International

After more than five years of negotiations, delegates from 64 countries reached broad consensus in Hong Kong Thursday on a new treaty regulating the recycling of ships.

"Nine more bird species have been added this year to the list of Critically Endangered birds that face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild...."

"A new analysis halves longstanding projections of how much sea levels could rise if Antarctica's massive western ice sheets fully disintegrated as a result of global warming."

"Germany is moving quickly to develop alternative energy, allowing individual homes to sell excess power to electric companies. Also, Abu Dhabi goes green and an icon of the environmental movement."

"The announcement by China-based Suntech reflects the value of federal and state incentives for renewable energy. It also counters a favorite argument on Capitol Hill that shifting to a clean energy future will send U.S. jobs overseas."

"A U.S. ban on the use of carbofuran in food won't affect production of the pesticide at the Institute chemical plant because most of the product is shipped overseas, officials said Tuesday."

"China's frenetic construction of coal-fired power plants has raised worries around the world about the effect on climate change. ... But ... China has emerged in the past two years as the world's leading builder of more efficient, less polluting coal power plants, mastering the technology and driving down the cost."

Blue Whales seem to be resuming a historic migration pattern between the California coast and the Gulf of Alaska for the first time since commercial whaling ended in 1965.