"The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said on Tuesday that four tonnes of rainwater contaminated with low levels of radiation leaked during an operation to transfer the water between tank holding areas."

"BP's manager in charge of controlling the Macondo blowout in 2010 was never trained to permanently plug a ruptured oil well and said in court on Wednesday the British company was not fully prepared for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history."

"Fujairah is emerging from its status as a back-water. The United Arab Emirates, led by Abu Dhabi, is turning the little emirate into an export hub for its oil in case of trouble from Iran."

"California scientists are reporting a pair of victories in the epic struggle between man and mosquito. A team at the University of California, Riverside, appears to have finally figured out how bugs detect the insect repellent known as DEET. And the team used its discovery to identify several chemical compounds that promise to be safer and cheaper than DEET, according to the report in the journal Nature."

"Walk through a health food store and you'll find amaranth, sorghum, quinoa — heritage grains that have been staples around the world for generations. Americans are just discovering them. There's another age-old grain that grows right here on the Great Plains: millet."

"President Obama's pick to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has asked that his name be yanked from consideration, citing a deadlocked Senate panel and stiff opposition from right-wing groups that turned the confirmation process into a 'blood sport.'"

"In resolving a longstanding dispute, the Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will rescind approval for three of the four arsenic drugs that had been used in animal feeds at the request of the companies that market them."

"The US government entered a state of suspended animation on 1 October after Congress failed to agree on a budget for the next fiscal year, causing federal agencies — including those overseeing science policy and research — to shut down indefinitely."

"Al Gore ripped U.S. television coverage of climate change Friday, alleging the media is cowering before industry-funded global warming 'deniers.'"

An environmental video journalist was among those charged by Russia for piracy after a protest of Arctic drilling.

"MYSTIC, Conn. — On her trainer’s command, an alabaster-skinned beluga whale named Naku placed her chin on the deck of her outdoor pool and exhaled several times, emitting a hollow 'chuff' sound with each breath. The vapor rose into a petri dish a researcher held over her blowhole."

"While the continuing environmental disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has grabbed world headlines — with hundreds of tons of contaminated water flowing into the Pacific Ocean daily — a human crisis has been quietly unfolding. Two and a half years after the plant belched plumes of radioactive materials over northeast Japan, the almost 83,000 nuclear refugees evacuated from the worst-hit areas are still unable to go home."

"In an episode that evokes B-grade sci-fi movie plots from the 1950s, but actually reflects a continuing global problem, nuclear engineers in southeastern Sweden have been wrestling with a giant swarm of jellyfish that forced the shutdown of the world’s largest boiling-water reactor."

"Florida filed a lawsuit on Tuesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reduce neighboring Georgia's use of water from the Chattahoochee River that feeds the oyster beds and fish-spawning areas of Florida's Gulf Coast."

"Environment: Scientists measure organophosphate flame retardants at higher levels than those of the troublesome compounds they are replacing."