Weekly Review

“Extreme hunger” is proliferating in Gaza as the region has reportedly reached the highest proportion of food deprivation in the world; Physicians for Human Rights Israel called the starvation “a moral stain that will stay with us for generations.”^{1 2 3} “There’s no red line [where] I’m going to cut off all weapons [to Israel],” said President Biden; “But there’s red lines that if [Netanyahu] crosses them,” he added, without finishing his sentence; the U.S. has delivered more than 100 military sales to Israel since October 7.^{4 5} The U.S. military announced that it will build a floating pier off the Gaza Strip to facilitate maritime aid; construction is expected to take up to two months, and the president of Refugees International said airdropped aid was “nowhere near adequate.”^{6 7} Israeli police wielded batons against hundreds of Palestinians attempting to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for the first prayer of Ramadan, despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s prior promises of freedom of worship.⁸ “This will be the black Ramadan,” said one man from his coffee stand near the Damascus Gate.⁹ A street in the West Bank town of Jericho was named after Aaron Bushnell, a U.S. soldier who self-immolated last month in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.; Jericho’s mayor said Bushnell “sacrificed everything” for Palestinians.¹⁰ Ukraine rejected Pope Francis’s call to negotiate with Russia and said Kyiv would “never” surrender, and Sweden joined NATO.^{11 12} Armed gangs in Haiti, where 313,000 people are currently displaced, called for the prime minister to resign; “Nearly half the population needs humanitarian aid,” said a UN relief coordinator.^{13 14} Hundreds of students were kidnapped after gunmen stormed a school in northwestern Nigeria, in the country’s second mass abduction in a week, and at least 26 were killed and 11 missing after flash floods struck Indonesia’s Sumatra island.^{15 16}

Biden and Trump prevailed on Super Tuesday, after which Nikki Haley exited the race; Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced her retirement, and former Representative George Santos announced plans to run for Congress again.^{17 18 19 20} Tasmania’s premier vowed to build the world’s largest chocolate fountain if reelected, and the U.S. government is seeking to collect up to $20 billion in delinquent loans made to nonprofits and small businesses during the pandemic.^{21 22} Ukraine’s first lady declined an invitation to attend the State of the Union address, after which Alabama Senator Katie Britt delivered the GOP response from her kitchen, where she condemned the Biden Administration’s border policy by citing a sex trafficking case that took place in Mexico during the Bush Administration.^{23 24 25} “We’re steeped in the blood of patriots who overthrew the most powerful empire in the world,” Britt told Americans, adding, “we walk in the footsteps of pioneers who tamed the wild.”²⁶ On International Women’s Day, 180,000 women protested domestic and gender-based violence in Mexico City, and the right to an abortion was inscribed in France’s constitution.^{27 28} Argentinean President Javier Milei said that he would “piss on” all provincial governors opposed to his government’s Libertarian reforms, and Governor Kathy Hochul deployed hundreds of National Guard troops in New York City subways to patrol platforms and conduct bag searches.^{29 30} “This is going to be the best spring break ever,” said Miami Beach’s police chief. “If no one gets hurt and nobody dies, that is a win.”³¹

A 62-year-old German man who was administered 217 COVID-19 vaccines reported no side effects and no cases of the virus; researchers found that the 217th shot had further boosted the man’s immunity.³² Israelis on dating apps are reportedly encountering profiles from Lebanon, likely due to GPS jamming amid the war; “these two enemies are casually swiping past each other,” said a Tel Aviv resident.^{33 34} Kansas City’s Research Medical Center disclosed that some fans who attended a Dolphins-Chiefs game in January had to undergo amputations after developing frostbite in the stands.³⁵ Kensington Palace released the first official photograph of the Princess of Wales since her January surgery, but it was pulled by major news outlets owing to apparent “manipulation” of the image.^{36 37} “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the princess explained on X.³⁸ Bitcoin briefly surpassed $70,000 for the first time, and high schoolers took the first all-digital SATs after the test was shortened by almost an hour.^{39 40} Trader Joe’s recalled more than 60,000 pounds of soup dumplings because of potential contamination from permanent markers, and a pork producer in Tennessee placed a severed pig’s head in a workstation in response to demands for higher wages.^{41 42 43} The 96th Academy Awards were delayed by protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza; Oppenheimer won seven awards, including Best Picture.^{44 45} “They make me vomit,” said the actor Richard Dreyfuss of the Oscars’ new diversity criteria for nominees.⁴⁶ “The standards are not difficult to meet; I will be the first person to say that,” said a former Oscars diversity chief who was involved in their planning.⁴⁷ —Becky Zhang