Villagers tend to a three-metre-long short-finned pilot whale along the beach of Bolong in Zamboanga City, Mindanao island, yesterday. The wounded short-finned whale was spotted by residents and was given first aid before it was led back into the sea.
Seven hurt by World War II bomb
Seven Russians who had been enjoying a forest outing were in hospital yesterday after they accidentally set off a buried piece of ammunition dating back to World War II, news agencies reported.
The incident took place in the country's western Kaliningrad region, near the village of Vzmorie, located along an inlet of the Baltic Sea close to the border with Poland.
"The explosion, which is believed to have been of a buried armament from the times of the Great Patriotic War, went off in the forest when a fire was lit," an unnamed security official told the RIA-Novosti news agency.
Iran to hang Sunni rebel, 11 others
Iran will execute 12 members of a Sunni rebel group, including one of its senior militants, by the end of this week, the Fars news agency reported yesterday.
Abdolhamid Rigi, brother of Abdolmalik Rigi who heads the shadowy Sunni group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), will hang along with 11 others, the agency said quoting Hojateslam Ebrahim Hamidi, head of the judiciary in the restive southeast province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
"They will be hanged, inshallah, by the end of the week," said Hamidi, adding that the 12 have all been accused of being 'mohareb' - enemies of God.
Swine flu sweeps through camp
Swine flu struck a summer camp for children in the French Alps, affecting 24 youngsters and three adult supervisors, authorities said yesterday.
They said none of the cases was serious in the largest single outbreak in the country since the pandemic began.
The patients, among 35 children from the Paris region, had been put in quarantine in separate rooms and being treated, while the camp was sealed off by police.
The alarm was raised when flu symptoms appeared in three children two days ago.
France has recorded more than 400 cases of swine flu since the end of April but none has proved fatal.
Berlusconi 'sorry' for attack on Bruni
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday said "sorry" for an editorial attack on France's first lady Carla Bruni for staying away from events organised for the Group of Eight summit.
Il Giornale newspaper, owned by Berlusconi's brother, had accused the Italian wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy of "boorishness" for snubbing the official programme for G8 spouses.
"I was very upset and deeply sorry when I was told about the articles published in the Italian dailies, including Il Giornale, containing offensive remarks about Mme Carla Bruni, wife of the president of the French republic," Berlusconi said in a statement.
Sing when you're moaning
In a city where people daily take to the streets to shout and wave placards about everything from food scares to tax hikes, one enterprising group has decided to voice their frustrations in song.
The Hong Kong Complaints Choir has taken its cue from the English city of Birmingham, where the natives are known for the veracity and tenacity of their whinging, and where the first mass musical moaning took place.
Organisers say these tuneful tirades, performed by up to 40 choristers at a time, add a twist to Hong Kong's many and varied ways of public complaint.
British music fan killed in fall in Serbia
A young British music fan was killed when he fell off the ramparts of a fortress at Petrovaradin in northern Serbia, which is hosting the Exit international music festival, Beta news agency reported yesterday.
The 22-year-old from London, who was only identified by his initials E.J.F, was rushed to hospital in Novi Sad, 70 kilometres north of Belgrade, where he died of his injuries.
Beta quoted local magistrate Nenad Simovic as saying the fall was an accident and not provoked by a criminal or violent act.
Many British nationals are among the foreigners who have flocked to the festival where headline acts this year include the Arctic Monkeys, Manic Street Preachers, Moby, Korn and Madness.