Illegal poaching, logging and fishing of sometimes critically endangered species is taking place in nearly half of the world's most protected natural sites, environmental campaigners WWF warned Tuesday.

The key to the survival of the world's threatened coral reefs may lie in the waters surrounding a small volcanic island off the coast of Japan, scientists say.

Nepal's government is trying to tackle rising pollution levels in the smog-choked Kathmandu Valley, but standing in the way is a powerful bus mafia that controls the capital's roads.

"It's not a bird, it's a rat -- and it's squatting on my terrace," Ali says of his new neighbor, a yellow-legged gull -- a pest ubiquitous in the Algerian capital.

The French government on Sunday published a decree for closing the country's oldest nuclear plant, fulfilling a campaign-trail pledge made by President Francois Hollande who is now in the final weeks of office.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared Friday the official end of the state's drought that lasted more than five years.

Despite lifting the drought emergency in all but four counties, the governor kept in place water reporting requirements, as well as bans on practices like watering during or following rainfall and hosing off sidewalks.

The Dead Sea was to come alive with music and an extravagant light show Thursday with a concert by electro pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre to draw attention to its shrinking water levels.

It starts with torrential rain in the mountains. Then a wall of mud and boulders comes barreling down the slopes, sweeping away houses, cars and people.

Conservationists on Monday captured a rare one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal as part of an attempt to increase the number of the vulnerable animals, which are prized by wildlife poachers.

Rescuers clawed through piles of mud and twisted debris Sunday searching for survivors after violent mudslides destroyed homes in southern Colombia, killing over 200 people and injuring hundreds more.

They were the latest victims of deadly floods and mudslides that have struck the Pacific side of South America over recent months, also killing scores of people in Peru and Ecuador.