Oil prices rallied more than $3 a barrel on Wednesday, recovering all the losses triggered by last week’s decision by rich consuming nations to release strategic oil stocks.
An invasive alien weed, silverleaf nightshade, is threatening cotton and wheat crops in Syria and Iraq and could spread to Lebanon and Jordan, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday.
More than 60 percent of the farmland in Syria, growing mainly cotton and wheat, has been infested with the weed, originally from the American tropics, which sucks nutrients from
Frequent dust storms and scarce rains are stifling Iraq's efforts to revive a farming sector hit by decades of war, sanctions and isolation.
Wheat and rice production has suffered from a severe drought in the past two years, due in part to rising temperatures, along with a dearth of water in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Iraq has given a consortium led by Eni, the Italian oil group, the right to develop its giant Zubair field, in a deal that signals the country's desire to attract more of the biggest oil companies four decades after nationalising its oil industry.
Diverting water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to supply agriculture, alongside a warming climate, means the once-bountiful region is becoming desert.
From rescuing a herd of rogue elephants destined to be shot, to saving the animals in Baghdad Zoo during the Iraq war, maybe it is no surprise that Hollywood is planning a film about maverick conservationist Lawrence Anthony. When Liz Else tracked him down she talked to him about reconnecting with nature and communicating with elephants.
bauxite mining Vietnam opens door to China Vietnam has invited a Chinese company to mine a massive bauxite reserve beneath its Central Highlands, despite growing opposition to mining and a deep-rooted suspicion of China. Deputy Industry Minister Le Duong Quang said the state-owned Vietnam National Coal would go ahead with a US $460 million venture with a subsidiary of China
Turkey has boosted the flow of the Euphrates river passing through its dams upstream of Iraq to help farmers cope with a drought after Iraqi complaints, but it is still not enough, a top Iraqi lawmaker said on Saturday.
Europe took a surprise step towards reducing its dependence on Russian gas yesterday as two of its oil companies agreed to develop a big gas field in Kurdistan, Iraq's semi-autonomous region.
OMV, of Austria, and Hungary's MOLagreed the deal, which will feed the planned Nabucco pipeline.
