International


Myanmar: Myanmar Dam Breach Floods 85 Villages, Thousands Driven from Homes

Aug 29, 2018 | Shoon Naing and Antoni Slodkowski, Reuters

As many as 85 villages were flooded in Myanmar after a dam failed, unleashing waters that blocked a major highway and forced more than 63,000…


Afghanistan/Iran: Afghanistan Says There Is No Dispute with Iran over Helmand

Aug 29, 2018 | Mehr News Agency

Deputy Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs for Management and Resources Nasir Ahamad Andisha said in a TV program that Tehran and Kabul have signed an…


Egypt/Sudan: Sudan, Egypt FMs Discuss Red Sea Security, Ethiopia Dam

Aug 29, 2018 | Ali H. M.Abo Rezeg, Anadolu Agency

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri on Wednesday met with Sudanese counterpart Aldirdiri Mohamed Ahmed in Cairo to discuss regional developments. According to an Egyptian Foreign…


Afghanistan: This Startup Is Sourcing from Conflict Zones and Selling at Sephora

Aug 29, 2018 | Esha Chhabra, Forbes

Shopping at Sephora can now make social impact -- and potentially divert traffic away from the opium epidemic in Afghanistan. Barbara Stegemann, the founder of The 7…


Myanmar: Meteorologist Warn about Floods

Aug 29, 2018 | Hsan Htoo Aung, Eleven

In the post-monsoon period, there may be formation of low pressure areas three times in the Bay of Bengal and of them, two low pressure…


Iraq: Hospitals in Basra Inundated with Cases Linked to Dirty Water

Aug 29, 2018 | Suadad Al-Salhy, Arab News

Hospitals in Basra have been flooded with thousands of patients suffering from drinking polluted and saline water as the province reels from the latest breakdown…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Baghdad Doesn’t Have Oil for Its Own Needs, Let Alone Kurdish Provinces: Official

Aug 29, 2018 | Rudaw

Baghdad has not agreed to send gasoline and diesel to the Kurdistan Region, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official said on Wednesday, saying there is not…


Iraq: Basra Health Crisis: 17,000 Admitted to Hospitals for Water Poisoning

Aug 29, 2018 | Mina Aldroubi, The National

Basra's health authorities said on Wednesday that more than 17,000 people have been admitted to hospitals over illnesses contracted from polluted drinking water. There has…


Afghanistan/Iran: Negotiating Hamoun Water Right, Only Way for Sistan to Survive: Report

Aug 29, 2018 | Tehran Times

The Hamouns are transboundary wetlands on the Iran-Afghan border made up of three lakes: Hamoun-e Helmand, which is entirely in Iran, Hamoun-e Sabari on the…


Afghanistan/Pakistan: Pakistan to Engage Afghanistan for Signing Water Treaty

Aug 28, 2018 | The Nation

The government of Pakistan is continuously trying to engage the government of Afghanistan into dialogue for a possible water treaty in future or at least to…


Afghanistan/Pakistan: Pak Initiates Talks on Water Treaty with Afghanistan

Aug 28, 2018 | Independent News Pakistan

The government of Pakistan (GoP) is trying to engage the Afghan government in dialogue for a possible water treaty and to develop some mechanism for information sharing between…


Liberia: Liberia Set to Secure Ancestral Land Rights with Long-Awaited Law

Aug 27, 2018 | Nellie Peyton, Reuters

Liberia is on the verge of passing a long-awaited land rights law that would help prevent foreign companies uprooting communities to make way for mining…


Iraq: 'Iraq Is Dying': Oil Flows Freely but Corruption Fuels Growing Anger

Aug 27, 2018 | Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Guardian

The land of the Bani-Mansour clan north-east of Basra is flat and parched, spattered with dry crusts of salt and thorny shrubs. Clusters of palm…


Liberia: Land Rights Act Passed

Aug 27, 2018 | J. Burgess Carter, Observer

Following years of open hearings, debates, committee reports, and conference committee work, the Senate at its 54th day sitting last Thursday, unanimously voted to concur…


Iraq: Iraq Restores Part of Largest Oil Refinery after 4-Year Hiatus

Aug 27, 2018 | Xinhua

Iraq has rehabilitated part of its largest oil refinery located in Baiji of the country's central province of Salahudin after it was sabotaged in fierce…


Iraq: Oil-Rich Basra Threatens Vote to Pull Away from Iraq

Aug 27, 2018 | Gilgamesh Nabeel and Tamara Emad, Washington Times

Protesters poured into the streets and picketed oil fields in southern Iraq amid growing discontent over the government’s failure to combat unemployment, provide drinkable water…


Myanmar: Over 13,000 Tonnes of Illegal Timber Seized in Four Months

Aug 27, 2018 | Hsan Htoo Aung, Eleven

From April to July of this fiscal year, the government could seize 13183.2095 tonnes of illegal timber, according to the figures released by Forest Department.…


South Sudan: South Sudan Resumes Pumping 20,000 bpd from Oil Field Suspended Since 2013 - Sudan

Aug 26, 2018 | Reuters

South Sudan has resumed pumping 20,000 bpd of crude from Toma South oil field, where production had been suspended since 2013, the Sudanese oil minister…


Myanmar: Myanmar Returns Confiscated Land to Farmers in Central Region

Aug 26, 2018 | Xinhua

The Myanmar government has returned over 481.92 acres (195 hectares) of farmland confiscated by the Ministry of Defense to 123 farmers in Toungoo, Bago region,…


Liberia: Senate Passes Land Rights Act

Aug 25, 2018 | Ida Reeves, Bush Chicken

The Liberian Senate has finally concurred with the House of Representatives to pass the Land Rights Act. If signed into law by President George Weah,…


Iraq: Iraqi Protest against Unsafe Water in Basra [Video]

Aug 25, 2018 | Osama Bin Javaid, Al Jazeera

People have been protesting in the Iraqi city of Basra after hundreds fell ill after drinking contaminated water. Iraq's government is investigating what caused this…


South Sudan: Production to Restart at South Sudan Oilfields

Aug 25, 2018 | Africa Oil & Power

Intensive preparations for oil production resumption will culminate on August 25 at Toma South, South Sudan, with the relaunch of production from blocks 1, 2…


Land: Rise of Agri-Cartel: Control of Land Drives Human Rights Violations, Environmental Destruction

Aug 24, 2018 | Sonya Swink, Globe Post

Control of land for crops that sustain the world’s largest food businesses, such as Ferrero and Nestle, is the driving force behind the destruction of…


Myanmar: Water Project Offers Hope to Farmers in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone

Aug 23, 2018 | Evan Erickson, Mizzima

While the Dry Zone farmers of today are using techniques and working alongside irrigation schemes that are ancient in origin, the historical and climatic contexts…


Myanmar: Jade, Drugs and GDP

Aug 23, 2018 | Thiha Saw, Myanmar Times

Myanmar boasts of possessing precious natural resources including those that are mined, legally or otherwise, and one of these resources is jade. But there is an…


DRC: Miners Establish Industry Body to Engage DRC Govt on Mining Code, Industry Issues

Aug 23, 2018 | Marleny Arnoldi, Mining Weekly

Mining companies active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have established a new industry body, the Mining Promotion Initiative (MPI), to engage with government…


Conflict Minerals: Blood, Sweat, and Batteries

Aug 23, 2018 | Vivienne Walt and Sebastian Meyer, Fortune

That soaring appetite for cobalt is a product of today’s device-driven tech economy: The metal is a key component in the lithium-ion batteries that power…


Kuwait: Kuwait Aims to Settle Oil Field Disputes with Iraq, Saudi Arabia in Coming Weeks

Aug 22, 2018 | Herman Wang, S&P GLobal

Kuwaiti oil minister Bakheet al-Rashidi said Wednesday he expects to resolve two long-standing oil field disputes involving neighbors Iraq and Saudi in the coming weeks.…


Afghanistan: Water Shortages Weigh Heavy on Afghanistan

Aug 22, 2018 | Ezzatullah Mehrdad, Global Voices

Landlocked Afghanistan wasn't always short of water. Historically the valleys in this part of Asia were agricultural heartlands that hosted rushing rivers fed by abundant…


Colombia: Colombia to Consider Aiding Struggling Coffee Farmers

Aug 22, 2018 | Reuters

The Colombian government is examining possible help for coffee farmers hit by low international prices, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday, after repeated requests for…