Flat mesas, the Rio Grande and praying in Spanish along an isolated road: These are some themes crooned about by Latino artists who have headed for Nashville to pursue becoming country stars.
The big picture: Country music's popularity has soared among U.S. Hispanics, and a new generation of Latino singers is transforming this historically white-dominated industry.
The international community, including the U.S., called for an end to the violence in Sudan on Saturday after deadly fighting erupted between the Sudanese military and a powerful rival militia in the capital Khartoum and several other places across the country.
Why it matters: The armed confrontation has further deteriorated the political crisis the country has faced since a military coup in October 2021. The fighting between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) also increased fears that the violence could plunge the country into a wider conflict.
Pyongyang said Friday that it had successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, potentially moving North Korea one step closer to establishing a credible nuclear threat to the U.S.
Why it matters: Solid-fuel ICBMs can be moved more easily and launched on shorter notice than ICBMs with liquid fuel, potentially making it harder for the U.S. or other adversaries to detect and destroy them before launch.
President Biden’s senior Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and U.S. envoy for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein traveled to Saudi Arabia this week for talks with senior Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the White House told Axios.
Why it matters: McGurk and Hochstein are the most senior U.S. officials to visit Saudi Arabia since a crisis erupted between the two countries after the Saudi-led decision to cut oil production last October. The visit signals relations between Washington and Riyadh are improving.
As alarm over the fentanyl epidemic grows in the U.S., Republicans, including Donald Trump, are proposing military strikes against Mexican cartels, the Biden administration is urging Mexico and China to clamp down, and the leaders of those countries are making clear they see this as an entirely American problem.
Why it matters: “Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency administrator Anne Milgram testified during a Senate hearing in February.