International


Afghanistan: Less Rain and Snowfall in Afghanistan: High Level of Food Assistance Needed until Early 2019

Jul 30, 2018 | Jelena Bjelica, Afghanistan Analysts Network

The Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) has reported that in 22 of Afghanistan’s provinces, cumulative rain and snowfall during the ‘wet season’ – October 2017…


Laos: Laos Dam Failure Exposes Cracks in a Secretive Government’s Agenda

Jul 29, 2018 | Mike Ives, The New York Times

As heavy rains lashed southern Laos over the weekend, volunteers from many countries were continuing to help victims of earlier flooding caused by the failure of…


Nigerian: Oyo State Will Enforce Legislation on Land Grabbing ― AG

Jul 29, 2018 | Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare, Nigerian Tribune

The Oyo State Government has stated that it will enforce all legislation in its bid to curb the menace of land grabbing in the state,…


Afghanistan: Afghan Province Begins Push to Discourage Poppy Cultivation

Jul 28, 2018 | Sayed Salahuddin, Arab News

Helmand has long been the major narcotics-producing province in Afghanistan due to protracted war and chronic poverty. Most of the income from the multi-billion-dollar trade ends…


Climate Change: UN Issues Warning of Climate Instability across Arab Region

Jul 27, 2018 | Climate Home News

Climate change threatens conflict and poverty in the Arab region, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP). In a report, published on Wednesday, the agency suggested climate…


Colombia: Elites Unleash Wave of Killings to Protect Illegal Land Grabs

Jul 27, 2018 | Adriaan Alsema and Stephen Gill, Green Left Weekly

Business owners in northwest Colombia are conspiring with death squads to assassinate social leaders and prevent the restitution of land that was stolen during Colombia’s…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan's Untapped Water Potential

Jul 27, 2018 | Gauri Noolkar-Oak and Aditya Manubarwala, Modern Diplomacy

Squeezed between the erstwhile USSR and the United States’ strategic backyard Pakistan, Afghanistan has been used as tool employed by all of these powers to…


Syria/Iraq/Turkey: War for Water? Syria, Iraq and Turkey Will Next Fight for Rivers, Report Says

Jul 27, 2018 | Tom O'Connor, Newsweek

The next war in the Middle East could be fought over water as Iraq, Syria and Turkey scramble to assert claims to two vital rivers that…


Bangladesh: Bapa Protests against Illegal Land Grabbing in Dhaleshwari River

Jul 27, 2018 | Motiur Rahman, Dhaka Tribune

Bapa has claimed that the Northern Power Generation Company, owned by an Awami League MP has been illegally grabbing land on the river banks and…


Nigeria: Nigeria Grazing Violence Kills Many More than Boko Haram, Poses Serious Stability Threat: Think-Tank

Jul 26, 2018 | Alexis Akwagyiram, Reuters

Violence in Nigeria between semi-nomadic cattle herders and settled farmers has killed around six times more people than deaths related to the Boko Haram insurgency…


Myanmar: Armed Conflict Harming Efforts to Save Myanmar’s Tigers, Group Says

Jul 26, 2018 | Nyein Nyein, The Irrawaddy

Ending armed conflict is crucial to Myanmar’s efforts to save the tiger populations in its wildlife reserves, said a wildlife conservation NGO on Thursday, warning…


Ukraine: Ukraine’s Donbas Bears the Brunt of Toxic Armed Conflict

Jul 25, 2018 | UN Environment

For years Donbas has been one of the country’s most polluted regions – as toxic waste from nearly two centuries of intensive coal mining, and…


Iraq: Iraqi Oil Exports Increase Despite Protests

Jul 24, 2018 | Daniel J. Graeber, UPI

Iraqi oil exports for June, the last full month for which data are available, were slightly higher than the month before on average, the government…


Afghanistan: Guns and Roses: Farmers in War-Torn Afghanistan Enjoy Sweet Smell of Success

Jul 24, 2018 | The Asian Age

Standing in a field of roses in eastern Afghanistan, former poppy grower Mohammad Din Sapai quickly but carefully plucks the delicate petals that will be…


Natural Resources and Conflict: SDC Brief Calls for International Process on Environment-Climate Change-Fragility-Conflict Nexus

Jul 24, 2018 | Leila Mead, IISD

Destruction and overexploitation of natural resources and ecosystems can increase the risk of violent conflict, according to a brief titled, ‘Fragility and Conflict,’ published by…


Colombia: Colombia’s Land Thieves Going Unpunished: Land Restitution Chief

Jul 23, 2018 | Stephen Gill, Colombia Reports

Colombia must punish those who teamed up with paramilitary death squads to steal land during the country’s armed conflict, according to the outgoing-director of the…


Iraq/Saudi Arabia/Kuwait: Saudi and Kuwait Move to Support Iraq amid Protests over Electricity Crisis

Jul 22, 2018 | Naser Al Wasmi, The National

Iraqi officials plan to travel to Riyadh to strike an energy deal with Saudi Arabia as protests over electricity cuts reach Baghdad. This came after Iran…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan Faces Worst Drought in Decades, as UN Warns 1.4 Million People Need Help

Jul 22, 2018 | Ben Farmer and Akhtar Makoii

North and Western Afghanistan are this year facing their most severe drought in decades as the cumulative effect of several years of low rainfall has seen agriculture collapse. A…


Liberia: Liberia's Biggest Palm Oil Project Quits Eco-Certification Scheme

Jul 21, 2018 | Reuters

Liberia’s largest palm oil company, Golden Veroleum, has quit a global eco-certification scheme in response to accusations from a global watchdog that it failed to…


Brazil: Interview: 'They Should Be Put in Prison': Battling Brazil's Huge Alumina Plant

Jul 21, 2018 | Jonathan Watts, The Guardian

In Brazil, Maria do Socoro Silva is leading Amazonian forest people against alleged land-grabbing, corruption and pollution. The intimidation of Maria do Socorro Silva has come…


Colombia: 'This is a Last Hold-Out': Son of a Murdered Farmer in Colombia

Jul 21, 2018 | Jonathan Watts, The Guardian

Hernán Bedoya was shot 15 times on 5 December while he was riding his horse to the vet in Pedeguita y Mancilla, Chocó. It was broad…


South Sudan: A Crude Role in South Sudan’s War

Jul 20, 2018 | Zeinab Mohammed Salih, US News & World Report

So long as South Sudan's oil exports enrich the people in the country who have strong ties to arms suppliers, a United Nations-imposed arms embargo…


Iran/Afghanistan: Iran and Afghanistan at Loggerheads over Water

Jul 20, 2018 | Ahmad Majidyar, Middle East Institute

Tension between Iran and neighboring Afghanistan over water rights has reached new heights as declining rainfall, prolonged droughts, and mismanagement of water resources have severely…


Liberia: EPA Flexes Muscle

Jul 19, 2018 | New Dawn

The EPA mandated dated 13 July says Bea Mountain Mining Corporation should pay the fine with an official receipt presented to EPA within 72 hours…


Sudan/South Sudan: Khartoum, Juba Deploy Joint Forces to Protect Oil Fields

Jul 19, 2018 | Sudan Tribune

South Sudan and Sudan have effectively deployed a joint border joint force to protect oil fields, said South Sudan’s Minister of Petroleum Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.…


Iraq: More Turmoil in Iraq as Deadly Protests Ravage Oil-Rich South

Jul 19, 2018 | Natasha Turak, CNBC

Protests that began last week in Iraq are continuing amid widespread anger over abysmal public services provision by the government. The unrest threatens to delay…


Syria: US-Backed Forces, ISIS Clash over Oil-Rich Areas in Syria

Jul 19, 2018 | OilPrice, Tsvetana Paraskova

Clashes between Islamic State militants and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continue in eastern Syria, where the Islamist terrorists try to keep control over an…


Afghanistan/Pakistan: CASA-1000 to Start Power Supply in Next Two Years

Jul 19, 2018 | Israr Khan, The News

The much-awaited regional power project CASA-1000 is about to supply electricity from central Asian states to Pakistan and Afghanistan within next two years, a senior…


Colombia: Colombia Peace Deal Brings New Threat to Country's Rainforest

Jul 19, 2018 | St John's College and University of Cambridge

A historic peace treaty which brought an end to half a century of violence has led to mass deforestation in Colombia, scientists have warned. The…


Colombia: Colombia’s Wild Land is Prime for Fly-Fishing and Brimming with Adventure

Jul 19, 2018 | Aaron Gulley, Men's Journal

After decades of civil war, a new peace deal has finally opened the country’s remote interior to hardy travelers, making Colombia the hottest adventure destination on…