WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — All of the 145 pilot whales that stranded themselves on a remote New Zealand beach have died.

However, conservation workers are hoping to save some of the eight pygmy killer whales that remained stranded Monday at the other end of the country in an unrelated event.

A hiker discovered the pilot whales in two pods about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) apart late Saturday on Stewart Island. About 75 were already dead and conservation workers decided to euthanize the others due to their poor condition and remote location.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt has created a new high-powered human rights watchdog agency, but its primary mission isn’t to protect Egyptians from violations. Instead, the body is foremost aimed at protecting the government from allegations of rights abuses and defending it on the international stage.

The new body reflects an attitude of the state under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that sees criticism over human rights as intended to undermine the government and cause instability at a time when it is facing militant threats and trying to rebuild a battered economy.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said that the Indians must heed to the ethics and morality of the Constitution. If we don’t, “our hubris will end with a plunge into chaos”, he warned.

Chief Justice said that the Constitution was “the voice of the marginalised as well as the prudence of the majority”.

KIEV, November 26. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada’s Security and Defense Committee has unanimously approved a bill declaring martial law in the country.

The Verkhonva Rada’s closed-door meeting on the bill is scheduled to begin at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT).

Raipur, Nov 26; PTI: Eight Naxals and two police personnel were killed in an encounter between ultras and security men in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Monday, police said.

The gunbattle took place at a forest in Kistaram area bordering Telangana, around 500 km from here, when a team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxal operation, Sukma's Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meena told PTI.

Eight bodies of Naxals have been found at the encounter spot, he said.

COLOMBO, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal on Monday accepted a legal challenge against newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his cabinet, deepening the political crisis that enters its second month in the island country, local media reported.

The court accepted the petition filed by 122 legislators against Rajapaksa and 48 others who have been named as ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers in the new government appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena.

The case is to be taken up for preliminary hearing on Friday.

Islamabad, Nov 26 (PTI) Thousands of Sikh pilgrims from across the world have gathered at Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Pakistan's Punjab province to celebrate the 549th birth anniversary of Sikhim's founder Guru Nanak Dev.

Security was beefed up in and around the gurdwara - one of the most sacred places of Sikh religion - where dozens of officials from the security agencies were deployed, Dawn reported on Monday.

Bengaluru, Nov 26 (PTI) ISRO is all set to launch its workhorse rocket PSLV-C43 carrying India's earth observation satellite HysIS and 30 co-passenger satellites, including 23 from the US, from Sriharikota on November 29.

The space agency said the 45th flight of PSLV will be launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

"HysIS is an earth observation satellite developed by ISRO. It is the primary satellite of the PSLV-C43 mission.

ISTANBUL, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Monday launched a comprehensive search into two adjoining villas in the northwestern province of Yalova over the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, local media reported.

Crime scene units started their search inside a two-storey building in the Samanli village early in the morning, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

The units later expanded their drone-backed exploration into an adjacent villa, conducting a detailed examination of a well in the garden, Anadolu said.

SANAA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- A mother and her five children were killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah on Monday, local residents and medics said.

Three others from the same family were wounded in the air raid which hit their house in Yamanah village of Haradh district in the morning.

A day earlier, four people were killed and five others injured when a coalition airstrike hit a fuel station in Mastaba district in the same province, which borders Saudi Arabia.

TEHRAN, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 634 people were injured in the magnitude-6.4 earthquake that hit Kermanshah province in western Iran on Sunday, Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.

There has been no death report in the quake so far, the report quoted Mahamoud Reza, president of Medical Science University of Kermanshah province, as saying.

26 Nov 2018; AFP: Central American migrants who traveled to far northern Mexico hoping to seek asylum in the United States returned disheartened to a nearby camp Monday after US border police drove them off with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Migrants who were driven back when they tried to rush the border flocked back to the camp where some 5,000, mostly from Honduras, were staying in hope of eventually becoming US residents.

Some 500 migrants stumbled back into camp, dirty, scared and with ripped clothes.