Weekly Review

By Arno Kopecky

The World Health Organization warned that outbreaks of cholera and dysentery resulting from a lack of clean drinking water could easily double the number of people killed by the Indian Ocean tsunami.¹ Nearly 150,000 people were confirmed dead in the disaster and far more were badly injured. Estimates of the homeless ran to five million.² United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan cut his Christmas holiday short to meet with world leaders about providing relief and announced that he would fly to affected countries to help organize the effort from the ground.³ President George W. Bush stayed on vacation down at the ranch in Crawford, Texas, and complained about the U.S. being called stingy. He then doubled his initial aid offer to $35 million. Senator Patrick Leahy noted that "we spend $35 million before breakfast in Iraq."⁴ Two days later the amount rose to $350 million.⁵ Officials at Sri Lanka's largest national park were wondering how all the wild animals had survived,⁶ and Norodom Sihanouk, the retired king of Cambodia, said his country had been spared thanks to the warnings of his astrologer.⁷ Water saved from a cup Elvis sipped from sold for $455 on eBay,⁸ and a bad batch of homemade alcohol killed 37 people in India.⁹ A new law took effect that bars immigrants from claiming refugee status in Canada if they have to travel through the U.S. to get there,¹⁰ and the Department of Agriculture said it would allow Canadian beef back into the country.¹¹ Scientists were concerned about rats overrunning Alaska.¹² Astronauts aboard the international space station reported they'd had little to eat except candy for the last five weeks,¹³ and studies showed that obesity increases a woman's risk of getting pregnant while on the pill.¹⁴ Missouri legalized bare-handed catfishing.¹⁵

The Department of Justice revised its definition of torture and asserted that it is, in fact, illegal.¹⁶ Six Navy Seals and two of their wives sued the Associated Press for publishing photographs of the men posing and grinning amid hooded prisoners; a reporter found the photos after one of the wives posted them on smugmug.com, a website she had thought was secure.¹⁷ In Dubai, an Italian man was fined for hugging and kissing a woman in public.¹⁸ The Ugandan government entered peace talks with the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group led by a self-proclaimed messiah, whose ranks consist largely of kidnapped children. "We could kill you all now for nothing," said a rebel spokesman, "but that's not our aim." ¹⁹ Fighting resumed the next day.²⁰ The imprisoned founder of Russia's largest oil producer accused the government of stealing his empire.²¹ President Vladimir Putin made the first ten days of the New Year a national holiday²² and awarded the Hero of Russia medal to Ramzan Kadyrov, a Chechen leader widely accused of kidnapping and torture.²³ Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi explained his numerous plastic surgeries to reporters, saying "I need to feel that my external appearance reflects my inner youth."²⁴ A bomb knocked the head off a statue of Marshal Josip Tito in his home town in Croatia.²⁵ In Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf announced that he would hold on to his dual post as president and army chief, reneging on his promise to relinquish authority over the country's military by the end of 2004. "The spirit of democracy has been restored in the country," he said.²⁶ Peace talks between India and Pakistan went nowhere.²⁷ One hundred seventy-five people died in a Buenos Aires nightclub that burned down after fireworks were lit inside,²⁸ and tourist muggings were up in Rio de Janeiro.²⁹ Snow fell in the United Arab Emirates.³⁰

Viktor Yanukovich resigned as prime minister of Ukraine, though he continued to insist that the presidential runoff election, which he lost, had been fraudulent. The Central Election Commission disagreed, as did international observers,³¹ and Viktor Yushchenko was preparing to take office.³² The eastern tiger salamander was selected by voters in Illinois as the official "State Amphibian."³³ Osama bin Laden named the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as Al Qaeda's "emir," or prince, in Iraq, and the largest Sunni party in the country withdrew from the election.³⁴ Murder rates were down in Colombia, and ³⁵ Israel freed 159 Palestinian prisoners and briefly detained presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti for campaigning in Jerusalem without a permit.³⁶ Mahmoud Abbas, the frontrunner, was thinking about visiting the Temple Mount.³⁷ Suicide bombers attacked Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry.³⁸ A 67-year-old Romanian woman who had undergone ten years of treatment in fertility clinics announced that she was pregnant with twins.³⁹ A study found that American preschoolers are more obese than ever,⁴⁰ and tourism was up in Cuba.⁴¹ The Pentagon was considering cutting back on new weapons programs,⁴² the FBI named its sixth counterterrorism chief in three years,⁴³ and Jami Miscik became the CIA's sixth high-level official to resign since Porter Goss took over the agency in September.⁴⁴ The stock market finished 2004 in the black.⁴⁵ Susan Sontag died,⁴⁶ thirty-six children in North Dakota were injured in a New Year's Eve sledding accident,⁴⁷ and Liza Minnelli was hospitalized after falling out of bed.⁴⁸