News

This Drone Can Detect and Detonate Land Mines

Jul 19, 2016 | James Vincent, The Verge

MKD's designers claim that this method is up to 20 times faster than traditional de-mining techniques, and up to 200 times cheaper. The team, led…

Hague Ruling Presents Vietnam with Opportunities and Dilemmas

Jul 18, 2016 | Le Hong Hiep

The Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling on the Philippines’ case against China is a historic milestone in the evolution of the South China Sea dispute.…

Colombia’s Former Guerrillas Need New Jobs. Why Not in Conservation?

Jul 18, 2016 | Clare Fieseler

The government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, declared a ceasefire after 50 years of fighting. Almost 7,000 FARC guerrilla-style…

Illegal Mining in Colombia is a Modern Day Gold Heist

Jul 18, 2016 | Kal Kotecha

It seems like an odd kind of crime, especially considering the sheer scale it’s operating on. Illegal gold mining has become a serious problem in…

Colombia: Coca's Comeback Forces Colombia to Rethink Drug War

Jul 18, 2016 | Joshua Goodman, Associated Press

After six straight years of declining or steady production, the amount of land under coca cultivation in Colombia began rising in 2014 and jumped 42…

Pak-Afghan Hydro Diplomacy

Jul 17, 2016 | Syed Muhammad Abubakar

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have never been great. They have been subjected to various complexities over the past few decades — the issues in…

China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Detains Anti-China Activists over South China Sea Dispute

Jul 17, 2016 | Deutsche Welle

Vietnam has detained dozens of activists at a rally protesting China's refusal to abide by an international tribunal's ruling. Vietnam and China have been locked…

Iraq: Iraq's Marshes, Once Drained by Saddam, Named World Heritage Site

Jul 17, 2016 | Reuters

A wetland in southeast Iraq, thought to be the biblical Garden of Eden and almost completely drained during Saddam Hussein's rule, has become a UNESCO…

Colombia: Oil Rich Colombia Stays Healthy, Averting disaster from Venezuela, Brazil

Jul 17, 2016 | Dawn Kissi, CNBC

Colombia is more than just the sum of its coffee and crude oil exports. The Andean nation has not been completely immune to the slump…

Call for Papers: Business, Peace and Sustainable Development (July 2017 Publication)

Jul 16, 2016 | Greenleaf Publishing

We are inviting contributions to the Business, Peace and Sustainable Development (BPSD) Journal from Greenleaf Publishing.

Business, Peace and Sustainable Development (BPSD) is a peer-reviewed journal…

Environmental Peacebuilding MOOC -- Feedback Sought on Draft Syllabus

Jul 16, 2016 | MOOC Steering Committee

We are excited to share with you the draft syllabus for an Environmental Peacebuilding MOOC (massive open online course). In the next two weeks, we…

Liberia’s Ineptitude on the Arts of Fine Prints

Jul 15, 2016 | Front Page Africa

In 1926, Liberia negotiated a Firestone Concession Agreement and two additional agreements, obtaining a one-million acre concession for a 99-year period, granting the company exclusive…

Myanmar: Myanmar's Jade Slump Points to a Pivot away from China

Jul 15, 2016 | Motokazu Matsui, Nikkei

The once-warm ties between Myanmar and China appear to be cooling under Myanmar's new government-led by State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi.…

Colombia: Heavy Toll for Green and Indigenous Activists among Colombian Killings

Jul 15, 2016 | Camilo Mejia Giraldo, Mongabay

Colombia is on the cusp of ending five decades of internal conflict between the state and leftist guerrillas, and violence between the two sides has…

Myanmar: Traders Call on Govt to Support Jade Market

Jul 15, 2016 | Kyaw Hsu Mon, The Irrawaddy

Jade traders in Mandalay have collected signatures to accompany a proposal requesting government support for a better jade market, they told The Irrawaddy on Friday.…

Australia is Guilty of Same Misconduct as China Over Our Treatment of East Timor

Jul 14, 2016 | Tom Clarke

For 14 years now, Australia's tiny neighbour, East Timor, has been consistently requesting Australia to negotiate the establishment of permanent maritime boundaries between the two…

What’s at Stake in China’s Claims to the South China Sea?

Jul 14, 2016 | Scott L. Montgomery

While the South China Sea has been a source of territorial dispute for many years, involving all of its bounding nations, China has been particularly…

Myanmar: Gems and Food Products Added to National Export Strategy

Jul 14, 2016 | Chan Mya Htwe, Myanmar Times

The Ministry of Commerce has added gems and value-added food products to its National Export Strategy in the hope of creating thousands of new jobs.…

Nigeria: Are the Niger Delta Militants Now Targeting Oil Facilities in the South West?

Jul 14, 2016 | Adetula David, Ventures

On Tuesday night, suspected militants blew up a gas pipeline in the Ogijo area of Ogun state. Since the inauguration of President Buhari’s administration last…

Liberia: Liberia Must Pass Land Rights Bill or Risk Jeopardising Peace, Campaigners Warn

Jul 14, 2016 | Ruth Maclean, Guardian

Liberia could be plunged back into conflict if a historic land rights bill is not passed by August, civil society groups have warned. The country’s…

South Sudan: South Sudan Oil Hopes Thwarted Once Again by Civil War

Jul 14, 2016 | Julianne Geiger, Oilprice.com

A month after announcing oil production would resume, Sudan's peace agreement is cracking. Five days of heavy fighting have forced tens of thousands of people,…

Liberia: Failure to Pass Land Law Could Plunge Liberia Back into Conflict: Activists

Jul 14, 2016 | Reuters

Liberia's failure to pass a long-awaited law recognizing the rights of rural communities to their ancestral lands could plunge the West African nation back into…

Egypt: Programme Policy Officer (Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Adaption)

Jul 13, 2016 | World Food Programme

The Regional Bureau in Cairo (RBC) is supporting countries across the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern European regions in reducing disaster risks,…

Conflict Minerals: Bill Passed in House Would Defund Conflict Minerals Rule

Jul 13, 2016 | Kelly Franklin, Chemical Watch

The US House of Representatives has passed an appropriations bill, containing an amendment that would defund enforcement of the nation’s conflict minerals reporting rule. Amendment…

Myanmar: Myanmar Cracks Down on Dams

Jul 13, 2016 | Prashanth Parameswaran, The Diplomat

No new irrigation dams will be built in Myanmar under the current government and spending on existing facilities will be halved given their questionable benefits…

China/South China Sea: China May Establish Air Defense Zone after Losing Court Ruling

Jul 13, 2016 | Katie Hunt and Steven Jiang, CNN

China said Wednesday it has the right to set up an air defense zone in the hotly disputed South China Sea, a day after a…

Oil, Greed, and Grievances in the Middle East and North Africa

Jul 12, 2016 | Axel Dreher and Merle Kreibaum

Political scientists Indra de Soysa and Eric Neumayer, among many others, have shown that countries rich in oil have a higher risk of civil war…

What is the Future of the South China Sea?

Jul 12, 2016 | M. Taylor Fravel, Jessica Chen Weiss, Peter Dutton, Orville Schell, Edward Friedman, Tom Nagorski

On July 12, a court based at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague rejected China’s sweeping claims over much of the South China Sea. The…

Colombia: As Colombia Peace Talks Advance, War Widows, Ex-Fighters Clear Landmines One at a Time

Jul 12, 2016 | Anastasia Moloney, Thomson Reuters Foundation

In the surrounding rolling countryside guns have fallen silent and the bombing raids have stopped following a bilateral ceasefire signed in June between the government…

China/South China Sea: Tribunal Rejects Beijing’s Claims in South China Sea

Jul 12, 2016 | Jane Perlez, New York Times

An international tribunal in The Hague delivered a sweeping rebuke on Tuesday of China’s behavior in the South China Sea, including its construction of artificial…