turnout is expected to be huge. 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. president tayyip erdogan cast his vote in istanbul. and this is his key rival kimil kilicdaroglu. he s the leader of a broad opposition alliance hoping to end mr erdogan s time in power. as polls closed, president erdogan tweeted: the voting process has been completed throughout the country in a way that befits our democracy. now, as always, it is time to firmly protect the ballot boxes. until the results are finalised, we will continue to protect the will of our people. let s talk now to our correspondent, selin girit at the opposition s headquarters in istanbul. hello to you. i suppose we can talk a bit more freely now that polls have closed but this is a tight race is in? it have closed but this is a tight race is in? , , have closed
blistering heatwaves. we ll get reaction. hello and welcome. italy has become the first european country to order covid tests for visitors from china, after concern at the rapid rise in chinese infections. earlier, taiwan said it would introduce a similar scheme. japan and india have already ordered travellers from china to be monitored. the us could follow. there s concern travellers could bring new variants of the disease now that beijing is lifting travel restrictions. our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes. china s hospitals are overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently yielding terrifying results. wards full of desperately ill people. outside this hospital in chengdu, a queue for emergency services. government officials say the situation is under control. that s not what these pictures suggest. at the dongjiao funeral hom
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Safe in their home. many dozens of them took shelter under a bridge, a concrete bridge, because their homes were flimsily built with corrugated iron roofs. they felt they would be safer under the bridge. the army then shelled that fridge, possibly because they wanted to cut it off from the enemy forces. 39 people died under that bridge including women and children. we are hearing that the offensive in the town has been particularly brutal with civilians stuck between the two sides. as you said, 11.5 million people have been forced from their homes, overi million have now left the country, many of them have headed across the border into egypt. so, egypt is worried about a wider insecurity problem. but if you think about it from the civilian s point of view, they mostly wanted the end of the military running things in sudan, they wanted civilians back in power. but instead, they have ended up with two factions of the military
Of the air defence so that social life in ukraine can continue. and also, your financial help is very important. next let s get some analysis from our berlin correspondent jenny hill. he could not been in any doubt of german levels of support that s because on the eve of his visit the german government announced it would send weapons worth 2.7 billion euros to kyiv including more tanks, more anti aircraft, sorry, air defence systems, so he was aware of that support would be coming. he knows that germany already has sent quite a lot after an albeit, extremely hesitant to start in terms of financial aid, hesitant to start in terms of financialaid, military aid hesitant to start in terms of financial aid, military aid to forget that also of germany hosted well over i forget that also of germany hosted well overi million ukrainian well over i million ukrainian refugees. well overi million ukrainian refugees. but these visits are all about sending messages. and the message of course to th