May 24, 2012:

BP agrees to spend more than $400 million to reduce noxious air pollution from a massive refinery in northwestern Indiana. The deal resolves a battle of nearly a decade over a $3.8 billion upgrade and expansion of BP’s Whiting refinery to process heavy crude oil pulled from tar sands in Canada.  Los Angeles approves a ban on plastic bags for supermarket purchases, the largest American city so far to do so.  The Environmental Protection Agency opens hearings in Washington and Chicago on a proposed standard for limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants.

From Ukraine and Russia to Australia to the United States, droughts are hurting wheat crops and threatening to cause a sharp spike in prices. Analysts say the markets may be overreacting because the memory of a severe drought in 2010 remains fresh and that if wetter conditions develop, crops still have a window for recovering.

By The New York Times