"The Interior Department moved closer to establishing habitat protections for the polar bear yesterday by sending its proposed rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review."

"Twenty-six countries Friday issued a joint statement putting diplomatic pressure on Iceland to abandon whaling. Icelandic whalers have killed more than 200 whales so far since June, including endangered 125 fin whales and 79 smaller and more abundant minke whales."

"Arab officials in the Persian Gulf strongly denied Tuesday a report that they're in secret talks to replace the U.S. dollar with a basket of currencies to price oil."

"A new study for the federal Minerals Management Service concludes that the construction of pipelines related to oil and gas production in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico 'can cause locally intense habitat changes, thereby contributing to the loss of critically important land and wetland areas.'"

"Clean sand and silt will be used to cover a vast deposit of the pesticide DDT and toxic compound PCB on the ocean floor off Southern California, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday."