"A White House plan to curb illegal trafficking in rhino horn, elephant tusks and body parts from other endangered wildlife could have the side benefit of helping to stabilize parts of Africa plagued by insurgent groups, military and political analysts say."

"Ivory poachers may have finally met their match: forensic science. A study just published by PNAS describes a carbon-dating technique making it possible to determine the age of elephant tusks—and thus whether a particular piece of ivory has been acquired illegally."

"A federal judge in Washington D.C. has tossed out a new SEC rule requiring oil companies to disclose payments to foreign governments. The rule stemmed from the 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and had been trumpeted by human rights group as a means to reduce corruption in otherwise poor, oil-producing countries in Africa and the Middle East."

"Scientists have found a way to forecast El Nino weather events in the Pacific a year in advance, long enough to let farmers plant crops less vulnerable to global shifts in rainfall, a study showed on Monday."

"The El Nino weather pattern that can bring drought to Australia and rain to South America was 'unusually active' at the end of the 20th century, possibly due to climate change, a University of Hawaii study found."

"Researchers studied 2,222 tree-ring records as proxies for temperature and rainfall over the past 700 years, the university wrote in an online statement dated yesterday. The records indicate the El Nino-Southern Oscillation weather phenomenon has been increasingly active in recent decades relative to the past seven centuries.

"A meeting of 24 nations and the European Union in mid-July will decide the fate of two proposed ocean reserves in Antarctica."

"Butterflies are the essence of cool in the insect world, a favorite muse for poets and songwriters, who hold them up as symbols of love, beauty, transformation and good fortune."

"President used second executive order this week to launch task force which will draft strategy to curb $10 billion illegal trade."

"Shortly after prodding India in a New Delhi speech to find ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Secretary of State John Kerry sent a 'Your Dot' piece emphasizing that he sees this as a partnership between two dynamic, innovative democracies."

"Detectable levels of a large number of environmental chemicals have been found in the cord blood of some newborns, raising concerns that Canadian children already carry toxins in their bodies at birth, a report says."

"A tiny wedge of land jammed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean sea, the Gaza Strip is heading inexorably into a water crisis that the United Nations says could make the Palestinian enclave unliveable in just a few years."

In January 2013, representatives of some 140 nations met in Geneva to finish a treaty to minimize emissions of mercury. In the end, they gave an exemption to the use of a mercury compound, thimerosol, as a preservative in some children's vaccines.

"AMSTERDAM -- Australia will try to persuade judges that Japan's scientific whaling program is commercial whaling in disguise in a case between the countries that opens in The Hague on Wednesday."

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. said radioactive water may still be leaking into the sea from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after enhanced levels of radioactive tritium were detected in the port area in front of the facility."

"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged fast-growing India to work with Washington to tackle climate change and develop green technologies, on the eve of talks on trade and regional security."