SYDNEY - Scientists Thursday warned the world faced mass global coral bleaching next year driven by the warming effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon, and it could be the worst on record. A study by the University of Queensland and the US National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said it would be only the third recorded global bleaching event in history, with areas such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef set to be hard hit. “If conditions continue to worsen, the Great Barrier Reef is set to suffer from widespread coral bleaching and subsequent mortality, the most common effect of rising sea temperatures,” said the university’s Global Change Institute director Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.–AFP