News
China/South China Sea: China's Secret Weapon in the South China Sea: Cyber Attacks
Jul 22, 2016
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Anni Piiparinen, Diplomat
Despite China’s great power aspirations, its cyber warriors threw a fit after losing a legal battle to the Philippines in The Hague. Within hours of…
Food Security: Obama Signs Global Food Security Act to End Hunger
Jul 21, 2016
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Fernanda Crescente, USA TODAY
A bipartisan bill promoting global food security, resilience and nutrition could make hunger history, President Obama said Wednesday during the White House Summit on Global Development. The Global Food…
How a New Source of Water is Helping Reduce Conflict in the Middle East
Jul 20, 2016
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Rowan Jacobsen
Just a few years ago, in the depths of its worst drought in at least 900 years, Israel was running out of water. Now it…
A Decades-Old Idea for the South China Sea Resurfaces: Make a Contested Area a Marine Park, Instead
Jul 20, 2016
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Steve Mollman
One of the sea’s main areas of contention is the Spratly archipelago, an area the size of Tunisia featuring emerged rocks, tiny islands, and hundreds…
EU’s Conflict Minerals Framework a 'Missed Opportunity'
Jul 20, 2016
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Leigh Stringer
Trade body and NGOs criticise plan for excluding end products
Afghanistan: Pistachios, Afghans' Green Gold, Coveted by Taliban
Jul 20, 2016
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Agence France-Presse
Afghanistan takes pride in its world-class pistachios, but with looters harvesting the nuts well before maturity fears are growing that the Taliban and local strongmen…
Conflict Minerals: U.S. Companies Providing More Details in Latest Conflict Minerals Filings with SEC, but Supply Chain Transparency Challenges Remain
Jul 20, 2016
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Source Intelligence
More U.S. companies are providing greater details about their efforts to determine if their products contain conflict minerals under federal rules designed to help end…
Afghanistan/Pakistan: Pakistan Worried as Afghanistan Plans to Build Dams on Kabul River
Jul 20, 2016
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Khaama Press
The Pakistani officials are worried amid reports that the Afghan government is planning to build water dams on Kabul River. The country’s Ministry of Water…
Syria/Kurdistan: US-Backed Kurdish Forces Benefiting from Oil in Syria
Jul 20, 2016
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Sirwan Kajjo, Voice of America
When Kurdish-led forces took control of Shaddadi in northeastern Syria in February, they not only pushed back Islamic State militants who had been there for…
South Sudan: CNPC Evacuates Oil Personnel from South Sudan
Jul 19, 2016
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Erwin Cifuentes, OilPrice.com
The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) evacuated 191 of its employees in South Sudan amid worries over an escalation in the armed conflict between the…
Liberia: FDA Rubbishes SDI Claims of Planned Forest Destruction
Jul 19, 2016
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Edwin M. Fayia III, Daily Observer
The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) has taken serious exception to claims made by the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) in an open letter from Goldman Prize…
Cambodia: Wetlands Threatened by Coastal Land Grabs
Jul 19, 2016
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Phak Seangly, Phnom Penh Post
The Council of Ministers has urged the Ministry of Land Management to crack down on coastal land grabbing in response to a report that found…
This Drone Can Detect and Detonate Land Mines
Jul 19, 2016
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.…