"HONG KONG — China began service Wednesday morning on the world’s longest high-speed rail line, covering a distance in eight hours that is about equal to that from New York to Key West, Florida, or from London across Europe to Belgrade."

"The Mississippi as seen from Ed Drager's tug boat is a river in retreat: a giant beached barge is stranded where the water dropped, with sand bars springing into view. The floating barge office where the tugboat captain reports for duty is tilted like a funhouse. One side now rests on the exposed shore. 'I've never seen the river this low,' Drager said. 'It's weird.'"

"SEATTLE -- More than 2,000 opponents and supporters of a plan to ship coal through a northwest Washington terminal turned out Thursday for a final public meeting on the controversial proposal."

"Ferrying a load of soybeans from Seattle to China in 2004, the engine of Malaysian freighter Selendang Ayu lost power and the vessel broke in half on rocks off Unalaska Island in the middle of the Alaskan archipelago."

"A bit of news about the melting of the Arctic waterways associated with climate change: Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, says it recently completed the world’s first liquefied natural gas cargo delivery through the Arctic Northern Sea Route. Escorted by Russian nuclear icebreakers, the giant L.N.G. carrier Ob River went through the waters of the Barents and Kara seas and then through an icy passage between the Vilkitsky and Bering straits."

"PASCO, Wash. -- While proposals to turn green-leaning Washington state into a major exporter of coal to China have caused an uproar in coastal communities, the heated debate is largely absent from other places along the industry's expected trade route to Asia."

"SEATTLE — As regulators in the region weigh the potential impacts of trains full of coal moving along the Columbia River and the shores of Puget Sound, trainloads of oil are quietly on the move."

"Frustration and inconvenience are growing in Paulsboro as a risky cleanup proceeds at a deliberately slow pace following the derailment Friday of chemical-laden train cars on a bridge over the Mantua Creek."

"President Obama has signed into law a bill that requires U.S. airlines be excluded from European carbon emissions fees."

"Slowing cargo vessels near coastlines by 10 to 15 miles per hour could dramatically cut ships’ air pollution, according to a new study. But only a few U.S. ports have initiated such efforts."