The exploratory well was the first in the Chukchi in 24 years.

Over the summer, protesters in kayaks unsuccessfully tried to block Arctic-bound Shell vessels in Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

Shell has spent about $7 billion on Arctic offshore development on the hope that there would be deposits worth pursuing.

Prime minister Mariano Rajoy’s government has made it clear it will use all legal methods to prevent the independence of Catalonia, which accounts for nearly a fifth of Spain’s economic output.

China's growing pains have rippled through many countries with which it has deep trade ties.

As demand for raw materials dropped, it's sent prices careening for everything from crude oil and copper to iron ore. That's led mining and oil exploration companies to cut back on spending on the heavy equipment that Caterpillar produces.

Given those challenges, Caterpillar dimmed its 2015 sales targets and warned next year's revenue could decline by 5%. That would mark the first time in Caterpillar's 90-year history that sales have declined for four straight years.

the 10,000 job cut estimate includes the potential closing of more than 20 unspecified manufacturing facilities. The company will offer a voluntary retirement enhancement program for qualifying employees that will be completed by the end of 2015.

Earlier this week the company said retail sales of its machinery slumped 11% between June and August. The company felt the greatest pressure in China and Latin America.

China’s economy depends heavily on cheap coal-fired electricity, and the country has a history of balking at outside reviews of its industries. China has also been plagued by major corruption cases, particularly among coal companies.

Domestic and external pressures have driven the Chinese government to take firmer action to curb emissions from fossil fuels, especially coal. Growing public anger about the noxious air that often envelops Beijing and many other Chinese cities has prompted the government to introduce restrictions on coal and other sources of smog, with the side benefit of reducing carbon dioxide pollution.

The climate deal will be a substantial, if rare, bright spot in a wide-ranging summit meeting that is expected to be dominated by potential sources of friction between Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi.

The president plans to raise a number of contentious topics on Friday, White House aides said, including cyberattacks on American companies and government agencies, China’s increasingly aggressive reclamation of islands and atolls in disputed areas of the South China Sea, and Mr. Xi’s clampdown on dissidents and lawyers in China.

Under a cap-and-trade system, a concept created by American economists, governments place a cap on the amount of carbon pollution that may be emitted annually. Companies can then buy and sell permits to pollute. Western economists have long backed the idea as a market-driven way to push industry to cleaner forms of energy, by making polluting energy more expensive.

he past two years, the homeless population in the city of Los Angeles has grown by 12%, and Los Angeles County as a whole has seen an 85% uptick in the number of people scraping by without a solid roof over their heads.

The city already uses about $100 million on issues related to homelessness, but a vast majority of that goes to breaking up encampments and keeping homeless people on the move.

Cedillo's comments came as the city passed two controversial ordinances that sought to deal with the issue of homelessness mainly by way of making the lives of the homeless more difficult. The ordinances made it easier for the city to clean out homeless encampments and remove personal property that people leave out on sidewalks and in parks. They also shortened the warning notice the city is required to give someone before confiscating property they leave out in public from 72 hours to 24 hours, and eliminated notice for anything that can't fit in a 60-gallon city trash receptacle. Most critically, violation of the ordinances are punishable by citation or misdemeanor charges.

In August, the Department of Justice harshly criticized anti-homelessness laws like the ones that LA passed this summer.

Human rights groups have accused Egyptian authorities of widespread violations since the army toppled the country's first democratically elected president, Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, after mass protests against his rule two years ago.

The pardons were announced on the same day that France said it had agreed to sell Egypt two French Mistral helicopter carriers, whose planned sale to Russia had been canceled.