News

China/Vietnam/South China Sea: China's Maritime Actions a Cause for Global Concern

Jul 27, 2015 | Viet Nam News

China's construction of oil rigs and artificial islands in the East Sea were illegal, an international seminar was told in HCM City on Saturday. About…

Timor-Leste: Labor Backs Talks on New Maritime Boundary with East Timor

Jul 27, 2015 | Tom Allard, Sydney Morning Herald

A Labor government will enter into maritime boundary negotiations with East Timor, a move that would likely give the tiny half-island state a far greater share…

China/South China Sea: China Eyes New Cruise Link to Disputed South China Sea Islands

Jul 27, 2015 | Reuters

Chinese authorities plan to start a second cruise ship link to the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday,…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Erbil-Baghdad Oil Relations Swing Between Deal, No Deal

Jul 27, 2015 | Mohammed A. Salih, Al Monitor

Encouraged by more international interest in purchasing its oil, coupled with the apparent failure of the federal Iraqi government to provide agreed-upon budget handouts, the autonomous…

Yemen: When War Creates Environmentalists

Jul 27, 2015 | Almigdad Mojalli, IRIN

As the war has intensified and fuel shortages have increased, a growing number of Yemenis are turning to solar power to see them through. Two…

Lebanon: Lebanese Seethe as Stinking Garbage Piles Grow in Beirut and Beyond

Jul 27, 2015 | Ben Hubbard, New York Times

Lebanon is suffering from a spreading garbage crisis that has left huge mounds of trash piling up across Beirut and elsewhere. Many Lebanese see it…

China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Chinese Ship Accused of Attacking Vietnamese Fishing Boats off Central Coast

Jul 25, 2015 | Hoang Trong, Thanh Nien News

Fisherfolk in Binh Dinh Province have said their boats were attacked by a Chinese ship while they were fishing in Vietnamese waters this week. Nguyen…

Uganda: Uganda's Farmers Battle Palm Oil Goliaths for Land

Jul 25, 2015 | Amy Fallon, AFP

Even before the bulldozers arrived life was tough for John Muyiisa, scratching a living from a rented farm on Lake Victoria's Kalangala island. Now he…

With China’s Oil Rig Back in the South China Sea, What’s Vietnam’s Play?

Jul 24, 2015 | Chau Bao Nguyen

The redeployment of a Chinese oil rig in the South China Sea (SCS) shows an inconsistency in the rhetoric and practice of China’s policy in…

Iraq: Iraq's Southern Oil Exports Head for Another Record in July

Jul 24, 2015 | Alex Lawlor, Reuters

Iraq's southern oil exports have risen above 3.0 million barrels per day (bpd) so far in July, according to loading data and an industry source,…

Myanmar: Farmers Right’s Activist Jailed

Jul 24, 2015 | Soe Ya, Democratic Voice of Burma

Farmer’s rights advocate Su Su Nway has been jailed in Pegu Division after being charged with trespassing. As leader of the Myanmar Farmers Union, Su Su…

China/Japan/East China Sea: China Answers Japan Oil Rig Concern with Joint-Development Offer

Jul 24, 2015 | Bloomberg

China repeated a call Friday for talks with Japan over joint development of gas and oil resources in contested waters in the East China Sea.…

The Helmand River and the Afghan-Iranian Treaty of 1973

Jul 23, 2015 | Dr. Glen Hearns

The Helmand River and its major tributary, the Arghandab, drain 43% of Afghanistan including most of the southern part of the country. It has an…

Zimbabwe: Mberengwa's Water Wars

Jul 23, 2015 | Sydney Kawadza, The Herald

Access to water degenerated into a long-drawn-out conflict pitting Mberengwa Rural District Council and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA). The conflict, easily equated to…

Conflict Minerals: New Conflict Minerals Social Responsibility Research Service Delivers Rating Reports

Jul 23, 2015 | SB Wire, Obian Group

Obian Group announces the introduction of the first professional research reports that analyze, rate and peer-compare corporations' Conflict Minerals Programs. Over 1,200 SEC-registered corporations and…

Syria: Bread Prices Up Nearly 90 per cent, Pushing More People into Hunger, UN Report Warns

Jul 23, 2015 | United Nations

Syria’s food production in 2015 remains at 40 per cent below its pre-crisis levels, impacting the price of bread, which has spiralled by 87 per…

Liberia: Palm Oil Firm Under Fire over Land Deals Sealed During Ebola Crisis in Liberia

Jul 23, 2015 | Holly Watt, The Guardian

A major palm oil company brought together scores of people in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak last year to sign over thousands of acres of…

Liberia: USAID FED Provides Power Tillers to 30 Youth Entrepreneurs

Jul 22, 2015 | Toweh Alphonso, The New Republic

On July 16, 2015 in Suakoko, Bong County, the USAID Food and Enterprise Development Program (USAID FED) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)…

Cambodia: Report Accuses Cambodian Elite of Land Grabbing Frenzy

Jul 22, 2015 | Lauren Crothers, Video News

Fresh documents alleging that Cambodia’s ruling elite continues to indulge in a “land grabbing frenzy” for self enrichment from the poor are being submitted to the International Criminal Court…

Namibia: Land Grabs Threaten Stability – NUNW

Jul 22, 2015 | New Era

The country’s largest trade union federation, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), has urged the nation not to illegally occupy land on July 31, as…

Liz Alden Wily to Deliver Third Al-Moumin Distinguished Lecture on Environmental Peacebuilding

Jul 21, 2015 | American University, ELI, and UNEP

American University, ELI, and UNEP are pleased to announce that Liz Alden Wily will deliver the Third Al-Moumin Distinguished Lecture on Environmental Peacebuilding. The lecture,…

The Dodd-Frank Act at 5: Examining Progress and Pushback

Jul 21, 2015 | Naki B. Mendoza

Birthdays are often cause for celebration, yet cheers for Tuesday’s fifth anniversary of the historic Dodd-Frank Act have been somewhat tempered and reserved.

Since officially being…

Dodd-Frank at 5: How Financial Reform Led to Bloodshed in the Congo

Jul 21, 2015 | Stephanie Slade

The Dodd-Frank financial reform act turns 5 today. It was signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010. In the two years immediately…

Water and Climate Shocks Ideation Challenge

Jul 21, 2015 | Skoll Global Threats Fund & Innocentive

The Skoll Global Threats Fund is partnering with Innocentive in a challenge to identify early indications of when a water or climatic event in one location, such…

Cambodia: Protesters Decry ‘Land Grabbing’

Jul 21, 2015 | Pech Sotheary, Phnom Penh Post

About 300 protesters from Svay Rieng and Preah Sihanouk provinces marched to parliament yesterday to file petitions urging the local authorities to intervene to resolve…

Rwanda: Rwanda is Biggest Exporter of Major Minerals in Region, Reports KT Press

Jul 21, 2015 | PR Newswire

Rwanda is producing more minerals than any country in the Great Lakes Region, says a global not-for-profit agency that has been dealing with the traceability,…

Webinar: The Road to A Comprehensive Conflict Minerals Program in 2015

Jul 20, 2015 | Source Intelligence

It seems like every company that has to file with the SEC or has customers that have to file for Dodd-Frank 1502, Conflict Minerals rule,…

The Sentry

Jul 20, 2015 | Enough Project

Today the Enough Project is launching The Sentry, an initiative seeking to help dismantle the networks of perpetrators, facilitators, and enablers who fund and profit from…

Governance, Gender and no Guarantees in Africa’s Oil-Rich States

Jul 19, 2015 | Celeste Hicks and Laura Seay

The discovery of oil in Chad in 1969 did not yield many immediate benefits for a population that would soon be wracked by civil war,…

Georgia/Russia: Russia in ‘New Land Grab’ in Former Soviet State

Jul 19, 2015 | Associated Press

Hundreds of people are demonstrating outside government headquarters in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, urging authorities to halt talks with Russia in the wake…