International
Liberia: Liberia Offers New Acreage Despite No Update on Oil Legislation
Aug 14, 2014
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Platts
Liberia has offered four exploration blocks for licensing despite previous assurances that they would first put in place petroleum legislation.
State-owned NOCAL on its website said…
Liberia: Liberia's National Oil Company Denies Selling Oil Blocks
Aug 14, 2014
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All Africa
The National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) says oil blocks that are now out for international competitive bidding, are neither being sold nor auctioned contrary…
Conflict Minerals: How Monitoring Smelters is Key to Curbing Conflict Minerals
Aug 14, 2014
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Web Africa
Technology hardware, software and services provider HP says it is keeping a close watch on smelters and refiners in a bid to reach the company’s…
DRC: Eastern Congo Slowly Producing More Conflict-Free Minerals Report
Aug 14, 2014
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Thomas Reuters Foundation
The number of mines certified as producing “conflict-free” minerals in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is slowly increasing, though challenges remain in cutting off this…
Bangladesh: Land Grabbing Drives Lawlessness and Deaths in Bangladesh
Aug 14, 2014
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UCA News
In separate incidents last week, a tribal Santal man was murdered, and an Oraon woman was gang raped by Muslim men in northern Bangladesh. A…
Nigeria: Awka Youths, Elders Square Up Against Anambra Government Over Land Grabbing
Aug 14, 2014
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Daily Post
Youths and elders of Ezinano community in Awka, Anambra State have drawn a battle line with state government over what they termed “unlawful acquisition of…
Myanmar: Corrupt “Land Grabs” Imperil Democracy in Burma
Aug 14, 2014
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Thomas Reuters Foundation
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to own property [and] no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of…
Iraq: Militants Hold Seven Iraq Oil Fields After Syria Blitz, IEA Says
Aug 14, 2014
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Bloomberg
Islamic State fighters have captured seven oil fields in Iraq with a total output capacity of 80,000 barrels a day, adding to energy deposits they…
Myanmar: Kanbalu Farmers Demand Release of 57 Jailed ‘Plough Protestors’
Aug 14, 2014
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DVB
Some 1,500 farmers rallied for the release of 57 jailed land rights activists in central Burma’s Sagaing Division on Wednesday.
The demonstrators, who received permission from…
Myanmar: Drug Control Efforts Go Local in Myanmar’s Kachin State
Aug 14, 2014
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IRIN
Myanmar's northern Kachin State, renowned for its heroin production, is changing tack in its efforts to curb rampant drug use and cultivation: In addition to…
Kurdistan: Turkey Has Called on US to Lift Kurdish Oil Ban
Aug 14, 2014
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Financial Times
LONDON - Turkey has called on the US to lift obstacles to the sale of oil by Iraq’s cash-strapped Kurds to help in their war…
South China Sea: China Defends Position on Sea Dispute
Aug 13, 2014
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DVB
Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Summit in Naypyidaw on Saturday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the country is willing to…
South China Sea: At ARF, India Backs International Arbitration, Freedom of Navigation
Aug 13, 2014
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The Diplomat
As The Diplomat reported earlier on Monday, this year’s ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was one of the more productive multilateral meetings in the Asia-Pacific region in recent memory.…
South China Sea: U.S. to Monitor South China Sea for De-escalation After China Rebuff
Aug 13, 2014
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Reuters
The United States will monitor the South China Sea to see whether "de-escalatory steps" are being taken, a U.S. State Department official said on Monday,…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Oil and Erbil
Aug 13, 2014
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New Yorker
To the defense of Erbil: this was the main cause that drew President Obama back to combat in Iraq last week, two and a half…
Myanmar: Myanmar Can Renegotiate Hydro Deal to Keep More Power, says Chinese Firm
Aug 13, 2014
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Reuters
A Chinese firm that signed deals with Myanmar's former military rulers to build hydro dams said it could renegotiate the terms, which would see some…
Myanmar: US to Waive Timber Sanctions for One Year
Aug 13, 2014
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Myanmar Times
The United States Treasury Department granted a special one year licence beginning in late July for certain US companies to trade with Myanma Timber Enterprise…
Can Women Make the World More Peaceful?
Aug 11, 2014
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Laurel Stone
Do women hold the key to a peaceful society? Much is known about the victimisation of women through rape, trafficking, and early marriages, but much…
China/South China Sea: A View From the Sea, as China Flexes Muscle
Aug 9, 2014
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Austin Ramzy, The New York Times
ABOARD CSB-8003, in the South China Sea — As the large white Chinese ship closed in, the smaller Vietnamese Coast Guard vessel could only veer…
Kenya: Youths Block Thika Superhighway to Protest Land Grabbing
Aug 9, 2014
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Albert Nyakundi, The Star
Tension is high on the Thika superhighway after several youth groups and community based organizations protested against a private developer who is fencing of public…
Conflict Minerals: How to Make the Most of Africa’s Business Boom
Aug 9, 2014
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Sara Murphy, The Motley Fool
Following the close of this week's unprecedented U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the business community's eyes are trained on Africa. Perhaps not since colonization has the West…
South China Sea: China to Build Lighthouses on Five Disputed Islands
Aug 8, 2014
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Today
BEIJING — China is planning to build lighthouses on five islands in the South China Sea, the official China News Agency reported yesterday, in what…
Uganda: Uganda's Mineral Exports Dry Up Over 'Conflict' Certificate
Aug 8, 2014
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Nicholas Bariyo, The Wall Street Journal
KAMPALA, Uganda—Mineral exports have ground to a halt because a certification process aimed at stopping so-called "conflict minerals" from leaving the country hasn't been put…
DRC: Brutal, Conflict Minerals Smuggling General Escapes Justice
Aug 8, 2014
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Timo Mueller, Enough Project
In important developments last Thursday, on 31 July, Congolese authorities cleared all charges leveled against General Amisi Kumba, former commander of the Congolese land forces. Amisi was suspended on…
Iraq: The U.S. Airstrikes in Northern Iraq Are All About Oil
Aug 8, 2014
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John B. Judis, New Republic
Last night, President Barack Obama announced that he was authorizing American airtstrikes in Iraq. He described his intervention as a “humanitarian effort to help save…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Talisman Energy, Oryx Petroleum Suspend Operations in Iraq’s Kurdish Region Amid U.S. Air Strikes
Aug 8, 2014
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Yadullah Hussain, Financial Post
As U.S. planes bombed militant forces in northern Iraq, oil companies took emergency measures Friday to keep their staff out of harm’s way.
Talisman Energy Inc.…
South Sudan: Former South Sudan Ambassador Warns of Int’l ‘Hidden Hand’ Interested In Resources, War
Aug 8, 2014
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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
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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
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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
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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…