International


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Oil Minister Says Received More Than 90 Offers for Kirkuk Pipeline

Apr 20, 2018 | Reuters

Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Friday the planned new Kirkuk oil pipeline was still under analysis and more than 90 offers had been…


Brazil: 2017 One of 'Bloodiest Years' for Land Conflicts

Apr 20, 2018 | Sam Cowie, Al Jazeera

Data released this week by Brazil rural violence watchdog Comissao Pastoral da Terra (CPT) showed there had been at least 70 killings related to land…


Afghanistan: MAIL to Roll out Multi-Billion Afghani Irrigation Plan

Apr 20, 2018 | Zarmina Mohammadi, TOLOnews

Ministery of Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) Thursday said the Afghan government plans to rollout irrigation projects on farms, worth 2.5 billon AFs.MAIL spokesman Akbar…


Sudan/South Sudan/Abyei: EU Concerned over Situation in Abyei Disputed by Sudan and South Sudan

Apr 19, 2018 | Xinhua

The European Union (EU) on Wednesday expressed concern over the situation of the people of Abyei area, disputed over by Sudan and South Sudan. Ambassadors…


Colombia: Meet the People Building Alternatives to Mining in Colombia

Apr 19, 2018 | Hannibal Rhoades and Benjamin Hitchcock Auciello, Red Pepper

On the 26th March 2017, citizens from the mountainous municipality of Cajamarca, Colombia, voted, with a 98% majority, to ban South African miner AngloGold Ashanti’s…


Iraq/Kurdistan: The Great Russian Oil Game in Iraqi Kurdistan

Apr 19, 2018 | Dmitry Zhdannikov, Reuters

Last October, at the height of a political crisis in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, a letter arrived at the Iraqi oil ministry in Baghdad from Igor…


DRC: WFP-FAO Launch Innovative German-Funded Project to Support Peace and Rebuild Lives in Post-Conflict Areas of Eastern DR Congo

Apr 19, 2018 | Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are launching an innovative joint project to…


Iraq: Exxon Faces Setback in Iraq as Oil and Water Mix

Apr 19, 2018 | Ahmad Ghaddar and Aref Mohammed, Reuters

Talks between Exxon Mobil and Iraq on a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure contract have reached an impasse, Iraqi officials and two industry sources said, in a potential…


Sierra Leone: DeBeers Rolls out App to Clean up Sierra Leone Diamond Supply Chain

Apr 19, 2018 | Ed Stoddard, Reuters

Global diamond giant De Beers is rolling out an app to help small-scale, artisanal diamond miners in Sierra Leone certify that gems they pry from…


Afghanistan: Action Urged on Afghan Flooding

Apr 19, 2018 | Yousef Zarifi, Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Residents of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan are urging the government to act after suffering years of catastrophic flooding. Local residents said heavy rainfall and…


Egypt/Sudan: Sudan Protests to UN over Egypt Voting in Disputed Area

Apr 18, 2018 | eNews Channel Africa

Sudan has protested to the United Nations Security Council against Egypt, accusing Cairo of organising voting in a disputed border area during March's Egyptian presidential election.…


South Sudan: 600,000 People in South Sudan Said to Be at Risk from Contaminated Drinking Water

Apr 18, 2018 | Daniel Pelz, Deutsche Welle

Oil is South Sudan's biggest export earner. It is also a much needed lifeline for the government of the war-torn nation. German development organization Sign…


Colombia: Colombia Could Use Drones to Fight Cocaine Production

Apr 18, 2018 | Associated Press

Colombia’s police could start using drones to tackle a five-year surge in cocaine production that has jeopardized relations with the United States. State contracting documents…


Pakistan: Protests Break out as Karachi Runs out of Water

Apr 17, 2018 | Syed Khursheed Alam, Samaa

Protests are taking place in many parts of Karachi due to water shortage. The city is facing shortage of water as it is not getting…


Liberia: Catholic Church: Land Rights Bill Crucial in Keeping the Peace

Apr 17, 2018 | Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, FrontPage Africa

Catholic Bishops Conference of Liberia (CABICOL) has said that the Land Rights Bill is crucial and should properly be reviewed before it is passed into…


India/Sudan: India's ONGC Files Arbitration Claim against Sudan over Unpaid Oil Dues

Apr 17, 2018 | Nidhi Verma and Promit Mukherjee, Reuters

The foreign acquisition unit of India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s (ONGC) has filed an arbitration claim against the government of Sudan in a London…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan Has Capacity of Producing 11,000 Tons Honey a Year

Apr 17, 2018 | Pajhwok Afghan News

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MALI) on Tuesday stressed on improving the honey business, quality and quantity, saying Afghanistan had the capacity of…


Colombia: End of the Colombian ‘Marginal’ Gives Amazon New Lease on Biodiversity

Apr 17, 2018 | Paul Hill, City Paper

The Colombian Amazon got a new lease on its biodiversity after President Juan Manuel Santos scrapped plans last month for the planned construction of the…


Liberia: NaFAA to Decentralize Fisheries

Apr 17, 2018 | New Dawn

Making her debut appearance at the Ministry of Information’s regular press briefing in Monrovia, the Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA)…


From Kevlar to Kale: Armed to Farm Gives Veterans Seeds of Opportunity

Apr 15, 2018 | William Holt, Sentinal Source

Armed to Farm, a national initiative that provides training in sustainable agriculture to military veterans free of charge, is coming to Troy this summer. The…


Afghanistan: No Power, Running Water in Kabul after Militants Blow up Electricity Pylon

Apr 15, 2018 | Agence France-Presse

A massive power outage in Kabul has left many residents of the Afghan capital with no lights or running water, officials said Sunday, after militants…


Colombia: Colombia Grants ‘Historic’ Protections to Rainforest, Indigenous Groups

Apr 13, 2018 | Morgan Erickson-Davis, Mongabay

In a move described as “unprecedented,” Colombia’s president Juan Manuel Santos announced Tuesday that the country intends to add 8 million hectares (80,000 square kilometers…


Myanmar: Indigenous Environmental Campaigner Killed by Myanmar Government

Apr 13, 2018 | Jonathan Watts, Guardian

Indigenous activists in Myanmar’s Karen state are mourning the killing of a community leader who campaigned for a peace park to protect a local forest…


Iraq: Iraq Delays Oil Auction after Late Contract Tweaks

Apr 12, 2018 | Mohammed Sergie, Khalid Al Ansary, Anthony Dipaola, and Kadhim Ajrash, Bloomberg

Iraq delayed an international auction of rights to 11 of its oil and natural gas deposits, pushing back the bidding date after introducing changes to…


Iraq: Podcast: What Happened to Iraq’s Oil Wealth? [Audio]

Apr 12, 2018 | Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch

What happened to Iraq’s oil wealth? That is the central question of the book: Pipe Dreams: The Plundering of Iraq’s Oil Wealth by guest Erin…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi MPs: Hashd al-Shaabi Smuggling Oil to Iran, Government Cannot Intervene

Apr 12, 2018 | Baxtiyar Goran, Kurdistan 24

The Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi has been smuggling crude oil from Kirkuk and using the revenue to strengthen itself amid silence from the Iraqi government, a…


Conflict Minerals: GRI and RMI Partner for Better Reporting on Conflict Minerals

Apr 11, 2018 | Global Reporting Initiative

GRI and the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) announced a project to help improve companies’ minerals sourcing due diligence and impact reporting by providing reporting resources and…


Colombia: 8 Police Killed in Attack on Land Restitution Commission in Northwest Colombia

Apr 11, 2018 | Adriaan Alsema, Colombia Reports

At least eight policemen were killed in an alleged paramilitary attack on a judicial commission investigating land theft in northwest Colombia. A bombs exploded when…


Colombia: Colombia Takes 'Unprecedented' Step to Stop Farms Gobbling Forests

Apr 11, 2018 | Anastasia Moloney, Reuters

Indigenous communities that depend on Colombia’s Amazon rainforest for their survival will have more say over their ancestral lands, as Colombia adds 8 million hectares…


Norway: Nazi Legacy Found in Norwegian Trees

Apr 11, 2018 | Jonathan Amos, BBC

The relentless campaign to find and sink Germany's WWII battleship, the Tirpitz, left its mark on the landscape that is evident even today. The German…