sumi: this is "dw news," live from berlin. robert mueller says his report into russian interference in the u.s. election does not exonerate president trump. >> if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have saidid so. sumi: it was the special counsel's first public comment since he was appointed two years ago. within minutes, the president responded to mueller by tweeting, the case is closed. also coming up, the favorite to become the next british prime minister, boris johnson, is told he must appear in court over

allegations that he knowingly lied about brexit in the run-up to the 2016 referendum. and nigerian president muhammadu buhari is sworn in for a second and final term. the 76-year-old won reelection in february, but many young nigerians are not convinced that he is the right choice. ♪ sumi: i'm sumi somaskanda. thank you for joining us. we start with special counsel robert mueller's first public statement on his two-year investigation into russian interference in the 2016 u.s. election. mueller has said that his report does not exonerate the president. speaking in washington, mueller said that if he had been confident that president trump did not commit a cririme, his report would have said so. he also said that his investigation did findnd that russia attempted to interfere in

the election. mueller also appeared to rule out testifying before congress, saying his testimony was contained in the investigation's report and he had nothing to add. let's bring in our washington correspondent oliver sallet. he has been following this story for us. hi, oliver. this is a moment a lot of people have been waiting for, robert mueller breaking the silence. tell us more about what he has been saying. oliver: right. so, a moment that a lot of people have been waiting for, and a dramatic moment. in fact it was the first time since robert s. mueller launched the investigation on russian interference in the 2016 election that he actually addressed the public, that he actually felt the need to step out and deliver a statement on his take of the findings. there have been a lot of reports about the mueller report that was published in april with 400 pages. and what robert s. mueller said today can be considered a setback for the u.s. president, as well as for the attorney general. we all remember donald trump has

always called these investigations an illegal witch-hunt. he said there was a complete and total exoneration for him. and that can be challenged today after robert s. mueller's statement. he essentially made clear today that the president cannot be charged while in office. that was certainly something that we knew before. but he also made clear that he did not exonerate him and he only did not indict him because he later cannot be charged. so if you want to read between the lines, robert s. mueller essentially says if he could have indicted the president, he would have done that. but let's listen to what he had to say. >> and as set forth in the report, after that investigation, if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. we did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. it explains that under long-standing department policy,

a present president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional. even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that, too, is prohibited. the special counsel's office is part of the department of justice, and by regulation it was bound by that department policy. charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider. sumi: all right, oliver, how has the president responded to this statement from robert mueller? oliver: well, donald trump, in his fashion as we know it, has taken to twitter immediately after that statement. and it seems he is trying to spin that in his favor. so, what he wrote is, nothing changes from the mueller report. there was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our country, a person is innocent. thank you. so, jerry nadler, the head of the judiciary committee, then

came out at a press conference as well and said whenever the president is talking from now on about being exonerated, the president is lying. he repeated that mueller did not exonerate him. he said that obstruction is a serious crime and that it is up to congress now to deal with the findings. sumi: what is congress going to do? has this restarted talks about a possible impeachment? oliver: these talks have been going on for weeks and they became louder in recent weeks, especially after the white house has blocked certain subpoenas, triggering a legal battle in fact between congress and the white house. but the problem that the democrats are having right now is that a majority of americans are not supporting impeachment proceedingngs against the u.s. president. so what they have to decide right now is whether they want to move on with something they find is right, or whether they want to rather look at the 2020 election campaign that is

getting closer. but of course, and especially after todaday's statement of robert s. mueller, impeachment is becoming more likely. sumi: our correspondent oliver sallet in washington, thank you very much. now to the multibillion-dollar lawsuit over the u.s.'s opioid epidemic. more witnesses are taking to the stand. prosecutors accuse the health care giant johnson & johnson of deceptively marketing painkillers and downplaying the risks of addiction. reporter: gail b box is heartbroken at the loss of her son. >> i am going to miss the great things that you could have done. reporter: austin was a college football player at the university of oklahoma. and only 22 years old when he died from an overdose of opioid painkillers. >> the last day i saw him was the day he graduated from m the universisity of oklahoma.

ththat day, one of his coaches came up to him and said, austin, how's it going? and he said, oh coach, livin' the dream. just livin' the dream. but unfortunately, austin was living a nightmare. the nightmare of prescription drug a abuse. prescription opioids, to be exact. reporter: it was drugs like these, produced by manufacturers like johnson & johnson, that killed more than 200,000 people in the u.s. between 1999 and 2017. now legal action is being taken against the company. >> how did this happen? at the end of the day, your honor, i have a short, one-word answer. greed. reporter: the state of oklahoma is accusing johnson & johnson of intentionally creating an oversupply and lying about the risks.

the company denies the allegations. sumi: catch up on some other stories making news around the world. police in bangladesh are charging 16 suspects in a murder case that sparked protests across the country. 19-year-old nusrat jahan rafi was burned to death last month after she refused to withdraw sexual harassment charges against the principal of her islamic school. in the u.s.s., at least 11 peope have been injured in a wave of tornadoes that struck kansas and missouri. the twisters destroyed several houses and brought down popower linenes in the kansas cityty ar. they came a a day after 30 peope were injured by debris as a tornado hit ohio. and in australia, newlyy reelected prime minister scott morrison has b been swsworn into office a a week after his conservative coalition won a surprise victory. his cabinet includes ken wyatt, the first aboriginal person to become minister for indigenous affairs. airstrikes on

jihadist-controlled areas of northwestern syria have led to 10 more civilian deaths. according to a british-based monitoring group. most were in a village in idlib province. idlib is the last area in syria that is largely controlled by factions fighting the government. around three million people live in the region, more than half of whom are refugees. reporter: the immediate aftermath of a bomb attack this morning. a man and two children are reported killed. several more are injurured. most residenents fled thisis vie in southern idlib province long agago. >> they have been killing children and destroying cities for 1.5 months. when eight helicopters circle over a village, they don't kill terrorists, they kill civilians. reporter: despite a cease-fire, airstrikes have been nonstop. markets and schools have been hit repeatedly. the u.n. says over 20 clinics and hospitals have been attacked since the beginning of the

month. more people are killed nearly every day. 5050 civilians thihis week anen, according toto observers.. president bashar al-assad's troops are moving in on idlib, engaging in fierce battles with radical islamist militias. the u.n. security council says a further escalation would threaten civilian lives. >> what you will do to protect civilians in idlib? the latest example of an entirely known, predictable, and preventable humanitarian disaster. reporter: activists say these burning fields of grain following heavy bombardment are evidence of the assad regime''s scorched earth policy to ultimamately starve e people ou. thousands ofof refugees have ben stranded at the turkish border afafter a long exodus, without hope or prospects. sumi: here in germany, members of the kurdish minority known as yazidis are taking the government to court.

they accuse berlin of not doing enough to bring german supporters of the so-called islamic state to justice. the yazidis were brutally targeted by i.s. in northern iraq. many have now sought asylum here. reporter: kurdish yazidi women suffered grave abuse at the hands of the i.s. terror militia in iraq and syria. they were abducted and slaved, raped and murdered. many survivors were able to flee to germany, but even here ththey had been hounded by their abusers. this yazidi has returned to an iraqi refugee camp. >> i recognized his face immediately. he was the one w who beat us and humiatated us 24 hours a a day. i would be able to identify him anywhehere and anytime. reporter: a yazidi women's assosociation says it has s fila complaint against the german justice and interior ministries. the group says both are involved

in obstruction of jujustice, because the government failed do repatriate suspected german i.s. terrorists, even though the kurdish autonomous administration has offered to repatriate them. >> the german justice ministry has not rereceived s such a compmplaint. various investigations are underway, and there are a total of 22 outstanding arrest warrants for people currently detained in syria. reporter: the yazidi women's council believes that german i.s. fighters were also involved in war crimes against yazidis. they say 74 german i.s. supporters are still being held in northern syria. sumi: you're watching "dw news." to come, she was elected mayor of a turkish city with more than 50% of the vote. but this kurdish politician has been prevented from taking office. and she is not the only opposition person in turkey to

be kept out of power. but first, a rift appears to be growing between german chancellor angela merkel and french president emmanuel macron over who should become the eu's next commission president. chancellor merkel backs the process of giving the top job to the lead candidate of the biggest party in the european parliament. that would be the head of the center-right european people's party, who also happens to be german. but president macron says this process is obsolete after last week's european elections shifted the parliament's balance of power. reporter: as europe's leaders took their seats at a summit in brussels, there was little to suggest that anything was wrong. but after last week's elections to the european parliament, in which both the center-right and center-left parties lost seats, the political climate here is changing. and so, too, are the jobs. the biggest question is who will

replace this man. jean-claude juncker is the president of the eu commission and soon to step down. and these are the front-runners for the post. they have been nominated by the political groups in the european parliament. >> we can bring the whole strength of europe. reporter: german chancellor angela merkel has put her weight behind german mep manfred weber, the lead candidate from the biggest bloc in the eu parliament. but french president emmanuel macron does not like this lead candidate system, and wants change. perhaps even this woman, eu commissioner margrethe vestager. >> t the german government is committed to the principle o of the lead candidate. however, the parties represented in the coalition have different views as to which candididate is best suited. >> if everyone just stays with their preferred names, we will be stuck because none of the groups have a majority all

alone. and even if two of them work together, we still don't have a majority. we need three or four groups to do this. reporter: some believe merkel is behind the curve on this because she herself will soon be leaving her own job. >> there is a kind of missed opportunity between france and germany. the germans were at one point more european than the french. there's too much of an economic discrepancy between france and germany. germany is the first economic power in europe, so europe is less vital for germany than it is for france, and that is quite sad. reporter: it is now down to another eu chiefef, donald tusk, to try and come up with an acceptablele nomineeoror the net commission president. but with germany and france at odds over the process, this will not be an easy task. sumi: turkey's largest city, istanbul, is preparing to redo its mayoral election in a few weeks.

the country's electoral commission annulled the first vote after president recep tayyip erdogan's ak party questioned the result. now that same process is playing out elsewhere in turkey as other winning candidates are being prevented from taking up their new jobs. dw's julia hahn has been speaking to an opposition politician in the kurdish city of van who was elected mayor in march but is being kept out of office. julia: when gulcan kacmaz walks through her neighborhood in the city of van, it always takes a while. she is constantly recognized by people, involved in conversations, asked for advice. it is hardly surprising. many here think of kacmaz as their mayor. in turkey's local elections at the end of march, she stood for the pro-kurdish opposition party

htp. gulcan kacmaz won with almost 54% of the vote, but her joy did not last long. >> i never thought that i would not receive my mandate. i was not expecting this because the election commission had approved me as a candidate. julia: two months after the vote, people here are still apappalled by the election boa's decision. >> i think this is very unfair. >> the decision is wrong. whoever wins the election should take office. >> by not giving her the mandate, they are stealing the will of the people. julia: the election commission says gulcan kacmaz should not be mayor because she was dismissed from her job by an emergency decree following the attempted coup in 2016. despite international criticism, the turkish government had tens of thousands of state employees detained, sacked, or suspended. gulcan kacmaz was a teacher at the time and was also on the

list. she still does not know why. >> the same election authority that allowed us to run as candidates, then makes this unlawful decision. it is supposed to be an absolutely independent institution, but it is not. it is under the control of the akp. julia: instead of kacmaz, the runner-up candidate in her district was declared mayor, a member of president erdogan's ak party. a few weeks ago, kacmaz protested against the ruling in front of t the town hall where e feels she should now be working. it took just a few minutes for the police to clear the demonstrators. hayrullah tanis is the only member of the ruling akp in van who was willing to talk to us.

he blames gulcan kacmaz's party for the outcome. >> a rival party deliberately nominated candidates who were sacked by emergency degrees. our honorable president had warned them, don't nominate people with links to terror groups or crime or those who were sacked. if you do it, this is what you get. julia: in five districts in southeastern turkey, akp politicians were given the office, despite pro-kurdish htp candidates actually winning the elections. the opposition insists it is a deliberate attempt to keep them out of power. gulcan kacmaz is now helping out in her husband's stationary store. she has filed an appeal against the decision to withdraw her mandate, even though she has little chance of success. >> i don't want to give up. i want to bebe there for the people. i hope that the unlawful and antidemocratic practices in turkey will soon end.

julia: a present from a friend. a nameplate for what should have been her new office. now it is here in the shop, one of the few reminders that gulcan kacmaz was recenently elected mayor. sumi: now to some other stories making news around the world. afghan politicians and representatives from the taliban have met in moscow, part of a conference marking 100 y years f diplomatic ties between russia anand afghanistanan. rurussian foreign minister sergy lavrov is calling for the complete withdrawal of international forces from afghanistan. a nationwide strike has closed argentina's schools, offices, and banks and brought the country's airports to a standstill. unions called the action in prprotest against the presiden's austeritity measures. they are demanding the government b backs salary increases s in line with inflation, and tackles high unemployment.

the chinese telecoms company hua wei asked a court to overturn a u.s. court from barring countries from buying their products. president trump has tried to ban it, and they call it unconstitutional. they fear their technology could be used to steal. he is vying to become britain's next prime minister but first it looks like conservative force johnson will have to go to court. he is facing allegations he intentionally lied to voters ahead of the 2016 brexit referendum campaign. >> three hundred 50 million pounds a week. reporter: instead of britain sending 350 million pounds a week to brussels, the money could be spent on british health care. that is what boris johnson promised voters again and again in the run-up to the brexit referendum three years ago. but the figure is incorrect, as many people pointed out at the time.

one activist believes johnson misused his office to deliberately mislead the public. marcus ball raised around 250,000 euros to file a lawsuit against the conservative lawmaker. now johnson must respond to the accusation court. after that, the case could go to trial. >> she said there was enough evidence to issue a summons. i think it will be very many months before this is resolved. reporter: johnson's lawyers reject a lawsuit as politically motivated. they say their client was engaging in a political campaign and not speaking in an official capacity. no date has been set for the hearing the case comes at an awkward time for johnson. he is considered the front runner in the race to replace theresa may as party leader and british prime minister. sumi: president muhammadu buhari has been sworn into office during his inauguration ceremony in nigeria.

it is his second consecutive term, but many young voters are disappointed by the slow pace of change in the country. reporter: it was a low-key event by some standards. the inauguration ceremony was short of unusual because of security concerns. and former general muhammadu buhari took hihis presidential oath for the second time. >> that i will be faithful. >> that i will be faithful.. >> and bear true a allegncnce. >> and bear true allegiance. reporter: there was no inauguration speech. he won the elections in february with more than half the vote. opopposition parties disputed te results, but it was not just buhari's opponents who were displeased. they say at the age of 76, he has faileded to connect with the younger voters who want change and jobs. in africa's most populous nation, a quarter of the workforce is unemployed. safety and law enforcement are

also major issues. >> i am full of great expectations because the president has assured us that this time around he has already hit the ground running. we expect to get better security, which he has promised us. >> our expectation is that mr. president will now focus more on the issue of security, employment, and agriculture. these are the core areas we expect mr. president to focus on. reporter: the country is being plagued by a rise in kidnappings, killings, and robbery. last month the government estimated that around 4000 pepeople were being held. the jihadist militant group boko haram is still activive in the northeast of the country and has increased attacks on civilian and military targets. and in northwestern nigeria, the u.n. refugee agency warned that clashes between farmers and cattle herders forced thousands

to flee their homes since last month. huge challenges ahead for president buhari's next four years in office. sumi: south african runner caster semenya has filed an appeal to the swiss supreme court challenging a decision that prevents her from competing unless she takes hormone medication. semenya said her appeal is based on fundamental human rights. under new rules from the international athletics federation, the iaaf, she is not allowed to run in her favorite distances unless she medically lowers her natural testosterone levels. earlier this month the court for arbitration for sport in switzerland rejected her challenge against the iaaf rules. now semenya wants the swiss supreme court to weigh-in. family, friends, and fans bid farewell to legendary formula

one driver niki lauda in his home city of vienna today. a horrific crash nearly cost him his life but he recovered and went on to win another two championships. reporter: this is vienna is -- vienna's iconic saint stephen's cathedral. for the first time in history, a service was held here for an athlete, niki laudada.he is one of the best drivers the sport has ever seen. the was able to pay their respects until midday. >> i stood in line for one hour and it was definitely worth it. >> he was simply a great human being and especially a great austrian. >> niki lauda was not just a great racer but also a good businessman. he did a lot for austria, salzburg, and vienna. reporter: he retired in 1985 but remained active in the sport throughout his life.

three walked beside the coffin as it left the church. a final farewell to one of the greats of formula one, before his burial in a family-only ceremony. sumi: a reminder now of our top story. in his first public comments regarding his investigation, u.s. special counsel robert mueller says his report into russian interference in the u.s. election does not exonerate president trump. he added his team -- if his team was confident the president did not commit a crime, they would have said so. more news coming up on "the day." stay tuned. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] dw

--- to see what y you live from paris world news and analysisis from francnce twenty four on mao and these are the headlines. robert muller says he was prevented from bringing a prosecution against us president trump. that is inquire into russian interference didn't clear trump's name. also announced his resignation from the us jusustice department and the closure of a special counsel. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu faces a midnight deadline to form a new governing coalition. as he seeks to stave off the crisisis that could trigger an unprecedented second election this year. or even forced him to step down. my micron has joined the calls