International


Myanmar: Yangon Pilot Project Slashes Water Losses, Says Manila Company

Apr 7, 2017 | Frontier Myanmar

A Philippine company says it has slashed water system losses in two Yangon townships under a pilot project conducted in partnership with the Yangon City…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan Tries to Win Trump Support with Lithium

Apr 6, 2017 | Associated Press

The Afghan government is trying to grab the attention of President Donald Trump and gain greater U.S. support by dangling its massive and untouched wealth…


Afghanistan: China's Plan to Mine for Copper Beneath an Ancient City Gets Thrown off by Corruption Charges

Apr 6, 2017 | Mariam Amini, CNBC

A controversial Chinese copper mine in Afghanistan has run into complications after the executive leading the $3 billion project was expelled from the Chinese Communist…


Myanmar: A Group of Divers is Saving Myanmar’s Marine Wildlife from Deadly Ghost Nets

Apr 5, 2017 | Jacob Goldberg, Coconuts

Myanmar’s underwater earthscape may be relatively untouched by tourism, but it is steadily becoming a trash receptacle for local fishers. In fact, these two circumstances…


Myanmar: China May Scrap Divisive Dam in Myanmar to Advance Other Interests: Sources

Apr 5, 2017 | Yimou Lee and Shwe Yee Saw Myint, Reuters

China has shifted its position in a lengthy dispute with Myanmar over the building of a $3.6 billion dam, seven sources said, signaling its willingness…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Obliterating ISIS May Hamper Iraqi Oil Production

Apr 5, 2017 | Nick Cunningham, OilPrice.com

Iraq’s oil production could fall involuntarily if a dispute between the central government and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) continues to escalate. Some of the…


Iraq: Desert on Fire [Photos]

Apr 5, 2017 | Namak Khoshnaw and Daniel Silas Adamson, BBC

Early in summer 2016, the so-called Islamic State set fire to one of Iraq’s largest oil fields. It has taken Iraqi firefighters 10 months to…


Iraq: Clean Water for Conflict-Affected Iraqis near Mosul

Apr 5, 2017 | Danish Refugee Council

In March 2017, as Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) advanced west from the outskirts of Mosul towards the Quba Pump Station on the bank of the…


Afghanistan: Canal Project Turns Wastelands into Farmlands in Northern Afghanistan

Apr 4, 2017 | Military Technologies

The rehabilitation of Sharqi canal has revived many areas of wasteland and turned them into productive farmland, irrigating over 13,000 hectares. Besides the new canal…


Iraq: The Oil Fires in Qayyarah Are Out

Apr 4, 2017 | Earth Observatory

Several oil fires that have burned in northern Iraq for months have been extinguished. NASA satellites first detected fires at one or two wells near…


Colombia: Warnings but No Action Preceded Deadly Flood in Colombia

Apr 4, 2017 | Ben Fox and Alba Tobella, Associated Press

People were caught off guard when a devastating flash flood surged through a small city in southern Colombia, but not everyone was surprised. Government agencies,…


Colombia: 500 Colombian Towns Face Landslide Risk

Apr 4, 2017 | Brigitte Leoni, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

More than 500 municipalities are currently at risk of landslides, according to Mr. Omar Franco, Director of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies…


Colombia: More Than 200 Dead, Many Missing in Colombia Mudslides

Apr 3, 2017 | Angela Dewan, Jennifer Deaton, and Mariano Castillo, CNN

Rescuers in southern Colombia were scrambling Sunday to reach more than 100 people who are missing after devastating mudslides tore through entire communities. Hundreds are…


Myanmar: Security Concerns Prevent Banana-Plantation Probe

Apr 3, 2017 | Eleven

The government’s attempts to investigate a banana planters’ alleged trespass on protected forests in Kachin State have failed due to security concerns, sources say. The…


Conflict Minerals: Council Adopts New Rules to Reduce Financing of Armed Groups

Apr 3, 2017 | European Council

On 3 April 2017, the Council adopted a regulation aimed at stopping the financing of armed groups through trade in conflict minerals. The regulation obliges…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Oil Dispute Could Impact Supply [Video]

Apr 3, 2017 | Bloomberg

A territorial dispute in northern Iraq threatens to disrupt oil output at a field containing as much crude as Norway.


Syria: Survey of Syrian Farmers Reveals Agriculture Should Be Kick-Started Now Despite Huge Destruction

Apr 3, 2017 | Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

Fighting in Syria has caused huge damage and losses to agricultural production, but the sector can and should be kick-started now, dramatically reducing the need…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan to Amend Mining Law: VP Danish

Apr 3, 2017 | 1TVNews

Afghan government will amend mining law as it seeks to prevent illegal mining in the country, according to second vice-president on Saturday. According to experts,…


Iraq: At Last, Burning Qayyarah Oil Wells Brought under Control

Apr 2, 2017 | Rudaw

After months of battling a number of burning oil wells set ablaze by ISIS in the outskirts of the town of Qayyarah last year the…


Iraq/Kurdistan: A Squabble at Iraq's Oldest Oil Field Could Rock Global Supplies

Apr 2, 2017 | Sam Wilkin, Bloomberg

A territorial dispute in northern Iraq threatens to disrupt oil output at a field containing as much crude as Norway, even as U.S.-backed forces prepare what…


Afghanistan: Kunduz Defaulters Warned of Water Supply Cut

Apr 2, 2017 | Ajmal Kakar, Pajhwok Afghan News

A number of government departments and powerful individuals owe millions of afghanis to the water supply department in northern Kunduz province, an official said Sunday.…


Afghanistan: Fallout from Fall of Chinese Executive Who Sealed Copper Mine Deal in Afghanistan

Apr 1, 2017 | Kinling Lo, South China Morning Post

The disgrace last week of the businessman who won a deal in 2007 for China to develop a copper mine in Afghanistan, which was the…


South Sudan: SPLA-IO Vows to Stop Oil Production, Warns of “Serious Consequences”

Apr 1, 2017 | South Sudan News Agency

The military command of South Sudanese rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO), on Saturday, warned against any oil exploration in areas under its…


Women’s Crucial Role in Combating Climate Change

Apr 1, 2017 | Alina Tugend

The link between climate change and women’s rights may seem baffling to some.But for Zandile Gumede, the first female mayor of Durban, South Africa, they…


Myanmar: A Chinese-backed Dam Project Leaves Myanmar in a Bind

Mar 31, 2017 | Mike Ives, New York Times

The Myitsone Dam is among the largest of many Chinese-financed energy and mining projects approved by the military junta that ruled Myanmar until 2011. It…


Myanmar: Waiting for Grid to Arrive, Myanmar Villages Switch on Solar

Mar 30, 2017 | Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Access to electricity from clean sources such as solar and small-scale hydropower is changing the centuries-old way of life in thousands of rural communities like…


Myanmar: Homegrown Clean Energy an Alternative to Myanmar’s Spotty Power Grid

Mar 30, 2017 | Erin Rubin, Nonprofit Quarterly

Necessity is the mother of invention, and in the case of rural Myanmar’s electricity generation, it’s also the mother of improvement. In rural areas where…


South Sudan: Conflict Now Eroding Food Security in 'Stable' Areas of South Sudan – UN Mission

Mar 30, 2017 | UN

The ongoing conflict in South Sudan is affecting food security in some of the country's more “stable” states, the head of United Nations peacekeeping operation…


Sierra Leone: The Protective Powers of Chocolate [Video]

Mar 29, 2017 | Ruth Krause and Björn Kietzmann, Deutsche Welle

Sierra Leone has lost 95 percent of its original forests. The vision of Gola Rainforest National Park, and the Greater Gola Landscape in which it…


Afghanistan: Resistance as Anti-Poppy Drive Proceeds in Nangarhar

Mar 29, 2017 | Pajhwok Afghan News

The counternarcotics department head for eastern Nangahar province says the ongoing anti-poppy campaign in the province has been struggling with security challenges. The department has…