ó the republican party nomination. he calls on christian conservatives to vacuum -- to back him. yemen on the brink of all out civil war. saudi arabia says iran is responsible. scores protest in afghanistan after a mob beats to death a

woman falsely accused of burning a copy of the koran. we begin this hour in the united states, where ted cruz has been calling on christian conservatives to back him for president. he has announced he is running for his party's nomination ahead of next year's race for the white house. he is a t party darling -- tea party darling in the first big-name to enter the race. >> conservative republican ted cruz, he staked his first official claim to become president of the united states.

ted: i believe in the power of courageous conservatives rising up to reunite the promise of america. that is why today, i am announcing that i am running for president of the united states. reporter: he chose the country's largest evangelical christian university as the launchpad for his american dream. ted: the idea that the -- that this country was founded upon, our rights do not come from a and. they come from god almighty. reporter: his opposition to gay marriage and abortion. the son of a cuban immigrant, he would be the first hispanic president if you were to make it to the white house.

he does not believe in climate change. while his views might favor on the right wing fringes, he trails behind jeb bush and scott walker. laura: let's get to washington for some reaction. he made the announcement at a school that was founded by the famous tv evangelist jerry falwell. hell tells us a lot about his politics, doesn't it? -- that tells us a lot about his politics, doesn't it? philip: it tells us about his target audience. the target audience, evangelical christians, young christians.

that is why he chose the university. young conservatives, that is the biggest target audience for ted cruz. he spoke about the millions of courageous conservatives. that will be one of the big slogans of his campaign. he calls himself the courageous conservative. the most obvious parts of his views are these -- he is pro-gun, antiabortion, anti-gay marriage. he is for further sanctions against iran. against the current negotiations going on with iran. he is for a renewal of the relationship with israel. laura: it is going to be a pretty crowded field. how do his credentials shape up? philip: maybe worth comparing

him to a democratic candidate from 2008. brock obama was also a very -- barack obama was also a very recent senator. he was elected in 2012 into the senate in 2013 and is already going to the presidency. that is a similar path to the one the president took. ted cruz, despite spending very few years in the senate, is very well known. he is pretty much despised by democrats and also by some republicans. he is seen as responsible for the government shutdown after he opposed the health care overhaul put in place by president obama. that is one of the reasons he is well known. he is entering a very crowded field. at this point, he is not even the front runner. laura: two i very much.

brock obama was -- thank you very much. barack obama was the first black president of the united states. could ted cruz be the first hispanic president of the united states? the united nations is saying violence between -- is escalating rapidly. dozens of people were killed when suicide bombers targeted a mosque. saudi arabia says it will intervene if no peaceful solution is found. they accuse iran of meddling in yemen. reporter: dangerously close to the edge of civil war. militias square off against loyalist troops. the foreign minister has called on gulf arab states to intervene.

a call that saudi arabia has responded to with a pledge of support. >> if the sovereignty of yemen is threatened, then we will call for the application of charter 51 of the un security council. reporter: the charter allows intervention for peacekeeping purposes. the fighter's control the airport and are pushing to seize even more territory across yemen . it is a strategic entry point to the south of the country and there are reports that the rebels are close to the port city. the situation that has prompted concern in the international community. >> there are extremists on many

sides. they want these negotiations to fail and have been actively trying to undermine them. please allow me to reiterate that peaceful dialogue is the only option we have. reporter: u.s. special forces were ordered to i -- evacuate yemen on saturday. laura: i am joined by yemen specialist charles schmidt. how close is yemen to completely falling apart? charles: i do not know about falling apart, but they are close to civil war. laura: are we looking at a proxy war between the saudi's and iran ? charles: the saudi's on the iranians both have some -- the saudi's and the iranians both have some role in this.

i hesitate to call them rebels because they are the government at this point. they are supported by iran. they are very much a domestic movement. their sources of power are domestic. there fighting resources are mostly domestic. the president, which the international community still recognizes as the president of yemen, he will get backing from saudi arabia. his military forces are much less cohesive. laura: they warrant they would -- warned they would intervene if a peaceful solution is not found. charles: i do not see them able to intervene. their foreign-policy is money. they can support tribes and they can pay people to fight against them. the military balance of power is

against them. i'm not quite sure what they will do. they will not put saudi forces on the ground. laura: we had a bloody suicide bombing a few days ago, more than 100 people killed. the islamic state has claimed responsibility. would you see them getting more of a stronghold in yemen if the chaos continues? charles: they are carrying out this military action in the name of stamping out isis and al qaeda. they claim in the south, al qaeda is harbored by the government. on thursday, militants attacked the central prison and a whole bunch of al qaeda prisoners escaped. to the degree that they gain control of the country, isis and al qaeda will be losing refuge

in yemen. laura: thank you very much indeed. scores of people have been protesting in the afghan capital after a woman was beaten to death by a mob who accused her of burning a copy of the koran. the interior minister said the 27-year-old woman was innocent. security forces failed to intervene. reporter: wearing the masks showing the bloody face of farkhunda , lynched by a mob. hundreds of afghans protested in the capital to demand justice. they gathered outside the city's famous mosque. farkhunda was beaten by a crowd of men, thrown off a roof, and run over by cars.

before being thrown into a river . >> those arrested should be put on public trial. it should be a lesson to other vicious extremists. people are against these inhumane acts. >> women do not have any rights here. it is the most dangerous country in the world for women. reporter: allegations policeman stood by watching. they are investigating what started the attack. some religious leaders alleged farkhunda had burned a copy of the koran, but there was no evidence of that. her family said she had been suffering from mental illness for many years.

laura: the far right national front won 25% of the votes in france this weekend. marine le pen did better than expected. the party of nicholas sarkozy came out better. the party did best in the southeast of the country. >> still a second round to go, but on sunday, national front supporters were celebrating. southeast apartment that includes the city, the far right party received 37% to the vote. thanks, in part to marine le pen . marine le pen: we are satisfied because we reached our

objective. we came in first place in 11 out of 17. reporter: marine le pen is the national front's rising star. the 25-year-old is a -- >> she has a kindness to her. she is not like her grandfather. i believed in other parties for a while. why not go with the national front? reporter: according to her critics, she is a puppet for her grandfather and her aunt. the national front needs to win nine districts. despite strong turnout for the far right the party has been

socialist for 14 years. laura: it was probably a tense meeting between the greek prime minister and the german chancellor. >> they want to reboot what has become a sour relationship. she wants to see a successful grace. -- greece. big structural reforms are needed. >> we do not want to destroy the achievements of the last five years. we do need to implement big structural reforms which previous con -- governments have not achieved. the fight against corruption, tax dodging. chancellor merkel: we want greece to be economically strong

, to reduce their high unemployment and especially the extremely high youth unemployment can be overcome. delano: take a look at how the markets preformed at the session. we start in europe, were all of the major indices finished lower. mario draghi signaled inflation will pick up in the year. greece remaining a top concern for european investors. a weaker dollar has sent the dow jones and the s&p 500 down at the close. the dow closing the session flat. the nasdaq is down about .3%. singapore's founding father has passed away this monday at 91. he is credited with making the country one of the wealthiest in

asia and least corrupt. he transformed the tiny southeast asian nation into a roaring tiger. >> a first world oasis in a third world region. that is how he described his country's unlikely economic success. >> we are very proud of singapore. >> over the course of his years as prime minister, the country so it's economy grow at 6.9%. his emphasis on developing key sectors, electronics and chemical industries, paid off. and so did the creation of the state owned investment company in 1974.

it helps for the success of singapore airlines as well as transformed the island into the largest container port. >> you can see the kind of economic growth, we see the structures. laura: we are having a technical problem. delano: french oil giant is betting on russia, despite the economic sanctions in place. he is looking to china for financing. the company hopes to get 15 billion from chinese investors. total express russia will be its most important region for oil. an activist u.s. hedge fund is questioning global strategy at vivendi.

they are prepared to resolutions ahead of the april shareholder meeting. the hedge fund sent a letter to vivendi calling for the sale of universal music. china's national chemical company, the deal will give access to the premium technology. the deal is the latest in a string of takeovers by chinese buyers. news of a campaign that went horribly wrong for starbucks. the baristas will no longer be writing "race together" on coffee cups. it was meant to stir a debate on race in the country, but starbucks faced a social media backlash. laura: not to mention a little bit annoying.

delano: it is all right if they want to start the campaign, but this is a company run by mainly white men. laura: true. moving on, we will find out what has people clicking. it is time for our daily dose of web news. ♪ >> welcome to web news. coming up on today show, a canadian teenager with asp burgers gets a birthday to remember. -- aspergers if a birthday to remember. last week, a canadian mom posted a message to facebook asking

social networkers to send her son a message on his birthday. he has aspergers and when he sent out invites to his 13th birthday party, no one rsvp. thousands of canadians posted messages and photos to social networks last friday. it began trending across the country. they were wishing him many happy returns and voicing their support to let the young man know he was not on his own. a massive show of solidarity. the people who posted these clips celebrated his birthday and song. -- in song. >> ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday happy birthday ♪ ♪

>> some turned up in person to help him celebrate his 13th birthday. several hundred people showed up on friday night to celebrate with the birthday boy at a bowling alley. he was taken aback and over the moon. a new yorker journalist found some photos on his smartphone he had not taken himself. he realized his old iphone which had been stolen, had been resold in china but had not been disconnected from his icloud account. he started getting all of the photos uploaded by the new owner. many offered their services in

helping to track down the unknown chinese man. tens of thousands of chinese residents took to the blogging site trying to identify the man. in just a few days, web users were able to identify where the photos were taken and then the person and them. when he realized the level of global attention and the interest, he asked the american journalist to visit him in china. he accepted the invitation last week. he was greeted by dozens of locals testifying to his new famed -- newfound internet fame in china. a very happy ending to this story.

abuses in venezuela have been posted. urging barack obama to cancel an executive order sanctioning the venezuelan government. the online campaign started by the venezuelan president, which demands the u.s. to appeal -- repeal the order. british artist blends her love of coffee and art by painting her favorite characters. her gallery features the likes of the mario brothers and r2-d2.

you can turn your instagram pictures into temporary tattoos. they are sold in sets of 12 and come at the very reasonable price of 11 euros. in this video, we see this new zealander waterskiing barefoot pulled by an airplane. you can take a closer look in action on his youtube channel. ♪

♪

rom pacifica, this is democracy now! >> critical instability threatens all yemenis and denies them the opportunity to live in safety, peace, prosperity. today's attack underscores the terrorism that affects all yemenis and no one political group alone can confront the challenges facing yemen. amy: