Turkey’s long-standing leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has won the country’s presidential poll in the first round, according to results released.
Sadi Guven, Turkey’s elections chief, was quoted by the BBC as saying the president “received the absolute majority of all valid votes,” but gave no further details.
State media reports put Mr. Erdogan on 53% with 99% of votes counted, and his closest rival Muharrem Ince on 31%.
The opposition is yet to officially concede but said it would continue its democratic fight “whatever the result.”
It had earlier cast doubt on results being broadcast by state media.
Final results will be announced on Friday.
The polls were the most fiercely-fought in many years, and Mr. Erdogan is set to assume sweeping powers under a new executive presidency.
The 64-year-old gave a victory speech from the balcony of his party’s headquarters in the capital Ankara at 03:00 (00:00 GMT), declaring: “The winner of this election is each and every individual among my 81 million citizens.”
According to the BBC, there were unconfirmed reports that Republican People’s Party presidential candidate Mr. Ince has admitted defeat in a message to a journalist.
Earlier on Sunday he accused state-run news agency Anadolu of “manipulation” over its reporting of vote-share figures.
Mr. Ince tweeted that he would make a statement at 12:00 (09:00 GMT) on Monday.
President Erdogan will assume major new powers under Turkey’s new constitution.
The changes were endorsed in a tight referendum last year by 51% of voters, and are due to come into force after the election.
They include: Directly appointing top public officials, including ministers and vice-presidents, the power to intervene in the country’s legal system and the power to impose a state of emergency.
The job of prime minister will also be scrapped.
Some critics argue the enhanced role will place too much power in one person’s hands, and that Turkey’s new system lacks the checks and balances of other executive presidencies like France or the US.
Mr. Erdogan maintains his increased authority will empower him to address Turkey’s economic woes and defeat Kurdish rebels in the country’s south-east.
In his victory speech, he said Turkey would act more firmly against terrorist groups, and would continue to “liberate Syrian lands” so refugees can return to their homes there.
Trump calls for deportations without judicial process
US President Donald Trump has called for speedy deportations that bypass any judicial process in a tweet on Sunday.
“When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came,” Mr. Trump wrote.
His comments come days after he reversed a policy to separate migrant children from their parents following fierce backlash at home and abroad.
More than 2,300 children were separated from their parents in May and June.
As of May, all migrants who cross the US border illegally face criminal prosecution under the “zero tolerance” policy.
The president did not make the distinction between economic migrants and those seeking asylum.
Mr. Trump has faced criticism, including from his own Republican Party, for his choice of language on Twitter.
When he earlier said immigrants threatened “to pour into and infest our Country,” Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen tweeted back at him saying his “baseless rhetoric” was “repugnant” and dehumanised those looking for a better life.
On June 20, Mr. Trump backed down from his support for the policy and signed an executive order ending the practice of separating families.
He said at the time: “I did not like the sight or feeling of families being separated.”
Mr. Trump’s directive allows for long-term detention of immigrant children (albeit with their parents), which violates federal law that limits child detention to 20 days.
A public outcry over migrant children being separated from their parents, forced Donald Trump to soften his immigration policy.
But since then, in a series of speeches, he has called for tougher laws – and claimed America’s current legislation is laughed at by the rest of the world.
His latest comments on Twitter go even further.
He says that everyone found illegally trying to cross the border should be returned to their own country immediately – without involving judges or holding court cases.
Political opponents will be furious that that’s even been suggested but President Trump clearly believes his supporters back his hardline stance.
Mexico town’s entire police force detained after murder
The entire police force of the Mexican town of Ocampo has been detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a mayoral candidate.
Fernando Ángeles Juárez, 64, was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Thursday outside one of his properties.
More than 100 politicians have been killed across Mexico ahead of general elections on July 1.
Mr. Ángeles was the third politician to be killed in the western state of Michoacán in just over a week.
The town’s 27 police officers and the local public security secretary were detained by federal forces in the early hours of Sunday.
Mr. Ángeles was a successful businessman with little previous political experience.
He had considered standing as an independent but eventually joined one of Mexico’s main parties, the centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
“He couldn’t stand seeing so much poverty, inequality and corruption and so he decided to run,” one of his closest friends, Miguel Malagón, told El Universal newspaper.
After his murder, prosecutors accused Ocampo’s public security secretary, Oscar González García, of involvement.
When Mexican federal agents arrived in the town on Saturday to detain him, they were stopped by local police officers.
They returned with reinforcements on Sunday morning and arrested the entire force and their boss.
They were handcuffed and taken for questioning in the state capital, Morelia.
Prosecutors accuse the officers and Mr. González of links with organised crime groups in the state.
Mexicans will go to the polls next Sunday to choose a new president, senators and members of the Chamber of Deputies.
More than 3,000 posts at regional and local levels will also be at stake.
Prince William makes historic visit to Middle East
Prince William has begun a five-day tour of the Middle East, including the first official royal visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The Duke of Cambridge is scheduled to meet both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
He arrived in Jordan on Sunday, meeting Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II in Amman.
Kensington Palace said the “historic nature” of the tour was “important.”
The trip comes as Israel celebrates the 70th anniversary of its foundation, and amid a rise in tensions between Palestinians and Israelis.
During his visit to Israel, the Duke of Cambridge will visit the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre and lay a wreath where ashes of victims of the Holocaust are buried.
He is expected to visit Jerusalem’s Old City and the grave of Princess Alice of Greece, his great-grandmother and the Duke of Edinburgh’s mother.
Prince Phillip visited the grave in 1994 when a ceremony honoured her for saving Greek Jews during the Second World War.
After visiting a technology lab in the capital, Amman, Prince William attended a garden party marking the Queen’s birthday.
He told an audience of prominent Jordanians: “I greatly admire the resilience you in Jordan have shown in the face of the many security and humanitarian challenges that have confronted you as a result of conflicts in this region.
“The way in which you opened your doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, not to mention your longstanding commitments to Palestinian refugees, is remarkable.”
