welcome to newsday. i'm rico hizon in singapore, the headlines: us special counsel robert mueller breaks his silence on the russia investigation, but declines to clear president trump of obstructing justice. if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commita crime, we would have said so. we did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. a rescue operation is under way on the danube after a river cruise boat capsizes. hungarian emergency services say seven people have died. i'm lewis vaughanjones in london.

also in the programme: it's been sitting in the country for years, now the philippines is set to ship tonnes of canadian waste back to canada. chelsea are europa league champions for the second time, beating arsenal 4—1 in the final in azerbaijan. good morning. it's 7:00am in singapore, midnight in london and 7:00pm in washington, where the man who investigated russian meddling in the us presidential election has insisted that his report didn't clear president trump of acting illegally. let's get the latest from our north america editor, jon sopel.

morning. washington is a city where people race to be in front of a microphone. but for two years, special counsel robert mueller has chosen silence while he completed his report on russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. that changed dramatically today, when he almost flatly contradicted donald trump's assertion that he'd been completely exonerated by the special counsel investigation. listen to what he has to say on whether the president obstructed justice. if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commita crime, we would have said so. we did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. under long—standing department policy, a present president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. until now, donald trump has repeatedly referred to the mueller investigation as a hoax and a witch hunt but on twitter today, a significant reframing. he said:

this afternoon, it was the turn of the president's press secretary to push the line of no collusion and no obstruction. in his tweet today, the president said there was insufficient evidence, therefore he is innocent. is that the bar at which you set things? we set the bar at the fact that mueller spent two years doing an exhaustive investigation and came back to say that there was no wrongdoing by the trump campaign or any american. from robert mueller and donald trump, two totally different interpretations. mueller effectively saying, look, we don't think he's innocent but we can't prosecute him. and from donald trump, there's insufficient evidence and therefore it's case closed. the white house would clearly love this to be the end of the episode. there's no chance of that. and sure enough, mueller‘s statement has fuelled democrat demands for impeachment proceedings to begin. with respect to impeachment questions at this point, all options are on the table

and nothing should be ruled out. what special counsel robert mueller said loud and clear today for the american people is that president trump is lying when he says no collusion, no obstruction and that he was exonerated. thank you, thank you for being here today. today, robert mueller told the american people he's taken it as far as he can. now, it's up to congress. does it dare try to impeach the president? jon sopel, bbc news, washington. reports from hungary say at least seven people have died, after a river cruise boat capsized and sank on the danube near the parliament building. the section of the river where the accident happened has been closed off by the authorities as rescue efforts continue. hungarian state tv says 33 tourists were on board, many thought to be from asia. 16 people are still missing.

the rescue has been made difficult because of the strong currents and heavy rains. we can now speak to local radio reporte balintjuhasz who lives close by the river where the two boats collided. what is the latest? hello, i am next to the river and the accident has happened now three or four hours ago. 30 minutes later, sorry, 30 minutes ago, there was official information. there was a group of 33 people on the boat, two hungarian crew, and the riverside is being

searched. seven people died in the accident, several are in hospital in accident, several are in hospital in a stable condition. 100 police and 17 ambulance cars are in the area, and there is no official information, but 25 or 30 kilometres from the accident there are some bodies, some people. can you tell us, do you know what happened? do you know how this happened? yes, the latest information about the accident, there was a big rush in the danube river because it is a good tourist evening in budapest, and a big boat hit the little boat,

they crashed, and there is some special people speaking on tv about radio connections and relating what they are seeing, so it was a big accident and the big boat has hit the little boat and everybody is going down to the river. just about the search operation, is that still ongoing? now it is a big search operation, a lot of people in the road. the roads are closed on the riverside, nobody can go there, and 110w riverside, nobody can go there, and now in front of me police are closing the street, so it will not just be an evening operation, it will be a big investigation into what happened yesterday evening in budapest. what were the weather

conditions like in the city today, and especially on the river? we had and especially on the river? we had a big rainy day in the afternoon, a lot of problems in the city because firemen were trying to help a lot of people. trees are down, lines cracked, so very rainy. thank you very much for bringing us up to speed. that was a reporter on the scene in hungary where that river cruise ship has capsized. 0f scene in hungary where that river cruise ship has capsized. of course we will bring you any details as we get them here. let's take a look at some of the day's other news.

israeli mps have voted to dissolve parliament, paving the way for snap elections. prime minister benjamin netanyahu failed to meet a deadline forforming a coalition. he had appeared set for a fifth term after his party won more than a quarter of seats in parliament in last month's election. the new vote is expected in september. 0ur middle east correspondent tom bateman has more from jerusalem: this represents a serious political failure for mr netanyahu. he was saying he would be able to get the sides together but he has not been able to do that. one of the implications may be that he may have to ask another party to form a government, bringing an end to his leadership. now, this has precipitated the situation where the parliament has voted to dissolve the parliament, bringing about a snap election. i think this means that mr

netanyahu election. i think this means that mr neta nyahu is election. i think this means that mr netanyahu is more politically vulnerable than he has been for some time. a series of tornadoes is battering the american midwest. 20 were reported in kansas alone in the last 2a hours. pennsylvania was also hit. in total there have been more than 300 tornado reports across the us injust the past 12 days. wikileaks says its founder julian assange has been moved to a health ward in belmarsh prison. in a statement, wikileaks said it has grave concerns about the state of mr assange's health, having already significantly deteriorated after seven years inside the ecuadorian embassy. the wikileaks founder was arrested last april in london, after the government of ecuador revoked his asylum status. airbus has celebrated its 50th anniversary with an airshow in toulouse. despite cloudy weather conditions, the compa ny‘s jetliners and the french patrol display team gave a spectacular performance. on may the 29th, 1969, airbus was launched at a meeting between french and west german ministers in a bid to revive the struggling post—war

aircraft industry. the philippines is due to ship 69 containers full of rubbish back to canada today. the disagreement started back in 2014, after the philippines found out canada had delivered household waste, rather than recyclable plastics. president duterte accused canada of turning his country into a "dump site" and the philippines recalled its ambassador in the escalating row. so the tonnes of rotting rubbish that have been sitting in subic bay, a former us naval base, for the past six years, are finally set to be shipped later. let's speak to howard johnson, who's there now. give us an update on the 69 containers, what is happening with them? today we are seeing that these

containers will ship out later today. they have been fumigated, canadian authorities have said they have been giving money to the philippine authorities to help them prepare them to get them back to canada. later today we will see a ship, from manila, the containers will be loaded onto that ship. around midnight tonight it is expected they will move on towards china, a transshipment destination on the way back to canada. this has played out very well in the philippines, happening around the time of mid—term elections, but also a lot of people are concerned about how canada is seeing this, even this isa how canada is seeing this, even this is a country where around 100,000 filipinos live, more than 100,000, and this is obviously an issue as far as diplomacy is concerned. there have been a lot of harsh words, president duterte has said some harsh words, but he said he was just joking. what has this rubbish been

doing here for the past six years? president rodrigo duterte is very popular here in the philippines so we went to subic bay and ask people what they thought about the issue? for six years, it has been too long, and it is now the time to get the rubbish out. i am happy about it, you know, because in the philippines there is a lot of trash here already, so we don't need someone else's trash. i think president duterte did well, in that decision, to move the garbage back to canada, because it is the only president to do that. president duterte's efforts here have obviously gone down well but also we are seeing in malaysia that the environment secretary there said they were looking to repatriate 3000 tons of waste to westernised, developed countries, and we will see in the months ahead canada receiving

its rubbish, australia and hong kong are in the sights of these countries, that there is more rubbish to be shipped back. we will keep watching that and update you as theissue keep watching that and update you as the issue becomes bigger in the region. thanks forjoining us. chelsea have beaten arsenal by four goals to one in the europa league final in baku, azerbaijan. the build—up to the match has been marred by ticketing and travel difficulties for fans having to travel nearly 4000km from london to baku. sarah rainsford is there. it was a drubbing for arsenal. this is not a result they were hoping for, and we saw them streaming out of the stadium, some people angry, some dejected, some of them in the stadium we saw earlier have been in tea rs, stadium we saw earlier have been in tears, when goal after goal kept going into the net against them. though not the result arsenal wanted, of course chelsea came out singing and dancing, this is exactly

what they came here for. both of the fa ns what they came here for. both of the fans for both of these teams had an awfully long journey to get here, and that is what a lot of conversations were about before the kick—off. people discussing their crazy journeys to try to kick—off. people discussing their crazyjourneys to try to get here all the way from london or the uk, for the cheapest possible amount. the direct flights from london to here were very expensive, well over $1000 to get here. people were taking very long bus and train journeys, and then obviously arsenal fa ns journeys, and then obviously arsenal fans coming out here thinking perhaps that was a huge waste of time and money for them. just see some breaking news now in the last couple of hours, a tourist cruise boat on the river danube in hungary that capsized, initially there were reports of three people dead and sadly, the death toll has been increasing and is now at seven

people reported to have died. the search operation is continuing there. it is thought to both collided with each other on the river next to where the parliament is. -- river next to where the parliament is. —— two votes. we will of course keep you up—to—date if we get any more details. you're watching newsday on the bbc. live from singapore and london. still to come on the programme: why a group of australian students could have a major influence on the next generation of vehicles roving across the surface of mars. also on the programme, countdown to the cricket world cup. the first match is in just a few hours — the hosts england will play south africa. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletic events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues

started forming at 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot, as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juve ntus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 11,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she has left the spice girls. i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, the girl power. not geri. why? welcome back, everyone. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm lewis vaugn—jones in london. our top stories. us special counsel robert mueller breaks his silence on the russia investigation but declines to clear president trump of obstructing justice. a rescue operation is underway on the danube, after a river cruise boat capsizes. hungarian emergency services say seven people have died. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. 0n the front page of the japan times, a day after a knife attack on a group of school children in kawasaki, more details are emerging about the victims. two people died — an 11—year—old girl and the father of an unharmed student who had worked for the japanese embassy in myanmar. next, the straits times reports on china and singapore's agreement to deepen military ties. it could mean larger—scale military exercises and and more

frequent high—level talks. and on the reuters website, new research suggesting that hundreds of millions of people could lose their water supply as global warming causes asia's glaciers to melt. the report, published in thejournal nature, finds that the loss of glaciers will make nations from india to kazakhstan much more vulnerable to drought. those other papers. —— those are the papers. here's a riddle for you — what has six wheels, an australian accent and high hopes for getting to mars? the answer is this — a space rover designed by students from australia's monash university as part of a global competition. they were given a budget ofjust us$18,000 to build a machine that can perform complex tasks in space. it's nicknamed ‘rovey‘ and it's competing against dozens of other designs at the remote mars desert research station in utah.

to get more on this, i'm joined from hanksville by iain hammond from the nova rover team. iain, thank you forjoining us and congratulations, getting into utah for this major competition! first, tell us, how did you transport to there? did he get his own seat on there? did he get his own seat on the plane? we wish! we pulled him apartand the plane? we wish! we pulled him apart and put him in our suitcases and transported him all the way from australia to america and got it through customs. it is in one piece, ready tojoin the through customs. it is in one piece, ready to join the competition! iain, let me ask this, you will be competing against other brilliant teams in utah. what sets your rover apart from the competition? absolutely, a lot of teams from all around the world who have to to set ourselves apart and innovate. we have a unique chassis design and suspension system that is never been seen before in any other rover and we also have a unique science drill

and life detection systems are albert river can detect life by itself, we do not have to do anything, we can send it out and it can detect life from soil, and a range of other things. how will rovey be tested? we take it to the mars desert research station, a fitting place because it is where they simulate what life would be like on mars. it goes through a series of tasks that a mars rover on mars would have to perform, such as drilling into the soil and getting a sample of dirt to analyse it for life, also has to be able to pick up objects and flick switches and help astronauts that would be on mars. also, it has to be able to drive by itself. mars on earth? you were given a budget of 18,000 us dollars to put rovey together. how did you do that? so, with the really small budget, it forces us to innovate and

find ways to keep the cost down as much as possible. we do this through designing our own parts, using a lot of 3d printing. 0ur engineers put their skills to use their to design all of the own components and we bought off—the—shelf items and repurposed them for our own use. we really innovated on each aspect of the rover. surely you must have learned a lot over the past years when you placed 111th in the last competition. iain, nota when you placed 111th in the last competition. iain, not a lot of opportunities to pursue space science in australia. are you concerned it pushes talented locals to leave australia and look for opportunities overseas? we think this is a changing time, two of our graduates have actually gone on to rocket building companies in queensland. they build rockets there that have come from our team. we also have an australian space agency 110w also have an australian space agency now and we hope that you can start giving these projects energy and getting them off the ground, there

is the brains and talent in australia and we can start to build australia and we can start to build australia up as a global space technology hub. you will be the catalyst, iain, and your nova rover team. good luck with the competition! the cricket world cup gets underway in a few hours when england, who are the favourites, take on south africa. it's a truly global event — the 2015 tournament was watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people. andy swiss has more. welcome to the oval whether waiting is very nearly over because on thursday morning, 25,000 fans will be packed into the stands behind me as england get the world cup under way. against south africa. fair to say the hosts don't have a great record in recent world cup. in fact for the last tournament four years ago, they were knocked out in the opening stage. they are full of confidence going into this tournament. they are the world number one, the favourites for the

bookmakers, their batting is particularly impressive, a lot of hefty hitters, the likes ofjos buttler, jonny bairstow, captain eoin morgan. they will face plenty of stiff competition, india a second favourite with the bookies. they have the best batsman in the world in most people's eyes in virat kohli, and of course there is australia as well, the reigning champions. they have welcomed back david warner and steve smith after their suspensions for ball tampering. it will be interesting to see what sort of reaction i get from the crowd here in england. lewis, you are a big fan of cricket. who do you are a big fan of cricket. who do you think will win the cricket world cup? it has to be england, of course, rico, and if you want to make a bet, i am course, rico, and if you want to make a bet, iam happy to course, rico, and if you want to make a bet, i am happy to take your money off you. anyway, you have been watching newsday. iam money off you. anyway, you have been watching newsday. i am lewis vaughan jones in london. i will not take any bets from london —— any bets from

lewis. coming up, birds eye view of the boeing 737 max and another apology from the plane maker's chief executive. before we go, these pick is, two where white tiger cubs. they are having a meal in their new home at the nicaragua national zoo. just five months old. siblings. 0sman and laleem. i do not know which is which. they owe their colour to a recessive gene. very cute! before i 90, recessive gene. very cute! before i go, iwant recessive gene. very cute! before i go, i want to repeat the breaking news this our better boat capsized on the river danube in hungary. —— making use this hour./111 people have been brought up from the river now, have been brought up from the river 110w, seven have been brought up from the river now, seven unfortunately have died. people on board were thought to be

from asia, many people from south korea. we will keep you up—to—date with any developments here on bbc world news. hello. 0ne hello. one thing we are not short of at the moment is cloud across the uk. and through today, it will tend to stick around and marry areas could have some rain. either weekend, hopefully we will see more in the way of sunshine and we will see things significantly warming up for some. more on that in a moment. warm areas coming in from the atla ntic warm areas coming in from the atlantic in the next few days but it is coming up to the south of this frontal system that will mean a lot of cloud around, more persistent rain across the northern half of the uk in the short term as but either weekend high pressure will start to put in from the south, thin that cloud and allow more sunshine. today, most of us will be stuck with fairly grey skies. across the northern half of the uk, or

persistent rain as the day goes on. heavy at times, possibly for northern ireland, the south—west of scotland, parts of the north—west of england and maybe the phone north—west of wales but to the far north—west of wales but to the far north—west of wales but to the far north—west of scotland, some sunshine for the northern isles, to the south some butter skies. breezy across—the—board, particularly gusty around western coasts and across the hills and murky in the west as well. 11 degrees in aberdeen. up to 23 if we get some brightness across the south—east of england. 0vernight thursday into friday, more wet weather across the northern half of the uk. hopefully the cloud to the south perhaps thinning and breaking a little as the hours go by. high pressure trying to squeeze its influence further north. certainly i am old enough start to friday, but once again, you can see rain waiting to push into northern ireland and

western scotland and through the day, the frontal system continues to buckle through the north of the uk, so buckle through the north of the uk, so there will be more heavy downpours. to the south, the high is nearby and that should allow the cloud and break a little more, see a bit more in the way of sunshine and bridges creeping up across england and wales on friday, into the mid— 20s. milderfor aberdeen but cloud around, some rain but the heaviest for northern ireland and western scotland. saturday, the high its influence further north. we should see more in the way of widespread sunshine and a pretty warm day, even across the northern half of the uk but to the south we could get up to 27 celsius in the south—east of england. a very short spike of a heat wave, though, by sunday, the weather picked starts to become quite showery across the uk, and it will see our temperature is beginning to slide away. still a pleasa nt beginning to slide away. still a pleasant day to come on sunday in the sunny spells, some of around, turning chillier though next week.

you are watching bbc news. our top story: us special counsel robert mueller has spoken publically for the first time about his investigation into russian election interference. mr mueller said, if he thought donald trump was innocent of obstruction ofjustice, he would have said so. the president tweeted that the case against him was closed. emergency services in hungary say at least seven people have been killed after a cruise boat capsized on the river danube in the capital, budapest. police are still searching for survivors. and this video is trending on bbc.com. chelsea have won football's europa league. they beat arsenal 11—1 in baku, in azerbaijan. all the goals were scored in the second half, with eden hazard scoring twice for chelsea. that's all. stay with bbc world news.