A London court on Thursday ruled affected Nigerian communities cannot sue Royal Dutch Shell for oil spills in the Niger Delta region. Several rights groups see the ruling as a setback in holding multinational oil companies accountable for their actions in other countries.

The court ruled the case against the Netherlands-based company should be heard in Nigeria instead and concluded the parent company has no responsibility for its Nigerian subsidiary.

In hearings about the water crisis in Flint, Mich., several lawmakers suggested the city could be the tip of an iceberg of disintegrating residential water-distribution systems in the United States.

WASHINGTON—Residents in Flint, Mich., have been stuck in limbo for months as government officials ricochet blame for poisoning the city’s water supply and endangering the lives of thousands of children.

“This is the United States of America, this is not a third-world country,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “This is a failing at every level—the public has the right to be outraged.”

The isolated Western town of Burns, Ore., waits in worry today over what might happen next between the federal government and angry ranchers taking a stand for land rights. 

For these first two weeks of December, Paris is the scene of a city within a city. As many as 50,000 people from nearly 200 countries have descended on the French capital for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Representatives from government, business and nonprofit organizations are seeking to hammer out a deal that will cap greenhouse gas emissions thatsome scientists say contribute to global warming. But critics say the much-touted summit will only generate more hot air.

WEST VIRGINIA—Bo Webb knows when his family arrived in West Virginia: 1821. He lives where his family has long lived, in Peachtree Hollow in coal country. The mountains press close to the roads, which are lined with old storefront Pentecostal and Baptist churches. The towns around here, like Eunice, are named after coal mining executives’ wives, mothers, and sisters. Children play football in a field next to a coal processing facility.