this is bbc news. the headlines: the report by us special counsel robert mueller says there is no evidence that president trump or his campaign team colluded with russia to influence the 2016 election. but it stops short of completely exonorating the president welcome to bbc news, on accusations of broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: obstruction of justice. the mueller report says there is no a pro—military political party evidence the trump campaign colluded in thailand has performed better with russia over than predicted in the country's the 2016 us election. the president claims victory. first election since the army took power five years ago. preliminary results show that the palang pracharath party won about 500,000 more votes there was no collusion with russia. than the main opposition. stock markets in asia have fallen sharply there was no obstruction, during monday morning trading. and none whatsoever. the falls are being put and it was a complete down to growing fears and total exoneration. of a global economic slowdown, and are linked but, as calls grow for the release to the us yield curve. of the entire report, that is seen as an accurate a senior democrat says predictor of recessions. president trump still tokyo's benchmark nikkei faces serious questions. index dived more than 3%, while hong kong's hang seng this report does not amount index slumped by 2%. to a so—called "total exoneration".

special counsel mueller was clear that his report, quote, does not exonerate the president. a pro—military party takes a shock lead in the thai elections. we will be live in bangkok as results come in. growing fears of sickness and disease in southern africa, as the death toll from cyclone idai passes 700. and soul searching in australia, as the mosque attacks in neighbouring new zealand put multiculturalism in the spotlight. a two—year investigation into russian interference in the 2016 us presidential election has concluded that there is no evidence of conspiracy with moscow by members of donald trump's campaign team. the details have been revealed in a summary of special counsel robert mueller‘s report. but the special counsel did not exonerate the president on a second allegation, that of whether donald trump interfered with other investigations into russia's role in the elections —

in other words, obstruction of justice. but the attorney—general who summarised the report has decided not to prosecute. 0ur washington correspondent chris buckler reports. for almost two years, robert mueller scrutinised the actions of donald trump and his campaign to become president. the special counsel was asked to investigate whether russia interfered in the 2016 election, and whether they conspired with the trump campaign. while mr mueller says the russian government did try to influence the vote, he says he has found no evidence of collusion. there was no collusion with russia. there was no obstruction, and none whatsoever. and it was a complete and total exoneration.

robert mueller‘s investigation did lead to charges being brought against some of mr trump's inner circle, including his former campaign chairman paul manafort and his one—time lawyer and fixer michael cohen. however, those prosecutions weren't connected to the key issue of whether there was collusion with russia, and after months of speculation and allegations here in washington, what the special counsel has found is very good news for this president and this white house. but mr mueller has left one question unanswered, and that is whether the president tried to obstructjustice. he wrote... president trump is wrong. this report does not amount to a so—called "total exoneration."

special counsel mueller was clear that his report, quote, "does not exonerate", close—quote, the president. democrats are asking questions are this man, attorney general bill barr. he was left not only to interpret robert mueller‘s findings, but also to decide whether the president should be prosecuted. he concluded there wasn't the evidence. but democrats are asking how he could be independent, given he was appointed by donald trump. they are also demanding the publication of the full report. they believe information contained in it could be used for their own investigations inside congress, and are insisting the shadow of suspicion has not been lifted from over this white house. however, for now, president trump is celebrating. he returned to the nation's capital with relief, rather than rage. america is the greatest place on earth, the greatest place on earth, thank you. and he may have seen off one of the greatest threats to his presidency.

david tafuri, an international lawyer at the law firm dentons, joins me now from washington. we have been told that this report has found no conspiracy to collude. now, after something like 2800 subpoenas, about 500 witnesses spoken to, surely we can have confidence in that conclusion. well, remember, all we have heard so far is attorney general barr's summary of the report. but attorney general barrdid of the report. but attorney general barr did quote from the report with respect to that conclusion that there was not collusion with the russians. so we have to trust that he has summarised that accurately, he has summarised that accurately, he has summarised that accurately, he has quoted mueller accurately, and that they put that aside. however, there are still remaining questions that you would wonder if the report answers, such as why was ma nafort the report answers, such as why was manafort talking to a russian agent, why did he pass along polling data,

why did he pass along polling data, why was roger stone talking to wikileaks? why was roger stone talking to wikilea ks? that mueller why was roger stone talking to wikileaks? that mueller has a p pa re ntly wikileaks? that mueller has apparently concluded this was not collusion between the campaign and the russians, but why was that happening? it would be helpful to get more information about what he concluded about that. and also, as your previous reporting described, with respect to obstruction, mueller declined to make a conclusion about whether there was obstruction that violated the law or not. so he declined to decide whether he believed trump had committed crimes. he left that for the attorney general to decide. we learned in the attorney general‘s letter today that the attorney general does not believe that the evidence gives rise toa believe that the evidence gives rise to a prosecutable crime, but that doesn't mean that congress can't act. it sounds like there is much to be gained from seeing the full text of this report. we are hearing that the us attorney general, william barr, might be asked to testify,

mueller might be asked to testify. is there more to be gained from that? i think there is definitely more to be gained from the report to be made public. if you remember a few weeks ago that house of representatives in congress voted unanimously for the report to be disclosed to the public. that means that both democrats and republicans support that. they want, for transparency purposes, for mueller‘s full report to be made public, maybe with some minor reductions to account for any national security issues that are implicated in the report. but i think everybody would benefit from transparency purposes, and that is what you hear of some democrats in congress still calling for it to be made public, and the only way they can get information from the report is to call mueller 01’ from the report is to call mueller or to call barr, that would allow them to get information about what is in that report. just briefly, a lot of people are talking about the other investigations that are going on. do you think we will get more from that aspect, or is mueller the

big moment? well, mueller is the big moment on russia collusion and obstruction with respect to the investigation into the collusion. but there are other investigations that delve into other peripheral aspects of things that mueller was investigating, potentially financial crimes. certainly includes campaign finance crimes, which we know that prosecutors in new york are looking at. we also know that there is still at. we also know that there is still a prosecution to go forward next year, that mueller is handling, which is roger stone. that does involve some collusion, but a p pa re ntly involve some collusion, but apparently there wasn't enough evidence in mueller‘s view for that to lead to crimes that the president may have committed. thank you so much for that. stock market in asia have fallen sharply during monday morning trading. the falls are being put down to growing fears of a global economic slowdown. 0ur correspondent mariko 0i is in singapore. is there anything we should be

worried about? well, if you actually look at the history, possibly yes. it is all because of a key us indicator, and i know it sounds very technical, but it is actually —— has actually correctly predicted almost all of the us recession that have occurred in the 20th and the 21st century, so it is a very reliable recession warning. so what is it? it is the difference in the yields between the ten year bond and the two year bond and the idea is you would usually get compensated more to wait longer to get your money back, so the ten—year—old bond yield should be higher than that of the two year bond. but that is now reversed, meaning investors are

willing to be paid less to wait longer, because they have less confidence in the us economy. and thatis confidence in the us economy. and that is why we are seeing asian markets follow the us and european lead from friday. now, all markets across asia are sharply, including japan, which is down more than 3%, while the japanese yen, which is seen as while the japanese yen, which is seen as a while the japanese yen, which is seen as a safe haven currency, is having the highest level in six weeks. the last time this inverted yield curve happened was in 2007, just before the global financial crisis, and that is why investors are quite nervous. thank you for putting us in the picture. 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. the palang pracharath party won about 500,000 more votes than the main opposition party. official results, which were postponed from sunday, are due out in the coming hours. for more on the vote, i've been speaking to our correspondent sharanjit leyl, who is in bangkok. that's right, reged.

we'll be getting more details on those preliminary results in just a few hours' time, when the electoral commission has a press conference in the afternoon local time. but at the moment indications are that the pro—army party has done much better than expected. they got a larger share of the vote than expected, because going into these elections, they were seen to be not doing incredibly well, to be a third runner—up, in fact. and our south—east asia correspondentjonathan head has got more on that. 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.

well, i'm happy there is a voting at last. we've 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 more clean 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 vote counting 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 is the party that was 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 of 1a 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 the pro—military party was able to do so unexpectedly well, and why the pro—thaksin party, winner of all recent elections, performed relatively poorly. but the question that was always going to be 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, even at this early stage, it is difficult to see how this flawed and highly manipulated election could do that. so lots of questions about this somewhat unexpected result, and to answer some of them, i'm joint by one michael. michael, there's a lot of surprise that the party has done so incredibly well, and now lots of questions about potential irregularities. yes, and i think as the day wears on, as we get to our initial announcement of preliminary results, we're seeing more reports of concerns about irregularities, the number of ballots not really tallying with the number of votes. in one province, 800,000 registered voters, somehow less than 300,000 voted.

in another part of bangkok, we're seeing reports there were more ballots than there were voters. and i think, through the day, we will see an increasing number of questions from the parties that lost out. this election is being compared to previous elections, whereby, while there has been a lot of vote—buying in the past, most of the irregularities were institutional lack of preparedness or under—ca pacity. this time, it's i think serious questions about how the ballots were counted, and how many ballots there were compared to the number of voters. there is a hashtag that has been going around, which has been shared by many people, about how they are calculating it. popular social media has been very active, questioning how it has been calculated. there is always a built—in time delay because of the coronation in may, so there will be an argument

about results but no formation of government until after the coronation, which allows a period of time for haggling, and some elections can be rerun. i mean, the election commission could call new elections in certain areas where there are complaints or credible concerns. there's going to be a long period of negotiation and haggling and bargaining and argument about how fair the election was, and then at the end of that period, sometime around the middle of may, the formation of some kind of government. all right, thank you forjoining us and giving us some insight on that. so in just a few hours from now, reged, we will get that official preliminary result of what is expected. that may make things clear

for the vote, but it is not clear yet for the path for thailand's political future. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: in the wake of new zealand's mosque attacks, politicians in neighbouring australia are accused of making racist ideology mainstream. let there be no more war or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. very good. applause so proud of both of you. applause with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa should be excluded

from the 1970 competition. chants streaking across the sky, the white—hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji. onlooker: wow! this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the investigation into alleged links between donald trump's election campaign and russia has cleared the president of colluding with moscow. a pro—military party in thailand has taken a shock lead in the country's first election since the army took power five years ago. 11 days after cyclone idai hit southern africa, there are growing warnings about

the risk from sickness and disease. field hospitals are being flown in to help medical staff but some areas are still cut off because roads are unusable. several hundred people are known to have died in mozambique, zimbabwe and malawi, but the final death toll will only be known once the flood waters have receded. 0ur africa editor fergal keane reports from nhamatanda in mozambique. jozuejulio daniel, aged six, died march 22nd, 2019, in the hospital of nhamatanda. seven days after the cyclone, disease taking lives. when we visited this ward, there were sick children sleeping together, all suffering from severe diarrhoea. adults, too, in the room next door, where the roof is now open to the elements.

the mozambique staff work relentlessly, but with inadequate medical supplies, and aware that beyond these wards, there is vast need. you can cry, stop crying, get sad, and then get disappointed, because you cannot help. you just can help the patient. their families are suffering. maybe these young born can die. rosa antonio is sick with severe diarrhoea and her 3—year—old daughter azaria has died. her husband works nights, so she worries for the 6—month—old baby left at home. but when we went to the family home, we found the baby being cared for. delphine answered a call for help from rosa's husband. translation: the father was my friend, so when i came here, i saw the situation. it was night.

i went inside the house and ifound the baby was there and there was no—one to care. when i saw her, i felt pity. in the family's hour of need, rosa's husband, ezekiel, has found kindness. translation: the neighbours are the ones who are helping, and my former partner. she felt she had to come and help me. with the world around so broken, ezekiel feels like a man at the of endurance. let's get some of the day's other news: mali's president, ibrahim boubacar keita, has replaced senior army officials following the killing on saturday of more than 130 fulani villagers. the military has long been criticised for failing to protect villages from attacks by rival ethnic militias and jihadists. two students from a florida high school where 17 people were shot dead last year have killed themselves within a week

of each other. they both attended the marjory stoneman douglas school, in parkland, where students launched a campaign for tighter gun laws after the tragedy. the attack on worshippers at a mosque in new zealand in which 50 people died has sent shock waves around the world. nowhere more so than australia, the home country of the alleged gunman. it's opened up a debate over whether some in australia's political class have dragged racist ideology into mainstream public life. but many dismiss this, pointing to the large number of flourishing migrant communities. the bbc‘s stephen mcdonell, in sydney, looks at both sides. when people are getting attacked in their own... fraser anning, a senator from the fringe of australian politics, had an egg cracked onto his head by a protesting teenager after the politician said immigration was to blame for the mass murder in new zealand.

these divisive comments have opened big wounds here. anyone who has been to an australian city would have seen the sea of faces from diverse backgrounds, yet the paradox here is that while this is one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world, it seems there are still votes to be had in spreading fear of other races. some of the prime minister's colleagues have leaked details of a meeting from when he was in opposition in which he allegedly advocated making mileage out of anti—muslim sentiment. my record of working with the muslim community, in sydney in particular, speaks volumes for my track record and any suggestion to the contrary i find utterly offensive. thank you. whether he made those comments or not, the issue of race in australian politics is boiling over. this is cronulla, in many ways the quintessential australian beach suburb.

unlike other parts of sydney, the proportion of non—anglo—celtic migrants living here is actually pretty small. i know this because i actually grew up in the area and i can tell you that, for decades, an undercurrent of racism was building up here and one day, it exploded onto the streets. in 2005, urged on by a well—known talkback radio host, a mob sought to attack those who looked middle eastern. yet for many, these were merely minority views. conservative think tanks say this mostly harmonious society would not be possible if racism was a mainstream value. the argument has been made after christchurch that it shows australia is a racist country, and that you can draw a straight line between mainstream racist attitudes and the ascent of a killer, but i think that argument is absurd. but there are plenty of people who do not feel this way

at the moment. we have actually given permission to thejoe blow, the ordinary citizen in australia, to think that they can say whatever they want. that we have given them a license to say whatever they want. australia's largest mosque is in sydney's lakemba. christian high school students of new zealand maori heritage come to perform the haka. the horror in christchurch has caused untold pain, but it has also bringing people together. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, sydney. before we go, we don't often show you motorbike racing —— a kenyan secondary school teacher has won $1 million after being given the 2019 global teacher award. peter tabichi teaches science at a school in kenya's rift valley. mr tabichi, who is a member of the franciscan religious order,

says he gives away more than three quarters of his salary to help poor students go to school. he was chosen from over 10,000 nominees from around the world by an education charity based in the united arab emirates. stay with us here on bbc news. 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, showery 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 the picture 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 1a celsius. a similar picture on wednesday. we start off quite cool, a little bit of mist and fog around and that should 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. 1a 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. but like i mentioned, warm by day but still quite chilly at night.