BBC News with Julie Candler.
Hillary Clinton is to launch her bid to become the first female President of the United States on Sunday. The former Secretary of State is expected to use a video posted on the Internet to announce that she's seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for next year's election. Nick Bryant reports from Washington.
“Ordinarily, presidential candidates launch their campaigns in front of adoring crowds in a blaze of red, white and blue. But Hillary Clinton will offer less ？, a video posted online and promoted on social media. Then it's believed she'll head to Iowa and New Hampshire to meet individual voters in fairly intimate settings, rather than the usual rallies. It's a deliberately low-key, even humble start, choreographed to avoid the sense of entitlements that bedaubed her campaign in 2008.”
A White House official has confirmed that President Obama and the Cuban leader Raul Castro, will meet formally on Saturday, the second day of the America Summit in Panama. The highly symbolic meeting will be their first since the recent thaw in relations between their countries. The Presidents have shaken hands only once before informally at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in 2013. The U.S. State Department has recommended that Cuba be removed from its list of states said to sponsor terrorism.
Police in South Africa say a number of people have been killed during attacks on immigrants in the port city of Durban. More than 1,000 foreign nationals, mainly from other parts of Africa, have fled their homes. Here's Andrew Harding.
“It's become a familiar problem in South Africa, with locals and and poor communities accusing immigrants of breaking the law and stealing their jobs. But this latest violence appears to have been directly provoked by this man. The influential Zulu king, Goodwill Zwelithini here, publicly accuses foreigners of dirtying our streets and tells them to pack their bags and leave. President Zuma's son, Edward, has made similar comments. The situation in Durban remains volatile, with police still not clear how many people have been killed.”
Germany says it's buying back 100 Leopard 2 tanks it's sold to the defence industry during the years of sharp cutbacks in spending after the Cold War. The move is widely seen as a reaction to rising tension between NATO and Russia over Ukraine, as Steve Jackson reports.
“Towards the end of the Cold War, the former West Germany had 3,500 tanks. But 30 years later, the reunited Germany has only 225. Putting the Leopard 2 tanks back into service will cost 23 million dollars, and will require changes to modernise them. Russia's actions in Ukraine over the past year have given NATO countries a sharp jolt, and the alliance is now trying to strengthen its forces and improve their reaction times.”
World news from the BBC.
India has formally protested to Pakistan after the man accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks was freed from a Pakistani prison on bail. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is one of 7 men facing trial for the attacks which killed more than 160 people. Mr. Lakhvi's lawyer Rizwan Abbassi defended the decision.
“The court considered all the aspects of this matter and they're keeping in view the lapses on the part of Indian authorities, keeping in view lack of evidence which has not been provided by the Indian authorities and just confined them. So, to the extent of sending dossiers, the court granted bail to Lakhvi.”
Zimbabwe's main opposition movement, the Democratic Change, says it will participate in forthcoming by-elections in 14 continences until political reforms guaranteeing fair elections are in place. The decision was taken after hours of discussion at the headquarters of the MDC Party of Morgan Tsvangirai, who supports the boycott.
The U.S. Secret Service says one of its officers has been arrested in Washington and is being charged with the destruction of property. The unnamed officer from the Service's uniformed branch worked in the protection of foreign missions. Gary O'Donoghue has more.
“The precise nature of the allegations against the officer are not yet known. But following the arrest, he's been put on an administrative leave by the Secret Service, and the Director, Joseph Clancy, has ordered that the man's security clearance be suspended. This is just the latest in a series of embarrassments for the Service, which has already been investigated over an incident in March, when a car containing officers apparently crashed into a barricade at the White House after a party.”
Spanish police have broken up an extortion ring run on mobile phones by a group of 4 prisoners from a jail in the Chilean capital, San Diego. The police said the prisoners had co-called random numbers in Spain and terrorized people by telling them they had kidnapped their family members.