Weekly Review
Israel and Hezbollah dealt their heaviest strikes across the Israel-Lebanon border since the beginning of the war in Gaza.1 “This is not the end of the story,” said Prime Minister Netanyahu before both parties moved to de-escalate.2 3 “We will assess the impact of today’s operation. If results are not seen to be enough, we will respond another time,” said Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who said the attacks had been delayed to allow time for ceasefire talks to progress.4 The bodies of six Israeli hostages were recovered by the Israeli military, who ordered further evacuations from southern and central Gaza, forcing wounded Palestinians to flee Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the last operational medical facility in central Gaza.5 6 At a music festival in Solingen, Germany, three were killed and eight injured in a knife attack that was claimed by the Islamic State.7 At least 13 are dead and 14 are still missing from a migrant boat that capsized off the Yemeni coast, and seven are dead and 15 have been rescued from a British superyacht that capsized off the Sicilian coast; the Bayesian, which was unmoored for a celebration of its owner’s acquittal from charges of conspiracy and wire fraud, now lies 160 feet undersea on its right side.8 9 10 11 12 Venezuela’s high court ratified Nicolás Maduro’s July election win, for which the European Union’s top diplomat and a senior Venezuelan election official said the necessary evidence is still lacking.13 14 15 President Zelensky signed a bill outlawing religious groups with ties to Russia on Ukraine’s 33rd Independence Day, and a U.S. judge struck down a Federal Trade Commission ban on the use of noncompete agreements by employers to bar employees from joining rival firms.16 17 18 Mexico’s federal judiciary went on strike against a reform that would elect judges by popular vote, the Canadian government worked to end a major railway stoppage prompted by labor disputes, and the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team filed a complaint after the university declined to bargain with their union.19 20 21 “We maintain that the regional director made an extraordinary mistake,” countered Dartmouth in a statement.22
Tens of thousands converged on Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, where a tearful President Biden delivered his farewell address before a crowd chanting, “Thank you, Joe,” and Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the party’s nomination, promising legislation that would provide tax cuts to the middle class, ensure reproductive freedom, protect voting rights, and secure the border.23 24 25 26 27 Five miles off-site at “DemPalooza,” small-business owners dispensed friendship bracelets, “Kamala Harris” manicures, and a “47 President Glow Kit” containing artisanal soap and an exfoliating net.28 29 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his bid for the presidency and endorsed former President Trump.30 “I love Bobby,” wrote the Independent candidate’s brother in an op-ed.31 “But I hate what he is doing to our country.”32 “We face a race that tests if this country we cherish shall perish from the earth, and if our earth shall perish from this country,” recited Amanda Gorman, debuting a new poem at the convention.33 “It’s overkill,” said a rabbi surveying the officers surrounding the United Center, where thousands rallied against U.S. complicity in Israel’s assault on Gaza.34 “You almost see more police than marchers here.”35 Thirty delegates of the Uncommitted movement staged an impromptu sit-in after their request for a Palestinian American to speak at the convention was denied, and fundraising for the Harris campaign passed the half-billion mark; “Kamala is a joyful warrior,” said the Second Gentleman of his wife.36 37 38 “They can’t settle on an attack,” said one Democratic strategist of the Trump campaign amid Harris’s apparent momentum.39 “Fox [News] is just lost—they go from one stupid jackass thing to another stupid jackass thing.”40
The founder of Telegram was arrested in Paris; a self-professed prolific sperm donor, he had divulged on his messaging app plans to “open-source my DNA so that my biological children can find each other more easily.”41 42 “It is the right thing to do,” said the former congressman and “infamous fabulist” George Santos after pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.43 A five-time Olympian cyclist was found dead in her Las Vegas apartment having choked on food, and authorities are investigating the cause of a woman’s death on the first day of Burning Man; “This is the first reported death on the playa this year,” said the county sheriff.44 45 46 At an aquarium in Sydney, a gay gentoo penguin mourned his partner’s passing through song, rousing the colony to join in his dirge.47 “Now I’m more isolated than during COVID,” said a man in Sintra, Portugal, who, perturbed by the surge in tourism, tries to stay put in his mountainside home.48 NASA announced that a SpaceX vessel would bring home two astronauts who have been stuck in orbit since June owing to issues with the Boeing Starliner initially slated for their return.49 The explosion of a rocket engine at England’s Shetland spaceport was attributed to a “very unusual” oxygen fire, and an exoplanet with the density of cotton candy was located a thousand light-years from Earth.50 51 More than £40 million worth of cocaine was seized by the Royal Navy in the Caribbean Sea, and a 2,492-carat diamond was unearthed by miners in Botswana.52 53 “It is overwhelming,” said the country’s president, one of the first people to hold the stone. “I am lucky to have seen it in my time.”54 —Becky Zhang
