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Tag: Washington

  • Uncommon Snowy Owl Soars Over Washington, Thrills Crowds

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A snowy owl it sounds as if traveling iconic constructions of the country’s capital is charming birdwatchers who set up to get a glimpse of the uncommon, resplendent customer from the Arctic.

    A long way from its summer season breeding grounds in Canada, the snowy owl used to be first noticed on January 3, the day a wintry weather hurricane dumped 8 inches of snow at the town.

    Since then, it’s been noticed within the evenings flying round Washington’s Capitol Hill group, touchdown on Union Station, the Nationwide Postal Museum, quite a lot of Senate constructions, and Capitol Police headquarters.

    Past due remaining week about 3 dozen folks in thick coats skilled their binoculars at the football-sized chook with vivid yellow eyes because it perched at the stone head of Archimedes, a well-known historical Greek mathematician, carved above the teach station front.

    The nocturnal hunter seems to be concentrated on town’s abundant downtown rat inhabitants.

    “Snowy owls are coming from part of the sector the place they see nearly not anything human, from totally treeless open Arctic tundra,” mentioned Scott Weidensaul, a researcher at nonprofit Challenge SNOWStorm, which tracks snowy owl actions.

    Some owls migrate south out of the Arctic each and every wintry weather, however the quantity fluctuates, he mentioned. About each and every 3 to five years, a spike within the inhabitants of lemmings, their leader meals supply, leads to a bigger collection of surviving owl chicks. In the ones “irruption” years, extra birds migrate and head farther south.

    “A large number of the snowy owls we’re seeing now within the East and Higher Midwest are younger birds, on their first migration,” he mentioned. “In those irruption years, they have a tendency to head farther south than they typically would.”

    On eBird, a nonprofit platform utilized by birdwatchers, snowy owls were reported this wintry weather in Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina and Maryland.

    Because it used to be first noticed, the Capitol Hill owl has attracted a couple of dozen birdwatchers each and every night time hoping to identify the similar owl species that delivers messages to Harry Potter.

    The onlookers have integrated new birdwatchers and people who were doing it for many years, like Swiss ambassador to the U.S., Jacques Pitteloud, many hoping for a “lifer” — the primary time a birdwatcher has noticed a specific chook.

    Ultimate Thursday, the owl perched on a bronze eagle atop a flagpole. Then it soared, its 5-foot white wingspan silhouetted in opposition to the inky night time sky, to land on a big stone orb held by way of carved birds, a part of an ornate fountain.

    Ambassador Pitteloud picked up his digital camera tripod and ran during the grass to get a greater view. When he later posted on Fb, the 50-year veteran birdwatcher wrote, “The Famous person of Union Station! Snowy owl, a lifer for me in an overly, impossible environment!”

    An American Flag flies in the distance as a rare snowy owl looks down from its perch atop the large stone orb of the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain at the entrance to Union Station in Washington, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. Far from its summer breeding grounds in Canada, the snowy owl was first seen on January 3, the day a winter storm dumped eight inches of snow on the city. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
    An American Flag flies within the distance as a unprecedented snowy owl seems down from its perch atop the huge stone orb of the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain on the front to Union Station in Washington, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. A long way from its summer season breeding grounds in Canada, the snowy owl used to be first noticed on January 3, the day a wintry weather hurricane dumped 8 inches of snow at the town. (AP Picture/Carolyn Kaster)

    Kerry Snyder, who lives in Washington, mentioned she just lately turned into an avid birdwatcher. “I were given into birding right through the pandemic – it’s a good way to connect to folks outdoor, when that’s been the most secure position to be.”

    She reminded different onlookers to not use flash pictures, or means the owl too intently, lest the chook really feel startled or threatened — excellent practices for audience watching any chook of prey.

    Scientists imagine snowy owls to be “ susceptible ” to extinction and estimate the full world inhabitants to be lower than 30,000 birds.

    Weidensaul mentioned that threats to snowy owls come with city hazards — specifically, automobile collisions and poisons used to kill prey animals like rats, which will additionally kill raptors — in addition to local weather alternate.

    “The local weather is converting extra dramatically within the Arctic than anyplace else on Earth,” he mentioned, and that can make sightings like this one even rarer. In some portions of the Arctic, thinning ice is already lowering the collection of growth years for lemmings.

    After many years finding out snowy owls, Weidensaul nonetheless feels awe: “It is a piece of the Arctic in downtown DC — you’re now not going to look a polar undergo strolling in entrance of the White Area.”

    The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives give a boost to from the Howard Hughes Clinical Institute’s Division of Science Training. The AP is just accountable for all content material.

  • 12 months after the Jan. 6 Capitol rise up, this is the place Justice Division and Space investigations stand

    President Donald Trump is observed on a display talking to supporters throughout a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election effects by way of the U.S. Congress, in Washington, January 6, 2021.

    Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

    12 months has handed because the fatal rise up on the U.S. Capitol, when a violent mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters compelled Congress into hiding and briefly halted the switch of energy to President Joe Biden.

    The invasion, from the preliminary breach of the outer safety perimeter to the instant the development used to be after all deemed safe, lasted about seven hours. However its affect remains to be reverberating, particularly in Washington, the place political battles stemming from the rise up have deepened the already-stark partisan divisions on Capitol Hill.

    A yr on, little has been resolved — and a few fights are simply getting began.

    The Division of Justice has charged loads of rioters, and it’s nonetheless in search of loads of others suspected of assaulting cops throughout the rise up. Lawyer Normal Merrick Garland has vowed to take “so long as it takes and no matter it takes for justice to be completed.”

    A Space make a choice committee investigation into the invasion seems to be frequently ramping up, with extra subpoenas perhaps at the horizon because it prepares to carry weeks of public hearings on its findings. Trump’s attorneys have requested the Superb Courtroom to dam the panel from receiving a trove of White Space information as a part of the probe.

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    Speeches at the anniversary

    In the meantime, Trump, whose position within the Capitol rise up is a central focal point of the make a choice committee, stays the de facto chief of the Republican Birthday celebration and has brazenly teased the potential of operating for president once more in 2024.

    His lies concerning the 2020 election being “rigged” towards him via standard fraud have long past most commonly unchallenged by way of Republican officers, who’ve additionally most commonly have shyed away from speaking concerning the Capitol invasion itself. Even some Republicans who to begin with blamed Trump for the rise up, or resigned from his management in protest, have since both saved silent or renewed their strengthen for him. Trump used to be set to carry a press tournament at the anniversary, however he canceled it.

    The few within the GOP who proceed to vocally criticize Trump, similar to Space make a choice committee individuals Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, have confronted a backlash from their very own birthday celebration.

    Democratic leaders, against this, plan to polish as a lot mild as they are able to at the rise up, and Trump’s position in it, throughout a program of occasions Thursday on the Capitol.

    Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and others spoke on the Capitol on Thursday morning. Biden’s remarks involved in what he sees because the risk to democracy posed by way of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

    “The lies that drove the anger and insanity we noticed on this position, they have got now not abated,” the president stated. “So we need to be company, resolute and unyielding in our protection of the precise to vote and feature that vote counted.”

    Space Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and different individuals of Congress will percentage testimonials about their firsthand stories on Jan. 6.

    At 5:30 p.m., lawmakers will dangle a prayer vigil at the middle steps of the Capitol.

    The DOJ probe, by way of the numbers

    U.S. Lawyer Normal Merrick Garland speaks on the Division of Justice, upfront of the only yr anniversary of the assault at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022.

    Carolyn Kaster | Pool | Reuters

    On Jan. 6, 2021, loads of rioters fought via traces of legislation enforcement officials and broke into the Capitol. They smashed home windows, vandalized places of work, made threats and, after lawmakers had fled, briefly took over the Senate chamber. Some carried pepper spray, stun weapons, blunt items or different guns.

    Kind of 140 cops who replied to the assault have been assaulted, consistent with the Justice Division. 5 of the ones officials have since died, together with 4 from suicide.

    The DOJ’s investigation of the invasion has now grown into the biggest prison probe in U.S. historical past — and its paintings is a ways from over.

    The numbers are staggering: In three hundred and sixty five days, the federal government has arrested and charged greater than 725 folks in reference to the rise up. Greater than 325 of them have been charged with felonies, together with many for assaulting officials or corruptly looking to impede Congress’ legitimate continuing. Ten have been charged with assaulting individuals of the media or destroying their apparatus.

    However the FBI remains to be looking to determine greater than 350 different those who it believes dedicated violence on the Capitol, greater than 250 of whom will have assaulted officials.

    The scope of the DOJ investigation is exceptional, involving staff from just about each FBI box administrative center and U.S. Lawyers’ administrative center around the nation. The company has issued greater than 5,000 subpoenas and seek warrants, seized about 2,000 gadgets and sifted via about 15 terabytes of knowledge and greater than 300,000 pointers from the general public.

    “The movements now we have taken to this point is probably not our final,” Garland stated in a speech Wednesday.

    “The Justice Division stays dedicated to maintaining all Jan. 6 perpetrators, at any degree, responsible beneath legislation — whether or not they have been provide that day or have been differently criminally accountable for the attack on our democracy,” Garland stated.

    “We can practice the information anywhere they lead,” he stated.

    The place the Space probe is headed

    January sixth committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Omit., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., throughout the Space Regulations Committee assembly at the Answer Recommending That The Space Of Representatives In finding Jeffrey Bossert Clark In Contempt Of Congress For Refusal To Comply With A Subpoena Duly Issued By means of The Make a choice Committee To Examine The January sixth Assault On The US Capitol, on Thursday, December 2, 2021.

    Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Name, Inc. | Getty Photographs

    The nine-member Space make a choice committee is gearing as much as dangle public hearings quickly — perhaps inside of weeks, committee member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., stated on Sunday.

    The hearings goal to show in granular element what took place final Jan. 6, each on the Capitol and within the White Space, the place Trump used to be looking at the occasions spread reside. Trump waited hours after the assault started earlier than posting a short lived video on-line through which he advised his supporters to “cross house,” including, “We adore you. You are very particular.”

    The committee is tasked with investigating the information and reasons of the Capitol rise up, as a way to craft a definitive document at the tournament and make legislative suggestions to stop anything else adore it from ordinary.

    The committee has issued 52 subpoenas, retrieved greater than 35,000 pages of information, performed greater than 350 witness interviews and spent greater than $400,000 since its formation in July.

    It now seems to be increasing its investigation, as individuals say they wish to pay attention without delay from former Vice President Mike Pence. Trump had stressed Pence to reject key Electoral Faculty votes for Biden when presiding over Congress on Jan. 6, however Pence refused.

    The committee holds no prosecutorial energy, however it might probably craft prison referrals that Congress can ship to the Justice Division for attention. It has to this point led the Space to refer two folks — former Trump consultant Steve Bannon and previous Trump leader of group of workers Mark Meadows — to the DOJ for prosecution over their noncompliance with congressional subpoenas.

    The DOJ has charged Bannon with two counts of contempt of Congress, to which Bannon has pleaded now not to blame.

    The committee is reportedly investigating a spread of conceivable prison habits, doubtlessly together with conceivable prison habits by way of Trump.

    Cheney final month printed a “key query” earlier than the committee: “Did Donald Trump, via motion or state of no activity, corruptly search to impede or obstruct Congress’ legitimate continuing to rely electoral votes?”

    Cheney’s remarks prompt to a few felony watchers that the committee is having a look into whether or not Trump will have dedicated against the law.

    On Tuesday, the committee additionally printed it has requested Sean Hannity, the Fox Information opinion host and a detailed best friend and confidant of Trump’s, to voluntarily cooperate with the probe. In a letter, the committee publicly disclosed texts that Hannity had despatched Trump’s aides earlier than and after Jan. 6, expressing considerations and providing recommendation.

    “Im very fearful concerning the subsequent 48 hours,” Hannity wrote in a Jan. 5 textual content, the letter confirmed.

  • US Guy Charged With Secretly Helping Egyptian Pursuits

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A New York guy has been arrested on fees that he labored as a secret and unregistered agent of the Egyptian govt, together with by means of sharing data with American cops about political fighters of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, the Justice Division mentioned Thursday.

    Pierre Girgis, a 39-year-old twin nationwide of Egypt and the US, is charged with performing as an agent of a overseas govt with out notifying the Justice Division, and with conspiring to take action.

    It used to be now not in an instant transparent if he had a attorney who may just touch upon his behalf.

    A six-count indictment made public Thursday says Girgis acted on the “course and keep an eye on” of Egyptian govt officers between no less than 2014 and 2019. Prosecutors say he used his connections with U.S. regulation enforcement to gather private data that used to be shared with Egyptian contacts.

    Girgis, who lives in Ny, may be accused of arranging conferences between Egyptian and American cops, and of arranging for Egyptian officers to wait police coaching within the U.S.

    In April 2017, in line with the indictment, Girgis shared with a regulation enforcement officer in the US details about an el-Sissi activist that he had gained from an Egyptian govt reputable. Months later, prosecutors say, he despatched an id card for a definite person that he’d gained from an Egyptian govt reputable to a U.S. regulation enforcement reputable, after which shared with Cairo questions that he’d gotten from the American reputable.

    A piece of writing on Inc.com describes a tourism-promoting shuttle to Cairo for approximately 100 New York Town and Nassau County, New York, law enforcement officials that used to be co-organized by means of a Pierre Girgis, whom the piece known as a Capital One banker of Egyptian descent. Within the article, Girgis is quoted as pronouncing the shuttle “carried a very powerful world message of hope and cooperation.”

    A spokeswoman for the financial institution didn’t in an instant go back a message in the hunt for remark, however an individual accustomed to the case who used to be now not approved to speak about it by means of identify showed on situation of anonymity that he labored for the financial institution.

    The Justice Division has in recent times stepped up its legal enforcement of statutes that mandate the registration with the Justice Division of people that act within the U.S. as brokers of a overseas govt.

    “The Division of Justice won’t permit brokers of overseas governments to function in the US to pursue and gather details about critics of the ones governments,” Assistant Lawyer Basic Matthew Olsen, the Justice Division’s most sensible nationwide safety reputable, mentioned in a remark.

    Related Press author Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this document.

    Apply Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP

  • Airways cancel any other 1,400 flights as omicron, serious climate proceed to snarl commute

    Vacationers wait in line to check-in for flights at Newark Liberty Global Airport (EWR) in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.

    Christopher Occhicone | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures

    Airways canceled loads of extra U.S. flights on Tuesday within the wake of wintry weather storms and because the fast-spreading Covid omicron variant hamstrings crews.

    As of two p.m. in New York, greater than 1,400 flights across the nation have been canceled, consistent with airline information supplier FlightAware. Greater than 2,300 have been behind schedule. Since Christmas Eve, airways have scrubbed greater than 20,000 flights, disrupting vacation plans for tens of hundreds of shoppers all through what have been anticipated to be the busiest commute days because the get started of the pandemic.

    Monday’s cancellations totaled 3,225 as a wintry weather hurricane hit the mid-Atlantic after inflicting a weekend of disruptions within the Midwest. It was once the most important day-to-day overall since Feb. 15 of ultimate 12 months, when 3,899 flights have been canceled, consistent with FlightAware.

    On Tuesday, Southwest Airways canceled 395 out of its greater than 3,600 scheduled flights. The Dallas-based airline confronted unhealthy climate that compelled it to cut back operations at main airports, together with Denver, Chicago and Baltimore. An airline spokeswoman mentioned the service was once operating to get planes and flight crews again in position to renew a few of its flights.

    Greater than a 5th of the departures at Baltimore/Washington Global Thurgood Marshall Airport and at Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport have been grounded as of noon. The wintry weather hurricane additionally twisted up rail commute and roads all through the jap U.S. Drivers have been trapped in an hourslong site visitors jam after officers closed an icy stretch of I-95 in Virginia.

    JetBlue Airlines canceled 105 flights, or 10% of its Tuesday time table. A spokesman mentioned the vast majority of the ones cancellations have been because of time table cuts it introduced ultimate week to assist ease staffing constraints as omicron infections sideline flight crews. The New York-based airline will trim on the subject of 1,300 flights thru mid-January.

    JetBlue, United, Southwest and others presented crews further pay to pick out up open journeys. United pilots’ union and the corporate agreed to triple reimbursement to fly further journeys thru a lot of January.

    Regional airline SkyWest was once additionally providing further pay to pilots who pick out up journeys during the month to assist spice up staffing that has been strained via omicron and plans to trim its January time table.

    “Given the continuing surge in COVID circumstances and comparable in poor health calls, we’ve got been operating with every of our main companions to proactively cut back the rest of our January schedules to verify we are ready to adequately body of workers our last flying as we paintings to recuperate within the coming weeks,” the airline mentioned in a commentary.

    SkyWest, which flies smaller planes for Delta, United, Alaska and American, canceled 94 flights or 9% of its Tuesday time table.

    Airline buyers have shrugged off the disruptions, regardless that. Analysts have forecast an additional rebound in commute call for this 12 months, specifically in trans-Atlantic journeys that many purchasers skipped all through the pandemic on account of a number of commute restrictions aimed toward curtailing the unfold of the virus.

    Carriers have struggled to ramp up their networks to check commute call for, dealing with exertions shortfalls and better prices.

    “We consider 2022 shall be any other 12 months of lumpy effects as airways proceed to battle so as to add capability to their networks as call for is more likely to stay robust,” Cowen airline analyst Helane Becker wrote in a Tuesday observe. “We predict inflationary force in gasoline and exertions price, in addition to prime hobby prices, to result in upper price tag costs.”

    Shares of main U.S. airways traded upper Tuesday for a 2d instantly day. Southwest, American and United every rose greater than 1%, whilst the S&P 500 fell not up to 0.1%.