"A network of secretive banks and offshore tax havens was used to funnel $182 million in bribes to Nigerian officials in exchange for $6 billion in engineering and construction work for an international consortium of companies that included a then Halliburton subsidiary."

"With the planet facing potentially severe impacts from global warming in coming decades, a government-sponsored scientific panel on Tuesday called for more research on geoengineering — technologies to deliberately intervene in nature to counter climate change."

"UN negotiators are meeting in Geneva for a new round of talks this week. With 2014 recognised as the hottest year on record, there is increasing pressure for a global climate pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions."

"Forty countries lying along the Pacific Ocean from Asia to the Americas are putting their tsunami early warning systems and escape drills to the test this week, with the key message for some coastal communities being "run and seek higher ground".

"Brussels set to be first bloc to reveal contribution to global emissions cutting deal as next set of UN talks draw close."

"Jessica Vyvyan-Robinson was diving off Borneo when she was struck without warning by shock waves."

"The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says one of its ships has chased an illegal toothfish-poaching vessel out of its hunting grounds in Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone onto the high seas of the Southern Ocean."

"Most of the seafood Americans eat comes from abroad. And a lot of that is caught illegally — by vessels that ignore catch limits, or that fish in areas off-limits to fishing."

"Water scarcity could lead to conflict between communities and nations as the world is still not fully aware of the water crisis many countries face as a result of climate change, the head of the U.N. panel of climate scientists warned on Tuesday."

"The World Meteorological Organization reported on Monday that 2014 was the hottest year in a historical record of global temperature dating from 1880. That finding confirms an announcement made last month by two American scientific agencies and one in Japan."