The stranding was discovered by a hiker late Saturday on Stewart Island, 30 kilometres (19 miles) off the southern coast of the South Island.

Half of the whales were already dead and due to the condition of the remaining whales and the remote, difficult-to-access location, the decision was made to euthanise the remainder.

“Sadly, the likelihood of being able to successfully re-float the remaining whales was extremely low,” said Ren Leppens, the Department of Conservation’s operations manager on Stewart Island.

“The remote location, lack of nearby personnel and the whales’ deteriorating condition meant the most humane thing to do was to euthanise.

“However, it’s always a heart-breaking decision to make.”

It was one of four strandings discovered on New Zealand shores over the weekend which stretched DOC resources.

In the far north of New Zealand, eight pygmy killer whales were transported by truck to the east coast from the west where sea conditions were too rough to refloat them.

Two of the pod had to be euthanised, but Daren Grover of the marine conservation group Project Jonah said the remainder were saved by transporting them by road to the more-sheltered east coast 20 kilometres away.

“It’s highly stressful for the whales, but they’ll be using suitable padding to protect them,” he told Fairfax Media.

They were to be kept in a stream overnight and refloated at high tide on Tuesday morning.

There were two other whale strandings over the weekend in New Zealand, where beachings are relatively common with the conservation department responding to an average 85 incidents a year, mostly of single animals.

A sperm whale which beached in Doubtless Bay died overnight on Saturday, while the body of a dead female pygmy sperm whale was found at Ohiwa on the west coast of the North Island.

Exactly why whales and dolphins strand is not fully known but factors can include sickness, navigational error, geographical features, a rapidly falling tide, being chased by a predator, or extreme weather.

Philippines and Nepal has the highest number of women parliamentarians in Asia with 30% women legislatures in both the countries. It is significant jump for both the countries from 9% and 6% a decade back respectively.

Laos has a total of 28% of women in parliament while Vietnam follows closely with 27% of women parliamentarians.

China hasn’t progressed much from a decade back as compared to rise in other countries. It has increased the political participation for women only by 4 per cent. In 1997 the Chinese parliament had 21% women representation while as in 2017 it just rose to 24%.

It is followed by Singapore with 23% women and 21% in Pakistan. Bangladesh has 20% women participation.

Cambodia has made a visible stride in raising the percentage of women in the political system. From no women in politics a decade back the country has 20% women representation in parliament as of 2017. Mongolia and South Korea each has 17% womens’ representation.

Indian parliament has a 12% representation by women. Although there has been a long term bill pending demanding the extension of reservation to 33 per cent, the bill has been pending for a long term. India is followed by Malaysia with 10 per cent reservation.

Japan has a 10% participation of women in the parliament. Recently the country passed a law encouraging more women to take part in politics. “Under the new law, political parties are urged to make the number of male and female candidates as equal as possible and are encouraged to set targets for gender parity”.

Brunei and Sri Lanka has 9 and 6 per cent of womens’ representation. With only 5 % Thailand has the lowest political representation of women in Asia.

Amid hopes that hosting events will help revive the region, International Olympic Committee President Bach visited a stadium set to hold baseball and softball matches during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

During his visit, he told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he was “very much impressed” by the “great progress”.

“The Fukushima region is the suitable place to show the power of the Olympics, the power of sports,” Abe said, reiterating his hopes of showing the world the recovery of Fukushima and other disaster-hit areas during the sporting event, for which Tokyo is the designated host city.

Fukushima has also been chosen as the starting point for the Olympics torch relay.

The passing of the flame is scheduled to start on March 26, 2020, and the torch will head south to the subtropical island of Okinawa — the starting point for the 1964 Tokyo Games relay — before returning north and arriving in the Japanese capital on July 10.

The March 2011 tsunami, triggered by a massive undersea quake, killed around 18,000 people and swamped the Fukushima nuclear plant, sending its reactors into meltdown and leading to the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Tens of thousands of people evacuated their homes. Authorities have been working to rebuild the region, about 240 kilometres (150 miles) north of Tokyo, although areas near the crippled plant remain uninhabitable because of radiation dangers.

Khashoggi, former Saudi royal insider who became a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul last month.

His death unleashed a global wave of criticism against the crown prince, who Saudi officials say had no role in the killing.

“This is no eulogy, for that would confer a state of closure,” Noha Khashoggi and Razan Jamal Khashoggi wrote in a Post opinion piece published online Friday.

“Rather, this is a promise that his light will never fade, that his legacy will be preserved within us.”

The 59 year-old journalist was at the consulate in Istanbul seeking documents needed to marry his Turkish fiancee. Riyadh — after weeks of denial — said he was killed in a “rogue” operation.

The daughters remember their father, affectionately refered to as “Baba,” as a “loving man with a big heart” who traveled widely and always returned bearing “gifts and fascinating stories.”

“As bittersweet as it was, we knew from a young age … that he was an important man whose words had an effect on people over a great distance.”

It was vital for him “to speak up, to share his opinions, to have candid discussions,” the daughters recall.

For him “writing was not just a job; it was a compulsion. It was ingrained into the core of his identity, and it truly kept him alive.

“Now, his words keep his spirit with us, and we are grateful for that.”

Khashoggi had created a new life in the United States, but “he grieved” for his native Saudi Arabia, never abandoning hope for his country.

“Dad was no dissident,” the daughters wrote.

“If being a writer was ingrained in his identity, being a Saudi was part of that same grain.”

Some 3,000 police were deployed in the capital as demonstrators who have blocked French roads over the past week wearing their now signature high-visibility jackets were set to cause another day of disruption after calls to bring Paris to a standstill.

AFP reporters said several thousand had gathered by early Saturday on the famous Champs-Elysees where they clashed with police trying to prevent them moving down to the Place de la Concorde near the Louvre museum.

Police said the protestors had tried to break through a cordon several times but had been prevented from doing so, with tear gas used more than once.

“We have just demonstrated peacefully, and we were teargassed,” said Christophe, 49, who traveled from the Isere region in eastern France with his wife to protest in the capital. “We see how we are welcomed in Paris.”

Paris police authorities said Saturday’s incidents were linked to the “presence of members of the far-right who harassed the security forces.”

The ‘yellow vest’ protesters were seen ripping up paving stones or starting to build barricades.

Nearly 300,000 people blocked motorways, roundabouts, businesses, and fuel depots last Saturday and smaller protests have continued this week, with an estimated 5,000 people wearing the fluorescent yellow jackets taking part on Friday.

The demonstrations were sparked by an increase in diesel tax, justified as an anti-pollution levy by the government, but have since morphed into a broad opposition front to centrist Macron.

“I hope there will be a veritable yellow tide,” one of the leaders of the movement, right-wing political figure Frank Buhler, said this week as he urged supporters to descend on Paris.

But with some protesters baulking at the cost of travelling to the capital, it was unclear whether the organisers would achieve their aim of causing gridlock in the City of Light.

Protesters had converged early Saturday on the Place de l’Etoile at the top of the Champs-Elysee avenue, shouting “Macron resign”.

More than 35,000 people had vowed on Facebook to rally in the Place de la Concorde, a gathering banned by authorities due to its proximity to the presidential palace.

Protesters ‘demonised’

Police early Saturday had cordoned off the zone that included the Place de la Concorde, the National Assembly and a section of the Champs-Elysee.

“In this zone, no demonstration, no gathering, no march linked to the ‘yellow vests’ can take place,” said Paris police chief Michel Delpuech.

He said mobile police units backed by helicopters were ready to intervene in case of violence or attempts to block the Paris ring road.

Paris authorities have authorised a demonstration in a park next to the Eiffel Tower.

“The government has done everything to demonise the movement that will take place in Paris,” said Clement Jonie as he joined protesters gathering in the west of Paris early Saturday.

“We hear the deputies from the (governing) LREM say ‘we will hold the course’ but the movement is on its way, it is not ready to stop”, said the 47-year-old logistician, who had traveled in from the suburbs.

Two people have died and over 750 people, including 136 police officers, were injured during the week of demonstrations that shone a light on frustration over stagnant spending power and the rollback in public services in some areas of France.

On Friday evening, a man with an explosive device and demanding protesters be allowed to meet the French president turned himself in to police in Angers in western France.

“He demanded that the yellow vests be received at the Elysee” presidential palace, local prosecutor Yves Gambert told AFP.

Local official Bernard Gonzalez said: “There was a real risk, real danger, he had an explosive charge around his neck… This was not fake.”

‘Struggling and fed-up’

Former investment banker Macron was elected on a pledge to put more money in workers’ pockets but the effects of his reforms on purchasing power — persistently shown as one of the biggest concerns of the French — have been limited so far.

The poor and low-paid are particularly incensed at his decision to hike anti-pollution taxes on diesel and petrol, while scrapping a wealth tax on the rich.

Opposition parties on the hard left and right have cheered on the protesters, whose revolt was described by 77 percent of respondents in an Odoxa poll for Le Figaro newspaper as “justified”.

“It’s the cry of a France that is struggling and fed-up,” Jordan Bardella, spokesman for the far-right National Rally (former National Front) said.

Macron, who is under pressure to tackle pollution ahead of European Parliament elections in which the environment is expected to feature prominently, has refused to back down on taxing polluters.

But with his ratings languishing at record lows of under 30 percent, he has sought to present a more empathetic side.

Next week, he will unveil a new energy plan that will aim to make the shift towards cleaner fuel and power more “acceptable”.

“We have heard the message of citizens,” one of his aides said on Thursday.

Revolts against taxes have been a feature of French public life for centuries — citizens pay some of the highest in Europe as a percentage of GDP — while fuel price protests are a common occurrence.