BREAKING NEWS

Texas Senator Ted Cruz to announce presidential run

US Republican Senator Ted Cruz plans to announce on Monday that he will run for president in 2016, the Houston Chronicle reported on its website.

The newspaper, citing senior advisers to the Texas senator who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported that Cruz would launch a presidential bid outright rather than the traditional path of forming an exploratory committee.

He would become the first Republican presidential candidate to announce a run for the 2016 election.

Cruz, a leading conservative who was elected to the US Senate in 2012, is slated to make a speech on Monday at Liberty University in Virginia. "You're going to want to be there," a member of Cruz' staff told the Daily Beast web site but declined to reveal the specific nature of the address.