Weekly Review

The Israel Defense Forces fired into a crowd of Palestinians who were en route to a U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid station in Gaza, killing at least thirty-one and injuring more than a hundred; Israeli military command announced that it had killed one of Hamas’s leaders, the brother of the former Hamas chief who architected the October 7 attacks; a U.S. diplomat called Hamas’s amendments to the latest ceasefire proposal “totally unacceptable”; and at a Colorado gathering in support of Israeli hostages, an Egyptian man who had overstayed his tourist visa attacked the crowd with a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, injuring eight people.^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7} Explosions caused two bridges bordering Ukraine in western Russia to collapse, Ukraine deployed large-scale drone attacks on Russian air bases, and representatives for the two countries convened in Istanbul for a second round of peace negotiations.^{8 9 10} A cholera outbreak in Sudan killed more than 170 people last week, and flooding in north-central Nigeria killed more than 150.^{11 12} Two were killed and hundreds arrested in French celebrations of the Paris Saint-Germain football club’s victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final, and footage surfaced of the French First Lady shoving her husband in the face as they prepared to disembark a plane to commence a tour of southeast Asia.^{13 14} “We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife,” said the French president of the incident.¹⁵ 

The State Department announced that it would “aggressively” terminate the visas of select Chinese students, after pausing the scheduling of further student visa appointments and threatening to revoke the capacity of Harvard University to enroll foreign students.^{16 17 18} “Humanity rises and falls as one,” said a Chinese graduate in Harvard Square as a man pinned another to the ground behind her.^{19 20} “This is a time where we can use a little bit more moral imagination and imagine ourselves being connected with one another.”²¹ The Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump Administration to expedite the deportation of 530,000 migrants hailing from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela; and ICE detained a Massachusetts high schooler on his way to volleyball practice.^{22 23} The U.S. president pardoned a reality TV couple convicted of defrauding community banks of at least $30 million, and several government officials received fraudulent phone calls and text messages impersonating the president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles.^{24 25} “There’s only one Susie,” said the president.²⁶ In Iowa, a Republican senator defended potential cuts to Medicaid eligibility, reasoning, “Well, we are all going to die”; and in California, Minnesota’s governor warned that the Democratic Party was becoming “roadkill.”^{27 28} Elon Musk criticized the U.S. president’s tax bill in an interview with CBS; bade farewell to the White House the following day, sporting a black eye he attributed to his five-year-old son; denied a report by the New York Times alleging his bladder-destabilizing ketamine use; and vowed to do better after a third SpaceX rocket disintegrated mid-flight.^{29 30 31 32 33} 

Turkey approved a circular allowing cabin crew to fine passengers who prematurely leave their seats upon landing; and archaeologists revealed a loaf of 5,000-year-old bread that was excavated in central Turkey.^{34 35} The remains of a freelance writer were found in a container in downtown Las Vegas, but the primary suspect for the murder had already died the week before in a high-speed car chase with Utah’s Highway Patrol.³⁶ A tractor trailer spilled soybean powder across a New York highway in what the local police department called “the biggest protein spill bust in WSPD [West Seneca Police Department] history”; and a truck overturned near the U.S.–Canada border, releasing 14 million honeybees.^{37 38 39} A man jumped into a pit of ancient terracotta warriors in Xi’an, China; and an ultramarathoner in Wales breastfed thrice en route to placing first in the race’s female division.^{40 41} Brazilian nuns beatboxed on a Catholic television program to viral fame, and a London beauty consultant specializing in Brazilian butt lifts was prohibited from performing cosmetic procedures after testimony from nearly 40 women in a civil trial for what an attorney likened to a “serious knife crime.”^{42 43} “He butchered me,” said one plaintiff. “There is no other word for it.”⁴⁴  —Becky Zhang