their parents or guardians. the president vetoed that saying he would like to see that at least for people between 16 and 18 that they would need to have some kind of medical report. he gave several reasons but essentially he is asking parliament to think again and look at the issues again. what has the reaction being, there has been disappointment? there certainly

has been disappointment. it is not true to say it is common even in europe for people aged 16 or 17 to be able to change their official gender quite so easily, but there is the head of steam built up behind the head of steam built up behind the proposal and the parties who proposed it said they do want to see it go through. the governing socialist party has been more cautious, saying they believe the president‘s criticism of the bill can be accommodated, particularly the idea of a medical report. the socialist party is in a minority government, and says he did not mention a medical diagnosis, he talked about a report, and it seems to think there, something less than a diagnosis, a medical condition which proponents of the bill say it is not here in the matter, it is not about gender reassignment, a medical procedure, it is simply about changing gender in the civil

register, that perhaps a compromise can be found. the italian multi—millionaire owner of the english football team leeds united has told the bbc he doesn‘t regret taking the club on a controversial trip to myanmar. it is a country whose military is accused of ethnic cleansing of rohinga muslims. because of ongoing military operations in rakhine. the team‘s tour won‘t take them there. but they did visit the country‘s landmark buddhist site. our myanmar correspondent, nick beake reports. the day yorkshire came here. a hard—core of leeds united fans made the 5000 miles journey to myanmar, a choice of destination which plunged the club into a political row. in light of the country‘s persecution of muslims. undeterred, the visitors posed at one of buddhism‘s holiest sites. the club‘s businessman owner, andrea radrizzani, in the middle,

claims the trip is about using football to bring communities together, not making money. bbc news, have you got a second? sure. the criticism is this is a morally corrupt trip. why? that‘s what the shadow... we are just coming to play football with our friends. we are not against any government. we are not discriminating anyone. we are against violence. we just play football. we enjoy it. look around. what do you say to people who say you are more interested in making money than the reputation of your football club? we are not making any money out of this game. but you say you have business ventures in myanmar. yes, but with other companies. of course, i have different interests. i have a good relationship with the federation and we are starting a project on the football pitch and we are happy to visit our friends. leeds have been given a warm welcome

by excited burmese fans, unaware of the controversy. the match is under way but what happens tonight on the pitch does not really matter. the more significant outcome is to the reputation of leeds united football club. for the record, an all—star myanmar side beat this inexperienced leeds team. but many question the wisdom of walking into such a politically sensitive arena in the first place. your views on the leeds united tour of my are always welcome and all your views welcome. from me and the team, thanks for watching. goodbye. hello, before we get to the outlook and a certain role wedding, there is

plenty of uncertainty this weekend asi plenty of uncertainty this weekend as i will explain. what is straightforward is what is happening now with high pressure in eastern areas and coming in from the atla ntic areas and coming in from the atlantic and other weather front. moving slowly into northern ireland with wet and windy weather here a while and then writhing in western scotland, west wales in south—west england. elsewhere it will probably be dry, and it will be bright with sunshine around. it should be warmer. a decent day on the east of the uk, midlands and much of northern england. rain in the west moving slowly eastwards and the same time fading. last weekend, a beautiful weekend with temperatures at 28. this weekend, not so beautiful. lower temperatures. that is the straightforward bit. we come onto the uncertainty that surrounds this weather front. it moves slowly

and. but where it stops is the uncertainty and once it stops, we have this area of low pressure that will push ours in from the south—west. not all the computer models agree on the forecast this weekend. this is the met office one. it keeps rain away from much of eastern england and scotland on saturday. most of it out to the north sea. but then we see showers coming in across northern ireland, wales and southern england. we are following the european model, the preferred forecast, where we are stuck with a lot of cloud in eastern scotla nd stuck with a lot of cloud in eastern scotland and england are and where we mightfind scotland and england are and where we might find spells of rain. rain stuck across more scotland on sunday although it should clear it eastern parts of england and heavy and thundery showers for northern ireland, wales and the south. not a total wash—out. after sunday we have

the weather front somewhere in the north sea and perhaps across scotland, but it is weaker by this stage. everything is down slowing again. not much wind to move things around. we have showers left perhaps across southern parts of england, perhaps into south wales. otherwise dry and in those temperatures, typically after the weekend, creeping up. still have the weather front in the north sea that will push further inland probably on tuesday. not much rain, if any. there might be a weather front coming into northern ireland. dry day for the most part. quite warm. let‘s look at what is happening in the upper pattern. we have the strongerjet the upper pattern. we have the stronger jet stream across the upper pattern. we have the strongerjet stream across the atla ntic strongerjet stream across the atlantic coming in which will pick up atlantic coming in which will pick up areas atlantic coming in which will pick up areas of low pressure. this stays

there and this one develops and as we head towards the weekend, pressure starts to fall. maybe not as dramatically as that but changes on the way. for the second half of next week, probably warmer, sunshine. over the weekend more u nsettled. sunshine. over the weekend more unsettled. probably the greater risk of rain will be across more northern parts of the uk. tonight at ten — an official apology from britain to a libyan man and his wife, targeted in an operation by m16 and the cia. abdel hakim belhaj was kidnapped in 2004, and was then tortured in libya. today, he accepted an apology and full financial settlement. translation: it's been six years of prison and six years of waiting, which was a continuation of the suffering for me and my family. hopefully, today represents the end of all that. fatima boudchar, who was pregnant at the time of her capture, said the apology by the attorney general was "historic". on behalf of her

majesty‘s government, i apologise unreservedly. we are profoundly sorry for the ordeal that you both suffered and our role in it. the case raises wider questions about the practice of rendition and britain‘s relations with libya under colonel gaddafi.