"A U.S. judge at the urging of environmental groups has thrown out an assessment by a federal agency governing how endangered and threatened marine species should be protected from oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico."

"A chemical reaction involving emissions from cars and buildings can negate their environmental benefits. New research shows what big cities can do about it."

"Summer now has a darker side – or rather a too-brightly burning and dangerously hot side. And that side is making summer the most dangerous season of the year. This month’s bookshelf focuses on two summer dangers: heat waves and wildfires."

"Eighty years ago, the United States and Mexico worked out an arrangement to share water from the two major rivers that run through both countries: the Rio Grande and the Colorado. The treaty was created when water wasn't as scarce as it is now."

"Watchdogs are raising new concerns about legacy contamination in Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home to a renewed effort to manufacture key components for nuclear weapons."

"A significant die-off of brown pelicans in California has scientists searching for answers."

"About 68 million people in Southern Africa are suffering the effects of an El Nino-induced drought which has wiped out crops across the region, the regional bloc SADC said on Saturday."

"ALLIGATOR RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, N.C. — In April, the latest glimmer of hope appeared here in the only spot on Earth where endangered red wolves remain in the wild. Five pups were born to a pair of wolves — a female known as 2413, and a male known as 2444 — marking the third year in a row that at least one new litter began life in this corner of coastal North Carolina."