this is bbc news. the headlines: president erdogan‘s governing party in turkey has lost control of several big cities in local elections, including the capital, ankara. welcome to bbc news, the opposition is also claiming broadcasting to viewers victory in the largest city, in north america and around the globe. istanbul. i'm reged ahmad. mr erdogan told supporters our top stories: that his ak party had lost the hearts of urban voters. a comedian who plays a fictional big losses for president erdogan‘s president on tv is on course to win governing party in local elections across turkey. the first round of the opposition wins in the capital, ukraine's election. exit polls give the satirist ankara, for the first time volodymyr zelenskiy a clear lead in 25 years. over the incumbent petro here in the uk, parliament poroshenko, by 30%—17%. is getting ready to vote on a range of alternatives to the prime minister's brexit deal, parliament in the uk is preparing in the hope of finding a way to vote on alternatives to the prime minister's brexit deal, which has been defeated three times. to break the deadlock. mps will consider a range of options, including closer ties to the european union, and whether to allow a referendum the islamic state group on the final deal. reveals its secrets. we talk to captured british is fighters anyone that's still immersed by islamic state methodology is wrong. it's a gang.

a comedian who plays a fictional president on tv is on course to win the first round of ukraine's election. we start in turkey, where president recep tayyip erdogan‘s governing party has lost control of several big cities in local elections, including the capital, ankara. it is a poll that is being seen as a referendum on president erdogan‘s leadership. in istanbul, both the opposition and ak party have declared victory, with the tally still very close. mark lowen reports from istanbul. there is a saying in turkish.

whoever wins istanbul wins turkey. today, the biggest prize in the elections is too close to call, with fewer than 3000 votes between the governing ak party and the opposition chp, in a city of 18 million people. while both sides have declared victory, the official tally by the state news agency has stopped, with over 1% of votes still to count, which the chp have claimed is the government's way of stealing the result. in the capital, ankara, the result. in the capital, ankara, the opposition has won back control after a quarter of a century. if it ta kes after a quarter of a century. if it takes istanbul as well, it would be an astonishing result in a country where 90% of the media is pro—government and president erdogan has branded his opponents terrorist. speaking to supporters in ankara, there was none of the usual triumphalism from the president, but instead a call to wait for official results to be published, and remarks that seemed to be an acceptance of defeat in several parts of the country. translation: i believe the only reason we couldn't get the results we wanted in some cities is that we couldn't express ourselves

enough to our nation, and we failed to win their hearts. his usually loyal conservative voters have indeed punished him for a deepening recession, with inflation at 20% and the currency plunging in value. for yea rs, the currency plunging in value. for years, mr erdogan appeared unbeatable, with a moribund opposition. tonight, that image is beginning to change. with me is emre temel of the bbc‘s turkish service. lets get a little bit more on what has been happening stop this is quite surprising, can you just very briefly tell us what has been happening with those results, especially in istanbul? istanbul is disputed at the moment, to be honest with you, because the ruling party's ruling alliance candidates, the ex— prime minister and speaker of the parliament, declared victory in the early hours of the night. however, this result was disputed immediately by the opposition candidate, and the opposition candidate later claimed

victory. and to be honest with you, it is still neck and back, and tu rkey‘s it is still neck and back, and turkey's official news agency has been criticised by the opposition, because their candidate was leading by 14000 because their candidate was leading by 4000 votes while the newsagency stopped announcing the results for so stopped announcing the results for so many hours —— y ld r m. which was the main criticism from the opposition point of view. so that will be one to watch, but what about how the other cities have gone, and the countryside? obviously the result in the capital, ankara, was the biggest so far, because the opposition has won the capital for the first time in 25 years. in the opposition alliance, the national alliance, one at least three of the five biggest cities in turkey stop and this is crucial. 0n the other hand, mr erdogan‘s ruling alliance one in more than 50 cities out of 81 in turkey, but when it comes to big

cities, the opposition seems to get the results it wanted. what does this say about president erdogan‘s leadership, and why people might have voted in this way? president erdogan is still the most popular politician in turkey. we should say it. he won the presidential elections in the first round last year, and his party won the general elections last year as well, and his alliance has the majority in the parliament. and immediately after the election, mr erdogan addressed his supporters and underlined that he will be in power in another 4.5 yea rs, he will be in power in another 4.5 years, which is materially fact. but on the other hand, turkey is going through a very turbulent period, especially economically, which seems

to make mr erdogan‘s life, political life, much more difficult in the short term. so is this effectively a vote on the economy? is this people saying we are very unhappy with how things are going at the moment?” think that with the most important point regarding the elections in turkey, because the ruling alliance prefer turkey, because the ruling alliance p refer to turkey, because the ruling alliance prefer to reflect this election as a matter of survival for the country, however just the opposite. matter of survival for the country, howeverjust the opposite. the opposition party is focused on the economic problems in turkey, because turkey is in recession at the moment, inflation hit a 15 year high of 29% last year, it is 90% now. turkey lost 30% last year, another 6% turkey lost 30% last year, another 696 in turkey lost 30% last year, another 6% in the first quarter of this year, and the unemployment rate had double figures and reached 11%. and all of these economic problems, especially hit the bigger cities, and their population, and i think this explains the government alliance losses. so we will continue to watch those results as they come in. thank you very much. a new government has been formed in algeria, after six weeks of mass protests, but the head of the military and the prime minister remain in office. demonstrators have been demanding

that president bouteflika and his inner circle be removed. protestors have been calling for an end to the long rule of president abdelaziz bouteflika, and the sweeping away of his inner circle. the trial of vietnamese woman doan thi huong, one of two charged with murdering the estranged half—brother of north korea's leader, is due to resume shortly. malaysia's attorney—general rejected vietnam's request to free her after her indonesian co—defendent was unexpectedly released. huong is charged with killing kim jong—nam by smearing his face with a nerve agent at kuala lumpur airport in february 2017. british members of parliament are once again getting ready to vote on alternatives to theresa may's brexit deal. the prime minister has been urged not to ignore them if they back a softer brexit later. mrs may's deal has already been rejected three times.

here is our political correspondent iain watson. chanting: shame on you! the original brexit day has been and gone, and the protests carry on. chanting: give us all a final say! this week, crucial decisions will have to be taken if mps are to avoid leaving with no deal by the new deadline of 12 april. tomorrow, parliament will debate alternatives to the prime minister's proposals, and this cabinet minister made it clear he could live with a closer relationship to the eu, if that's what mps want.

if parliament is voting overwhelmingly against leaving the european union without a deal, but is voting in favour of a softer brexit, then i don't think it's sustainable to say, well, we'll ignore parliament's position and therefore leave without a deal. was the prime minister seeking divine intervention today to break the deadlock? she could resurrect her defeated deal, and hold a fourth vote on it this week, if it appears to be more popular than any of the alternatives. up to nine different options could be discussed by mps tomorrow. some would see the uk retaining close links to the eu, such as a customs union, making trade easier with the european union, but more difficult to strike trade deals with other countries. and single market membership — again, easier trade, but less control of immigration. but some mps are still pressing for no deal, and others say that any deal should be put to a new referendum. and that is the option favoured by labour's deputy leader. we need to move beyond brexit, and it seems to me the only way we can do that now is with a people's vote. a people's vote is the solution, not an option. theresa may faces some

tough choices this week. there is no question of her cancelling brexit, or as it's known in the jargon, revoking article 50. but some other options favoured by mps, a customs union, for example, also run counter to the conservative manifesto. if she goes along with that, she could lose some of her top team around her cabinet table. 0r she could take a different option and call a general election. a senior conservative has said that pragmatic preparations are under way for a possible election, but that prospect has horrified many in the party, and a former occupant of number ten. i think a general election will solve nothing, at this moment. so what is his solution? in the interests of ending the chaos that we have now, and that could continue, we must have a government that has a working majority, and that is the only reason for a time—limited unity government. so a cross—party government to unite a sometimes very cross country. not likely, but these days, normal political rules don't apply. iain watson, bbc news, westminster.

well, staying with that story now. the former chair of the official pro—brexit campaign has sidestepped calls to apologise for breaching funding rules, after the group dropped its appeal against a fine. the electoral commission ruled that vote leave exceeded spending limits during the referendum in 2016, and levied a fine of £61,000. the former chair gisela stuart said the group had done everything it could to comply with the rules. several thousand protesters chanting "dictatorship — never again" took to the streets of brazil's biggest cities sunday, on the 55th anniversary of the coup that established more than two decades of military rule. 2,000 people rallied in rio de janeiro, while in sao paulo, a few hundred converged to demonstrate against the 1964—85 dictatorship. the former us vice president joe biden has denied claims made by another democrat that he behaved

inappropriately towards her. lucy flores said that in 2014, while they were campaigning, he placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed the back of her head, making her feel uncomfortable. mr biden, who is reportedly considering a 2020 presidential run, said he did not think that he had ever acted inappropriately. in ukraine, a comedian with no political experience is on course to win the most votes in the presidential election. exit polls suggest volodymyr zelenskiy, who plays the president in a satirical tv show, is expected to beat the incumbent petro poroshenko in the first round of voting today. jonah fisher reports. fact is very quickly catching up with fiction in ukraine. this was the moment that a comedian who plays the president in a tv show found out he was beating the real president by more than ten percentage points.

these are just exit polls, but the political establishment here has been shaken. what's your reaction to these exit polls? great, this is the first fight. i'm very happy. but this is not the final actions. and are you sure you'll win in the second round? i think so. we'll see. we will see. i spent a day with mr zelenskiy during the election campaign. at the time, his grasp of politics was weaker than his understanding of british comedy. benny hill? benny hill, yes. it's more understandable than monty python. for me, monty python is better, i'm sorry. ukrainians feel they know how mr zelenskiy would perform as president because they have seen him star in a television show as a teacher called

vasiliy goloborodko, who turns into a principled, honest president. this is the man mr zelenskiy looks set to face in the second round. are you feeling confident, mr president? ukraine's real president, petro poroshenko. five years ago, the billionaire was swept to power in the aftermath of a street revolution. but he looks to be paying the price for the slow pace of change. the big loserfrom today looks to be yulia tymoshenko. the darling of revolutions past, this will be the third time she has missed out on the presidency. whoever ultimately wins will be confronted with ukraine's very serious problems. not least relations with russia, and a war in the east that has killed 13,000 people. this election isn't over yet, and there is still a second

round to come. but tonight, here in ukraine, it feels like a political earthquake. voters rejecting the old in favour of something new, entertaining, and almost completely undefined. jonah fisher, bbc news, in kiev. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we meet the indonesian rickshaw driver who turned his vehicle into a mobile library for children. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can at worst produce a meltdown. in this case the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants

will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: big losses for president erdogan‘s governing party in local elections across turkey — the opposition winds in the capital ankara for the first time in 25 years. here in the uk, parliament is getting ready to vote on a range of alternatives to the prime minister's brexit deal in the hope of finding a way to

break the deadlock. president donald trump has threatened to close the border with mexico this week unless more is done to stop illegal immigrants crossing into the united states. back in february he declared an emergency calling for billions of dollars to build a wall. but now numbers have hit a ten—year high. some border posts are so overwhelmed that asylum seekers, mostly from central america, have been held in temporary facilities out in the open. from el paso in texas, dan johnson reports. behind the barbed wire on a customs station car park, hundreds of asylum seekers settle down for the night. there are men, women, children and even babies here. they have foil sheets to keep warm. they have portable toilets. this is the grim reality when their dream of america hits our systems had to be under a cascading crisis, freefall, even according to those in charge. it is

an image most wealthy western nations would be ashamed of. at a shelter on the edge of town we found lesbia, one of those forced to sleep in the open after two weeks on the road from honduras. translation: the journey here was hard, but the worst pa rt journey here was hard, but the worst part was arriving. no human should be treated the way we were. we were called, sleeping on rocks forfive days. there are queues for food and medical checks as details are taken and people are moved on. there is disbelief too that in america in 2019 it has come to this. but border patrols as this is simply the only way that they can cope with the numbers that they are having to deal with, that there are so many people coming across the border, families with children, that they have nowhere else to hold these people. they say this is the visual demonstration of the humanitarian crisis that the president has described. the chief says they are

110w described. the chief says they are now past breaking point and things will only get worse. 55,000 families including 45,000 children expected to enter the process this month, we are doing everything we can to simply avoid a tragedy in a cvp facility, but with these numbers, the types of illnesses we are seeing at the border, ifear that it the types of illnesses we are seeing at the border, i fear that it is just a matter of time. and all the time people keep coming. this is the latest line heading through mexico and that is where president trump has aimed the blame, saying too many are being allowed through. and if they don't stop then we are closing they don't stop then we are closing the border, we will close it, we will keep it closed for a long time. iam not will keep it closed for a long time. i am not playing games. mexico has to stop it. these people have been moved on and this holding pen now stands empty but thousands more are expected every day and what to do with them is the question america seems unable to answer. meanwhile, pope francis has again strongly criticised politicians who want to put up walls

and other barriers to keep migrants out of their countries. asked by reporters about president trump's threat to close the us border with mexico, the pope did not refer to mr trump by name. but he said leaders who build walls would end up becoming prisoners of those walls. he described migration as a hot potato, but he said the problem needed to be resolved humanely. the pope was speaking on his flight back to rome from a two—day visit to morocco. the bbc has learned that around 50 british is fighters have been captured in syria over the last three months. the end of the islamic state group's so—called caliphate was announced a week ago, with the syrian town of baghuz the last is held area to fall. 0ur middle east correspondent quentin somerville has been speaking exclusively to hamza parvez who was captured in the last is stronghold of baghouz in eastern syria.

a lot of the westerners distances from one another because, one of the primary phases was targeted drone strikes, so people wouldn't really wa nt to strikes, so people wouldn't really want to be associated with one another just want to be associated with one anotherjust in want to be associated with one another just in case, want to be associated with one anotherjust in case, because we didn't have a list of who is on the drone lest or not, so we would be really scared of, 0k drone lest or not, so we would be really scared of, ok this guy might be all this guy might be so ijust kept to myself. but, hamza, this is extraordinary, for anyone else, if you realise extraordinary, for anyone else, if ou realise ou're extraordinary, for anyone else, if you realise you're on a drone hit list you might start questioning what the hell you are doing in raqqa and why you are a member of islamic state, don't you think that was a time to leave the group? yes, of course, there were many times when i thought it was time to pack up and there were many times when i did try to back up and leave, but the reality was it wasn't as easy as it sounds. it is a small group of very big fish which makes all decisions for all the people. it could be life

01’ for all the people. it could be life or death decisions, decisions that change people posit that life completely. yes, but you joined that group willingly. the horrorfor completely. yes, but you joined that group willingly. the horror for most people is they have no choice over it, syrians, iraqis, libyans, yazidis who were all either displaced, raped, murdered by islamic state. you willinglyjoined that group. they had no choice. islamic state. you willinglyjoined that group. they had no choicem wasn't any... if you were to ask me would you willingly go and join the group which consists of one, two, three and four... one, two, three and four being genocide, rape, enslavement, murder? anyone in their right mind would have never ever gone over tojoin right mind would have never ever gone over to join something of that kind of... you were not in your right mind, then? i wasn't going to join something... i didn't know that there was something waiting for me like that. so most of the foreign fighters when they do step in, when you do talk to them, the first thing they say to you is that we would have never ever come if we had known the realities of isis.

captured is fighter hamza parvez speaking to our middle east correspondent quentin somerville. jakarta is one of the world's busiest and most crowded cities. getting around isn't always easy. once upon a time you might‘ve used a bemo, a small, motor—powered rickshaw. but two years ago they were banned by the indonesian government. now, one former bemo driver has come up with a new way to use his old vehicle. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. sutino hadi, known as ‘kinong', is a man on a mission. he used to drive passengers around jakarta. now, he's trying to broaden minds. he's turned his old bemo into a mobile library, and it's the minds of the young he really wants to broaden. translation: when i first started, i could never imagine i could inspire that many children, but after a few years of driving around, i began to see the positive benefits. i thought i'm nearing retirement anyway, it's my responsibility to be a good human being and help others. bemos used to be a regular

sight injakarta. for decades, they buzzed around the streets, weaving through traffic, but they weren't always safe and they weren't exactly good for the environment, so eventually they were banned. kinong's novel use of his vehicle is just one example of a larger movement, aiming to make indonesians learn to love books. translation: our challenge is how to instill an interest in reading in children during the age of technology. we believe it is important that our volunteers teach children to understand the importance of learning. from what we have seen, indonesia's education system is moving in a positive direction and we are grateful for that. kinong hopes he can help transform these children's lives and he says this journey has taken him to places he never thought possible. tim allman, bbc news.

you may remember us telling you about a new art installation at the louvre in paris. it was a giant collage called the secret of the great pyramid. but it seems not to have been a huge hit with the patrons. within a day, the whole thing had been trampled on and torn to shreds. the french artist, jr, seemed fairly philosophical, tweeting, "the images, like life, are ephemeral." a reminder of our top story: president erdogan‘s governing party in turkey has lost control of several big cities in local elections, including the capital ankara. the opposition is also claiming victory in the largest city, istanbul. mr erdogan told supporters that his ak party had lost the hearts of urban voters, and he promised to act on the results. we will keep an eye on those results as they continue to come in here on bbc news and that poll is being seen

asa bbc news and that poll is being seen as a bit ofa bbc news and that poll is being seen as a bit of a referendum on president erdogan‘s leadership in the midst of an economic downturn. stay with us here on bbc news. hello again. we're going to see some big changes in our weather over the next few days of this week. not much snow on the mountains in scotland at the moment in this weather watch picture, sent to us by "colliestun". but you got a sense that that's going to change in a big way for scotland over the next few days as our weather turns significantly colder. now, on the satellite picture, we've got a streak of cloud to the north—west of the uk. and that's a cold front that's working in towards our shores. but if you're heading outside over the next few hours, the only place you're likely to come across rain really is northern ireland, and even here the rain is going to be quite patchy in nature. clear spells further east

allowing some frost, so it will be quite a chilly start for a number of us first thing in the morning. there's our area of high pressure slipping away to the continent. and here comes our cold front, bringing that thickening cloud, and eventually outbreaks of rain. so the rain will turn heavy and steady through the day for western scotland and for northern ireland. but for eastern scotland, for most of england and wales actually, we've got another fine day coming up with some spring sunshine, the best of it across southern counties. it might be april the first, but don't be fooled by those rising temperatures in cardiff, highs up to 16 degrees. there is only one direction of travel for the weather, and that is for things to get much colder. now through monday evening and night—time, we'll see the band of rain, our cold front sinks southwards, taking the rain across northern ireland and scotland, into parts of england and wales through the night. ahead of the front, seven degrees in london. we're starting to get the colder air tucking in across scotland and northern ireland — the shape of things to come. so really from tuesday onwards, it's then that we'll start to see the really cold air digging in. turning colder, rain or showers, be cold enough for some hill snow and some overnight frost as well. this area of low pressure is going to be slipping southwards during tuesday, dragging in cold winds, coming all the way

from within the arctic circle. 0ur cold front by this stage will be pushing eastwards, taking the rain with it on tuesday. the colder air following. sunshine and showers — some of the showers heavy with some hail and thunder and yeah, there will be snow up in the hills as well. now a look at the temperatures. highs of seven degrees in belfast. factor in those strong northerly winds, it really is going to feel quite cold, especially compared with the weather we've seen over recent days. low pressure then stays with us through the rest of the week, really. this area of low pressure in the north sea bringing rain and potentially some significant mountain snow across scotland and perhaps also the pennines as well for a time on wednesday. elsewhere, another day of sunshine and heavy showers. and the thing with the showers is, when they come along, they could drop the temperatures over a short period of time by four orfive degrees, so it is going to feel pretty chilly out and about.