Dozens of Philippine fishing boats tried to stop hundreds of disoriented dolphins from beaching themselves near the mouth of Manila Bay yesterday, officials said.
Inspector Edgardo Bernardo, police chief in Pilar town in Bataan, said many of the dolphins were found in shallow water and some had come ashore, including three in a bad condition due to wounds.
Malcolm Sarmiento, head of the fisheries and aquatic resources bureau, said experts were studying whether an underwater quake had disoriented the animals or the pack of dolphins followed a sick leader.
"Many strange things are happening in our oceans now and we still don't have any explanation for these occurrences," Inspector Sarmiento said.
Peering into muscle actions
Dutch researchers have developed a system they say could help people learn to walk and balance sooner after an injury or stroke by displaying a virtual image of their body and moving muscles on a screen in real time.
The digital imaging system allows doctors and physical therapists to peer into a person's body, highlighting which muscles are flexing as they move.
"It's like we're stripping off the skin and helping the doctor to see more clearly than they have before," said Michiel Westermann, chief executive officer of Motek Medical, a Dutch company which designed the system.
Using infrared strobe lights and eight cameras, the system tracks movements of individuals wearing reflective suits as they exercise. Muscle movements, monitored by reflectors on the suit, are shown within a virtual body double projected on a screen.
MTN chief in fraud row
Ivory Coast has expelled the local head of MTN, Africa's biggest mobile company, after he was caught up in an alleged attempt to extort nearly €100,000 from the company, MTN and local officials said on Tuesday.
According to the Interior Ministry, a secretary of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo duped MTN CEO Aimable Mpore into paying 65.5 million CFA francs (€99,820), supposedly so Mr Gbagbo could provide an ambulance to treat victims of a food poisoning outbreak.
A spokesman for Mr Gbagbo's presidency told state television last week that the secretary had been arrested after the incident was uncovered.
However, the ministry said Mr Mpore had discredited Ivory Coast's institutions by recording the payment in company accounts as a "gift to the head of state" and gave him five days from last Thursday to leave the country.
Ex-first lady pleads guilty
Taiwan former first lady Wu Shu-jen pleaded guilty yesterday in connection with a massive graft case embroiling her family after she showed up in court after 17 non-appearances in two years.
Ms Wu, who beamed and waved as she entered the Taipei District Court in a wheelchair, is charged with embezzlement and receipt forgery involving public funds. Prosecutors added a money-laundering charge in December.
She pleaded guilty to forgery and of accepting $2.2 million (€1.69 million) related to a suspected shady land use deal, but denied other graft charges.
"I will reflect and re-evaluate myself," Ms Wu told reporters after the hearing as she apologised for the "social costs" of her case. "I will cooperate with the investigation."
Realtors offer night discounts
With home sales plunging as the global financial crisis chokes domestic demand, Chilean real estate companies are offering apartments at what they say are cost prices at night - and even picking up buyers' air fares as an incentive.
Real estate companies seeking to sell hundreds of apartments grouped in dozens of complexes across the capital city of Santiago and the seaside resort of Vina del Mar conducted a coordinated sale at the weekend, imitating traditional late-night efforts in Latin America's retail sector.
With discounts of about 20 per cent to December's prices and the offer of flights and a hotel stay for those who travel from Chile's regions and agree to a purchase, the real estate firms say the steep discounting from 6 p.m. until midnight or later is proving an antidote to the global economic crisis.
"The night sale has brought the buyers back out," said Cristian Camus, who heads up a participating apartment complex in the centre of the capital.