during the night, sending an ash cloud 9,000 metres into the air. scientists say this could be the first of a violent string of explosions from the crater. residents are warned to take shelter as toxic gas levels spike. president trump seeks to reassure kim jong—un that the us is not seeking to copy the libyan model to end the north korean nuclear programme. and the royal wedding is our main story on bbc.com. with just one day to go before the royal wedding, meghan markle‘s mother will meet the queen at windsor castle on friday. doria ragland will be accompanied by her daughter and prince harry. but will she walk meghan down the aisle? that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, it is time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi.

i'm outside the headquarters of turkey's ruling ak parti, in the capital, ankara. my guest is president recep tayyip erdogan. he's busy preparing for elections which he's called a year and a half early. is he trying to pre—empt a possible slide in his popularity, or simply trying to tighten his grip on power? and how worried is he about military escalation in the middle east, following that decision by donald trump to pull out of the iran nuclear deal? president recep tayyip erdogan, welcome to hardtalk. barack 0bama says donald trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear dealwas, iquote, "misguided

and could trigger an arms race in the region." do you share that specific concern that we could see other countries in the region developing their own nuclear weapons programmes? it has to be preserved but i mustjust ask you, specifically, do you share barack 0bama's concern that this could trigger an arms race in the middle east, countries perhaps like saudi arabia seeking their own nuclear weapons programme if iran begins to enrich uranium again? so you're disappointed. are you disappointed personally with donald trump? because this very much has his own personal stamp on it, this policy. possible escalation between israel and iran, we have seen

them exchanging fire. israel hit iranian revolutionary guard positions inside syria, it said in retaliation for iran's rocket attacks on the occupied golan heights, on an israeli post there. are you worried that this could get out of hand? well, israel said it was in retaliation... that israel launched the attack on the iranian revolutionary guards after they carried out their action on the israeli posts in the occupied golan heights. the president of iran. i'll ask you about syria, but i just want to ask you this on the iranian nuclear deal. the french foreign minister, jean—yves le drian, says the deal is not dead, there is an american withdrawal from the deal but it is still there. can the deal be salvaged without the united states in your opinion? well, talking of iran and its role in the region, which you've just touched on, it has consistently been a very firm

backer of bashar al—assad in syria, and you told me on hardtalk last year that bashar al—assad has killed many of his own people and i do not find it politically right to defend his remaining as president. if that is your position, why are you now working with iran and russia? you had a meeting with president putin and president rouhani in april, in ankara, why are you working with them now in syria ? you are opposed to bashar al—assad, they support him. so your major objective... so to clarify, mr president, your major objective now in syria is to tackle what you describe as the "terrorist elements" there and to keep bashar al—assad in place? they're syrian kurdish parties.

but there is a very clear shift. let me give you an example. when we saw the chemical attack in douma in syria, your spokesman said the syrian regime will have to pay the price for what happened. after a phone call from president vladimir putin, your government then said we call for careful investigation into the chemical attack in douma. that's exactly what the russian position was, so it really does seem that, mr president, that turkey has modified its position on bashar al—assad, that you're saying he stays in place because our main objective is to tackle these terror elements. please clarify that for us. so why are you not calling for him to go? so, can you just say very clearly now that you want bashar al—assad

to not remain in position as leader of syria? do you want regime change in syria? it is interesting you say that, because it is hard for people to reconcile these comments of yours with the fact that you, as you said, met president rouhani and vladimir putin in sochi last november, and again in april. and we're also looking the situation where turkey has bought $2 billion worth of missiles from russia and the new us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has said that this is not compatible with nato systems. you are a key member of nato

and here you are buying these missiles from the russians. it doesn't make sense. i must ask you about domestic matters, and of course, you have called elections early, forjune 2a, 17 months ahead of schedule. and there are critics here in turkey who say that the reason you are doing that is because you want to concentrate power in the office of the presidency, because, of course, following last years‘s referendum, you abolished the parliamentary system and you become head of government. so people like abdullatif sener, who was alongside you as — in the akp party — is quoted in the turkish papers saying you are setting turkey towards a path of authoritarianism, and it is no longer a democratic regime. there are people who echo those sentiments. do they have a point?

you're shooting the messenger. you're shooting the messenger, mr president. well, i put to you... all right, but there is that point about the authoritarianism. you shot down the messenger there. but what about zeid ra'ad al—hussein, the united nations high commissioner for human rights, who has been critical and has said that three past two years, through successive states of emergency, the space for dissent in turkey has shrunk considerably. he said it is difficult to imagine

how credible elections can be held in an environment where dissenting views and challenges to the ruling party are dealt with and penalised so severely. what do you say to these critics inside the country, outside turkey? you have to take that sort of comment seriously. you might not win, possibly — the polls for your akp are showing percentages in the 40s of support. well, you know, 30—a0% of akp party voters are dissatisfied with your government, principally because of the economy. you know, the economy is not doing so well, and that is one of the reasons people are saying that you have called the elections early, because things could get worse, and you want to call the elections before that happens. you are trying very hard to win.

i mean, your government... you are trying to — you are trying to... but... more than 12 million people in turkey are retirees. your party, your government, is going to give them $2“; twice, amounting to about $6 billion, and that could be seen as a sort of sweetener to try and buy off some of this dissatisfaction. are you trying to buy support ahead of the elections?

are you — are you worried... well, i was saying it could be seen as trying to buy support. finally, you are visiting london on an official visit. what are your main objectives? what are you talking to theresa may, the prime minister, borisjohnson, the secretary, and all the other ministers you are meeting? is britain a more worthwhile partner for turkey after brexit? president recep tayyip erdogan, thank you very much for coming on hardtalk. thank you. hello there.

well, for most of the uk, thursday was a glorious, sunny, dry day. saw so many weather watcher picture scenes like this one in warrington in cheshire of a flowerful field and shrubs with the blue skies above, and a lovely end to the day with some gorgeous sunsets but like the last few nights, temperatures really falling away under those clear skies, scotland. for much of england and wales, close to freezing in one or two places with a touch of frost in fact, but not so much for the north and west of the uk. in western scotland and northern ireland, here a veil of cloud will continue to move in from the atlantic, so a less cold start to friday.

a chilly start elsewhere, another lovely sunny one expected for england and wales. more cloud across scotland and northern ireland. it could spoil things a bit, some holes still with sunny spells, and those temperatures up a notch i think compared to thursday, around 19 in the south and the east. high pressure still the dominant feature of our weather as we head into the weekend, but weather fronts never too far away from the north—west. on saturday itself, some big football matches going on, top and tail of the country, looks like it'll be fine and dry for all of them, and, of course, the royal wedding in windsor, a cool start with those temperatures rising quite quickly through the afternoon and we should see a top ten of 20 or maybe 21 with good sunny spells. this is the picture for saturday, a cool start, clear skies to start, lots of sunshine around. little bit of fairweather cloud just bubbling up here and there. close to the west of scotland these weather fronts will be floating bringing thicker cloud and maybe the odd spot of rain, most places should be dry and temperatures up a notch still, maybe 21 or 22.

as we get on into sunday, though, looks like these weather fronts will begin to make inroads in scotland and northern ireland. here a cloudier, breezier day with outbreaks of rain for northern ireland and western scotland, maybe pushing further southwards and eastwards but some parts of northern scotland should see sunshine. for england and wales, another gorgeous day on the cards with temperatures reaching highs of 22 or 23, but a bit cooler further north and west because of the cloud and rain. similar picture as we head on into the start of next week, high pressure still dominant but still weather fronts plaguing the north and west so outbreaks of rain in northern ireland into northern and western scotland. the further south and east that you head, should be dry and bright with plenty of sunshine. could see the odd sharp shower developing in the south—east later on, and those temperatures even warmer, 23 or maybe 2a celsius. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: hawaii's mount kilauea volcano explodes, sending ash soaring into the sky. residents have been told to seek shelter. donald trump tries to put his summit with kim jong—un back on track

by reassuring north korea. if we make a deal, i think kimjong—un is going to be very, very happy. i really believe he is going to be very happy. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: one year into robert mueller‘s investigation into russia meddling into the us presidential election, many questions remain unanswered. as a dress rehearsal is held at windsor for the royal wedding, meghan markle confirms her father won't be coming.