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
this is bbc news. it s newsday. welcome to the programme. we start in sudan where the united nations is sending its top aid official to help co ordinate relief efforts. it comes as the agency s humanitarian coordinator in sudan says that the situation there is turning into a full blown catastrophe warning that more than 800 thousand people may flee the country as a result of the ongoing violence. meanwhile, fighting continues in the capital khartoum despite a ceasefire agreed by both sides. evacuation flights are still taking off from port sudan on the red sea today. those not able to leave there by plane are taking boats across tojedda in saudi arabia. our correspondent andrew harding reports. on sudan s coast, the scramble to escape goes on. with airlifts ending, foreign nationals register for a boat ride to safety. this morning, some 300 of them arrived here injeddah, saudi arabia, having crossed the red sea from port sudan. all sorts of embassies on hand to claim th
we started in france. protesters dressed all in black, police armed with riot shields and barricades for the running battles taking place down the boulevard of the french capital where it is becoming street of paris. it s happening once again. this time on may day build mostly peaceful demonstration at ganz president microns controversial read france during my reforms in the pension marred once more by scenes of violence. these pictures are live pictures from paris. a little bit earlier you could see and actually hear tear gas being fired by the riot police in an effort to try to disperse protesters from the area. earlier i spoke to a member of the senate of france and of the commission of foreign affairs and defence forces. she believes part of the reason for the street protests is president macron his attitude and his personality. is president macron his attitude and his personality- his personality. there was a lot of dialo . ue his personality. there was a lot of dialogu
hello, i m nancy kacungira. we begin in sudan, where the united nations says it is planning for 860,000 people to flee the war torn country. its refugee agency has estimated that $445 million will be needed to support the displaced just through to october. meanwhile, another ceasefire in sudan has failed to hold, with heavy fighting continuing in the capital, khartoum. witnesses reported loud explosions and gunfire on the streets for the 20th day in a row. among the civilian casualties in khartoum is the pioneering actress asia abdelmajid. her family say she was killed in crossfire in the north of the capital on wednesday and buried in the grounds of a kindergarten. it had been too dangerous to take her to a cemetery. asia abdelmajid rose to prominence in the 1965 production of the play pamseeka at sudan s national theatre. she was the country s first professional stage actress, later retiring to become a teacher. elaf alhaj is a journalist and programme editor at capital rad