International


Myanmar: ‘An Optimistic Place to Start’: Myanmar Enacts National Logging Ban

Aug 3, 2016 | Morgan Erickson-Davis, Mongabay

Rumors that have been building for months have come to fruition, with Myanmar announcing a national logging ban effective immediately. Although temporary, conservationists are lauding…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan Signed over 80 Mining Contracts with Private Firms

Aug 3, 2016 | Khaama Press

The Afghan government has signed over 80 mining contracts with the private sector in a bid to boost the extraction of mines and prevent illegal…


Myanmar: Saving the Mangroves

Aug 2, 2016 | Hein Ko Soe, Frontier

If another powerful cyclone were to pummel the Ayeyarwady Delta it could have a more devastating impact than Nargis in 2008, one of the worst…


China/South China Sea: Beijing Vows to Prosecute 'Trespassers'

Aug 2, 2016 | James Griffiths, CNN

China has sent a clear warning to foreigners who enter contested areas of the South China Sea -- stay away or you'll be prosecuted. The…


Afghanistan: In Afghanistan, Extreme Geography Attracts Extreme Sports

Aug 2, 2016 | Associated Press

Panjshir is considered one of the safest regions of Afghanistan. The roads are closed to outsiders, who must register with security forces and explain the…


Asia: Group Warns of Rising ASEAN Land Grab Conflicts

Aug 1, 2016 | Voice of America

An international human rights organization says Southeast Asia is facing increasing conflicts and violence over land grab activity. A “land grab” relates to taking land…


South Sudan: Worse Fighting Could Halt South Sudan Oil Output, Monitor Says

Aug 1, 2016 | Okech Francis, Bloomberg

Clashes between South Sudanese forces that re-erupted last month could escalate into larger battles and completely cut the African nation’s already diminished oil output, the…


Myanmar: UNESCO-IHE Fellowship: Strengthening Myanmar’s Water Security

Aug 1, 2016 | International Union for Conservation of Nature

Despite regular disasters, including cyclones and frequent episodes of serious flooding that have resulted in huge losses of life and property, water security and water…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurdish Forces Retake Oil Field after Islamic State Attack

Jul 31, 2016 | Kadhim Ajrash, Khalid Al Ansary, and Sam Wilkin, Bloomberg

Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq regained control of an oil field near Kirkuk, after Islamic State militants overran the facility, setting fire to two storage…


Food Security: Security Council Updated on Conflicts Causing Severe Hunger

Jul 31, 2016 | Jaya Ramachandran, InDepthNews

The UN Security Council is faced with a critical if not an unprecedented situation: it has been warned that "protracted conflicts affecting 17 countries" have…


Kenya: In Kenya, Scarcity and Drought are Driving Two Tribes to Go to War

Jul 30, 2016 | Bill Corcoran, Irish Times

The air of tranquillity that dominates Lake Turkana’s desolate northwestern shoreline and surrounding rural landscape belies the severity of the tribal conflict gripping this part…


Iraq/Turkey: Turkey Violationg Iraq's Soverignty Through Oil Deals: Analyst

Jul 30, 2016 | Press TV

Press TV has interviewed James Morris, an editor with america-hijacked.com from Los Angeles, about warning made by the Iraqi defense minister about the repercussions of…


DRC: DR Congo Wants Link on Uganda, Tanzania Pipeline

Jul 30, 2016 | Anne Robi, Daily News

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has shown willingness to use the Uganda-Tanzania Oil Pipeline set to be constructed in the country…


Food Security: Millions Worldwide Trapped in Vicious Cycle of Violence and Hunger – UN

Jul 29, 2016 | United Nations

Two United Nations agencies warned the UN Security Council today that ongoing conflicts around the world have pushed more than 56 million people into “crisis”…


Conflict Minerals: Most Companies in the Dark on Conflict Minerals

Jul 28, 2016 | Emily Chasan, Bloomberg

Conflict minerals are difficult to dig out of U.S. supply chains. Three years after U.S. companies began filing reports about their efforts to find minerals…


Iraq: Islamic State's Oil Revenue Dives as it Loses Iraqi Territory

Jul 28, 2016 | Ahmed Rasheed, Reuters

Islamic State, pushed off more than half the Iraqi territory it seized in 2014, has suffered a near collapse in revenue from oil smuggling, officials…


Colombia: Colombia is Charting a New Path Forward after a Brutal Civil War

Jul 28, 2016 | Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, Bloomberg

In Latin America a critical experiment in land restitution is under way. On June 23 the government of Colombia agreed to a cease-fire with the…


Myanmar: Jade Mining Permit Extensions Suspended

Jul 27, 2016 | Ye Mon and Kyi Kyi Sway, Myanmar Times

The government will not renew mining permits for jade and gems when they expire and will only consider issuing new permits once by-laws to the…


Liberia: Liberia’s Rainforests in Danger

Jul 27, 2016 | William Q. Harmon, Daily Observer

The embarrassment that Liberia faced as a result of the infamous Private Use Permit (PUP) saga, which saw a substantial amount of the country’s precious…


Sudan: Sudan to Produce 100 Tonnes of Gold by End of 2016: Minister

Jul 27, 2016 | Sudan Tribune

Sudan’s Minister of Minerals Ahmed Sadiq al-Karouri said his country expects to produce 100 tonnes of gold in 2016, pointing it would become Africa’s second…


Colombia: 5 Things to Know about Colombia's Land Restitution

Jul 26, 2016 | Elizabeth Dickinson, Devex

Rural land reform is at the center of the peace deal now under negotiation between the Colombian government and FARC rebels. The draft agreement calls for…


Climate Change: Recipe for War: Remove Water and Food, Add Ethnic Strife—Then Stir

Jul 26, 2016 | Eric Roston, Bloomberg

The question is no longer just whether climate change will kill us, but also whether climate change will make us kill each other. Almost 25 percent…


Myanmar: Shan State Farmers Summoned to Court for Using Land Claimed by Myanmar Army

Jul 26, 2016 | Radio Free Asia

One hundred farmers from a village in eastern Myanmar’s Shan state appeared in court on Monday after the national army filed a lawsuit against them…


Myanmar: Govt Compensate Victims Displaced by Shwegyin Hydropower Project

Jul 26, 2016 | Eleven Myanmar

Union Minister for Electric Power and Energy Pe Zin Tun, said yesterday that the government will give compensation to people who were displaced to make…


DRC: World Bank Stops Funding World’s Biggest Power Plant Plan

Jul 26, 2016 | Thomas Wilson, Bloomberg

The World Bank has suspended funding to help develop a $14 billion hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a stage in what could…


Myanmar/Thailand: Myanmar to Submit Disputed Parkland for Heritage Designation

Jul 26, 2016 | Maung Zaw, Myanmar Times

Myanmar officials plan to submit land being claimed by Thailand for consideration as its own UNESCO World Heritage Site, U Than Zaw Oo, director of…


Climate Change: The Link Between Armed Conflict and Climate Change Just Got a Bit Stronger

Jul 26, 2016 | Alejandro Dávila Fragoso, ThinkProgress

Social scientists have for several decades tried to understand what makes a country experience conflict, with poverty, income inequality, weak governance, and ethnic animosity making…


Colombia: UN Praises Colombia and FARC's Agreement on Women

Jul 25, 2016 | BBC News

The UN has welcomed an agreement between the Colombian government and FARC rebels giving specific guarantees to women as part of a peace accord. Both…


Myanmar: Hundreds of Jade Mining Licenses Expire This Month

Jul 25, 2016 | Myat Pyae Phyo, The Irrawaddy

Burma’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation has released a list of 310 jade mining companies in Kachin State who will be unable to…


Liberia: Lands and Mines Ministry Launches Artisanal Mining Roadmap

Jul 25, 2016 | Lewis S. Teh, New Dawn

The Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy has, for the first time, launched the Artisanal Mining Roadmap for the mining sector in Liberia. The launch of…