International

"BP made a record pre-tax profit in the first quarter of double its $9bn for the same period in 2012, the company announced on Tuesday, as a Norwegian regulator rebuked the company for a 2012 oil spill in the North Sea."

"The latest round of international climate change talks commenced [Monday] with the now perennial warning about the need for greater urgency from governments as they battle to curb global greenhouse gas emissions."

"Scientists monitoring global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations report that, for the first time in human history, CO2 levels could soon rise above 400 parts per million for a sustained period of time in much of the Northern Hemisphere."

"SYDNEY — China is rapidly assuming a global leadership role on climate change alongside the United States, a new study said Monday, but it warned greenhouse gas emissions worldwide continue to rise strongly."

"GENEVA -- At the start of a major conference to regulate chemical and hazardous waste safety, top officials voiced optimism Saturday that delegates will approve new international controls on several industrial compounds and agree to clamp down on some cross-border pollution."

"Demand for metals is likely to increase tenfold as developing economies surge ahead, putting severe stress on the natural environment, a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned."

"U.S. officials and experts have expressed strong reservations about the plan to operate a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori to recover fissionable plutonium while most of the nation's reactors remain shuttered, a Japan Atomic Energy Commission member said."

"COPEMISH, Mich. — A team led by a nurseryman from northern Michigan and his sons has raced against time for two decades, snipping branches from some of the world's biggest and most durable trees with plans to produce clones that could restore ancient forests and help fight climate change."

"Few Torontonians know there are oil pipelines beneath the city and that Enbridge has applied to make significant changes to one of them."

Beekeepers in the remote hills of southern Greece are not seeing colony collapse disorder in their hives. The reason may be that the bees are not exposed to pesticides.