Nearly 700 swans found dead at nature reserve as specialists investigate bird flu
CBSN
Hundreds of swans have been found dead at a nature reserve in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan, environmental officials said Tuesday. The nature reserve is based around Lake Karakol, near the shores of the Caspian Sea, and is home to a variety of rare and endangered species.
"Between 21 December and 8 January, a total of 675 swan carcasses were discovered on Lake Karakol," the Kazakh ecology ministry told AFP.
The birds may have died from avian flu, the ministry said, adding that specialists had been dispatched to the site to investigate.
Paris — Jean-Marie Le Pen, the historic leader of France's far-right political movement, died Tuesday at the age of 96, the French news agency AFP said, citing his family. Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died Tuesday "surrounded by his loved ones," the family said in a statement.
Seoul — North Korea on Monday test fired a ballistic missile as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea, where he warned that Pyongyang was working ever closer with Russia on advanced space technology. Blinken also said that while he believed a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would end the war in Gaza, it may not happen until after President Biden's term, under returning President-elect Donald Trump.