That would be the person who was just sworn in as President of Argentina: Javier Milei, an all shock no awe kinda guy. Other news stories tonight include
- finding a tyrannosaur skeleton with intact prey in its stomach,
- Narges Mohammadi Pulitzer acceptance speech from an Iranian jail,
- praying for Krispy Kreme in Paris,
- UN Chief vows to keep pushing for a ceasefire in I/P saying world institutions “are weak and outdated, caught in a time warp reflecting a reality of 80 years ago,”
- The Khalistan Referendum proposes the creation of a new country in the northern Indian state of Punjab,
- Zelensky to visit Biden and other pols in D.C. on his way home from Milei’s inauguration while the Heritage Foundation hosts a major anti-Ukraine conference,
- 56 million Americans in 12 states under flood watch,
- guess who had 10,300,000,000,000 gallons of water fall on them over 7 days of rain,
- bicoastal SantaCons,
- Satanic Temple display erected at Iowa Capitol,
- and more!
Prey has been discovered inside the stomach of a tyrannosaur skeleton for the first time, scientists said Friday, revealing that the mighty dinosaurs had an "appetite for drumsticks" when they were young.
The skeleton of the Gorgosaurus, a member of the tyrannosaurid family that also includes the T-Rex, sheds light on how these dinosaurs grew from fairly slender juveniles into gigantic, bone-crushing, apex-predator adults, they added.
The Gorgosaurus—which means "dreadful lizard"—was around six years old when it died more than 75 million years ago, according to a new study in the journal Science Advances.
Javier Milei pledged a “new era” for Argentina as he was sworn in as the country’s new president on Sunday, sealing the ascent of a political newcomer who garnered popularity by advocating shock economic reforms.
Milei is an economist and former political commentator who took to wielding a chainsaw on the campaign to symbolise his intent to slash spending. His rise surprised Argentina’s political establishment, drawing comparisons with former US President Donald Trump. [...]
Several prominent figures were in attendance at the ceremony, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil.
Later, greeting supporters from the iconic Casa Rosada, Milei sang a short song and told the crowd: “I want you to be aware that we are going to begin the reconstruction of Argentina after more than a hundred years of decline, redrawing the ideas of freedom, although we are going to have to endure a period of hardness, we will move forward.”
“We are going to be a power again,” he added.
Meanwhile in France
Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has denounced a “tyrannical and anti-women religious” government in Iran in an acceptance speech read by her children in the Norwegian capital.
Mohammadi, 51, was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize in October for her decades of activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars. She has been held since 2021 in Tehran’s Evin prison.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has vowed he will not give up seeking a ceasefire in Gaza after the US wielded its veto to block the move at the security council on Friday, leaving the UN without a clear route map to stop the conflict lasting many months.
Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar, Guterres did not directly criticise the US in his address but said the security council was “paralysed by geostrategic divisions”. He added world institutions “are weak and outdated, caught in a time warp reflecting a reality of 80 years ago”.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading exporter of oil, has become the biggest obstacle to an agreement at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, where countries are debating whether to call for a phaseout of fossil fuels in order to fight global warming, negotiators and other officials said.
The Saudi delegation has flatly opposed any language in a deal that would even mention fossil fuels — the oil, gas and coal that, when burned, create emissions that are dangerously heating the planet. Saudi negotiators have also objected to a provision, endorsed by at least 118 countries, aimed at tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030. [...]
The Saudi opposition is significant because U.N. rules require that any agreement forged at the climate summit be unanimously endorsed … The United States has sought to inject caveats into the fossil fuel phaseout language. India and China have opposed language that would single out coal, the most polluting of fossil fuels. Iran and Russia have pushed for provisions to protect natural gas.
Birth of a Nation?
The proposed independent country would be in northern India … the Khalistan Referendum, as this ballot measure is known, is worthy of your attention for two reasons. First, the referendum raises the questions of whether democracy is more likely to quell or inflame, violence, and how well it might resolve deep divisions over nationhood. Second, the vote is part of an experiment on how ballot measures might shape a new global system of democracy.
The Khalistan Referendum is a global election, held on different dates and in different cities that are home to many Sikhs. The Jan. 28 balloting, which will take place in San Francisco, follows votes in London, Geneva, Rome, Toronto and Vancouver.
The referendum is nonbinding — even if the majority of voters favor independence, it won’t guarantee a new nation. But if the results show widespread support for independence among the diaspora, organizers will push for a Khalistan Referendum in the northern Indian state of Punjab … There are an estimated 25 million Sikhs worldwide, 80% of whom reside in India, primarily in Punjab. California is home to 250,000 Sikhs, most of whom live in the Central Valley or the Bay Area.
The referendum’s supporters argue that Sikhs, as targets of discrimination in India and elsewhere, need the protection of an independent Sikh-majority nation, which they would call Khalistan. But India has opposed the referendum, banning Sikhs for Justice in 2019 for “espousing secessionism.”
These claims are grounded in a longstanding violent conflict between the government and armed, pro-independence insurgents that was especially deadly in the 1980s and 1990s.
President Joe Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House Tuesday as discussions on a Ukraine aid deal remain stalled in Congress.
The visit, which the White House announced Sunday, is Zelensky’s third visit to Washington since the war in Ukraine began. He last visited in September.
Zelensky’s visit comes at a critical moment in congressional negotiations for emergency aid to Ukraine. Congress appears no closer to a deal tying immigration and border policy changes to the emergency aid package that will provide funding for Ukraine and Israel before lawmakers leave town for the holidays.
The Ukrainian president was also invited to speak at an all-senators meeting Tuesday morning by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, a Senate leadership aide said. House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet with Zelensky too, his office said in a statement.
A flood watch affecting more than 56 million Americans has been issued across 12 states, as a storm system is expected to bring severe weather to the East Coast on Sunday and Monday.
The flood watch is in effect from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, beginning Sunday afternoon and continuing into Monday afternoon. This includes D.C.; Baltimore; Philadelphia; New York City; Albany, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; Burlington, Vermont; and Portland, Maine.
Rainfall totals could reach 2 to 4 inches, with some rainfall rates of half an inch per hour possible. If this moderate rainfall rate lasts over one area too long it could lead to quick runoff and urban flash flooding.
lotsa water fell in the PNW, too
A tale of two cities SantaCons
It’s the NYC SantaCon that skimmed off donations and diverted them to Burning Man groups and crypto investments.
The San Francisco version takes a different approach to skimming.
Meanwhile in Iowa