- Biden opens home to 'Quad' leaders for farewell summit
- Sally Rooney returns with 30-something questions
- Wallabies sense 'massive' chance to upset All Blacks
- Taiwan questions two in probe into Hezbollah pagers
- Viral Korean Olympic shooter scores first acting role as assassin
- Farrell set for 'challenge' of downing Bordeaux in Top 14
- Springbok Etzebeth diverts attention from looming caps record
- Inter on a high ahead of Milan derby as Napoli face Juve test
- Bank of Japan leaves key interest rate unchanged
- Asian markets track Wall Street record to extend global rally
- Guirassy and Anton to return to Stuttgart with new side Dortmund
- Marseille bidding to continue 'almost perfect' Ligue 1 start
- Arnold quits as coach of Australia men's football team
- Harris and Oprah hold star-studded US election rally
- Allies to remember failed WWII parachute operation
- Perez leading new-look Villarreal charge against leaders Barca
- Man City face Arsenal in Premier League title showdown, Postecoglou under pressure
- Fake celebrity endorsements, snubs plague US presidential race
- Documentary brings Argentine 'death flights' to the big screen
- Strike shows challenge to Boeing 'reset' of labor relations
- World leaders to gather at UN as crises grow and conflicts rage
- How plastic pollution poses challenge for Canada marine conservation
- Scientists track plastic waste in pristine Canada marine park
- South Africa's Buhai grabs LPGA Queen City lead
- Japan inflation firms to 2.8% ahead of BoJ rate decision
- Russia's Kadyrov accuses Musk of 'remotely disabling' his Cybertruck
- Titan sub had to abort a dive days before fatal implosion: testimony
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases
- Barca downed by Monaco as Arsenal held in Champions League stalemate
- Head's 'good night at office' after century seals win over England
- Dubois seeks legitimacy with Joshua scalp
- Rate cut could lift consumer spirits before US elections
- Last-gasp Gimenez strike sends Atletico past Leipzig
- Barca stumble at Monaco after early red card
- Raya heroics save Arsenal in Champions League opener at Atalanta
- Guardians beat Twins to secure MLB playoff berth
- Jihadist attack in Mali capital killed more than 70: security sources
- Alonso hails 'efficient' Leverkusen after Feyenoord rout
- Ex-Man United striker Anthony Martial joins AEK Athens
- NFL unbeatens meet as Texans visit Vikings, Steelers host Chargers
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI after Labuschagne strikes
- Dream debut for Wirtz as Leverkusen thump dire Feyenoord
- Myanmar flood death toll climbs to 293: state media
- Israel army says West Bank air strike kills 4 militants
- LIV golfers get green light for US Ryder Cup team, PGA Championship
- US accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'
- Ten Hag to bed Hojlund, Mount in carefully when they return for Man Utd
- Breaking bad as McIlroy endures 'weird' day
- EU chief announces $11 bn for nations hit by 'heartbreaking' floods
- Spanish PM, Palestinian leader urge Mideast de-escalation
230 pilot whales stranded in Australia, 'about half' feared dead
A pod of 230 pilot whales was found stranded on the rugged west coast of Tasmania Wednesday, with Australian officials saying only half appeared to be alive.
Aerial images showed a devastating scene of dozens of black glossy mammals strewn across a long beach, stuck on the waterline where the frigid southern ocean meets the sand.
Locals covered survivors with blankets and doused them with buckets of water to keep them alive, as other whales nearby tried in vain to twitch free and yet more lay dead.
The whales were "stranded near Macquarie Harbour" said the state's Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
"It appears about half of the animals are alive."
Officials said marine conservation experts and staff with whale rescue gear were en route to the scene.
They will try to refloat animals that are strong enough to survive and likely tow the carcasses out to sea, to avoid attracting sharks to the area.
It is almost two years to the day since Macquarie Harbour was the scene of the country's largest-ever mass stranding, involving almost 500 pilot whales.
More than 300 pilot whales died during that stranding, despite the efforts of dozens of volunteers who toiled for days in Tasmania's freezing waters to free them.
- Distress signals -
The cause of mass strandings is still not fully understood.
Scientists have suggested they could be caused by pods going off track after feeding too close to shore.
Pilot whales -- which can grow to more than six metres (20 feet) long -- are highly sociable and can follow podmates who stray into danger.
That sometimes occurs when old, sick or injured animals swim ashore and other pod members follow, trying to respond to the trapped whale's distress signals.
Others believe gently sloping beaches like those found in Tasmania confuse the whales' sonar making them think they are in open waters.
The news came just hours after a dozen young male sperm whales were reported dead in a separate mass stranding on King Island -- between Tasmania and the Australian mainland.
The young whales' deaths may be a case of "misadventure", wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon from the state government conservation agency told the local Mercury newspaper.
"The most common reason for stranding events is misadventure, they might have been foraging close to shore, there might have been food and possibly they were caught on a low tide," Carlyon said.
"That's the theory at the moment."
In nearby New Zealand strandings are also common.
There, around 300 animals beach themselves annually, according to official figures and it is not unusual for groups of between 20 and 50 pilot whales to run aground.
But numbers can run into the hundreds when a "super pod" is involved -- in 2017, there was a mass stranding of almost 700 pilot whales.
T.Vitorino--PC