Repairing coral reefs after boats run aground. Shielding native forest trees from a killer fungus outbreak. Patrolling waters for swimmers harassing dolphins and turtles.

Taking care of Hawaii's unique natural environment takes time, people and money. Now Hawaii wants tourists to help pay for it, especially because growing numbers are traveling to the islands to enjoy the beauty of its outdoors — including some lured by dramatic vistas they've seen on social media.

Severe thunderstorms were expected to bring hail, strong winds — and the threat of tornadoes — to parts of the Midwest and South that are reeling from a weekend of deadly weather.

Officials warned residents to have shelter ready Tuesday night before going to sleep.

Forecasters are warning of more severe weather, including tornadoes, Tuesday and Wednesday in parts of the South and Midwest hammered just days ago by deadly storms.

That could mean more misery for people sifting through the wreckage of their homes in Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois. Dangerous conditions Tuesday also could stretch into parts of Missouri, southwestern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas. Farther south and west, fire danger will remain high.

The United States is Earth's punching bag for nasty weather.

Blame geography for the U.S. getting hit by stronger, costlier, more varied and frequent extreme weather than anywhere on the planet, several experts said. Two oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, jutting peninsulas like Florida, clashing storm fronts and the jet stream combine to naturally brew the nastiest of weather.

The anti-migrant wall being built in the northwest of the Dominican Republic crisscrosses a thick mangrove forest and threatens the ecosystem by depriving it of water, environmental groups warn.

The Dominican government wants to build a 160 kilometer (100 mile) concrete fence along the 380 kilometer border with Haiti to prevent illegal migrants from entering, and to "protect" the country from Haitian gangs with growing influence.

Plans to build wind farms next to a South African national park have riled wildlife activists who worry the turbines will ruin the landscape and impact elephants.

More than 200 turbines are slated to be erected in the vicinity of the Addo Elephant National Park, in the country's south, after the Environment Ministry dismissed a legal bid to block the project last year.

More than 50 years after the orca known as Lolita was captured for public display, plans are in place to return her from the Miami Seaquarium to her home waters in the Pacific Northwest, where a nearly century-old, endangered killer whale believed to be her mother still swims.

An unlikely coalition involving the theme park's owner, an animal rights group and an NFL owner-philanthropist announced the agreement during a news conference Thursday.

Meteorologists are urging people in parts of the Midwest and southern U.S. to be ready Friday for dangerous weather including tornadoes, saying the conditions are similar to those a week ago that unleashed a devastating twister that killed at least 21 people in Mississippi.

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms has the potential to cause hail, damaging wind gusts and tornadoes that could be strong and move on the ground over long distances, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.

European Union countries and negotiators from the EU's parliament reached a provisional deal Thursday to raise the share of renewables in the bloc's energy mix, another step to accelerate its green transition.

The European Council, which represents the 27 member nations, said the agreement reached after all-night negotiations would raise the renewable energy target to 42.5% of total consumption by 2030. The current goal is 32%.

In his more than a decade battling wildfires, firefighter Manuel Rubio had never seen a blaze like the one that raged for the past week in eastern Spain. Not this early in the year.

The forest fire that that broke out last Thursday near the village of Villanueva de Viver surprised Rubio and fire experts by displaying an unusual ferocity for spring, when in previous years lower temperatures helped keep fires manageable. That doesn't bode well for a country that led Europe in burned land during a record-hot 2022.