i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. welcome to newsday. our top story: the report by the us i'm babita sharma in london. special counsel robert mueller says there is no evidence that president trump or his campaign team colluded with russia the headlines. the mueller report says there's no evidence the trump campaign colluded with russia over to influence the 2016 election. the 2016 us election. the president claims victory. however, the report stops short of completely there was no collusion with russia. exonorating the president on accusations of "obstruction of justice", stressing there was no obstruction, none whatsoever. that the special counsel is not and it was a complete drawing conclusions "one way or another." a pro—military political party in thailand has performed better than predicted and total exoneration. in the country's first election since the army took power five years ago. official results are not as calls grow for the release expected until later. of the entire report — a senior democrat says president trump still and this story is faces serious questions. this report does not amount trending on bbc.com. a cruise ship at the centre to a so—called total exoneration. of a major rescue robert mueller says that this operation off the norwegian coast is not a total exoneration has safely reached port. of the president. the viking sky hit trouble in stormy seas after losing power. more than 400 people

were airifted to safety. i'm sharanjit leyl in bangkok, where in the next few hours, we expect the first official results from thailand's elections. a pro—military political party performs better than expected in the country's first election since the army took power five years ago. in the next few hours we will have the official results — we will bring them to you live here from bangkok. it's 1am here in london and 9pm in washington, where more details have been released of the long—awaited mueller report into russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

a letter summarising the report has been handed to us congressional leaders. it says there's no evidence that president trump or his campaign team colluded with russia to influence the 2016 election. it also says the report did not draw a conclusion as to whether mr trump i've been speaking to our washington correspondent chris buckler — i suggested it had been a good day for donald trump. it certainly is, and i think this is a good day for the president. when you look at the report, it says clearly that the special counsel believes that russia did interfere in the 2016 us presidential election, but it is also clear in saying that as far as he is concerned he has found no evidence of a conspiracy or collusion involving the trump campaign. mr trump will use that to save time and time again that he was right in suggesting that this enquiry was a witch hunt and a hoax. however, robert mueller has been less clear—cut on the question of obstruction ofjustice.

whether the president tried to obstruct justice. as he mentioned, he said he was drawing no conclusions. to quote the special counsel himself, he said "while this report does not conclude that the prime president committed a crime, it also does not ensure that he didn't". there is a suggestion that there still casts a cloud of the president, but he is sticking to the line that this means there was no collusion. it is clear that he believes he has been vindicated. it was just announced there was no collusion with russia, the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard. there was no collusion with russia, there was no obstruction and none whatsoever, and it was a complete and total exoneration. it's a shame that our country had to go through this. to be honest, it is a shame

that your president has had to go through this before i even got elected it began, and it began illegally and hopefully somebody is going to look at the other side. this was an illegal takedown that failed, and hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side, so it is a complete exoneration, no collusion, no obstruction, thank you very much, thank you. as you were saying, that was donald trump a few hours ago. jerry nadler says that this does not conclude the president committed a crime but it does not exonerate him. let's have a listen to what was said. i take from this letter three points. first, president trump is wrong, this report does not amount to a so—called "total exoneration".

special counsel mueller says that this "does not exonerate" the president. exonerated, not exonerated, this will be the line of things to come, won't it? as you can imagine, democrats are already demanding the full report. not just the full summary, but the full details of what special council robert mueller has found and compiled during the investigation. there are suggestions that they have been using congressional committees to try to find out more. there is also comments coming from the democrats towards attorney general william barr, who says that the evidence gathered does not amount to collusion by the president. attorney general william barr has said that robert mueller handed him the report and said it was up to him to decide if a crime was committed.

and it is attorney general william barr who has said that there are no crimes to prosecute. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer had said they are worried that william barr has proven in past statements that he is biased against the special council enquiry, and he was also appointed by donald trump. you get a sense that in some ways donald trump is claiming victory, but at the same time there are plenty more questions and plenty more investigations to come. on that point, chris. what happens next? there will be so many people in the trump administration who want to really draw

a line under this. absolutely, they will be celebrating and saying, as far as we're concerned this is done and dusted. but there is more information to come, and william barr has made that clear. he says he recognises there is a public interest in all of this and he has worked hard this weekend to get the summary out, but he says he wants to release as much of the information from the report as he possibly can. he says there are legal issues with that, potentially bits of information that are confidential, they could even be subject to executive privilege. but he does want to get more of the report out. and that does leave open the potential of more bits of information drip feeding that big battle between the democrats and republicans, even as we look towards

next year's presidential election. good morning, from bangkok where in just a few hours time, we expect the official results in thailand's first election since a military take—over five years ago. first indications are that the military has done much better than expected — with a bigger share of the vote than any otther party. it had been predicted, before election day, that the pro—military party would come a poor third. this report from our correspondentjonathan head: it was a day that had been promised, and then repeatedly postponed. thais by and large participated keenly, despite an electoral system that tilts the odds heavily in the military government's favour. the man who deposed the last elected government in a coup and has run thailand ever since cast his vote early. general prayuth is bidding to keep hisjob as prime minister, but many younger voters, 7 million of them eligible to vote

for the first time, looking for something different. i am happy there is a voting at last, we have been waiting for this election for some time and i hope it brings good things for the country. we need some younger or newer generations in the government to bring a more modern policy, less corruption, a cleaner government. that hunger for fresh faces has driven a groundswell of support for a brand—new and radical party, future forward, under the leadership of a telegenic young businessman. as the polls closed and voting began, many thais gathered around the polling stations, eager to ensure the transparency of the tally. here at the headquarters of the largest opposition party, pheu thai, cheers greeted every result going their way. theirs was the party ousted

by the coup, they were hoping for a comeback. but the results then took a surprising turn. general prayuth‘s party, which had aroused little enthusiasm during the campaign, went ahead in the popular vote. future forward was also polling strongly. but thailand's oldest and once governing party, the democrats, had been wiped out in bangkok. its leader 01:14 years forced to resign. and, the pheu thai vote, once by far the largest, had fallen sharply. a mystery compounded when the election commission inexplicably delayed its announcement of the final result until monday. so what are we to make of these preliminary results? many thais will want to know how this pro—military party had done so unexpectedly well, and why the pro—thaksin party, winner of all recent elections performed relatively poorly. but the questions asked about this vote would be whether it would help thailand to move on from the crippling political conflict of the last 12 years. and at this stage it is not easy

to see how this flawed and highly manipulated election could do that. with me is dr pavida pananond, who is an associate professor in the department of international business at the thammasat business school here in bangkok. let's start with those questions in the report. this is a somewhat surprising preliminary result that we are getting but what does it signify? i'm not surprised at how well the pro— military party has done because the rules and the regulations have been in their favour. my surprises how the other parties have done and you can see that pheu thai polls very strongly

and also future forward did very well so what we're looking at is very strong opposition so it would be interesting to see the pro— military party, if they get to form the government, how they would do in terms of the coalition government going forward. you talk about what kind of government might be formed. what are we expecting? we can expect the government with a very strong opposition. if they get to form the government, it would be quite a lot of parties that would need to work. it would perhaps lead to uncertainties of what they can do and what they can't do and at the same time, we would have a very strong opposition in the house which goes very differently from the way the policies have been so it would be quite interesting and it might

need to short—term coalition government in the near future. let's talk a little bit about policies because there have been lots of challenges here in thailand. a huge political divide between supporters and opponents of thaksin. how can they get past that? on the major policy, most of the parties agree that thailand has to focus on its economy after such a long decade of political unrest. at least there is a consensus on moving the economy forward. that is good news. but how that would come about, i think there would be uncertainties with regard to the major projects the government has announced, whether that would continue. that would be a major concern for a lot of investors looking at thailand. that's all we

have time for but thank you for joining us. next, we have our correspondence. let's speak to nick beake. hejoins us from he joins us from central bangkok. what is the sense where you are? yes, for the commuters making their way to work today at the start of a new week, they may be asking themselves, is this the start of a new chapter for thailand. it does seem new chapter for thailand. it does seem based on the partial results we got yesterday, it's not. it seems to bea got yesterday, it's not. it seems to be a vote for a continuation, the status quo and it seems that general prayuth, whose military coalition seized power five years ago, has got some confirmation from the thai people. as you've been discussing this morning, they seem to have topped the popular vote and i'm sure the military giunta will be saying they have legitimacy to form the next government and that is something that we were not expending

— expecting. something that we were not expending - expecting. we know that over 9096 of the vote has been counted but the electoral commission are not actually holding a press conference until early this afternoon to make official these results. what is taking them so long? well, this is extremely odd because we heard from the election commission last night that there will be this lull in them giving out the results. we had more than 90% of them. there has been this cause which has not been fully explained. ties might be battled wired. from the results of got so far, we are able to put this picture together. one thing that did emerge from the paris conference last night, is that the turnout is much lower than we thought. we're looking at 65% which many might find strange. it was 10% higher back in

2011. you would have thought lots of people would want to come out and have their say, whether they were happy with the military running the future of their country. but it does seem future of their country. but it does seem extremely low, 65%, when you contrasted with the voting figures we have for the advanced voting. 18, 19% so there will be questions asked why after this big delay, people being able to come to the polls and cast their ballot, many chose not to do so. thank you. and i will be here over the next few hours. press conference from the electoral commission and more updates. you're watching newsday on the bbc. we'll be back live in bangkok in a few minutes. and we'll have more analysis on the mueller investigation in america which found conclusive evidence that russia did

interfere in the 2016 election, but said the trump campaign did not conspire with moscow. let there be no more war or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. very good. applause so proud of both of you. with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa should be excluded from the 1970 competition.

streaking across the sky, the white—hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji. onlooker: wow! this is newsday on the bbc. i'm babita sharma, in london. the investigation into alleged links between donald trump's election campaign and russia has cleared the president and his team of colluding with moscow. the military government in thailand appears to have tightened its grip on power, with preliminary election results showing a pro—military party in the lead. more on our top story now — the findings from the mueller investigation that says president trump did not collude with russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. professor sahar aziz is the chancellor's socialjustice scholar and the director of the center for security race and rights at rutgers univeristy law school.

she's in newjersey. welcome to the programme. what a few hours we have had in the news. i would firstly like to get your assessment of the findings of this report as you know it. we only have those four pages that were released, and what it shows is that at least robert mueller could not find evidence to establish that there was collusion between the trump campaign and russia's verified interference with the 2016 presidential elections. it also states that it neither exonerates nor indicts trump for obstruction ofjustice. 0f course, trump is using that the claim that he is completely innocent and has done nothing wrong, but the report is much more nuanced than that, and there may be obstruction charges after trump is no longer in

office if it is within the statute office if it is within the statute of limitations of. what is your assessment of what you have read in the letter? i think it shows that robert mueller couldn't find enough to indict him clearly for collusion, but if he were to charge you or indict him for obstruction of justice, there would be a huge debate about whether you can do so toa debate about whether you can do so to a sitting president, so what he did is he punted the issue and left it open for other prosecutors in the us attorney ‘s office to do so. clearly, rosenstein did not take that opportunity to indict their own boss, so that is no surprise. forgive me for interrupting, but do you believe that, you say the door is still left open, but is it likely for people to walk through the door and go ahead with the plan to do that kwesi appiah only if trump doesn't win the 2020 elections. i

think the report, and it is very important it is made public, it is the facts it has found. the special counsel has already referred matters to other prosecutors so there will be more investigations and possibly more indictments of people surrounding trump. what there is unlikely to be as an indictment of trump while he is president. we know congress will open up a slew of oversight investigations, and hold many trump appointees onto the hill to testify. i don't think they will continue with impeachment proceedings or initiate them, because that would play to trump's political advantage, because he will claim it as a witch hunt and mobilise his republican base and i think democrats would like to focus on winning the elections rather than making trump seem like a victim of overreach by them. lots of questions still unanswered. thank you so much professor, we will have to leave it there but we

appreciate your time. reports in the british media say the prime minister theresa may is considering whether to hold indicative votes in parliament on possible ways to break the brexit deadlock. members of her cabinet have been publicly expressing their loyalty after intense speculation that senior ministers want her to resign. it is not the time to change the captain of the ship. i think what we need to do is chart the right course, and the prime minister has charted that course, making sure we have a deal that honours the referendum mandate and also allows us referendum mandate and also allows us to leave in a way that means we can strengthen our economy and also ta ke can strengthen our economy and also take advantage of life outside the eu. i don't think i have any wish to ta ke i don't think i have any wish to take over, the pm is doing a fantasticjob. there take over, the pm is doing a fantastic job. there is take over, the pm is doing a fantasticjob. there is one thing that working closely with the prime minister does is cure you of any lingering shred of ambition to want to do that task.

mps speaking about the future of theresa may as the leader of the country. let's go back now to sharanjit in bangkok. within the next few hours we should get the official results from the first elections since the military coup. to make more sense of the situation with me now is michael vatikiotis. tell us a little bit about what kind of government we expect to form now that this paramilitary party has done better than expected. that this paramilitary party has done better than expectedlj that this paramilitary party has

done better than expected. i think it isa done better than expected. i think it is a government that will involve politicians to a much greater degree than before. there will be a lot more bargaining over positions for the cabinet. many of the mps were brought into that military party in the run—up to the campaign. people previously with other parties will be asking for positions within the government. i also think the government. i also think the government will be a bit more accountable because there will be more argy—bargy in the parliament. it will be difficult for this parliament to pass a budget, and there will be more likelihood of a no—confidence motion. there will be more likelihood of a no-confidence motion. there has been paralysis in thailand because of the fa ct paralysis in thailand because of the fact the political climate has been in deep freeze since the military government took over five years ago, so there is a real sense that people wa nt forward so there is a real sense that people want forward momentum, with policies and things getting done. yes, the primary issue is the economy, and the sense of vision. where is the country heading? will the tourist industry be revived, the economy revived, will they be bringing in

more investment? i think there is a great sense that in still a very conservative electorate — despite getting excited about the younger voters, the sense of conservatism prevails and we will want people wanting more accountability, rather than the army being able to do what it wants. one last quick one, the thoughts of people on the ground, because it was a surprising outcome. is there a sense that people are — they are getting back to work, it is monday — what will they be thinking about? that the transfer of power will happen peacefully, i think people want peace, stability, and we may have a future that is less

divided than before. thank you very much forjoining us. we will have a clear indication of thailand's elections in the next few hours. hello there. we saw mixed fortunes of the weather across the uk on sunday, with breezy, windy conditions, with showers across the north. further south unbroken sunshine. we saw 15.1 celsius in stjames's park, in london. the windy showering conditions across the north of the country has been attributed to this area of low pressure, which is continuing to push out into the near continent, and allowing this big area of high pressure to topple in across the uk. so it will continue quite windy for the early hours of monday, across some eastern areas, perhaps a few showers. but elsewhere lighter winds and lengthy clear skies. so it's going to be quite a chilly start to the day today, with low single figures across the south and a touch of frost out of town, across more northern areas. so a chilly start to monday but at least largely dry and bright with plenty of sunshine.

the winds will be light too because high pressure will be dominating. so lots of sunshine across england and wales, and across scotland and northern ireland to begin with, but then skies will gradually turn cloudier through the day as we see a weak warm front pushing off the atlantic. so it will blot out all the sunshine. we'll see a little bit of showery rain across the north and the west. but some milder air moving in — 10—11 degrees, in fact, milder than it was on sunday. for england and wales, down into the channel islands a glorious afternoon with widespread sunshine, light winds and temperatures around 13 degrees after what was a cool start. and then high pressure dominates the scene for the week ahead. slap bang on top of us, in fact, we will be drawing some drier air off the near continent. this is why we shouldn't see too many problems with clouds and we should potentially see quite a bit of sunshine. so it's looking pretty good for the rest of the week. mainly dry. quite warm by day but night will continue to be chilly, with a touch of mist and fog. this is thepictue then for tuesday: chilly start, any mist clearing away quickly

and then we'll see plenty of sunshine. but into the afternoon a bit of fairweather cloud tending to build up here and there. and to the very north of scotland, here we'll have a frontal system which will bring outbreaks of rain, mainly to the northern isles, where it will be quite breezy. a nice mild day, temperatures 13 or 16 celsius. a similar picture on wednesday. we start off quite cool, a little bit of mist and fog around and that hould clear quickly. and then three's lots of sunshine through the afternoon. again, a bit of fairweather cloud building up here and there. the best of the sunshine will be across england and wales. a little bit warmer on wednesday. 16 degrees in aberdeen, 15 degrees across central, southern and eastern parts of the country. and if anything it turns even warmer towards the end of the week. we could be looking at 17, 18, maybe 19 degrees across the south east. 00:28:40,471 --> 2147483051:51:04,950 but like i mentioned, warm by day 2147483051:51:04,950 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 but still quite chilly at night.