here's mark lowen again.plit down the middle, opposition challenging result & president backing death penalty. hard not to conclude that turkey feels v lost". well, the turnout was high — and the result was close. 51.4% to 48.6%. here are two front pages from turkey. the secular s zc: "is your conscience comfortable? fraud." the divide is geographical — most regions in the country's interior where mr erdogan‘s always performs well — it voted yes. the three largest cities — istanbul, ankara and izmir — all voted no. as did districts along the aegean and southeast anatolia coast — that's where many kurds live. and they are no supporters of the president. these are pictures we have from istanbul. these are opposition supporters banging pots and pans — that's a traditional form of protest. we will have to see what if anything they can do to reverse this result. just to quickly go over what exactly people were voting on. prepare the budget, choose the majority of seniorjudges and enact certain laws by decree. the

mark lowen, bbc news, ankara.dent mike pence, who's on a visit to south korea, has warned that his country's "era of strategic patience" with north korea is over. it comes as south korea and the united states agreed to speed up a defence system designed to intercept north korean missiles, something china views as a threat to its own military. 0ur seoul correspondent, stephen evans, reports. the american vice president went to the front line, the demilitarised zone between north and south korea, what he called the frontier of freedom. for him, the visit was personal because his father fought in the korean war. from the other side today, north korean guards looked back and took pictures. vice president pence's mission today, to affirm support for the alliance between the us and south korea. we will defeat any attack and we will meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective response. over the past 18 months, north korea has conducted two unlawful nuclear tests and an unprecedented

mark lowen, bbc news, ankara.e highlighted serious concerns about turkey's referendum, saying that the yes campaign had an unfair advantage, including the misuse of administrative resources. tana de zulueta is the head of the limited election observation mission. we also noted a significant imbalance in the campaign, due among other things to the active involvement of the president, several leading national officials and many local public officials in the yes campaign. our team observed the misuse of administrative resources and the obstruction of efforts by parties and civil society organisations supporting the no campaign. the campaign rhetoric was tarnished by some senior officials equating no supporters with terrorist sympathisers. in numerous cases, no sympathisers faced police interventions and violent scuffles at their events. these events contravene osc commitments, council of europe standards and other international obligations regarding freedom and equality in the campaign. earlier, our correspondent in

mark lowen, bbc news, ankara. our correspondent selin girit is in istanbul for us.ng out over the coming days? it is very difficult to tell at this stage. the opposition challenging the vote, the governing party and president erdogan saying, let's move on. and the people, on the one hand, jubilant, chanting president erdogan's name and celebrating their victory, as they call it and, in the other, shouting and banging pots and pans in protest at what they call the rigging of the vote. it's very difficult to tell what might happen next. there have been criticisms from the international observers as well. they have said the referendum process took place on an uneven, not a level playing field. there were criticisms against the media. the media was labelled as biased towards the government. there were criticisms towards state we source is being used by the government and the president unevenly. —— state we sources. campaign restrictions were criticised, and the high electoral board's decision to accept unstamped ballot papers as valid was regarded asa ballot papers as v

mark lowen, bbc news, rize.sexually harassing a number of women. last week the new york times reported fox and o'reilly paid five women a total of $13 million to settle the claims. advertisers are abandoning his high—rating show — the o'reilly factor. but it appears the president is still a fan. donald trump told the new york times "personally, i think he shouldn't have settled. because you should have taken it all the way; i don't think bill did anything wrong. he is a good person." it's worth noting that the day before he made those comments, president trump declared april to be sexual assault awareness month. the one thing that strikes me about this, it was an interview with the new york times were invited to do and he volunteers this information and he volunteers this information and pre—empt an investigation into the former nsa susan rice who's been investigated for an masking the names in the russian enquiry. trampling all over the enquiries. he had advertisers in the room when he was talking about that an

we can speak to our turkey correspondent mark lowen, who is in the turkish capital. u have one side of the country tonight that is jubilant, that feels it has clinched victory, and it has given president at —— president erdogan, giving him sweeping new powers. the other side of the country that is not accepting this result, claiming massive voting regularity, saying that 1.5 million votes which should have been declared invalid because they lack the official stamp of the electoral supreme the official stamp of the electoral supreme board were actually given to the yes side, and that electoral observers were blocked from south—eastern polling stations in the south—east of the country. they have vowed, the opposition, to challenge this at the high court, at the electoral supreme court. so really, in a sense, in terms of the stability of turkey in the short term, going forward, this is possibly the worst possible result, going forward. and really, when you look at the breakdown of the votes, more rural, high outside of the country voting in favour of president erdogan, t

mark lowen, bbc news, ankara.d serious concerns about turkey's referendum, saying that the ‘yes' campaign had an unfair advantage, including the mis—use of administrative resources. tana de zulueta is the head of the limited election observation mission. we also noted a significant imbalance in the campaign, due among other things to the active involvement of the president, several leading national officials and many local public officials in the yes campaign. our team observed the misuse of administrative resources and the obstruction of efforts by parties and civil society organisations supporting the no campaign. the campaign rhetoric was tarnished by some senior officials equating no supporters with terrorist sympathisers. in numerous cases, no sympathisers faced police interventions and violent scuffles at their events. these events contravene osc commitments, council of europe standards and other international obligations regarding freedom and equality in the campaign. earlier, our correspondent in istanbul,

mark lowen in istanbul.s she will create a new wave of grammar schools in england, which are open to ordinary working families and not the privileged few. the european court of human rights rules that russia should have done more to prevent the beslan school siege in 200a. the russian government says it will appeal against the ruling. the families of two more babies who died under the care of the shrewsbury and telford hospital trust are calling for their deaths to be included in a government investigation. in the business news... uk firms want to recruit more workers, but cannot find or afford the right staff, according to a survey published by the british chambers of commerce. the percentage seeking to hire is up 9% in the last three months, but despite this, around three quarters of manufacturing firms and more than half of services firms are struggling to fill the gaps. postal unions are threatening to ballot for industrial action after royal mail said it would close its defined benefit pension scheme in

mark lowen is outside the ruling party's headquarters.te euphoric celebrations among the president's supporters. this gives him more powers than any other turkish president in modern history. yes, they believe he has got the mandate to do that now. you could see the jubilant supporters behind me, streaming into the governing party headquarters, where the prime minister spoke about an hour ago. he claimed victory, he said it was a victory for all the citizens of this country, and the president spoke in istanbul. his initial speech was muted, it was an indoor speech, he said that this was a vote that must be respected by turkey's international partners and allies, and then he went on the balcony and spoke to his supporters, and he was in rousing mood, he spoke about bringing back the death penalty, he said they could be a referendum on capital punishment, which gets support among his supporters, horror among his opponents. he was in campaign mood again. after a much more muted initial response. huge euphoria here, but the opposition believe

our correspondent mark lowen has been outside the ruling party's headquarters in ankara.he had this to say about the result. extremely close, and not the resounding victory that erdogan originally thought he could get. he decided to go for this referendum of the back of the failed coup last year, in which his popularity was riding very high, at about 70 or 80% in the opinion polls. he thought he could ride that wave of popularity and geta could ride that wave of popularity and get a resounding 60 mandate in this constitutional change. as it happens, it was extremely slim. the election officials say it was 51 point eight to 48.7, yes to know, the opposition disputing it, and vowing to challenge the result —— 51.3. the opposition going to challenge it at the courts and the electoral supreme board. so you have one side of a country which is jubilant and the other side of the country that says that they will not even accept what they called for real results. so in a sense turkey's stability in the short term, it is the worst possible option. the stability that turkey craved,

a short time ago i spoke to our correspondent in istanbul, mark lowen.e vote in the campaign. is there any suggestion now in turkey that that yes result could be overturned? i think it would still be a very uphill struggle to try to overturn the results. but the opposition will feel emboldened and i think by this damning verdict by the observer mission in trying to appeal to the electoral court, the electoral board, they want a rerun of the entire referendum and a nullification of it if indeed the results are proven to be invalidated. it is very difficult in a country where the state machinery is so heavily controlled by the president and his inner circle, and where about 80% of the media is pro—government, so they are hammering home this message that this was a decisive victory. so it is difficult to overturn but what i think will happen and what i think the observer mission's verdict will do is to reinforce this cloud of illegitimacy over the mandate of president erdogan. he doesn't want that, his supporters don't want it, and it's a pretty difficult p

. —— we hope to speak to mark lowen later.ll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages, at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are john crowley, who's editor—in—chief at the international business times and tim stanley, the leader writer and columnist for the daily telegraph. america says it's working on a "range of options" with china, amid rising tensions over north korea's nuclear and missile programmes. pyongyang attempted to test fire what's thought to be a medium—range missile this weekend, but it blew up shortly after take—off. the launch is being seen as a provocation, coming shortly before the us vice president, mike pence, arrived in south korea, to discuss ways of forcing the north to disarm. 0ur correspondent, john sudworth, is in the capital, pyongyang, where his movements are being monitored and tightly controlled. this flower show, like almost everything else in north korea, is dedicated to its ruling family. this is the stand of national d

live now to the capital ankara and our correspondent there, mark lowen.resident but why are people describing this as a potential revolutionary change in terms of the impact on the country itself? quite frankly because turkey is so important in itself. rarely has this country is so central to world affairs, key to resolving the conflict in syria. crucial to the fight against so—called islamic state, hub of the migrant route going to europe and a hugely important western and nato ally in a volatile region. that's why it's so important to the outside world and this but will determine turkey's future and the future of its divisive and powerful president, will he be given sweeping new powers to choose ministers, appoint the most seniorjudges, dissolve parliament, potentially stay here in power until 2029 with president erdogan be dealt the most serious blow of his political career? it is a hugely important choice they think this country, and this polling station yesterday, 90% turnout so far, that could be decisive as turkey faces the most crucial vote of its

our correspondent mark lowen reports from ankara. victory, but not as sweet as they'd hoped.ed into the night, confident they'd won this referendum. it was though with a narrow margin. the opposition cried foul but, for those celebrating, a chance to assert their win and warn it's irreversible. translation: we are the winners, the people have won, and that's the best. god willing, we'll have better days to come. president erdogan believes he has a mandate for the biggest political change in modern turkish history. he told supporters everybody must accept the result, which would concentrate huge power in his hands. he even proposed another referendum on restoring the death penalty. that would end turkey's last remaining hopes ofjoining the eu. opposition parties won't fall silent, claiming massive irregularities. they say 1.5 million invalid ballots without an official stamp were counted, and have vowed to contest the result. translation: a wrong decision, an illegal decision made this referendum controversial. we don't find this appropriate and we will pursue this until the e

our correspondent mark lowen has the latest from ankara. in modern turkish history. should voters in this country choose to turn turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential republic, scrapping the post of prime minister, making the president head of the executive as well as head of state, with vastly enhanced powers? we've arrived at this high school in ankara which is serving as a polling station today, one of tens of thousands across the country to do so. let's go inside and see how the voting process works. around 3,000 voters are registered to cast their ballot at the polling station. they come in here to the central area, their names are checked against a central registration list, providing their id and they are assigned a classroom which to cast their ballot. it's been a pretty regular flow of voters this morning. they are hoping for a high turnout. that could be decisive in the outcome of this referendum. once in the voting room, they have another id check before they pass down here and are given the ballot paper. it doesn't have

if approved, the role of prime minister would be scrapped, as our correspondent mark lowen explains.y now faces the biggest political choice in its modern history. both sides made a frantic push to the end. voter turnout will be decisive in the outcome. the yes side believes a stronger presidency, scrapping the post of prime minister, will make the government more efficient. if they win, the president will receive enhanced powers to appoint ministers, choosejudges, issue decrees and dissolve parliament. a human chain by the no side who say the reforms would remove parliamentary checks and balances, and that an authoritarian president erdogan has destroyed what was left of turkish democracy. it has been a traumatic few months in turkey with an attempted coup and repeated terror attacks that have killed around 500 people. the government says a stronger leader could face down terrorists. critics argue that the president has failed to keep turkey safe. and so a crucial country at the geopolitical crossroads is deciding its future path. the outcome will be felt far beyond the borders. sel

if approved, the role of prime minister would be scrapped, as our correspondent mark lowen explains.ern turkish history. should they make the president head of state, we've arrived at this high school but a serving as a polling station, one of tens of thousands across the country, let's go inside and see how the voting process works. around 3000 voters are registered to cast their ballot at the station, they come in here to the station, they come in here to the central area, there are names are checked against the central registration is providing id and they are assigned a classroom in which to cast their ballot. it's been a pretty regular flow of orders this morning, they are hoping for a high turnout, that could be decisive in the outcome of this referendum. once in the voting room have another id checked before they pass down here and are given the ballot paper. it doesn't have a question or two words... yes and no, decision that will shape turkey's future path and peering down, the founder of the turkish republic tom ataturk. they come into the polling booth and they cast their

from ankara, here's our turkey correspondent mark lowen.e side of the country tonight that is jubilant, that feels it has clinched victory, and it has given president erdogan — given him sweeping new powers. the other side of the country that is not accepting this result, claiming massive voting irregularity, saying that 1.5 million votes which should have been declared invalid, because they lack the official stamp of the electoral supreme board, were actually given to the yes side, and that electoral observers were blocked from south—eastern polling stations, in the south—east of the country. they have vowed, the opposition, to challenge this at the high court, at the electoral supreme court. so really, in a sense, in terms of the stability of turkey in the short term, going forward, this is possibly the worst possible result, going forward. and really, when you look at the breakdown of the votes, the more rural, higher side of the country voting in favour of president erdogan, the more cosmopolitan, western—looking cities voting against h

mark lowen, bbc news.re a huge car bomb has hit a convoy of buses carrying evacuees from two government—held towns. the passengers had been waiting at a transit point travelling from foah and kafriya to the west of aleppo. the delay was caused by rebel groups raising concerns —— the syria white helmets say they have recovered more than 100 bodies. richard galpin reports. in the immediate aftermath, a man runs towards the site of the huge explosion, filming the horrifying scenes around him. it is believed a suicide bomber carried out this attack, reportedly driving a van carrying aid supplies. translation: i can't describe it, i am speechless. there are dead people everywhere. you can see dozens of burnt—out cars, bodies everywhere. emergency staff and opposition factions are evacuating the wounded and the dead. the target was this convoy of buses carrying hundreds of men, women and children finally able to leave their villages which had been under siege for years in syria's continuing civil war. since last

years of terror attacks, which have also had a severe economic impact. 0ur turkey correspondent mark lowenalone in one cramped room. her husband was killed when a truck blew up, carrying explosives thought to belong to the pkk kurdish militants. for turkey, another victim of terror. 0r them, their father stolen —— for them, their father stolen —— for them, their father stolen —— for them, their father stolen. translation: they identified him by his left finger. i had lost my mind. the pkk took away a father in the prime of his life. now i will vote for those he supported us, for erdogan. 16 we re he supported us, for erdogan. 16 were killed in this impoverished kurdish village. across turkey there are hundreds more. almost two years of attacks by kurdish militants and so—called islamic state have devastated this country, destroying the sense of safety. in the south—east, turkish soldiers battled militants. the old town in ruins. security dominates sunday's referendum on boosting president erdogan's powers. it has prompted a clampdown on the pro—kurdish opposition. they are defiant but 13 o

. —— mark lowen. earlier, i spoke to berza simsek from the bbc‘s turkish service.out how the referendum will take place. there are 55 million voters in turkey, and there will be 167,000 ballot boxes all around the country. so, at 4am gmt, the eastern part of the country will start voting, and at 5am gmt the rest of the state will vote. and just give us a bit more detail about what is being proposed, what people are voting for. what will the political system in turkey look like if it is pushed through. the proposed new constitution limits the power of parliament and gives more power to the president. for example, the president would be able to appoint key public officials including ministers and the president will be able to appoint, for example, vice presidents. the president would be able to abolish the parliament if he or she wanted and call for a new election, for example. the new constitution also decreases the age to be elected as a member of parliament to 18. in the current system, it is 25. it has been quite a tumultuous political period for turkey with the

we can speak to our turkey correspondent mark lowen, who's in the turkish capital.. a hugely disputed decision. half of the country feels that they have a mandate they are claiming victory, these are the supporters behind me who have been streaming into the governing party headquarters all night. they believe the president has won an overwhelming mandate for this huge political change. the opposition says the results are invalid, they said there has been massive in regularity, they complain that 1.5 million invalid votes were given to the yes side, they complained that some of the observers were blocked from the south—east, and they are challenging the results. if the protests pick up a head of steam, it could turn very ugly. this has been the worst possible outcome, because one side says it is a fait accompli, they are jubilant, and the other side are not accepting it, they say it has been manipulated. that is divided. in terms of the voting, it has been divided to stop turkey has shown itself more polarised tonight and ever, and the president will have a hugejob o

two people are reported to have been killed. 0ur correspondent mark lowen is in ankara and gave us theoting. some sketchy details coming in, and exchange of gunfire outside that polling station in the south—east of —— between what appeared to be two rival groups of voters, pro—government and anti—government groups, and we understand three people died. it is still fairly isolated, the floating around the rest of the country appears to be going off pretty well. we are in a polling station in ankara, a high school doubling up as a polling station. people come in, their names are checked against a central list, thatis are checked against a central list, that is the face of modern turkey's founder, at a turk. if this change is accepted then president erdogan will eclipse even at a turk in terms of power. —— ataturk. you can see roughly what the situation is with the voting, the ballot slip simply has two words, yes and no, to the biggest political, constitutional change in turkey's modern history. they estimate around a 90% turnout, so turnout could be decisive one looks like being a very t

let's get the latest from mark lowen, who is in ankara for us now. how does it look?s side supporting the constitutional change is at 51.28%. the no side at 48.72%. that is with about 98% of the ballot box is opened. there arejust about 98% of the ballot box is opened. there are just over a million votes between them. in a country with 55 million eligible voters, that is not a lot. let me show you the scene behind me. this is the governing party headquarters in ankara. you can see the flag of the yes side hanging over it with the yes side hanging over it with the face of the prime minister, who may turn out to be turkey's last prime minister. and the music is blaring out. they think they have clinched it and supporters are beginning to stream into the party headquarters, which is where president erdogan would make an a cce pta nce president erdogan would make an acceptance speech if he wins. it looks as if it is going his way, but there are still some ballot boxes to open. it will be hard for the no side to pull it back, but not out of the question. if it is a very na

irregularities, including the acceptance of unstamped ballot papers at counting centres. 0ur correspondent mark lowensult of this referendum. well, he would be able to declare a state of emergency, dissolve parliament, appoint ministers, choose most seniorjudges, prepare the budget. there would be a vast concentration of power was in the hands of president erdogan following elections in 2019. he will be able to stanford two terms after those elections, so he could potentially stay in office until 2029. the opposition are contesting this result. you can see from the newspapers this morning just how divided this country has been by the vote. the pro government newspaper here talks about the revolution of the people, describing the president asa the people, describing the president as a world leader and having achieved an historic victory. but the secularist, one of the few opposition newspapers that remains here and hasn‘t been shut down under the president‘s clampdown asks, is your conscious comfortable? and talks about massive voter fraud? that is a sign, an indication of the splits there are within

we can speak to our turkey correspondent mark lowen, who's in the turkish capital.? yes, they are very muted indeed, they are urging people to wait and see what the observers say, the us state department said it would not comment until it receives a report from the international observer mission, which is due to comment publicly tomorrow. the council of europe says the president needs to tread carefully, given the closeness of the result. clearly, there are anxieties and apprehensions in the west. you would expect that, given how much the relations between turkey and the west have eroded in recent weeks and months. during the campaign the president's feisty invective, calling the dutch and german leaders nazis and fascists. it brought turkey/ eu relations to a new low. if there are going to be bridges to be rebuilt, but would have to take some time, and they would not be rubbing hands in glee at all in the west, given how bitter the campaign has been, given how divisive the president has been, and how close this result is, and also the fact that the opposition is co

let's cross to istanbul and our correspondent mark lowen. watching the referendum.ine, and you can see it has been tough... i have spent the day out in this square in the heart of istanbul, one of the biggest and most iconic squares in turkey. you do not find a single no voter or opposition poster in that whole square. it is exclusively erdogan yes posters. some estimates have put the ratio of i'io some estimates have put the ratio of no to yes posters by one to 20 something. no campaigners have been attacked and heavily under pressure. i think monitors are bullying in to say the campaign has been unfair. so far we will have to see whether that will extend to the vote on sunday, hugely divisive. polls are showing it could be a neck and neck race, despite the fact that the erdogan site overwhelmingly dominates with posters and the airwaves. but erdogan also dominates the opinion polls. he is doing well in polls, but they hear voters saying, listen, i like erdogan but i am not sure i want to make this kind of constitutional change, and it would... affects a body that

our correspondent mark lowen has been to mr erdogan's family's hometown of rize to delve into his supportrom georgia to and it is where his father was born as well, and it is an important bedrock of support for the turkish president as he seeks to shake up his political system and change turkey from a parliamentary toa change turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential republic. he would become the head of the executive as well as the head of state with fastly enhanced powers to appoint ministers, to prepare the budget and enact certain laws by decree, to declare a state of emergency, and as you say, critics say that could make him ever more authoritarian. it is a hugely important moment for this country's modern history and a hugely important moment for the region which depends on a stable turkey, a close ally of the west, but one where relations have soured in recent weeks and months. we have been here over the last few days gauging support and delving into the support base of turkey's devising president to find out why he is loved and revered by his hard—core supporters. through the

if approved, the role of prime minister would be scrapped, as our correspondent mark lowen explains.gn has ended and turkey now faces the biggest political choice in its modern history. both sides made a frantic push to the end. voter turnout will be decisive in the outcome. the yes side believes a stronger presidency, scrapping the post of prime minister, will make the government more efficient. if they win, the president will receive enhanced powers to appoint ministers, choose judges, issue degrees and dissolve parliament. a human chain by the no side who say the reforms would remove parliamentary checks and is and that an authoritarian president erdogan is it destroyed was left of turkish democracy. it has been a traumatic of months in turkey with an attempted coup and repeated terror attacks that have killed around 500 people. the government says a stronger leader could face down terrorist. critics argue that the president has failed to keep turkey safe. and so a crucial country at the geopolitical crossroads is deciding its future path. the outcome will be felt far beyond the b

but opposition parties say they will challenge the result‘s legitimacy. 0ur turkey correspondent mark lowenand one really which, a few years ago, held up really which, a few years ago, held up as really which, a few years ago, held upasa really which, a few years ago, held up as a model of a slipping ever further into another chronically unstable part of the middle east. thank you. police and prison officers are to start pooling intelligence —— police in the us state of ohio are hunting a man suspected of posting a video on social media of him fatally shooting a stranger. officers in the city of cleveland say the suspect steve stevens claimed to have killed 12 other people in a later broadcast on facebook live but the city‘s police chief said they did not know of any other victims. the video of the incident has now been removed by facebook. police and prison officers are to start pooling intelligence to try to stop drones being used to smuggle contraband into prisons. drugs and mobile phones are the main items which criminals are trying to deliver to prisoners. the move by the government to