Reuters World News - Nigeria prepares to vote under shadow of violence

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

We’re on the ground in Lagos for a fiercely contested presidential election. What did Vladimir Putin walk away from when he halted that nuke treaty? And the massive winter storm threatening the U.S. coast to coast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we're in Nigeria, looking at the frontrunners in a presidential election where violence and mass kidnappings are top of voters' minds. What exactly did Vladimir Putin walk away from when he suspended a landmark nuclear arms treaty? And a massive winter storm is coming, threatening to dump snow from Portland all the way to Maine. It's Wednesday, February 22nd. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vinal in London. First, the headlines.

In New York, a lawmaker once in charge of Mexico's fight against drug traffickers has been convicted of taking millions of dollars in bribes from the infamous Sinaloa cartel. That's the group once run by Warkin El Chapo Guzman. A jury found Gianaro Garcia Luna accepted bribes from the cartel in exchange for protection from arrest, safe passage for cocaine. shipments and tip-offs about forthcoming police operations. This is Genaro Garcia-Luna speaking about prisons in 2012. Now he's one of the highest-ranking Mexican officials ever found guilty of drug trafficking.

The 54-year-old faces 20 years in jail when sentenced in June. Staying with Mexico, but to the border, and a bid by Joe Biden to stop this. the regular site of thousands of people crossing into Texas to claim asylum. He's proposing banning most migrants who don't schedule an appointment at a US border port of entry or use humanitarian programs. That ban would stop them from being eligible for asylum. The proposal would be the most wide-ranging attempt yet by Biden's administration to deter unauthorized crossings.

Ten people have been killed in an investigation. attack in Somalia's capital, claimed by the Al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab group. It says the target was military officials and militia fighters involved in an offensive against them. A witness said a suicide bomber first detonated a car outside a house and then al-Shabaab militants stormed in while firing guns. In India, caste and religion are deeply intertwined. And as the Indian diaspora has spread across the world, from Malaysia to the US, caste and religion have followed. Now Seattle has become the first U.S. city to outlaw caste discrimination,

after its local council voted to add caste to the city's anti-discrimination laws. US law bans ancestry discrimination, but does not explicitly ban discrimination based on caste. If you're in the north of the US, and I'm talking west coast all the way to the shores of New England, you better prepare your snowplow and shovel. A massive winter storm is moving across the United States, bringing with it blizzards, brutal cold and record snowfall. In the south, meanwhile, it's summer in February. Record high temperatures are expected,

with Orlando forecast to hit a sweltering 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm Dara Ranising, editor for financial markets in Europe. So there's a lot going on in world financial markets, and the question is where to start. What we're seeing is economic data is coming out stronger than expected, Traders are looking at this economic data in the United States, in Europe, and saying, well, if the data is stronger it than expected, then inflationary pressures are going to remain elevated for some time.

What does that mean? It means big central banks. We'll have to keep hiking interest rates. So on Wall Street yesterday, US stocks had their worst day for the year so far. Now to Nigeria, where voters head to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. Whoever wins will have to tackle rampant violence. and industrial-scale banditry. Reuters' chief correspondent for Southern Africa, Tim Cox, gives us a rundown of the three main candidates.

So I'm just at Teslin Belogun Stadium for the final rally of the ruling party candidate Bolotinabu. He's running on the same ticket as the outgoing president, Mohamedu Buhari, who's stepping down after his two terms in office. But in other ways, he could hardly be a more different character. Unlike Buhari, he's never won an army uniform. He's also very popular in Lagos. because many believed that when he was here as a governor,

he did a lot to fix up what had become probably one of the world's most dysfunctional cities. He cleaned up the rubbish. He improved Lagos' legendarily bad traffic. He also tackled a lot of the crime. Emilio Lajamalu works in a bus station and says he's voting for Tindibu because he's made Lagos safer. Never disappoint us. I'm telling you, in terms of security,

you cannot carry gun and roaming about you. in Lagos said, where they do in other places. So it's considered to have a good track record in Lagos and many people here hope that he can do for the country what they believe he did for the city. His main opponent is Attiku Abu Bakr of the former ruling PDP. They're both very much establishment figures. They've been in politics for a long time.

The third candidate is Peter Obie. Obie is popular with the youth who see him as a fresh face, a change of guard compared with these two septuagenarians who've been in politics for longer than many voters have been alive. He's doing well in the opinion polls, but some of questions whether the polls can really capture how people will actually vote in a country like Nigeria. In any case, the vote is too close to call. Tinebu is still the favorite to win, but really anything can happen. I'm Tim Cox in Lagos, Nigeria. Prime Putin has dialed up the transatlantic tension with a suspension of a nuclear arms control treaty

and the threat of nuclear tests. Could this spark a new Cold War arms race? We spoke to Reuters correspondent Arshad Mohammed about what Putin's move might mean. Hi, Arshad. Hi. So what is this nuclear treaty? Essentially, it is designed to limit the number of deployed nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia have, and also to limit the delivery systems that they can use to launch those. To give you the specific numbers, the number of deployed warheads is capped at 1,550 for either side, and the number of delivery systems, which means intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine launch ballistic missiles, and heavy aircraft bombers is capped at 700 on either side. So what does it mean? Is this the start of a nuclear arms race?

In its most drastic form, the announcement might imply that Russia is going to go beyond those limits on warheads and delivery systems. However, a couple of hours after Putin spoke, the Russian foreign ministry came out and formally said, that they're going to continue to abide by those limits. So for the time being, it appears that Putin's comments do not signal a new arms race between the United States and Russia. How will other countries respond to Putin's announcement? You know, very hard to tell. The United States is clearly taking a wait and see approach, trying to figure out just what

the Russians may mean. The most important country to look at is probably China. China has a much smaller nuclear arsenal than the United States or Russia. This estimate is a little dated, but it's thought to have about 300 nuclear warheads. The big question would be if the United States and Russia do get into a new arms race, will China accelerate its nuclear modernization to keep pace with them? If China did that, you end up with a much more dangerous world because then you would have three big countries with large and growing nuclear arsenals, therefore potentially threatening each other and everybody else. Ashad Mohammed, thanks so much.

My pleasure. London Fashion Week has drawn to a close. And this year, one designer has created a collection for those who don't usually get their moment on the catwalk. people with visible disabilities. Sarah Mills was there for us. Victoria Jenkins has an adaptive fashion brand called Unhidden. And what they do is offer practical but stylish clothing for people with disabilities. Now, it's not unusual for London to be championing new design talent

because they're known for that. But what it does show is that London Fashion Week is becoming more diverse. In terms of the designers on the schedule and then also in terms of designers who are pushing what tree, traditional clothing is. Victoria's range includes smart shirts with longer backs so that they're suitable for wheelchair users, as well as these chiffon tops with openings down the arm so that anybody who's having treatment doesn't have to keep stripping off.

There are a few US stores that do offer adaptive clothing, and Victoria has plans to keep growing and make her clothes more widely available. Diversity without disability isn't diversity. Like it's very frustrating. And it feels like it's the last taboo as well. People are still scared of the D word. Disabled's not a bad word. That's it for this edition of Reuters World News.

We'll be back on Thursday. In the meantime, you can find more trusted news at Reuters.com.