News
Algeria/Iraq/Libya/Nigeria/Venezuela: Oil Plunge Raises Fears of Societal Unrest
Nov 30, 2015
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Elizabeth MacDonald, FOXBusiness
With Wall Street shops like Goldman Sachs and government officials in Venezuela signaling oil could go to the mid-$20 per barrel range next year,…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Dana Gas Group Awarded $1.98 Billion in Iraq Kurds Dispute
Nov 29, 2015
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Arif Sharif, World Oil
Dana Gas said a court has ordered the Kurdistan Regional Government to pay it and two other energy companies $1.98 billion in a dispute over…
Climate Change: Meet the Woman Whose Two-Word Catchphrase Made the Military Care about Climate
Nov 29, 2015
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Dan Vergano, BuzzFeed
In 2006, as war mounted in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military began to see the human costs of climate extremes. As drought hit Afghanistan,…
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Villagers Sue Mining Company in London High Court
Nov 29, 2015
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Lisa O'Carroll, The Guardian
An iron ore firm once listed in London is being sued in a multimillion pound lawsuit over evictions and alleged violent treatment of workers and…
Timor-Leste: Maritime Arrangements and Timor-Leste’s Oil Ploy
Nov 28, 2015
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Hamish McDonald, Saturday Paper
Who owns the petroleum resources of Tasi Mane is now the subject of diplomatic and legal machismo in a dispute between Timor-Leste and its much…
South Sudan: What Steps are Needed to Create 28 States in South Sudan?
Nov 28, 2015
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Radio Tamazuj
The proposal by South Sudan's President Salva Kiir to create 28 new states in place of the 10 existing states requires practical as well as…
House Hearing on Conflict Minerals Rule: A Mixed Bag
Nov 27, 2015
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Cydney Posner
At a hearing last week before a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, the members heard testimony regarding the Dodd-Frank conflict minerals provision. The Chair expressed…
Why It’s Time for a Free Kurdistan
Nov 27, 2015
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Aliza Marcus and Andrew Apostolou
It’s time to stop debating whether or not the Kurds deserve an independent state. There are around 40 million Kurds across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and…
Timor-Leste: Top Lawyer Says Australia Has Criminal Case to Answer over East Timor Spying Scandal
Nov 27, 2015
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Steve Cannane, Sashka Koloff, and Brigid Andersen, ABC News
One of Australia's most senior lawyers believes there is a criminal case to answer over an Australian spying operation in East Timor and that senior…
Myanmar: Controversial Mining Bill Submitted to Parliament for a Third Time
Nov 27, 2015
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Htoo Thant, Myanmar Times
The long-awaited Mining Law amendment bill, which will update legislation from 1994, was suspended earlier this year following fierce disagreements between the upper and lower…
Myanmar: Environmentalists Hope for Stronger Safeguards under NLD
Nov 27, 2015
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Nyein Nyein, The Irrawaddy
In the wake of recent disasters that have shone a light on the human toll wrought by a lack of environmental and development-related safeguards, local…
South Sudan/Sudan/Abyei: UN: Child, Peacekeeper Killed in Attack in Disputed Border Town between South Sudan and Sudan
Nov 27, 2015
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Associated Press
The U.N. says a 4-year-old girl and an Ethiopian peacekeeper were killed and three others wounded in an attack on Thursday in the contested Abyei…
Liberia: NOCAL Claims Community Projects That Do Not Exist
Nov 27, 2015
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Tetee Gebro, FrontPageAfrica
The news that the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) had delivered two much-needed latrines and a water well hand pump to his community came…
China/Vietnam/Taiwan/Brunei/South China Sea: A New Confidence-Building Process for the South China Sea?
Nov 26, 2015
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Bill Hayton, Diplomat
A half-day meeting in Vietnam on Wednesday could mark the beginning of a new confidence-building process in the South China Sea. The meeting, held in…
Myanmar: Myanmar's Suu Kyi Blames Lack of Safety Regulations for Deadly Landslide
Nov 26, 2015
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Aung Hla Tun and Hnin Yadana Zaw, Reuters
A disregard for the rule of law in the jade mining industry in Myanmar had made accidents such as the landslide that killed more than…
Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Raqqa's Rockefellers: How Islamic State Oil Flows to Israel
Nov 26, 2015
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Al-Araby al-Jadeed
Oil produced from fields under the control of the Islamic State group is at the heart of a new investigation by al-Araby al-Jadeed. The black…
Ex-CIA Chief: Fear for Environment Stays US Hand on ISIS Oil Wells
Nov 25, 2015
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Bradford Richardson
A former CIA director says concerns about environmental impact have prevented the White House from bombing oil wells that finance the Islamic State in Iraq…
Will Low Oil Prices Increase Internal Instability In Conflict Countries?
Nov 25, 2015
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Ryan Opsal
With over 1.6 million internally displaced in South Sudan, and another 600,000 refugees in neighboring countries, are oil price declines exacerbating humanitarian crises in oil-producing African countries,…
Nigeria's Oil Curse
Nov 25, 2015
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Hilary Matfess
On Nov. 8, the head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, announced that the state-run company was on the verge of a major oil…
Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: The Water Wars Waged by Islamic State
Nov 25, 2015
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Ambika Vishwanath, Forbes
The Islamic State’s use of natural resources to achieve its strategic goals has been much discussed. Oil, one of the group’s biggest sources of funding,…
Cambodia: Land Grabs Often Driven by Investors Seeking Land, Global Witness Says
Nov 25, 2015
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Phorn Bopha, Voice of America
Researchers at the environmental watchdog Global Witness say Cambodia’s ongoing land crisis is part of a larger global trend, one driven by economics and resource…
Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: US Syria Sanctions Target World Chess Chief, IS Oil Buyer
Nov 25, 2015
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Agence France-Presse
The United States slapped sanctions Wednesday on backers of the Syrian regime including a middleman accused of buying oil from the Islamic State group and…
RFS is Crucial to National Security
Nov 24, 2015
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Jon Soltz
As a veteran, I’ve witnessed fellow servicemen and servicewomen risk life and limb over oil interests in hostile regions, all so we can feed our…
Conflict Minerals: China Draft Conflict Minerals Guidance Expected Next Month
Nov 24, 2015
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Chemical Watch
China's guidelines for responsible mineral supply chains are expected to be announced, during a workshop on the issue, to be held by the OECD and…
Liberia: How Sime Darby & Oil Palm Production Will Help Liberia's Economy
Nov 24, 2015
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Toweh Alphonso, New Republic
From the sixties up to few years back, only two key commodities were known once Liberia name was mentioned. But today, the story is changing.…
Afghanistan: Food Prices Rise Sharply after Fighting Disrupts Afghan Harvest
Nov 24, 2015
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Bilal Sarwary, IRIN
Food prices are shooting up in Afghanistan as the harvest has been halted in the country’s breadbasket in the northern province of Kunduz, where farmers…
Timor-Leste: Timor-Leste Urged to Diversify Economy
Nov 24, 2015
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Eric Frykberg, Radio New Zealand
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) information shows the country is in danger of running out of money due to the decline…
Islamic State: Is Turkey Buying Oil from ISIS? After Downed Plane, Putin Slams Islamic State's Black Market Fuel Sales
Nov 24, 2015
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Elizabeth Whitman, International Business Times
The fact that Turkey shot down a Russian plane is not the only reason Russian President Vladimir Putin is furious. Since the jet fighter was…
Syria/Islamic State: ISIS in Syria: US Air Strikes Destroy 283 Oil Tankers Used for Smuggling to Fund Terror Group
Nov 24, 2015
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Lizzie Dearden, Independent
US fighter jets and gunships have destroyed 283 Isis oil tankers in Syria as part of efforts to cripple the terror group’s income streams. American…
Sierra Leone: Diamond Mining Company Octea Facing Claims It Owes Money to Sierra Leone Town and New York Jeweller Tiffany
Nov 24, 2015
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David Connett, Independent
Tiffany has announced it has deferred payment of $50m (£33m) of loans it made to Octea to develop the mine while Koidu town council now…