LOTR-INSPIRED BUTTERFLY
If you're a fan of Lord of the Rings, you may have heard of its arch villain Sauron. Well, now a new butterfly species with eye-like spots on its orange wings has been named after the evil entity. It's called the saurona triangula butterfly, and a team of international scientists identified two species of the butterfly and say there are likely more out there. It's also not the first time scientists have named a new species of butterfly or insect after a celebrity or fictional character. The aleiodes gaga is named after — you guessed it — Lady Gaga, and the aleiodes shakirae is named after Shakira because of the way it twists its abdomen.
MARK ZUCKERBERG: JIU JITSU CHAMPION
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg won a gold and silver medal on Saturday at a Brazilian jiu-jitsu championship. The CEO shared photos from a tournament in Redwood City, California on his Instagram page. He said it was his first time competing in a jiu-jitsu tournament. Zuckerberg reportedly started training during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the Red Sea this morning, a U.S. warship, the USS Carney responded to a distress call by a commercial vessel after it came under attack.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection in southern California announced it confiscated thousands of pounds of illegal drugs hidden in a jalapeno paste shipment.
Former family YouTuber Ruby Franke is set to enter a plea agreement on child abuse charges in a Utah courtroom, according to her lawyers. Frank and her business partner, Jody Hildebrand were arrested in August after two of Franke's children were found with injuries and evidence of malnutrition in Hildebrandt's home.
Backers are far from gathering enough signatures, but if the measure makes the June 2024 ballot and voters pass it, North Dakota would have to replace ballot scanners with hundreds of workers.
It's part of the push to remove symbols that commemorate the Confederacy from military facilities.
The company is asking customers to throw out certain types of granola bars and granola cereals to avoid infection.
It could be a cold, grim New Year for thousands of migrant families living in New York City’s emergency shelter system. With winter setting in, they are being told they need to clear out, with no guarantee they’ll be given a bed elsewhere.
Vermont is often ranked as one of the nation's safest states. But since October, it has had 10 homicides and one suspicious death, including a double homicide in Burlington.
Officials in Mexico are trying to determine what's responsible for the death of a man and injuries to a woman at a Pacific coast resort.
The Virginia mother whose six-year-old son brought a gun to school and shot his teacher is expected to be sentenced.
