International


Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurds Say They’ll Give a Unified Iraqi Government One Last chance

Sep 5, 2014 | Roy Gutman, Miami Herald

IRBIL, Iraq -- Kurdish leaders, acceding to U.S. demands, are postponing plans for an early referendum on independence and say they instead will devote their…


Myanmar: In Myanmar, China's Scramble for Energy Threatens Livelihoods of Villagers

Sep 5, 2014 | Hereward Holland, National Geographic

OIL MOUNTAIN, Myanmar—The mood at a ramshackle bar in this village on Ramree Island, in western Myanmar's Rakhine State, is one of fatalism punctuated by…


Myanmar: Thousands Protest Against Mines in Namhkam

Sep 5, 2014 | Nang Mya Nadi, Democratic Voice of Burma

Thousands gathered in Namhkam, Shan State, on Friday morning to protest against commercial mining operations.

The locals said that large-scale silica mining projects have resulted in…


Myanmar: First Solar Energy Plants Planned

Sep 5, 2014 | Eleven Myanmar

Myanmar will soon welcome the first-ever solar energy project, through the investment of about US$480 million – the biggest investments by a US company in…


Myanmar: India to Import 1 Lakh Tonne Rice from Myanmar

Sep 5, 2014 | The Hindu

India is going to import one lakh tonnes of rice from Myannmar to avoid supply crisis in Manipur and Mizoram as the construction work is…


China/Vietnam: Vietnam's Maritime Spats with China Stir Domestic Dissent

Sep 5, 2014 | The Straits Times

Historically, ambiguity has characterised relations between China and Vietnam. Despite China's strong cultural influence, Vietnam has repeatedly resisted the larger power's efforts to dominate it.…


Conflict Minerals: Dispatches From the Diamond Wars

Sep 5, 2014 | Howard W. French, The Wall Street Journal

Some of my earliest memories as a reporter have to do with diamonds in Africa. Several times, as a young freelancer visiting Sierra Leone in…


Iraq: Exports Lag Due to Violence

Sep 5, 2014 | Ben Lando, Ali Abu Iraq,and Kamaran al-Najar, Iraq Oil Report

Iraq's battle with anti-government militants has begun to hamper the country's exports, which fell in August to their second-lowest monthly average of the year.The State…


Climate Security: NATO Stresses Climate Change Impacts on Security

Sep 5, 2014 | International Institute for Sustainable Development

Heads of State and Government participating in the Wales Summit of the North Atlantic Council (NAC), the principal political decision-making body of the North Atlantic…


Conflict Minerals: Intel's CEO Reveals The Company's Plans To Build A Conflict-Free Supply Chain By 2016

Sep 4, 2014 | Fast Company

If you use electronics or wear gold jewelry, you're participating in an economy that finances armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which gather…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Sues Greek Shipping Firm for Transporting Kurdish Oil

Sep 4, 2014 | Ahmed Rasheed and Jonathan Saul, Reuters

Iraq said it filed a lawsuit against Greek shipping company Marine Management Services (MMS) for its role in the export of crude from the Kurdistan…


Iraq: Oil Output in Iraq's Kirkuk Slumps 90 percent

Sep 4, 2014 | Humeyra Pamuk, Reuters

Oil output in Iraq's Kirkuk has slumped to 30,000 barrels a day since June, 90 percent down on earlier this year, and a federal pipeline…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurdish Oil exports Mark 10 Million Barrels Despite Baghdad’s Woes

Sep 4, 2014 | Hurriyet Daily News

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said the total exports of Kurdish Iraqi oil through Turkey since May has reached 10 million barrels, amid ongoing…


Myanmar: Thai-Backed Power Plants in Burma Face ‘Difficulties’ Getting Coal

Sep 4, 2014 | William Boot, The Irrawaddy

Proposals by Thailand-based companies to build large coal-burning power plants in Burma might prove hard to implement because of logistical difficulties in delivering adequate fuel…


Myanmar: Tropical Log Prices Surge, Myanmar Export ban a Boon to Malaysia

Sep 4, 2014 | Jack Wong, The Star

KUCHING: Myanmar’s total log export ban that took effect five months ago has pushed up tropical log prices, benefiting major Sarawak timber companies.

According to Ta…


South Sudan: Food Security Update

Sep 4, 2014 | PR NewsWire, Star Africa

JUBA, South Sudan, 2 September 2014 / PRN Africa / —   Food insecurity remained severe in conflict affected areas of South Sudan,  with some 3.9…


China/East China Sea: China Deploys New Oil Rig to Drill in East China Sea

Sep 3, 2014 | South China Morning Post

China has sent a new oil rig to explore the East China Sea, an area that includes waters disputed with Japan. Cosco Shipyard, which built…


Myanmar: Land Grabbing Tops the List of Rights Violations

Sep 3, 2014 | Eleven Myanmar

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission has received about 6,000 complaints since its inception in 2011, and most of them involve land confiscation by force.

“Most…


Iraq: EU Ambassador to Iraq Accuses European Countries of Purchasing Oil from Islamic State

Sep 3, 2014 | Middle East Monitor

The European Union Ambassador in Iraq, Jana Hybášková, has accused some European countries of purchasing oil from the Islamic State, or IS,Anadolu news agency reported.

Hybášková's…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Behind the Kurdish Oil Mystery: Cash, Power Grabs and the Battle for Statehood

Sep 3, 2014 | Nigel Wilson, International Business Times

When the oil tanker Kamari disappeared in the Mediterranean on 1 August, it was carrying around $100m (£60.7m, €76m) worth of crude from Iraq's semi-autonomous region of…


Central and East Africa: Food Security Alarm in Africa

Sep 2, 2014 | AllAfrica

Some 20 million people are facing acute food insecurity in eastern and central Africa, with most of them being at crisis and emergency levels, according…


Myanmar: 3,000 Farmers Petition Thein Sein Over Land Grab

Sep 2, 2014 | Eleven Myanmar

A petition calling for the return of 200,000 acres of land seized from farmers in Magway Region will be sent to President Thein Sein and…


Vietnam: Agent Orange Lives on in Vietnam, Poisoning Children and Ruining Lives

Sep 2, 2014 | The Advocacy Project

While Le Ba Thuan was recruiting soldiers for the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, he would watch American planes spraying herbicide and try to…


Rwanda: Mining-Export Income Drops on Lower Tantalum Prices

Sep 1, 2014 | Bloomberg News

The value of Rwanda’s mineral exports dropped by almost a fifth in the first half of the year, even as the volume of sales rose, because…


Kurdish Oil Tanker that Disappeared from Radar off Texas Coast Reappears Days Later

Sep 1, 2014 | Daily Mail

An Iraqi oil tanker that disappeared from radar off the coast of Texas last week has suddenly reappeared today - and it's still full of…


Iraq/ Kurdistan: Battle for Mosul Dam- a New Age of Water Wars Beckons

Sep 1, 2014 | The Conversation

Exactly a year ago, the world was wrestling with the possibility of another US-led military assault on an Arab state, following the horrific gas attacks in Damascus,…


Myanmar: Second City Speculation Sees Land Prices Double

Sep 1, 2014 | The Myanmar Times

Though information on the project proposed by Mayor U Hla Myint is still scarce, it has proven enough to drive a flury of speculation in…


Myanmar: Cronies Set Their Sights on Coal in Latest Power Grab

Sep 1, 2014 | Eleven

Cronies have been granted hydropower projects on Ayeyawady and Thanlwin rivers, including the Myitsone dam, without public notice. Moreover, 23 firms – including companies owned by…


Myanmar: Over 1,000 in Mandalay Protest Mining Activities

Sep 1, 2014 | Democratic Voice of Burma

The mining sector in Burma continues to receive flak, with protestors taking to the streets in Wetthay and Phetshay villages in Thabeikkyin, Mandalay.

On 30 August,…


Israel/Palestine: Israel Seizes 400 Hectares of West Bank Land [Video]

Sep 1, 2014 | Al Jazeera

The United States has urged Israel to reverse its decision to seize nearly 400 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank, a move anti-settlement…