
Humpback whale makes one of the longest migrations ever recorded, scientists say
CBSN
A male humpback whale made one of the longest and most unusual migrations on record for the species, an anomaly scientists say might be linked to climate change.
The whale was first sighted in waters off northwestern Colombia in July 2013, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science on the creature's movements and how to potentially explain them. Authors said that same whale was seen again four years later, in another spot off the Colombian coast about 50 miles away from the location of the first sighting.
An unlikely third encounter with the humpback happened in August 2022, when it was spotted off eastern Africa in a channel between Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania. The whale would have had to cross multiple oceans and travel more than 8,000 miles from the Colombian Pacific to get there, and experts believe it was trying to find a mate or food. The whale's lengthy voyage set a record for the longest known migration between breeding grounds.

Felix Baumgartner, the daredevil who made a record-breaking parachute jump from the stratosphere in 2012, died Thursday in a paragliding accident in Italy, a local mayor confirmed. Firefighters who responded to the scene said they found a paraglider that had crashed into the side of a swimming pool in the city of Porto Sant Elpidio, on central Italy's eastern coast.

Baghdad — A fire at a newly opened mall in eastern Iraq's Wasit province killed more than 60 people, including women and children, Iraqi officials said Thursday. The nation's Interior Ministry said in a statement that 61 people died, most of them from suffocation, in the blaze that broke out late Wednesday in the city of al-Kut.

Moscow — An American who spied on Ukrainian troops to help Moscow's military offensive in the country has been granted Russian citizenship, Moscow-installed authorities said Tuesday. Daniel Martindale spent two years in Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, transmitting coordinates of military facilities to Russia's secret services, according to reports in Russian state media.