there is no evidence that president trump or his campaign team colluded with russia to influence the 2016 election. however, the report stops short of completely exonorating the president on accusations of "obstruction of justice", stressing that the special counsel is not drawing conclusions "one way or another." a pro—military political party in thailand has performed better than predicted in the country's first election since the army took power five years ago. official results are not expected until later. and this story is trending on bbc.com. a cruise ship at the centre of a major rescue operation off the norwegian coast has safely reached port. the viking sky hit trouble in stormy seas after losing power. more than 400 people were airifted to safety.

theresa may has met senior conservatives at her chequers country retreat, in another attempt to win support for her brexit deal. two ministers touted as possible caretaker leaders have said they fully back the prime minister. recession warning. asian share markets had lower as a key indicator flashes red. the thai election and the economy. the pro— military party ta kes the economy. the pro— military party takes an unexpected lead in the first ballot since 2014. what does it mean the businesses? welcome and good morning to this monday edition of asia business report live from singapore with me, mariko 0i. let's start with the markets because asian shares have opened sharply lower.

japan's nikkei is down more than 3%. this follows shares on wall street falling on friday as investors responded to a warning sign from the us bond market. that is after the yield curve converted for the first time since 2007. it sounds very technical. history suggests that if it stays like this, the us economy could fall into recession within 18 months. in addition to that, other things worth spending on ion include business pleadings — include business pleadings — include business leader meetings in china for the boa0 forum. xijinping is expected to speak. his top economic adviser will be meeting with the us trade representative and the treasury secretary in beijing. and let's not forget breaks it because

theresa may is expected to bring back her plan to the house of commons for the third time. katherin yuen is from fidelity international andi yuen is from fidelity international and i asked her why this was.= yuen is from fidelity international and i asked her why this was. - - cathering yeung. this doesn't bode well for the markets on friday with the data that came out of europe in terms of pmi. a lot of signs of instability are coming through. meanwhile, the ongoing trade war, president xijinping meanwhile, the ongoing trade war, president xi jinping might speak at the boao president xi jinping might speak at the boa0 forum. president xi jinping might speak at the boao forum. it continues to dominate the market sentiment here in asia. what are you expecting in the terms of the latest? we still continue to believe that the resolution around this will be imminent. having said that over the next 3— five years, states and the

chinese have a bit of to—ing and fro—ing. just because we do have a resolution regarding the tariffs, it doesn't mean that is it. there is continued uncertainty on the macro landscape. meanwhile, briggs it uncertainty continues. a third meaningful vote. we are seeing asian markets shrugging off the movement in the uk. if there was no deal brea ks in the uk. if there was no deal breaks it, it would have an impact here in asia. the survey we publish every year, the analysts covering european companies, briggs it is indeed weighing on decisions so that's gone up in terms of the negative impact. the further you get away from the brakes and situation, less of an impact. those analysts looking at chinese companies, the

impact is only around 7%. before whether to go, briefly, the latest report by robert mueller, now that president trump says he's been cleared, will it have any market impact? what is clear for the rest of this week in terms of asia, it continues to be the earnings season. really, the expectations of how the ta riffs have really, the expectations of how the tariffs have impacted and growth going forward, that is something we will be primarily focusing on. that was cathering yeung speaking to me earlier. in thailand, the country has held its first general election since the military coup and the pro— military party has taken an unexpected lead against the pro—democracy opposition party. the economy has done well, expanding at its best pace since 2018. let's

ci’oss its best pace since 2018. let's cross over its best pace since 2018. let's cross over to its best pace since 2018. let's cross over to sharon its best pace since 2018. let's cross over to sharon chip lail who was in bangkok. — sharonjett lail. — — sharanjit leyl. in a couple of hours, we will get the press conference that will give us a sense of the preliminary results and as you mentioned, the pro— army party are ahead in the polls. that suggests the thai stock market, the currency, will likely strengthen, essentially because it means continuity, that the military leader, general prayuth, will likely be the next prime minister. it gives stability to the status quo. investors like that kind of thing. it means they will be able to push through the economic reforms. there are still some risks because we know

investors have pulled out in excess of $700 million from the time markets over the last year. we know that thailand and the last decade has had a huge political divide. it's affected one of its main contributors which is the tourism industry. that is a big deal here in thailand. certainly this election suggests thailand could get on with things, this political deep—freeze, continue those talks would be a year for instance and also explore the cp tpp, the next tranche of the trans—pacific tpp, the next tranche of the tra ns—pacific partnership tpp, the next tranche of the trans—pacific partnership and maybe become a member of that. earlier, i spoke to an analyst about what impact the election would have

on the thai economy. over the last 15 years where we've seen tremendous uncertainty in thai politics, investors have been oblivious to the ups and downs of the political situation. 0ne sector that would certainly benefit from the whole process is the consumer sector which is the recipient of a buttressing of spending by various government measures. most notably, the reinstatement of the rice subsidy is going to have a major impact on consumer spending as we head out to the rest of the year. we are also seeing lavish spending that the selection which would probably help hotels and selection which would probably help hotels a nd restau ra nts selection which would probably help hotels and restaurants but in terms of the longer term impact from the selection result, which sectors do you think would be affected most? the consumer sector is a clear election winner. the candidates are spending a lot on printing, publishing, snacks, liquor. it adds to the positive sentiment in the

economy. how about the impact on giant thai conglomerates which have kept close ties to the military regime. the interesting thing about the thai conglomerates as they have benefited from the low cost of capital in thailand for an emerging economy and abuse this situation to apply their brands and their acquisitions overseas. there have been a number of overseas acquisition by thai conglomerates, especially in the consumer sector, so if that trend continues with these political developments, we could see more of those deals. most british businesses saying they are being hurt by the uncertainties around briggs it. many have stockpiled materials while others have put their expansion plans on hold but for some companies, its borders surging new business. it trains unemployed people in the skills they need to enter the labour market. as thousands of migrant workers quit theirjobs in the uk.

0ur academy in teesside looks after mainly construction seal — skills. a massive demand from the industry so we havejoinery massive demand from the industry so we have joinery and massive demand from the industry so we havejoinery and plastering massive demand from the industry so we have joinery and plastering and bricklaying and painting and decorating and we are taking people who have predominantly no skills and give them skills to support the skills gaps that are being created by migrant workers deciding to go back to europe. we've seen a huge hiss — issue a whole host of industries. construction, retail, manufacturing. a lot of the big employers working. 18 months ago, we we re employers working. 18 months ago, we were doing about 80 unemployed individuals a month so quite a significant increase, up to 14, 1500 now. it's going to be really difficult to fill the gaps that eu workers leave and with universal credit now, people have to work otherwise their benefits will be

stopped. we are seeing them push from the benefit system pushing more of the individuals into retraining. let's show you the markets before we go. we were telling earlier about japan's nikkei. hong kong's hang seng is down as well. it sounds very technical but it's very important because the us economy could fall into recession within the next 18 months. we are also monitoring other events like the us china trade talks going forward. this is bbc news — our main headline: the investigation into alleged links between donald trump's election campaign and russia has cleared the president and his team of colluding with moscow. a special service has taken place in poland to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the prison break which inspired the film, the great escape. the audacious getaway saw 76 allied servicemen tunnel out

of the stalag luft three camp. robert hall reports they had hoped to frustrate the war effort with the largest ever mass escape. but 50 of those who tunnelled out of captivity would never be reunited with friends and families. the german gestapo, acting on orders from hitler, murdered most of the 76 great escapers. today, members of the raf police, who launched a postwar hunt for the killers, took part in a tribute to the airmen. when the first tunnel was discovered, they kept going. when they thought they were going to be hampered by the weather, they kept going, and there was that determination there. the forest is steadily reclaiming stalag luft iii, but this is a story which endures, in part, through hollywood. cavendish...

working in secret, teams of prisoners had spent months tunnelling through the sandy soil, whilst others prepared civilian clothes and forged identity papers. thanks to the efforts of local polish volunteers, it's still possible to get a taste of what the real—life escapers went through. this reconstruction may not contain the hazards of the great escape tunnel, but it does give me a real sense of the claustrophobia and the effort that must have been needed to haul those men 100 metres to the tunnel exit. when you get to the bottom of the shaft, you will be put on, or get onto, a trolley, and you will be hauled up to the other end. you also know that there are people going out,

steadily or not so steadily, according to what the goons are doing on the other side of the wire. richard churchill died a few weeks ago, the last survivor of the break—out. but the escapers' stories are still being passed on. paddy flint found time to visit the grave od family member roger bushell, executed after leading the escapers. britain and poland have renewed their promise to remember them all. robert hall, bbc news, zagan. now on bbc news sport today. you're watching sport today, with me, andrew lindsay, live from the bbc sport centre. hello there. on this programme: the headline clash in football's euro qualifiers yields five goals and a last—minute winner. netherlands v germany. and african football too. there's miami 0pen tennis, asjohn isner makes it through to round four, despite being broken

in the first set. and it's all about fingers, rather than feet — the premier league players in a world of pixels, potentially about to earn thousands. welcome to the programme. football's international window's given us an early crunch match in the european championship qualifiers, as germany's visit to amsterdam provided the stand—out tie in group c. and they were 2—0 up by half—time. leroy sane opening the scoring after 15 minutes. before serge gnabry curled a beauty, his 5th goal in six internationals. but the netherlands drew leveljust after the hour mark, after matthijs de ligt halved the deficit. memphis depay equalised — three goals in two games for the winger. both sides pressed for the winner. it came on 90 minutes, for nico schultz. 3—2 germany. translation: of course i have a good

feeling about this match.