News

3 Ways Conservation Efforts Can Promote Peace

Nov 5, 2014 | Brittany Ajroud

Illegally mined minerals and timber stripped from Africa’s forests have financed some of the continent’s most brutal wars. Similarly, the illegal ivory trade has been linked…

Central African Republic: Gold, Diamonds Fuelling Conflict in Central African Republic U.N. Panel Says

Nov 5, 2014 | Reuters

Gold and diamond sales are being used to finance conflict in Central African Republic and United Nations peacekeepers should monitor mining sites to clamp down…

China/ South China Sea: Energy Potential in Disputed Waters

Nov 5, 2014 | New Strait Times

FOR the past several years, China has been throwing its weight around the South China Sea, a body of water studded with coral reefs that…

Myanmar and EU Discuss Forestry Cooperation

Nov 5, 2014 | Mizzima

The European Union and Myanmar’s Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry recently held discussions about how Myanmar can encourage sustainable management of the country's forests…

Timor-Leste: East Timor Kicks out Judges over ConocoPhillips Tax Fight

Nov 5, 2014 | Reuters

East Timor has ordered five foreign judges out of the country after a court ruled in favour of U.S. oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips in…

Deer with 'Vampire Fangs' Spotted for 1st Time in Decades

Nov 5, 2014 | Kelly Dickerson

An endangered deer with vampire-like fangs was spotted for the first time in nearly 60 years, in a remote forest in northeastern Afghanistan.

The fanged creature…

Sierra Leone: Ebola's Catastrophic Consequences on Sierra Leone’s Small-Scale Mining Sector

Nov 4, 2014 | The Guardian

Ebola is having catastrophic economic consequences for Sierra Leone, where the disease is running rampant.

The country, together with the two other Mano River Union states, Liberia…

Uganda: Catalyst or Curse? East Africa’s Oil and Gas Boom

Nov 4, 2014 | World Politics Review

As he delivers his lecture from the breezy, pink-hued classroom, Robert Rutaro is optimistic about Uganda’s future in oil.

An attorney with a master’s degree in…

Liberia: Equatorial Revises Down Oil Palm Planting Target Due To Ebola Virus

Nov 4, 2014 | Alliance News

Equatorial Palm Oil PLC Tuesday said there have been no instances of the Ebola virus at its operations in Liberia and the company continues to…

Iraq: Carrots to Kalashnikovs- The Dangers Faced by Oil Workers Abroad

Nov 4, 2014 | The Guardian

As international oil companies begin to restart full operations in Iraq despite the continuing threat of attacks by Islamic State (Isis), one lifelong oil worker…

Iraq: Iraqi Troops, ISIS in Heated Battle for Oil Refinery

Nov 4, 2014 | Al Iraqiya

 Iraqi troops advanced toward the northern Iraqi city of Beiji on Tuesday, exchanging heavy fire with militants from the Islamic State group, footage from a…

Petrodollars: Fight for Kobani Has a Key Oil Aspect to It

Nov 3, 2014 | Platts

The focus of the Islamic State group’s military campaign in Iraq and Syria has shifted in recent weeks from lands around Iraq’s northern oil fields…

Iraq: The KRG to Cooperate with USA to Put an End to ISIS' Oil Smuggling

Nov 3, 2014 | Kurdish Globe

The Islamic State (formerly ISIS) has been exporting oil from Northern Iraq to finance its activities, thanks to a solid network of smugglers. The Kurdistan…

Russia/Ukraine: Russia Continues to Train and Equip Ukraine Rebels, NATO Official Says

Nov 3, 2014 | New York Times

Hundreds of Russian troops are still training and equipping separatists in Ukraine, NATO’s top military commander said Monday, activities that are heightening tensions with the West…

Iraq/ Syria: This Is How ISIS Smuggles Oil

Nov 3, 2014 | Buzzfeed

This town on the Turkish-Syrian border is covered in trash. Residents refuse to let any outsiders — even garbagemen — inside. What makes Besaslan more…

Iraq/ Kurdistan: Baghdad Blacklists Foreign Tankers

Nov 3, 2014 | Arabian Supply Chain

Iraq’s oil marketing agency has banned three foreign tankers from Iraqi ports, according to the Platts news service, citing market sources.

Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation…

Af-Pak 2014: Waste of the Environment

Nov 3, 2014 | Wazhma Fazli, Ghotei Safi and Abdur Razzaq 

Chronic air pollution, filthy water and mountains of garbage in cities are creating a pandemic of respiratory and water-borne diseases both sides of the Durand…

Conflict Minerals: Scotland Leading Way in Fight to Stop War, Slavery and Misery Powering our Technology

Nov 2, 2014 | Herald Scotland

Every time you switch on your mobile, power up your laptop or even switch on a light, you could unwittingly be fuelling slavery, civil wars…

South Sudan: China Plays Peacemaker in Africa

Nov 2, 2014 | Independent Online

The ‘Middle Kingdom’ has a new vision of the role it plays in Africa after meeting the South Sudanese rebels, writes Peter Fabricius.

The civil war…

Sudan/ South Sudan/ Abyei: WBeG’s Abyei Community Rejects Moves to Include Region in Sudan Elections

Nov 2, 2014 | Sudan Tribune

Western Bahr el Ghazal’s Abyei community have denounced provocative moves by Sudan’s election commission include the contested region in its upcoming election next year.

In a…

Iraq/Syria: Wanted - Experienced Oil Plant Manager, Pay £140,000 P.S....Send CV to ISIS: Jihadists Advertising for Skilled Professionals to Man Its Failing Oil Fields after String of Fatal Accidents

Nov 1, 2014 | Jack Crone, MailOnline

ISIS is on the  lookout for a skilled professional to manage its failing oil refineries and has  been using black-market agents to advertise the £140,000-a-year…

International Analysis: A Hostile Climate

Oct 31, 2014 | Peruvian Times

On October 13, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel delivered a major address on climate security at the Conference of the Defense Ministers of the…

China/South China Sea: China’s Clandestine Submarine Caves Extend Xi’s Naval Reach

Oct 31, 2014 | David Tweed, Bloomberg

Beneath the surface of the South China Sea off the tropical Chinese resort island of Hainan, an underwater tunnel guides submarines into a lair reminiscent…

Somalia: Floods Threaten Somali Food Security

Oct 31, 2014 | Joe DaCapua, Voice of America

After a poor rainy season early this year, parts of southern Somalia now are being hit with severe floods. The rainy season that began in…

Papua New Guinea: Highway Opposed : Papua Separatist Leader

Oct 31, 2014 | Islands Business

PORT MORESBY, PNG ----Papua separatist leader of the 1970s Dame Josephine Abaijah has called on Papuans and like-thinking Papua New Guineans to rise in unity…

Conflict Minerals: Companies Need to Improve Conflict Minerals Disclosures

Oct 31, 2014 | Yin Wilczek, Corporate Counsel Weekly

Oct. 24 —  As companies prepare their second conflict minerals disclosures, the emphasis is on “more and better” processes, a consultant said Oct. 24.

That includes…

Iraq: Iraqi Army Inches towards Beiji Oil Refinery

Oct 31, 2014 | Al Jazeera

Iraqi security forces have advanced further into towns north of Baghdad in a new offensive to retake the country's biggest oil refinery from Islamic State…

Myanmar: Burma Farmers at Risk of Losing Land under Legal Shift: Think Tank

Oct 31, 2014 | Thin Lei Lwin, Irrawaddy

BANGKOK — Millions of small-scale farmers in Burma risk losing land under proposals to regulate land use which focus too much on investment and not…

Russia/Ukraine: With Political Rift Still Deep, Russia-Ukraine Gas Deal Is Widely Seen as a Patch

Oct 31, 2014 | New York Times

A deal struck on Thursday to restart Russian natural gas supplies to Ukraine will keep homes heated this winter, but it does not fully settle a fierce, long-running fight…

Conflict Minerals: A Broader Push for Reform is Essential

Oct 30, 2014 | Enough Project

For nearly two decades, the war and widespread illicit exploitation of natural resources in eastern Congo has subjected Congolese citizens to a humanitarian crisis that desperately needs to be…