* NEW GUINEA-Good news for residents of Papua: the island isn't sinking after all. Last year, scientists believed that the island was slipping into the pacific so fast that they asked government officials to begin planning the relocation of 20000 residents it now seems the flooding that caused the concem was the result of a temporary rise in sea level that in La Nina years
* NEW YORK-An earthquake struck New York city around sunrise on Jan. 17.While it measured only 2.4 on the Richter scale and lasted just a few seconds, the quake rare in the big apple-sent residents. into the last measurable quake, a 4.0, hit in 1985
* ANTARCTICA-the West Antarctica Ice Sheet is melting faster than many researchers initially predicted . Researchers in Britain say nearly a cubic mile of ice has melted annually for eight years. At this rate , it will take several centuries for the sheet to melt, eventually raising sea levels by 45 ft.
*INDIA-the death toll is expected to reach 30000 and possibly as high as 100000 following a massive earthquake that struck the western state of Gujarat on Jan.26.Aid officials say most of the deaths were due to poorly engineered buildings, which collapsed in the first moments of the magnitude 7.9 quake.
* ALGERIA-An inactive volcano in Ras Aichet, 300 miles southeast of Algiers, briefly come to life on Jan.17,throwing boulders into the sky.
* NEW ZEALAND-The country's Rotorua region, on the North Island, was stuck by a series of 20 small earthquakes in mid-January . A more powerful 3.2 tremor rocked Manawatu.
* AUSTRALIA-Hail the size of softballs pelted the city of Casino in late January, downing power lines and sending six residents to the hospital.
* PHILIPPINES-Flash floods swept the Balugo River and its tributaries. Three people drowned and another 12000 were forced to flee 10 towns located 300 miles south of Manila.