me. this is the news of live from berlin thailand's pro-military party takes the lead in much anticipated elections vote counting is still underway but partial results give the edge to the party supporting the ruling military regime critics accuse the military of having staff the political deck in its favor for life in bangkok for analysis it's also coming up. terrifying moments at sea of crew shift breaks down into dangerous waters off the norwegian coast will have an update on the rescue efforts for hundreds stuck on board. and is too recent made facing

a revolt from within her own cabinet reports say the british prime minister could be pushed out and made dissatisfaction at her handling of. get the details from our correspondent but. i'm michael thanks for joining us early results from thailand's long delayed general election show the country's military party with a lead over its main challenger that's with election officials saying that ninety percent of ballots have now been counted. this man former army chief pride has led thailand since a military coup five years ago he wanted voters to keep him on as a prime minister promising stability to face the opposition. type party which raise

questions about the fairness of the poll saying the rules say for the military. bringing in now our correspondent best in heartache he joins us from bangkok bastion the election commission is reporting most of the votes are in full military is slightly ahead what more can you tell us about the initial voting results so far . i think what's clear from the results that we've got so far is that it's a very strong result for the military party maybe stronger than a lot of people expected and look behind me this is the party headquarters of the prototype party that's the party of former prime minister yingluck shinawatra who was ousted by the military in the back in two thousand and fourteen and they're going to be disappointed with this result of course because they expected to be the winner now we've not all the votes are counted yet so we have to wait how that plays out and also the popular vote is one thing and the seats in parliament are

another thing so we have to wait and see which party gets how many seats and then very important michel what coalitions are they going to form it's already clear that the military party has enough seats to elect the next prime minister because they also get the seats of the appointed senate appointed by the military that's two hundred fifty seats so they have those and they don't need a very many seats they'll need one hundred twenty six out of five hundred in the lower house of parliament which is what voters in elected today the question is are they going to get with their coalition partners are they going to get enough votes in the lower house to actually be able to pass legislation meaning will they get a simple majority of the seats in the lower house or not if that doesn't happen then we're headed for a political deadlock because then it's going to be most likely the current military dictator pirates on a child who's going to be the next prime minister. thailand but without the

majority in the lower house they're not going to be able to pass a new legislation against the opposition in that and then. it's very likely that the people are going to be unhappy with that and there's already been rumors that if that happens and there is this deadlock that there might be another military coup michel the bus indeed initial results so far are going to be the talk of the town for the next at least twenty four hours how do you think the military party men and she get such results. but i think they're there's a lot there's a lot of factors that come into play here one thing for example is that the playing field wasn't level from the beginning for example other political parties were not allowed to campaign until late december of last year they only started campaigning then and the military on the other hand they were touring the country nonstop through all the provinces handing out money and trying to win over voters now the

other thing is that the electoral system is puts the party that you see behind me at a disadvantage and one of their affiliates was disbanded just a few weeks ago that would have helped them gain more seats in parliament so that's how the the playing field wasn't level from the very beginning also of course. the whole set up of this where the where the senate is completely appointed by the military and then they only need those one hundred twenty six seats as i said out of five hundred to elect the new prime minister so that's how it was viewed from the very beginning michael. much thanks bastian that's our best and heartache in bangkok a dramatic rescue mission is underway in southern norway crews have been racing to bring cruise ship passengers to safety after their boat was stranded in dangerous

waters the ship broke down on saturday with over a thousand passengers on board efforts are being made to tow the vessel to land but the ship stranding has already led to harrowing moments for those onboard. passengers rushed to shield themselves from sliding furniture and falling ceiling panels as heaving waves tossed the cruise ship from side to side some said those waves had smashed chip windows and sent cold sea water gushing in. elsewhere on board the mostly british and american travelers could do nothing but sit and wait for their turn to be airlifted to safety. amid winds of nearly ninety kilometers per hour and waves over eight meters high the viking sky sent out a mayday call early on saturday afternoon it had suffered engine failure and was beginning to drift towards the rocky shore fearing the ship would run aground the

crew managed to anchor in the bay an area known since viking times has treacherously difficult to navigate. the cult and i think this is clearly a serious situation a cruise ship with one thousand three hundred passengers on board is stuck in one of the north and europe's would stretches of water scattered with reefs so this is a serious situation as it will. author and he's mobilized five helicopters for the operation though some had to be diverted to help a second vessel nearby the freighter with a crew of nine also suffered engine failure delaying the crew ship airlift. rescue passengers have been brought to a reception center on land clearly this was not the kind of adventure they'd had in mind when they booked their cruise. refresh. very frightening we all know a helicopter with a sling the two of us together and it was quite scary the severe weather is

preventing rescue workers from using smaller boats to take passengers ashore so authorities now aim to tow the cruise ship itself and the hundreds of passengers still aboard. for the latest on the rescue operation i'm joined now on the line by i nicked knutson he's with the joint rescue coordination center for southern norway and we just saw him in the port thanks for joining us mr can knutson last we heard the viking sky was being towed to harbor where are you in that process. this ship just arrived in the hall though. no preparing to go to. do necessary preparations for that. so i guess within half an hour or so it should be. docked. my understanding is that some two thirds of the passengers that were originally on

the ship are still there so by my count that's still somewhere in the area eight hundred passengers or so how are they doing. they are doing very well. we lifted all four hundred sixty. last night and i can this morning. on the ship change goals. how did this towards. the smoother seas the captain. for the time being he will need any further assistance. integration is concerned. this morning. no indication yet you're right some of the team and one hundred people are often on board to. be called in to the captain to control the whole of passengers on board. much has

been made mr canoe to know about the weather surrounding this particular incident how dangerous was this rescue operation. well according to. the helicopter pilots and those same charge of that part of the operation it was just showing the actual what they could do it was thirty hard when. they had waves up to fifteen one five meters. question.

with the joint center for southern north thanks for joining us and good luck with the rest of the operation now to some other stories making news around the world three members of australia and new zealand's indigenous communities have come together in sydney to show solidarity with the victims of last week's gun attacks on two mosques in. new zealand has announced it will hold a national remembrance service on march twenty ninth for the fifty people killed in attacks. chinese president xi jinping is visiting monaco as part of a three nation tour in europe monaco previously signed a deal with chinese czech company huawei to develop its five g. telecommunications controversy over china's influence in five g. she's visited in europe is aimed at boosting. the mozambican government says half a million people have been affected by the devastating sight even more than seven

hundred people have been confirmed dead after the storm raged across mozambique zimbabwe and malawi the true death toll is believed to be much higher efforts are still underway to assist survivors. british prime minister theresa may is coming under fresh pressure over her handling of media including the sunday times say that may's own cabinet is plotting to oust her while there was little sign of that pressure is made visitor church with her husband this morning she's reportedly planning a last ditch attempt to win support among lawmakers for her deal which hollande has rejected twice. for more on that i'm joined by our correspondent. in london may faces increasing pressure to resign burkett how likely is that to happen. there's everything going on as we

speak i mean she's meeting with cabinet ministers we know there is a lot of pressure on her and her authority is really draining away by the day maybe even by the hour but will she really resign we don't know she's been extraordinary leave resilient over the past yes there were many moments where other prime ministers probably would have gone but she's tough it out she seems determined to try once more to get her deal through palm and but as you say the voices are getting louder for how to go how would may stepping down actually solve the problem that's a good question because over breaks it the country and the parliament is so fundamentally divided that it's difficult to see a solution coming out of this whole mess to reason may has been accused of not looking for a consensus of very early in the brics a process determining how our own red lines which point towards fairly hard breaks

did not know membership in the single market or in the customs union and just plough through with it and now we see that she really does not have any consensus for how policy so read know that paul amend is looking for a solution but they're also still to resume a loyalist who had hoped that the deal will go through that says what philip hammond the child's laugh to say about this. in just over two weeks' time we run the risk of facing a very stark choice between leaving me you with no deal or not leaving the you at all it is essential that we get a deal done well in this deal most likely to be presented to parliament for if that time to defeats already is that a vote on this deal that she has hammered out with the european union is likely to happen next week thank you very good mass in london you're watching news from

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