International


Palestine: 'Storm Huda' Hits Palestine

Jan 10, 2015 | Middle East Monitor

'Storm Huda' first hit Palestine on Wednesday as severe snow storms hit Ramallah and the higher areas in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jerusalem and Nablus. Heavy rain…


Somalia/Somaliland: Berbera Residents against Habarjeclo's Land-Grabbing

Jan 10, 2015 | Waagacusub Media

Hundreds of families from President Siilaanyo's tribe of Habarjeclo take advantage of the sea-port of Berbera Somaliland, which have resulted anti-Habarjeclo sentiment, reliable sources told…


Myanmar: Opium Turns Hillside Town Into ‘Widow Village’

Jan 10, 2015 | Salai Thant Zin, The Irrawaddy

Kanzam, Chin State — New Year’s Eve passed quietly in Kanzam, a small village in northern Chin State. While other villages in remote Tonzang Township…


Face-Off: China vs. ASEAN in the South China Sea and Beyond

Jan 9, 2015 | Richard Javad Heydarian, National Interest

By all possible measures, 2014 was a roller-coaster year for East Asia, particularly for the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which…


Liberia: Corruption in Liberia’s Emerging Oil Industry: Role of Timis & AP

Jan 9, 2015 | Front Page Africa

Monrovia - Liberia’s oil industry is being contaminated by the corrupting influences of Frank Timis and his company African Petroleum, an investigation by FrontPage Africa…


Palestine: Storm Adds to Misery of Gaza’s Most Vulnerable

Jan 9, 2015 | Majd al Waheidi and Jode Rudoren, New York Times

As a winter storm continued to pound the Middle East, thousands of Gaza residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged in last summer’s war with…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Oil Deal Evokes Churchill in Islamic State Battle

Jan 8, 2015 | Selcan Hacaoglu and Zaid Sabah, Bloomberg

Winston Churchill understood the significance of the black stuff seeping to the surface in the Kurdish plains of Mesopotamia when he included the region within…


Iraq: Budget Debates Focus on Revenue Worries

Jan 8, 2015 | Patrick Osgood, Rawaz Tahir, and Ben Van Heuvelen, Iraq Oil Report

Iraq's 2015 draft budget received a second reading in Parliament Wednesday, although concerns over the falling price of oil threaten to delay legislative progress."The most…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Allowed to Sue Kurds Over Texas Oil Tanker in U.S.

Jan 8, 2015 | Laurel Brubaker Calkins, Bloomberg Businessweek

Iraq’s oil ministry can sue the Kurdistan regional government for possession of 1 million barrels of crude that have waited in a tanker circling off…


Myanmar: Farmers Fleeing Myitsone Dam Face Economic Challenges

Jan 8, 2015 | Eleven Myanmar

Farmers who fled their lands to make way for the Myitsone Dam project are now struggling to earn livelihoods.According to the farmers, although homes, roads…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Dispute Over Tanker's Kurdish Oil Continues in Houston Court

Jan 8, 2015 | Collin Eaton, Houston Chronicle

Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government are still trying to resolve a dispute that for six months has kept a tanker full of Kurdish oil…


Resource Curse: The Twilight of the Resource Curse?

Jan 8, 2015 | The Economist

For decades commodity prices have shaped Africa’s economic growth. The continent is home to a third of the planet’s mineral reserves, a tenth of the…


Liberia: FDA Under Watchful Eyes, Ears of Advocacy Groups in 2014: Nation’s Forest at Glance

Jan 7, 2015 | Edwin M. Fayia III, Liberian Observer

Liberia’s prime custodian of the forest sector, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), started 2014 under the watchful eyes and ears of local and international advocacy…


Iraq/Kurdistan: NOC Oil Heading to Market Via Kurdistan

Jan 7, 2015 | Kamaran al-Najar, Patrick Osgood, and Ben Lando, Iraq Oil Report

Iraq's federal North Oil Company (NOC) has begun exporting Kirkuk crude for the first time since militants led by the so-called Islamic State (IS) bombed…


Syria: Yarmouk Camp Victim of Water Wars in Syria

Jan 7, 2015 | Aya Chebbi, Al Jazeera

The Syrian regime is using water as a tool of war in the Yarmouk camp, according to a recent report issued by the Palestinian League for Human…


Africa: Oil Prices and African Economies

Jan 7, 2015 | Abayomi Azikiwe, Global Research

During 2014 many western-based financial publications declared that the Federal Republic of Nigeria had surpassed the Republic of South Africa as the largest economy on…


Myanmar: Two Dead, 30 Missing After Rockslide at Myanmar Jade Mine

Jan 7, 2015 | Aung Hla Tun, Reuters

At least two people were killed and around 30 were missing on Wednesday after a mountain of rubble collapsed at a jade mine in northern…


Myanmar: Daunting Myanmar Mining Risks Keeps Investors to a Brave Handful

Jan 7, 2015 | South China Morning Post, Reuters

With abundant mineral wealth from jade and rubies to copper and coal, Myanmar ought to be looking forward to a mining boom as it opens…


Nigeria: Shell Agrees to Pay $83.5 Million for Oil Spills

Jan 7, 2015 | New York Times

The oil giant Shell agreed early Wednesday to pay a Nigerian fishing community 55 million pounds, or about $83.5 million, ending a three-year legal battle…


Somalia: Somalia Expels Chinese Firm for 'Illegal Mining'

Jan 7, 2015 | World Bulletin

A Chinese mining company has been ordered out of Somalia for allegedly conducting illegal mining activity and causing "public turmoil," the Somali government announced on…


Iraq: Majnoon Protesters Demand Jobs

Jan 6, 2015 | Ali Abu Iraq and Ben Lando, Iraq Oil Report

Demonstrators blocked roads near the Majnoon oil field over the past week, claiming that Royal Dutch Shell has reneged on promises to provide jobs."We went…


Myanmar: Myanmar Arrests More Than 100 foreigners for Illegal Logging

Jan 6, 2015 | Associated Press

The Myanmar army has arrested more than 100 foreigners and 20 Myanmar nationals for illegal logging near the Chinese border, the defense ministry said Tuesday.It…


Iraq: Iraq Exports Record High 2.94 Mil b/d Crude in Dec, Up 430,000 b/d from Nov

Jan 6, 2015 | Faleh al-Khayat and Adal Mirza, Platts

Iraq's crude oil exports reached 2.94 million b/d in December, a new record high, taking the country's 2014 monthly average to 2.517 million b/d, as…


Myanmar: Govt Targets Kachin Rebels in Timber Takedown

Jan 6, 2015 | Nyein Nyein, The Irrawaddy

The Burmese government took a hard line on the timber trade in Kachin State on Tuesday, as state-run media publicly denounced rebels for facilitating illicit…


South Sudan: New Fighting Rocks South Sudan Oil States

Jan 5, 2015 | Michael Atit, Lucy Poni, and Waakhe Simon Wudu, Voice of America

JUBA—The South Sudanese army and rebel forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar are blaming each other for the latest outbreaks of fighting in…


China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Leery as China’s Infamous Oil Rig Heads for Indian Ocean

Jan 5, 2015 | An Dien, Thanh Nien News

Vietnamese agencies have kept a close eye on the path of a giant mobile oil rig since China Central Television announced it was setting off…


South Sudan/Sudan: Sudan to Receive $884 Million from Juba in Oil Transit Fees in 2014

Jan 4, 2015 | Sudan Vision

Khartoum – South Sudan’s Oil Minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, said on Saturday that Sudan’s share from transit fees of South Sudan’s oil amounted to US$884…


Climate Change: Weather & Climate Summit Returns to Breckenridge with Sessions on Sea Ice and Climate Security

Jan 4, 2015 | Bob Berwyn, Summit County Citizens Voice

FRISCO — This year’s Glen Gerberg Weather and Climate Summit in Breckenridge once again features some notable climate scientists, including James Balog, who has documented…


Iraq: Iraq's Oil Revenues Hit Despite Record Exports

Jan 4, 2015 | Gulf Daily News

BAGHDAD: Iraq's oil exports reached their highest level in decades in December, the oil ministry's spokesman said yesterday, but vital revenues were being hit by…


Iraq: Iraq Oil Exports Soar but Low Prices Hit Revenue

Jan 3, 2015 | Al Arabiya

Iraq's oil exports reached their highest level in decades in December, the oil ministry's spokesman said on Saturday, but vital revenues were being hit by…