it s seven in the morning in singapore, and two in the morning in turkey where voting has closed in one of the most critical elections. the country is deciding whether president erdohan remains in power after 20 years. it is expected to be a close race between him and an opposition leader kemal k l cdaroglu. he is a former civil servant who heads an alliance of six opposition parties, both secular and islamist. he promised to scrap many of the powers acquired by mr erdogan and return turkey to a parliamentary system. and also called for better relations with the west including renewal of turkey s bid for membership of the eu. the current leader recep tayyip erdogan first came to power as prime minister in 2003 and became president in 2014. under him turkey enjoyed strong economic growth, but it s been hit by high inflation, and the recent earthquakes in which tens of thousands died. he s also become increasingly authoritarian with more powers in the hands of the president
if president recep tayyip erdogan should remain in power after 20 years may end in a run off vote. the islamic party of the incumbent president erdogan is being challenged by a secularist candidate, kemal kilicdaroglu. both men have dismissed the other side s claims to be in the lead. counting has continued throughout the day. this is one of the country s most critical elections. the country is dealing with soaring inflation, and is still reeling from two earthquakes in february in which more than 50,000 people died. these are live pictures from the streets of turkey where people are awaiting a result. let s cross live to our middle east corrrespondent anna foster, who joins us from outside the governing ak party s headquarters in the turkish city of adana. voting has been going on for quite a while now, we have had one side claiming they are in the lead and then the other side, so i suppose it shows usjust then the other side, so i suppose it shows us just how tight it is? i
hello, i m nancy kacungira. let s ta ke let s take you straight to berlin where the german chancellor olaf scholtz and president zelensky are holding a press conference. he said he will continue to support the ukraine as long as needed. he said more than1 million refugees ukraine as long as needed. he said more than 1 million refugees are ukraine as long as needed. he said more than1 million refugees are now living in germany. those are some of the lines coming out of that press conference where we are watching president zelensky who has been meeting with his german counterpart, the german president frank walter steinmeier and he has now met chancellor olaf scholtz and this is the conference they are holding. who will bring you more as they come in. let s cross to our correspondent jenny hill who is in berlin. jenny, what more are we hearing from president zelensky and the german chancellor? figs president zelensky and the german chancellor? , , ., president zelensky and t
volodymyr zelensky the president of ukraine is visiting germany. in the last hour, he was greeted by the german chancellor olaf scholtz, with whom he is now holding talks. germany has just announced its biggest sum of military aid to ukraine yet 3 billion dollars. that s about £2.1i billion. earlier, mrzelensky was received by president frank walter steinmeier. the trip comes just a day after a visit to italy, where he met the italian pm, the president and the pope. let s cross to our correspondent jenny hill in berlin. thank you forjoining us. germany is certainly pulling out all the stops for the visit of president zelensky? indeed. first of all from the formalities and ceremonial prospective he has had the thought military honours at the chancellery and he met the german president early this morning. and while he was there, president zelensky thanked there, president zelensky thanked the german people, describing germany as a true friend under a reliable ally. he
palace. he s meeting his french counterpart, emmanuel macron. a statement from the elysee palace said mr zelensky and mr macron will discuss french military and humanitatian support for ukraine. it s mr zelensky s third visit to a major european power this weekend. he was in germany earlier and on saturday he was in rome meeting italian leaders. live now to france where we can join hugh schofield our paris correspondent for more on zelensky s visit. we heard a big announcement from germany about nearly $3 billion worth of aid on his visitjust before his visit to germany but are we expecting anything similar, any similar announcements from france? not that we have been led to believe, that is all i can say. there will be some kind of official press statement at the end of this dinner in a couple of hours and it may be that there is mention of more munitions and arms from france to ukraine but we have not been led to suspect that will happen in any major way. suspect that will