Weekly Review

After eight weeks of nonstop downpours, at least one-third of Pakistan, a country responsible for less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, was submerged in floodwater.¹ The ongoing flooding has killed at least 1,300 people, forced millions from their homes, and threatened the World Heritage Site status of Mohenjo Daro, the ruins of a civilization that archaeologists believe was destroyed by climatic changes in the Indus Valley Basin around 1800 bc.^{2 3 4} “The best energy is that which we don’t consume,” said President Emmanuel Macron of France in a speech encouraging a 10 percent reduction in energy usage that was largely motivated by the end of cheap Russian gas supplies.^{5 6} The last leader of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, passed away at the same hospital where the chairman of Russia’s second largest oil producer, who had called for a speedy end to the war in Ukraine, fell to his death from a window.^{7 8} Life expectancy in the United States fell to its lowest level since 1996, math and reading test scores fell to their lowest levels in 30 years, and Dr. Fauci announced his retirement.^{9 10 11} “But there is no evidence to lean one way or another, so all theories are still viable,” said the sheriff of Furnas County, Nebraska, where an unknown culprit opened a dam and released 16 million gallons of water.¹²

Several weeks after school began elsewhere in their district, students of Robb Elementary, with nearly three dozen state troopers alongside them, attended their first day of classes since the 70-minute mass shooting on May 24, for which at least 90 state troopers were present.¹³ In Corpus Christi, Texas, a four-year-old brought a loaded gun to school, prompting a lockdown.¹⁴ New Mexico announced plans to build a $10 million reproductive health center near its Texas border.¹⁵ A member of the Kyle Rittenhouse Cultural Center in La Plata, Argentina, was arrested by federal police after publicly praising Fernando André Sabag Montiel, the Brazilian man who attempted to shoot the corruption-scandal-plagued Argentine vice president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the face.16 Five Palestinians were executed by Hamas, and Israel announced that members of its military had shot the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, but would not charge them.^{17 18} A Saudi court sentenced a woman to 45 years in prison for using social media.¹⁹ Aung San Suu Kyi, who was deposed by a military coup last year, lost ownership of the house where she was imprisoned for 15 years by a different military junta to her older brother.²⁰ A contractor known as “Fat Leonard,” who was under house arrest for his involvement in a bribery scandal with the U.S. Navy, has fled the country; his neighbors reported seeing multiple U-Haul trucks pulling up and leaving his house in the days before his escape.²¹ “My job is to be wherever my clients want me to be and to do nothing in particular,” said a Japanese man who rents himself out as a companion.²²

Interstate highways in Tennessee and California were temporarily closed after accidents that, respectively, spilled Alfredo sauce and tomatoes across the lanes.^{23 24} An inventory of the raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence revealed that press clippings and items of clothing were mixed in with confidential documents found by federal investigators.²⁵ Mickey Dolenz, the sole surviving member of the Monkees, sued the Justice Department for his FBI file.²⁶ “They play revolutionary music full of unnecessary lyrics,” said a Vietnamese man who opposed the return of loudspeaker broadcasts on the streets of Hanoi.²⁷ A study found that men who believe they are funnier than their partners are happier in their relationships.²⁸ “I have so much more respect for my mother, for my sisters,” said an Indian man who had worn a device that simulated menstrual cramps.²⁹ —Violet Lucca