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Africa's Emerging Markets Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks

By Emmanuel Tita Sama*

LAGOS (IDN) – As emerging markets race to join the digital revolution they are fast being hijacked by cybercriminals, who are preying on the fledgling IT environment with potential security weaknesses and using them to launch attacks on territories with more advanced defence strategies.

The United Nations recently reported that, shockingly, only 38 percent of countries globally, have a published cyber security strategy, which has highlighted that there is a huge chasm between countries in terms of awareness, understanding, knowledge and the ability to deploy cyber security capabilities and programs "to ensure a safe and appropriate use of technology as an enabler for economic development".

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 August 2018

Photo: Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul, speaking in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in November 2016. CC BY-SA 4.0

A Nobel Laureate who was 'the Most Homeless, Rootless Person'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LONDON (IDN) – "V.S. Naipaul's legacy is complex – but his writing must be celebrated," writes essayist Amit Chaudhuri. "His comments about Islam, women and Africa were often unjustified, unpleasant and untrue – but that can be acknowledged alongside his gifts."

Novelist Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, known as V.S. Naipaul, died on August 11, 2018 at his London home at the age of 85. Born in Chaguanas, Trinidad, in 1932, in a family with Indian roots, he wrote more than 30 books including A Bend in the River and his masterpiece, A House for Mr Biswas.

: Global Information Network; ARTS & CULTURE; 15 August 2018

Photo: Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in New York City, 29 September 2015. CC BY 4.0

Libya and Ukraine were Big American Mistakes with Russia

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

Under Obama the spirit of cooperation had nearly all gone. But President Donald Trump wants to bring the era of goodwill back again. Unfortunately, because of his erratic leadership, no one is quite sure whether to trust him. Moreover, he says one thing about friendship with Russia while his Administration increases sanctions and does a go-slow on arms control.

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Two mistakes, committed on President Barack Obama's watch, were the triggers for the end of the long post-Cold War period of good relations with Russia. They were the attack on Libya by the U.S., France and the UK and the subsequent killing of its long-time dictator, Muammar Gadhafi. The second was the crisis in Ukraine.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 14 August 2018

Photo: Emmerson Mnangagwa speaking in Headlands on Didymus Mtasa as Vice President of Zimbabwe in 2015. CC BY 3.0

'Skulduggery' Foils Zimbabwe Inauguration Of Mnangagwa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | HARARE (IDN) – The hastily organized inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa as president of Zimbabwe has hit a brick wall.

Invitations to the heads of diplomatic mission, international organizations and consulates were pulled back after challenges to July 30 general election put a question mark around the slim victory of Mnangagwe over his rival Nelson Chamisa.

Mnangagwa allegedly beat Chamisa with 50.8 percent of the vote to Chamisa’s 44.3 percent.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 August 2018

E-Government Favours Sustainable and Resilient Societies, Finds UN Survey

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Almost two thirds of 193 United Nations member States demonstrate a high-level of e-government development with EGDI (the E-Government Development Index) values above in the range of 0.5 and 1, finds a new survey, which also draws attention to the widening 'digital divide' between the industrialized and least developed countries.

The share of countries with low e-government levels, in the range of 0 to 0.25, has dropped by a significant 50 percent, from 32 countries in to 16 countries in 2018, says the 2018 UN E-Government Survey.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; Sustainable Cities & Communities; 13 August 2018

Photo: UN Peacekeepers serving with the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) patrol the city of Bangui in 2017. UN Photo/ Hervé Serefio

Security Council Calls for Better UN Agency Cooperation in Central Africa

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In view of "the volatile and fast‑evolving nature of the political, security and social situation" in Central Africa, the United Nations Secretary-General has asked the Security Council to extend by three years from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2021 the mandate of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA).

Created on January 1, 2011, and operating under the purview of the Department of Political Affairs, UNOCA covers the 11 member States of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS): Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, and Sao Tome and Principe.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 August 2018

Photo: Casa Rosada, executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina, viewed from Plaza de Mayo. CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

G20 Anti-Corruption Commitments At Risk

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – As governments across the globe crack down on citizen groups, stifling their ability to speak out and hold governments to account, the role of civil society is more important now than ever.

With his in mind, activists from more than 600 civil society organisations and more than 45 countries worldwide gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from August 6 to 7 for the sixth annual Civil 20 summit. The meeting came at a critical time prior to the meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) in November.

Civil 20 (C20) is one of the seven engagement groups of the G20, conceived as an instrument through which civil society organisations (CSOs) from different parts of the world can contribute in a structured and sustained manner to the G20, thus ensuring that world leaders listen not only to the voices representing the governmental and business sectors, but also to the proposals and demands of civil society as a whole.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 12 August 2018

Photo: Uniformed children in class in Ha Nqabeni primary school, Lesotho. CC BY-SA 2.0

UN Supports Comprehensive Reform Process in Lesotho

By Ntsoaki Nkoe

MASERU (IDN) – Lesotho has launched a landmark project with the European Union willing to provide Euros 12.5 million (approx. USD14.4 million) and the United Nations USD 2 million. Known as the Lesotho National Dialogue and Stabilization Project (LNDSP), the initiative aims to stimulate a comprehensive national reforms process the southern African country is undertaking.

Explaining the genesis of the project, UN Resident Coordinator Salvator Niyonzima said the launch of the project was the result of several months of consultations, project formulation and fund raising going back to September 2017 when Prime Minister Thomas Thabane wrote to the UN Secretary-General requesting UN support to Lesotho’s long-anticipated national reforms.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 August 2018

Photo credit: Lesotho's MMN Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Thirteen-Year-Old Defies Family, Escapes Forced Marriage

By Billy Ntaote

This report is part of a series on Human Trafficking by MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Lesotho.

MASERU (IDN) – For people living in the rural parts of the country, early child marriage doesn't exist – but when a teenager is impregnated, families rush to organise a traditional wedding ceremony and it's a deal done.

This common, yet cruel practice perpetrated on the girl child continues in rural parts of Lesotho with the unsuspecting victims – socialised to believe it is their only way out of poverty and hunger – married-off in exchange for either a herd of cattle or cash in bride-wealth.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 August 2018

Photo: Michelle Bachelet of Chile, newly-appointed as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by Secretary-General António Guterres. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre.

Kudos and Criticism for New UN Human Rights Chief

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Moments after the UN General Assembly unanimously agreed on August 10 to appoint Chile's former President Michelle Bachelet as the seventh UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted: "Ms. Bachelet is a pioneer, a visionary, a woman of principle, and a great human rights leader for these troubled times." He had had put forward her candidacy to the General Assembly on August 8.

The United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK) Executive Director, Natalie Samarasinghe, agreed: she is "certainly a strong choice", and added: "She has experience at the highest level of government in Chile, at the highest level of administration within the UN system as the first head of UN Women, and of working with civil society under the shadow of oppression."