"Environmentalists and beekeepers are calling on the government to ban some of the country's most widely used insect-killing chemicals."

Conventional wisdom says the U.S. needs to rely on coal, oil, and gas as fuels indefinitely. But techological advances in renewables and efficiency are suggesting this industry-sponsored mantra is wrong. And other countries are proving it.

"AMSTERDAM -- The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is lodging a second complaint with the Netherlands Public Prosecutor’s Office for serious fraud and environmental crime against the captain and crew of the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese whaling fleet’s factory ship."

"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A U.S. agency has issued a long-awaited report saying it found no proof that decades of military practice bombing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques sickened residents who blame it for high rates of cancer, asthma and other illnesses."

"Teck Coal Ltd. is facing a massive pollution problem in the Elk Valley, where a metal-like element known as selenium is leaching out of mine sites and collecting in the eggs of fish, frogs and water birds."

"Investors stand to lose most of the $1.28 billion they put into Suntech Power Holdings Co. after the solar manufacturer said it wouldn’t resist a bankruptcy petition filed in China."

"In 1859 the Sun erupted, and on Earth wires shot off sparks that shocked telegraph operators and set their paper on fire."

"Polar bears' territorial tendencies and the diminishing ice season on Hudson Bay are conspiring to leave the animals less time to eat, researchers say. This bodes ill for their ability to reproduce, and survive."

"VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis issued a powerful call for the protection of the environment and of society’s most vulnerable during his formal installation Mass at the Vatican, while qualifying his papal power as a 'service' to the church and to humanity."

"MELBOURNE, Australia -- Sea Shepherd Australia this morning welcomed to Melbourne its three ships and 110 crewmembers after their campaign defending whales in the Southern Ocean against Japanese 'research' whalers."

"Gina Rinehart is Australia’s richest—and most controversial—billionaire."

"TOKYO -- A power failure at Japan’s tsunami-damaged nuclear plant on Monday night has left three fuel storage pools without fresh cooling water for hours, the plant’s operator said."

"OTTAWA — The Harper government’s budget cuts to scientific research at Environment Canada have compromised the department’s capacity to crack down on cancer-linked pollution and its mandate to enforce clean air regulations, say enforcement officers in a collection of internal emails obtained by Postmedia News."

"YELLOWKNIFE -- Federal officials are scrambling to clean up a crumbling, abandoned northern gold mine that is in imminent danger of releasing massive amounts of arsenic, asbestos and other toxins."

"PARIS -- Will Brussels try to give bees a break? In a case closely watched on both sides of the Atlantic, European officials plan to vote Friday on a proposal to sharply restrict the use of pesticides that had been implicated in the decline of global bee populations."