Weekly Review
Protests erupted in multiple cities after Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was shot and killed by a police officer while driving away from a traffic stop in Nanterre, France.1 The police, who have used rubber bullets, tear gas, and flash grenades against demonstrators in recent years, initially lied about the incident, falsely claiming that Merzouk had threatened their safety before he was murdered by the officer.2 3 “He saw the face of an Arab, of a little kid, he wanted to take his life,” said Merzouk’s mother.4 President Emmanuel Macron, who was pictured dancing at an Elton John concert the night after the killing and whose presidency has been criticized by Amnesty International for weaponizing the law to crack down on demonstrators, appealed to “everybody’s sense of responsibility” in a plea to stop the protests.5 6 7 A GoFundMe page for the officer who killed Merzouk collected more than €1 million, while a page in support of Merzouk’s family raised a fifth of that sum.8 The United States Supreme Court ended affirmative action, invalidated President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, and said creative business owners could refuse commissions from gay customers.9 10 11 “We can no longer tolerate injustice, tyranny, and usurpation of power.… This is what dictatorship looks like,” said Sierra Leone’s main opposition party, which called for a rerun of the country’s national election.12
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has claimed that vaccines cause autism and compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust, held a town hall where he said he has “never been anti-vaccine.”13 14 15 Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has signed bills that allow teachers to arm themselves in the classroom and that bar educators from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with students through the third grade, said that, if elected president, he would eliminate the Department of Education.16 17 18 “We think that it’s just, air goes through your nostrils and you move. No, there’s a science to breathing,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams, announcing that public schools will be required to implement “mindful breathing” exercises during the school day.19 A deputy mayor of Helsinki was caught spray-painting graffiti on the city’s walls.20 The mayor of Baker City, Oregon, defended a meme he posted on Facebook depicting four Pride flags arranged in the shape of a swastika.21 “We don’t want to be known as the Nazi district,” said a teddy bear maker in Sonnenberg, Germany, where, for the first time, a member of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland won a district council election.22
Winged aphids invaded New York, a new species of mosquito was discovered in Finland, and it was reported that young squash bugs seek out and consume the feces of older squash bugs.23 24 25 “This is unprecedented, absolutely fantastic data,” said a scientist about research that found female bottlenose dolphins use “baby talk” when speaking to their calves.26 It was discovered that black-spotted female frogs may croak to deter male frogs from mating with them.27 A woman punched a bear in Maine.28 A truck carrying cattle and a truck carrying burritos collided in Nebraska.29 A malfunctioning roller coaster left passengers hanging upside down for hours in Wisconsin.30 Archaeologists announced they’d found a 2,000-year-old painting depicting a flatbread in Pompeii, and a tourist was arrested for carving his and his girlfriend’s initials into the exterior of the Colosseum.31 32 Joey “Jaws” Chestnut won the national hot dog–eating contest for the 16th time.33 —Megan Evershed
