With the Christmas festivities approaching, criminals are active on the streets of South Sudan’s capital, Juba, snatching handbags, phones and other valuables from commuters; Nigerian international relations expert says it may be difficult to dissuade three west African countries from leaving ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States; Human Rights Watch has accused Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied militias of rape and other acts of sexual violence against women and girls in South Kordofan state; plus, more.