July 8 (UPI) — An unknown party has used artificial intelligence to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and contact several government and foreign officials, the State Department announced.
The State Department on Thursday alerted all diplomatic and consular posts that a Signal account using the display name [email protected] was created in mid-June, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
“The individual contacted at least five non-department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a U.S. member of Congress,” the State Department said in the alert, CBS News reported on Tuesday.
“The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal.”
Other State Department personnel also were impersonated in the fraudulent email, according to the State Department.
Impersonating a federal worker or officer with the intent to deceive or to gain something is a federal crime.
Such acts do not require extensive knowledge and often succeed due to government officials many times being careless about online security, Hany Farid, a University of California-Berkeley professor in digital forensics, told The Washington Post.
“This is precisely why you shouldn’t use Signal or other insecure channels for official government use,” Farid said.
As little as 15 seconds of audio is enough to enable AI to impersonate a particular individual and make it say whatever is desired to obtain the intended result, Farid added.
The FBI declined to comment on the Rubio impersonation but May warned U.S. officials that “malicious actors” are using AI to impersonate senior U.S. officials as part of an ongoing “malicious text and voice-messaging campaign,” The Washington Post reported.
Signal is the same encrypted app that resulted in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others accidentally included a journalist in a group discussion of plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen in March.
A second Signal chat included two members of Hegseth’s family.
The Los Angeles sports world mourned the loss of one of its most beloved voices, Rolando “El Veloz” Gonzalez, the longtime Galaxy broadcaster and a pioneer of Spanish-language sports radio, who died June 25.
His legacy transcends generations on the microphone.
Gonzalez’s career began almost accidentally. Although his dream was to play soccer, life had other plans for him and turned him into a storyteller.
“One day on March 6, 1962, I was playing soccer in the local league and the radio play-by-play broadcaster who was assigned that game of my team Escuintla against Universidad, Dr. Otorrino Ríos Paredes, had a car accident,” Gonzalez recalled in 2017. “The owner of the station ran to tell me, ‘[get dressed, get dressed]’ and I replied, ‘Who are you to tell me to get dressed? Let the trainer tell me.’ He said, ‘I need you because they told me that you narrate soccer.’ I replied that I do that there among the guys.”
He later moved to Los Angeles, where former Dodgers announcer Jaime Jarrín gave him his big break during the 1984 Olympics.
“I met him, I think in 1984, shortly before the Olympics. I needed sportswriters for Spanish-language coverage and I was impressed with his stability, his knowledge, his diction and his voice time for soccer,” Jarrín told L.A. Times en Español. “He worked with me for three weeks, and that opened a lot of doors for him in Los Angeles.”
Jarrín’s call surprised him.
Friends and colleagues join Rolando “El Veloz” González, center, in a broadcast booth during a Galaxy match. He called his last game on May 31.
(Armando Aguayo)
“It was Jaime Jarrín,” González recalled. “He asked me if I narrated soccer and if I had experience in programs. He told me that a narrator for the Olympics was coming from Ecuador and he wanted to have [González ] from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on a program. I was leaving the factory at 4:30 p.m. all dirty with paint, and I couldn’t miss that opportunity.”
Jarrín highlights González’s commitment to ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM’s coverage of the Galaxy, a team González covered in two long stints in which the team won five of the six MLS Cup titles. The last game González called a game was on May 31, when the Galaxy won their first game of this season against Real Salt Lake at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“He gave his all to the team, as I did to the Dodgers,” Jarrín said. “His legacy is an example for young people. He defined what he wanted to be, and he did it with his heart, with 110% effort.”
Along with Hipolito Gamboa, González marked an era in radio with their “Hablando de Deportes” show on KTNQ-AM (1020) and eventually on KWKW-AM (1330). The show focused mostly on soccer and easily overshadowed other sports programs that tried to copy the format with a more aggressive touch in their conversations.
The González and Gamboa duo presented a more complete analysis without being dependent on fireworks.
“I always had something that made you laugh in the booths of ‘Hablando de Deportes,’” Gamboa said. “It was not all good all the time, because there were moments of tension. That’s a reality, but we always ended well.”
Gamboa described González as someone out of the ordinary.
“He was one of the first to broadcast soccer in the United States. His unique style, his energy, his speed … no one has equaled him,” Gamboa said. “That’s why they called him ‘El Veloz’ [‘The Swift’].”
They worked together broadcasting Gold Cups, Liga MX matches and international matches. Despite his serious voice, Gamboa highlighted González’s cheerful character.
“He narrated with impressive clarity at an amazing speed. People recognized him by his voice,” Gamboa said. “At a party, my little daughter, just 1 year old at the time, heard him speak and said, ‘Goal!’ because we grew up hearing him narrate at the Rose Bowl, at Azteca Stadium, in so many booths.”
Armando Aguayo, who became González’s boss, said he was more than a colleague.
“He was my teacher. What I know about narration, I learned from him,” Aguayo said. “He taught me how to get into the narrator’s rhythm, not to interrupt, to adapt to his speed. He was demanding, but formative.”
Aguayo fondly recalls the two stages he shared with González, first as his producer at “Deportes en Acción 1330” and then as teammates in the second golden era of the Galaxy under Bruce Arena.
Armando Aguayo, who became Rolando González’s boss, said he was more than a colleague: “He taught me how to get into the narrator’s rhythm, not to interrupt, to adapt to his speed. He was demanding, but formative.”
(Armando Aguayo)
“We narrated together the finals, the titles, the big games,” Aguayo said. “And off the air, we talked about family, about the future of radio, about life.”
According to Aguayo, who calls LAFC and Clippers games, González had admirable discipline.
“He would arrive an hour early, prepare, make lists with lineups,” Aguayo said.
During his career González, called World Cups, Olympic Games, Pan American Games, games of his beloved Guatemala national team, as well as the U.S. national team. He covered soccer, baseball, basketball and football.
“The only thing he didn’t narrate was golf, because he said it bored him,” Aguayo said, laughing. “But he even narrated a marbles contest in Guatemala.”
González was known as a great storyteller.
“He would always say, ‘Let me tell you, in such-and-such a year … and he would give you exact dates.’ He was a historian with a storyteller’s voice,” Aguayo said.
Beyond professionalism, Gonzalez left a deep human imprint.
“We called him ‘Don Rolis’ [and] ‘Papa Smurf.’ He was like everybody’s dad. Always with a kind comment, always concerned about others,” Aguayo recalled.
Rolando González, left, joins Armando Aguayo while calling a Galaxy game.
(Armando Aguayo)
González was still active until a few weeks ago. He called the Galaxy’s last game against Real Salt Lake.
“He arrived two hours early, prepared his tecito, sat down to narrate and when he finished, he got up and left, as usual,” Aguayo said. “That was Rolando. Professional, punctual and simple.”
Aguayo spoke with González shortly before hearing the news of his death. Although González recently had a heart attack, he was still answering calls, his voice tired but upbeat.
“He told me, ‘I’m fine. Thank you for your call. It’s very helpful to me. You’re one of the few who called me.’ He told me about the future, about his family,” Aguayo said. “Even in his last days, he was thinking of others.”
For Jarrín, González represented the image of the hard-working immigrant, the passionate communicator, the dedicated professional.
“He never caused problems. He always served the Hispanic community in Southern California with interest. His voice will remain engraved in our memories, and his legacy will live on in every young person who wants to dedicate themselves to sports broadcasting,” Jarrín said.
González’s voice will no longer resonate in the stadiums, but his echo will live on in the memories of his colleagues and in the passion of those who listened to him.
“I was deeply hurt by his passing, because we were great friends,” Jarrín said. “We had a lot of mutual respect, and I liked him very much from the beginning because of his simplicity and his responsibility in everything. So I think that sports fans, and particularly soccer fans, will miss him very much. … He served the Hispanic community in Southern California with a lot of interest, with a lot of enthusiasm. And I will miss him very, very much indeed.”
My husband and I spent much of the weekend driving from Los Angeles to Petaluma, and back, to attend a wedding. The trip began, as our car trips inevitably do, with my husband asking me to find the best route via Apple Maps and then arguing with every direction the app offered.
Out loud, as if the app’s “voice” could hear him.
As in “What? That makes no sense. Why take the 118 when we can just keep going and pick up the 5 in a few miles?” or “I knew we should have taken my shortcut back there. Look, now we’re just sitting in traffic. I thought these apps were supposed to help you avoid traffic.”
If, during these early explosions, I am sufficiently caffeinated, I calmly suggest that the traffic on alternate routes is probably much worse. If I am not, I simply snap that he was the one who asked to use Maps in the first place and if he doesn’t like it, he should just take whatever route he wants like he always does anyway.
We have been married for a very long time.
Long enough, in fact, for me to remember a time when the voice he would argue with was mine, as I bent over the Thomas Guide or some impossibly large map and we exchanged, in heated tones, our deep and personal feelings for one route or another. (He, for example, thinks the 405 is just another freeway while I know it is a shimmering sliver of Hell designed by Satan to suck the life out of unwary motorists.)
After 30 years of road travel together, I know that any trip of more than 10 miles will be filled with either exasperation over roadwork delays or complaints about how “they really need to fix this road” and that there is no point in arguing that local government simply does not have the organizational wherewithal, never mind the motivation, to “time the lights” in such a way to intentionally make his life more difficult. (But if L.A. city or county is looking for someone to fix their traffic lights, Richard is available.)
As we headed toward the wedding, I found myself hoping that the couple we would be celebrating had spent enough time in the car together. Any long-term personal relationship requires the acknowledgment and acceptance of certain things about your partner. In L.A. especially, that means being able to live with the way they drive, even when … no, especially when, this seems at odds with every other facet of their nature.
My husband is a rational man who believes in the laws of science. Until he enters a car and his notion of time and space become defined by movement — any “shortcut” that allows the car to remain in motion is better than sitting in traffic, even if it makes the trip much longer in minutes and miles.
He is also notably sweet and sympathetic, always willing to think the best of his fellow humans. Except from behind the windshield, where he views the world as teeming with schemers and brutes, acting on all manner of Machiavellian impulses. If Richard designed a driving app, it would be called “This Sonuvabitch.”
As in “this sonuvabitch knows I want to get over and keeps creeping up so I can’t.” Or “this sonuvabitch is mad because I passed him and now he’s riding my tail.”
Traffic in L.A. is quite literally maddening and I too am guilty of loudly questioning the sanity of that guy in the blue Honda who thinks he can make a left on La Cienega at rush hour or the woman who has stopped traffic in an effort to parallel park in a space that anyone with eyes can see is too small for her freaking Bronco. But I never take their choices personally.
Richard takes it all very personally, offering a steady stream of criticism and muttered instructions — ”that’s it, you can do it, just turn the wheel, it’s not difficult” — to any driver not performing up to his standards.
Neither conversation nor music provides much of a distraction — he will talk right over his beloved Aaron Copland, never mind me. Even the suggestion that he put his ability to conjure such vividly precise character defects and psychological motivations to better use in, say, fiction writing, has been to no avail.
He is, I hasten to add, a good and safe driver, aggressive only rhetorically. And so, as one must do in marriage, I have sought the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. As we made our expletive-fueled way up the 5, I silently soothed myself with the knowledge that in a couple of hours, we’d need to take a restroom break and then I would slide into the driver’s seat and stay there until we arrived. Since our rule is that the driver controls the audio, I had queued up “I, Claudius” read by Derek Jacobi on Audible.
I have also been married long enough to know that the one thing my former-theater critic husband won’t disrupt is a masterful performance.
Not so Maps, which, as we neared San José, began chiming in with a quite complicated alternate route, designed, I assumed, to avoid freeway traffic. Richard was not at all pleased by either the interruptions or the route, and it was frankly hilarious to listen to him vent about precisely the sort of shortcut he himself is known for.
Indeed, I found myself feeling a personal bond with the calm and implacable voice guiding our progress even as my spouse spluttered and argued. Not only was she a third-party recipient of road-trip frustration, the voice of Maps seemed to take on the kind of objective helpfulness of a good therapist.
She is simply not interested in the “you always,” “I never” emotional quagmires a gridlocked freeway or rerouting decision can churn up. When I missed a turn, she didn’t care at all when my husband asked if whoever programmed Maps had ever actually driven a car and if they were so smart, could they not see that truck that wouldn’t let us get over?
She just continued to suggest that we “proceed to the route.”
Being the proud participant in a decades-long relationship, which, despite its many compromises and workarounds, remains solid and loving, I, of course, had been wondering what sort of advice I might, if only in my imagination, offer the soon-to-be-newlywed couple.
And here was Maps doing it for me.
Marriage is like a road trip; no matter how much you love the other person in the car, if it lasts long enough, you will drive each other a little nuts. My husband’s explosive commentary sometimes amuses me and sometimes wears me down. But at this point, if he didn’t complain about the timing of the lights or “this sonuvabitch who doesn’t know you can make a right on red,” I would worry that he was having a stroke.
Among the glories of the journey and the intimacy of the conversation, there will always be missed turns, ill-fated routes and arguments over how to cope with the forces that surround you. But if you choose to stay in the car, then the only real option is to keep moving forward.
Rebekah Del Rio, the singer-songwriter known for bringing her talents to the David Lynch classic “Mulholland Drive,” has died.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed Del Rio died in her home but did not disclose a primary cause of death, which is currently listed online as deferred. She was 57.
In Lynch’s 2001 thriller, Del Rio was the siren of the Club Silencio and introduced as “La Llorona de Los Angeles.” In front of a red velvet curtain with smudged mascara and a crystal teardrop on her cheek, Del Rio delivered a moving a cappella performance of “Llorando,” a Spanish-language take of Roy Orbison’s “Crying.” Her voice echoes through the venue, bringing tears to the characters portrayed by stars Naomi Watts and Laura Harring. Del Rio’s appearance suddenly ends when she collapses and is carried off stage.
Del Rio was one of a handful of musical acts who collaborated with Lynch. The visionary director died in January. He also also worked with “Twin Peaks” composer Angelo Badalamenti, and singers Julee Cruise and Chrystabell. The last, who starred alongside Lynch in “Twin Peaks: The Return,” paid tribute to Del Rio on social media.
“The beauty and astonishing power of your voice could actually take my breath away. May your spirit know the deepest peace, may your heart rest,” Chrystabell captioned a still of Del Rio’s “Mulholland Drive” cameo. “Thank you for the kindness and care you showed me, it is written on my heart.”
In addition to “Mulholland Drive,” Del Rio appeared in Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: The Return” as a musical guest and performed her dreamy rock ballad “No Stars.” Her screen credits also include films “This Teacher,” “2307: Winter’s Dream,” “Southland Tales” and “Rabbits,” according to IMDb.
Prior to working with Lynch, Del Rio gained popularity in the Netherlands during the mid-1990s for the title track of her debut album “Nobody’s Angel.” She briefly moved to Nashville to take her music career to the next level — she was signed to Giant Records — but a car accident got in the way of those ambitions.
“Some man crashed into me and basically stole my opportunity, and I saw my own dream die,” she recalled to the Guardian in a 2022 interview.
She continued to pursue music, counting Il Divo, producer Heather Holley and composer Danny Elfman among her collaborators. Her discography includes her 2011 album “Love Hurts Love Heals,” a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and her 2021 single “Adios.” Weeks before her death, Del Rio performed at a charity event for the Philosophical Research Society.
Del Rio is preceded in death by her son Phillip, who died of cancer in 2009.
No pop artist today has a more tangled relationship to a venue than the Weeknd has with SoFi Stadium.
First, he chose SoCal’s flagship stadium as the site to film the denouement of his cult-campy HBO series “The Idol” during one of his concerts. Unfortunately, during the set, he lost his voice four songs in and had to send fans home for the night so he could recover and make up the date. For such a perfectionist, that must have been a body blow.
He rebounded a few months later with a triumphal return and the concert doc “The Weeknd: Live at SoFi Stadium.” But that nerve-racking experience stuck with him. He revisited it in his recent feature film (and album) “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” where a fictional version of the Weeknd loses his voice onstage, kicking off a surrealist, violent night with Jenna Ortega. A brief interlude from that LP is titled “I Can’t F— Sing.”
So Abel Tesfaye must have had a range of mixed feelings when he walked out at SoFi on Wednesday night, the first of four nights at the site of some of his greatest triumphs and most bitter disappointments as a live performer. “This is bigger than me — it’s a reflection of the power of music and its impact on people,” Tesfaye told The Times in a brief email just before the show.
The Weeknd performs during his After Hours til Dawn Stadium Tour at SoFi Stadium.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
This slickly cryptic, immaculately performed 2½-hour set covered the whole of his era-defining catalog. But is this run of SoFi dates a swan song to one of the most successful recording projects of our time?
Since first emerging as an anonymous voice atop gothic, coked-up R&B productions on a trilogy of 2011 mixtapes, Tesfaye’s tastes and his unlikely commercial success grew together.
An underground fan base turned up for the nihilism of “Wicked Games” (“Bring the drugs, baby, I could bring my pain”). But with assists from Max Martin and Daft Punk, he became a bona fide pop star. His mournful Ethiopian melodic lilt stood out like nothing else in Top 40, and he hung onto enough art-freak sensibility that he could headline the Super Bowl halftime show with dancers in full-face plastic-surgery bandages. His ’80s-noir, 2019 single “Blinding Lights” remains the most-streamed song on Spotify, ever.
Darryl Eaton, his agent at CAA, told The Times that the 200,000 tickets sold for this SoFi run alone is “like selling out an entire American city.”
Yet Tesfaye has recently hinted at retiring the Weeknd as a premise. “It’s a headspace I’ve gotta get into that I just don’t have any more desire for,” he told Variety recently. “It never ends until you end it.”
Whether he wants to release less conceptual, more personal music, or if he’s simply run out of gas with this all-consuming pop entity he’s created, this SoFi run is likely one of the last chances L.A. fans will get to see the Weeknd. Tesfaye will surely keep making music and films, but it makes cinematic sense that he’d come back to the scene of his most painful night onstage to put this all to bed.
After a brief and typically roiling set from Tesfaye’s recent collaborator Playboi Carti, Tesfaye emerged in black and gold, eyes lit with LED pinpicks, over a ruined cityscape. Opening with the “BoJack Horseman”-riffing “The Abyss,” he grimly promised, “I tried my best to not let you go / I don’t like the view from halfway down … I tried to be something that I’ll never be.” It sure felt like he was saying goodbye to this way of being an artist.
The show kicked into gear with Tesfaye surrounded by a trim live band and minimalist, moving-sculpture dancers in rose-colored robes. He didn’t need much more to let that once-in-a-generation voice carry everything. Tesfaye’s a uniquely dedicated live vocalist on the stadium circuit (it’s kind of honorable that any serious vocal troubles might mean the show’s over). For all his high-concept misdirections in videos and films, you could feel the troubled intimacy that’s kept fans invested in this music over so many aesthetics.
For all his close reads of Michael Jackson’s records on singles like “Can’t Feel My Face,” Tesfaye’s not an especially physical dancer onstage. But he knows exactly how to inhabit and set-dress this music to make it eerie and monolithic, even at its poppiest.
The Weeknd.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
“After Hours” made a seductive case for letting an obviously toxic man back into your life (“Different girls on the floor, distracting my thoughts of you”). After finally taking off his face mask, he played “Take My Breath” like a revving, neo-disco floor-filler that still winked at the darker choke-kinks of his old music.
When he cranked up the pyro on the midcareer lurker ballad “The Hills,” the front rows of SoFi got a bracing reminder of how volatile this music is even when it sits atop streaming charts. Alongside Carti on their collaborations “Timeless” and “Rather Lie,” Tesfaye grounded his pal’s smeary Atlanta noise with evilly pretty melody. This is a voice you just can’t help but believe, even when it’s calling you to self-destruction.
The Weeknd performs at SoFi Stadium.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
If this tour is indeed at the end of his tenure as the Weeknd, at more than three dozen songs, Wednesday’s set delivered every possible angle of valediction — the thrumming decadence of “Often,” the desperate sincerity of “Die for You” and “Is There Someone Else?” Newer material like “Cry for Me” and “São Paolo” showed that, whatever his exhaustion with this aegis, he’s got tons of startling ideas still brimming.
When Tesfaye buried the hatchet with the Grammys back in February, it was a generous gesture to an organization that inexplicably locked him out of honors for “Blinding Lights,” which he should, obviously, have contended for. When he played that double-time, neo-New Wave single toward the end of his Wednesday set, it felt like a strange pearl that he’d discovered — one of the biggest pop songs of all time, played by a guy whose music emerged from a murk of MDMA licks and mournful threesomes.
With perhaps the exception of his (exceedingly stylish if critically skeptical) film career, he’s always found his voice, over and over again. SoFi Stadium has dealt the Weeknd his greatest defeat and some of his finest hours as a performer. Now it’s sending him off to Valhalla, wherever that takes Abel Tesfaye.
With the Friday notices, 85 percent of Voice of America’s workforce had been slashed.
Layoff notices have been sent to 639 employees of Voice of America (VOA) and the United States agency that oversees it, effectively shutting down the outlet that has provided news to countries around the world since World War II.
The notices sent on Friday included employees at VOA’s Persian-language service who were suddenly called off administrative leave last week to broadcast reports to Iran following Israel’s attack.
Three journalists working for the Persian service on Friday, who left their office for a cigarette break, had their badges confiscated and weren’t allowed back in, according to one fired employee.
In total, some 1,400 people at VOA and the US Agency for Global Media, or 85 percent of its workforce, have lost their jobs since March, said Kari Lake, Trump’s senior adviser to the agency. She said it was part of a “long overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy”.
“For decades, American taxpayers have been forced to bankroll an agency that’s been riddled with dysfunction, bias and waste,” Lake said in a news release. “That ends now.”
VOA began by broadcasting stories about US democracy to residents of Nazi Germany, and grew to deliver news around the world in dozens of languages, often in countries without a tradition of free press.
But President Donald Trump has fought against the news media on several fronts, with the complaint that much of what they produce is biased against conservatives. That includes a proposal to shut off federal funding to PBS and NPR, which is currently before Congress.
‘Death’ of independent journalism
Most VOA employees have been on administrative leave since March 15, their broadcasts and social media posts mostly silenced. Three VOA employees who are fighting the administration’s dismantling of VOA in court were among those receiving layoff notices on Friday.
“It spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds US ideals of democracy and freedom around the world,” plaintiffs Jessica Jerreat, Kate Neeper and Patsy Widakuswara said in a statement.
The Persian-language employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing legal case, was in the office Friday when colleagues were barred from re-entry. The person was afraid to leave for the same reason – even though authorities said their work had been halted – until receiving a layoff notice.
Steve Herman, VOA’s chief national correspondent who was in the process of retiring to take a job at the University of Mississippi, called the layoffs an “historic act of self-sabotage with the US government completing the silencing of its most effective soft-power weapon”.
It’s not clear what, if anything, will replace VOA’s programming worldwide. The Trump-supporting One American News Network has offered to allow its signal to be used.
Although plaintiffs in the lawsuit called on Congress to continue supporting VOA, Herman said that he is not optimistic that it will survive, even if a Democratic president and Congress take over. For one thing, every day it is off the air is another day for viewers and readers to get into another habit for obtaining news.
“I believe that the destruction is permanent,” Herman said, “because we see no indication in the next fiscal year that Congress will rally to fund VOA.”
By the time another administration takes power that is more sympathetic to the outlet, “I fear that VOA will have become forgotten,” he said.
The 48-year-old singer spoke with the BBC last week about moving as a teenager from her native Colombia to Miami in the ’90s.
“I was only 19 when I moved to the US, like many other Colombian immigrants who come to this country looking for a better future,” she said. “And I remember I was surrounded by Spanish-English dictionaries and synonym dictionaries because back in the day I didn’t really have Google or ChatGPT to [help].”
Further commenting on her “very precarious” situation, Shakira noted that she used the works of poet Walt Whitman and singer-songwriters Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan to refine her English skills.
But beyond the language learning pains, the “Estoy Aquí” artist spoke on the emotional toll of the immigrant experience.
“It means living in constant fear. And it’s painful to see,” Shakira said. “Now, more than ever, we have to remain united. Now, more than ever, we have to raise our voices and make it very clear that a country can change its immigration policies, but the treatment of all people must always be humane.”
This isn’t the first time Shakira has touched on the subject of immigration in recent months.
While accepting the Latin pop album Grammy for “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” in February, the “Whenever, Wherever” singer dedicated her award to her “immigrant brothers and sisters in this country”
“You are loved, you are worth it and I will always fight with you,” she said.
Shakira’s recent words of solidarity with the immigrant community came as other major Latin American music acts used their platforms to condemn the ICE raids and align their sympathies with immigrants. Becky G, Ivan Cornejo, Fuerza Regida, Junior H, Grupo Frontera and Maná were among the acts to publicly voice concern for the immigrant community.
The Voice UK reportedly won’t be returning to TV screens until 2026, with the ITV show having also welcomed a new judge in a huge shake-up
18:01, 16 Jun 2025Updated 18:11, 16 Jun 2025
The Voice UK: Tom Jones shares regret over song
Fans of The Voice are going to have to wait much longer for the new series to air, it’s been revealed.
The hit talent show usually airs during the autumn months on ITV, but according to reports, The Voice won’t be back on TV screens until 2026.
The Sun has reported that the programme will be back in January and will air during the weekend, with TV bosses in the midst of switching up the schedule.
That’s not the only big change happening, as The Voice is also due to welcome a new judge, who will make their TV debut during the upcoming series.
LeAnn Rimes has left her role as a judge on The Voice UK (Image: No credit)
American singer Kelly Rowland will be joining The Voice as a new mentor, following the exit of LeAnn Rimes, who left to focus on her career in the US and has now joined the American edition of The Voice.
Kelly will join will.i.am and Sir Tom Jones on the red chairs, as well as McFly stars Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones, who joined the show last year.
Destiny’s Child singer Kelly has previously judge on The X Factor and also been a coach on The Voice Australia in the past.
Speaking about her latest career venture, Kelly said: “I am excited to join The Voice UK as a coach, and am looking forward to working with the excellent and passionate coaches the show is known for.
“I can’t wait to hear all the new talent and to go to battle for my team. Let’s go!”
Emma Willis will be back on hosting duties, as she helps the mentors to search for their next winner, who will take home a £50,000 cash prize and be awarded a record deal with Universal Music.
Kelly Rowland will appear on the new series of The Voice (Image: Getty)
Emma said of the upcoming series: “I’m so excited to be back for another series of The Voice UK. It’s one of the most joyful shows to work on – full of passion, talent and of course those unforgettable moments when the chairs turn.
“With our brilliant coaches returning and the utterly fabulous Kelly Rowland joining the panel, I know this series is going to be something really special.”
The Voice UK is due to begin filming again during the summer. The show is produced by Lifted Entertainment, a part of ITV Studios, and airs on ITV1 and ITVX.
The Voice UK is back but with a major change as a new judge has been added to the line up alongside will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones, Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones
Actor Jonathan Joss, whose varied career notably included roles on “King of the Hill” and “Parks and Recreation,” has died. He was killed Sunday in a shooting in San Antonio, according to police.
According to an incident report shared with The Times, officers responded Sunday evening to a shooting at the 200 block of Dorsey Drive where they found Joss near the roadway. First responders “attempted life saving measures” until EMS officers arrived. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He was 59.
Police did not disclose details about what led to the shooting, but said officers found and arrested the alleged shooter. Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, 56, was booked Monday morning on suspicion of murder. His bond is set at $200,000, according to TMZ, which broke the news of Joss’ death.
The Times could not reach a legal representative for Alvarez Ceja. San Antonio police said it is investigating the shooting.
The actor’s husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, alleged in a Facebook post shared Monday that he and Joss suffered “openly homophobic” harassment and threats prior to the fatal shooting, which he claimed was also motivated by homophobia. Gonzales wrote that he and Joss had returned Sunday the site of the actor’s San Antonio home — which burned down in January — to check their mail. The actor also lost three dogs in the fire. The men “discovered the skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view” and “began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw,” Gonzales wrote.
A man approached them, “started yelling violent homophobic slurs” and “raised a gun from his lap and fired,” Gonzales wrote. He said Joss pushed him out of the way, saving his life, and added that his husband “was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other.”
“I was with him when he passed,” he wrote. “I told him how much he was loved.”
Joss, born December 1965, is best known for voicing John Redcorn, Hank Hill’s neighbor on the hit Fox animated series “King of the Hill.” Joss lent his voice to the series from 1997 to 2009, taking over from original voice actor Victor Aaron. He also voiced John Redcorn for the show’s video game tie-in in 2000.
Joss spoke about his ties to his longtime character in April as he lamented not being invited to an event promoting the “King of the Hill” revival. Hulu announced Friday that Season 14 of “King of the Hill” will premiere in August. The voice cast touts Mike Judge, Kathy Najimy, Pamela Adlon, Johnny Hardwick, Stephen Root, Lauren Tom, and Toby Huss. Joss recorded lines for the revival prior to his death, according to Variety.
“This show was a part of my life for many years,” he wrote on Facebook. “That character, that voice, that story…they were my home, my pride, my connection to something bigger than myself.”
Joss, who studied acting at Our Lady of the Lake University, began acting in the mid-1990s with minor roles in TV projects including “Walker, Texas Ranger” and the miniseries “Dead Man’s Walk.”
In addition to “King of the Hill,” Joss is known for portraying Wamapoke elder and casino owner Chief Ken Hotate in NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” where he appeared alongside star Amy Poehler. In the series, Joss’ Ken dissuades Poehler’s peppy protagonist Leslie Knope from hosting a local festival on sacred burial grounds.
“There are two things I know about white people,” he jokes in the series. “They love Matchbox Twenty and they are terrified of curses.”
His television credits also include the Paramount+ drama “Tulsa King,” “Ray Donovan,” “Friday Night Lights,” “ER” and “Charmed.”
Joss’ resumé includes films “The Magnificent Seven,” “True Grit” and “8 Seconds,” among others. He also lent his voice to several video games, including “Red Dead Redemption,” “Days Gone,” “Wasteland 3” and “Cyberpunk 2077.”
The actor embarked on several fan events, including meet-and-greets and Q&As, in the months before his death. On Sunday morning, he recalled meeting fans at Tribe Comics and Games in Austin: “Last night’s gig was amazing — huge thanks to everyone who came out and showed us love!” In the same post, Joss told followers he was seeking a ride to San Antonio.
Joss is survived by his husband. They got married this year on Valentine’s Day. Joss referenced the devastation of losing his home in April, writing in his Facebook post he has since “been rebuilding, piece by piece, soul by soul.”
He added, addressing fans: “You’ve been the ones to lift me up, to remind me of the impact I’ve made, and to carry me through some of the darkest day[s] of my life. Your love means more than I can ever say.”
Gonzales wrote in Monday’s statement he and Joss were were in the process of finding a new home and “planning our future together.” He thanked Joss’ fans for their support and vowed to protect and carry on the actor’s legacy.
“Jonathan saved my life. I will carry that forward. I will protect what he built,” Gonzales wrote.
Post Office scandal victims are favourites to win tomorrow’s final – as we catch up with all of the finalists
21:13, 30 May 2025Updated 21:59, 30 May 2025
Hear Our Voice set to take their fight all the way to King with BGT victory(Image: ITV)
Post Office scandal choir Hear Our Voice look set to take their fight all the way to the King by winning tomorrow night’s Britain Got Talent final. The group – made up of victims of the sub postmasters scandal, which saw hundreds of lives ruined by the Horizon IT fiasco – are favourites to be crowned victorious.
If they are, they will get an audience with King Charles at the Royal Variety Show. Member Tim Bretnall says it would “take their story to the highest level.” “The absolute best bit of this journey has been the audiences reactions and support, and to be able to feel that for Royalty would be unbeatable,” he said.
Inspirational choir Hear Our Voice are favourites to win BGT(Image: ITV)
“Winning the show would be huge, we’ve all spent so long fighting what’s felt like an uphill battle, and it’s still going on now, but knowing that the public are firmly behind us would mean the absolute world to us.
“It would give our cause a real seal of approval and hopefully a platform to continue to fight for the justice that people deserve, what’s already changed my life is the joy that being in choir has brought.”
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were accused or convicted of theft and fraud due to the faulty Horizon system, developed by Fujitsu and installed by the Post Office.
Their story inspired last year’s ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. The award-winning show, which starred Toby Jones as campaigning sub-postmaster Sir Alan Bates, led to the quashing of convictions.
The stories of the Hear Our Voice choir inspired hit ITV series Mr Bates V The Post Office(Image: ITV STUDIOS)
One whose conviction for was overturned is Tim, 42, who ran a post office in Roch, Pembrokeshire.
Speaking ahead of today’s final, he says logistics has been the hardest part of the week, not nerves.
“That’s the hardest bit of the choir because we are all from all over the country,” he explained. “Strangely nerves haven’t really come into it, it feels so good to be standing alongside all my friends doing this, we love the opportunity it’s given us.”
Promising an emotional performance, Tim teased what fans can expect. “It’s another song that really speak to us all, how we feel now we’ve come together, it really shows how courage is our talent,” he said. “We’ve been working on this song for months, we hope it will really give a feeling of how together we’ve all been brought by doing this.”
With a £250,000 prize fund also up for grabs, Tim has big plans for the money.
“If we were lucky enough to win we’d split the money evenly between all the members of the choir – after putting a little into saving for my children I plan to give the majority of my share to the 2 postmasters charities – Lost Chances and Horizon Shortfall Fund,” said Tim.
Hear Our Voice are one of 10 finalists performing night. We caught up with the rest of the hopefuls ahead of the finale.
Guitarist Olly Pearson, 11, says her’s overcome a few hiccups ahead of the final.
“I did have a problem with my guitar set up which I had to spend a lot of time working on with my grandad to stop one note ‘choking out’, he explained. But it’s all sorted now!”
Olly Pearson has impressed with his guitar skills(Image: ITV)
Olly wants to treat his grandad if he wins. “First thing I would do is buy my Grandad his dream guitar a USA Fender Strat to say thank you for teaching me!” he promised.
Magician Harry Moulding, 24, is going all out to try win with a never before seen trick.
“All I can say is that it’s going to be the biggest thing that I’ve ever tried to do,” he teased. “I don’t think any magician has ever done this before. And I’m pretty sure that no magician has ever done it on Britain’s Got Talent or on live TV. So just expect for this to be the biggest one yet.”
Swiss dance troup The Blackouts are promising another spectacular light and dance show with a heartwarming message.
“Our final show is called Thank You Britain,” explains Elias. “It’s our way of expressing just how much this experience — and the kindness of the British public — has meant to us. You’ve welcomed us with open arms, and this is our love letter back to you. Expect emotion, energy, surprises and a lot of light — not just in the technical sense, but in the way we hope it makes people feel.”
Glaswegian singer Vinnie McKee, 29, is channeling his nerves and emotions into his performance – which he says will be a tearjerker.
“I’m extremely nervous but more excited than ever before!” he admits. “You will need to have tissues at the ready as I’m doing my own version of an emotional classic that’s never been performed like this before.”
Scottish singer Vinnie McKee has teased an emotional performance(Image: (Image: ITV))
Mum-of-one Stacey Leadbeatter, 29, has big plans for what she’ll do with the prize money if she wins – hoping it will help her grow her family.
“If I was to be lucky enough to win, I promised that I would take my little girl to Disneyland!” she begins. “I’ve promised her that one day I’d do that and this would help! I’d also use the money to help with funding to extend my family by looking into getting IVF and also it would help a great deal towards wedding costs and also releasing my own music.”
Gymnast Binita Chetry, nine, is the youngest finalist of the series – and while she may be small, she’s certainly mighty.
“It’s great because I look small but my performance is as impactful as someone bigger than me,” she said. “I feel the advantage of being the youngest contestant is I get all the love and care of others and that makes me happy. “I want to inspire all the young girls that no matter how young you are if you have a passion for something you can do anything.”
Italian dance troupe Ping Pong Pang are promising an “original, wild, and full of rhythm” show, which they hope takes them all the way to the Royal Variety Performance.
Patrizio Ratto said: “As always, we’ll mix dance, energy, and our unique style with rackets and ping pong balls. Performing for royalty is something beyond imagination. We would live it with deep respect, emotion, and all the wonder we carry in our hearts. We’d just have to polish our rackets a bit first!
Drag opera singer Jasmine Rice, 37, is promising another show stopping performance – and outfit – but says she’s struggled with hay fever in the lead up to the final.
Jasmine Rice has impressed the judges with her powerhouse vocals(Image: Tom Dymond for BGT)
“Aside from the usual pre-show butterflies, this British hay fever has me in a chokehold!” said the New York native, who overcame the secret heartbreak of losing her grandmother to progress to the final. “I landed here and thought my nose was auditioning for a solo of its own. But with that all aside I know now it’s just me, my voice, and that big, fabulous stage.”
Comedian Joseph Charm, 32, says he wants to win the show for his family. The dad-of-two, whose mum got involved by hitting the golden buzzer, shared: “Winning the show would be incredible but nothing will ever trump giving my mum that special moment, that will live with me forever.”
On the prize fund, he said: “That’s a lot of money… it would finally allow me to pay for one month of nursery.”
A LITTLE-known car brand is preparing to launch an AI-powered luxury saloon to rival the mighty Porsche Taycan.
Chinese EV manufacturer Xpeng has unveiled the latest iteration of its P7 sports saloon that they’ve branded “more than a car”.
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Xpeng unveils its next-gen P7 sports saloon, showcasing cutting-edge AI tech to rival the Porsche TaycanCredit: XPENG
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The Chinese EV brand reveals a sleek, AI-driven electric saloonCredit: XPENG
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They say their flagship P7 aims to stand out in the crowded EV marketCredit: XPENG
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It combines style, performance, and AI-driven mobility to promise a new era of electric luxuryCredit: XPENG
Said to be Xpeng’s answer to “the AI [artificial intelligence] era in form and function”, the company has identified itself as an “AI-driven mobility company”.
Indeed, they’re positioning the new flagship P7 as a showcase for how AI can redefine the luxury car experience.
Details at this stage are scarce, but the previous P7 was described as “the world’s first AI-defined vehicle” and included highly advanced autonomous driving functions, as well as a ‘smart cockpit’ that included a Knight Rider-style voice assistant.
The next-gen model is expected to build on this, as well as introduce even more advanced capabilities.
Their ultimate aim is to stand out in China‘s increasingly crowded luxury saloon market – with the likes of the Avatr 12, Nio ET9 and Luxeed S7 all hoping to be big sellers.
Regarding the upcoming P7’s new styling, Xpeng’s Exterior Design Director Rafik Ferrag told Autocar: “With this new generation, we set out to design a pure-electric sports sedan that could amaze at every angle.
“This car is our dream – refined through countless iterations.
“In my eyes, the all-new Xpeng P7 is a work of art, shaped with emotion and purpose.”
It’s currently unknown if the P7 will be sold outside of China – with more details to follow.
For now, the Porsche Taycan remains the industry leader when it comes to luxury, performance all-electric saloons.
Inside Taycan Turbo GT Porsche that can hit 200mph as SunSport’s Isabelle Barker is taken for a spin by Formula E safety car driver
While sales have dipped in recent times, the Taycan remains a highly sought-after electric sports car ahead of the likes of the Lucid Air, Tesla Model S, BMW i4, and Audi e-tron GT.
One other Chinese brand that’s got Porsche in its sights is Denza – headed by motoring giant BYD.
The ever-expanding car brand is one of the largest private companies in China and has already started to make waves globally – including in the UK.
But for those seeking something with more speed and luxury, their sister brand Denza and their first car in its line-up – the stunning Z9 GT – might appeal.
James Earl Jones’ voice of Darth Vader is one of the most recognizable sounds in movie history — and now it’s at the center of a fight over the use of artificial intelligence.
On Monday, Hollywood actors guild SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor charge over the use of an AI-powered version of the iconic “Star Wars” villain’s voice in the massively popular video game “Fortnite.”
Last week, “Fortnite” started allowing players to recruit Darth Vader to their teams and take turns talking to him using conversational AI technology that replicates Jones’ tone and speech patterns for the George Lucas-created character. “Fortnite” is owned by developer Epic Games.
SAG-AFTRA filed the complaint against Llama Productions, a subsidiary of Epic that works on “Fortnite.”
“Fortnite’s signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement. “Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms.”
Epic Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jones had allowed Lucasfilm and Disney to use AI and archival recordings to replicate the actor’s voice as Darth Vader for future “Star Wars” projects. Jones died in September. “Fortnite” said it had received permission from Jones’ estate to include his voice in the game.
“James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it,” the family of James Earl Jones said in a statement on Fortnite’s post on its website last week. “We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.”
SAG-AFTRA said in a statement that it celebrates the rights of its members and their estates to control digital replicas.
“However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games,” the performers guild said.
AI remains a controversial topic in Hollywood, as actors and writers have raised concerns about the fast-growing technology harming their jobs. In 2023, actors and writers went on strike to fight for more protections in their contracts that addressed their concerns about artificial intelligence.
“Fortnite’s” use of Darth Vader’s voice wasn’t without other hiccups. Business Insider pointed to an example of where the voice was seen saying the F-word in the game and an Epic Games spokesman told Business Insider that a fix was made to stop Darth Vader from cursing within 30 minutes of it happening in-game.
Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t expect to be at the forefront of the artificial intelligence debate in Hollywood. But she didn’t have a choice.
The Oscar-winning actor recently called out Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on social media, saying the company ignored her requests to take down a fake AI-generated advertisement on Instagram that had been on the platform for months.
The ad, which used footage from an interview Curtis gave to MSNBC about January’s Los Angeles area wildfires, manipulated her voice to make it appear that she was endorsing a dental product, Curtis said.
“I was not looking to become the poster child of internet fakery, and I’m certainly not the first,” Curtis told The Times by phone Tuesday morning.
The ad has since been removed.
What happened to Curtis is part of a larger issue actors are dealing with amid the rise of generative AI technology, which has allowed their images and voices to be altered in ways they haven’t authorized. Those changes can be wildly misleading.
Images and likenesses of celebrities including Tom Hanks, Taylor Swift and Scarlett Johansson have been manipulated through AI to promote products and ideas they never actually endorsed.
AI technology has made it easier for people to make these fake videos, which can proliferate online at a speed that is challenging for social media platforms to take down. Some are calling on social media firms to do more to police misinformation on their platforms.
“We are standing at the turning point, and I think we need to take some action,” Curtis said.
Curtis first became aware of the fake AI ad about a month and a half ago when a friend asked her about the video. The “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “Halloween” actor then flagged the ad for her agents, lawyers and publicists, who directed her to send a cease and desist letter to Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram.
Nothing happened.
“It’s like a vacuum,” Curtis said. “There are no people. You can’t reach anybody. You have an email, you send an email, you never get anything back.”
Two weeks later, another friend flagged the same fake AI video. When Curtis wrote to her team, they assured her they went through the proper channels and they did everything they could do, she said.
“I went through the proper channels,” Curtis said. “There should be a methodology to this. I understand there’s going to be a misuse of this stuff, but then there’s no avenue of getting any satisfaction. So then it’s lawlessness, because if you have no way of rectifying it, what do you do?”
Curtis was concerned about the nefarious ways that people could alter the voices and images of other people, including Pope Leo XIV, who has identified AI as one of the challenges facing humanity. What if someone used AI to attribute ideas to the pope that he didn’t actually support?
Inspired by the danger of that possibility, she made her scathing Instagram post, tagging Zuckerberg, after she was unable to directly message him.
“My name is Jamie Lee Curtis and I have gone through every proper channel to ask you and your team to take down this totally AI fake commercial for some bulls— that I didn’t endorse,” Curtis wrote in her post on Monday. “… I’ve been told that if I ask you directly, maybe you will encourage your team to police it and remove it.”
The post generated more than 55,000 likes.
“I’ve done commercials for people all my life, so if they can make a fake commercial with me, that hurts my brand,” Curtis said in an interview. “If my brand is authenticity, you’re co-opting my brand for nefarious gains in the future.”
After she posted, a neighbor shared with her an email of someone at Meta who could help her. Curtis emailed that person (whom she declined to name), copied her team and attached the Instagram posts. Within an hour of sending the email, the fake AI ad was taken down, Curtis said.
“It worked!” Curtis wrote on Instagram on Monday in all caps. “Yay internet! Shame has [its] value! Thanks all who chimed in and helped rectify!”
Meta on Monday confirmed the fake ad was taken down.
“They violate our policies prohibiting fraud, scams and deceptive practices,” said Meta spokesman Andy Stone in an email.
As the technology continues to become more widely available, there are efforts underway at tech companies to identify AI-generated content and to take down material that violates standards.
Organizations like actors guild SAG-AFTRA are also advocating for more laws that address AI, including deep fakes. Both the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 hinged in part on demands for more protections against job losses from AI.
Curtis said she would have wanted the fake AI ad to be taken down immediately and would like to see technology companies, not just Meta, come up with safeguards and direct access to people policing “this wild, wild west called the internet.”
“It got the attention, but I’m also a public figure,” Curtis said. “So how does someone who’s not a public figure get any satisfaction? I want to represent everyone. I don’t want it to just be celebrities. I wanted to use that as an example to say this is wrong.”
