Somalia's al-Shabab claims Baidoa attack killing 30

This is the fourth major al-Shabab attack in Somalia this year

Islamist militant group al-Shabab has said it carried out Sunday's attack in Somalia's southern city of Baidoa that killed at least 30 people.

A car bomb exploded outside a restaurant as people were watching the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal.
In a second explosion, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a busy junction.
This is the fourth major al-Shabab attack in Somalia since the beginning of the year.
It came on the same day as countries which contribute to the African Union force in Somalia, Amisom, pledged "to reinforce military operations in Somalia, to effectively counter threats from al-Shabab".





The attack targeted people watching a football match on television
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud held an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday evening in response to the Baidoa attack, and Security Minister Abdirizak Mohamed Omar called for extra laws to help the government fight the militant group.
AU representative in Somalia Francisco Madeira condemned the attack saying he was "saddened by the loss of innocent lives through acts of terror committed by ruthless individuals who have no value for life".
In addition to the 30 deaths, the attacks injured 60 people who are being treated in hospital, a local journalist said.

Ted Cruz: Trump can't beat Hillary Clinton

Ted Cruz said Sunday that he's prepared to support any Republican in this year's presidential election -- even if the party nominates a candidate he believes would lose to Hillary Clinton..

Appearing on "State of the Union with Jake Tapper," the Texas senator once again insisted that he is the best alternative to Donald Trump, saying that 65% of GOP primary voters agree that the real estate mogul is not the best candidate to face Clinton.

"You know, we've seen now that there's only one candidate that has beaten Donald Trump and that can beat Donald Trump," said Cruz, who gave Trump his only loss of the season thus far in the Iowa caucuses.

Cruz is the favorite to win the Texas primary, one of several states voting this week on "Super Tuesday." Polls show that Trump is leading in most of the other states voting that day.

Cruz told Tapper he hopes "those 65% of Republicans that don't think Donald can beat Hillary will continue to unite behind our campaign."

If Trump were to clinch the nomination, Cruz believes the billionaire would "probably" lose to Clinton. Cruz said that Trump's past praise of Clinton, as well as his donation to the Clinton Foundation, would neutralize any GOP attacks against the former secretary of state.

Cruz and Marco Rubio have ratcheted up their attacks on the Republican frontrunner in recent weeks, as the prospect of Trump winning the nomination grows ever more likely. The two senators took turns ripping Trump at last week's debate.

On Sunday, Cruz suggested that a Trump presidency would be chaotic.

"Listen, if Donald becomes president, who the heck knows what he would do? Even Donald doesn't know what he would do," Cruz said. "And I think the challenges facing this country are too grave to roll the dice and risk losing the Supreme Court for a generation, risk yet more economic stagnation and risk on foreign policy allowing radical Islamic terrorism to continue to rise and threaten America."

Despite that concern, Cruz didn't balk when asked if he'd support Trump in a general election.

"I will support the Republican nominee," Cruz said. "Period. The end."

But as he hit the Sunday shows, Cruz unloaded on Trump, hammering him for refusing to release his tax returns.

Cruz became the first Trump opponent to invoke his history of dealings with mafia families on construction deals in an appearance on ABC's "This Week" as he questioned why the real estate mogul won't release those returns.

"There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. Now maybe his tax returns show that those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been reported," Cruz said.

He pointed to Trump's dealings with the mob-controlled S&A Concrete to build his Trump Plaza condos. Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, head of the Genovese crime family, and Paul Castellano, the don of New York's Gambino family, controlled S&A.

He also built Trump Tower out of concrete, instead of steel, at a time when the mafia controlled much of the concrete industry.

"Maybe that's what his tax returns show," Cruz said.

Oscars 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins Academy Award

Leonardo DiCaprio has finally won his first Oscar for survival epic The Revenant, after six nominations.

He was named best actor at the 88th Academy Awards, with Brie Larson named best actress for Room.
Spotlight took home the best picture Oscar with Mad Max: Fury Road picking up the most awards of the night, with six accolades.
Mark Rylance won the best supporting actor Oscar, with fellow Briton Sam Smith winning best original song.

Is Hollywood racist?'

The ceremony had been boycotted by some Hollywood figures protesting about the lack of ethnic diversity among this year's nominees, as all 20 nominees in the best acting or supporting acting categories are white.
Host Chris Rock addressed the controversy head on as he launched the ceremony, and it was a theme that was returned to several times during the night.
Rock commented he had "counted at least 15 black people" in the montage that opened the ceremony, before welcoming people to the "white People's Choice awards".
"You realise if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even get this job," he quipped. "Y'all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now."
Rock added: "Everyone wants to know is Hollywood racist? You have to go at it the right way. Is it burning-cross racist? Fetch-me-some-lemonade racist? No.
"It's a different kind of racist. Is Hollywood racist? You're damn right it's racist but it's sorority racist. It's like: We like you Rhonda, but you're not a Kappa.''
Among the winners for Mad Max: Fury Road - nominated for 10 Oscars including best director for George Miller - was British designer Jenny Beavan, for best costume design.
The Revenant won three of the 12 awards for which it was nominated. Alejandro Inarritu also won best director and Emmanuel Lubezki won his third Oscar for cinematography in a row, having won in 2015 for Birdman and 2014 for Gravity.
DiCaprio received a standing ovation as he picked up his award, after five acting nominations and one nomination as producer of best picture nominee Wolf of Wall Street.
He thanked his director and co-star Tom Hardy for his "fierce talent on screen" and "friendship off screen" before campaigning for action to combat climate change, saying making The Revenant was "about man's relationship to the natural world".
"Climate change is real - it is happening right now," said DiCaprio. "It is the most urgent threat facing our species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating."
He asked the audience to "support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who'll be affected by this".
He added: "Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted."
It is 22 years since he was first nominated for an Academy Award, having been nominated for best supporting actor for What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
Speaking to reporters after his win, DiCaprio said: "I feel very honoured, to share this has been an amazing experience, to sit there and talk about the film.
"I also got to talk about something I have been obsessed with - the environment and climate change - on a platform with hundreds of millions of people watching worldwide."
 
The Revenant won three awards, including best director for Alejandro Inarritu
As he accepted his award, Inarritu said it was a "great opportunity to our generation to liberate ourselves from all prejudice", saying the colour of someone's skin should be "as irrelevant as the length of their hair".
It is the fourth Oscar for Inarritu, having won best director, best original screenplay (as co-writer) and best picture (as producer) for Birdman in 2015.
Larson had won praise for her role as abducted woman Ma in Room, based on the book by Emma Donoghue.
 
The cast of Spotlight, including Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiver and Michael Keaton reacted with joy after the film was named best picture 
The actress thanked everyone involved in the film, including young co-star Jacob Tremblay, who plays her son.
After her win, she said: "Who I was by the time the movie was over was so far from where I started. It was a long process in trying to find myself.
"Now I feel strong, to be holding this gold guy is an incredible metaphor for how I feel inside."

Migrant crisis: EU meeting seeks to heal growing rifts

More than 100,000 migrants have reached Europe so far this year

Ministers from EU and Balkan nations are meeting in Brussels to try to heal rifts over migrants that have plunged common policy into chaos.

Austria, Serbia and Macedonia have taken their own steps to limit entry to migrants, angering Greece, which fears the controls will cause a bottleneck.
A surge in migration, and the failure to agree an EU-wide response, have led to warnings about the bloc's survival.
More than 100,000 migrants have reached Europe this year, most via the Balkans.
European Council president Donald Tusk has warned that the failure to make progress towards resolving the crisis could increase the likelihood of the UK voting to leave the EU this year.
The EU interior ministers meeting in Brussels will hear plans drawn up by Austria and eight Balkan countries that seek to restrict the numbers entering their borders.
An official from the current Dutch presidency of the EU told the AFP news agency that the purpose of Thursday's meetings would be "to allow us to avoid surprises - we have to avoid that one country is surprised by the measures taken by another."
In separate developments:

• Ships from a Nato mission fighting human-trafficking in the Aegean Sea will work with Turkish and Greek coastguards, according to a new agreement, overcoming territorial tensions between the two neighbours
• A French judge is to decide whether to implement or postpone an eviction order for up to 1,000 migrants under plans to demolish part of the Calais "Jungle" camp
• Belgium has detained 80 migrants on the French border since imposing controls on Monday evening, officials say. Many of the migrants are thought to have come from Calais
• Germany expects to accommodate 3.6m migrants by 2020, German media reported, quoting internal government estimates 

The new measures - from Austria and its Balkan partners - include fingerprinting all entrants and turning back anyone without a passport or holding fake documents.
The countries have also pledged to accept only those they deem to be in need of protection, which has already been interpreted by some governments as meaning only Syrians and Iraqis.
Macedonia enacted the measures at its border with Greece over the weekend, barring entry to Afghans, who make up many of the migrants.
Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner described the measures as a "chain reaction of reason" and warned that the crisis could threaten the EU's survival if it was not brought under control.
Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian foreign minister told German TV that Europe had to "abandon this goal of allowing in unlimited numbers".
"We in Austria are overwhelmed," he said. "It cannot be that all migrants make their applications for asylum in Western Europe."

UN chief visits South Sudan

UN chief Ban Ki-moon is to hold talks in South Sudan's capital, Juba, to strengthen an existing peace deal it's hoped will end two years of civil war.
The government is to allow the redeployment of troops loyal to former rebel leader Riek Machar, now vice-president, in Juba next week. It will be their first time back in the city since the start of the conflict.
The visit comes amid violence in the strategic northern town of Malakal.
A spokeswoman for the UN mission says burning and looting has continued in the town following last week's clashes at a nearby UN camp, which left 18 people dead.

Ebola 'devastates long-term health'

Most people who survive an Ebola infection will have long-lasting health problems, say doctors from the US National Institutes of Health.
Their studies on survivors in Liberia showed large numbers had developed weakness, memory loss and depressive symptoms in the six months after being discharged from an Ebola unit.
Other patients were "actively suicidal" or still having hallucinations.
More than 17,000 people in West Africa have survived Ebola infection.

Burundi peace push: 'Peacekeepers not on the agenda'

South African President Jacob Zuma and four other African heads of state are in Burundi as part of international efforts to end the country's political crisis.
Earlier this week the UN chief Ban Ki-moon said President Pierre Nkurunziza had agreed to negotiate with opposition leaders.
There have been clashes in Burundi since Mr Nkurunziza announced last April that he intended to run for a third term in office.
An African diplomat in the capital, Bujumbura told AFP the aim of the leaders’ visit was to revive “inclusive dialogue”.
"The issue of deploying a peacekeeping force in Burundi is not on the agenda," the diplomat added.
The African Union had suggested sending 5,000 peacekeepers to help restore stability, but this plan has been abandoned.
In an interview with the BBC earlier in the week, Mr Ban said that deploying an international police force could possibly be an option for the UN Security Council.

Africa 'will back Bahrain candidate for Fifa president'

Kwesi Nyantakyi said Africa's candidate wasn't strong enough

Kwesi Nyantakyi, head of the Ghana Football Association, has said that the majority of African delegates will support Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa to become Fifa's new president in tomorrow's elections.
Executives at the Confederation of African Football (Caf) have asked their members to back him, but the ballot is secret.
The 54 members of the Caf will meet in Zurich at lunchtime to confirm their preferred candidate but the Ghanaian was confident an "overwhelming majority will toe the line".
Mr Nyantakyi also said he wished that Africa had a strong candidate.
South African Tokyo Sexwale "doesn't appear that he is the right person for Africa to support at this moment," he said.

Kenya cuts sentences of Iranians

Mousavi (L) and Mohammed denied the charges during their trial
A Kenyan court has reduced the life sentence of two Iranians convicted of terror-related charges to 15 years.
Sayed Mousavi and Ahmad Mohammed were arrested for planning to execute attacks in Kenya in 2012 and convicted in 2013.

South Africa to withdraw from Darfur

UN-backed forces have batted to end conflict in Darfur

South Africa will withdraw its peacekeeping troops from Sudan's Darfur region from 1 April, President Jacob Zuma's office has said in a statement.
The troops have been in Darfur since 2008 as part of a force set up by the UN and African Union to end violence in the region.
Last year, South Africa's government defied its courts by refusing to arrest Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide.
Mr Bashir denies the charges.  

Machar's troops to return to Juba

Mr Machar (C) has been reappointed vice-president

Peace monitors in South Sudan say forces loyal to the former rebel leader, Riek Machar, will be deployed to the capital, Juba, next month.
This is the first time the troops will go to Juba since the civil war erupted in 2013. Earlier this month, President Salva Kiir gave back Mr Machar his old job of vice-president.
Thousands have been killed and more than two million displaced in two years of fighting between forces loyal to Mr Kiir and Mr Machar.
A string of ceasefire deals have failed to hold.

Still no deal between MTN and Nigeria

Mobile phone giant MTN says it is still seeking an "amicable settlement" with Nigeria over the $3.9bn (£2.8bn) fine imposed on it.
It had withdrawn a legal challenge over the fine, and had paid $250m towards a "settlement, where one is eventually, hopefully arrived at",  an MTN statement is saying.
Nigeria's telecom regulator imposed the penalty last year after the South African-owned firm missed a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered Sim cards.
Nigeria is the MTN group's largest market, where it had more than 62.8 million subscribers by the second quarter of 2015.

Thumbs down for South Africa's budget

South Africa's currency fell by 2.25% against the dollar shortly after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivered the national budget.
"I expected a much firmer austerity budget," Mohammed Nalla, head of strategic research at Nedbank said.
"This budget will not be enough to help us avoid a credit downgrade in the near future, but it may have helped us buy a bit of time."
In his budget, Mr Gordhan promised greater cooperation with the private sector in an effort to boost growth, which he forecast would drop to below 1% this year.
Increased taxes on excise duties, capital gains, fuel, sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco, as well as environmental levies, are expected to bring in an extra 18bn rand ($1.18bn).

No surprise' that Compaore has switched nationalities

Mr Compaore's wife Chantal was born in Ivory Coast

The news that Burkina Faso ex-president Blaise Compaore is now a citizen of Ivory Coast has sparked rage in some camps and resignation in others.
But one thing for sure: it has surprised few.
Mr Compaore is a long-time friend of Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara. 
When he fled Burkina Faso after he was ousted by his people in October 2014, he came straight to Ivory Coast and stayed in a government house in the capital, Yamoussoukro.
Mr Compaore’s wife is also French-Ivorian. So legally his new citizenship is completely normal. 
But the issue is that Ivory Coast does not extradite its citizens. 
And an international arrest warrant was issued in December for Mr Compaore over his alleged role in the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara. 
People want to see justice for the murder of the man known by many across the continent as Africa’s Che Guevara. 
But with Mr Compaore enjoying Ivorian citizenship, it is unlikely he will ever go back to Burkina Faso.
He has always denied involvement in the 1987 murder of Sankara.

Deadly effect of Ebola outbreak

The Ebola epidemic was the worst in history
Researchers in the US say the Ebola outbreak in three West African states is likely to have led to nearly twice as many deaths as thought because it diverted health resources away from other deadly diseases.
Their study calculates that this indirectly caused 10,000 more people to die in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia - almost as many as were killed in the Ebola outbreak.
The researchers from the Yale School of Public Health say treatments for malaria, HIV/Aids and tuberculosis were the worst hit - because of the overwhelming pressure on health systems in the region.

Student's murder: Italy wants evidence from Egypt

Mr Regeni's funeral was held in Italy earlier this month

Italy wants Egyptian investigators to hand over the evidence on the killing of an Italian student killed in Cairo, reports Reuters news agency.
"Cooperation with our investigative team can be and must be more effective," Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said during parliament's question time.
Giulio Regeni disappeared on 25 January, and his mutilated body was found a week later dumped by a roadside.
Egyptian activists have suggested that Egypt's security forces may have been responsible for his death. He had been researching independent trade unions in Egypt, and had been critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government.
Egyptian officials have denied that the security forces had a hand in his killing.
Instead, they have suggested that the murder could have been motivated by crime or revenge.

Buhari anger over budget fiasco

Mr Buhari was elected president last year

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed "severe punishment" for officials who embarrassed the government by doctoring the record $31bn (£20.8bn) national budget he tabled in parliament in December.
"I have been a military governor, petroleum minister, military head of state and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund. Never had I heard the words 'budget padding'," Mr Buhari said in a statement.
He added that Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, had worked so hard on the budget that he "became almost half his size during the time", only for "some people to pad it".
“It is very embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished," President Buhari said.



Changes to the budget - the first presented by Mr Buhari since he took office - were discovered by journalists and lawmakers when it was debated in parliament, fuelling speculation that corrupt officials were behind the move.
This included a sum of $50m which was "smuggled" into the budget of the ministry of education, while Health Minister Issac Odewale disowned what was presented to the parliament, saying some “rats” had added items into his budget.

It's over; Trump is going to be the Republican nominee

It's over. Donald Trump is the Republican nominee.

He just added Nevada to the growing list of caucus primary wins, and while he needs more delegates to clinch it, who the heck can stop him now?

He is leading in national polls and in many state polls; he's succeeded in upending rivals such as Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Ben Carson; and there's no one in sight who can stop him. The only question is when will the GOP embrace him? The answer: no time soon.

The establishment doesn't like him because it can't control him. Yet he's the only conservative candidate who stands a chance against Hillary Clinton. The polls may reflect Marco Rubio doing well as a conservative uniter, but no one will hammer Clinton's biggest weakness better than Trump, and that's Clinton fatigue. 

Sorry, Bernie fans, the Democratic nomination is hers to lose.

Bush has limped away from the race in a manner that validates almost every insult Trump had flung at him (these are just from the past two weeks):

"Total disaster," "had to bring in mommy to take a slap at me," "zero communication skills," "weak candidate," "spent a fortune of special interest money on a Super Bowl ad," "desperate," "failed campaign," "Not a leader!" "by far the weakest of the lot," "Jeb failed as Jeb," "gave up and enlisted Mommy and his brother," "Weak," "no chance."

At least Jeb had the guts to face the truth and withdraw. John Kasich is a nice guy, and he gives good hugs, but under what scenario does he actually win? Carson is just as surprised as you and me that he's still on stage, which means he doesn't belong there.

Staying in the race is delusional at this point. It's time they pack their bags and turn their loss into a win on the speaking and publishing circuit.

That leaves Rubio and Cruz. Neither one of them can beat Clinton, or Trump for that matter. Yes, Cruz captured Iowa, but he is too scary for moderate Republicans and independents. And the GOP "establishment" can hope that with Jeb gone, Rubio will scoop up enough non-Trump votes to cruise to a victory, but that's not happening either. After Cruz and Trump grab their share of the undecided, there won't be enough left to give Rubio the bump he needs to pass Trump.

Nigeria president in Saudi Arabia for oil talks

Mr Buhari (L) was welcomed by the Governer of Riyadh Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is in Saudi Arabia for talks with officials likely to be dominated by efforts to stabilise the global oil market.
Oil prices have plunged to their lowest levels in nearly 13 years largely. This is largely blamed on over supply and the Opec refusal to cut production.
The leader of Africa's largest oil producer is to meet King Salman in Riyadh before travelling on to Qatar.
His visit follows last week's agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia in Doha to stick to January production levels if others followed.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see them [Nigeria] voice their support to the freeze agreed in Doha," Abhishek Deshpande, a leading oil market analyst at Natixis in London, told AFP news agency.
Poorer Opec members, including Nigeria and Angola, have been hard-hit by the price drop.

Burundi to hold dialogue with opposition, Ban says

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza and the opposition have agreed to engage in what he described as inclusive dialogue to end the 10-month crisis in the country.
Mr Ban, who was in Burundi, said the president has also agreed to release 2,000 prisoners - not 1,200 which was reported earlier.
Hundreds of people have been killed in political violence triggered by Mr Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term in office.
About a quarter of a million have fled the country.

Nigeria ex-minister arrested over botched recruitment

Thousands of people turned up to take the test in different parts of Nigeria

Nigeria's anti-corruption agency has arrested the country's former Interior Minister Abba Moro, who oversaw a failed recruitment process in which 20 job-seekers were killed in 2014.
Mr Moro was questioned by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last night over the process in which several other people were injured as they scrambled to take tests for jobs at the country's immigration department.
The recruitment exercise was cancelled after it also emerged that millions of dollars in application fees were collected from the job-seekers.
Mr Moro has not spoken about the latest report but has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Niger's opposition rejects partial results

Opposition parties in Niger have rejected the first partial results of Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections, the AFP news agency reports.
"We cannot recognise them such as they have been proclaimed so far," a spokesman for the opposition coalition, Aboubacar Cisse, said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) is expected to announce the final result later this week.  
The run-up to the vote was marred by accusations of repression and a row over identification documents.  President Mahamadou Issoufou is hoping to secure a second term in the impoverished West African nation.

Alex McLeish to take charge of Zamalek

Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish has agreed to coach Zamalek, the Egyptian club have announced.
The 57-year-old will take over from former Tottenham striker Mido, who was sacked two weeks ago.
A statement on Zamalek's official website said: "Murtaza Mansour, chairman of the club, has confirmed that Alex McLeish has signed with him in principle to lead the first team."
McLeish left Genk last summer after a season with the Belgian club.

UN rights body concerned over 'Uganda post-election tension'

Police have blocked access to opposition leader Kizza Besigye's house
The UN's human rights office says it's "concerned by the tense post-electoral situation in Uganda".
In a statement  it cites reports of two people being killed and the arrest of opposition members in the aftermath of Thursday's presidential and parliamentary elections.
It also says that it is "concerned about the intimidating display of force used on Friday by Ugandan police and military forces" when it entered the offices of the main opposition FDC party.
Last week, the US Secretary of State told President Yoweri Museveni of his concerns with the detention of opposition members and the shutting down of social media sites during the election.

Zambia's biggest ever drugs haul

Zambia's Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has confiscated 24kg of cocaine - its highest ever seizure.
DEC public relations officer Theresa Katongo told journalists that it came after the arrest of two Zambians and a Tanzanian for drug trafficking.
The three suspects were arrested in different locations with the help of the Zambia Police Service.
Other items confiscated seized include a pistol with 15 rounds ammunition and mobile phones.
The suspects will appear in court soon.

Libyan Islamists 'lose territory' in Benghazi

Islamist militias in Libya have lost two major areas in the eastern city of Benghazi, military sources and residents have said.
"People are celebrating on the streets," a resident said.
Fighters loyal to anti-Islamist Gen Khalifa Haftar are reported to have taken over the port, a hospital and have cut off a key weapons supply line.
Thousands have fled more than a year of fighting in Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising.
Once in the Libyan army, Gen Haftar fought with revolutionaries to overthrow long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The chaos has allowed Islamic State fighters to gain a foothold in the country, and some are believed to be fighting with other Islamist militias in Benghazi.

'Mozambique should investigate alleged army abuses'

The government in Mozambique should investigate alleged human rights abuses committed by its army in Tete province in the north, Human Rights Watch says
Six thousand people have fled across the Malawian border and are now living in makeshift camps following attempts by the army to disarm opposition Renamo militia.
HRW researchers spoke to some of those who have fled, who told them that they fled army abuses and were scared about returning home.
The refugees said that soldiers killed family members and abused others.
HRW says that tensions have increased between the governing Frelimo party and the opposition since the 2014 election.

Pilot at centre of Kenya assault row identified as British

Kenyan police say the pilot, Alistair Llewelyn, who was captured on camera in what looks like an assault on a policewoman, is a British citizen.
The video has gone viral on social media with many angry Kenyans calling for his deportation.
Police spokesperson George Kinoti said that Mr Llewelyn is due in court on Wednesday and will face assault charges.

Mbeki: US and UK wanted regime change in Zimbabwe

South Africa's former President Thabo Mbeki has repeated his accusation that the UK and US "were very keen" on regime change in Zimbabwe in the run-up to the 2002 election.
Mr Mbeki has been talking about his policy towards Zimbabwe in his latest Facebook post where he has been reviewing his time in power. He says that his Minister of Intelligence, Lindiwe Sisulu, made a number of trips to London and Washington "with strict instructions from our government to resist all plans to impose anything on the people of Zimbabwe, including by military means".
Mr Mbeki defends his use of "quiet diplomacy" as a way of sorting out the issues in the country, and says that in 2008 it led to the formation of a unity government - which meant that the will of the people was being recognised.

Taylor Swift donates $250K to Kesha, offers support during 'trying time'

Taylor Swift has put her money behind Kesha.

Swift donated $250,000 to the "Tik Tok" singer on Sunday, two days after a judge ruled against Kesha in a case in which she asked to record music independently of producer Dr. Luke.

Kesha has accused Dr. Luke, who signed her to a contract in 2005, of emotional and sexual abuse. She requested an injunction to make music outside her six-album contract with Dr. Luke's Kemosabe Records.

"In a show of support, Taylor Swift has donated $250,000 to Kesha to help with any of her financial needs during this trying time," a representative for Swift wrote in a statement, according to Rolling Stone.

Several notable musical names have lined up behind Kesha in the ongoing dispute, including Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson and Janelle Monae.

"There are people all over the world who love you @KeshaRose. And I can say truly I am in awe of your bravery," Lady Gaga said in a tweet that's been retweeted almost 90,000 times.

Bolivian President Evo Morales 'loses' fourth term bid'

Voters went to the polls to decide if Morales can stay in power for a fourth term

President Evo Morales of Bolivia has narrowly lost a referendum to allow him to stand for a fourth term in office, exit polls suggest.

One poll suggests 52.3% voted against the proposal to amend the constitution, while another suggests it was 51%.
However, Mr Morales's deputy has predicted Bolivia's first head of state of indigenous origin could still win, as official results trickle in.
The constitution change would have let Mr Morales remain in power until 2025.
Opposition supporters have been celebrating the referendum result in parts of the main city, La Paz.
Mr Morales, an indigenous Aymara and former coca leaf producer, took office in January 2006.


Graffiti reads 'No Evo' in El Alto, Bolivia's second largest city  

The president's current term ends in 2020.
He is still a popular leader and the economy has grown steadily over the past decade, the BBC's Americas Editor, Leonardo Rocha, reports.
However, many thought Evo Morales should not be allowed to serve 19 consecutive years as president, our editor adds.

Appeal for caution

Opposition leader Samuel Doria Medina urged Mr Morales to "recognise the results" and focus on solving Bolivia's problems in his remaining time in office instead of trying to run for another term.
However Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said the results so far were a "technical tie".
He urged people to wait for the official results and said any celebrations by the opposition were premature.
"Opinion polls, especially exit polls, make mistakes," he told reporters.
"They don't take into account the vote abroad. They don't go to the more remote locations, where there is more support for our socialist movement.
"It's highly likely that the numbers shown by the opinion polls will be very different from the reality."

Evo Morales in office

1. First elected president in 2005: Began by renationalising the country's oil and gas industries and boosting social spending. Won a referendum in August 2008 on whether he should stay in office, and then a few months later a referendum approved his plans for a new constitution
2. Re-elected in 2009: His second term followed a landslide win, and Mr Morales continued to pursue left-wing policies
3. Again re-elected in 2014: He was able to run again despite the 2009 constitution limiting presidents to two consecutive terms in office. The Constitutional Court ruled his first term should not count because it had not taken place under the new constitution. His current terms ends in 2020
4. Another run in 2019? A win in Sunday's referendum would let him stand again, and potentially serve until 2025, but is looking unlikely Vote counting has been slower than usual.

The electoral authorities say the delay is affecting mostly ballots from rural areas, which largely support the president.
In the eastern province of Santa Cruz, angry voters set fire to ballot papers and ballot boxes after a delay to the opening of several polling stations.

'Charismatic and powerful'

Even if he loses the referendum, President Morales will have plenty of time before the next election to pick a successor and otherwise influence Bolivia's future, Michael Shifter, head of the US-based Inter-American Dialogue think tank, told Reuters news agency.
"He is one of the most charismatic and powerful leaders in Bolivian history. It is unlikely he is going to just retire from politics," he said.
"But perhaps for the first time in a decade, it is possible to imagine a Bolivia without Evo that does not return to the old times of economic and racial exclusion."
Despite a drop in the international price of oil and natural gas, the Bolivian economy has performed well in the past 10 years, growing on average 5% a year.
The government's socialist policies have also been successful in reducing extreme poverty.
But recent allegations that Mr Morales used his influence to favour a Chinese construction firm in Bolivia have damaged his approval ratings.
A former girlfriend of Mr Morales, Gabriela Zapata, holds an important position in the company, CAMC, which has secured more than $500m (£350m) in contracts with the Bolivian government.
Mr Morales rejected the allegations and said he had nothing to hide. He ordered an investigation into how the contracts were awarded.

EU referendum: Time to vote for real change, says Boris Johnson

The UK's EU membership referendum is a "once-in-a-lifetime chance to vote for real change", Boris Johnson has argued as he declared support for an exit.

The London Mayor confirmed earlier to reporters that he would be campaigning to leave the union.
In a 2,000-word column for The Daily Telegraph, the Conservative MP said staying inside the union would lead to "an erosion of democracy".
The prime minister has said leaving the EU would be a "leap in the dark".
In his weekly column for the newspaper Mr Johnson commended David Cameron for doing "his very best" in securing a deal on renegotiated EU membership for the UK.

'Be brave'

But he said that the EU "only really listen to a population when it says no".
"This is a moment to be brave, to reach out - not to hug the skirts of Nurse in Brussels, and refer all decisions to someone else," he wrote.
"This is the only opportunity we will ever have to show that we care about self-rule.
"A vote to Remain will be taken in Brussels as a green light for more federalism, and for the erosion of democracy."
Mr Johnson, who is the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, is believed to have informed Mr Cameron of his decision to campaign for the UK to leave the union by text message shortly before making it public at 17:00 GMT.
Mr Johnson's decision would be seen as a huge boost to the Out campaign and a major blow to the prime minister, who had hoped to persuade friends and rivals to back the campaign to remain.
In his column Mr Johnson added: "It is time to seek a new relationship, in which we manage to extricate ourselves from most of the supranational elements.
"We will hear a lot in the coming weeks about the risks of this option; the risk to the economy, the risk to the City of London, and so on; and though those risks cannot be entirely dismissed, I think they are likely to be exaggerated."
Addressing reporters outside his home in north London, Mr Johnson had said the EU was a "political project" that was in "real danger of getting out of proper democratic control".
Mr Johnson also denied his decision had anything to do with leadership ambitions, stressing that he had made up his mind "after a huge amount of heartache" and the last thing he wanted to do was defy Mr Cameron.
He said he would be backing the Vote Leave campaign - one of two groups seeking official designation as the exit campaign group - but ruled out taking part in TV debates against members of his party.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson's father Stanley Johnson told Sky News his son's decision could be seen as "career shattering" rather than career making.
Boris Johnson is political box office. He is one of Britain's most charismatic politicians. So his decision to support Brexit gives popular appeal to a Leave campaign that has lacked a talismanic figurehead.
And polls suggest that his is a voice that many will listen to as they make up their minds. So the Mayor of London will transform the referendum campaign. But will he transform the result?
Until now Mr Johnson has won his votes as a jovial character in two regional elections. He is now testing his appeal on the national stage in a contest of historic importance. And that matters because Mr Johnson could be our prime minister one day.

Trump predicts he'll face Clinton, break turnout records

Donald Trump's general election prediction: He'll face Hillary Clinton, and the two will bring out "the greatest turnout in history."

"Frankly, if she gets indicted, that's the only way she's going to be stopped. I think it's going to be Hillary and myself," the Republican real estate mogul said Sunday in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

Trump's comments came the morning after he cruised to victory in South Carolina's primary -- giving him two wins and one second-place finish in the first three GOP contests.

Trump said he expects to win enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination before the party's convention in July.

"I don't think we're going to have a convention, a brokered convention. I think it's unlikely. I think I'm doing better than that," he said.

He laid out his own road map to general election victory, pinpointing two states -- Michigan and New York -- that he said he'd sweep into the Republican column.

"I'll win states that aren't in play. I'll win states that Republicans don't even think of," Trump said.

And he predicted he'd earn a "tremendous amount" of support from African-Americans.

"I'm going to do great with the African-Americans. African-American youth is 58% unemployed. African-Americans in their prime are substantially worse off than the whites in their prime, and it's a very sad situation," he said.

For Trump, Saturday's South Carolina victory was an important one in stunting challenges from top-tier rivals like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz -- but also because it knocked his foil, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, out of the race.

Trump didn't mention Bush in his victory speech Saturday night, and he noted the attacks that Bush and his allies had launched against Trump on Sunday.

"He's a good person, he's a good man, but he really hit me with a lot of commercials," Trump said.

Still, Trump offered some praise to Bush, saying he "fought very hard" and could have defeated Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination in 2012.

"It was really just not his time. You know, four years ago, I think he would have won," Trump said, adding: "But this was not really his time."

Trump acknowledged he could still lose the GOP nominating contest -- "certainly nobody's unstoppable," he said -- and launched another broadside at establishment politics, saying that "the day I decided to run, which was June 16, I became an outsider."

He even broached the subject of the military-industrial complex in lamenting the way Washington operates.

"The drug companies control the drug industry, I mean it's ridiculous, and the military companies -- I mean it's ridiculous," Trump said.

And he explained away a moment in Thursday night's CNN town hall in South Carolina in which he seemed to suggest he supports the individual health insurance mandate included in President Barack Obama's health care law.

"We were talking over each other, and it wasn't Anderson's fault," Trump said of CNN's Anderson Cooper, who was the moderator. "There's no mandate, no mandatory anything. We're gonna end Obamacare, we're gonna terminate it. It's going to be repealed and it's going to be replaced by something much better."

Still, he expressed his support for at least some forms of government-provided health care.

"People are not going to die on the streets of any city or of any place if I'm president," Trump said. "And every time I say it, I get standing ovations from Republicans. ... We have to take care of people."

In an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation," Trump also defended his foreign policy credentials, saying other Republicans could "start World War III over Syria."

He said he has "great knowledge for the military and I have better vision for Syria than a lot of the so-called 'great military geniuses' that are saying how to fight the War with Syria."

"And in my opinion, they're doing just the opposite. I mean, are we going to start World War III over Syria?" he said. "Are we going to be there for the next 40 years? We've been there for 15 years in the Middle East and much more than that, probably."

Trump also defended his attacks on Ted Cruz's Christianity -- particularly after Trump criticized Pope Francis for questioning his own faith over his proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"I'm not questioning his Christianity, I just think it's inappropriate to hold up the Bible and lie," Trump said of Cruz.

Trump has promised to release his tax returns -- but he won't put a timetable on when those will come.

On ABC's "This Week," he said he won't release them by the March 1 "Super Tuesday" set of contests.

"No, no, no, I won't. I'm working on it. We're working on, they're massive," he said.

Asked of they'll come before he's the Republican nominee, Trump said "at some point" he'd release them.

"There's no rush," he said. "Why is there such a rush? I'm supposed to rush like crazy?"

Trump added: "By the way, I released my financial statements which are much more important. I released my financial statements and everybody was amazed at how big and how great the company is, much bigger than they thought and it's a great company. Very little debt, tremendous cash flow, some of the best assets in the world."