Guatemala, Libya, Nigeria.

Today's three stories you should know.

Aug 29, 2023

Guatemala

A strange political situation has developed in Guatemala. Bernardo Arevalo, the centre-left son of a former president, has been declared winner of a presidential election by the country’s top electoral tribunal. But another government body has suspended the legal registration of his Seed Movement party. Arevalo survived a previous attempt to bar his party from running during a particularly stormy election campaign but, after an outcry, he stormed to victory, securing 60.9 percent of the vote. Analysts say many in the country’s elite view his anti-corruption platform as a threat.

Libya

A video of a naked, emaciated woman lying dead on the floor of a Libyan migration center - better described as a prison - has cast a spotlight on conditions faced by thousands of people detained across the country. Libya is one of the main departure points to Europe for people from several Middle Eastern and African countries fleeing war or poverty. But many end up detained for long periods and rights groups and activists have long tried to raise the alarm about the conditions they are kept in.

Nigeria

Police in Nigeria have arrested about 200 men at a “gay event” in the south of the country and say 67 of them are now due to be charged after an investigation. Most of the arrested men, though, claimed not to be gay and said they were fashion designers, photographers and models who had been attending an event. One of the men said they had been locked up for hours and denied water. Police spokesman DSP Bright Edafe said homosexuality would “not be allowed in Nigeria, it will never be tolerated.”