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."

Niger election: Voters choose president in tense polls

Vote counting is under way in Niger following Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections.

President Mahamadou Issoufou is hoping to secure a second term in the impoverished West African nation.
His main rival, Hama Amadou, is currently behind bars accused of trafficking babies, a charge he strongly denies.
The run-up to the vote was marred by accusations of repression and a row over identification documents.
The authorities announced that roughly 1.5 million people without ID papers would be able to cast their ballots by having witnesses vouch for them, in a move that was condemned by opposition leaders.
Niger is rich in natural resources, including uranium and oil, but is one of the poorest countries on Earth, ranking last in the UN Human Development Index.

Crowded field

Voting took place under tight security and was delayed in some parts of the capital Niamey, owing to late delivery of ballot papers.
There had been fears of jihadist attacks by groups based in neighbouring Nigeria, Mali and Libya.
Meanwhile, President Issoufou says his government foiled a coup plot in December.


Mr Issoufou faces 14 challengers including two former prime ministers and an ex-president

One of the candidates in Sunday's presidential election, Ibrahim Hamidou, was arrested for casting doubt upon December's alleged coup but was released in January against the wishes of state prosecutors.
Aside from Hama Amadou, a former prime minister, other well-known figures among the crowded field of 15 presidential candidates included Mahamane Ousmane, Niger's first democratically elected president.


Young supporters of presidential candidate Ibrahim Yacouba attend a campaign rally  

A run-off will be held if no candidate secures an outright majority.
Niger is seen as an important ally of Western powers in the fight against militant Islamists in the fragile Sahara region.
However, the country is far from stable. Corruption, food shortages and porous borders remain serious problems.

 

Syria conflict: Bashar Assad vows to retake whole country

President Assad has been bolstered by Russian forces

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that he intends to retake "the whole country" from rebel forces.

In a rare interview, he told AFP news agency that defeating the groups ranged against him could take some time due to the involvement of regional powers.

World powers have agreed to push for a cessation of hostilities in a week's time.

The UN says it hopes to start delivering aid to some besieged areas in Syria within the next 24 hours.

Mr Assad expressed support for peace talks but said negotiations did not mean "we stop fighting terrorism".

More than 250,000 people have been killed and some 11 million displaced in almost five years of fighting in Syria.

Some Syrian cities have been cut off from humanitarian aid for over a year because of fighting. About 13.5 million people are in need of aid, the UN says.

Mr Assad was speaking in Damascus on Thursday, ahead of the deal on the cessation of hostilities that was agreed in Munich late on Thursday night.

He said government forces would try to retake all of Syria "without any hesitation", but that the involvement of regional powers meant that "the solution will take a long time and will incur a heavy price".

Mr Assad rejected recent accusations by the UN that his government was guilty of war crimes.

Earlier this month, UN human rights investigators said the Syrian government had carried out a state policy of extermination against thousands of detainees.

Thousands of Syrians have fled fighting in Aleppo province and sought shelter at the Turkish border

In a report for the UN Human Rights Council, they accused the Syrian government of crimes against humanity. The report also said government and rebel forces had committed possible war crimes.

But Mr Assad called the accusations "politicised" and said the investigators had provided no evidence.

Tentative peace talks were held in Geneva earlier this month and have been "paused" until 25 February.

Mr Assad said he "fully believed in negotiations and in political action since the beginning of the crisis."

"However, if we negotiate, it does not mean that we stop fighting terrorism. The two tracks are inevitable in Syria," he said.

He also told AFP he believed there was a risk that Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which both back Syrian rebel forces, would intervene militarily in Syria.

Meanwhile, a new UN task force to co-ordinate the distribution of aid is expected to convene in Geneva later on Friday.

"The UN system has been geared to deliver this aid all along, especially to besieged areas, and that's precisely what's going to be discussed today: how to start, and when to start," UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.

"We hope to start as early as tomorrow, immediately after the meeting, decisions will be taken to roll the aid in, especially to besieged areas that need it", he added.

Syria conflict - key questions

Why is there a war in Syria?

Anti-government protests developed into a civil war that, four years on, has ground to a stalemate, with the Assad government, Islamic State, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory.

Who is fighting whom?

Government forces concentrated in Damascus and the centre and west of Syria are fighting the jihadists of Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, as well as less numerous so-called "moderate" rebel groups, who are strongest in the north and east. These groups are also battling each other.

How has the world reacted?

Iran, Russia and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France. Hezbollah and Iran are believed to have troops and officers on the ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russia are carrying out air strikes.