the former us vice—president, joe biden, has won the latest democratic presidential primary. victory in south carolina was regarded as vital to mr biden's survival after unimpressive performances in previous state ballots. our correspondent, barbara plett—usher is in south carolina and says the win for joe biden is significant. it could be, it very well could be. this is the vote that mr biden was looking for. he had to win big here not only to stay in the race, but to become a contender in the race. and it's an overwhelming victory, according to the exit polls, propelled by strong support from african—american voters. at the moment, he is now in a solid second place behind the frontrunner, bernie sanders. and that's what he wanted, is momentum going into those crucial votes on super tuesday next week.

that is a crucial time for the presidential campaign, and he will be going into it in a strong way. as i said, bernie sanders is still the frontrunner. he came in second place here, but mr biden has set himself up as the strongest alternative to him at the moment, going into super tuesday. that was barbara plett—usher, speaking earlier. president trump has said he'll meet taliban leaders after the united states signed a deal with the afghan militant group. america could begin withdrawing its troops in months. here's our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. they fought the world's mightiest army, but today they sat together. old enemies shaking hands on a deal. the first step towards ending america's longest war. a glimpse of hope that afghanistan can finally move towards peace. but the us‘ top diplomat says that is up to the taliban.

first, keep your promises to cut ties with al-qaeda and other terrorists. keep up the fight to defeat isis. welcome the profound relief of all afghan citizens, men and women, urban and rural, as a result of this past week's massive reduction in violence, and dedicate yourselves to continued reductions. but for the taliban, today was a victory march. there is no doubt that you won the war. there is no doubt. otherwise, the foreign forces have not come to afghanistan. what would you say to those now who fear the return of the taliban? they should not fear. because the government which will come after this, will be acceptable to all in afghanistan. watching from the sidelines in kabul, an afghan government shut out of this deal. the taliban refused

to talk to it. today, the nato chief and us defence secretary also sent them a message. they are still standing shoulder to shoulder with their afghan allies and their troops won't start leaving until peace talks start. but this is a different country from the dark days of brutal taliban rule. in doha, one deal is done. making peace will be much harder. history is being made in this moment. this is not a peace deal, but it is a significant step forward and for all the uncertainty and scepticism, afghans know this is their best chance to move towards peace in a very long time. but they worry about a us rush to the exit. especially in an election year, when president trump wants to bring his troops home.

lyse doucet, bbc news, doha. the state of washington in the us has declared a state of emergency, after reporting the country's first death from the coronavirus. health authorities say the victim was a man in his fifties. earlier, president trump said the victim was a woman. he also said additional cases were likely, but healthy people should not be badly affected. experts now agree that the decision to move so quickly, despite a lot of opposition on that decision, was a wise one. it greatly slowed the spread of the virus to the united states, and it really gave us time to do some of the critical moves that we've done. we have taken the most aggressive actions to confront the coronavirus. they are the most aggressive taken by any country. that

was president from speaking a little bit earlier. you are watching bbc news. —— president from speaking. —— president trump. one of britain's most senior civil servants, sir philip rutnam, has resigned as permanent secretary at the home office. he's pursuing a claim against the government for constructive dismissal after what he called a "vicious and orchestrated" campaign against him. his dramatic resignation follows persistent reports of tensions between him and the home secretary, priti patel. our political editor, laura kuenssberg reports. you're not meant to have heard of him. permanent secretaries are the backroom bosses of the government machine. but this rainy saturday morning became a personal and a public storm for him. in the last ten days, i have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. it has been alleged that i have briefed the media against the home secretary. this, along with many other claims, is completely false. the home secretary categorically denied any involvement in this campaign

to the cabinet office. i regret, i do not believe her. she has not made the effort i would expect to dissociate herself from the comments. priti patel has made no effort to engage with me to discuss this. priti patel is known as a straight talker, but denied doing anything wrong when whispers about her behaviour made their way to the press in recent days. are you a workplace bully, home secretary? but there are now demands for an enquiry, with herformer top official taking the government to court and listing the accusations against her in public. i have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands, behaviour that created fear and needed some bravery to call out. sir philip's time in charge was not without problems. the home office, a notoriously tricky part of government. you've probably already read a great deal more about permanent secretaries in the last few days than you ever expected to... but an exit like this is serious and highly unusual. the prime minister has to get a grip on this and notjust

allow this chaos to continue. you have to have a positive functioning relationship between civil servants who work immensely hard to deliver and also ministers who need to show leadership and be held to account. tensions between ministers and officials are nothing new, but this exit is on a different scale. there's no sense from number 10 at the moment that there will be consequences for priti patel and they have made no secret of the fact that they want to change things and they are not afraid of ruffling feathers, but there is a difference between decisiveness and dysfunction and ultimately this government, any government, needs the civil service to get things done. this has been a very difficult decision. but i hope that my stand may help in maintaining the quality of government in our country. sir philip, do you think that priti patel is fit for office? he will say no more for now. but for the government's opponents, sir philip's decision to go public speaks volumes alone. laura kuenssberg, bbc news.

now on bbc news, the south african government has acknowledged prejudice is partly to blame for the latest eruption of violence against african migrants fuelling fears that xenophobic attacks are on the rise. global questions presented by zeinab badawi travelled tojohannesburg to discuss: is south africa afrophobic? hello, i'm zeinab badawi. welcome to johannesburg for this addition of global questions. this is the commercial capital of south africa. it is one of the cities in the country that has seen periodic attacks on workers from other parts of the continent. unemployment is high in south africa. nearly one in three people out of work. so can be violence be blamed on poverty, or other other factors at play? that is the topic of

this global questions. is south africa afrophobic? i'm in foxjunction, johannesburg. this is a building that dates back to the 19th century, where migrant workers in the gold mines had settled. todayit today it has been transformed into a dynamic cultural hub, and it is the venue for our programme. we will be taking questions from our very lively audience here and we're going to get answers from our panel ina to get answers from our panel in a moment, but first, let me bring you this brief overview of the xenophobic attacks in south africa. foreigners, they

take... people are taking our land. the attacks on africans from countries such as zimbabwe, mozambique and nigeria are more accurately described as afrophobic because it was specifically people from the continent who were targeted. their businesses, like this one, were looted and burned, leading to inside south africa itself. they don't like foreigners, i don't know. we are here to make a living, we're not taking anybody‘s jobs. no african is a foreigner in africa, you know? it doesn't matter whether they come from zimbabwe orghana or matter whether they come from zimbabwe or ghana or whatever. this is home. there were anti- south african demonstrations across the continent. the south african authorities tried to dampen down on tensions and said the violence was perpetrated by criminals. but some believe there is resentment at foreigners doing

well in a country is