TOP STORY

Shell Pays Out $15.5m Over Nigerian Killings

"The oil giant Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m (£9.6m) in settlement of a legal action in which it was accused of having ­collaborated in the execution of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of the Ogoni tribe of southern Nigeria...In the lawsuit, the families of the Ogoni nine alleged Shell conspired with the military government to capture and hang the men. Shell was also accused of a series of other alleged human rights violations, including working with the army to bring about killings and torture of Ogoni ­protesters." [The Guardian]

AUDIO

The State of the Oceans

"The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gives an update on the state of the oceans. She explains how climate change is affecting the Pacific and Atlantic and what the administration plans to do about over-fished waters." [The Diane Rehm Show - WAMU]

RECOMMENDED READING

Menaces to Oceans: CO2, Plastic Bags, Overfishing

"The world's seas are filled with too much garbage and too few fish with flimsy plastic bags and government subsidies bearing much of the blame, activists and trade officials said Monday on the first U.N. World Oceans Day." [Reuters]

Will health care eclipse climate in Congress this year?

"Health care and climate are jockeying for legislative position, but in reality, the jockeying seems over: health care won. The question now is, can a climate bill still pass when most of the attention and passion of the political left are focused elsewhere?"  [Grist]

KBR, Halliburton Sued Over War-Zone’s Toxic Burn Pits

"Confronted with the need to dispose of enormous quantities of war-related trash including batteries, pesticide containers, medical waste and even human body parts, but lacking proper incinerators, private contractors working for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan came up with a simple solution. They burned the trash in big, open pits. But now soldiers, contractors and civilians have filed a series of class-action lawsuits against the companies behind the burning, saying the smoke from the pits—which at times was so heavy it reduced visibility to only a few yards and filled soldiers’ living quarters—contained toxic chemicals that have left them with severe respiratory problems, chronic infections and even cancer."   [Grist]

House Climate Bill Would Trim Budget Deficit, CBO Says

"The House global warming bill slated for floor debate this summer is projected to trim the federal budget deficit over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office states in a report released Friday." [ClimateWire - New York Times]