"They have thwarted the poisons. They have evaded the traps."

"Global leaders ended a U.N. development summit on Friday with what was widely considered a lackluster agreement, leaving many attendees convinced that individuals and companies, rather than governments, must lead efforts to improve the environment."

"On the final day of the UN sustainable development summit in Rio, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged governments to eliminate hunger from the world."

"RIO de JANEIRO -- More than 100 heads of state and government [Wednesday] gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the start of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20. The summit seeks to shape new policies to promote global prosperity, reduce poverty and advance social equity and environmental protection in the face of warnings that the ecological basis of life is coming undone."

"Diplomats from over 190 countries agreed on a draft text on green global development on Tuesday to be approved this week at a summit in Rio de Janeiro, but environmentalists complained the agreement was too weak."

"Brazilian negotiators have been accused of using strong-arm tactics at Rio+20 to secure a deal before heads of state start arriving for the Earth Summit later this week."

"Negotiators from developing countries insist wealthy nations must help fund their move to sustainable development"

"RIO de JANEIRO -- President Dilma Rousseff today opened Rio +20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, at Brazil's giant pavilion in Athletes Park opposite Riocentro, the main seat of the conference meetings."

"The largest solar storm in five years was due to arrive on Earth early Thursday, promising to shake the globe’s magnetic field while expanding the Northern Lights."

"Snow seems to be missing in action this winter for much of the United States."

"The sun is bombarding Earth with radiation from the biggest solar storm in more than six years with more to come from the fast-moving eruption."

"Across the Midwest and northeast this weekend, ski resort towns are celebrating the arrival of winter for the first time this season. Terry Hill has been renting out cabins near Baxter State Park in Maine in 30 years, where she says they only received about four to five inches of snow on Saturday. She usually rents her cabins to those who like to snowmobile, but those cabins are empty right now. She says Maine needs a couple more big storms to make up lost ground for what's been a brown winter."

"Life's no circus for the Ringling Brothers these days. The USDA announced Monday that an agreement was reached where Feld Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Feld), will pay a $270,000 fine for allegedly violating the Animal Welfare Act (AWA)."

"In remote places like California's Death Valley, over-reliance on GPS navigation systems can be a matter of life and death."

"An unusual solar flare observed by a NASA space observatory on Tuesday could cause some disruptions to satellite communications and power on Earth over the next day or so, officials said."