News


South Sudan/Sudan/Abyei: U.N. Says Apprehended Sudan Intel Officer after Attack Near Abyei

May 5, 2015 | Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

U.N. peacekeepers in the disputed region of Abyei along the border of Sudan and South Sudan apprehended someone claiming to be a Sudanese intelligence officer…


Myanmar: Mass Protest Held Against Mon State Coal Plant Proposal

May 5, 2015 | Yen Snaing, The Irrawaddy

An estimated 5000 people from villages across Ye Township gathered in Inn Din village on Tuesday morning to protest the Union government’s plan to build…


India: Politicians, Bureaucrats Involved in Forest Land Grabbing, Smuggling: Minister

May 4, 2015 | Kashmir Life

In a bid to put lid over the grabbing of forest land and timber smuggling in Jammu and Kashmir, government Monday said that big names…


Liberia: GROW-Liberia Launches Innovative Agriculture Programme

May 4, 2015 | Front Page Africa

GROW Liberia officially launches its landmark “Making Markets Work for the Poor” (M4P) agricultural market development programmed on the seventh of May.
The GROW-led M4P…


Timor-Leste: George Brandis Hands Over to East Timor Docs Seized by ASIO

May 3, 2015 | Tom Allard, Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian government has agreed to return legal documents and data seized by ASIO to the East Timorese government. It is the latest twist in a…


Iraq: Source: Islamic State Attacks Iraq’s Biggest Oil Refinery with Suicide Bombers and Car Bombs

May 3, 2015 | Benjamin Gilbert , Vice

Fierce fighting has erupted at Iraq's largest oil refinery after militant fighters with the so-called Islamic State (IS) used suicide bombers, car bombs, rockets, and mortars…


South Sudan: South Sudan Seeks to Generate Non-Oil Revenues through Economic Diversification

May 3, 2015 | Sudan Tribune

South Sudanese government said its economy needed urgent diversification to wean it from depending on oil in long term response to the economic crisis, urging…


Timor-Leste: Timor-Leste Welcomes Australia's Return of Spying Documents Seized by Asio

May 3, 2015 | Daniel Hurst, The Guardian

The Timor-Leste government has praised a decision by the Australian government to return documents about past spying that were at the centre of raids by…


Myanmar: Moving the Earth: Women Take On Land Aggressors

May 3, 2015 | Sonya Carassik Ratty, Democratic Voice of Burma

From the platinum reserves in eastern Shan State to the Shwe gas pipeline in south-western Arakan, much of Burma’s wealth lies in the earth. As…


China/South China Sea: Making Waves

May 2, 2015 | The Economist

In November, after months of frantic land reclamation in the South China Sea aimed at boosting its vast territorial claim there, China tried a subtler…


China/South China Sea: China is Building Mobile Islands in the East Sea

May 2, 2015 | VietNamNet Bridge

In relation to warnings about American experts on China’s manufacturing of a series of "mobile islands" in the East Sea, marine expert Phan Vinh Tri,…


Environmental Peacebuilding in the South China Sea

May 1, 2015 | Ryan Stoa

In recent years the South China Sea has become a fiercely contested region.  China's rise as a regional and global superpower has emboldened an aggressive…


Is the Rubber Industry Dragging Its Heels on Sustainability?

May 1, 2015 | Megan Macinnes

Our recent Guns, Cronies and Crops exposé revealed the human toll of the rubber industry in Myanmar, where companies colluded with the former military junta to seize vast…


Amid Katmandu's Earthquake Wreckage, Hints of a Shift to Safer Construction

May 1, 2015 | Andrew C. Revkin

In the world’s crowded earthquake zones, fromthe Himalayas to the Pacific Northwest, every community faces enormous challenges in designing for inevitable, but unpredictable jolts. This challenge is particularly…


Conservation for Peace: Perspectives of Environmental Peacebuilders in Liberia and Timor-Leste

May 1, 2015 | Brittany Ajroud and Janet Edmond

Environmental peacebuilding is an emerging field of practice that responds to the needs of the many remote, biodiverse communities around the world that struggle to prevent…


Cote d’Ivoire/Liberia: Trouble at Liberia/Ivorian Border, Land Encroachment by Ivorians Gives Rise to Serious Conflict between Both Countries

May 1, 2015 | Cholo Brooks, Global News Network

Report from Liberia/Ivorians border speaks of serious conflict between citizens of both Countries following report that the citizens of Ivory Coast have resolved to encroach…


Empowering Women in the Mines of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Apr 30, 2015 | The World Bank

After two decades of civil war and ongoing conflicts, vulnerable populations throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have continually been pushed off their traditional agricultural…


Liberia: Senator Proposes Oil Benefit Bill

Apr 30, 2015 | Necus M. Andrews, The NEWS

A bill seeking for the allocation of five percent of the rights and interest in each petroleum block has been introduced at the Liberian Senate.…


Land Grabbing: Banks and Pension Funds Continue to Bankroll Deforestation and Land Grabs

Apr 30, 2015 | Andrew Simms, The Guardian

Whether its food you’re putting in your mouth, or products you’re putting on your body, the probability is that half of them contain palm oil.…


Iraq: IS Expands in Iraq's Largest Oil Refinery

Apr 30, 2015 | Xinhua News Agency

The Islamic State (IS) militant group on Thursday captured more ground in the vast oil refinery of Baiji in Iraq's Salahudin province, while battles with…


Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Buys Submarine-Launched Land Attack Missiles to Deter China

Apr 30, 2015 | Greg Torode, Reuters

Vietnam is arming its expanding submarine fleet with land attack missiles that could be capable of reaching Chinese coastal cities, a choice of weapon likely…


Myanmar: Blood Teak: How Myanmar's Natural Resources Fuel Ethnic Conflicts

Apr 30, 2015 | Jay Benson, The Diplomat

On March 30, the government of Myanmar and an umbrella group of 16 ethnic minority groups agreed to a draft agreement for a “nationwide ceasefire”…


Liberia: Liberia's Postwar Constitution Review - a Tale of Mistrust and Uncertainty

Apr 30, 2015 | Richard Akum and Mainlehwon Vonhm, African Arguments

When under review, a constitution (the supreme law of the land) reveals issues of collective angst within the land. In Liberia, the process to review…


The Limits of the “Nile Agreement”

Apr 29, 2015 | Mwangi S. Kimenyi and John Mukum Mbaku

On Monday, March 23, 2015, leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan met in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to sign an agreement that is expected to resolve various…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurdish Regional Gov’t to Raise Oil Exports to Turkey

Apr 29, 2015 | Andalou Agency

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq will increase its oil exports to Turkey and deliver up to 625,000 barrels per day starting from…


China/Philippines/Vietnam/South China Sea: China Fires Back at South China Sea Claimants with Reclamation Accusations

Apr 29, 2015 | Reuters

After facing weeks of criticism about its reclamation work on disputed islands in the South China Sea, China on Wednesday turned the tables on Vietnam,…


Call for Abstracts: Reframing the Arctic: Cooperation, Not Conflict Workshop

Apr 28, 2015 | Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security

Too much of the popular narrative, in particular media framing, of polar politics is driven by the notion of inevitable conflict. The “Arctic cold war”…


Wicked Problems, Messy Analysis, Clumsy Solutions?

Apr 28, 2015 | Naho Mirumachi

Increased climate uncertainty, changing lifestyles and disparities in socio-economic development make finding solutions to water scarcity and water-related hazards significant. Today, there are both persistent…


Ghana/Cote d’Ivoire: Tribunal Tells Ghana to Suspend Oil Drilling

Apr 28, 2015 | Cholo Brooks, Global News Network

An international tribunal on Saturday ordered Ghana not to carry out any new oil drilling activities in waters disputed with Ivory Coast, pending a final…


Iraq: ISIS Executes Oil Workers in Mosul

Apr 28, 2015 | Middle East Monitor

ISIS fighters have executed ten oil workers in the city of Mosul, a Kurdish information official reported on Monday. According to Said Momzini, the ten…