"U.S. wildlife officials announced a decision Tuesday to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies after years of warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change."

"President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he planned to expedite federal regulatory approvals, including all environmental permits, for any company or individual proposing to invest $1 billion or more in a construction project."

"Thousands of Southern California residents were under evacuation orders and warnings Tuesday as firefighters battled a wind-driven wildfire in Malibu that burned near celebrities’ seaside mansions, horse farms and Pepperdine University, where students watched as flames raced down hillsides and the sky turned deep red."

"Federal prosecutors sidestepped some Justice Department rules when they seized the phone records or emails of reporters as part of media leak investigations during the Trump administration, according to a new watchdog report being released as the aggressive practice of hunting for journalists’ sources could again be resurrected."

"Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats to pass a bipartisan bill that would give journalists greater protections under federal law – a move that comes in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump opposing the measure."

"The explosion of crisp, commercial apple varieties in the last century doomed many other breeds into obscurity. But in a field in Kent in the UK, some of them live on."

"A huge poplar tree stands proud in Maribel Ek’s courtyard, adorned with a sign that reads: “Florece desde adentro” (“It blooms from within”). Deep underground, the tree’s long roots search for the water that makes this land special: a sinkhole lake, known as a cenote."

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"Global accord lets oil firms sue over green policies. Pact signatories agree to reforms. Eleven European countries have quit treaty."

"A legal fight over an 88-mile proposed railway in Utah has set the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide how federal agencies evaluate the environmental impacts of projects requiring their approval, a decision with the potential to drastically shift how projects are permitted across the nation."

"Human-caused global warming helped increase dry conditions on every continent, scientists said in a new report, as talks on halting desertification were underway in Saudi Arabia."