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Pandas from China en route to Washington, D.C. after National Zoo returned beloved animals last year

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Two giant pandas were on the way from China to Washington on Monday less than a year after the National Zoo said goodbye to a pandas on loan from China. 

The pandas — Bao Li and Qing Bao — departed Chengdu and are scheduled to arrive in Anchorage just before 10 p.m. local time, according to plane tracker FlightAware. From there, the bears will head to Dulles, with a landing scheduled around 9:55 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

“Something *giant* is coming to Washington, D.C. via the @FedEx Panda Express,” the National Zoo said in a Monday post on social media. “The Zoo will be closed to the public tomorrow, Oct. 15. For the safety of the pandas and staff, we will not disclose any additional timing.”

Giant Panda Qing Bao at the Dujiangyan Panda Center
Giant panda Qing Bao, born Sept. 12, 2021, at the Dujiangyan Panda Center.

Roshan Patel/National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute


The National Zoo first received pandas from China in 1972 after President Richard Nixon’s trip to China to open diplomatic and trade relations between the U.S. and China. China “has used pandas to pursue diplomatic objectives, a practice termed panda diplomacy,” according to the Congressional Research Service.

China in 2000 sent Mei Xiang and Tian Tian to the National Zoo as part of an agreement with the China Wildlife and Conservation Association. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were supposed to stay in the U.S. for 10 years, but the agreement was extended several times. The pair of pandas in 2020 had a cub, Xiao Qi Ji. 

Xiao Qi Ji and his parents were returned to China in November of last year. After they left, Zoo Atlanta was the only zoo in the U.S. with giant pandas. Their pandas are set to return to China at some point this year. 

Then giant pandas returned to the San Diego Zoo this summer for the first time since 2019. And in May, first lady Dr. Jill Biden joined Smithsonian officials to announce pandas were coming back to the nation’s capital. 

Bao Li, a 2-year-old male, was born in Sichuan to father An An and mother Bao Bao. He already has ties to the U.S.: Bao Li’s mother was born at the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in 2013 and his grandparents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, lived at the National Zoo from 2000 to 2023.

Qing Bao, the female panda headed to the U.S., is also 2 years old.

The pandas will be quarantined for at least 30 days after they arrive at the National Zoo, according to the facility. Quarantine will allow the zoo to reduce the risk of introducing parasites or disease to other animals.

They’ll then have a few more weeks to settle into their new home before their public debut. The Smithsonian Zoo has not yet shared a public debut, only saying that it will be announced “as soon as the animal care team feels the bears are ready to meet visitors.”

The giant panda is currently listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. 

The National Zoo is also home to red pandas.



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2 parents, 3 young children found dead inside Utah home; teen hospitalized with gunshot wound

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Five family members including three children were found dead in a home in Utah on Tuesday, and another, age 17, was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound, police said.

The dead were two adults, an 11-year-old boy, and two girls ages 9 and 2, according to Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokesperson for the West Valley City Police Department. It was not immediately clear how they died.

They were found in the house in West Valley City, about 9 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The teen was discovered in the garage.

“Absolutely horrific. This is something that certainly will weigh heavily on investigators in this case,” Vainuku said at a nighttime news conference.

Authorities do not believe there is a suspect on the loose, and the shooting is something that was “isolated to this home,” she added

Because the 17-year-old “is injured and he’s in the hospital, there are some challenges in communicating with him and finding out more information,” Vainuku said.

“In any case where people have died, loved ones have been lost, we want to make sure that we do the most absolute thorough job possible so that we can bring justice to the victims,” Vainuku said, according to CBS affiliate KUTV.

A relative alerted police Monday after unsuccessfully trying to reach the 38-year-old woman who lived in the home, authorities said. Officers went to the house, but no one answered.

They came back on Tuesday afternoon after the same relative reported finding the 17-year-old in the garage.

Police are investigating inside the home and have also been talking with neighbors and looking for evidence from things like doorbell cameras, Vainuku said.

“Officers also have canvassed the neighborhood gathering information and any video evidence,” police said in a statement.

CBS affiliate KUTV reported that some neighbors said the family had been living in that house for three or four years.





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Coal use hitting all-time high in 2024, which is on track to be hottest year ever, report says

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World coal use is set to reach an all-time high in 2024, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday, in a year all but certain to be the hottest in recorded history.

Despite calls to halt humanity’s burning of the filthiest fossil fuel driving climate change, the energy watchdog expects global demand for coal to hit record highs for the third year in a row.

Scientists have warned that planet-warming greenhouse gases will have to be drastically slashed to limit global heating to avoid catastrophic impacts on the Earth and humanity.

Earlier in December, the European Union’s climate monitor Copernicus said 2024 was “effectively certain” to be the hottest on record — eclipsing the mark set just last year.

Published on Wednesday, the IEA’s “Coal 2024” report does, however, predict the world will hit peak coal use in 2027 after topping 8.77 billion tons this year.

But that would be dependent on China, which for the past quarter-century has consumed 30 percent more coal than the rest of the world’s countries combined, the IEA said.

China’s demand for electricity was the most significant driving force behind the increase, with more than a third of coal burnt worldwide carbonized in that country’s power plants.

Though Beijing has sought to diversify its electricity sources, including a massive expansion of solar and wind power, the IEA said China’s coal demand in 2024 will still hit 4.9 billion tones — itself another record.

Increasing coal demand in China, as well as in emerging economies such as India and Indonesia, made up for a continued decline in advanced economies.

However that decline has slowed in the European Union and the United States. Coal use there is set to decline by 12 and five percent respectively, compared with 23 and 17 percent in 2023.

With the imminent return to the White House of Donald Trump — who has repeatedly called climate change a “hoax” — many scientists fear that a second Trump presidency would water down the climate commitments of the world’s largest economy.

Coal mining also hit unprecedented levels by topping nine billion tons in output for the first time, the IEA said, with top producers China, India and Indonesia all posting new production records.

The energy watchdog warned that the explosion in power-hungry data centers powering the emergence of artificial intelligence was likewise likely to drive up demand for power generation, with that trend underpinning electricity demand in coal-guzzling China.

The 2024 report reverses the IEA’s prediction last year that coal use would begin declining after peaking in 2023.

At the annual U.N. climate change forum in Dubai last year, nations vowed to transition away from fossil fuels.

But its follow-up this year ended in acrimony, with experts warning that the failure to double down on that landmark pledge at COP29 in Azerbaijan risked jeopardizing efforts to fight climate change.

Set up in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, the IEA presents itself as “the world’s leading energy authority.”



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Tennessee DA accused of firing multiple times at fugitive, hitting home with woman and her 3 children inside

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A district attorney in Tennessee is facing a reckless endangerment charge after shooting at a fugitive several times and hitting a home that had a woman and her three children inside.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced the grand jury charge Monday against District Attorney Chris Stanford. His district covers Van Buren and Warren counties.

The indictment says that as the incident unfolded in Smithville on Nov. 21, a bullet Stanford shot from his handgun went through a front porch patio chair, through an exterior wall and into the living room wall of the home. The woman and children weren’t hurt.

Smithville is about 60 miles southeast of Nashville.

The indictment says that Stanford fired the shot “unlawfully, intentionally and recklessly.” There was no immediate threat to him or others, he wasn’t aiming the handgun, and “just held it out and shot” without using the gun’s sights, the indictment adds.

Following his indictment, Stanford surrendered at the DeKalb County Jail and was released after posting a $10,000 bond, TBI said. A message left with Stanton’s office was not immediately returned Tuesday.

The Warren County Sheriff’s Office described the circumstances leading to the incident last month. In a social media post, it said authorities were pursuing suspects after finding three dead bodies at a house and at an adjacent building.

The suspects were sighted in DeKalb County, the sheriff’s office said. One of them was taken into custody without incident. Stanford and other law enforcement officials chased the other suspect, who was a passenger in a car, the office said.

While trying to help the suspect flee, the driver struck a homeland security officer with the car, the sheriff’s office said.

In a statement last month to CBS affiliate WTVF-TV, Stanford said he fired shots in response to the homeland security agent being hit. No one was shot when Stanford fired his gun. The homeland security officer was injured and taken to the hospital, according to a social media post by District Attorney Bryant Dunaway.

“The vehicle then drove toward me and others, accelerating quickly. I fired my service weapon in defense of myself and others at the scene. Based upon my training and the circumstances that presented themselves, I believe my actions were necessary and justified,” Stanford said.

Stanford also told the news station he has a state law enforcement certification to carry his weapon at all times.

The two suspects in the three deaths were taken into custody and charged with criminal homicide, while the driver, also taken into custody, faces felony evading arrest and aggravated assault charged, according to the sheriff’s office.

Stanford will make an appearance in court on Jan. 7, WTVF reported. Since he showed up at the scene and fired his weapon, he is now a witness and cannot prosecute the triple murder in his own county, the station reported.





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