Australia & Oceania

"Australia will abandon plans to dump 3 million cubic meters of dredged sand into the Great Barrier Reef area in its effort to create the world's biggest coal port, the Australian Financial Review reported on Tuesday.

The fragile reef, which stretches 2,300 km (1,430 miles) along Australia's east coast, and sprawls over an area half the size of Texas, was the centerpiece of a campaign by green groups and tour operators opposing the plan.

"Under threat from rising sea levels and tsunamis, the authorities of a provincial capital in the Solomon Islands have decided to relocate from a small island in the first such case in the Pacific islands."

"Australia’s Senate voted to scrap the nation’s price on carbon, fulfilling Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s election campaign pledge to abolish a 'toxic tax' he said threatened the nation’s economy."

"Australia's lower house of parliament on Monday voted to scrap the country's controversial carbon tax, setting up a final showdown in the Senate as early as Tuesday to decide the scheme's fate."

"Tourists and coastal residents were evacuating parts of the Great Barrier Reef on Thursday as a powerful cyclone intensified in the Coral Sea and made its way towards Australia's northeast."

"Relief agencies were sending aid to Tonga on Monday amid reports of extensive damage to low-lying islands in the South Pacific archipelago after they were battered by a strong cyclone at the weekend."

"Something unusual rained down on residents of Queensland, Australia, over the weekend. In a bizarre incident, thousands of bats reportedly fell from the sky in the northeastern state. While the mass deaths may seem baffling, it appears Australia's heat wave is to blame."

"TACLOBAN, Philippines -- The typhoon that recently barreled through the Philippines has left in its wake one of the most profound resettlement crises in decades, with the number of newly homeless far exceeding the capacity of aid groups and the government to respond."

"WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A New Zealand judge on Tuesday rejected a Kiribati man’s claim that he should be granted refugee status because of climate change."

"Scientists have discovered three new species of animals in a rainforest 'lost world' in Australia, protected for millions of years by almost impenetrable stacks of granite boulders."