live from london. this is bbc news. counting is under way in turkey — in what could be the most important election in the country's modern history. president zelensky�*s trip to germany culminates with him being awarded the prestigious charlemagne prize in service of european unity. at least five people are believed to have died in myanmar — as a powerful cyclone crashes into the country. and — it's british television's big night — the stars come out in force for the baftas. counting has begun in

one of turkey's most critical elections — which will decide if president erdogan should remain in power after 20 years. president erdogan faces his biggest challenge yet, with turkey in the midst of soaring inflation, and the country still reeling from two earthquakes in february in which more than 50,000 people died. the poll is one of the most consequential in the country's modern history, with mr erdogan�*s islamic party challenged by an opposition set on a more secular course, and promising closer ties to the west. his main rival is kemal kilicdaroglu who is backed by a broad opposition alliance and has promised to scrap many of the powers acquired by the president. 0ur senior international correspondent, 0rla guerin, reports from the turkish capital ankara. people talk excitedly. a tense moment in a tight election. here in ankara, voters spotted two people in one polling booth. the police were called in.

the ballot box matters in turkey, and the opposition are on the lookout for fraud. this is a pivotal vote which could mean the end of the erdogan era. turkey's authoritarian leader voted in istanbul, looking sombre, with election officials standing to attention. he said he is praying for turkish democracy. the president's smiling, secular rival kemal kilicdaroglu says democracy would be a lot better off without him. applause and cheering. well, kemal kilicdaroglu has emerged here now having cast his vote. everyone is trying to get a picture. he's the focus of a lot of attention here today, a lot of hopes, he's promising to bring a new beginning, to bring spring to turkey. and waiting for him patiently,

for hours, three generations of one family who hope today will change everything. they've brought baby mira along. 0utside her home for the first time ever. "i don't want to be afraid when i speak," says her aunt, sanem. "now i'm giving you an interview and i'm scared. i simply want to live without fear. we have been silent for so long." but president erdogan has been pulling out all the stops to survive, invoking religion, as he often does. last night he prayed for his political life in istanbul's iconic ayasofya, which he reconverted to a mosque. and a huge crowd prayed with him.

win or lose, for president erdogan, some have fears about what may come next. we are concerned a little bit what may happen both ways. if he's elected, we don't see a good future for the country. and if he's not, things may get messier, so wejust... we will wait and see what happens. we don't want mess, we want to be happy with our children and we want to live happily in this country, we love our country. exactly. their country is now at a crossroads. if neither candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, turkish people will be back at the polling stations in two weeks. 0rla guerin, bbc news, ankara. lets take you live to the velizy—villacoublay french air base, this is just a few miles south—west

of paris — where ukraine's, president zelensky is due to arrive shortly — he'll be meeting french president macron at the elysee palace — where they'll be having a working dinner tonight. the leaders are due to discuss france's military and humanitarian support to ukraine, according to a statement from the french presidency. he was in germany earlier of meeting the chancellor. live now to france where we can join hugh schofield our paris correspondent for more on zelensky�*s visit. we arejust we are just watching images there of the airport waiting for him to land. this was an unannounced visit, i suppose these sorts of things don't necessarily get mentioned before hand all the time when involves resident zelensky.— hand all the time when involves resident zelensky. indeed although his italian and _ resident zelensky. indeed although his italian and german _ resident zelensky. indeed although his italian and german troops - resident zelensky. indeed although his italian and german troops were| his italian and german troops were announced. there were word over this over the weekend but nothing was confirmed until about an hour ago.

—— italian and german trips. he had this ceremony where he was given the charlemagne prize in honour of his in his countries sacrifice in defence of european values and so on and he will be arriving at that base and he will be arriving at that base and then going to dinner straightaway with president macron. at elysee palace where we are told what will be on the table is obviously, the coming counteroffensive and the ongoing struggle for european support and military and in humanitarian ways as well. and ifeel like there military and in humanitarian ways as well. and i feel like there were moments in the second world world war whether conferences ahead of major turning points in the war and now we have apparently a big moment of perching with the counteroffensive and it looks like president zelensky wants to talk to key european leaders in advance to make sure that they are on board. maybe not in detail on what he is

planning to do, but with the general picture. and of course, to solicit more promises of arms. irate picture. and of course, to solicit more promises of arms. we have talked about _ more promises of arms. we have talked about this _ more promises of arms. we have | talked about this counteroffensive for a long time. we had this interview with president zelensky he did with our correspondent in kyiv the other day in which he said, they are ready in terms of personnel but theyjust need more equipment. and i suppose the one thing he wants is fighterjets will stop he keeps asking for it. what will he be asking for it. what will he be asking president macron for specifically? i asking president macron for specifically?— asking president macron for secificall ? ., �* ~ ., ., specifically? i don't know. i am told that there _ specifically? i don't know. i am told that there is _ specifically? i don't know. i am told that there is no _ specifically? i don't know. i am told that there is no big - told that there is no big announcement coming from france today. i suspect there will be some announcement of some extra commitment at the dinner. the french have been given all of the old tensions seeming to have dissipated between ukraine and france as they have between ukraine and germany. and in germany today there were big promises of more money and defence missiles and so on. the call for

aeroplanes, aircraft fighters is an ongoing one. i don't think it will come from any one country saying, we are giving this number of but if that ever comes it will be in a coordinated way because no country will be able to give more than a handful and it will have to be carefully managed so that the delivery of that new system is coordinated properly. i delivery of that new system is coordinated properly. i suppose the one thing that _ coordinated properly. i suppose the one thing that president _ coordinated properly. i suppose the one thing that president zelensky i one thing that president zelensky needs to show russia in all of this is that the support that he has internationally is not going to wane. that must be his major concern and he spent a lot of time for a very long time, he did not leave ukraine at all. but this is clearly what he is trying to show to russia very obviously is that his support has not gone away. find very obviously is that his support has not gone away.— very obviously is that his support has not gone away. and part of the putin calculation _ has not gone away. and part of the putin calculation i _ has not gone away. and part of the putin calculation i imagine - has not gone away. and part of the putin calculation i imagine is that l putin calculation i imagine is that time is on his side. with the

passing of months and years and spending of loads of money, western support will begin to wane and public opinion will begin getting bored with the whole story and at that point, zelensky and ukraine become very vulnerable. there is no sign of that, in fact we had macron today giving an interview about his assessment of the war and he says that already, moscow is the big geopolitical loser. they have already lost score geopolitically he is saying, because they have lost the support of its immediate circle of neighbouring countries or at least lost their trust in the process of a fossilisation of china and it has lost access to the baltic which is a top priority for russia. so it is already a lost cause for russia but on the military front there is still a battle to be one. and that is why he is saying france

will continue as germany is continuing to support the ukrainian effort. ., ~ , ., continuing to support the ukrainian effort. ., ~' , ., , continuing to support the ukrainian effort. ., ~ ,, , . continuing to support the ukrainian effort. ., ~ , . ., ., effort. thank you very much for now. live in paris — effort. thank you very much for now. live in paris and _ effort. thank you very much for now. live in paris and will _ effort. thank you very much for now. live in paris and will keep _ effort. thank you very much for now. live in paris and will keep across - live in paris and will keep across what is going on between president zelensky and president macron and bring it to you later. back to the turkish election now. some like pictures of votes been counted one of the most critical elections that will decide if president erdogan should remain in power after 20 years. turnout is expected to be very high. counting those votes could take a very long time today. joing me now is our middle east corrrespondent, anna foster, who is in the turkish city of adana which was badly hit by the recent earthquake. we were talking earlier in the programme about economic situation in the country really being the one thing that people have on their minds when they went to the polls will stop but obviously the earthquake that happened just a few

months ago was so devastating for people there. tell us how much that played a role in the criticism of the government's response in terms of what people are thinking about when going to the polls. it will have played — when going to the polls. it will have played a _ when going to the polls. it will have played a big _ when going to the polls. it will have played a big role - when going to the polls. it will have played a big role and - have played a big role and especially in this part of turkey as well. the city that i am in now is a swing city and the whole area in the south east. there are parts of it which is a apk stronghold and they saw hundreds of people killed here in the earthquake, conceiving earthquakes back in february and your right to say that the economy for a long time, was the key thing that people were thinking about. that was going to be the issue that this campaign was going to be fought on. but then the earthquake happened and response was slow, slower than expected because this was a country that had been preparing for an earthquake for years. and with the response came, it was too slow for many people and they felt it was

inadequate as well for so when they cast their votes earlier today, thoseissues cast their votes earlier today, those issues also issues of free constructions as well, will have been at front of mine and we will see in the next few hours really how much of an impact that had and how much of an impact that had and how much trust remains with erdogan who has been in powerfor 20 years and how money will put their faith in the future instead in kemal kilicdaroglu, the challenger but at the moment is looking extremely tight. still too early to tell it will be a couple more hours it before we release her to get a picture. that's been counting votes forjust picture. that's been counting votes for just over picture. that's been counting votes forjust over four hours, but is enormously tight and enormously close race. �* ., , , enormously tight and enormously close race-— close race. both sides are both claimin: close race. both sides are both claiming that— close race. both sides are both claiming that they _ close race. both sides are both claiming that they are - close race. both sides are both claiming that they are at - close race. both sides are both claiming that they are at the i close race. both sides are both i claiming that they are at the lead at the moment. quite a confusing picture if you are just trying to estimate people are saying about the votes been counted. how do they differ in terms of their economic policies, in terms of the opposition said that they would do it in terms of what president erdogan has been doing over the last while. inflation in the country has been really high.

last year it was over 80% and it is still not high now. talk us through what they have both been saying they have been saying on the economy. it —— is still high now. have been saying on the economy. it -- is still high now.— -- is still high now. soaring inflation — -- is still high now. soaring inflation the _ -- is still high now. soaring inflation the value - -- is still high now. soaring inflation the value has - -- is still high now. soaring i inflation the value has fallen, -- is still high now. soaring - inflation the value has fallen, and have felt in their pockets and in their day—to—day lives and a lot of economists have been unhappy with the handling of the economy is like some of the choices that he made were not sensible once and rather than ringing the situation and some people feel admit the situation worse. kemal kilicdaroglu and the opposition have said that the economy is one of the first things that they will tackle but what was interesting as well about that nation that mr kemal kilicdaroglu represents is that actually this is a fairly diverse group of opposition parties. really the main thing that unifies them is an urge to remove president erdogan from power and put someone else in the top job and see how things can change. so if you were to take the presidency, it will

be interesting to see how that would play out in reality. how those different parties would work together when they have very different visions for what turkey should look like. but if you are trained to follow this at the moment if you are looking at what state media are putting out for example, the various news agencies, ten low percentages of the vote going up and up. it is impossible, impossible to tell at the moment. if declan message away from this composition for having right now, it is just wait and see. things are very very tight and it is also worth mentioning is what this may well not be wrapped up in the next few hours. because one of these candidates, in order to be the next president, has to take more than 50% of the vote. and even though we talk about the two main contenders, there are in fact three. an ultranationalist candidate who at the moment appears to be pulling about 5% of the vote. but if it continues it could potentially could stop either man

from reaching 50% plus one. and if thatis from reaching 50% plus one. and if that is the is the third place candidate is removed goes to a runoff. everyone comes back and is the same thing in two weeks' time at the same thing in two weeks' time at the end of the of the month. so turkey may have even longer to wait to find out who the country's next leader will be.— to find out who the country's next leader will be. ., ~ , ., , . leader will be. thank you very much, anna foster — leader will be. thank you very much, anna foster therefore _ leader will be. thank you very much, anna foster therefore us _ leader will be. thank you very much, anna foster therefore us in - leader will be. thank you very much, anna foster therefore us in the - anna foster therefore us in the turkish city. and will keep you up—to—date from any developments from the turkish election. one of the strongest storms to hit the bay of bengal in recent years — cyclone mocha — has inundated parts of myanmar, cutting communications and destroying buildings. at least five people are reported to have been killed in the country and the city of sittwe is said to be deep in water, with winds of 200 kilometres per hour causing chaos. disaster officials in bangladesh said there'd been no major damage. around a million rohinga refugees are living in flimsy camps around the city of cox's bazar — 1,300 of those shelters have been damaged. rajini vaidyanathan is in cox's bazar — and sent this report.

cyclone mocha arrived with great force winds gusting at high speeds. it hit the bangladesh myanmar coastline. as the cyclone intensified, so did the panic. here in south—east bangladesh, hundreds of thousands left their homes in coastal areas for shelter. some even brought their livestock. this woman carried her two month old baby from their home on the banks of a river. every classroom in the school is absolutely packed with people who've left their homes seeking shelter from the cyclone. there are many mothers with babies. there's young children, the elderly and the sick. almost everyone here is from a low lying coastal area in fishing communities, and they're terrified about whether their homes will still be standing

once the cyclone passes. for now, it's about finding a space to settle here. we metjanat out again as she searched for a place to sit with her baby imran. for her, this cyclone is part of an endless cycle. translation: last year, _ another cyclone destroyed my house. we repaired it, but now i feel it is damaged again. how can i live if this keeps happening? i can't afford to rebuild it. we are very poor. nature was also punishing the poor in the world's largest refugee camp nearby. hundreds of bamboo shelters damaged by the storm. rohingya refugees who fled persecution in myanmar more than five years ago already live in miserable conditions. this cyclone just made things worse.

as families returned from the shelter. relief that no one was killed in the storm here for evacuations, accredited for saving lives as the extreme weather continues to disrupt them. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news cox's bazar, bangladesh. we can speak now to professor saiful islam, from the institute of water and flood management, bangladesh university of engineering and technology. thank you very much forjoining us. just how bad is this cycle in? and of the area is used to seeing cyclones but are you able to give us some sort of comparison? the cyclone is around category _ some sort of comparison? the cyclone is around category four. _ is around category four. experiencing 200 kph maximum speed which is close to a 2007 cyclone.

bangladesh may be fortunate that the track is not over the mainland in many areas which is highly densely populated. but still it is an area and as he also mentioned the growing population living nearby will stop and so far we have not seen many casualties but they are catastrophic images in terms of land properties and agriculture in the area. and we have seen such cyclones over the last five years almost once or twice or even three in one year. so it could be a consideration of global warming in action. haifa could be a consideration of global warming in action.— could be a consideration of global warming in action. how much of this destruction — warming in action. how much of this destruction is _ warming in action. how much of this destruction is down _ warming in action. how much of this destruction is down to _ warming in action. how much of this destruction is down to a _ warming in action. how much of this destruction is down to a lack - warming in action. how much of this destruction is down to a lack of - destruction is down to a lack of preparedness and indeed the structures that there are. there are

so many flimsy buildings aren't there that just don't withstand so many flimsy buildings aren't there thatjust don't withstand the landslides that often ensue in the flood in? , , landslides that often ensue in the floodin? , ,, , flood in? yes it is because when the u-rou m flood in? yes it is because when the group my people _ flood in? yes it is because when the group my people they _ flood in? yes it is because when the group my people they stay - flood in? yes it is because when the group my people they stay on - flood in? yes it is because when the group my people they stay on the i group my people they stay on the hills and it is a very unstable structural, wooden structure so i mention it would not be so much damage so far but we have to look at that, because we don't actually know everything right now. but if it directly comes to the path it will be damaging. and also in bangladesh is protected which is sometimes because of the storm surges. so in the next cyclone we don't know if it will come to the very densely populated areas. it could have more catastrophic damage in bangladesh will stop if you know it is very low land. five metres is the coastal

elevations of any search is high elevations of any search is high elevation could be very damaging for this area. ., ~ , ., elevation could be very damaging for this area. ., ~' ,, ., elevation could be very damaging for this area. ., ~ i. ., ., ~ ., this area. thank you for talking to us. from this area. thank you for talking to us- from the _ this area. thank you for talking to us. from the bangladesh - this area. thank you for talking to i us. from the bangladesh university of engineering and technology. initial results from thailand's general election show a surge of support for the radical new party move forward. current projections put move forward's seat total very close to the frontrunner pheu thai. between them the two reformist parties are likely to have a substantial majority, making it all but certain that incumbent prime minister prayuth chan—ocha will not have another term in office. but even if they win, it's unclear the military will allow them to form the next government. 0ur correspondentjonathan head reports from bangkok. the counting is going quite fast, rapidly at the moment. the official count held by the election comission is held by number of constituencies completed by the unofficial count which observers are following in the constituencies

is showing a remarkable performance by the new progressive party move forward but is doing far better than expected and is likely to be one of the two biggest parties. the biggest party that always expected to win the biggest party that always expected to win is phue thai the election machine of the former exiled prime minister but it seems to have lost a lot of support to move forward. both these parties are campaigning on a ticket of getting the military out of politics which it has been for very long time. and, you know, move forward's agenda is particularly progressive. it wants a complete wholesale reform of the bureaucracy and once the monarchy discussed. this incredible wave of support it has got and has clearly gone well beyond younger thais suggests it has struck a chord with voters who really want change if you put these two parties together the projection we are seeing suggest they will have a substantial majority in the lower house of parliament. that is going to make it very difficult for the incumbent prime minister and other conservatives to argue that they can

form a government even with the 250 unelected senators. it is going to be a very, very big hill for them to climb and it looks as though we are looking at a significant result in thailand and a massive vote for change coming from the electorate. everything now depends on the kind of bargaining that takes place after the result. which parties feel they can come together and form a coalition and, of course, always in thailand, where there is some kind of extraparliamentary movers tried to stop the reformists from taking power. many ultra conservativee thais don't want to see but the results we are seeing coming through show a tremendous mandate for the pro—reform parties and it is hard to see a government which does not encompass a great deal of the progressive agenda.

the bafta television awards are taking place in london. it's british tv�*s biggest night of the year — recognising the best shows of last year. olympic gold medal winning runner sir mo farah won an award for the documentary in which he revealed he had been illegally trafficked to the uk as a child. the psychological adventure show the traitors won the reality and constructed factual award. best entertainment show went to the masked singer. i am ruth, which stars kate winslet, and chronicles the life of a mother and daughter dealing with a tense time in their life won the bafta for best single drama. before the ceremony our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, caught up with kate and the director dominic savage. we created the story together so what attracted me is how he works in the previous i had seen all of us i was just excited to meet him and i knew the idea that we would come up with for our story would come out of conversations that he and i had together.

and so when he came to me, there was no script. and we really did construct this story. and we both felt very strongly that an area that is really under—explored in television and film is this world of social media and how that is impacting the mental health of young people's lives all over the world, and also the impact that has on families and particularly parents. and so we really struck on this shared feeling that we needed to tell this story and it all went from there. and it was an amazing experience. it really was. and have you been pleased with the impact it's had? well, that's the thing. i think when you make work that connects with an audience in a very profound way because it affects them. i mean, a lot of the, there's so many people that maybe didn't think that this was happening to them even. and they watch this film and they realise, yes, this is my story as well. i love making work that is relatable to so many people and they seem to kind of get comfort from it as well, which i wish i really like.

you are watching bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. it's a pretty quiet weather story indeed for the upcoming week and beyond because high pressure looks to be dominating the scene quite a while. so it's going to be mostly dry. there will be a few showers around, mostly across the north of the uk. could be quite cool as well to start this new week, certainly monday and tuesday both by day and by night, but it will warm up slightly towards the end of the week. now, the game changer has been this weather front, a cold front with some rain on it that's been spreading southwards and eastwards across the country through today. be lying across the south—east by the end of tonight. so a mild—ish night here, but further north—west under nd the clear skies, quite a chilly one to come. could even see a touch of frost

or temperatures down to freezing, i should say. some of the sheltered glens across scotland. so chilly start to the day and you can see why we're in this chilly air mass for monday. still high pressure with us, so it's going to be mostly fine and dry. now we lose that weather front from the south—east. it'll take the rain with it and then it's bright for many from monday, sunshine and showers, order of play for the afternoon. most of the showers, scotland, northern ireland, northern and eastern england. quite a keen breeze there. and again across the north of scotland, probably best of the drier weather — wales in the south—west where we could see 16 degrees, but for most it's the low to mid—teens that is quite cool for this time of year. and then as we move through monday night, largely clear skies, light winds, that cooler air mass is going to turn chilly once again. could see some mist and fog developing here and there. so into tuesday, we've still got high pressure with us, fewer isobars, i think for many of the winds will be light away from the north of scotland, which we'll also see this weak, weather front that could enhance the cloud and shower activity for the northern half of scotland. we could see the odd shower into northern ireland, perhaps northern england too, but the southern half of britain should tend to stay dry

after that cool start. should see quite a bit of sunshine, a bit of fair weather, cloud, top temperatures, maybe up to 17 degrees. it's the low to mid—teens again in the north. and then as we move out to tuesday into wednesday, our area of high pressure topples a little bit further eastwards. that will start to bring some slightly milder air off the atlantic. you can see the blue tinge there just fading away as the yellows take over. so it's not going to be a heat wave by any means, but the temperatures will tend to climb a little bit towards the end of the week and there should be quite a bit of sunshine around. it should be mostly dry, all thanks to high pressure.

this is bbc news. the headlines: millions of votes are being counted in turkey after elections to decide who will lead the country for the next five years. the presidential battle has been fierce — president erdogan is seeking to prolong his twenty years in power against a stiff challenge from kemal kilicdaroglu. ukraine's president has completed his trip to germany — which he described as a �*true friend' in his country's fight against russia. while he was there, he received an award honouring european unity. president zelensky is now travelling to france for a working dinner with emmanuel macron. at least five people are reported to have died in myanmar — after a powerful cyclone hit the country. cyclone mocha is one of the strongest storms to hit the bay of bengal in recent years.