■UNITED STATES
She-mummy was a man
A scan performed at a suburban New York City hospital shows an ancient Egyptian mummy thought for centuries to be a woman is a man. A Manhasset hospital examined four mummies from the Brooklyn Museum on Tuesday. A CAT scan revealed a mummy named Lady Hor was male. Researchers conducted the scans with the hopes of gaining further knowledge about ancient funeral practices and the mummies’ identities and causes of death. North Shore University Hospital spokeswoman Michelle Pinto said the testing enables radiologists to learn about the skeletal systems of the mummies in extraordinary detail without having to do invasive or damaging procedures.
■UNITED STATES
Snake in broccoli unsolved
The case of the severed snake head in a dish of broccoli at an upstate New York restaurant may go unsolved. A diner said he found the snake head on May 3 while eating at a TGI Friday’s in Clifton Park, north of Albany. Laboratory tests showed the head hadn’t been cooked, indicating it was added to the broccoli at the restaurant. The Carrollton, Texas-based company asked New York State Police to investigate. State police say they can’t determine how the snake wound up in the dish and that the investigation has been closed. The statute of limitations is five years.
■UNITED STATES
Obama can’t quit smoking
President Barack Obama may have just made life more difficult for cigarette makers, but he is not above sneaking a smoke every now and again. Obama, who has publicly struggled to quit smoking, said he still hasn’t completely kicked the habit even after signing a law this week that will likely set tough new rules for the tobacco industry. “As a former smoker I constantly struggle with it. Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No,” Obama said at a news conference. “I don’t do it in front of my kids, I don’t do it in front of my family. I would say that I am 95 percent cured, but there are times where I mess up,” he said.
■UNITED STATES
Ed McMahon dies at 86
Ed McMahon, a fixture on US late-night TV for 30 years as the full-throated announcer and sidekick for Johnny Carson on NBC’s The Tonight Show, died on Tuesday at 86 after battling a series of illnesses in recent months. The veteran TV personality best known for his nightly introduction of Carson in a deep, booming voice with the drawn-out line, “Heeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!” died at a Los Angeles hospital and was immediately hailed by friends and former colleagues as an icon of US popular culture. McMahon had been battling pneumonia, among many other illnesses.
■NICARAGUA
Jail inmate murders wife
A prisoner serving a 10-year sentence for drug trafficking allegedly murdered his wife in a fit of jealousy while they were alone in a room reserved for conjugal visits at the prison, media reported on Tuesday. Prison guards found the 19-year-old woman dead after her husband, Freddy Zacarias, 32, left the room without her. A medical examiner, Maria Gonzalez, determined that the victim was smothered to death with a pillow. Identified only as Andrea, the reports said the woman visited her husband at the prison every week from the city of Juigalpa, 139km east of Managua.
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