COLOMBO • Sri Lanka's veterinary authorities have begun tests on hundreds of migratory birds that dropped dead in two sanctuaries, health officials said yesterday.

Residents in Nikaweratiya, known to lie on a route taken by migratory birds, reported the mass deaths and public health and veterinary authorities have begun investigations, local officials said.

"We have sent samples to a university to check and we are awaiting a report," an official in Nikaweratiya said when contacted by telephone.

Filipinos held over bomb joke

MANILA A couple from the Philippines was taken off a Manila-bound flight and held in Hong Kong yesterday after they made a joke about having a bomb in their luggage, a Philippine official said.

The couple had just boarded a Cebu Pacific flight when the man, identified as Daday Hipolito, "alleged that his luggage had a bomb," said Manila international airport security chief Angel Atutubo.

The couple were forced to get off the plane and are being held an interrogated by Hong Kong police, Atutubo said in a television interview.