International

Colombia: More Than 200 Dead, Many Missing in Colombia Mudslides

Apr 3, 2017 | Angela Dewan, Jennifer Deaton, and Mariano Castillo, CNN

Rescuers in southern Colombia were scrambling Sunday to reach more than 100 people who are missing after devastating mudslides tore through entire communities. Hundreds are…

Myanmar: Security Concerns Prevent Banana-Plantation Probe

Apr 3, 2017 | Eleven

The government’s attempts to investigate a banana planters’ alleged trespass on protected forests in Kachin State have failed due to security concerns, sources say. The…

Conflict Minerals: Council Adopts New Rules to Reduce Financing of Armed Groups

Apr 3, 2017 | European Council

On 3 April 2017, the Council adopted a regulation aimed at stopping the financing of armed groups through trade in conflict minerals. The regulation obliges…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Oil Dispute Could Impact Supply [Video]

Apr 3, 2017 | Bloomberg

A territorial dispute in northern Iraq threatens to disrupt oil output at a field containing as much crude as Norway.

Syria: Survey of Syrian Farmers Reveals Agriculture Should Be Kick-Started Now Despite Huge Destruction

Apr 3, 2017 | Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

Fighting in Syria has caused huge damage and losses to agricultural production, but the sector can and should be kick-started now, dramatically reducing the need…

Afghanistan: Afghanistan to Amend Mining Law: VP Danish

Apr 3, 2017 | 1TVNews

Afghan government will amend mining law as it seeks to prevent illegal mining in the country, according to second vice-president on Saturday. According to experts,…

Iraq: At Last, Burning Qayyarah Oil Wells Brought under Control

Apr 2, 2017 | Rudaw

After months of battling a number of burning oil wells set ablaze by ISIS in the outskirts of the town of Qayyarah last year the…

Iraq/Kurdistan: A Squabble at Iraq's Oldest Oil Field Could Rock Global Supplies

Apr 2, 2017 | Sam Wilkin, Bloomberg

A territorial dispute in northern Iraq threatens to disrupt oil output at a field containing as much crude as Norway, even as U.S.-backed forces prepare what…

Afghanistan: Kunduz Defaulters Warned of Water Supply Cut

Apr 2, 2017 | Ajmal Kakar, Pajhwok Afghan News

A number of government departments and powerful individuals owe millions of afghanis to the water supply department in northern Kunduz province, an official said Sunday.…

Afghanistan: Fallout from Fall of Chinese Executive Who Sealed Copper Mine Deal in Afghanistan

Apr 1, 2017 | Kinling Lo, South China Morning Post

The disgrace last week of the businessman who won a deal in 2007 for China to develop a copper mine in Afghanistan, which was the…

South Sudan: SPLA-IO Vows to Stop Oil Production, Warns of “Serious Consequences”

Apr 1, 2017 | South Sudan News Agency

The military command of South Sudanese rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO), on Saturday, warned against any oil exploration in areas under its…

Women’s Crucial Role in Combating Climate Change

Apr 1, 2017 | Alina Tugend

The link between climate change and women’s rights may seem baffling to some.But for Zandile Gumede, the first female mayor of Durban, South Africa, they…

Myanmar: A Chinese-backed Dam Project Leaves Myanmar in a Bind

Mar 31, 2017 | Mike Ives, New York Times

The Myitsone Dam is among the largest of many Chinese-financed energy and mining projects approved by the military junta that ruled Myanmar until 2011. It…

Myanmar: Waiting for Grid to Arrive, Myanmar Villages Switch on Solar

Mar 30, 2017 | Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Access to electricity from clean sources such as solar and small-scale hydropower is changing the centuries-old way of life in thousands of rural communities like…

Myanmar: Homegrown Clean Energy an Alternative to Myanmar’s Spotty Power Grid

Mar 30, 2017 | Erin Rubin, Nonprofit Quarterly

Necessity is the mother of invention, and in the case of rural Myanmar’s electricity generation, it’s also the mother of improvement. In rural areas where…

South Sudan: Conflict Now Eroding Food Security in 'Stable' Areas of South Sudan – UN Mission

Mar 30, 2017 | UN

The ongoing conflict in South Sudan is affecting food security in some of the country's more “stable” states, the head of United Nations peacekeeping operation…

Sierra Leone: The Protective Powers of Chocolate [Video]

Mar 29, 2017 | Ruth Krause and Björn Kietzmann, Deutsche Welle

Sierra Leone has lost 95 percent of its original forests. The vision of Gola Rainforest National Park, and the Greater Gola Landscape in which it…

Afghanistan: Resistance as Anti-Poppy Drive Proceeds in Nangarhar

Mar 29, 2017 | Pajhwok Afghan News

The counternarcotics department head for eastern Nangahar province says the ongoing anti-poppy campaign in the province has been struggling with security challenges. The department has…

Mexico: Oil Drillers Face an Angry Mob in Mexico’s Guerrilla Country

Mar 29, 2017 | Adam Williams, Bloomberg

When an angry mob torched City Hall in the southern Mexican town of Tecpatan last month, it sent a warning flare across a country already…

South Sudan: Oil Workers Seen as Target in New Phase of South Sudan's War

Mar 29, 2017 | Okech Francis and Nizar Manek, Bloomberg

Crude oil brings in the cash to keep South Sudan’s army fighting. That may have made oil workers a target for rebels waging the African…

Conflict Minerals: State Department Reviewing Conflict Minerals Sourcing

Mar 28, 2017 | Andrea Vittorio, Bureau of National Affairs

The State Department and other federal agencies are looking at efforts to break the link between armed groups and the minerals trade in and around…

Global Warming Is a Matter of Survival for Pacific Islander Women

Mar 28, 2017 | Kristi Eaton

For Viva Tatawaqa and women like her, climate change is not a question of when. According to the activist from Fiji, it's a question of…

Myanmar: Timber Sector Wants MTE to Get the Chop

Mar 27, 2017 | Su Myat Mon, Frontier

The timber industry has called for an independent monitoring body to replace state-owned Myanma Timber Enterprise, which has been accused of hurting exports by failing…

Climate Security: Republicans Cite National Security to Justify Climate Action

Mar 27, 2017 | Sam Mintz and Hannah Hess, E&E News

Even though climate change can be politically toxic for many Republicans, linking the issue to national security and citing military leaders' acceptance of global warming…

South Sudan: Detention of Oil Workers in South Sudan Indicates Abduction Risks from Both Armed Factions and 'For-Profit' Bandits

Mar 27, 2017 | Verner Ayukegba, IHS Jane's Terrorism & Insurgency Centre

The faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) loyal to former South Sudanese first vice-president Riek Machar declared on 21 March that…

Food Security: Food Security in the Middle East Sharply Deteriorated

Mar 27, 2017 | Inter Press Service

Food security and nutrition levels in the Near East and North Africa have sharply deteriorated over the last five years, undermining the steady improvement achieved…

Conflict Minerals: Businesses Benefit from US Conflict Minerals Reporting Rule, Say NGOs

Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical Watch

NGOs have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) not to weaken or repeal the US conflict minerals reporting rule, as doing so would have…

Colombia: Colombia’s Bananas ‘Not Stained with Blood’: Association

Mar 27, 2017 | Adriaan Alsema, Colombia Reports

Colombia’s banana companies financed legal “private security companies” and not paramilitary groups, claimed the association chairman as several members face charges of supporting terrorism. According…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Frontier Too Far? Oil Producers Adjust to Reduced Hopes for Kurdistan

Mar 26, 2017 | Nathalie Thomas, Financial Times

Excited tales about how Kurdistan was one of the cheapest places on earth to pump crude grabbed the attention of big energy groups such as…

India: PMO Told that Water Wars Are Nearing in 'Water-Stressed' India

Mar 26, 2017 | Yatish Yadav, New Indian Express

With demand outstripping supply of water, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is waking up to the possibility of water scarcity triggering social unrest in the…