International


Myanmar: Mandalay Govt to Confiscate Unused Farmland

Jan 25, 2017 | Eleven

The Mandalay Region government announced Tuesday that it will confiscate unused farmland from its current owners. The announcement stated the government plans to confiscate 40,895…


Iraq: PM Abadi Says Iraq's Oil is for Iraqis, in Reaction to Trump

Jan 24, 2017 | Reuters

Iraq's oil is the property of Iraqis, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday, in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump who argued that the…


Afghanistan/Pakistan: Pakistan Aims for Water Treaty with Afghanistan

Jan 23, 2017 | Maqbool Malikm, The Nation

Pakistan is about to start talks with Afghanistan to secure a bilateral treaty for the use of water related to Kabul River. The move apparently…


Iraq: The Minister of Oil Declares the Accomplishment of the Draft of the Oil and Gas Law

Jan 23, 2017 | Rebuilding Iraq

Mr. Jabbar A. Allibi, the Minister of Oil, declared for the accomplishment of the laws of the national petroleum company and the national gas company…


Liberia: Chinese Firm to Make $2.6bn Investment in Liberian Iron Ore Mining

Jan 23, 2017 | Tech Featured

China Union intends to spend US$2.6bn to bring the Bong iron ore deposit to production within two years, and will also recondition the capital’s port…


Afghanistan/Iran: Afghan Authorities Accuse Iran of Using Taliban to Undercut Water Projects

Jan 23, 2017 | Noor Zahid, Voice of America

Afghan governors in southern and western provinces charged on Monday that Iran is using an increasingly close relationship with the Afghan Taliban to target power…


India: MPs’ Panel Asks WB to Arbitrate on Indus Waters Treaty

Jan 21, 2017 | Israr Khan, The News

In the face of the India’s threat to Indus Water Treaty 1960, Pakistani parliamentarians in a special combine standing committee on foreign affairs and water…


Iraq: Trump on Iraq: ‘We Should Have Kept the oil’

Jan 21, 2017 | Danny McDonald, Boston Globe

On the day after he was sworn in as the 45th president in American history, Donald Trump stepped in foreign policy controversy, saying the US…


Myanmar: Freed Myanmar Farmers Renew Fight against Army over Land

Jan 20, 2017 | Wa Lone, Reuters

Farmers locked in a land dispute with Myanmar's armed forces pledged to renew their fight after being released from jail on Friday, in a case…


Iraq: Iraqi Sheep, Locals, Environment Suffer Islamic State Oil Fires

Jan 19, 2017 | Girish Guptam, Reuters

Shepherds herd blackened flocks through the Iraqi desert. Locals cough and wheeze under vast clouds of smoke, and NASA images show oil threatening to encroach…


Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Police Halt Anti-China Protest over Islands

Jan 19, 2017 | Reuters

Police in Vietnam's capital stopped an anti-China protest within minutes on Thursday at a ceremony to commemorate a clash between the two countries in the…


Myanmar: The Salween Peace Park: A Radical, Grassroots Alternative to Development in Karen State

Jan 18, 2017 | KIC

A path has opened for environmental conservationists and rights advocates to strengthen their fight against gold mining and other socially and environmentally destructive projects in…


Iraq: Iraq's Marsh Arabs Test the Waters as Wetlands Ruined by Saddam Are Reborn

Jan 18, 2017 | Peter Schwartzstein, Guardian

Authorities in Baghdad are rebuilding lost communities. They are keen to resettle properly at least some of the roughly 250,000 Marsh Arabs who have trickled…


Myanmar: Yangon Chief Minister Hopes to Resolve Land Issues in 3 years

Jan 18, 2017 | Eleven

The parliamentary commission for assessing legal affairs and special cases suggested better land management policy at a parliamentary session last month. It stated that speculation…


Syria: Damascus Goes Dry as Syria’s Grim Water Wars Intensify

Jan 16, 2017 | Sami Moubayed, Middle East Online

Days before Christmas, Damascus went dry due to an aerial attack on the Ain al-Fijah spring 18km north-west of the Syrian capital, which feeds the…


Afghanistan: Bearing Fruit: Japan and UNDP Boost Output for Northern Farmers

Jan 16, 2017 | UNDP

Some provinces in Afghanistan are famous for their fruit. In Kandahar, it’s the pomegranates; in Parwan, the grapes. Now Takhar is earning its own place…


Israel/Palestine: Water Deal Reached between Israel and Palestinians

Jan 15, 2017 | Elior Levy, Yedioth Internet

Israel's Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT) signed an agreement with the Palestinian Authority's Minister of Civil Affairs on Sunday to renew the…


Sudan: US Set to Revoke Some Oil-Related Sanctions against Sudan

Jan 13, 2017 | Tsvetana Paraskova, OilPrice.com

Outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Friday that would lift certain trade and oil-related sanctions against Sudan in six months’ time,…


Conflict Minerals: Massachusetts to Examine Conflict Minerals Procurement Policies

Jan 12, 2017 | Chemical Watch

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has signed into law a resolve to examine the state's procurement policies with regard to so-called conflict minerals.


Myanmar: 3D Printing Improves Farming in Myanmar

Jan 12, 2017 | Rapid Ready

Myanmar’s agricultural and other industries suffered numerous setbacks during decades of military rule. 3D printing is helping jumpstart a recovery, and making it possible for…


Afghanistan: Tenkiv Nexus Uses Solar to Clean Water in Afghanistan

Jan 11, 2017 | Tom Spendlove, Engineering.com

The team at Tenkiv Nexus says that the average person needs five liters of water a day to survive, and ten liters a day for…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Gazprom Neft to Increase Oil Extraction in Kurdistan Despite ISIS Threat

Jan 11, 2017 | Igor Roznin, Russia Beyond the Headlines

Gazprom Neft, the fourth largest oil producing company in Russia, plans to increase oil extraction in areas controlled by ISIS, a terrorist organization at war…


Myanmar: Myanmar’s ‘Green Princess’ is a Humble Activist on a Mission

Jan 11, 2017 | Jennifer Rigby, Mongabay

Devi Thant Cin lives on one of the most prestigious roads in Myanmar, just a few feet from the famous Shwedagon Pagoda and next to…


Liberia: Liberia’s Hope for Oil Falters as ExxonMobil Fails to Find Oil

Jan 11, 2017 | James Harding Giahyue, FrontPageAfrica

The future of Liberia’s oil and gas industry did not depend entirely on the outcome of ExxonMobil’s drilling activities last month but it has been…


Colombia: Identifying a Fire Ecology Research Agenda for Colombia

Jan 10, 2017 | Susana Rodríguez-Buriticá, Mauricio Aguilar-Garavito, and Natalia Norden, Eos

Over the years, isolated research efforts in Colombia have highlighted the ecological importance of natural wildfires in some areas and the risks of fire-driven biodiversity…


Iraq: Iraq asks Angola Firm to Resume Work at Retaken Oil Fields

Jan 10, 2017 | Agence France-Presse

Iraq's oil minister called Tuesday for Angolan energy firm Sonangol to resume work at fields south of Mosul where the Islamic State group had set…


Timor-Leste: East Timor Axes Australia Border Treaty over Oil Reserves

Jan 10, 2017 | BBC

East Timor says it wants to tear up a controversial 2006 maritime border treaty with Australia which has soured relations between the two countries. The…


Cambodia: Cambodians Stand Their Ground against Government’s Land Grabs

Jan 9, 2017 | Daniel Soo, Channel News Asia

A spate of land grabs by the government has seen more than 800,000 Cambodians evicted from their homes, according to the International Federation of Human…


Iraq/Kurdistan: How Exxon, under Rex Tillerson, Won Iraqi Oil Fields and Nearly Lost Iraq

Jan 9, 2017 | Missy Ryan and Steven Mufson, Washington Post

When Ashti Hawrami, the oil minister from Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdistan region, unfurled a map of untapped oil fields for a team of ExxonMobil officials…


Timor-Leste: East Timor Tears up Oil and Gas Treaty with Australia after Hague Dispute

Jan 9, 2017 | Henry Belot and Emily Stewart, ABC News

East Timor will tear up an oil and gas treaty with Australia that has been at the centre of espionage allegations, international arbitration and a…