MEXICO
First ‘Kahlo audio’ found
The National Sound Library said it has discovered what could be the first known audio recording of Frida Kahlo’s voice. Secretary of Culture Alejandra Frausto said it is possible researchers have found Kahlo’s voice and it is likely the only such recording that exists. The audio clip from 1955 consists of a woman describing Kahlo’s former husband and painting partner Diego Rivera. The clip came from the pilot of the 1950s Mexican radio program The Bachelor. National Sound Library director Pavel Granados on Wednesday said that Kahlo’s voice has been the most sought after piece within the library’s archive that contains 600,000 files. He said researchers would try to confirm that the voice belongs to Kahlo by going through 1,300 more tapes from The Bachelor.
UNITED STATES
Sarah Sanders leaving
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, whose tenure was marked by a breakdown in regular press briefings and questions about the administration’s credibility, as well as her own, is to leave her post at the end of the month, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday. Sanders is one of Trump’s closest and most trusted White House aides, and one of the few remaining on staff who worked on his campaign. “After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas,” Trump tweeted just before she accompanied him to a White House event on prison reform. Trump suggested her as a future candidate for Arkansas governor, saying: “She would be fantastic.” Sanders has not held a formal briefing since March 11. Reporters often catch her on the White House driveway after she is interviewed by Fox News Channel and other TV news outlets.
UNITED STATES
Cartoon features gay couple
Coinciding with Pride Month, the Discovery Family cartoon series My Little Pony has introduced a same-sex couple on the show for the first time. Writer-producer Michael Vogel on Thursday told People the timing of the episode, “The Last Crusade,” is a happy coincidence. The episode introduces a lesbian couple, Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty. They care for Scootaloo. The episode has already aired in Europe and is to be broadcast in the US today. Last month, the animated children’s series Arthur on PBS showed the gay wedding of Arthur’s teacher, Mr Ratburn. Co-showrunner Nicole Dubuc told Buzzfeed News the core of My Little Pony is to embrace what truly defines a family — love.
UNITED STATES
Concert canceled for birds
A concert series on a popular New Jersey beach has been canceled this summer to protect dozens of shorebirds nesting there, Sandy Hook Foundation announced on Thursday. Piping plovers usually only visit Sandy Hook, but this year, unusually, they have decided to build more than 20 nests, it said. National Park Service officials said noise disturbs the plovers, which are federally protected shorebirds. Sandy Hook is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, which encompasses parts of New York City and New Jersey. Gateway superintendent Jen Nersesian said they want “these special birds to thrive.” She said alternate locations for the concerts were scouted, but a suitable spot was not found. Sandy Hook has supported nearly half of New Jersey’s plover pairs the past decade.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the