Pressure on China's leaders to cut pollution from coal is likely to intensify - potentially hurting Australia's exports - with new research showing Beijing's air quality will get worse with climate change.

Sydney has sloshed through yet another wet weekend, with 222 millimetres of rain soaking the city over the past 19 days.

The critical reef tourism industry in Queensland is about to take a dive.

Rain will continue on Saturday in a miserable March that may break rainfall records.

Port Stephens' blue water wonderland isn't just popular with the tens of thousands of tourists who visit each summer.

What if the biggest government announcement in electricity generation in years was both a great breakthrough and a distraction?

Taronga Zoo is celebrating the arrival of an endangered pygmy hippo calf, the first born at the zoo in nearly seven years.

Authorities say they had no choice but to shoot the airport service dog that delayed more than a dozen flights on Friday morning.

It is easy now, as thousands stream blithely each winter to the ski fields of the Snowy Mountains, to overlook the monumental events of last century on those heights that still affect our daily lives and our industries, and how, in the exploitation of the high country, Australia was transformed, economically and culturally.

Parents hoping to avoid Saturday sport-induced gridlock this weekend may be in luck.

A Bill passed Parliament, recognising the river as an indivisible and living whole from the mountains to the sea.

Flash flooding that hit parts of NSW on Wednesday is unlikely to dry up on Thursday with the state to cop another drenching.

The world is 33 months into its biggest recorded coral bleaching event with little sign of it ending, raising the prospect that coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef will increase "significantly" from the quarter already lost in the past year, scientists say.

Thai customs have confiscated 21 rhino horns with an estimated value of nearly $US5 million ($6.6 million) in the biggest such seizure in Thailand for years, officials said on Tuesday.

Sydney has been drenched by more than 35 millimetres of rain in less than a day as roads and homes start to flood and with no reprieve in sight until next week.

Most of Sydney can expect steady showers from late this afternoon, with commuting likely to be a damp affair on Wednesday morning too.

Almost 60 per cent of NSW's mammal species and a third of the birds on the endangered list and conditions are getting worse.

"It was very interesting watching this iridescent aquamarine colour light up the waves as they crashed. It was as good as shooting the Aurora Australis, but a bit easier."

Sydney looks to have dodged the worst of the widespread storm activity over inland NSW but keeping raingear handy will remain the sensible option for residents for days to come.

Issues at two of Australia's largest radioactive waste stores have put a controversial and longstanding government plan back under the spotlight.

The unprecedented death of Australia's northern mangrove forests has been put down to a lack of water.

• EXCLUSIVE

CSIRO has been slapped with a $30 million clean up bill after barrels full of radioactive waste were found to be "deteriorating rapidly" and possibly leaking.

The Sydney region could be in for a stormy evening with thunderstorms possible well into the night, with soaking rain to follow on Tuesday, forecasters said.

Sydney commuters could be in for a stormy ride home with thunderstorms predicted.

Waves of "ferocious" thunderstorms are expected to lash NSW on Monday.

A moose on the loose caught several skiers and snowboarders by surprise as it galloped headlong down a run at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado.

"It's wrecking the green grid that is fundamental to a healthy and liveable city."

• ANALYSIS

So how did we get here?

Fabulous places, fascinating friends and buying stuff: having an admin job in a global circus is a blast, says Melbourne woman.

A wildflower superbloom is underway in a Californian desert after seven inches of winter rain.