International

DRC: 'We Will Win Peace' - On 'Conflict Minerals', Humanitarian Advocacy and Congo

Jun 10, 2015 | African Arguments

In 2010, the United States Congress passed the expansive sounding ‘Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’. Its section 1502 contained a requirement which…

Israel/Jordan/Palestine: SIWI Advances Water Cooperation in the Lower Jordan River Valley

Jun 9, 2015 | Stockholm International Water Institute

In their opening remarks, EcoPeace Middle East Directors from Jordan, Palestine and Israel highlighted how the current ecological and economic demise of the valley is…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurdistan Warns Oil Output at Risk of Collapse on Lack of Funds

Jun 9, 2015 | Firat Kayakiran and Grant Smith, Bloomberg

Oil producers in Iraqi Kurdistan will have to close operations if they don’t receive agreed export payments, according to the regional authorities.

Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi, Kurdish Officials Clash over Oil Shipments, Payments

Jun 9, 2015 | Reuters

Iraq paid the autonomous Kurdistan region only around half its monthly share of the national budget in May as part of other spending cuts, the…

DRC: UK Oil Firm 'Paid Congolese Officer who Offered Bribe to Virunga Park Ranger'

Jun 9, 2015 | John Vidal, The Guardian

British oil company Soco International paid $42,000 (£27,000) to a Congolese military officer who allegedly tried to bribe opponents of its oil exploration in Africa’s…

Iraq: Iraq to Form Special 'Oil Army' to Fend off ISIL Threat

Jun 8, 2015 | Andrew Critchlow, The Telegraph

Iraq is mobilising a 27,000 strong army of security personnel to protect its oil and energy facilities from attacks by Islamic State insurgents. Adel Abdel…

Climate Security: Harper Faces Tough Talk on Climate Change, Security Threats at G7 Summit

Jun 7, 2015 | Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press

The G7 leaders started their annual meeting Sunday during which Prime Minister Stephen Harper was expected to face discussions on a topic he has been…

Iraq: Iraq’s Oil Industry Needs to Reassert its Claims

Jun 7, 2015 | Saadallah Al Fathi, Gulf News

The seminar held by the Iraqi Forum of Intellectuals and Academics - and which I talked about last week - had a good presentation about…

Liberia: Charges against Oil Company 'Bribery' Indictees Dropped

Jun 7, 2015 | Front Page Africa

Knowing that corruption was prevalent among public officials in government and the negative impact it has made on the lives of ordinary Liberians over the…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq’s Kurdistan Reports Record Oil Exports

Jun 6, 2015 | Press TV

The KRG has announced that nearly 18 million barrels of oil were exported in May. That’s about 578,000 barrels of oil per day. The rare…

South Sudan: South Sudan Fighting Escalates in Oil States Before Peace Talks

Jun 6, 2015 | Okech Francis, Bloomberg

Fighting between rebels and government forces in South Sudan’s oil-producing states intensified, the army said before the two sides meet on Monday for peace talks.…

Conflict Minerals: Businesses Trying to Comply with 'Conflict Minerals' Law

Jun 5, 2015 | Carrie Wells, Baltimore Sun

The argument goes that using a smartphone made from materials mined in war-torn Africa is no better than buying so-called blood diamonds. Rebel groups in…

Cote d'Ivoire/Liberia: Land Conflict Still Brewing at Liberia/Ivorian Border: Fear Mounts

Jun 5, 2015 | Cholo Brooks, GNN Liberia

Continued land disputes between Liberia and Ivory Coast are still ongoing as Liberians in some towns in Grand Gedeh County say Ivorians are encroaching on…

Liberia: ‘FDA Management Ambushed’

Jun 5, 2015 | The New Dawn Liberia

The indicted former Managing Director of Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority or FDA, Mr. Moses Wogbeh, has told court proceeding that he and his co-indictees were…

Timor-Leste: Timor-Leste Presses Ahead with Challenge to Timor Sea Oil and Gas Treaty

Jun 5, 2015 | Daniel Hurst, The Guardian

Timor-Leste is set to resume a formal challenge against an oil and gas treaty that became mired in controversy following claims Australia bugged the cabinet…

Myanmar: CPI Pushes for Restart of Myitsone Dam

Jun 5, 2015 | Ye Mon and Clare Hammond, Myanmar Times

President U Thein Sein has suspended the Myitsone Dam project until the end of his current term. Once this is over, CPI Yunnan International Power…

Myanmar: Profits of Drug Trade Drive Economic Boom in Myanmar

Jun 5, 2015 | Thomas Fuller, New York Times

Visitors flying into this buzzing tropical metropolis step into a modern glass-and-steel airport that symbolizes both Myanmar’s aspirations to rejoin the wider world after years…

Liberia: Garbage Causes Flood in Monrovia

Jun 4, 2015 | Cholo Brooks, GNN Liberia

Improper garbage disposal by residents, meanly those engaged in swamp land development is said to have contributed to a wave of flooding in recent days…

Iraq: IS Reduces Water Supply to Government Areas in Iraq’s Anbar

Jun 4, 2015 | Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press

Islamic State militants have reduced the amount of water flowing to government-held areas in Iraq’s western Anbar province, officials said Thursday, a move that highlights…

China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Opens Spratlys to Tourism Amid Sea Dispute with China

Jun 4, 2015 | John Boudreau and Diep Pham, Bloomberg

Vietnam is inviting tourists to the front lines in its tense dispute with China over territorial claims in the South China Sea, organizing the country’s…

Myanmar: ‘Heated’ Debate Again Stymies New Mining Law

Jun 4, 2015 | Nyein Nyein, The Irrawaddy

Efforts to pass a controversial bill updating Burma’s 1994 Mining Law have been postponed once again, after debate on the legislation turned “heated” this week…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Oil Agreement Central to Iraq's Unity in ISIS Fight May Be Crumbling

Jun 3, 2015 | Akbar Shahid Ahmed, Ibrahim Balkhy, and Christine Conetta, Huffington Post

A December 2014 oil agreement struck between Iraq's central government and the country's autonomous Kurdish region is in jeopardy and could soon need to be…

Timor-Leste: East Timor Revives Attempt to Have Greater Sunrise Treaty Declared Invalid Amid Spying Allegations

Jun 3, 2015 | Sara Everingham, ABC News

East Timor is reviving its attempt to nullify a multi-billion-dollar oil and gas treaty with Australia on the grounds Australia spied on Timorese officials during…

China/Philippines/South China Sea: Philippine President Makes Veiled Comparison between Beijing and Nazi Germany

Jun 3, 2015 | ABC News

Philippine president Benigno Aquino has made a veiled comparison between China's activities in the South China Sea and Nazi Germany's expansionism before World War II.…

South Sudan: Meet the South Sudanese Farmers Who Want to Feed Their War-Torn Nation

Jun 1, 2015 | Charlotte Alfred, Huffington Post

Pineapple farmer Marko Bagayowya has big plans. He wants to build a juice factory and sell South Sudan-made drinks. He wants to leave his four…

Iraq: Iraq Begins Heavy Oil Exports after Complaints about Quality

Jun 1, 2015 | Khalid Al Ansary and Anthony Dipaola, Bloomberg

Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, is set to increase exports after starting a new grade of crude to quell customer complaints about the quality of…

Conflict Minerals: Conflict-Mineral Reporting Industry Thriving

Jun 1, 2015 | Katherine Conner, The Daily Transcript

With all publicly traded companies preparing for manda- tory conflict-mineral reporting requirements to take effect in 2016, one private San Diego County company is preparing…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Erbil Warns Baghdad It May Sell Oil 'On Its Own'

May 31, 2015 | Middle East Monitor

The regional government in Erbil has the right to sell its own oil if Baghdad does not uphold its part of an oil agreement, the…

South China Sea: China/South China Sea: Australia Raises Alarm over Possible Chinese Military Build-Up on Contested Spratly Islands

May 31, 2015 | ABC News

Defence Minister Kevin Andrews has joined the United States and other nations in opposing China's large-scale land reclamation in the South China Sea. Satellite imagery…

China/South China Sea: China Says It Could Set Up Air Defense Zone in South China Sea

May 31, 2015 | Edward Wong, New York Times

A Chinese admiral said Sunday that Beijing could set up an air defense zone above disputed areas of the South China Sea if it thought…