BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
Tens of thousands of people have marched to the central Moscow to mourn the murdered Russian opposition activist Boris Nemtsov. The demonstrators carried Russian flags and pictures of Mr. Nemtsov, and passed the spot near the Kremlin, where he was shot dead. Sarah Rainsford reports from Moscow.
“Opposition forces have been push to the margins under President Putin, protests crashed, but today this crowd was allowed to march to the heart of Moscow. As they reached the murder spot, they shouted this, “Russia without Putin.” Two days on, the gunmen still hasn't been caught, but this crowd blames Mr. Putin for the killing, some directly, but most are creating a dangerously nationalistic mood here for labeling government critics as traitors.”
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to the United States to address congress about the dangers of a possible nuclear deal with Iran. The planed switch has already damaged the relations between Israel and the White House, but the US secretary of state John Kerry said the Israeli Prime Minister would be welcomed in the United States.
“We have a closer relationship with Israel right now in term of security than at any time in history. We don't want to see this turned in some great political football. Obviously it was odd if not unique, that we learned of it from the speaker at the House and that the administration was not included in this process, but the administration is not seeking to politicize this. We want to recognize the main goal here is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”
The Argentine president Christina Fernandez de Kirchner has defended her economic policies while making her last speech to congress before she steps down as president later this year. She’s recently been criticized in relation to the death of the state prosecutor Albert Nisman who‘d accused her of covering up Iran's alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires. Ignacio de los Reyes reports.
“Christina Fernandez de Kirchner’s speech was criticized by the opposition for not mentioning the high inflation or poor foreign investments in the country. For the first time, Mrs. Fernandez said she regrets the death of prosecutor Albert Nisman, but argued his acquisitions were based on lies and asked not to use the 1994 bombing with political motivations.”
Reports say at least 19 Christians taken captured by Islamic state group in Syria have been released. The militant is still holding about 200 other Christian villagers captured in raids in the northeast of country last week. In the days afterwards, Islamic state fighters in the region clashed with Kurdish rebels and their Christian militia allies.
World news from the BBC.
An Iranian airliner has landed the Yemeni capital Sanaa for the first time in many years. Senior Iranian diplomats were on hand to welcome the flight which took place just weeks after a Shi'ite Houthi rebel movement seized control of much of city, the plane brought a team from the Iranian Red Crescent and medical aids. In the meantime, a Houthi delegation has arrived for talks in the Iranian capital Teheran.
In Britain, court documents have revealed the extent of the ties between the Islamist extremists and the man known as Jihadi John who has been seen in the Islamic state videos beheading hostages. The papers indicated that the man Mohammed Emwazi was part of a terror network in the UK. One of its leading members known as J-1 had ties to a man jailed for trying to blow up a train in London in July 2005. Other members of Jihadi John’s network have been linked to fighting in Syria and Somalia, and was said to be fundraising for the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab.
Thirty-three people have been arrested in Hong Kong at a protest against shoppers from mainland China. There were scuffles and police fired pepper spray. Hundreds of demonstrators in Yuanlang, close to the border with mainland, are angry at Chinese traders crossing to Hong Kong to snap up sought-after goods for sale back home.
Rio de Janeiro has been celebrating 450 years since the city was founded, the activity started with the gun salute at the site where the first Portuguese sailors and colonizers are believed to have landed in 1565. The mayor of Rio de Janeiro is Eduardo Paes, “I think the Rio de Janeiro is a city with a great deal of history, this is a city that both given a lot to this country and received a lot. It is the synthesis of Brazil.”