"Only one in three people in Tanzania has access to piped water despite government efforts to improve water supplies with most of the population still relying on unsafe water that brings the risk of disease, according to a study on Thursday."

"Illegal levels of arsenic and mercury polluted the Rio Doce river in the days after a dam burst at an iron ore mine in early November in Brazil's worst-ever environmental disaster, according to tests by a state water agency."

"The destruction of Brazil's Amazon forest, the world's largest intact rainforest, increased by 16 percent in 2015 from a year ago as the government struggles to enforce legislation and stop illegal clearings."

"In April, Republicans newly in control of Congress celebrated their agreement on a plan to save $5 trillion — that’s trillion, with a 'T' — and balance the budget in a decade. 'We continue to get things done for the American people,' boasted the House speaker at the time, John A. Boehner. Yet as the year closes, Congress instead is planning to repeal one of the few spending cuts it has passed into law since approving that budget resolution: $3 billion over a decade from subsidies for crop insurers."

"President Obama will meet with the leaders of China and India when he arrives in Paris on Monday to spur momentum for a global warming accord that has become a top priority for the French government in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks."

"The Environmental Protection Agency is taking steps to withdraw approval of a controversial new weed killer to be used on genetically modified corn and soybeans."

"America's beekeepers are having a rough time. They lost an estimated 42 percent of their hives last year."

"Because of man-made global warming and a strong El Nino, Earth's wild weather this year is bursting the annual heat record, the World Meteorological Organization announced on Wednesday."

It could be harder to prosecute corporate polluters, producers of tainted food, and other white-collar criminals if a Koch-backed bill to reform criminal justice goes through.

"Several environmental and health groups are moving to protect a new rule limiting ozone levels against a lawsuit."