International


Myanmar: Myanmar Steps up Renewables Investment with Plans for South East Asia’s Largest Solar Power Plant

Oct 14, 2015 | BusinessGreen

Myanmar is to host a series of flagship solar projects, following a number of contract awards in recent weeks. US-based engineering giant Black & Veatch…


Iraq: Total Back in French Court over Iraq Oil-for-Food Corruption

Oct 14, 2015 | AFP

French energy giant Total was back in a Paris court Wednesday facing renewed efforts to prosecute it for corruption linked to the UN's "oil-for-food" programme…


Vietnam/China/South China Sea: Vietnamese Experts Call for Negotiations with China over Disputed Islands

Oct 14, 2015 | Gia Minh, Radio Free Asia

A recent attack on a Vietnamese fishing boat by a Chinese surveillance vessel has prompted two foreign affairs experts from the Southeast Asian nation to…


Myanmar: Mawchi Mudslide: Death Toll Rises to 18

Oct 13, 2015 | Democratic Voice of Burma

The death toll from the devastating mudslide in Mawchi has risen to 18, with dozens left homeless in the Karenni State town, according to relief…


Climate Security: NATO Body Calls on Member States to Tackle Climate Security Threat

Oct 12, 2015 | Jocelyn Timperley, Business Green

Up to 250 senior members of parliament from NATO states are today expected to call for leaders of members states to deliver an ambitious, legally-binding…


Food Security: Conflict Drives 'Alarming' Global Hunger, Report Shows

Oct 12, 2015 | Mark Kinver, BBC News

Many of the 52 nations where the situation is serious or alarming are predominately ones experiencing civil unrest, the annual assessment says. However, hunger in…


Iraq: Trevor Flugge, Former AWB Chairman, Faces Court over Iraq Oil-for-Food Scandal

Oct 11, 2015 | Liz Hobday, ABC News

Almost two decades after the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) oil-for-food scandal unfolded, one of the key figures in the kickback scheme is again facing court.…


China/South China Sea: China Completes Construction of Lighthouses in Disputed South China Sea

Oct 10, 2015 | Reuters

China has completed the construction of two lighthouses in the disputed South China Sea, the official Xinhua news agency reported, as tensions in the region…


Liberia: CRC Wants Land Rights Act Legislated

Oct 9, 2015 | Ethel A. Tweh, The New Dawn

Speaking during a recent program at the Monrovia City Hall, Cllr. Scott said the Land Rights Act is part of recommendations gathered from citizens across…


Cambodia: Protesters March Against Land Grabs on World Habitat Day

Oct 7, 2015 | Neou Vannarin, Voice of America

Despite the presence of barricades and riot police, more than 1,000 evictees, human rights campaigners, land activists and Buddhist monks celebrated the 30th annual World…


Iraq/Islamic State: Deash Terrorists Set Oil Well Alight in Northern Iraq

Oct 7, 2015 | Press TV

Takfiri Deash terrorists have attacked an oil field in Iraq’s conflict-stricken northern province of Kirkuk and set fire to an oil well there. A security…


South Sudan: Nespresso, Clooney Promote Coffee in War-Torn South Sudan

Oct 7, 2015 | Corinne Gretler, Bloomberg

Nespresso, the world’s biggest single-serve coffee brand, will start selling coffee from South Sudan, in an effort proposed by George Clooney to help rebuild an…


Sudan: Sudan Halts Iron-Ore Output as Gold Mining Set for Record High

Oct 7, 2015 | Claudia Carpenter, Bloomberg

Sudan has halted iron ore production because of low prices while gold output is set to reach a record 100 metric tons next year, Minerals…


Mozambique: Mozambique Destroyed Its Last Landmine. That’s a Victory for Food Security

Oct 7, 2015 | Karen Coates, UN Dispatch

Last week, deminers in Mozambique detonated the country’s last-known landmine. It took 22 years to rid them all, more than 200,000 total. Decades of conflict…


Liberia: Sime Darby Faces Fine Following Chemical Explosion

Oct 7, 2015 | Henry Karmo, FrontPageAfrica

A joint Ministerial Investigation Committee investigating the Sime Darby Plantation Company over recent explosion in Bomi County has recommended that the Palm Oil Plantation be…


Sudan: Sudanese Gold Output to Reach Record 80 Tonnes This Year

Oct 6, 2015 | Dania Saadi, The National

Gold production in Sudan is forecast to rise 9.6 per cent to a record 80 tonnes this year as the African country seeks to boost…


Cambodia: Anti-Logging Vigilantes Get International Recognition

Oct 6, 2015 | Aun Chhengpor, Voice of America

In late September, the Prey Lang Community Network was selected as one of the world’s top 21 local community groups working for environmental conservation in the…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurds Boost Oil Sales in Drive for Financial Independence

Oct 5, 2015 | Mais Al-Amouri, Bloomberg

Iraq’s Kurdish region ramped up crude exports by 27 percent in September as the semi-autonomous enclave seeks greater financial independence amid a budget dispute with…


Conflict Minerals: SEC Seeks Rehearing in Conflict Minerals Case

Oct 5, 2015 | National Law Review

October 2, 2015 marked another step in the continuing legal challenge of the conflict minerals rule.  The SEC and Amnesty International filed petitions requesting an…


Liberia: CRC Chair Suggests at FAO, GOL 2 Days Conference

Oct 5, 2015 | Gloria T. Tamba, Liberian Observer

The chairperson of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott, has reminded members of the National Legislature on the speedy passage of the…


Côte d’Ivoire: Ivory Coast Seeks to Save Forests from Illegal Cocoa Boom

Oct 5, 2015 | Ange Aboa, Reuters

In Mont Peko National Park, thousands of leafless Iroko and Samba trees tower over a sea of lush plantations like headstones, a testament to the…


Iraq: Cholera Infections in Iraq Climb to More than 800: Health Ministry

Oct 3, 2015 | Press TV

Iraqi medical authorities say the number of recorded cases of cholera in the conflict-ridden Arab country has climbed to more than 800, though no new…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Gulf Petroleum Says Kurdish Oil Reserves at Least Double Expected Amount

Oct 3, 2015 | Hellenic Shipping News

Gulf Keystone Petroleum said third-party estimates show recoverable oil reserves in the Kurdish north of Iraq are at least twice as much as initially expected.…


Central African Republic and Philippines: Slave Labour behind 'Blood Diamonds' Jewelry Dug from African Mines by Children

Oct 1, 2015 | Imogen Calderwood. Daily Mail

The jewellery around your neck and on your fingers is still being dug out of the earth by slave children facing extreme danger, two new…


Myanmar: Land-Grab Communities Hope for Election Saviour

Oct 1, 2015 | Nyan Lynn Aung, Myanmar Times

The ethnic Kayin woman, from Thein Byin village in Tanintharyi township, has walked to the hilltop overlooking the valley to pray together with other residents…


Liberia: GVL Conducts Participatory Mapping with Communities in Grand Kru

Oct 1, 2015 | Liberian Observer

Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) is holding a series of meetings, alongside land mapping with communities that have freely offered new and additional lands for oil…


Peru: Peru Declares State of Emergency in Mining Region

Sep 30, 2015 | BBC

Peru declared a 30-day state of emergency in the Apurimac region on Tuesday after four people were killed during anti-mining protests. The four were shot…


Iraq/Syria/ISIS: U.S. Offers $5 Million for Tips on Disrupting ISIS' Oil, Antiquities Trade

Sep 30, 2015 | Faith Karimi, CNN

The war against ISIS is expanding to a new frontier: its finances. As the terror group plunders archaeological sites and oil fields in Iraq and…


Liberia: Sinoe County - Liberian Community Pushing to Manage Forest

Sep 30, 2015 | Al-Varney Rogers Alvarney, FrontPageAfrica

The Norwegian government has pledged $150m up to the year 2020 if Liberia protects its forests standing - putting communities in charge of conserving their…


Central African Republic: The Blood Diamond Trade is Tearing the Central African Republic Apart

Sep 30, 2015 | Jake Flanagin, Quartz

The Central African Republic (CAR)—one of the poorest countries in the world—has been embroiled in intense religious conflict since Dec. 2012. Fighting between the predominantly…