International


Liberia: As They Abandon Barren Land, Farmers Take Problems with Them

Dec 6, 2015 | Megan Rowling, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Creeping deserts, loss of trees, barren soils and water shortages are pushing poor farmers off their land from Africa to Latin America, forcing people to…


Mexico: Brutal Cartels Fight over Mexico's 'Conflict-Free' Gold Revenues

Dec 6, 2015 | Frank Jack Daniel, Anahi Rama, and Lizbeth Diaz, Reuters

Heroin traffickers linked to the abduction and disappearance of 43 students a year ago are battling over millions of dollars paid by Canadian mining giant…


Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Launches Investigation into Killing of Fisherman in Disputed Waters

Dec 4, 2015 | Koel Chu, Hong Kong Free Press

Vietnamese officials have begun an investigation into the death of a fisherman who was shot in disputed waters in the South China Sea. Sources claim that…


Water Wars: Water Wars at Core of ISIS, Syria, Israel-Palestine and Other Conflicts Reports Fresh Water Advocate Sharon Kleyne

Dec 4, 2015 | PRWeb

Water, not oil or gold, is the world’s most precious commodity. Water not only keeps every living organism alive, it is the basis for all…


Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Islamic State’s Moneymaking Streams Take a Hit as It Loses Territory

Dec 4, 2015 | Hugh Naylor, Washington Post

By most estimates, the Islamic State is the world’s richest terrorist organization. But it appears to be wrestling with money problems that could affect its…


Peru: Illegal Gold Miners in Madre de Dios, Peru, Paralyze the Region with Protests

Dec 4, 2015 | Ruxandra Guidi, Mongabay

Since November 23, the southeastern region of Madre de Dios in Peru has been paralyzed by street protests, road blockades, and tire burnings. Hundreds of…


Liberia: Taylor Land Dispute - Several Jailed in Tussle - Police Wounded

Dec 2, 2015 | Bettie K. Johnson Mbayo, FrontPageAfrica

Former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor who is currently serving 50 years sentence in The Hague has requested the court to grant him damages on…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurds Make $3.29bn from Direct Oil Sales

Dec 2, 2015 | Agence France-Presse

Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region said Tuesday it has made more than $3.29 billion in revenues since June from direct oil export sales that the country’s…


Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Maps Reveal Chain of ISIS Oil Smuggling Routes from Syria and Iraq into Turkey. Russian Defense Ministry

Dec 2, 2015 | Global Research

Russia’s Defense Ministry published images and a map it says reveal a chain of oil smuggling to Turkey from Islamic State – from extraction to…


Iraq/Turkey/Islamic State: Iraq to File Complaint against Turkey if Daesh-Ankara Oil Trade Confirmed

Dec 2, 2015 | PressTV

Baghdad says it will lodge a formal lawsuit against Ankara with the United Nations Security Council if claims are proved right that the Turkish government is…


Sierra Leone: AWDC Issues Alert over Fake Sierra Leone KP Certificate

Dec 1, 2015 | David Brummer, IDEX

The Antwerp World Diamond Center’s (AWDC) Diamond Office has alerted the Kimberley Process (KP) about the discovery of a false KP certificate from Sierra Leone.…


South Sudan: Bishops Call on South Sudan Government, Oil Companies to Clean up Pariang Spills

Dec 1, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan has appealed to the government of South Sudan and oil companies to deal with the oil spills…


Algeria/Iraq/Libya/Nigeria/Venezuela: Oil Plunge Raises Fears of Societal Unrest

Nov 30, 2015 | Elizabeth MacDonald, FOXBusiness

With Wall Street shops like Goldman Sachs and government officials in Venezuela signaling oil could go to the mid-$20 per barrel range next year,…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Dana Gas Group Awarded $1.98 Billion in Iraq Kurds Dispute

Nov 29, 2015 | Arif Sharif, World Oil

Dana Gas said a court has ordered the Kurdistan Regional Government to pay it and two other energy companies $1.98 billion in a dispute over…


Climate Change: Meet the Woman Whose Two-Word Catchphrase Made the Military Care about Climate

Nov 29, 2015 | Dan Vergano, BuzzFeed

In 2006, as war mounted in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military began to see the human costs of climate extremes. As drought hit Afghanistan,…


Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Villagers Sue Mining Company in London High Court

Nov 29, 2015 | Lisa O'Carroll, The Guardian

An iron ore firm once listed in London is being sued in a multimillion pound lawsuit over evictions and alleged violent treatment of workers and…


Timor-Leste: Maritime Arrangements and Timor-Leste’s Oil Ploy

Nov 28, 2015 | Hamish McDonald, Saturday Paper

Who owns the petroleum resources of Tasi Mane is now the subject of diplomatic and legal machismo in a dispute between Timor-Leste and its much…


South Sudan: What Steps are Needed to Create 28 States in South Sudan?

Nov 28, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

The proposal by South Sudan's President Salva Kiir to create 28 new states in place of the 10 existing states requires practical as well as…


Timor-Leste: Top Lawyer Says Australia Has Criminal Case to Answer over East Timor Spying Scandal

Nov 27, 2015 | Steve Cannane, Sashka Koloff, and Brigid Andersen, ABC News

One of Australia's most senior lawyers believes there is a criminal case to answer over an Australian spying operation in East Timor and that senior…


Myanmar: Controversial Mining Bill Submitted to Parliament for a Third Time

Nov 27, 2015 | Htoo Thant, Myanmar Times

The long-awaited Mining Law amendment bill, which will update legislation from 1994, was suspended earlier this year following fierce disagreements between the upper and lower…


Myanmar: Environmentalists Hope for Stronger Safeguards under NLD

Nov 27, 2015 | Nyein Nyein, The Irrawaddy

In the wake of recent disasters that have shone a light on the human toll wrought by a lack of environmental and development-related safeguards, local…


South Sudan/Sudan/Abyei: UN: Child, Peacekeeper Killed in Attack in Disputed Border Town between South Sudan and Sudan

Nov 27, 2015 | Associated Press

The U.N. says a 4-year-old girl and an Ethiopian peacekeeper were killed and three others wounded in an attack on Thursday in the contested Abyei…


Liberia: NOCAL Claims Community Projects That Do Not Exist

Nov 27, 2015 | Tetee Gebro, FrontPageAfrica

The news that the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) had delivered two much-needed latrines and a water well hand pump to his community came…


China/Vietnam/Taiwan/Brunei/South China Sea: A New Confidence-Building Process for the South China Sea?

Nov 26, 2015 | Bill Hayton, Diplomat

A half-day meeting in Vietnam on Wednesday could mark the beginning of a new confidence-building process in the South China Sea. The meeting, held in…


Myanmar: Myanmar's Suu Kyi Blames Lack of Safety Regulations for Deadly Landslide

Nov 26, 2015 | Aung Hla Tun and Hnin Yadana Zaw, Reuters

A disregard for the rule of law in the jade mining industry in Myanmar had made accidents such as the landslide that killed more than…


Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Raqqa's Rockefellers: How Islamic State Oil Flows to Israel

Nov 26, 2015 | Al-Araby al-Jadeed

Oil produced from fields under the control of the Islamic State group is at the heart of a new investigation by al-Araby al-Jadeed. The black…


Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: The Water Wars Waged by Islamic State

Nov 25, 2015 | Ambika Vishwanath, Forbes

The Islamic State’s use of natural resources to achieve its strategic goals has been much discussed. Oil, one of the group’s biggest sources of funding,…


Cambodia: Land Grabs Often Driven by Investors Seeking Land, Global Witness Says

Nov 25, 2015 | Phorn Bopha, Voice of America

Researchers at the environmental watchdog Global Witness say Cambodia’s ongoing land crisis is part of a larger global trend, one driven by economics and resource…


Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: US Syria Sanctions Target World Chess Chief, IS Oil Buyer

Nov 25, 2015 | Agence France-Presse

The United States slapped sanctions Wednesday on backers of the Syrian regime including a middleman accused of buying oil from the Islamic State group and…


Conflict Minerals: China Draft Conflict Minerals Guidance Expected Next Month

Nov 24, 2015 | Chemical Watch

China's guidelines for responsible mineral supply chains are expected to be announced, during a workshop on the issue, to be held by the OECD and…