Oceania

The Stroke a Chord choir in Melbourne, Australia, is made of people who have lost their abilities to speak normally because of strokes. But thanks to a quirk of the brain, they’re still able to express themselves in song.

The genteel world of cricket was rocked this week by the death of Phillip Hughes, an Australian star who was seemingly on his way to greatness. Hughes was hit in the neck by a bowled ball, highlighting the dangers of a sport many think of as an easygoing pastime.

Pig-nosed turtles are so cute that thousands of them are being smuggled by animal traffickers to be sold as exotic pets. But while they’re adorable as babies, they grow up to become big, feisty animals that many people abandon  — a problem for a species that’s considered threatened.

In the Pacific Ocean, west and south of Hawaii, is what was until recently one of the largest marine sanctuaries on earth. Now, however, it has been expanded — to nearly six times its original size. And scientists are thrilled.

Leaders from all over the world have gathered in New York to attend the UN Climate Summit. The first thing they heard was an impassioned poem from a mother and activist from the Marshall Islands, a tiny nation in the Pacific that may no longer exists if climate change isn’t halted.