About 100 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins have died in a mass stranding on the remote Chatham Islands, about 800 km off New Zealand's east coast, officials said on Wednesday.
Most of them were stranded during the weekend but rescue efforts have been hampered by the remote location of the island.
New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) said in total 97 pilot whales and three dolphins died in the stranding, adding that they were notified of the incident on Sunday.
"Only 26 of the whales were still alive at this point, the majority of them appearing very weak, and were euthanised due to the rough sea conditions and almost certainty of there being great white sharks in the water which are brought in by a stranding like this,” said DOC Biodiversity Ranger Jemma Welch.
Mass strandings are reasonably common on the Chatham Islands, with up to 1,000 animals dying in a single stranding in 1918.
Mass whale strandings have occurred throughout recorded modern history, and why it happens is a question that has puzzled marine biologists for years.
In late September, several hundred whales died in shallow waters off the Australian coast in one of the world's biggest mass whale strandings.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that India and Pakistan had agreed to a "full and immediate ceasefire" after a fourth day of strikes and counter-strikes against each other's military installations.
The Group of Seven (G7) major countries on Friday urged India and Pakistan to engage in direct dialogue as hostilities rise between the nuclear-armed neighbours, while the US government said it has offered assistance in starting "constructive talks".
An order was lifted on Saturday to confine around 160,000 people in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region after a fire at an industrial estate caused a toxic cloud of chlorine over a wide area, the regional government said.
A facility that guides air traffic in and out of Newark airport suffered a new 90-second communications outage early on Friday, the second in two weeks that prompted an air traffic controller to complain "Scopes just went black again" to a nearby FedEx flight.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks in Kyiv on Saturday in a show of unity a day after Russia's Vladimir Putin hosted his allies at a Victory Day parade in Red Square.
Sudanese nationals in the UAE will be exempt from paying outstanding residency or visa fines under a move by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP) to help them regularise their stay.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, has welcomed the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, expressing hope that it contributes to enhancing security and stability in the region.
The UAE has outlined its "sincere efforts" over the last two years to seek a civilian-led political solution in Sudan that protects innocents from "tragedy and humanitarian suffering".