A Nigerian politician has been arrested for alleged money laundering after being caught with $498,100 (£414,000) in cash a day before general elections. The piles of US dollars were found by police inside Chinyere Igwe’s car. Mr Igwe, an opposition PDP member of the House of Representatives, was also caught with a list of people to give the money to, police say. In previous elections, politicians have been accused of rigging polls through vote buying. Nigeria has recently issued new banknotes, partly in order to make it harder for politicians to amass large sums of money in order to bribe voters. However, not enough of the new notes are in circulation, leading to widespread anger and frustration. People have been queuing for hours outside banks in order to get cash, often without success, while some have attacked banks. Some 40% of Nigerians do not have bank accounts and so rely on cash to buy food, and for other everyday uses.(BBC)…[+]

Parts of usually balmy southern California are under their first blizzard warning since 1989. The winter storm that started rolling into the Golden State on Thursday will start to intensify on Friday. A massive storm has already brought major blizzards and temperatures below freezing to much of the northern US. The cold snap comes as parts of the US southeast basked in a record-breaking heat wave. Forecasters are predicting record snowfall of up to 8ft (2.4m) in mountains to the east of Los Angeles by Saturday. The mountains are expected to experience powerful winds of 60-75mph (96-120 km/h) while coastal areas may experience flooding. The icy weather front stretches along the entire US West Coast, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia. The winter storm warning is in effect for the coastal Ventura County mountains and Los Angeles County mountains from early Friday until Saturday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. (BBC)…[+]

Kenyan authorities were wrong to ban the gay community from registering a rights organisation, the country’s Supreme Court has ruled. Yet at the same time it stressed that gay sex remains illegal. The judges ruled three-to-two that the country’s NGO board was wrong to stop the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) from registering in 2013. As Kenya’s highest court, the Supreme Court’s ruling cannot be overturned. In their judgment, the judges ruled that “it would be unconstitutional to limit the right to associate, through denial of registration of an association, purely on the basis of the sexual orientation of the applicants”. Nevertheless, the ruling is bitter-sweet for Kenya’s gay community. Laws which were introduced under British colonial rule mean that it is criminal to have sex that “is against the order of nature”, which can result in up to 14 years in prison. In May 2019, Kenya’s high court rejected an attempt to overturn these laws.(BBC)…[+]