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Around the world, scientists are now beginning to examine samples of the virus with a significant question in mind: Could this strain of the disease cause a global pandemic? This international network of scientists keeps constant watch for good reason. In 1918 and 1919, a flu pandemic killed between 20 million and 40 million people, more than the total death toll of World War I, more in a year than the Black Death of 1347 to 1351. More recently, an H1N1 swine flu pandemic was blamed for more than 284,500 human deaths worldwide between April 2009 and August 2010. So...

Former high-ranking FBI official Charles McGonigal started tearing up Thursday as he was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison for colluding with a Russian oligarch to evade US sanctions. McGonigal, 55, was ordered to surrender by Feb. 26, 2024, made to serve three years of supervised release following his time behind bars, and was fined $40,000. After he exited the courthouse, McGonigal told onlookers, “Happy holidays.” McGonigal, who helmed the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018, pleaded guilty to the charge back in August. “[McGonigal] well knew his actions violated those sanctions,” Manhattan federal judge...

In two acts of compassion, the dedicated members of the Cherry Hill Fire Department have once again proven that their devotion to saving lives knows no bounds. Demonstrating their commitment to the well-being of all living creatures, these firefighters have recently undertaken rescues involving not only adorable pups but also ducklings and kittens. Several weeks ago, the responders of Squad 13 found themselves involved in a rescue mission as they came to the aid of a family of stranded ducklings. The ducklings had inadvertently fallen into a storm drain, leaving them separated from their watchful mother. The firefighters successfully retrieved...

OAKLAND, Calif. - The rains that pounded the Bay Area caused so much flooding that Interstate Highway 580 by Oakland's Fruitvale and Laurel districts shut the road early Friday morning for about six hours. The water was so high that the rains even brought the ducks out to swim. Though the rains began pouring down late Thursday night, the California Highway Patrol shut down westbound 580 at MacArthur Boulevard/High Street about 3 a.m. Friday. And the freeway stayed that way, wet and free of cars, for most of the morning commute. Finally, the freeway reopened before noon.

“Genyornis was two meters tall and 200 kilos. We don’t know exactly what it would have looked like because it’s been dead for a while and there are few skeletal remains available. It was certainly a flightless bird with some characteristics shared with ostriches, like the big chest and small wings, but it would have looked more like a big goose or duck,” The evidence that humans were eating these large eggs comes from burnt eggshells found among the remains of ancient cultures. Scientists studying these sites find two different types of eggshells, one of which comes from emus and...

Video LinkDescription from site:"I was an F-16 pilot for 18 years and now use those skills analyzing Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon. This video analyzes the three videos released by Jeremy Corbell - radar feed, thermal video, and optical video. Combined they make an amazing case that these are indeed objects that we currently can't explain or understand."

A dog owner was left panicked when her labrador swam out of sight while chasing ducks - and fire crews found her one kilometre away, still happily paddling in pursuit of the birdsA labrador who really likes chasing ducks had to be rescued by firefighters after swimming in pursuit the birds for more than half a mile - and showed no signs of stopping. A crew from Victorian Fire and Rescue in Australia were taking part in a routine exercise on the Maribyrnong River when they were approached and asked to help out with a real-life situation. The distressed...

A mother duck and her eleven ducklings had a very lucky escape after they were run over by a motorist while crossing a highway. Footage shows the shocked parent bird flap into the air as the vehicle mows over her brood in Fort Worth, Texas, before gathering up her unhurt ducklings and continuing with the perilous crossing. A bystander can be heard shouting moments before the car hits: 'Mother duck, where's your yellow safety vest?'

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – To protect and serve… even when it comes to little ducklings. Officers with the Mount Pleasant Police Department on Tuesday rescued a couple of baby ducks who were trapped in a drain and shared photos and a video on the department’s Facebook page. Animal Control Officer Hoffman and Officer Sanford went to work and rescued the sweet ducks and reunited them with their mom.

The main threats are in East Africa and Yemen, as well the Gulf states, Iran, Pakistan and India. Most recently, locusts have been seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo and swarms have arrived in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar and along the coast of Iran. According to reports, China is ready to send 100,000 ducks to its border to devour the insects, telling the birds were “biological weapons,” capable of eating more than 200 locusts a day (chickens can ‘only’ eat about 70 locusts in one day.

Polls have shown that Mayor Pete Buttigieg is having a hard time attracting minority voters. A Quinnipiac University survey found that he has the support of less than one percent of black voters—lower than rival candidate Marianne Williamson. Worse still, a photo on his website purporting to illustrate blacks who have backed his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination is actually a photo of a Kenyan woman. The Mayor insists that he was "not trying to deceive anyone" and maintained that the photo in question "is more akin to that of a duck decoy. My hope was that by...

PEARLAND, Texas (CBS Local) — Muscovy ducks are taking over a town in Texas and residents are now being encouraged to trap or even shoot them in some cases. The City of Pearland is allowing landowners and homeowner’s associations (HOAs) to “address the ducks as seen fit, and within legal parameters, by the HOA or the landowner.” Pearland is designated as a bird sanctuary city but the Muscovy duck is considered an invasive species from Central and South America and are therefore not protected. “From the reports that we’ve heard, (the ducks) tend to be aggressive on properties and they...

VIDEO I usually see only about a dozen ducklings per mother duck but in this case I counted at least 20 ducklings. Is this unusual? Just a few scenes of the Mama duck with her MANY ducklings.

A 12-year-old boy with autism is at risk of losing his two service ducks after officials in his Michigan town allegedly received complaints about the animals from neighbors. Dylan Dyke, of Georgetown Township, keeps his two ducks, named Nibbles and Bill, in a pen behind the family’s home, WOODTV.com reported. “These ducks are his everything,” Jen Dyke, the boy’s mother, told the news outlet. “They’re his whole life.”

A mama duck in Minnesota has captured hearts across the nation after a Bemidji photographer snapped an image of her leading an astonishing 76 ducklings across a lake. Amateur wildlife photographer Brent Cizek noticed the exceptional common merganser, which he now calls Mama Merganser, late last month during a photo session on Lake Bemidji Brent Cizek @brentcizekphoto I'm so proud of Mama Merganser. ❤️ While it’s not uncommon to see a troupe of 20 or so ducklings lining up behind a single hen, 76 of them is another story. “It was mind blowing,” Cizek told The New York Times. “I...

Bird flu spreads in South Korea 1 hour, 2 minutes ago Bird flu has spread in South Korea to a fifth farm, officials have said, despite stepped up government efforts to contain outbreaks of the deadly virus in recent weeks. The agriculture ministry said bird flu has been discovered in a village within a 10-kilometre quarantine zone established after a previous outbreak on a chicken farm last month. "Test results confirmed breeding chickens at a poultry farm at Punge village were infected with high pathological bird flu virus," the ministry said in a statement. Officials have ordered culling of thousands...

As part of its ongoing campaign to disrupt the Islamic State group's online activities, members of the hacktivist group Anonymous have launched the "ISIS Trolling Day" that aims to make a mockery of the extremist group by posting unflattering images on social media to undermine its credibility. Announced earlier this week, the campaign is set to run throughout Friday, Dec. 11, in what the hacktivist group described as a "day of rage" against the terrorists. Already members of Anonymous have posted hundreds of images mocking ISIS, with most portraying imagery related to animals such as goats, pigs and ducks. Images...

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An animal rights activist was beaten with a duck by a Spanish woman defending one of the country's most bizarre and controversial festival traditions. The man was whacked with the bird while he filmed the annual "duck chase" in the Catalonian seaside town of Roses, where every August ducks are thrown into the Mediterranean and then caught and brought back to the shore by swimmers. "Continue, continue. Continue to abuse, I am filming you. A little bit of empathy for the animals. They also have a life, like your children or your family," the man who was filming can be...

The ducks, even the ducklings, are expendable. That’s the difficult message from the Minnesota State Patrol in response to a hair-raising video of cars swerving and slamming on the brakes on Interstate 35W to spare a line of ducks waddling across the highway. “I watched that video and I cringed,” said Patrol spokeswoman Lt. Tiffani Nielson. “People should not stop on the freeway for ducks.” Nielson knows her advice will not be popular with people who think the motorists did the right thing to avoid the birds. “It’s definitely a touchy subject … It’s not very kind, but the risk...