"Increasing use of air conditioners to stay cool is having the vicious circle effect – especially at night – of worsening the problem of cities getting hotter as the climate changes, say US researchers"

"Most babies born prematurely and one-third of full-term infants are exposed to chemicals found in vinyl 'at a potentially harmful level,' according to new research in Finland."

"Climate change poses the greatest threats to the development of small island nations, a new U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) report out today finds."

"Will Russian President Vladimir Putin get richer thanks to a sweetheart government coal deal in Montana? Last month the Treasury Department informed Congress that Mr. Putin personally held an interest in an international oil and gas investment fund called the Gunvor Group, run out of Geneva, Switzerland. Team Putin adamantly denied his involvement, but the Treasury Department insisted it was right."

"Pregnant women exposed to lead had newborns who scored slightly lower on tests measuring reflexes and other skills tied to brain development, according to a new study from China."

"Venom from one of the world's most poisonous spiders may help save the world's honeybees, providing a biopesticide that kills pests but spares the precious pollinators."

"Work started June 2 on a 32-billion-yen ($314 million) project to build an underground frozen wall at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to address a chronic problem plaguing work at the site."

"China said on Tuesday it will set an absolute cap on its CO2 emissions from 2016 just a day after the United States announced new targets for its power sector, signalling a potential breakthrough in tough U.N. climate talks."

"Enormous amounts of capital investment — up to $2.5 trillion a year — will be needed to supply the world’s energy needs through 2035, according to a report released Monday by the International Energy Agency, the intergovernmental organization based in Paris."'

"The Obama administration's proposed power plant regulations out today are a 'welcome development' for the global climate change negotiations, U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres will say in a statement today."