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. the opposition is also claiming victory in the largest city, welcome to bbc news, istanbul. mr erdogan told supporters broadcasting to viewers in north america that his ak party had lost and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. the hearts of urban voters, our top stories: and he promised to act on the results. a new government has been formed in algeria after six weeks big losses for president erdogan‘s of mass protests, but the head governing party in local of the military and the prime elections across turkey. the opposition wins in the capital, minister remain in office. ankara, for the first time demonstrators had been demanding that president abdelaziz bouteflika in 25 years. and his inner circle be removed. a new government is announced in algeria after six weeks of mass protests, but the head of the military and the prime minister remain in office. inside islamic state. we ask captured british is fighters why they joined. anyone that's still immersed by islamic state's methodology — it's wrong. it's a gang. a comedian who plays a comedian who plays a president a fictional president on tv is on course to win the first on tv is on course to win the first round of ukraine's election. round of ukraine's election. exit polls give the satirist volo—dymyr zelenskiy a clear lead

over the incumbent petro poroshenko, by thirty percent to seventeen. 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 local elections is too close to call, with fewer than 3,000 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 i% of votes still to count, which the chp have claimed is the government's way of stealing the result. in the capital, ankara, the opposition has won back control after a quarter of a century. if it takes istanbul too, it would be an astonishing result, in a country where 90% of the media is pro—government, and president erdogan has branded his opponents terrorists. 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 years, mr erdogan appeared unbeatable, with a moribund opposition. tonight, that image is beginning to change. 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 abdelaziz bouteflika and his inner circle be removed. we can speak now to azzedine layachi, an algerian analyst at the department of government and politics, stjohn‘s university in new york. thank you so much for your time. first of all, how significant is this reshuffle? this reshuffle is not significant for the crowds that are outside as we speak now, because

the key elements are still in place, i.e. the system itself. president bouteflika is still in place, and the prime minister, thatjust replaced another one, still part of the system, and of course the military leadership. so for the demonstrators, nothing has changed, and they don't want to fall in the trap of small changes with a promise of bigger changes later on. it has happened before, and no real changes took place. so the stand—off is likely to continue. now, we are hearing reports, not confirmed, from a private tv station that president bouteflika might be standing down, he might be set to resign. what do you make of that? that is probably the pressure, not just you make of that? that is probably the pressure, notjust from the streets, but also from those around him, especially the military. we know that the military have always played a key role in governing

algeria, and they remain the kingmakers in the country. so the pressure on him — i mean, he is physically unable to govern or to rule, so nobody would expect him, but the problem is that he had suggested an extension of his term, fourth term, the current term, until a new system is in place. and of course, the demonstrators saying we cannot play with new rules, we have two have absolutely new rules, including getting rid of everyone who is in the system now, and putting together a new constitution and bringing new faces. so he has to 90, and bringing new faces. so he has to go, and him going out would be definitely a step forward now. but then how do we... where do we go from there? the questions that come to my mind is, is there anyone or any group speaking in the name of the demonstrators? is there anybody able to negotiate the transition with those who hold the real power

in algeria, especially the military? imean, in algeria, especially the military? i mean, that remains a key question, given the demonstrators want the whole inner circle to go, how realistic is that? shouldn't perhaps abdelaziz bouteflika leaving and new elections be enough? some people mightfear elections be enough? some people might fear the void, of course, the southern void of people who even if they are not liked, at least they have been around and they know how to make the state apparatus function in the transition period. and so thatis in the transition period. and so that is a tough one. it cannot start with a clean slate, so suddenly, and then expect things to get better in then expect things to get better in the short term, especially in the short—term. something has to be worked out, in my opinion, for a gradual transition. of course, the pressure of the street could remain in place all along, until a new

system is in place, which means going through a national conference, as it has been suggested, which will establish a new constitution, the way that tunisians did it. it took them 100 days or so to create a new constitution that was finally approved, and to go through that. and in the meantime we will have ca reta kers and in the meantime we will have caretakers taking care of the business of the state, of the country, until a new election is held, parliamentary election, presidential election, and a new tea m presidential election, and a new team will be in place, working with new rules, under new rules. that is the way it should happen. the problem is how do we get there from the current stand—off? and that is the current stand—off? and that is the big question. thank you so much for your insights. let's get some of the day's other news: british members of parliament are once again getting ready to vote on monday on alternatives to theresa may's brexit deal. the prime minister has been urged not to ignore them if they back a softer brexit. thejustice secretary, david gauke, says that wouldn't be sustainable, and has advised theresa may to look

closely at staying in a customs union with the eu if that is what parliament votes for. mrs may's deal has already been rejected three times. 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.

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 baghouz 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. in the desert of deir ez—zor, an exodus from hell. and in numbers far greater than ever imagined. women came first. and then the men, and among them, the bbc has learned, as many as 50 british fighters, captured in the final three months of the caliphate. the hardest core of a hateful ideology whose secrets are being revealed.

zachariah vanished from britain five years ago. this is the first time he has been seen since. you went there to kill. you signed up with this notorious, proscribed terrorist group. many people will shrug their shoulders and say, well, that was your choice. everyone's responsible for their choices, that's true. i was responsible for this choice. i can't defend myself. i came of my own will, my own fault, my own mistake. i guess i need to be punished. can we discuss your injury? yes. tell me what happened. there was a lot of rockets being dropped, and one of the rockets landed very close to me. the two people that

were with me died. and i — i was alive, yeah. barely alive. 0ne leg was — i don't know where it went. my leg on the left was barely attached. i would wear the shirt, but they don't have one in my size. he was once a promising student at the university of westminster. six of his fellow students also travelled to fight. their extremism cost them dearly. most were killed and injured. zachariah has lost his british citizenship, and he has a message for those considering extremism.

anyone that's still immersed by islamic state's methodology — it's wrong. it's a gang. it's — but they raised the flag of the shahid. a lot of people were tricked. don't fall into the same trick. hamza parvez of west london is another willing is recruit. he was captured a month ago. you willinglyjoined that group. it wasn't — if you was to ask me, would you willingly go and join a 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, ever gone over to join something of that calibre. so you were not in your right mind, then? i wasn't going to join something — or i didn't know that it

something waiting for me like that. he grew up in a privileged west london home, to pakistani parents. he too has been stripped of his british citizenship. young british men brought ruin to syria. when they came here, they burned their passports, and vowed never to return. they are the most committed extremists. they've lost their caliphate and their citizenship. for many, there will be no way back. quentin somerville, bbc news, north—eastern syria. the trial of the vietnamese defendant doan thi huong, one of two women charged with murdering the estranged half—brother of north korea's leader, has now resumed. this is her arriving in court a short time ago. 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. let's get more from our south—east asia correspondent jonathan head.

jonathan, what do we expect to happen in court? well, there's been a petition or a suggestion, i say, by the prosecutors, and offer, really, that they reduce the charge against doan thi huong. that would be very significant. both the women who were on trial were charged with murder, with knowing that what they we re murder, with knowing that what they were doing would kill kimjong—nam. now, prosecutors say they are going to propose, and we have yet to hear from the court whether this is going to go ahead, that the charge against doan thi huong, the sole remaining defendant, is dropped to causing harm by dangerous action, that's a considerably lower charge with a month four much lower sentence. and that significant, because when her co—defendant siti aisyah was released last month, doan thi ‘s lawyers said well, this was just unfair. both women were charged with the same crime. although there is more evidence against doan thi huong, she is actually seen on

airport security cameras putting her hands on kim jong—nam's face and then going to the bathroom, there was no video evidence against her co—defendant. that was possibly one factor. good relations between malaysia and indonesia might be another factor as to why one was released and not the other. so this would be at least a reduction in the charge, but as far as we know the trial will go ahead and doan thi huong is due to testify for the first time today and give us her account of how she ended up in being involved in this bizarre assassination. and just remind us of this assassination, because it was quite dramatic at the time. well, it was extraordinary. kim jong—nam was travelling on a passport with another name, north korean diplomatic passport. he lived in exile in macau. he had been staying in malaysia, we are not entirely sure what for. there is some investigation still as to what he was doing here, but he was about to fly back macau to check in when two women put their hands over his face and appeared to smear some liquid on

it. he was able to tell the security guard, take into account in it, but died within about 20 minutes. and tests showed that the agent had killed him was vx, one of the world's most deadly nerve agents, but the two women were the only two able to be caught. there were north koreans allegedly involved, but they all fled on the same day or a little bit afterwards. and both these women have said they believe they were taking part in televised pranks, that they had no idea that what they we re that they had no idea that what they were doing would cause kim jong—nam's death. were doing would cause kim jong-nam's death. thank you very much. 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 top story this hour: big losses for president erdogan's

governing party in local elections across turkey. some results are too close to call. more on turkey now. earlier, emre temel of the bbc‘s turkish service told me more about the developments over the last few hours. the ruling alliance candidates claimed victory in the early hours of the night. this was disputed immediately by the opposition candidate. and the opposition candidate, ekrem imamoglu, later claimed victory. and, to be honest with you, it's still neck and neck. and turkey's official news agency has been criticised by the opposition, because yildirim was leading by 4,000 votes while the news agency stopped announcing the results for so many hours, 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. and the opposition alliance, the national alliance, won at least three of the five biggest cities in turkey, and this is crucial. 0n the other hand, mr erdogan's ruling alliance won in more than 50 cities out of 81 in turkey. but, when it comes to big cities, the opposition seemed 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 11.5 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? 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 sunday. 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. 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 small, motor—powered rickshaw, but two years ago they were banned by the indonesian government. now, one former 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." that is a good attitude. stay with

us that is a good attitude. stay with us here on bbc news. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @regedahmadbbc. 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 hailand thunderand, 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.