"As one of the worst droughts recorded in southern Africa persists ... dry conditions are threatening lives of the region's most vulnerable."

"BP said Thursday (July 14) it pegs its total cost of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster at $61.6 billion, the first estimate the company has provided since the spill. That includes a $5.2 billion pre-tax hit to profits for the second quarter this year."

"The Department of Transportation on Wednesday released proposed new spill-response rules for rail carriers carrying crude oil."

"The Obama administration on Thursday finalized rules that will require companies to have strict safety and environmental protection plans in place before they drill for oil or natural gas in the Arctic Ocean."

"Super typhoon Nepartak hit Taiwan on Friday, driving thousands of people from their homes, disrupting power supply and forcing the cancellation of more than 600 flights, emergency authorities said."

"Canada’s pipeline watchdog has given two of North America’s largest energy companies up to six months to fix what industry insiders have described as a series of 'ticking time bombs.'"

"Severe flooding across central and southern China over the past week has killed almost 130 people, damaged more than 1.9 million hectares of crops and led to direct economic losses of more than 38 billion yuan ($5.70 billion), state media said on Tuesday."

"The number of earthquakes in Oklahoma has fallen 25% in 2016 compared with a year earlier, a decline attributed in part to actions by state regulators to police the oil and gas industry’s practice of pumping wastewater from its operations deep underground."

"A new wildfire burning through bone-dry grass, shrub and timber has forced the evacuation of dozens of homes in a mountain community in central California and more houses could be in the inferno's path, fire officials said on Saturday."

"The BP oil disaster cost the Gulf of Mexico's commercial fishing industry $94.7 million to $1.6 billion and anywhere from 740 to 9,315 jobs in the first eight months, according to a new study by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management."