International


Colombia: Forced Displacement in West Colombia up 240% amid Intensified Warfare

Jun 21, 2019 | Adriaan Alsema, Colombia Reports

The intensification of warfare in western Colombia is particularly aggravating the humanitarian situation in the Choco province where thousands are caught in the crossfire, the…


Liberia: Has REDD+ Dashed Hopes of Rural Dwellers?

Jun 21, 2019 | Lennart Dodoo, FrontPage Africa

Residents of this remote village near the Lake Piso Multiple Use Reserve in the Commonwealth District of Cape Mount County, were hopeful when a forest…


Iraq: Exxon's $53 Billion Iraq Deal Hit by Contract Snags, Iran Tensions - Sources

Jun 20, 2019 | Aref Mohammed and Ahmed Rasheed, Reuters

Just weeks ago, US energy giant ExxonMobil looked poised to move ahead with a $53 billion project to boost Iraq’s oil output at its southern…


Nepal Yet to Take Steps to Ensure Justice for Women Who Suffered Sexual Violence during Conflict

Jun 20, 2019 | Binod Ghimire, Kathmandu Post

Even as Nepal has failed to ensure justice for victims of the decade-long conflict, the country has yet to implement the recommendations of the United…


KP Intersessional Meet Organizes Special Forum on Artisanal Mining

Jun 19, 2019 | Diamond World

The Kimberly Process Intersessional Meet in Mumbai organized a special forum for its delegates on the topic of Artisanal Mining- Small Steps to Larger Outcomes.…


Afghanistan: Government Says to Ban Illegal Mining

Jun 19, 2019 | Afghanistan Times

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum says it would ban 'illegal exploitation of mineral resources' to serve national interests. Acting Minister, Narges Nehan, said Wednesday…


Colombia: Colombia Continues to Have Highest Number of Internally Displaced People in the World: UN

Jun 19, 2019 | Luke Jacobs, Colombia Reports

Colombia continues to have the most internally displaced persons in the world, according to the UN. Though Colombia only represents 0.65% of the world’s population,…


Iraq: After Years of War and Drought, Iraq's Bumper Crop Is Burning

Jun 19, 2019 | Ahmed Aboulenein and Maha El Dahan, Reuters

Officials in Iraq’s breadbasket province Nineveh warned that if the fires spread to storage sites, a quarter of this year’s bumper harvest could be at…


Iraq: Rocket Hits Site of Foreign Oil Firms in Iraq's Basra, Three Hurt

Jun 19, 2019 | Al Jazeera

A rocket landed at the headquarters of several global oil companies in Iraq's southern city of Basra on Wednesday, wounding three Iraqi workers and raising…


DRC: DR Congo's Army Moves in to Dislodge Illegal Miners

Jun 18, 2019 | Agence France-Presse

Democratic Republic of Congo's army has sent a battalion of troops to oust illegal miners from land worked by a majority-owned Chinese company, the military…


Liberia: To Stop Destruction of Liberia’s Rainforest, He Put His Life on the Line

Jun 18, 2019 | Jocelyn C. Zuckerman, Yale Environmental 360

Alfred Brownell had to flee Liberia after challenging the powerful palm oil and other extractive industries that were clearing its forests. But he remains committed…


Explore Former War Zones and Rebel-Held Territories from Your Living Room: Google Project Shows Users How the Cyprus ‘Buffer Zone’, Abandoned French WWI Villages and Areas of the Colombian Jungle Look Today in Fascinating Detail

Jun 18, 2019 | Ian Randall, Daily Mail

From the fighting lines of World War One to formerly guerrilla-occupied territory in Colombia, a new Google-powered project is immersing viewers in no man's lands…


Water Diplomacy: Creating Spaces for Nile Cooperation

Jun 18, 2019 | Abraham Telar Kuc, Modern Diplomacy

It’s very clear that the long and current regional disputes over the Nile’s waters between the upstream and downstream countries specially Uganda, Ethiopia and other…


Cambodia: Supreme Court Hears Land Grab Case

Jun 18, 2019 | Buth Reaksmey Kongkea, Khmer Times

The Supreme Court yesterday heard the appeal of a former general in the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Unit who was jailed five years for forging documents…


Liberia: 2 Million Acres of Land for Community Ownership, Control

Jun 17, 2019 | Alvin Worzi, Observer

The Liberia Land Authority (LLA) and three Liberian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have agreed to work with 24 communities in eight of the country’s 15 counties…


Afghanistan: Helmand Farmers Expand Wheat Growing This Year

Jun 17, 2019 | Pajhwok Afghan News

Agriculture officials say 95,000 hectares of land has been cultivated with wheat crop in southern Helmand province this year, showing a 25 percent increase in…


Climate Change: Climate Change Intensifies the Future Risk of Armed Conflict

Jun 17, 2019 | Siobhán Dunphy, European Scientist

Does climate change increase the risk of violent armed conflict? A new paper published last week on 12 June in Nature suggests intensified global warming…


Conflict Minerals: Are Crystals the New Blood Diamonds?

Jun 16, 2019 | Eva Wiseman, Guardian

Crystallisation is a transition from chaos to perfection; the evolution of the crystal industry has been less simple. Millions of years ago liquid rock inside…


Why the Global Oil Market Is on a Knife Edge over Regional Tensions

Jun 16, 2019 | Robin Mills, National

It goes beyond megaphone diplomacy – more like Friedrich Nietzsche’s “philosophising with a hammer”. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s overtures in Tehran were brusquely rejected…


Iraq: Heat Wave Hits Iraq—and Sparks Begin to Fly

Jun 16, 2019 | Bassem Al-Rikaby and Khalil Jalil, Phys.org

Hospital ventilators shut down, football matches with obligatory water breaks and food spoiling in fridges without power: Iraq's notorious summer has arrived. As one of…


Afghanistan: Distribution of Saffron Bulbs Kick off in Northern Balkh Province

Jun 16, 2019 | Khaama Press

The distribution process of Saffron bulbs among local farmers kicked off in Balkh province of Afghanistan on Saturday. The Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock…


Myanmar: Regreening a Barren Rohingya Refugee Camp on Myanmar’s Border

Jun 16, 2019 | Kaamil Ahmed, Mongabay

When Mongabay visited after the 2017 influx, evidence of the active deforestation was everywhere. Where the refugees were not clearing space for the still-expanding camp,…


Iraq: Exxon's Evacuated Foreign Staff Return to Iraqi Oilfield

Jun 15, 2019 | Hiwa Shilani, Kurdistan 24

Following their evacuation nearly a month earlier that was described as a precautionary measure, 22 foreign employees of oil giant Exxon Mobil returned to Iraq’s southern…


Kenya/Somalia: Calls for Dialogue to Solve Kenya, Somalia Maritime Dispute

Jun 15, 2019 | Fred Oluoch, East African

A group of maritime experts in Kenya have appealed to the government to shift from aggressive reaction against Somalia over the maritime dispute and embrace diplomacy…


DRC: Frontier Security Founder Erik Prince Registers Mining Subsidiary in DRC

Jun 14, 2019 | David McKay, Miningmx

Erik Prince, the founder of controversial security company, Blackwater, and who said earlier this year he planned to raise $500m to develop mines in Africa,…


Climate Change: Germany Calls for Action in Climate Security

Jun 14, 2019 | Planetary Security Initiative

On 4 June German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas hosted seven foreign ministers, 19 ambassadors, several other ministers and more than 200 experts and civil society…


Colombia: Narco-Trafficking and Petrol: A Quarter of Colombia's Fuel Goes to Make Cocaine

Jun 14, 2019 | Joe Parkin Daniels, Guardian

Colombian authorities estimate that more than a quarter of petrol sold in the country last year went to the drugs industry, which depends on the…


Myanmar: Gems Mines in Kachin State Ordered to Suspend during Rainy Season

Jun 14, 2019 | Eleven

Myanmar Gems Enterprise has issued a directive suspending jade mining in Hpakant and Lonekhin gems fields from July 1 to September 30 as waste pit…


South Sudan: Record Number of People Face Severe Hunger

Jun 14, 2019 | Al Jazeera

A record number of almost seven million people in South Sudan - or more than 60 percent of its population - are facing severe hunger, according to a new report…


Afghanistan/Iran: Iran, Afghanistan Sign New Agreement to Ameliorate Water Sharing from Hirmand

Jun 14, 2019 | Financial Tribune

Iran and Afghanistan signed an agreement in Kabul on Thursday on the optimal use of water sharing from the Hirmand (also known as Helmand) River.…