#WEFA19: Delivering the Promise of Africa’s Youth

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/kathleen-elkins/">Kathleen Elkins</a>



Berkshire Hathaway CEO and self-made billionaire Warren Buffett turned 89 on Friday, August 30. He’s also celebrating his 13th wedding anniversary with his wife, Astrid.



In honor of the Oracle of Omaha’s big day,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/" class="">CNBC Make It</a>&nbsp;rounded up seven of his best pieces of life advice.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Marry the right person</h2>



Buffett made his fortune through smart investing, but if you ask him about the most important decision he ever made, it would have nothing to do with money. The biggest decision of your life,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/14/warren-buffett-says-the-most-important-decision-is-who-you-marry.html" class="">Buffett says</a>, is who you choose to marry.



“You want to associate with people who are the kind of person you’d like to be. You’ll move in that direction,” he said during&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/A-Conversation-with-Warren-Buffett" class="">a 2017 conversation with Bill Gates</a>. “And the most important person by far in that respect is your spouse. I can’t overemphasize how important that is.”



It’s advice he’s been giving for years. As he said at the <a class="" href="https://buffett.cnbc.com/2009-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting/">2009 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting</a>: “Marry the right person. I’m serious about that. It will make more difference in your life. It will change your aspirations, all kinds of things.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Invest in yourself</h2>



“By far the best investment you can make is in yourself,” Buffett&nbsp;<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/warren-buffett-shares-keys-success-134329028.html" class="">told Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer</a>&nbsp;earlier this year.



First, “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/05/warren-buffett-how-to-increase-your-worth-by-50-percent.html" class="">learn to communicate better</a>&nbsp;both in writing and in person. ” Honing that skill can increase your value by at least 50%, he said in a Facebook video posted in 2018.



Next, take care of your body and mind — especially when you’re young. “If I gave you a car, and it’d be the only car you get the rest of your life, you would take care of it like you can’t believe. Any scratch, you’d fix that moment, you’d read the owner’s manual, you’d keep a garage and do all these things,” he said. “You get exactly one mind and one body in this world, and you can’t start taking care of it when you’re 50. By that time, you’ll rust it out if you haven’t done anything.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Associate yourself with ‘high-grade people’</h2>



Who you associate with matters, Buffett told author Gillian Zoe Segal in an interview for her 2015 book,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419715704/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;amp;amp;creative=9325&amp;amp;amp;amp;creativeASIN=1419715704&amp;amp;amp;amp;linkCode=as2&amp;amp;amp;amp;tag=getti043-20&amp;amp;amp;amp;linkId=X6UNEWPT2UNOA7CQ%20%5Ct%20_blank" class="">“Getting There: A Book of Mentors.”</a>&nbsp; “One of the best things you can do in life is to surround yourself with people who are better than you are,” he said.



If you’re around what he calls “high-grade people,” you’ll start acting more like them. Conversely, “If you hang around with people who behave worse than you, pretty soon you’ll start being pulled in that direction. That’s just the way it seems to work.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Work for people you respect</h2>



“Try to work for whomever you admire most,” Buffett told Segal. “It won’t necessarily be the job that you’ll have 10 years later, but you’ll have the opportunity to pick up so much as you go along.”



While&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/25/most-employees-dont-negotiate-their-salary.html" class="">salary is&nbsp;an important factor&nbsp;</a>when thinking about your career, “You don’t want to take a job just for the money,” said Buffett.



He once accepted a job with his mentor and hero, Benjamin Graham, without even asking about the salary. “I found that out at the end of the month when I got my paycheck,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ignore the noise</h2>



Investing can get emotional, and it doesn’t help that you can see how you’re doing throughout the day by checking a stock ticker or turning on the news.



But no one can be certain which way the financial markets are going to move. The best strategy, even when the market seems to be tanking, is to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/08/heres-what-warren-buffett-says-to-do-when-the-market-tanks.html" class="">keep a level head and stay the course</a>, Buffett says.



“I don’t pay any attention to what economists say, frankly,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/18/warren-buffett-explains-why-he-never-listens-to-economists.html" class="">he said in 2016</a>. “If you look at the whole history of [economists], they don’t make a lot of money buying and selling stocks, but people who buy and sell stocks listen to them. I have a little trouble with that.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success isn’t measured by money</h2>



Buffett is consistently one of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/#4d68b6251c71" class="">richest people in the world</a>, but he doesn’t use wealth as a measure of success. For him, it all boils down to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/31/how-warren-buffetts-measure-of-success-shaped-2018-for-bill-gates.html" class="">if the people you’re closest to love you</a>.



“Being given unconditional love is the greatest benefit you can ever get,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/cmsmedia/2809438/buffett-2008.pdf" class="">Buffett told MBA students in a 2008 talk</a>.



“The incredible thing about love is that you can’t get rid of it. If you try to give it away, you end up with twice as much, but if you try to hold onto it, it disappears. It is an extraordinary situation, where the people who just absolutely push it out, get it back tenfold.”



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/special-report/2019/08/29/billionaire-elon-musk-computers-will-surpass-us-in-every-single-way/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/special-report/2019/08/29/billionaire-elon-musk-computers-will-surpass-us-in-every-single-way/</a> and is republished with its permission.

Billionaire Warren Buffett just turned 89—here are 6 pieces of wisdom from the investing legend

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/28/elon-musk-computers-will-surpass-us-in-every-single-way.html">Jordan Novet </a>



<a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=TSLA">Tesla</a> CEO <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/elon-musk/">Elon Musk</a> on Wednesday said that computers are getting smarter than humans in more and more spheres and that the trend will continue.



“We will be far, far surpassed in every single way. I guarantee it,” Musk said to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jack-ma/" class="">Jack Ma</a>, chairman of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=BABA" class="">Alibaba</a>, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.



The comments highlight an evolving landscape in technology, including in artificial intelligence — an area&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/17/what-is-artificial-intelligence.html" class="">technology companies are tapping</a>&nbsp;to enhance their products and sell to businesses.



Musk pointed to advances in chess and the Chinese board game of Go as evidence of progress in AI.



“Your cell phone could crush the world champion of chess, literally,” Musk told Ma.



company is seeking to draw on AI for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/17/elon-musk-brain-machine-startup-neuralink-plans-human-trials-in-2020.html" class="">augmenting people’s cognitive capabilities</a>&nbsp;with brain-machine interfaces. The company is not there yet, though.



“The first thing we should assume is we are very dumb,” Musk said. “We can definitely make things smarter than ourselves.”



Ma had a different view, suggesting that a computer has never spawned a human being, or even a mosquito.



“I’ve never in my life, especially [in the] last two years, when people talk about AI, human beings will be controlled by machines,” he said. “I never think about that. It’s impossible.”



And Ma said that he does not want to play chess or Go against a machine. These games were designed for people to play against each other, he said.



“I’ll be happy to see two computers fight each other,” Ma added.



The Tesla chief has spoken previously about AI. In 2017&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/04/elon-musk-says-global-race-for-ai-will-be-most-likely-cause-of-ww3.html" class="">he suggested</a>&nbsp;that competition among nations in AI could lead to World War III.



Tesla has sought to do more in AI. Musk revealed that Tesla was working on a custom AI chip&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/08/elon-musk-talks-up-teslas-upcoming-artificial-intelligence-hardware.html" class="">in 2017</a>, and last month he said the automaker would “most likely” start retrofitting older vehicles with its chips by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/8/20685873/tesla-fsd-chip-upgrade-2019-install-hw2-full-self-driving" class="">the end of 2019</a>.



In 2015 Musk co-founded <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/22/microsoft-invests-1-billion-in-elon-musks-openai.html">OpenAI</a> as an AI research nonprofit. He <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/21/elon-musk-is-leaving-the-board-of-openai.html">left the board</a> last year. He said in a tweet earlier this year that OpenAI and Tesla were at times both trying to hire the same people, and that he and OpenAI didn’t always see eye to eye.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Also, Tesla was competing for some of same people as OpenAI &amp; I didn’t agree with some of what OpenAI team wanted to do. Add that all up &amp; it was just better to part ways on good terms.&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1096989482094518273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/28/elon-musk-computers-will-surpass-us-in-every-single-way.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/28/elon-musk-computers-will-surpass-us-in-every-single-way.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Billionaire Elon Musk: Computers will surpass us ‘in every single way’

TOKYO (Reuters) &#8211; Japan will offer enhanced trade insurance to boost private sector investment in Africa, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday as his country competes with rival China for influence in the resource-rich continent.



 “Let me make a promise,” Abe told the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) attended by a few dozen African leaders and representatives of international organisations such as the World Bank.



“The Japanese government will do its utmost so that our private-sector investment in Africa, which came to $20 billion over the past three years, will be expanded continuously,” Abe added.



The enhanced insurance would fully cover loans to African governments, their affiliated institutions or private companies buying Japanese goods for infrastructure projects in Africa, according to government briefing materials and a state-run firm offering trade insurance.



“For example, our cooperation with local financial institutions will create a new trade insurance that could cover 100% of your transactions,” Abe said in his speech.



He did not make a major funding announcement at the Tokyo meeting.



At the last TICAD conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in 2016, Japan pledged $30 billion in public and private support for infrastructure development, education and healthcare in Africa over three years.



Foreign investment in sub-Saharan Africa rose 13% last year to $32 billion, bucking a global downward trend and reversing two years of decline, according to a United Nations report published in June. [nL8N23K3T7]



Last September at a summit with African leaders in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $60 billion in financing for Africa and wrote off some debt for the continent’s poorer nations. [nL3N1VP28R]



Western critics say the Chinese funding is saddling the continent with unsustainable debt, but Beijing denies it is engaging in “debt trap” diplomacy. [nL3N1VQ2CD]



Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; editing by Darren Schuettler

Here’s how Japan plans to drive Africa investment

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/ramit-sethi/">Ramit Sethi</a>



People have lots of reasons for not managing their money properly. A few of those reasons are valid, but most are just poorly veiled excuses for being lazy and not wanting to spend 10 minutes on research.



I’ve heard some blame the education system for not teaching them about money. It’s easy for people in their 20s to wish that their colleges had offered some personal finance training. But guess what? Most colleges&nbsp;do. You just didn’t take them!



The harsh truth is that you’re not victims. You’re in control of your own finances — and the sooner you internalize that, the sooner you can start to go on the offense.



The first step is to acknowledge some of the biggest money lies young people tell themselves:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">1. “I need to focus on making passive income.”</h2>



To many millennials, passive income sounds like a dream. They hear about some guy who took a three-week vacation — while still continuing to earn money — and then say, “I can’t do that!” What they don’t see, however, is the amount of time and work it took to get there.



Most people, especially the young ones who are just entering the workforce, don’t need to focus on passive income. Instead, they should be putting more effort into improving their&nbsp;active&nbsp;incomes&nbsp;— by focusing on their careers. They can do this by sharpening their work skills, solving more problems for their bosses and basically out-hustling their co-workers.



A lot of people hate hearing this because it means that instead of fantasizing about earning a passive income of $500 a day, they actually have do some real work at their jobs.



I’ve also seen people who&nbsp;are&nbsp;hard workers, but are too afraid to ask for a salary increase because their “company doesn’t have the funds” or because “economy is bad.”



Why? Because it’s easier: If we accept a force that we believe is out of our control (like a “bad economy”) in dictating whether or not we get a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/dont-make-these-5-mistakes-when-negotiating-salary-says-self-made-millionaire-ramit-sethi.html" class="">get a raise</a>, we feel less pressure to put in the effort.



Solution: Put in the hours and get better at your job so you can earn more money. If getting a raise isn’t an option, find another job and&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/CdbFwr1qcD4" class="">negotiate a higher salary</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">2. “If I just try harder, I can save more money.”</h2>



We all know we need to save money, the same way we know we need to exercise more, eat healthier and call our families regularly. But there are serious barriers to doing all these things.



Simply “trying harder” won’t help you succeed (there are even&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/When-Trying-Harder-Doesnt/136063" class="">studies</a>that will tell you the same thing).&nbsp;Trying&nbsp;to save money by buying the cheaper item isn’t enough.&nbsp;Trying&nbsp;to cut back on buying lattes won’t help, either.



In order to see results, you need to actually sit down and have a conversation with yourself about what needs to be done, step-by-step.



Take a look at your finances and ask yourself: What are you trying to do that takes a lot of effort, but for little gain? What’s not working no matter how hard you try? How can you make things easier for yourself?



Solution: <a class="" href="https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/automate-your-personal-finances/">Automate your finances</a> so you’re not dependent on your willpower.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">3. “I’m going to start keeping a budget.”</h2>



Most of us, at some point in our lives, will get motivated and decide: “Yes! I’m going to start keeping a budget!”



Creating a budget to cut down on your expenses is the sort of worthless advice that personal finance experts feel good prescribing to millennials. But the few people who actually attempt to budget completely fail after a few days because they eventually realize that it’s really difficult (and overwhelming) to track every penny they spend.



Also, more often than not, it doesn’t work because a budget tracks what you’ve already spent, and so when you look back at the end of the month, you feel horrible and guilty after realizing that you overspent. Budgets offer no forward-looking information.



Instead of keeping a budget, I recommend creating what I call a “Conscious Spending Plan,” a strategy that forces you to look to the future while also allowing you to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/money-dials/" class="">spend extravagantly</a>&nbsp;on the things you love — as long as you cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t love.



Solution: Create a Conscious Spending Plan by splitting up your income into four categories:



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li>Fixed costs: Rent, groceries, student loans, utilities, etc. (50% to 60% of your income)</li><li>Long-term investments: 401(k), Roth IRA, etc. (10% of your income)</li><li>Savings goals: Holiday gifts, vacations, down payment on a home, etc. (5% to 10% of your income)</li><li>Guilt-free spending: Dining out, movies, shopping, etc. (20% to 35% of your income)</li></ol>



By allocating your money this way, you can make sure you have enough to pay off all your responsibilities first. Then, any money left over can go towards your savings goals and everyday spending.



The guilt-free spending category allows you to buy what you want while knowing that your most important expenses are taken care of. (More on how to create a Conscious Spending Plan&nbsp;<a href="https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/budget-help/" class="">here</a>.)



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">4. “My friends earns less than me, yet they’re still able to go on four vacations every year!”</h2>



You friends are either highly skilled practitioners of Conscious Spending — or have absolutely no clue how to manage their money.



Think back to when you were a kid: How many times did you hear one of your parents ask the other: “Why can’t we go on vacations the way our neighbor does?” — without actually understanding how their neighbor’s spending breaks down. Chances are they’re not conscious spenders, but rather over-spenders.



Put another way, would you ask your friend who failed his English 101 class for grammar lessons? Hopefully not. So why would you look at your ordinary friends — who make ordinary money decisions and end up with ordinary results (a.k.a. not having enough money) — as role models?



Solution: Refocus your financial aspirations and strive to become like people who make conscious money decisions. Don’t follow the examples of those who show off by spending more than they have. If you suspect they can’t afford it, they probably can’t.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">5. “I’m going to start investing.”</h2>



Ask any of your friends how much they’ve&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/14/billionaire-warren-buffett-proves-successful-investors-always-ask-themselves-this-1-question-before-buying-or-selling.html" class="">invested in stocks</a>, and most of them will probably say they “don’t earn enough money” or “don’t have enough expertise” to do it.



According to a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/233699/young-americans-wary-investing-stocks.aspx" class="">Gallup</a>&nbsp;poll, only 37% of young Americans ages 35 and under said they owned stocks between 2017 and 2018, compared to the 61% of people over the age of 35 did own stocks.



Opening an investment account gives you access to the biggest money-making vehicle in the history of the world — and you don’t have to be rich to do it. Many account providers will waive minimums (the amount required to open an account) if you set up an automatic monthly transfer.



So many people say they’re “going to start investing,” and then end up not doing it. Why? Because they don’t think they’re capable of understanding the basics and don’t want to risk losing their hard-earned money.



But for every day that you don’t invest, you’re&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/self-made-millionaire-this-is-the-no-1-way-to-get-rich-ramit-sethi.html" class="">losing money</a>&nbsp;due to inflation — and you’ll never realize this until you’re in your 70s, at which point it’ll be too late.



Solution: Any new topic is overwhelming (i.e., diets, workout regimens, parenting). The answer isn’t to avoid it — it’s to pick a source of information to learn from and then actually start investing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">6. “Wanting to ‘get rich’ is bad.”</h2>



Obsessing over money and being consumed by greed is bad, but wanting a better future for you and your loved ones is anything but.



Having more money opens up an incredible amount of options for you and everyone around you. I’ve said this many times, and I’ll say it again: “Getting rich” isn’t just about money — it’s about living a rich life, and living a rich life might mean different things to different people.



For some, it means having the financial freedom to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/money-dials/" class="">spend extravagantly on their hobbies</a>. For others, it means having the luxury of paying for a house cleaner every week.



For me, part of what living a rich life means is the ability to step away from my business for six whole months to go on my honeymoon.



Solution: Think about what living a rich life means to you and let that inspire you to take action in growing your money.



<a class="" href="http://iwillteachyoutoberich.com/">Ramit Sethi</a>, author of the New York Times best-seller ”<a class="" href="https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Rich-Second/dp/1523505745">I Will Teach You To Be Rich, ”</a> has become a financial guru to millions of readers in their 20s, 30s and 40s. He became a self-made millionaire at a young age, thanks to his <a class="" href="http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/">website</a> (which he started as a Stanford undergraduate in 2004), book and personal finance courses. 



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/23/self-made-millionaire-6-biggest-lies-we-tell-ourselves-about-money.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/23/self-made-millionaire-6-biggest-lies-we-tell-ourselves-about-money.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Self-made millionaire: 6 biggest money lies young people need to stop telling themselves

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ernest-yeboah-acheampong-790269">Ernest Yeboah Acheampong</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-education-4021">University of Education</a> 

African footballers – like other players from developing countries – invariably earn sums of money far greater than their contemporaries back home.

On average, some African players in the elite leagues can <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2018.1551367">earn</a> between €15,000 and €100,000 or more as salaries. Those in leagues one, two and three can also earn around €10,000–50,000, €5000–20,000 and €2000–10,000. A few high-profile players earn more than €150,000 per month in prestigious European clubs.

As a result, there’s a great deal of pressure on players to show that they are spending some of what they earn back home. Some <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w14592">authors</a> have asserted that these professional footballers spend their earnings on conspicuous consumption, such as high-end imported goods. 

To get to grips with this perception I <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2018.1551367">examined</a> the effects of African migrant players’ “giving back” behaviour. I did this by analysing the various socioeconomic projects that they invest in in the communities they come from. 

As part of my study I interviewed former and current professional footballers in Europe to understand the rationale behind how they used their earnings and what investments they made in society. 

I found that some players invested in valuable projects like hospitals, schools, education, oil and gas businesses as well as football academies. This reflected what they termed as “giving back to the society”. 

My findings suggest that players who make investment contributions are demonstrating their social and cultural ties with families, relatives, friends, teammates and the communities where they might have started their football careers. 

<h2>The research</h2>

I developed a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2018.1551367">database</a> of 1084 African professional players who are playing or had played in 30 different European leagues and other parts of the world. 

Most were from West Africa (58.3%), followed by North Africa (17.9%), Central Africa (17.34%), Southern Africa (4.7%) and East Africa (1.8%). 

The overseas leagues covered 44 African players for the 2012/2013 season. 

Five countries each from Southern and East Africa did not have professional players. This means that at the time of the research, they did not have any players plying their trade outside of their territories. These countries were Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Seychelles, Sudan, Eritrea, Tanzania, Djibouti and South Sudan. 

The interviews I conducted included speaking to former and current African professional players who have played in Europe and other parts of the world. Among them were Abedi Pele Ayew (Ghana), Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast), Marcel Desailly (Ghana), Mike Alozie (Nigeria) Bouna Coundoul (Senegal), Samuel Eto&#8217;o (Cameroon), Reuben Ayarna (Ghana), Victor Wanyama (Kenya), Stephen Appiah and Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), and Chivuta Noah (Zambia). I interviewed 30 former and current African professional players that covered a period over five years – 2013 to 2018. 

The questions I asked were aimed at understanding how players used their resources from football, including money, and the rationale behind their decisions.

<h2>Where players came from</h2>

Most of the players I spoke to set out to pursue opportunities abroad because they had limited opportunities at home to support their professional aspirations and expectations. Nearly all came from financially deprived areas. This meant that they had to mobilise resources to support their careers at a formative stage.

This involved strategising to overcome the challenges with the contributions from significant others in the communities to become successful professionally abroad.

The study showed that players were able to mobilise resources from their families, friends, relatives, team mates and club officials. They had also been able to mobilise other kinds of support such as documentation, money, sport kits and gear. In addition, they had built social relations and networks via the societal support and contributions to help them achieve their professional status abroad. 

Eventually, when players became professional abroad and were being rewarded financially, some remitted in various ways to the country they came from. All of them remitted money which, according to the players, can be termed as an African culture.

<h2>Time to pay back</h2>

Players’ investment behaviour was classified according to the
type of projects they got involved in within the communities. This led to an appreciation of how and why they choose to do certain projects based on the support and resources they might have received from their communities. 

Players took very different investment initiatives. Some were purely economic; others had a more social dimension. Contributions from the players could be categorised into private investments, social enterprise investments and economic investments.

Contributions and assistance that constituted a form of “giving back” did not necessarily connote gifts and <a href="https://libcom.org/files/Mauss%20-%20The%20Gift.pdf">counter-gifts</a>. Instead, they served as a potential complement to support the efforts of local and regional growth. 

When deciding how to give back, the players considered those who had significantly contributed to their professional football careers. These included their families and extended families. Other factors that played a role were inter-generational obligations and non-familial actors. 

These investments into valuable social and economic initiatives in communities fulfilled two important functions. First, they enhanced local and regional developmental activities. Second, they helped safeguard the athletes’ post-playing career.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122414/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ernest-yeboah-acheampong-790269">Ernest Yeboah Acheampong</a>, Lecturer, Health,Physical Education,Recreation and Sport (HPERS), <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-education-4021">University of Education</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-african-footballers-who-play-in-europe-spend-their-money-122414">original article</a>.

Here’s how African footballers who play in Europe spend their money

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/karen-gilchrist/">Karen Gilchrist</a>



<a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/search/?query=Artificial%20intelligence">Artificial intelligence</a> and <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/cloud-computing/">cloud computing</a> are terms once reserved for the realms of science fiction. But, today, they’ve become an increasingly important — and lucrative — fixture of the employment landscape.



“Some of the top skills we’re seeing that are in great demand are artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing,” Feon Ang, vice president for talent and learning solutions in Asia Pacific at professional networking site&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=LNKD" class="">LinkedIn</a>.



The demand applies globally. However, it especially pertains to the <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/19/linkedin-these-are-the-most-in-demand-skills-jobs-in-asia-pacific.html">most sought-after skills in Asia Pacific</a>, which is currently suffering a “brain drain,” whereby talented workers are relocating overseas for better socio-economic prospects, Ang told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” Tuesday.



Tech skills should not be viewed in isolation, though — especially given the changing nature of technology.



By some measures, the average skill now lasts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/20/creative-skills-critical-to-protect-workers-from-automation-expert.html" class="">just six years</a>, which means that workers should be well-equipped with the skills to adapt to the changing work environment.



Such so-called soft skills include <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/21/future-of-work-these-5-traits-pose-the-biggest-skills-gap-linkedin.html">critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving</a>, noted Ang.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CNBC-.png" alt="" class="wp-image-343463" width="436" height="526"/></figure></div>



Increasingly, employers and governments are looking at ways to prepare their workforce for such shifts in the jobs landscape.



Amazon&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/11/amazon-plans-to-spend-700-million-to-retrain-a-third-of-its-workforce-in-new-skills-wsj.html" class="">announced last month</a>&nbsp;that it plans to invest $700 million to retrain a third of its workforce. Meanwhile, Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/19/andrew-yang-on-google-amazon-helping-pay-for-his-ubi-plan.html" class="">rallying support for a universal basic income</a>&nbsp;to help Americans cope with volatile future work prospects.



Non-profit organizations, such as international training academy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.womenwhocode.com/" class="">Women Who Code</a>, are also cropping up to address growing skills gaps.



Women Who Code provides training and support from women pursuing careers in tech specifically. But the firm’s CEO, Alaina Percival, told CNBC Tuesday that more companies should be providing training, regardless of whether or not their employees’ work is directly technical.



“This really needs to be done more broadly and it needs to be starting at even younger ages,” said Percival. “Every industry is becoming a technology industry. There aren’t enough highly skilled workers to fill the current market needs.”



However, the responsibility for picking up new skills also falls to individuals, said Ang.



She said the growing availability of free training courses has made accessing education much simpler.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/learning/" class="">LinkedIn Learning</a>, for instance, hosts a wide range of video-based courses, she noted. Meanwhile, more than 10,000 free — or partially free — programs from&nbsp;<a href="https://qz.com/1437623/600-free-online-courses-you-can-take-from-universities-worldwide/" class="">a consortium of 800 universities are also available online</a>&nbsp;via a scheme called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).



“It’s important for companies to continue to invest in their people so that they are upskilling and reskilling their people to keep up with the roles that are in demand,” said Ang.



“But, at the same time, people need to continue to invest in themselves and have a growth mind set,” she said.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/22/linkedin-ai-big-data-cloud-computing-among-top-future-tech-skills.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/22/linkedin-ai-big-data-cloud-computing-among-top-future-tech-skills.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

LinkedIn calls these 3 of the most sought-after tech skills

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/annie-palmer/">Annie Palmer</a> 



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=TWTR" class="">Twitter</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=FB" class="">Facebook</a>&nbsp;have suspended numerous accounts that they say are tied to a Chinese disinformation campaign against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.



Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html" class="">said Monday</a>&nbsp;it suspended 936 accounts likely related to the activity. The company said the disinformation campaign was designed to “sow political discord in Hong Kong, including undermining the legitimacy and political protest movement on the ground.”



Over the weekend, approximately <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/18/hong-kong-protesters-throng-streets-peacefully-in-heavy-rain.html">1.7 million anti-government protesters</a>gathered in Hong Kong to rally peacefully against the Chinese government, which assumed rule of the former British colony in 1997. Protests erupted in June following a now-suspended bill that would allow criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China.



“Based on our intensive investigations, we have reliable evidence to support that this is a coordinated state-backed operation,” the company said in a blog post. “Specifically, we have identified large clusters of accounts behaving in a coordinated manner to amplify messages related to the Hong Kong protests.”



Following Twitter’s announcement, Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/08/removing-cib-china/" class="">said in a blog post&nbsp;</a>that it was acting on a tip from Twitter. Both companies face increased pressure to crack down on fake accounts and false content on their platforms in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, during which foreign actors used the sites to sow division around social issues.



Twitter’s latest move comes after social media site Pinboard warned days earlier that China was using Twitter to distribute posts from state media discrediting the protests.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Every day I go out and see stuff with my own eyes, and then I go to report it on Twitter and see promoted tweets saying the opposite of what I saw. Twitter is taking money from Chinese propaganda outfits and running these promoted tweets against the top Hong Kong protest hashtags <a href="https://t.co/6Wb0Km6GOb">pic.twitter.com/6Wb0Km6GOb</a>&mdash; Pinboard (@Pinboard) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1162711159000055808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



Twitter is blocked in China, but many of the accounts it discovered were using virtual private networks, which encrypt and anonymize web traffic. The accounts it suspended represent the “most active” portion of the broader spam campaign, which it estimates to include about 200,000 accounts.



As a result of the announcement, Twitter <a class="" href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/advertising_policies_on_state_media.html">said</a> it would no longer accept advertising from state-controlled news media entities.



The company didn’t call out any specific news outlets in the post, but said it was including any entities that are “either financially or editorially controlled by the state.” The organizations are still able to use the platform for communication, just not for advertisements.



Twitter clarified that the updated policy doesn’t apply to taxpayer-funded entities, such as independent public broadcasters.



Facebook removed seven pages, three groups and five accounts in what it calls coordinated inauthentic behavior targeting Hong Kong. About 15,500 accounts followed one or more of the now-deactivated pages, while roughly 2,200 accounts joined at least one of the groups, Facebook said.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/19/twitter-accuses-china-of-running-disinformation-campaign-against-hong-kong-protesters.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/19/twitter-accuses-china-of-running-disinformation-campaign-against-hong-kong-protesters.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Facebook, Twitter accuse China of running disinformation campaign against Hong Kong protesters

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) &#8211; The U.S.-China trade war and uncertainty over Brexit pose risks to Africa’s economic prospects that are “increasing by the day,” the head of the African Development Bank (AfDB) told Reuters.



The trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies has roiled global markets and unnerved investors as it stretches into its second year with no end in sight.



Britain, meanwhile, appears to be on course to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 without a transition deal, which economists fear could severely disrupt trade flows.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Akinwumi Adesina, president of the AfDB, said the bank could review its economic growth projection for Africa &#8211; of 4% in 2019 and 4.1% in 2020 &#8211; if global external shocks accelerate.



“We normally revise this depending on global external shocks that could slowdown global growth and these issues are increasing by the day,” Adesina told Reuters late on Saturday on the sidelines of the Southern African Development Community meeting in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam.



&nbsp;“You have Brexit, you also have the recent challenges between Pakistan and India that have flared off there, plus you have the trade war between the United States and China. All these things can combine to slow global growth, with implications for African countries.”



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The bank chief said African nations need to boost trade with each other and add value to agricultural produce to cushion the impact of external shocks.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “I think the trade war has significantly impacted economic growth prospects in China and therefore import demand from China has fallen significantly and so demand for products and raw materials from Africa will only fall even further,” he said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “It will also have another effect with regard to China’s own outward-bound investments on the continent,” he added, saying these could also affect official development assistance.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Adesina said a continental free-trade zone launched last month, the African Continental Free Trade Area, could help speed up economic growth and development, but African nations needed to remove non-tariff barriers to boost trade.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “The countries that have always been facing lower volatilities have always been the ones that do a lot more in terms of regional trade and do not rely on exports of raw materials,” Adesina said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “The challenges cannot be solved unless all the barriers come down. Free mobility of labour, free mobility of capital and free mobility of people.”



Additional reporting and writing by Fumbuka Ng&#8217;wanakilala; Editing by George Obulutsa and Mark Potter

Africa development bank says risks to growth ‘increasing by the day’, what you need to know

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/ramit-sethi/">Ramit Sethi</a>



Change is a constant and continuous process in life. As we grow older, we change how we dress, what we eat, where we live and who we become friends with.



Yet when it comes to how we use our time and money ― especially for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/26/money-mistakes-millionaires-like-warren-buffett-bill-gates-google-eric-schmidt-never-make.html" class="">high earners and wealthy individuals</a>&nbsp;― we tend to be more resistant to change.



Here’s a little scenario to illustrate my point: I have a friend who earns more than $750,000 a year. He loves his job, but if you asked him how he’s doing, his biggest complaint would be:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/25/stop-saying-im-busy-harvard-study-reveals-how-successful-people-say-no-and-protect-their-time.html" class="">“I’m so busy.”</a>



So imagine my surprise when I visited him one day and pointed to the bags sitting on his kitchen counter.



“Oh, I just got back from the grocery store,” he said.



After a quick pause, I asked, “Have you ever considered having someone else do your grocery shopping?”



He looked at me like I was crazy.&nbsp;Pay&nbsp;to have someone do his grocery shopping? What kind of elitist would do that?



Here was an adult earning $750,000 a year, but behaving as if he still earns $50,000.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The hidden paradox of money vs. time</h2>



The concept of buying back your time is one of the most powerful productivity concepts I’ve learned as a business owner.



Buying back your time is all about convenience: By spending on things like Lyft rides, pre-cooked meals or a housekeeper, you’re actually&nbsp;savingmoney because you get back the hours that you’d normally spend doing things that don’t make you happy.



Most high earners fail to recognize the effectiveness of buying back time. Maybe it’s because growing up, their parents didn’t have more money than time, which changes the calculus of how they make decisions. As a result, those high earners never end up changing their approach to work and their personal lives.



This is a huge paradox of earning more money: Many people claim they value time over money, but if you look at their calendars, you’ll find that the opposite is true.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Buying back your time isn’t an act of arrogance</h2>



I used to scoff at people who flew first-class and think,&nbsp;Why would anyone spend an insane amount of money something so pointless? We’re all getting to the same destination.



But more often than not, those people were not stupid. They were high earners who understood value in a different way than I used to.



If you earn $40,000 a year, for example, spending $5,000 on a first-class flight is crazy. But if you’re a CEO who earns $450,000 a year, it makes perfect sense.



In business, misaligned beliefs on time and money can cost you dearly ― while getting aligned can become a force multiplier.



Sometimes, people who buy back their time are seen as showing off. But guess what? Many of us already do it:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Eating at a restaurant instead of cooking at home</li><li>Getting the car oil changed instead of doing it yourself</li><li>Taking an Uber instead of walking or taking public transportation</li><li>Paying retail price instead of looking for a good deal</li></ul>



I’d bet that some of you do these things every week and don’t consider it as “buying back your time.” But you actually are because you’re spending on convenience so you can focus on getting results and move on to more important things.



I’m really into fitness, for example, and Theoretically, I could read a ton of material on bodybuilding, structure my diet and fitness routine ― and stick to it.



But I know I’ll never be as efficient as my trainer, who lives and breathes fitness. By paying him, I can trade money for time and get the best results. (Again, I could be doing it all on my own, but I don’t have to; I’d rather spend that time on my business and with my family.)



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Give it a shot―it might change your life</h2>



I still find it difficult to know when it’s “right” to spend money or time on something ― and I’m not alone.



Think about all the wealthy and successful people, like my friend who earns $750,000 per year, who are uncomfortable with the idea of delegating tasks to others. But if you’re working hard, you should be able to buy back your time.



The key is to ask yourself:&nbsp;What do I get out of it?



What do you get if you got three hours of your time back every week? Do you get to fly your parents out and put them up in an amazing suite? (If you’re Indian like me, the answer is no: They’ll be staying with you.) Do you get to do things you really enjoy, like cooking your own meal or composing music?



If you’re making more money than ever, aim to save at least one hour per week. Think about all the responsibilities that you hate (e.g., doing the laundry, grocery shopping, managing your finances) where there are great solutions available to outsource or systematize the work.



Then, as you get more advanced, you can tackle trickier topics like scheduling, email management and entire project management.



<a href="http://iwillteachyoutoberich.com/" class="">Ramit Sethi</a>,&nbsp;author of the New York Times best-seller&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Rich-Second/dp/1523505745" class="">“I Will Teach You To Be Rich,”</a>&nbsp;has become a financial guru to millions of readers in their 20s, 30s and 40s. He became a self-made millionaire at a young age thanks to his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/" class="">website</a>&nbsp;(which he started as a Stanford undergraduate in 2004), book and personal finance courses.



This is an adapted version of a post that originally appeared on <a class="" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.quora.com_What-2Dis-2Dthe-2Dgreatest-2Dparadox-2Dof-2Dbecoming-2Dwealthy-3Futm-5Fsource-3Dquora-26utm-5Fmedium-3Dawareness-26utm-5Fcampaign-3Dcnbc-2Dparadox-2Drepost&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;m=2n9dCazpBKNeP0sZNLEWPLc0xX64x1aJMuex4HNZRU0&amp;s=C44tttzUAhsbXoPxK8ckmvpylc5UfocO2HdM3gtkpaE&amp;e=">Quora</a>.



This adapted version first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/08/self-made-millionaire-this-is-the-greatest-paradox-of-getting-rich-people-fail-to-recognize.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/08/self-made-millionaire-this-is-the-greatest-paradox-of-getting-rich-people-fail-to-recognize.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Self-made millionaire: This is the greatest paradox of wealth—and most people fail to recognize it

LAGOS, Aug 16 (Reuters) &#8211; A judge in London said on Friday he
would grant a firm called Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&amp;ID)
the right to seek to seize some $9 billion in assets from the Nigerian
government over an aborted gas project.



The
company was awarded $6.6 billion in an arbitration decision over a failed
project to build a gas processing plant in the southern Nigerian city of
Calabar. With interest payments, the sum now tops $9 billion &#8211; some 20% of
Nigeria’s foreign reserves



The
judge’s decision, issued on Friday, converts the arbitration award to a legal
judgement, which would allow P&amp;ID to try to seize international assets.



Lawyers
representing the Nigerian government argued the award should not be enforced
because England was not the correct place for the case, and even if it were,
the amount awarded was “manifestly excessive.”



Mr
Justice Butcher of the Commercial Court rejected these arguments and said he
would “receive submissions from the parties as to the precise form of order
appropriate.”



A
spokesman for Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari directed requests for
comment to the Ministry of Justice, which did not immediately respond. A
spokeswoman for the law firm representing the Nigerian government in London did
not immediately provide a comment on the ruling.



“P&amp;ID
is committed to vigorously enforcing its rights, and we intend to begin the
process of seizing Nigerian assets in order to satisfy this award as soon as
possible,” said Andrew Stafford, Q.C. of Kobre &amp; Kim, which represents
P&amp;ID.



The
case involves a 2010 deal in which the Nigerian government agreed to supply gas
to a processing plant in Calabar that P&amp;ID – a firm founded by two Irish
businessmen specifically for the project &#8211; would build and run.



In
2012, P&amp;ID took the government to arbitration over the failure of the deal
and won the award, which was based on what it could have earned during the
20-year agreement.



Stafford
said that with accrued interest, the award now tops $9.6 billion.



Legal experts told Reuters previously that assets used for diplomatic purposes – such as the Nigerian High Commission building in central London – are not eligible for seizure, but commercial assets are. 



(Reporting by Libby George, additional reporting by Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Editing by Mark Potter)

UK judge will allow firm to try to seize $9 billion in Nigerian assets in gas dispute, what you need to know

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emad-hasan-773516">Emad Hasan</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/binghamton-university-state-university-of-new-york-2252">Binghamton University, State University of New York</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aondover-tarhule-773518">Aondover Tarhule</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/binghamton-university-state-university-of-new-york-2252">Binghamton University, State University of New York</a>

Today, more than 700 million people around the world <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water">drink water from unsafe or untreated sources</a>, such as wells, springs and surface water. 

About half of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, in more than 30 African countries, fewer than 20% of the people <a href="https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity">have access to safe drinking water</a>. 

<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/climate-change-water-en.pdf">Climate change is likely to worsen the situation</a> by making water less available in some locations and by changing the amounts and timing when water is available. 

Determining whether a region has sufficient water to satisfy the needs of people who live there is a complicated and imperfect process. Our research team has developed a new approach <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11080904">to measure water scarcity</a> by using satellites hundreds of miles in space. 

<h2>How to measure water scarcity</h2>

To estimate water scarcity, hydrologists, the people who study the science of water, build what they call a <a href="https://naturalsciences.ch/topics/water/water_balance">“water budget.”</a> 

They estimate all of the water entering the country – from rivers, rainfall, groundwater and man-made sources – and then subtract all of the water exiting the country. This produces an estimate of the available water in the country or region. 

By dividing the available water by the population in the region, hydrologists can tell whether there is sufficient water to meet people’s needs. 

Generally, in the U.S., <a href="https://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html">the average person uses between 300 and 400 liters of water per day</a> for basic needs – like drinking, sanitation, bathing and food preparation. 

Globally, a country is said to experience a serious water scarcity problem if it has <a href="http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/maps/TRWR.Cap_eng.pdf">less than 500,000 liters of water</a> per person per year, to meet both their daily needs and agricultural needs.

This water budget process works if accurate data are available for each source of water. However, in many developing regions, such as Africa, the data required to calculate water budgets are not available. 

Yet Africa critically needs accurate information on its water scarcity status. As the second most populated continent, Africa is projected to have <a href="https://www.prb.org/2013-world-population-data-sheet/">a population of 2.4 billion by 2050</a>, approximately double the current estimated population. Such rapid population growth will exert considerable stress on the continent’s available water resources, worsening the already acute water scarcity situation. 

So, assessing the potentially available water resources is essential for the future.

<h2>Look to the skies</h2>

<a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11080904">Our study</a> takes a new approach to assessing water scarcity. 

We used data from two satellite systems. The first is called the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, operated since 1997 by the U.S. and Japan. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission uses several instruments – including a precipitation radar, microwave imager, visible and infrared scanner – to estimate rainfall. Getting the rainfall estimate right is critical, because this is the most important source of water for human use. 

The second type of satellite data is from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, a joint mission between the U.S. and Germany. First launched in 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment is a twin satellite mission that uses the changes in the Earth’s gravitational fields to infer changes in the global water resources, from the Earth’s surface to the deepest groundwater aquifers. 

We combined data from these two satellite systems to calculate the monthly potential available water from all sources of water for each country in Africa from 2002 to 2016. By dividing this value by the population in each country, we obtained a new measurement of available water storage per capita. 

Because the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite data also estimates water in deep groundwater aquifers, which may not be accessible due to technical or economic limitations, we refer to this new estimate as potential available water storage.

<figure class="align-center zoomable">
 <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img decoding="async" alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=241&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=241&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=241&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=303&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=303&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=303&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
 <figcaption>
 Potentially available water per capita, for present-day (A) and future estimates for the year 2025 (B) and 2050 (C).
 <a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11080904">Remote Sensing (2019)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a>
 </figcaption>
 </figure>

<h2>Measuring water, faster</h2>

We compared our results with the data currently used by the <a href="http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/data/query/index.html?lang=en">United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization</a>. Their method relies on conventional water budget accounting to estimate the total renewable water resources in a country. It then classifies each country into one of four categories: water-sufficient, vulnerable, water-stressed or water-scarce. 

Of the 48 African countries studied, our method classified 26 in the same category as the U.N.‘s method; 12 were classified as having more water than indicated and 10 as less. 

These differences are not surprising. Our estimate includes also water in aquifers deep underground that the U.N.’s method does not account for. Their method likely underestimates the total available water for countries that have substantial groundwater reserves. 

On the other hand, the accuracy of our method can be affected by the size of a country. Countries smaller than the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment footprint – the approximately 200,000 square kilometer blocks that the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment estimates can be made with confidence – are much more likely to be in error.

By 2050, assuming no change in available water resources, we project that 19 countries in Africa will face water scarcity and another nine countries will be water-stressed. However, if climate change were to cause Africa’s water resources to decrease by 10%, which is <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap22_FINAL.pdf">within the range of several climate projections for some African countries</a>, then approximately 85% of Africa’s population will experience a dangerous water scarcity situation. 

In general, we think that our method has several advantages over existing methods. It circumvents many of the limitations related to data unavailability and reliability in Africa. The data are more temporally and spatially continuous, as well as easier for researchers to access. As a result, estimates of water scarcity can be carried out much more rapidly for the entire continent. 

Satellites will gather new data in the coming years. We plan to take advantage of such data improvements as they become available to refine our method in terms of accuracy and water scarcity assessment at the sub-country level, not only in Africa but globally. 

[ Deep knowledge, daily. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&amp;utm_medium=inline-link&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter-text&amp;utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120055/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emad-hasan-773516">Emad Hasan</a>, Postdoctoral Researcher in Geography, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/binghamton-university-state-university-of-new-york-2252">Binghamton University, State University of New York</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aondover-tarhule-773518">Aondover Tarhule</a>, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/binghamton-university-state-university-of-new-york-2252">Binghamton University, State University of New York</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-use-satellites-to-measure-water-scarcity-120055">original article</a>.

Here’s how satellites are used to measure water scarcity

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/carmin-chappell/">Carmin Chappell</a> 



The city of Hong Kong has been roiled by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/11/protesters-clash-with-police-chant-liberate-hong-kong-as-unrest-continues.html" class="">protests</a>&nbsp;this summer. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have occupied the city’s streets, government buildings and even the main airport. All departing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/hong-kong-airport-cancels-all-flights-over-protests.html" class="">flights were canceled</a>&nbsp;on Monday, putting travel at a standstill.



Young people are at the forefront of Hong Kong’s protest movement. Many of the most prominent opposition leaders are still in their 20s, but they’re demanding big changes that could alter the future of their entire generation.



These are the issues they’re calling attention to:&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Democracy</h2>



Hong Kong’s protests were sparked in June by a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/09/hong-kong-extradition-bill-carrie-lam-says-bill-is-dead-after-protests.html" class="">proposed bill</a>&nbsp;that would allow extraditions to mainland China. Opponents of the bill feared it was a sign of the Communist Party’s growing influence over Hong Kong, which is designated as a Special Administrative Region of China that operates largely independently.



Although Hong Kong’s government&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/15/hong-kong-government-reportedly-will-suspend-china-extradition-bill.html" class="">suspended the bill</a>&nbsp;in response to the widespread backlash, the protests have continued. Demonstrators have harnessed the momentum to advocate for greater democratic freedoms overall.



Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, both 22, and Nathan Law, 26, are three of the leaders of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.demosisto.hk/about?lang=en" class="">Demosisto</a>, a pro-democracy youth activist group in Hong Kong that has been on the front lines of the protests. Wong and Law were among several people&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/17/occupy-activists-joshua-wong-nathan-law-alex-chow-jailed.html" class="">sentenced to jail</a>&nbsp;in 2017 for their role in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/02/very-civil-disobedience-inside-hong-kongs-umbrella-revolution.html" class="">Umbrella Movement</a>, another wave of pro-democracy protests in 2014 led in large part by college students. But they haven’t let their previous run-ins with the law stop them from supporting this summer’s protests.



“What kind of young people does Hong Kong produce? Smart, efficient, attentive and freedom-loving,” Wong tweeted after protesters <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/01/fresh-hong-kong-protests-to-mark-22-years-since-handover-to-china.html">stormed the city’s legislative headquarters</a>. “I am proud of them.”



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">24. What kind of young people does Hong Kong produce? Smart, efficient, attentive and freedom-loving. I am proud of them, although I confess I do not have the courage to do what they did yesterday. I have been jailed three times, so I know full well what now lies ahead of them.&mdash; Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 (@joshuawongcf) <a href="https://twitter.com/joshuawongcf/status/1145971981759631360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic inequality</h2>



Hong Kong is known as one of the world’s major economic hubs, but it’s also home to extreme inequality. The gap between the rich and the poor is staggering: According to the latest census report, the wealthiest 10% of households&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-anniversary-wealth-gap/hong-kong-wealth-gap-at-its-widest-in-decades-as-handover-anniversary-nears-idUSKBN19I1E2" class="">earn 44 times more</a>&nbsp;than the poorest 10%.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/12/hong-kong-average-house-price-hits-1point2-million.html" class="">Housing prices</a>&nbsp;are also some of the highest in the world, surpassing even New York and London. To save money, many residents have opted to live in cramped, dorm-style rooms with bunk beds and shared bathrooms, known as “<a href="https://apnews.com/a8d99f34ca69410192747e62831ec231" class="">coffin homes</a>. ”



Half of the protesters identify as middle class, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3022345/young-educated-and-middle-class-first-field-study-hong-kong" class="">field survey</a>conducted by local universities. But some experts say that the protests will ultimately&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/19/businesses-may-consider-moving-from-hong-kong-to-singapore.html" class="">hurt Hong Kong’s economy</a>&nbsp;overall, if companies decide to relocate due to the unrest.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Hong Kong’s identity</h2>



Hong Kong’s transition from a British colony to part of mainland China was seen as a massive step for the future of the city. But many of those protesting today weren’t even born yet when Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997, and they now worry for the loss of the city’s autonomy at the hands of the Communist Party.



“Police and Chinese mob are ruling Hong Kong,” tweeted Law. “When the Chinese mobs are attacking the citizens, no law enforcements are there.” At times during the demonstrations police have fired <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/21/hong-kong-residents-deface-chinese-emblem-in-latest-protest.html">tear gas and rubber bullets</a> into crowds of protesters. 



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Police and Chinese mob are ruling Hong Kong. They are beating citizens everywhere and trying to threaten the people. When the Chinese mobs are attacking the citizens, no law enforcements are there. Shame on the government.&mdash; Nathan Law 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) <a href="https://twitter.com/nathanlawkc/status/1152979346295930880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 21, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



Many young residents maintain a strong sense of identity with Hong Kong over China: 9% of Hong Kong residents ages 18 to 29 say they’re proud to be a Chinese citizen, while 38% of those over 50 feel the same way, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hkupop.hku.hk/english/release/release1594.html" class="">survey</a>&nbsp;by Hong Kong University.



The actions of Hong Kong’s youth mirror millennials around the world, who are increasingly standing up against the status quo and demanding more radical political change.



“If there is just one takeaway for the world: Events in Hong Kong are about so much more than the bill, more than Lam, more even than democracy,” tweeted Wong. “They all matter of course. But in the end it is about the future of Hong Kong beyond 2047, a future that belongs to our generation.” In 2047 the current political arrangement between Hong Kong and China will expire, opening up the possibility for a completely new system to take its place.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">28. If there is just one takeaway for the world: Events in Hong Kong are about so much more than the bill, more than Lam, more even than democracy. They all matter of course. But in the end it is about the future of Hong Kong beyond 2047, a future that belongs to our generation.&mdash; Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 (@joshuawongcf) <a href="https://twitter.com/joshuawongcf/status/1145975173234868224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/meet-the-millennial-leaders-of-hong-kongs-protests.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/meet-the-millennial-leaders-of-hong-kongs-protests.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Many of the leaders of Hong Kong’s protests are millennials—here’s why they’re taking action

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/marcel-schwantes/">Marcel Schwantes</a>



If you’re like most people, you probably have a long list of things you’d do differently if you had <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/03/advice-from-90-year-olds-how-to-live-a-long-happy-and-regret-free-life.html">a second shot at life</a>.



But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/30/warren-buffett-this-is-the-no-1-mistake-parents-make-when-teaching-kids-about-money.html" class="">Warren Buffett</a>? Not so much.



In 1998, at a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MHIcabnjrA" class="">lecture</a>&nbsp;he gave at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MHIcabnjrA" class="">University of Florida’s School of Business</a>, an MBA student asked Buffett: “What would you do to live a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/29/deepak-chopra-do-these-3-little-things-to-live-a-longer-happier-life.html" class="">happier life</a>&nbsp;— if you could live all over again? ”



“This will sound disgusting,” the Berkshire Hathaway CEO joked, “but the only thing would be to select a gene pool where people lived to 120 or something where I came from.”



While Buffett’s answer might sound simple at first, the rest of his response revealed that his personal philosophy about happiness has very little to do with longevity.



In fact, if he was given the option to go back and live life “all over again,” he probably wouldn’t take it.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Buffett is best suited for the society he’s in now</h2>



The Oracle of Omaha took great care in laying out a scenario to illustrate how “extraordinarily lucky” he already feels today.



He told the audience to imagine a barrel with roughly 5.8 billions of balls — one for everybody in the world. Each ball will determine important factors (e.g., your birthplace, IQ level, gender, ethnicity, skills, parents) in your “new life.”



“If you could put your ball back into the barrel, and they took out 100 balls at random — and you had to from pick one of those, would you put your ball back in?” he asked.



In addition to not knowing which ball you’ll get, there’s another catch: “Of those 100 balls, five of them will be American. So if you want to be in this country, you’ll only have five balls to choose from,” Buffett explained. “Half of them will be women and half men. Half of them will be below average in intelligence and half above average in intelligence.”



He asked the students again: Do you still want to risk taking a second shot at life?



“Most of you won’t want to put your ball back,” he said. “So what you’re really saying is, ’I’m the luckiest 1% of the world right now, sitting in this room — the top 1% of the world.”



And that’s exactly how Buffett feels. “I’m lucky to be born where I was because it was 50 to one in the United States when I was born. I’ve been lucky to be wired in a way that, in a market economy, pays off like crazy for me,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">You don’t need ‘luck’ to be happy</h2>



Buffett acknowledged that not everyone is as lucky as he is because it all depends on the system that one is born into.



”[Bill] Gates says that if I’d been born three million years ago, I would’ve been some animal’s lunch. He says, ‘You can’t run very fast, you can’t climb trees, you can’t do anything. You’d just be chewed up the first day,’” said Buffett.



He closed the lecture by encouraging everyone to think about happiness from a more practical standpoint: None of us can live life all over again, but we can increase our overall happiness by choosing to make changes in our career, goals, finances, health and relationships.



“The way to do it is to play out the game and do something you enjoy all your life,” he said. “Be associated with people you like. I only work with people I like. If I could make $100 million dollars with a guy who causes my stomach to churn, I’d say no.”



He continued: “I urge you to work in jobs you love. You’re out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it’ll look good on your resume.”



Do what you love. It sounds easy when you’re one of the world’s richest people, but to be fair, Buffett was already doing what he loves long before he became successful.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/10/warren-buffett-what-id-do-differently-to-live-a-happier-life.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/10/warren-buffett-what-id-do-differently-to-live-a-happier-life.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Warren Buffett says this is what he’d do to live a happier life—if he could live all over again

By Keith Wade, Chief Economist and Strategist at Schroders and Craig Botham, Senior Emerging Markets Economist.



The Chinese yuan (CNY) has fallen below 7.0 versus the US
dollar for the first time in a decade, a level which has been widely seen as a
line in the sand for the currency.



Why is the yuan falling?



The move follows President Trump’s decision to impose 10%
tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports last Friday. This is not a
coincidence. Rather than backing down in response to the US, China is upping
the ante.



The exchange rate had been on the agenda at the trade talks,
with China refraining from allowing the currency to weaken whilst negotiations
seemed to be making progress.



Along with the move in the CNY, China has asked its
state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to suspend purchases of agricultural imports
from the US. &nbsp;



How are markets reacting?



As in the last period of concern over the CNY in 2015,
markets have reacted adversely. Risk assets have sold off and safe havens such
as government bonds and the Japanese yen are rallying.



Back in 2015, uncertainty over the direction of China’s
currency was significant as the authorities had not communicated their change
of strategy to the markets. Today there is a clearer framework in place, and
there are other differences. For example, in 2015 firms’ currency exposures
were unhedged and unprepared for any currency weakness.



Many borrowed in external currency simply to take advantage
of the carry trade. The shock of 2015 and the greater two-way volatility since
then, reinforced by messaging from the People’s Bank of China, means that there
is less of a mismatch on corporate balance sheets.



Messaging around the weakness is also clearer today than in
2015, when the reason for the devaluation was not obvious and so was
interpreted as a sign of underlying economic weakness. In short, we would not
expect a repeat today.



China had wanted tariffs to be removed as part of any deal,
so by doing the opposite Trump was effectively delivering a rebuke. The problem
now is that both sides could get into a position where they cannot back down
without losing face. Consequently, the prospect of a deal has diminished and
the risks of escalation have risen.



What does this mean for the global outlook?



Increased trade tensions will put further downward pressure
on global activity, with investment plans likely to be delayed or cancelled and
trade suffering. China and the Asian supply chain will be most affected, but US
growth will also suffer.



Alongside a stronger US dollar, such an environment may well
lead the US Federal Reserve to cut rates faster and further. Such a move may
please the president and yet, whilst he could reverse his decision on tariffs
with a tweet, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he has misjudged
China’s reaction.

Op-Ed: Has Trump misjudged China ?

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">Courtney Connley</a>



Traditionally, candidates have been advised to broach the topic of salary only after a job offer is on the table.



But bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch says that the rules have changed: In&nbsp;today’s economy, it’s completely acceptable to discuss salary up front.



Welch tells <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a> it all comes down to “simple economics.”



“Obviously, not all regions and industries are hot,” she says. “But in general, hiring managers are sweating bullets these days. Good candidates are hard to find and even harder to land.”



The upside to today’s tight job market, Welch says, is that “job seekers have leverage, which means you can ask about money when you want — even in the first conversation.” This also means that both the job seeker and the hiring manager are free to “make sure you’re on the same page before you slog through three or four interviews, only to find out you’re moneybags apart.”



But these new rules don’t mean that job seekers should say whatever they want&nbsp;— language, tone and approach are still important.&nbsp;



“Jerks still have a hard time getting hired,” Welch says. “Try something like, ‘This job sounds fantastic and I’m very excited about it. Could you just help me understand the salary range so we can make sure we’re aligned before moving forward?’”



Welch emphasizes that “no economic boom goes on forever, and someday, when tough times return, so may this taboo.” But until that happens, she says, there’s no reason not to be up-front about your expectations from the beginning.&nbsp;



“Go ahead and talk money early. You know you want to, and at last, for now and nicely, you can.”



Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the <a class="" href="http://jwmi.com/?mcv=jdg469">Jack Welch Management Institute</a>and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/05/suzy-welch-heres-when-to-discuss-salary-in-a-job-interview.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/05/suzy-welch-heres-when-to-discuss-salary-in-a-job-interview.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Suzy Welch: The rules have changed—here’s when to discuss salary in a job interview

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kerstin-carlson-344474">Kerstin Carlson</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-denmark-1097">University of Southern Denmark</a>

In June this year two lawyers filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) naming European Union member states’ migration policies in the Mediterranean as crimes against humanity. 

The court’s Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, must decide whether she wants to open a preliminary investigation into the criminality of Europe’s treatment of migrants. 

The challenge against the EU’s Mediterranean migrant policy is set out in a 245-page document prepared by Juan Branco and Omer Shatz, two lawyer-activists working and teaching in Paris. They <a href="https://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/jun/eu-icc-case-EU-Migration-Policies.pdf">argue that EU migration policy</a> is founded in deterrence and that drowned migrants are a deliberate element of this policy. The international law that they allege has been violated – crimes against humanity – applies to state policies practiced even outside of armed conflict. 

Doctrinally and juridically, the ICC can proceed. The question that remains is political: can and should the ICC come after its founders on their own turf?

There are two reasons why the answer is emphatically yes. First, the complaint addresses what has become a rights impasse in the EU. By taking on an area stymying other supranational courts, the ICC can fulfil its role as a judicial institution of last resort. Second, by turning its sights on its founders (and funders), the ICC can redress the charges of neocolonialism in and around Africa that have dogged it for the past decade.

<h2>ICC legitimacy</h2>

The ICC is the world’s first permanent international criminal court. Founded in 2002, it currently has 122 member states. 

So far, it has only prosecuted Africans. This has led to persistent critiques that it is a neocolonial institution that “only chases Africans” and only tries rebels. In turn, this has led to pushback against the court from powerful actors like the African Union, which <a href="http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/african-union-resolution-urges-states-to-leave-icc/">urges its members to leave the court</a>. 

The first departure from the court occurred in 2017, when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/world/africa/burundi-international-criminal-court.html">Burundi left</a>. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/17/world/asia/philippines-international-criminal-court.html">Philippines</a> followed suit in March of this year. Both countries are currently under investigation by the ICC for state sponsored atrocities. <a href="https://justiceinconflict.org/2018/09/10/a-graceful-exit-for-south-africas-icc-withdrawal-plans/">South Africa threatened withdrawal</a>, but this seems to have blown over.

In this climate, many cheered the news of the ICC Prosecutor’s <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/23/afghanistan-icc-abandons-field">2017 request to investigate</a> crimes committed in Afghanistan. As a member of the ICC, Afghanistan is within the ICC’s jurisdiction. The investigation included atrocities committed by the Taliban and foreign military forces active in Afghanistan, including members of the US armed forces. 

The US, which is not a member of the ICC, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2002/08/03/us-hague-invasion-act-becomes-law">violently opposes</a> any possibility that its military personnel might be caught up in ICC charges. In <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1448">April 2019</a> the ICC announced that a pre-trial chamber had shut down the investigation because US opposition made ICC action impossible. 

Court watchers <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/23/afghanistan-icc-abandons-field">reacted with frustration and disgust</a>.

<h2>EU migration</h2>

An estimated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/20/the-list-europe-migrant-bodycount">30,000 migrants have drowned</a> in the Mediterranean in the past three decades. International attention was drawn to their plight during the migration surge of 2015, when the image of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/31/alan-kurdi-death-canada-refugee-policy-syria-boy-beach-turkey-photo">3-year-old Alan Kurdi</a> face-down on a Turkish beach circulated the globe. More than one million people entered Europe that year. This led the EU and its member states to close land and sea borders in the east by erecting fences and completing a Euro 3 billion deal with Turkey to keep migrants there. NATO ships were posted in the Aegean to catch and return migrants. 

Migrant-saving projects, such as the Italian Mare Nostrum programme that <a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/548713624.pdf">collected 150,000 migrants in 2013-2014</a>, were replaced by border guarding projects. Political pressure designed to reduce the number of migrants who made it to European shores led to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/12/migrant-rescue-ships-mediterranean">revocation and non-renewal of licenses</a> for boats registered to NGOs whose purpose was to rescue migrants at sea. This has led to the current situation, where <a href="https://qz.com/1639293/only-one-refugee-rescue-boat-operated-by-aid-groups-remains-in-the-mediterranean-sea/">there is only one boat patrolling</a> the Mediterranean.

The EU has handed search and rescue duties over to the Libyan coast guard, which has been accused repeatedly of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jan/21/eu-support-for-libya-contributes-to-extreme-abuse-of-refugees-human-rights-watch-study">atrocities against migrants</a>. European countries now negotiate Mediterranean migrant reception on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/23/eu-countries-agree-plan-to-handle-migrants-and-refugees">a case-by-case basis</a>.

<h2>A rights impasse</h2>

International and supranational law applies to migrants, but so far it has inadequately protected them. The <a href="https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf">law of the sea</a> mandates that ships collect people in need. A series of refusals to allow ships to disembark collected migrants has <a href="https://www.jus.uio.no/nifs/english/research/projects/oslos/events/seminars/2018-11-14-migration.html">imperilled this international doctrine</a>. 

In the EU, the <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/PERI/2017/600414/IPOL_PERI(2017)600414_EN.pdf">Court of Justice</a> oversees migration and refugee policies. Such oversight now includes a two-year-old deal with Libya that some claim is tantamount to “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/05/eu-deal-libya-refugees-libyan-detention-centres">sentencing migrants to death</a>.” 

For its part, the European Court of Human Rights has established itself as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-european-court-of-human-rights-is-no-friend-to-migrants-42129">no friend to migrants</a>.” Although the court’s 2012 decision in <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2012/02/italy-historic-european-court-judgment-upholds-migrants-rights/">Hirsi</a> was celebrated for a progressive stance regarding the rights of migrants at sea, it is unclear <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/emil/20/4/article-p396_3.xml?lang=en">how expansively that ruling applies</a>.

European courts <a href="https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press#%7B%22itemid%22:%5B%22003-6443361-8477507%22%5D%7D">are being invoked</a> and making rulings, yet the journey for migrants has only grown more desperate and deadly over the past few years. Existing European mechanisms, policies, and international rights commitments are not producing change. 

In this rights impasse, the introduction of a new legal paradigm is essential. 

<h2>Fulfilling its role</h2>

A foundational element of ICC procedure is complementarity. This holds that the court only intervenes when states cannot or will not act on their own. 

Complementarity has played an unexpectedly central role in the cases before the ICC to date, as African states have self-referred defendants claiming that they do not have the resources to try them themselves. This has greatly contributed to the ICC’s political failure in Africa, as rights-abusing governments have handed over political adversaries to the ICC for prosecution in bad faith, enjoying the benefits of a domestic political sphere relieved of these adversaries while <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/A/bo47223014.html">simultaneously complaining of ICC meddling in domestic affairs</a>.

This isn’t how complementarity was supposed to work. 

The present rights impasse in the EU regarding migration showcases what complementarity was intended to do – granting sovereign states primacy over law enforcement and stepping in only when states both violate humanitarian law and refuse to act. The past decade of deadly migration coupled with a deliberately wastrel refugee policy in Europe qualifies as just such a situation.

Would-be migrants don’t vote and cannot garner political representation in the EU. This leaves only human rights norms, and the international commitments in which they are enshrined, to protect them. These norms are not being enforced, in part because questions of citizenship and border security have remained largely the domain of sovereign states. Those policies are resulting in an ongoing crime against humanity. 

The ICC may be the only institution capable of breaking the current impasse by threatening to bring Europe’s leaders to criminal account. This is the work of last resort for which international criminal law is designed. The ICC should embrace the progressive ideals that drove its construction, and engage.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120851/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kerstin-carlson-344474">Kerstin Carlson</a>, Associate Professor International Law, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-denmark-1097">University of Southern Denmark</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/migration-in-the-mediterranean-why-its-time-to-put-european-leaders-on-trial-120851">original article</a>.

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