International

Iraq: US Marines Enter Battle in Iraq to Help Army and Peshmerga Defend Oil Fields from ISIS

Mar 23, 2016 | Erin Banco, International Business TImes

The Islamic State group is trying to retake control of the oil fields it lost two years ago in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan…

South Sudan: Oil Ministry: South Sudan Will Never Recover Earlier Production Levels

Mar 23, 2016 | Radio Tamazuj

South Sudan’s oil ministry has concluded that oil production is in quick decline, and future production will not reach even half of its peak 2010…

Myanmar: Mandalay Industrial Zone Waste Water Poisons River

Mar 23, 2016 | Eleven Myanmar

According to reports, over 90 factories in the Mandalay Industrial Zone in Pyigyidagun Township, have been dumping waste water into the Dunawadi River, depriving villages…

How Exploiting the Earth Can Fuel Violent Conflict

Mar 22, 2016 | Chelsea Harvey, Washington Post

At the end of May, the U.N. Environment Assembly (UNEA) will convene for the second time ever in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the United Nations’…

Stirling Scientist Wins £1.1 Million to Tackle Global Environmental Conflicts

Mar 22, 2016 | University of Stirling

University of Stirling scientist, Dr Nils Bunnefeld, is tackling one of the biggest environmental problems facing government agencies and communities across the globe -how humans…

Sudan/South Sudan: South Sudan Denies Conceding Abyei Region to Sudan

Mar 22, 2016 | Sudan Tribune

South Sudan’s foreign affairs minister has denied reports that he authorised an official response to a United Nations Human Rights report on his country’s situation,…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Seeks Financial Agreement with Kurds before Pumping Crude to Turkey

Mar 22, 2016 | Reuters

Iraq will not resume pumping crude through a Kurdish pipeline to Turkey unless it reaches a financial agreement with the Kurdish regional government, the Iraqi…

Iraq: Obama Intervened over Crumbling Iraqi Dam as U.S. Concern Grew

Mar 22, 2016 | Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay, and Phil Stewart, Reuters

On Jan. 21, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iraq's prime minister in Davos, Switzerland, and handed him a personal note from President…

Climate Change: Obama Says Climate Change Is a Security Risk. Why Are Republicans Laughing?

Mar 21, 2016 | Keith Johnson, Foreign Policy

In the middle of January, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work signed off on one of the potentially most significant, if little-noticed, orders in recent…

Iraq: Sadr Wants Iraqis to Get a Share of Country's Oil Revenue

Mar 21, 2016 | Reuters

Influential Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged followers demonstrating in Baghdad for a new government to also demand that politicians give every Iraqi a…

China/South China Sea: China's Short-Term Victory in the South China Sea

Mar 21, 2016 | Mira Rapp-Hooper, Foreign Affairs

The sands are quickly shifting in the South China Sea. New reports suggest that China may be preparing to conduct land reclamation at Scarborough Shoal,…

Iraq: Iraq Exports First Natural Gas Shipment in Its History

Mar 20, 2016 | Associated Press

Iraq on Sunday exported the first shipment of natural gas in its history, a key development for the OPEC member struggling to feed a cash-strapped…

India: Water Wars: Prohibitory Orders in Maharashtra's Latur Town to Avoid Violence over Water

Mar 20, 2016 | DNA India

Authorities in drought-hit Latur have imposed an order prohibiting the gathering of more than five persons in areas around 20 water storage tanks until May…

Iraq/Kurdistan: On Iraq's Faultline: Kirkuk Governor Calls for Vote on Kurdish Autonomy

Mar 19, 2016 | Florian Neuhof, Middle East Eye

Territorial gains and the weakness of the government in Baghdad emboldened the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in its quest for an independent state. It is the…

Liberia: Grand Gedeh Braces to End Land Crisis

Mar 18, 2016 | New Dawn Liberia

At least six towns and villages [out of nine] within B’hai and Gbao administrative districts, Gbarzon Statutory District, Grand Gedeh County have resolved to give…

Colombia: Colombian Land Mines Unearthed by Ground-Penetrating Radar

Mar 18, 2016 | Jack Loughran, Engineering and Technology Magazine

Ground-penetrating radar systems are being used to detect land mines in Columbia far more effectively than with traditional methods. German researchers from Ruhr University Bochum…

Algeria: Gas Facility in Algeria is Attacked with Rockets

Mar 18, 2016 | Associated Press

Unknown attackers fired rockets on Friday at a gas facility in the Sahara in Algeria, the energy companies Statoil and BP said. There were no…

South Sudan: South Sudan Fuel Crisis Crippling Services and Drivers

Mar 18, 2016 | Parach Mach, Anadolu Agency

Another widespread fuel shortage has hit South Sudan’s capital, Juba rendering institutions ineffective amid hyperinflation after the country’s central bank devalued the currency by about…

Kurdistan/Iraq: Iraq Halts Exports through Pipeline to Pressure Kurds - Iraq Oil Report

Mar 17, 2016 | Maher Chmaytelli and Chris Reese, Reuters

Iraq's central government has stopped oil exports through the Kurdish region to pressure the local authorities to resume talks about an oil revenue sharing agreement,…

Colombia: 'FARC Frog' Caught up in Colombian Conflict

Mar 17, 2016 | Roser Toll, Agence France-Presse

The little green frog's natural camouflage reminded the professor who discovered it of the guerrilla fighters hiding out in the very same Colombian forest. Conservationists…

Somalia: Elephant in Stealth Mode: A Bull Named Morgan Survives Somali War Zone

Mar 17, 2016 | Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times

Elephant experts in Kenya were excited recently by some rare good news: An elephant had crossed into Somalia — and survived. Somalia, one of the…

Colombia: Can Sustainable Farming Revive Colombia’s Former Killing Fields?

Mar 16, 2016 | Karen Tatiana Pardo, El Espectador

In what was once the setting of civil war and gangland murder, peasants in northern Colombia's Montes de María region are using sustainable farming practices…

South Sudan: South Sudan Army Says Land Grabbing Not Official Policy

Mar 16, 2016 | Sudan Tribune

South Sudan’s national army, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), has distanced itself from reports charging that some of its soldiers and officers have been…

Kurdistan: Iraq: Iraq Preparing to Push Islamic State Away from Oil Region: Report

Mar 16, 2016 | Reuters

Kurdish Peshmerga forces, an Iran-backed Shi'ite militia and Iraq's army will launch an offensive soon to push Islamic State fighters away from the northern oil…

Ethiopia/Egypt: Church Could Broker Peace in 'Water Wars' between Egypt and Ethiopia

Mar 16, 2016 | Mark Woods, Christian Today

Christians could play an important role in easing tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia, according to an Egyptian Coptic bishop. Tensions have risen between the two countries…

Syria: Syrian Kurds Hope to Establish a Federal Region in Country’s North

Mar 16, 2016 | Anne Barnard, New York Times

Syrian Kurdish parties are working on a plan to declare a federal region across much of northern Syria, several of their representatives said on Wednesday.…

Cambodia: Kingdom's Sugar Exports to EU Plummet

Mar 15, 2016 | Will Jackson, Phnom Penh Post

New figures show that Cambodia’s sugar exports to the European Union fell by 94.8 per cent between 2013 and 2015, amid accusations of rights abuses…

Myanmar: NLD under Pressure to Scrap Hydropower Projects

Mar 15, 2016 | Lun Min Mang, Myanmar Times

Huge hydropower projects along the Thanlwin River must be halted, civil society organisations said yesterday, in an appeal to the incoming National League for Democracy…

Iraq: Iraq Runs out of Money to Take on Islamic State

Mar 13, 2016 | Richard Spencer, Telegraph

In the last two months, a new foe has reared its head. The collapse in the price of oil on the world markets, thanks to…

Myanmar: Parliament Cancels Discussions on Letpadaungtaung Copper Mine Project, Military Land Seizures

Mar 11, 2016 | Eleven Myanmar

Win Myint, the speaker of Lower House, announced to MPs at a regular parliament session that the discussions on the Letpadaungtaung copper mine project and…