Weekly Review

Ongoing food supply chain issues have forced Britain’s largest supermarkets to impose strict rations on produce.¹ The U.K. Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs suggested that those struggling to keep pace with the past year’s near 20 percent rise in food costs should “get a higher income” and deal with shortages by “cherish[ing]” root vegetables, and an unexploded WWII-era bomb caused train delays between Ashford and Staines.^{2 3 4} “Everything is mystical,” Mexico’s president said of a photograph of a mythical Indigenous woodland spirit taken by an engineer working on the “Maya Train project,” whose construction has devastated forests and cenotes across the Yucatán Peninsula.^{5 6} The revelation that dozens of Spain’s recently renovated state-owned commuter trains cannot fit through some tunnels prompted the country’s top transport officials to resign.⁷ Norfolk Southern, which is spending over 1,000 times the amount of money it has committed to communities affected by a derailment in Ohio on repurchasing its own shares to benefit its shareholders, announced it will provide four sick days per annum to some of its unionized railway workers.^{8 9} A new World Health Organization report found that maternal mortality rates in the United States have increased by 75 percent in the past 20 years.^{10 11} “The data is incomplete at best,” said the governor of Mississippi when asked why he refused to sign doctor-endorsed, senate-approved legislation to expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers.^{12 13} A Republican lawmaker in Alaska who had previously claimed that some women get pregnant only to secure “a free trip to Anchorage” through Medicaid travel funds for medically necessary abortions was censured by his colleagues for a second time after asking whether child abuse that is ultimately fatal could be considered a “cost savings” measure for the government.¹⁴ “All lives are priceless,” said a Russian ambassador while interrupting a minute of silence held at the United Nations in observance of the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, where the Zelensky government released a commemorative anti-Putin postage stamp featuring artwork by Banksy.^{15 16} Thin ice forced Ottawa’s Rideau Canal Skateway, which is traditionally converted into a 7.8-kilometer rink in the winter, to remain closed for the first time in its history.¹⁷ “I’ve actually never seen a blizzard warning,” said a meteorologist in Los Angeles, where snowstorm warnings were issued for the first time in over 30 years.¹⁸

A new investigation estimated that two-thirds of all unaccompanied children who emigrate to the United States are forced to work full-time jobs.¹⁹ A woman whose British citizenship was revoked after she was trafficked to the Islamic State as a teenager had her appeal of the decision dismissed.²⁰ The prime minister of the United Kingdom and the queen consort came to the defense of Roald Dahl and free speech following a report that new editions of his children’s books would be reworded to be less offensive; soon after, Penguin Random House announced plans to release a new collection of completely unexpurgated versions of Dahl’s work, as well as a sequel to Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!^{21 22 23 24} “In over 40 years, I can’t remember a moment in time where I’ve been more excited, more enthused,” said Starbucks’s CEO, Howard Schultz, about a new line of extra-virgin olive oil–infused coffee drinks designed to woo customers in Italy, where locals have previously set fire to palm trees planted by the corporation.^{25 26} The superintendent of a Pennsylvania middle school suspended classes and shut down the After School Satan Club after receiving a threatening voicemail.^{27 28} A bat infestation at an Arkansas high school forced students to return to remote learning for the week.²⁹

A bill introduced in Florida would overhaul regulations on the sale of pet rabbits, strip licenses from veterinarians who carry out feline declawing procedures, and make it illegal for dogs to hang their heads out of car windows.³⁰ “The cat is very sociable,” said authorities in Mexico currently reviewing adoption applications for a hairless sphynx, who was found in a prison bearing numerous gang tattoos associated with the Sinaloa Cartel.³¹ Signs reading “insects are not baked in our bakery” began appearing in eastern Germany following the European Union’s legalization of the sale of powdered house crickets and larvae in food items.^{32 33} “It’s safe, economical, and gentle for people,” said the CEO of a Japanese startup that aims to democratize space tourism by reducing the cost of trips from six to five figures.³⁴ —Maya Perry