The New York Times will close its environment desk in the next few weeks and assign its seven reporters and two editors to other departments. The positions of environment editor and deputy environment editor are being eliminated. [InsideClimate News]
A persistent drought held its grip on America’s bread basket on Thursday, with no sign of relief for the four main wheat-growing states. [Guardian]
Adding to the troubles plaguing Shell Alaska and its drilling program in the Arctic, the Environmental Protection Agency announced late Thursday that it had issued air pollution citations to both of the company’s Arctic drilling rigs for “multiple permit violations” during the 2012 drilling season. [Los Angeles Times]
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has added a climate change counsel to her committee staff. [The Hill]
Japan’s environment ministry plans to set up a fund to promote clean energy projects and to seek investment from the private sector. [Bloomberg]
The Met Office has hit back at claims that it conceded there is no evidence for global warming and that its weather forecasts are inaccurate. [Guardian]
Mercury pollution in the top layer of the world’s oceans has doubled in the past century, part of a man-made problem that will require international cooperation to fix, the U.N.’s environment agency said Thursday. [Associated Press]
The World Bank can make a difference in areas such as climate change, education and health, President Jim Yong Kim said, as he crafts a strategy for the poverty- fighting lender. [Bloomberg]