International


South Sudan: Former South Sudan Ambassador Warns of Int’l ‘Hidden Hand’ Interested In Resources, War

Aug 8, 2014 | RIA Novosti

WASHINGTON, - While South Sudan owes its independence to international partners, it is wary of partners acting as a “hidden hand” interested only in its…


Myanmar: Burmese Among Victims of Massive Jade Scam in China

Aug 8, 2014 | Echo Hui, The Irrawaddy

HONG KONG — Hundreds of people, including Burmese jade dealers, have seen their fortunes vanish in a scam described as the biggest jade fraud case…


Myanmar: Myanmar Says Will Not Take Sides in Maritime Dispute

Aug 8, 2014 | May Wong, Channel News Asia

NAY PYI TAW: Myanmar's Information Minister Ye Htut has said Myanmar as ASEAN Chair will not take sides in any maritime dispute the bloc's members have…


DRC: Israeli Billionaire Finds 3 bln Barrels of Oil in Congo

Aug 7, 2014 | Peter Jones, Reuters

KINSHASA - An oil company owned by Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler said on Thursday it had discovered around 3 billion barrels of oil in the…


South Sudan: Investment in Kenyan Port Offers South Sudan Alternative Oil Export Route

Aug 7, 2014 | Lloyd's List

CHINESE investment to the tune of $480m in the new Kenyan port of Lamu is a significant milestone in enabling South Sudan to export its…


China/Vietnam: Vietnam Walks a Thin Line Between US and China After Oil Rig Exit

Aug 7, 2014 | An Dien, Thanh Nien News

Hanoi has kept the threat of an international lawsuit and stronger relations with Japan and the US on the table even after Beijing removed its…


Iraq/Kurdistan: A Tanker’s Tale: Iraq’s Oil Divide - Caught Up in a Row Between Kurdistan and Baghdad

Aug 6, 2014 | The Independent

Sixty miles off the coast of Texas sits a crude oil tanker fully loaded with years of antagonism between the Kurdish region of Iraq and…


South China Sea/China: China’s SOEs Test The Waters In The South China Sea

Aug 6, 2014 | Dr. Meg Bowman, The Establishment Post

In early May, the Chinese HYSY-981 oil rig was moved into waters near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. The oil rig…


Sudan: Sudan MP Accuses Army of Land Grabbing in Sennar

Aug 6, 2014 | Radio Tamazuj

Yusuf Abu Rouf, a member of Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly has accused elements of the Sudanese Armed Forces of grabbing land belonging to the Rufa‫a…


Syria: ISIL Seizes Village in Syria's Oil-Rich Deir ez-Zor

Aug 6, 2014 | World Bulletin

Militants led by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – ISIL – captured Wednesday Suwayda village near Syria's eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, said…


Will Climate Change Lead to Conflict or Cooperation?

Aug 5, 2014 | IPS

Director of the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, Raleigh thinks that researchers and the media have put too simplistic a spin on the…


Iraq: Middle East Water Wars: Why Islamic State Wants Iraq's Dams

Aug 5, 2014 | Nigel Wilson, International Business Times

When ultra-violent militants sliced through the outskirts of Iraq's northern capital of Mosul in June, central government soldiers quickly melted away into the southern desert…


South Sudan: Document: South Sudan Govt Seeks to Silence Famine Warnings

Aug 5, 2014 | Radio Tamazuj

South Sudan’s government has issued an advisory to humanitarian organizations not to publish independent statements on the food and nutrition situation in the country without…


South China Sea/Vietnam: Vietnam Orders Fishing Boats to be Armed with Machine Guns

Aug 5, 2014 | Want China Times

The Vietnamese government has issued an order stipulating that boats under the jurisdiction of the country's fishery law enforcement command should be equipped with weapons,…


Philippines: Philippines Sentences 12 Chinese Fishermen to Jail

Aug 5, 2014 | Reuters

A Philippine court on Tuesday found 12 Chinese fishermen guilty of illegal fishing in Philippine waters, sending them to jail for six to 12 years,…


South China Sea: China Can Build What It Wants On S.China Sea Isles, Says Official

Aug 4, 2014 | Malaysian Digest

BEIJING: China can build whatever it wants on its islands in the South China Sea, a senior Chinese official said today, rejecting proposals ahead of…


Liberia: Busted

Aug 4, 2014 | AllAfrica

Reviewing the books, financial records and transactions of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), the country's supreme audit institution, the General Auditing Commission (GAC),…


Conflict Minerals: Gold Chains

Aug 4, 2014 | Mark Hay, The New Yorker

A little-known provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires companies using gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten to file reports that…


Iraq/Kuridstan: Iraq’s Oil: A Factor for Unity or Division?

Aug 4, 2014 | Rudaw

Washington DC - Oil has perhaps never posed a threat as big as it does now to the country’s territorial integrity.

Iraqi Kurds have threatened…


Iraq: Iraq's Islamist Insurgency Puts Its Southern Oil in the Spotlight

Aug 4, 2014 | Rania El Gamal, Reuters

DUBAI, August 4 (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni Islamist insurgency, crippling further its dream to match the oil power of Saudi Arabia, makes oilfields in the…


Climate Change: Will Climate Change Lead to Conflict or Cooperation?

Aug 4, 2014 | Independent European Daily Express

UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) - The headline of every article about the relationship between climate change and conflict should be complicated according to Clionadh Raleigh.

Director of…


South Sudan: Unity State Authorities Accuse Sudanese Soldiers of Looting Abandoned Oil Equipment

Aug 4, 2014 | Radio Tamazuj

At least four Sudanese army soldiers were killed and another two captured in an ambush laid by SPLA forces at oil fields in Pariang County…


Kenya: Musalia Mudavadi Calls for Extensive Investigation into Lamu Land Grabbing, Linking It to Insecurity

Aug 3, 2014 | Standard Digital

Amani coalition leader Musalia Mudavadi says land grabbing in Lamu could be behind the recent insecurity cases in Lamu county. Mudavadi is accusing the government…


Iraq/Kurdistan: ISIS Takes Over Iraq’s Biggest Dam

Aug 3, 2014 | Al Arabiya News

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took over Iraq's biggest dam unopposed by Kurdish fighters, who also lost three towns and…


Sudan: Sudan Receives $183m From Oil Companies in Transit Fees

Aug 3, 2014 | Sudan Tribune

(KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government announced on Sunday that the central bank had received $183 million from oil companies in transit fees per previous agreements.

On…


Iraq: Lukoil to Earn $2B from Iraq Oil Field

Aug 2, 2014 | Eduard Gismatullin, The Daily Star

LONDON: OAO Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, expects to earn at least $2 billion from exporting Iraqi crude in 2014, 17 years after first winning…


Iraq: Jihadists Kill 14 Iraq Kurds in Battle Over Dam, Oil Facility

Aug 2, 2014 | Ahram Online

Kurdish troops fought off a jihadist attack on an oil facility and a dam near the Iraqi city of Mosul but lost 14 of their…


South Sudan: South Sudan Conflict Drives Idea of Oil Wealth Monitoring

Aug 1, 2014 | Drazen Jorgic and Edmund Blair, Reuters

NAIROBI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - South Sudan's oil fields have become a battleground in the struggle for power in Africa's newest nation, encouraging Western nations…


Iraq/Kurdistan: For Wandering Tankers with $300mln of Kurdish Crude, End-Game Still in Doubt

Aug 1, 2014 | Jonathan Saul, Reuters

Aug 1 (Reuters) - After a legal show-down in Texas this week, the outlook for a handful of tankers holding some $300 million worth of…


Libya: Risks Remain to Libya's Oil Supply Despite Reopening of Ports, Fields

Aug 1, 2014 | Benoit Falcon, The Wall Street Journal

LONDON—The reopening of Libyan oil fields and ports this month has been a key factor behind a steady fall in international oil prices recently, with…