Weekly Review
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council stated that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed to maritime traffic until, along with the fulfillment of other stipulations, the United States removes its military from the region; and a United States Central Command intelligence officer requested that military analysts search for “new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran.”1 2 The U.S. Senate passed new sanctions on Iran and Russia, targeting in particular the latter’s “shadow fleet” of tankers; Taiwan is ramping up its production of drones in preparation for the implementation of a “hellscape” strategy against China; and Pakistan restricted foreign media from reporting outside three major cities as its army ordered personnel to shift official communications from WhatsApp to WeChat, citing concerns over surveillance and hacking.3 4 5 6 Employees at Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, whose warehouses have been targeted by Ukrainian drones in recent weeks, resulting in the destruction of tens of thousands of articles of children’s clothing and hundreds of PlayStation 5 consoles and boxes of handmade sweets, were banned from bringing camera phones to work following the circulation on social media of footage of the drone strikes.7 8 9 10 The Trump Administration directed its spy agencies to identify a new president for Cuba while implementing additional sanctions against the country.11 12 A bill was introduced to the Senate to bolster water sector cybersecurity following the cyberattacks of suspected Iranian origin on water systems in at least a dozen U.S. states.13 14 It was reported that this year’s “super” El Niño will be the strongest of the century, making rainfall difficult to predict in Puerto Rico, where one restaurateur collected condensation from air-conditioning units to ensure customers could flush toilets amid the latest island-wide drought.15 16 Europe’s biggest rivers recorded record-low water levels, exposing in the Danube River Nazi warships from Hitler’s Black Sea fleet, a German-military motorcycle, an undetonated 1,500-pound British bomb, and the remains of a woolly mammoth.17 18 19 A London weather station recorded its first month without rain since it began keeping records in 1871; England’s “green and pleasant land” is reportedly losing its signature hue.20 21
The Bald Range wildfire in British Columbia, Canada, forced the evacuation of 20,000 people; a drone recording footage of a wildfire in Spokane County, Washington, grounded a firefighting aircraft for nearly two hours and prevented the dropping of thousands of gallons of water and retardant; and a coalition of advocates including Oregon’s senators urged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to ban prediction-market platforms from offering user bets on wildfires, warning that they could incentivize arson.22 23 24 When asked how many people benefit from birthright citizenship, the U.S. president, after signing two executive orders curtailing the right, claimed he knew of a man who entered the country and fathered 56 children and another who entered the country and fathered 98.25 Immigration and Customs Enforcement will equip its officers with body cameras and release footage when it is in its “best interests.”26 Amir Hassan, a candidate for Michigan’s Eighth Congressional District who was endorsed by the U.S. president was defeated by Tom Smith, a small-business owner who had suspended his campaign and endorsed a third candidate, Al Lemmo, who speculated that Smith had won for his “plain-jane American name.”27 It was reported that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is considering spending tens of millions of dollars on Republican nominee Mike Rogers’s Senate campaign in Michigan after its $32 million backing of the candidate Haley Stevens gave her a roughly 9-to-1 spending edge over Abdul El-Sayed, who went on to best her and secure the Democratic nomination.28 29 “I don’t need you to like me,” Senator Chuck Schumer said in a phone call congratulating El-Sayed on his victory.30 Senator Mitch McConnell said that he had been discharged from a rehabilitation center, but did not provide a timeline for his return to the Senate.31 “GOOD BYE BETH. U hv been a real workhorse. Ur namesake still is hard worker,” Senator Chuck Grassley posted to X, eulogizing his Hoover vacuum cleaner, whose electrical cord connector combusted, and that he was believed to have owned for 49 years.32 In response to a record-breaking influx of stinky seaweed washing ashore at rates of up to 9,000 tons per day, Mexico will install thirty miles of containment barriers, deploy two large ships to capture the seaweed, and send hundreds of workers to shovel up the rest.33
A Florida man who serves on a boating-safety council allegedly turned off an underwater diver’s breathing apparatus while the diver was harvesting spiny lobsters in the midst of their territorial dispute over a shared dive site.34 A woman who stabbed her husband to death in 2000 and served eleven years in prison for the deed, admitted to having stabbed her wife to death last year.35 The leader of a Ukrainian lion pride at a Minnesota sanctuary has been diagnosed with blastomycosis, a rare fungal disease of the lungs; capybaras strolled through the halls of the state legislative building in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state; and a New York Times journalist investigated staff claims that the Kennedy Center’s resident mice, known for appearing during performances, are Italian.36 37 38 Congregants in southwestern Turkey whirled nonstop for seven days and nights to create a vortex.39 “It’s not up to us,” said one participant, “where the energy goes.”40 —Jasmine Liu