A ban on selling most ivory products in Hong Kong has come into effect, the culmination of a three-year process to eliminate the once rampant trade in the city.

In the flat expanse of the Dutch countryside, Corne de Rooij nostalgically strokes the muzzles of his calves, wondering how long he will be able to keep them.

At least eight people have been killed in flash flooding in Iran's south due to heavy rains expected to last until later this week, state media reported on Tuesday.

Draft European Union plans that would allow nuclear and gas energy to remain part of the bloc's path to a climate-friendly future came under immediate criticism over the weekend from both environmentalists and some governing political parties in EU member nations.

In draft conclusions seen by The Associated Press, the EU's executive commission proposes a classification system for defining what counts as an investment in sustainable energy. Under certain conditions, it would allow gas and nuclear energy to be part of the mix.

Authorities in several Gulf countries have renewed weather warnings as several days of heavy rains batter the usually arid region.

The winter grassland fire that blew up along Colorado's Front Range was rare, experts say, but similar events will be more common in the coming years as climate change warms the planet — sucking the moisture out of plants — suburbs grow in fire-prone areas and people continue to spark destructive blazes.

"These fires are different from most of the fires we've been seeing across the West, in the sense that they're grass fires and they're occurring in the winter," said Jonathan Overpeck, a professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. "Ultimately, things are going to continue to get worse unless we stop climate change."

China wants to use the Beijing Winter Olympics to showcase its green credentials but there are concerns over the environmental cost of a Games relying on artificial snow in one of the driest places in the country.

A herd of endangered wild elephants are rampaging through a safari park in Bangladesh, with officials warning Sunday the creatures were acting aggressively and posed a serious safety threat.

The herd of at least 13 elephants knocked down a seven-foot (two-meter) concrete wall to break into the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park, north of the resort city of Cox's Bazar, earlier this week.

India's tiger conservation body said 126 of the endangered big cats died in 2021, the most since it began compiling data a decade ago.

A thaw-out is coming for frozen Seattle and Portland, Oregon, but not before another round of snow that could compound problems for a region more accustomed to winter rain than arctic blasts.

More snow and rain fell on California on Wednesday, causing travel disruptions on mountain routes and raising the risk of debris flows from wildfire burn scars.