>> this is "bbc world news ." >> funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> and now "bbc world news ." >> hello and welcome to the bbc. >> the headlines. stresses the importance of faith and freedom, the pope celebrates mass with tens of thousands of catholics in communist cuba. charges against him were dropped in the u.s., but dominique is underkahn investigation in france. >> the summit in seoul. three nato soldiers and an american are killed by rogue members of the afghan forces. it is 11:00 a.m. in singapore. >> it is 4:00 a.m. here in london. welcome to "newsday."

pope benedict has arrived in cuba at the start of a three-day visit. he is holding a huge open-air mass in san diego -- santiago. raul castro welcomed the pope at the airport. president castro said socialist cuba allows full freedom of religion. relations between the catholic church and the cuban state have improved the last several years. the pope says the marxist ideology is outdated. our correspondent is in cuba. >> there was a crowd on the

road, lining the road into havana after the pope touchdown at the airport. he was met by president raul castro. the mass itself, there were huge crowds before the pope arrived, singing and dancing. lots of them wearing t-shirts of an image with the pope. president raul castro and several senior members of the communist party -- i think a very strong symbol of the different relationship there is here today, the better relationship, between the communist cuban state and the roman catholic church. >> it has got better, hasn't it, over the years? >> it was 1992 when fidel castro changed the constitution and made it possible for cubans to enjoy freedom of worship.

the state became a secular state, not an atheist one. catholics felt much freer to go to mass. 1998 is when choke -- pope john paul ii came to cuba. that was a key moment, marking a key change in the relationship. the catholic church has -- it is still in a fairly difficult position here. the communist mission is to provide free education for everyone. there are no church schools here. they cannot build new churches, either. there is a seminary. things are changing slowly. the church hopes it can help change happen further. it wants to bring people back to the religion after so many years of atheism. >> this is a good move for

president castro. he has previously used the church. >> a man intervened when the issue of political prisoners in cuba became extremely difficult for the government. there were massive demonstrations between 2003 and 2010. it is when they became the focus of international attention in 2010 that the cardinal stepped in. he intervened and eventually negotiated the release of 75 political prisoners here. it was a key moment in terms of showing how the church has begun to use its influence. there are people here, particularly dissidents in cuba, who are asking the church to do more, to speak out for human rights, on the island. they say there is religious freedom here, but other human rights are restricted. >> the former head of the international monetary fund, dominique strauss-kahn is under

investigation in prance -- france. charges were filed against him in lille. >> after several hours of questioning on monday, dominique strauss-kahn was placed under formal investigation. he is -- authorities have been given more time to carry of the investigation because they have reason to believe a crime was committed. what of the allegations? he is alleged in being involved in procuring prostitutes, and he was part of an organized gang. he admitted being at a party where prostitutes attended, but he denied knowing they're prostitutes. he denied any wrongdoing. he has been released on bail. last year in may, strauss-kahn resigned as head of the imf when he was arrested on sexual

assault charges. a new york hotel maid accused him of attempting to rape her. dominique strauss-kahn was later released when the maid's testimony was found unreliable. she is now bringing a civil case. other allegations have come to light since then. a journalist brought a case of sexual assault by mr. strauss- kahn during an interview she conducted. that case was dropped when prosecutors said it was too late. she has published a book about her allegations. mr. strauss-kahn's standing has been greatly affected. he attracted angry demonstrators outside cambridge university after he had been invited to speak by the union society. he was expected to run a soap -- run as a socialist candidate for the french president, taking on

nicolas sarkozy, but he is out of the race. his political career, at least with the french socialists, is in tatters. bbc news. >> something happening in south korea. day two of the nuclear summit. >> that is right. it is being attended by u.s. president barack obama, who has been urging hu jintao to do more to restrain north korea over its nuclear and missile programs. more than 50 heads of state and organizations are attending. the summit is trying to find ways that countries can cooperate to protect nuclear materials from terrorist groups. joining me is our correspondent. the three leaders have addressed the media. tell us what is happening today. >> that is right. the main session of the summit was opened here by the presence of america, south korea, and china, all of whom stressed the threat that nuclear terrorism

poses to the world. president obama has said it is one of the greatest threat the world faces, and the security of the world lies in the hands of people here today, and the actions that they take. he went on to list the things that his country has already done to improve nuclear security. >> we are improving security at our nuclear facilities. we are forging new partnerships. we are removing nuclear materials. in some cases, getting rid of these materials entirely. as a result, more of the world's nuclear materials will never fall into the hands of terrorists, who would gladly use them against us. of course, what is also undeniable is that the threat remains. there are still too many bad actors in search of these dangerous materials. these dangerous materials are still vulnerable in too many places. >> one of the things this summit is trying to do is to get

greater individual commitment from countries here in terms of reducing and protecting the materials in their own countries. it is also trying to hammer out international agreement on standards for storing that kind of nuclear material. at the moment, there is no binding international agreement that does that. an amendment that is trying to do that is still unratified after seven years. >> has progress been made since the last summit? >> some progress has been made. the officials we were talking to say that, in their minds, 80%, the vast majority, of the commitments made at the last summit have been met. they were modest commitments. the last summit was about fleshing out the principle of this. the countries would work together. this is the summit at which they want to see a quadrupling of those kinds of commitments. if that happens, they say it

could result in commitments to reduce or put the world's fissile materials at 1/6 of the total amount of nuclear materials. that is the aim here today. that is what is being fleshed out at the summit here today. >> thank you so much for that update. british soldiers have been shot dead in southern afghanistan by a man in an afghan army uniform. the men wore a royal marine and a soldier from a general's corps. the families have been informed. they suffered an attack in the country. another member of the forces was shot dead by a man in a police uniform. our correspondent reports the attacks are the latest in a growing number of incidents in which afghan troops have turned their guns on nato personnel. >> this is a tough conflict at the best of times, but for international troops, the risk

of being shot by the very men they are training and fighting alongside is the hardest when they face. these two deaths bring to 15 the number of british troops who have died in this way. the news was announced in the commons. >> details of the incident are still emerging, but it appears that a member of the afghan national army opened fire at the entrance gate to the british headquarters, killing the two british service personnel. the assailant was killed by return fire. >> afghan anger as follows stories of u.s. soldiers urinating on enemy corpses, burning copies of the koran, and villagers were killed by one wrote u.s. soldier. -- rogue u.s. soldier. nato is always blue. afghan forces are green. news of the third green-on-blue

attack today. six american soldiers died, including two inside the ministry of interior in kabul. one albanian was killed close to the pakistan border. french troops were killed by an afghan soldier in february. >> we are taking measures to ensure that casualties are kept to a minimum. >> it is a terrible string of attacks. it is terrible. although the attacks are relatively small in number, the effect that they have as severe. >> the aim is that afghan forces will be ready to take on the fight against the taliban by themselves by 2014. international resolve to stick to the plan, a key to the timetable for withdrawal by the end of 2014. however strong that might be, it is hard to see how there can be trust on the ground between the soldiers of these such different

nations after the violent killings. the flags will be flying at half-mast again tonight at the base, as they have so often before. bbc news, kabul. >> you are watching "newsday." still to come, 60 million people are in danger in africa. we report from a place that is at risk of famine. >> president obama faces a potential pre-election headache as his controversial health care legislation -- stay with us to find out why. let's take a look into what is making the headline in la -- headlines in some newspapers around the world. south china, president obama and president hu jintao discussions at the summit. the chinese president shares

america's concerns about north proposal pending rocket launch. iran pose a nuclear program also causing concern. the royal bank of scotland has sent payment to a greek tanker that was transporting oil. the formal investigation into dominique strauss-kahn. also, the investigation into the weapons supply channels for mohamed merah, who shot seven people dead in france. increasing the eurozone bailout capacity makes the front page. >> this is "newsday" on the bbc. >> pope benedict has celebrated

mass with tens of thousands of catholics in cuba. it is the first papal visit to the island for 14 years. >> soldiers have been killed by rogue members of the afghan forces in two separate attacks. the threat of famine is something people throughout africa struggle to cope with. drought, under-development, and political instability has created a landscape the u.n. says puts more than 16 million people in danger of chronic food shortages. one area is particularly at risk, with warning that the crisis could turn into a famine. our africa correspondent is in the region and sends this report. >> we need an armed escort to venture into the bering fringes of the sahara. militants are growing threat here.

so is hunger. in a tiny village, this person pounds green. she has lost her husband and six children to disease. now, the rains have failed. the pitiful crop only sustained the family for a week. of course we go hungry, she says. the rain has not come. it has been getting worse for years. there are nearly no men left in the village now. they have gone abroad in search of work. 2012 is going to be particularly tough. harvests could fail. prices are shooting up. there is growing insecurity across the region. so, the familiar warning signs.

children are arrived this week. the united nations fears 400,000 children could be in this condition within months. almost one in tennis likely to die. -- in ten is likely to die. it is much worse already this year, says this nurse. she is seeing more children arrive in a state of complete exhaustion. yet, the village is not without hope. maya's village, a scheme to trap rain water to revive the fields. there is finally a democratic government acknowledging the crisis and cooperating with the outside world, keys to avoiding a famine. she now gets a small wage from the united nations. >> because of this work, we can feed our families, she says.

>> that does not change the fact that the village well is drying up. she needs a long rope each year. as a child, she remembers life was wonderful here. not anymore. bbc news. >> the u.s. supreme court has decided it can hear legal challenges to president obama's controversial health care legislation. nine judges will hear evidence now for three days. a decision is expected in june in the midst of the presidential election campaign. our washington correspondent has the details. >> passion and politics on the steps of the u.s. supreme court. the nation's most senior judges began their deliberations. reporters and opponents of what has become known as obamacare engaged in a lively debate.

>> no. let me have -- i am not supporting it. >> the battle over the affordable health care act was titanic. it only just passed congress before landing on the president's desk, a bill designed to extend coverage to millions of uninsured americans. >> health insurance reform becomes law in the united states of america. >> at its heart, the so-called individual mandates, citizens compelled to buy insurance or pay a penalty. opponents say that is simply not constitutional. lower courts have ruled one way, and the other, the supreme court must now arbitrate. its findings could have enormous political implications. no surprise to see one of the republican hopefuls addressing the crowd. >> do you really want obamacare?

only one person can make that happen. i make obamacare the central issue in this race. >> not since the 1960's has the court spent three days discussing a single subject. the ruling is expected in june and will be one of the most eagerly-awaited of recent times. bbc news, washington. >> a company evacuate more than 200 workers off the platform. 85 personnel were moved from a neighboring platform. they shut down all the wells because gas was escaping. it is a significant operation that could take a long time. the u.n. and kofi annan has a arrived, flying in from moscow. he said the crisis cannot be

allowed to drag on indefinitely. he said there is no point in issuing deadline unless the key players in the conflict are involved. serrie a's government forces are bombarding forces. this report was sent from neighboring lebanon. >> parts of syria's third- biggest city still being shelled by bombs and rockets. virtually every day, more people are killed here than anywhere else in syria. inevitably, many of the victims are civilians. this is the kind of thing that kofi annan wants to stop immediately, the use of heavy weapons in popular at -- population centers. it insists that are rebels must throw down their weapons before the troops.

that is the gap that kofi annan was trying to get russia's help to bridge. the russians and chinese generally support his efforts, but he needs their help to persuade president a sod -- assad that help is needed. >> this cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely. they cannot resist the transformation. they have to except -- accept that change has to come. that is the only way to deal with the situation. >> kofi annan has his work cut out on both sides of the equation. they have been meeting in istanbul, trying to unify ranks. the problem is that few of them are ready to dialogue with the regime. >> there'll be absolutely no negotiations with assad. the political prisoners have to

get released. the occupation of cities and villages inside the country have to stop. >> as the talking and diplomacy go on, each day, and dozens more are added to the victims. over 8000 have been killed so far. kofi annan has the whole world behind him. it is clear that peace is not going to happen quickly. >> there have been clashes between armed forces from sudan and south sudan, and on several disputed border regions. the cause of the fighting is not yet clear. it is believed to be the worst violence since last year. it has prompted the sudanese president to suspend a visit to south said on -- sudan. our correspondent has been

following developments from the sudanese capital. he says that while something is clearly happening, both sides have opinions on precisely what is happening. >> that line about the worst clashes since independence, that comes from a military spokesman. he says his forces were attacked from the air in two places on monday morning, and then in the afternoon, by ground troops from the sudanese armed forces. it seems that they beat back to this attack and pursued it almost up to the oilfields. the sudanese perspective is different. they say they did not start the fight. they say it was south sudan's responsibility. there were clashes along the border. the military spokesman told me that the clashes near the oilfields were the work of the sudanese rebel group, which is

taking advantage of the confusion. it is a confusing situation. clearly, major clashes along the border. >> many political leaders learn the hard way that you should not say anything you need to be private without first checking your microphone is off. president obama on his visit to the summit is the latest to be caught out. here he is talking to president medvedev. [inaudible] >> he is saying to president medvedev that, this is my last election. after my election, i will have more flexibility. president obama has played it down. you are watching "newsday." i am in london. stay with us.

headlines next. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries.

what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.