SMALL HOPE: While a video shot offers hopes that the `baiji' may not be extinct after all, a Chinese researcher said the footage was taken from afar and was not very clear
A white dolphin native to China's Yangtze River that scientists declared extinct last year has possibly been spotted swimming in the wild, offering a small shred of hope for the animal's revival, a researcher said.

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ROUND UP: While the protesters showed no sign of giving up, analysts said they did not expect the momentum to last as the public is afraid to join in
Myanmar's military government has ordered local officials and hotels to be on the look-out for key pro-democracy activists as it tries to squash unusually persistent protests sparked by fuel price hikes, an official said yesterday.

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WARMING UP: General Cao Gangchuan's visit to Japan was the first by a Chinese defense minister since 1998, before relations between Tokyo and Beijing turned icy
Japan and China agreed yesterday to work to ease military tensions through a crisis hotline and ship exchanges despite lingering unease over Taiwan and Beijing's growing defense spending.

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Japan's most prominent opposition leader yesterday rebuffed an appeal by visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to maintain its support for the "war on terror" in Afghanistan, which has been unpopular here.

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More than 1,100km2 of land in economically booming southern China will be inundated by rising sea-levels by 2050 due to global warming, state press said yesterday.

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Taliban militants released four more South Korean hostages in central Afghanistan yesterday, witnesses said.

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FRAUD SPREE: Western Union believe the same person was responsible for an earlier scam in which he contacted providers pretending he worked for the company
The FBI is looking into a spate of bomb threats phoned in to businesses in a dozen states that resulted in employees wiring thousands of dollars overseas.

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STREET FIGHTING: Senator Alejandro Navarro told reporters the government had made a mistake by banning the protesters from the presidential grounds
Thousands of Chileans demanding more state benefits clashed with police who used tear gas and water cannons on Wednesday to quell the giant street protest, injuring 50 people.

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Prison officers were ordered to return to work by union officials on Wednesday after a surprise 24-hour strike in England and Wales that caused disruption and drew a legal challenge from the government.

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New Orleans on Wednesday mourned the huge losses inflicted by Hurricane Katrina two years ago, as US President George W. Bush sought to dispel lingering anger, vowing better days lay ahead.

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