Nigeria's exploding population

Nigeria's This Day has a piece on the country's skyrocketing population. There were 140 million Nigerians five years ago but that figure has already risen to nearly 168 million and is expected to hit 221 million by the year 2020. The head of the country's National Population Commission pointed out that this meant that Nigerians represent fully 2.4% of humanity.

Tubman backs Taylor return

There has been a critical international reaction to comments by a Liberian presidential candidate. Winston Tubman, who recently qualified for a run off against the incumbent president and Nobel Peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, said that former warlord and dictator Charles Taylor would be free to return to the country. Taylor, an indicted war criminal and convicted scumbag, is presently on trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone for his widely believed meddling in that country's civil war. He's yet to face trial for his role in his own country's conflict. Taylor's wife, a Liberian senator, is expected to be part of a Tubman administration if he wins. Tubman is a nephew of a former Liberian strongman.