Presidential candidate cleared

The attorney general's office in Colombia has announced that it is dropping all criminal charges against a leading candidate in next May's presidential election.

The candidate, Horacio Serpa of the governing Liberal Party, had faced charges in connection with money allegedly received by President Ernesto Samper's 1994 election campaign from drug traffickers.

The attorney general's office said Mr Serpa was not responsible for the affair as he had a strictly political role.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service