Weekly Review

By Roger D. Hodge

Caricature of Louis IV, by Thackeray. 1875.

China announced that Hong Kong will not be allowed to elect its next leader in 2007, contrary to the city's Basic Law, which was enacted when Britain turned over the territory in 1997; China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress said that an election would create social and economic instability. Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's current chief executive, called on the people to remain "calm and rational."¹ The Bush Administration continued to insist that sovereignty will be turned over to an Iraqi government on June 30 but revealed for the first time that the sovereign will be unable to make new laws or command the armed forces.² Pictures of American coffins returning from Iraq finally became public after a website received them via a Freedom of Information Act request.³ Bob Woodward's new book continued to shape the news; it was the source of accusations that the Bush Administration improperly diverted funds to prepare for the conquest of Iraq, and that Saudi Arabia promised President Bush to deliver low fuel prices to help with his reelection.⁴ General Electric and Siemens, two large contractors in Iraq, suspended most of their operations in the country.⁵ Suicide attacks continued; in Basra dozens of people were killed, including more than 20 children who were on their way to school.⁶ Suicide bombers attacked a government building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and⁷ American troops in Fallujah were playing AC/DC's album Back in Black very loudly to annoy gunmen. The troops were also broadcasting Arabic insults, such as "you shoot like a goat herder."⁸

A railway station exploded in North Korea soon after Kim Jong Il, on his way home from China, passed through in his special armored train, which was a gift to his father from Joseph Stalin; much of the surrounding community was damaged or destroyed.⁹ There was a train wreck under New York City near Penn Station, and federal¹⁰ authorities confirmed that a man in Westchester County, New York, contracted avian flu last fall; there was no evidence that he was ever in direct contact with birds.¹¹ The House of Representatives approved a bill providing for quick elections if 100 or more members are killed at one time.¹² Diebold Election Systems was in trouble again for using insecure software in its voting machines in California.¹³ Pro-government militias in Sudan continued to slaughter people in Darfur, and¹⁴ Unicef released a report on slavery in Africa concluding that the practice continues in every country on the continent.¹⁵ Estée Lauder died.¹⁶ The editor of USA Today resigned in a scandal over a star reporter who made up his stories.¹⁷ Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain announced a referendum on the proposed European constitution, and 50¹⁸ former senior British diplomats signed a letter denouncing Tony Blair for following American policies in Iraq and Israel that are "doomed to failure."¹⁹ Mordecai Vanunu, the scientist who exposed Israel's nuclear-weapons program, was released from prison after 18 years, 11 of which were in solitary confinement. Israel has maintained an official policy of "nuclear ambiguity" even though Vanunu confirmed that the country possesses weapons of mass destruction.²⁰

Scientists at NASA were ordered not to speak to reporters about The Day After Tomorrow, a disaster movie in which global warming triggers an ice age, because officials were worried about political damage to the president, who has refused to take the threat of climate change seriously.²¹ More than one million abortion-rights advocates marched in Washington, D.C., and vowed to defeat President Bush in November.²² Administration lawyers asked a judge to prevent a former FBI translator from testifying in a lawsuit brought by families of September 11 victims; the translator told the 9/11 commission that the government had considerable evidence months before the attacks that Al Qaeda was planning to use aircraft as weapons in the United States.²³ Agriculture officials were still trying to convince Japan to drop its ban on American beef that has not been tested for mad cow disease.²⁴ SARS returned to China, and dozens²⁵ of Chinese babies died of malnutrition after they were fed counterfeit formula.²⁶ Governor Rick Perry of Texas proposed shifting the burden of school financing in the state from property taxes to sin taxes on gambling, alcohol, and stripping.²⁷ It was discovered that pheromones that mimic those emitted by lactating bitches soothe misbehaving dogs by reminding them of their puppyhoods, and²⁸ Michael Jackson was indicted for child molestation.²⁹ Police in Mexico arrested a tamale vendor after a dead body was found in his home.³⁰ King Carl Gustav of Sweden, who is exempt from prosecution, was seen driving his yellow Porsche around in southern Sweden at speeds well over 100 mph.³¹ In Cape Town, South Africa, a man survived a 19-story fall from a hotel window, and a³² highly radioactive nuclear fuel rod was missing in Vermont.³³ The CEO of McDonald's dropped dead of a heart attack.³⁴