International


Liberia: Risky Gold Rush in Bassa - Deaths & Outlaw Overshadow Find

Jan 14, 2015 | Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, FrontPageAfrica

The temporary closure of a popular gold mine in Grand Bassa County has eased tension over the rush for gold which has led to the…


Liberia: 'Diversion of Resources'

Jan 14, 2015 | The NEWS

When the international watchdog, Global Witness warned some years back that oil discovery in Liberia could become a blessing or curse, depending how the country…


China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnamese Fishermen Suffer More Chinese Attacks

Jan 14, 2015 | Quang Ngai, Thanh Nien News

At least three fishing boats from Ly Son Island were attacked this month by Chinese crews that have moved into their traditional fishing grounds around…


Iraq/Syria: Operation Inherent Resolve: The War against Islamic State's Oil Network

Jan 14, 2015 | John C. K. Daly, The Jamestown Foundation

U.S. airstrikes launched on August 23 signaled the start of Operation Inherent Resolve. This is intended to eliminate the Islamic State terrorist group and the…


Timor-Leste: Timor-Leste’s Sun Will Rise at AOG 2015

Jan 14, 2015 | Gas Today

What is the future for the Sunrise gas field? What is the latest on maritime boundary discussions between Timor-Leste and Australia? What exploration and business…


South Sudan: South Sudan Provides Assurances for Safety of Chinese Oil Workers

Jan 14, 2015 | Sudan Tribune

JUBA – South Sudan’s foreign affairs minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said he had provided assurances to his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, of the government’s commitment…


Myanmar: PNA Responds to Accusations of Land Grabbing

Jan 13, 2015 | Burma News International

Following a march in Taunggyi City, Shan State on 8 January by farmers protesting the seizure of their land by the Paoh National Organization (PNO)…


Conflict Minerals: Groups Update Electronics Proposal

Jan 13, 2015 | Abby Patkin, The Justice

On Dec. 3, members from Students Taking Action Now in Darfur and Conflict-Free Campus Initiative met with the Faculty Senate to discuss and make edits…


Myanmar: Two More Myanmar Protesters Charged Over China Mine Demo

Jan 13, 2015 | Bangkok Post

YANGON - Two more protesters opposed to a China-backed copper mine venture in Myanmar have been charged with offences that could see them jailed for…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Baghdad Bid to Raise Oil Exports from Kurdistan; British to Reconsider

Jan 12, 2015 | World Bulletin

The central government in Iraq began constructing a new oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Erbil to increase oil exports from region, an official from the…


Myanmar: Women’s Groups Call for Justice Over Slain Copper Mine Protester

Jan 11, 2015 | Min Min, Mizzima

Ten Myanmar women’s groups Friday called for justice for the woman who was killed in clashes between security forces and residents at the controversial copper…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Untangling The Threads of The Baghdad-Erbil Oil Deal

Jan 10, 2015 | Emmanuela Eposti, Middle East Monitor

The announcement of last month's breakthrough oil deal between Baghdad and Erbil was widely greeted with positive murmurings in the Western press. The deal, which…


Palestine: 'Storm Huda' Hits Palestine

Jan 10, 2015 | Middle East Monitor

'Storm Huda' first hit Palestine on Wednesday as severe snow storms hit Ramallah and the higher areas in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jerusalem and Nablus. Heavy rain…


Somalia/Somaliland: Berbera Residents against Habarjeclo's Land-Grabbing

Jan 10, 2015 | Waagacusub Media

Hundreds of families from President Siilaanyo's tribe of Habarjeclo take advantage of the sea-port of Berbera Somaliland, which have resulted anti-Habarjeclo sentiment, reliable sources told…


Myanmar: Opium Turns Hillside Town Into ‘Widow Village’

Jan 10, 2015 | Salai Thant Zin, The Irrawaddy

Kanzam, Chin State — New Year’s Eve passed quietly in Kanzam, a small village in northern Chin State. While other villages in remote Tonzang Township…


Face-Off: China vs. ASEAN in the South China Sea and Beyond

Jan 9, 2015 | Richard Javad Heydarian, National Interest

By all possible measures, 2014 was a roller-coaster year for East Asia, particularly for the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which…


Liberia: Corruption in Liberia’s Emerging Oil Industry: Role of Timis & AP

Jan 9, 2015 | Front Page Africa

Monrovia - Liberia’s oil industry is being contaminated by the corrupting influences of Frank Timis and his company African Petroleum, an investigation by FrontPage Africa…


Palestine: Storm Adds to Misery of Gaza’s Most Vulnerable

Jan 9, 2015 | Majd al Waheidi and Jode Rudoren, New York Times

As a winter storm continued to pound the Middle East, thousands of Gaza residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged in last summer’s war with…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Oil Deal Evokes Churchill in Islamic State Battle

Jan 8, 2015 | Selcan Hacaoglu and Zaid Sabah, Bloomberg

Winston Churchill understood the significance of the black stuff seeping to the surface in the Kurdish plains of Mesopotamia when he included the region within…


Iraq: Budget Debates Focus on Revenue Worries

Jan 8, 2015 | Patrick Osgood, Rawaz Tahir, and Ben Van Heuvelen, Iraq Oil Report

Iraq's 2015 draft budget received a second reading in Parliament Wednesday, although concerns over the falling price of oil threaten to delay legislative progress."The most…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Allowed to Sue Kurds Over Texas Oil Tanker in U.S.

Jan 8, 2015 | Laurel Brubaker Calkins, Bloomberg Businessweek

Iraq’s oil ministry can sue the Kurdistan regional government for possession of 1 million barrels of crude that have waited in a tanker circling off…


Myanmar: Farmers Fleeing Myitsone Dam Face Economic Challenges

Jan 8, 2015 | Eleven Myanmar

Farmers who fled their lands to make way for the Myitsone Dam project are now struggling to earn livelihoods.According to the farmers, although homes, roads…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Dispute Over Tanker's Kurdish Oil Continues in Houston Court

Jan 8, 2015 | Collin Eaton, Houston Chronicle

Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government are still trying to resolve a dispute that for six months has kept a tanker full of Kurdish oil…


Resource Curse: The Twilight of the Resource Curse?

Jan 8, 2015 | The Economist

For decades commodity prices have shaped Africa’s economic growth. The continent is home to a third of the planet’s mineral reserves, a tenth of the…


Liberia: FDA Under Watchful Eyes, Ears of Advocacy Groups in 2014: Nation’s Forest at Glance

Jan 7, 2015 | Edwin M. Fayia III, Liberian Observer

Liberia’s prime custodian of the forest sector, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), started 2014 under the watchful eyes and ears of local and international advocacy…


Iraq/Kurdistan: NOC Oil Heading to Market Via Kurdistan

Jan 7, 2015 | Kamaran al-Najar, Patrick Osgood, and Ben Lando, Iraq Oil Report

Iraq's federal North Oil Company (NOC) has begun exporting Kirkuk crude for the first time since militants led by the so-called Islamic State (IS) bombed…


Syria: Yarmouk Camp Victim of Water Wars in Syria

Jan 7, 2015 | Aya Chebbi, Al Jazeera

The Syrian regime is using water as a tool of war in the Yarmouk camp, according to a recent report issued by the Palestinian League for Human…


Africa: Oil Prices and African Economies

Jan 7, 2015 | Abayomi Azikiwe, Global Research

During 2014 many western-based financial publications declared that the Federal Republic of Nigeria had surpassed the Republic of South Africa as the largest economy on…


Myanmar: Two Dead, 30 Missing After Rockslide at Myanmar Jade Mine

Jan 7, 2015 | Aung Hla Tun, Reuters

At least two people were killed and around 30 were missing on Wednesday after a mountain of rubble collapsed at a jade mine in northern…


Myanmar: Daunting Myanmar Mining Risks Keeps Investors to a Brave Handful

Jan 7, 2015 | South China Morning Post, Reuters

With abundant mineral wealth from jade and rubies to copper and coal, Myanmar ought to be looking forward to a mining boom as it opens…