International


Colombia: Colombia Could Use Drones to Fight Cocaine Production

Apr 18, 2018 | Associated Press

Colombia’s police could start using drones to tackle a five-year surge in cocaine production that has jeopardized relations with the United States. State contracting documents…


Pakistan: Protests Break out as Karachi Runs out of Water

Apr 17, 2018 | Syed Khursheed Alam, Samaa

Protests are taking place in many parts of Karachi due to water shortage. The city is facing shortage of water as it is not getting…


Liberia: Catholic Church: Land Rights Bill Crucial in Keeping the Peace

Apr 17, 2018 | Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, FrontPage Africa

Catholic Bishops Conference of Liberia (CABICOL) has said that the Land Rights Bill is crucial and should properly be reviewed before it is passed into…


India/Sudan: India's ONGC Files Arbitration Claim against Sudan over Unpaid Oil Dues

Apr 17, 2018 | Nidhi Verma and Promit Mukherjee, Reuters

The foreign acquisition unit of India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s (ONGC) has filed an arbitration claim against the government of Sudan in a London…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan Has Capacity of Producing 11,000 Tons Honey a Year

Apr 17, 2018 | Pajhwok Afghan News

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MALI) on Tuesday stressed on improving the honey business, quality and quantity, saying Afghanistan had the capacity of…


Colombia: End of the Colombian ‘Marginal’ Gives Amazon New Lease on Biodiversity

Apr 17, 2018 | Paul Hill, City Paper

The Colombian Amazon got a new lease on its biodiversity after President Juan Manuel Santos scrapped plans last month for the planned construction of the…


Liberia: NaFAA to Decentralize Fisheries

Apr 17, 2018 | New Dawn

Making her debut appearance at the Ministry of Information’s regular press briefing in Monrovia, the Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA)…


From Kevlar to Kale: Armed to Farm Gives Veterans Seeds of Opportunity

Apr 15, 2018 | William Holt, Sentinal Source

Armed to Farm, a national initiative that provides training in sustainable agriculture to military veterans free of charge, is coming to Troy this summer. The…


Afghanistan: No Power, Running Water in Kabul after Militants Blow up Electricity Pylon

Apr 15, 2018 | Agence France-Presse

A massive power outage in Kabul has left many residents of the Afghan capital with no lights or running water, officials said Sunday, after militants…


Colombia: Colombia Grants ‘Historic’ Protections to Rainforest, Indigenous Groups

Apr 13, 2018 | Morgan Erickson-Davis, Mongabay

In a move described as “unprecedented,” Colombia’s president Juan Manuel Santos announced Tuesday that the country intends to add 8 million hectares (80,000 square kilometers…


Myanmar: Indigenous Environmental Campaigner Killed by Myanmar Government

Apr 13, 2018 | Jonathan Watts, Guardian

Indigenous activists in Myanmar’s Karen state are mourning the killing of a community leader who campaigned for a peace park to protect a local forest…


Iraq: Iraq Delays Oil Auction after Late Contract Tweaks

Apr 12, 2018 | Mohammed Sergie, Khalid Al Ansary, Anthony Dipaola, and Kadhim Ajrash, Bloomberg

Iraq delayed an international auction of rights to 11 of its oil and natural gas deposits, pushing back the bidding date after introducing changes to…


Iraq: Podcast: What Happened to Iraq’s Oil Wealth? [Audio]

Apr 12, 2018 | Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch

What happened to Iraq’s oil wealth? That is the central question of the book: Pipe Dreams: The Plundering of Iraq’s Oil Wealth by guest Erin…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi MPs: Hashd al-Shaabi Smuggling Oil to Iran, Government Cannot Intervene

Apr 12, 2018 | Baxtiyar Goran, Kurdistan 24

The Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi has been smuggling crude oil from Kirkuk and using the revenue to strengthen itself amid silence from the Iraqi government, a…


Conflict Minerals: GRI and RMI Partner for Better Reporting on Conflict Minerals

Apr 11, 2018 | Global Reporting Initiative

GRI and the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) announced a project to help improve companies’ minerals sourcing due diligence and impact reporting by providing reporting resources and…


Colombia: 8 Police Killed in Attack on Land Restitution Commission in Northwest Colombia

Apr 11, 2018 | Adriaan Alsema, Colombia Reports

At least eight policemen were killed in an alleged paramilitary attack on a judicial commission investigating land theft in northwest Colombia. A bombs exploded when…


Colombia: Colombia Takes 'Unprecedented' Step to Stop Farms Gobbling Forests

Apr 11, 2018 | Anastasia Moloney, Reuters

Indigenous communities that depend on Colombia’s Amazon rainforest for their survival will have more say over their ancestral lands, as Colombia adds 8 million hectares…


Norway: Nazi Legacy Found in Norwegian Trees

Apr 11, 2018 | Jonathan Amos, BBC

The relentless campaign to find and sink Germany's WWII battleship, the Tirpitz, left its mark on the landscape that is evident even today. The German…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Temperature up by 2°C against Average

Apr 11, 2018 | Tamim Hamid, TOLOnews

Afghanistan Meteorological Department on Tuesday said this year the average temperature around the country has increased by about two degrees. According to the department, last week…


DRC: Six Virunga Park Rangers Killed in DRC Wildlife Sanctuary

Apr 10, 2018 | Jason Burke, Guardian

Five rangers and a driver have been killed in an ambush in Virunga national park in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A sixth ranger…


Afghanistan: Paktika Police Cutting down Pine Nut Trees, Say Residents

Apr 10, 2018 | Pajhwok Afghan News

Some residents in several districts of southeastern Paktika province have accused police of cutting down pine nuts trees, a charge the force denies. Speaking to…


Myanmar: Karen Land Rights Activist Shot Dead by Myanmar Army Near His Home

Apr 10, 2018 | Coconuts

Myanmar’s Karen community is mourning the loss of land rights and peace activist Saw O Moo, who was fatally shot by Myanmar troops near his…


Iraq: Iraqi Boat-Makers Struggle to Keep Their Trade Afloat

Apr 10, 2018 | Wassim Bassem, Al-Monitor

When Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi paid a visit to the Iraqi marshlands in September 2017, photos showed him on a mashoof, the traditional narrow…


Conflict Minerals: Blockchain: The Path to a More Transparent Mining Supply Chain?

Apr 9, 2018 | Heidi Vella, Mining Technology

Blockchain is a continuously growing list of records logged in a decentralised, immutable, cryptographically secured online ledger. All information recorded on the platform is peer-to-peer…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Top Iraq Court Set to Rule on Kurdistan Region's Oil Exports

Apr 9, 2018 | Reuters

Iraq’s top court will begin hearings in May on the legality of oil exports from Kurdistan, which are at the centre of a row between…


Afghanistan: As Conflict Spreads, Chronic Displacement becomes a Powderkeg in Afghanistan

Apr 9, 2018 | Ruchi Kumar, IRIN

Afghanistan’s Khogyani District is among hundreds of patchwork settlements that have proliferated throughout Afghanistan over the last five years, fed by a steady surge of…


Afghanistan: Govt Looks to Open Talc Processing Park in Nangarhar

Apr 8, 2018 | Zabihullah Jahanmal, TOLOnews

Officials from the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) on Sunday said that the High Economic Council has decided Nangarhar’s Sheikh Mesri Industrial Park…


Afghanistan: Ministry of Economy Tackles Value Chain to Boost Economy

Apr 7, 2018 | Zabiullah Jhanmal, TOLOnews

Afghan Ministry of Economy said it has started work on developing the value chain of 15 types of domestic products in order to boost the…


Colombia: Colombia's Top Court Orders Government to Protect Amazon Forest in Landmark Case

Apr 6, 2018 | Reuters

Colombia’s highest court has told the government it must take urgent action to protect its Amazon rainforest and stem rising deforestation, in what campaigners said…


Somalia: Climate Change Is Feeding Armed Conflict

Apr 6, 2018 | Giovanna Kuele and Ana Cristina Miola, Institute for Security Studies

Climate change feeds armed conflict in Somalia in three ways: by exacerbating tensions between clans; boosting the ranks and role of terrorist groups, including al-Shabaab;…