Weekly Review

By Roger D. Hodge

Chechen militants took more than 1,000 children and adults hostage at a school in southern Russia, though the Russian government lied at first and claimed that there were only 354 hostages; at least 338 died, half of whom were children, when security forces stormed the school.¹ A suicide bomber blew herself up in a Moscow subway station, killing at least 10 people.² Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses in Beersheba, killing 16 and wounding at least 80.³ Iraqi insurgents blew up another oil pipeline, and a⁴ car bomb killed seven American marines and three Iraqi soldiers near Falluja.⁵ Twelve Nepalese hostages were apparently videotaped as they were killed by Iraqi militants.⁶ Colin Powell admitted that the Bush Administration misjudged the potential for armed resistance in Iraq.⁷ Three people were trampled to death at an Ikea grand opening in Saudi Arabia.⁸ Archaeologists found that a chimp-like hominid called the "Millennium Ancestor" was walking upright 6 million years ago.⁹ President Bush said that the "war on terror" is unwinnable but then quickly changed his mind;¹⁰ Dick Cheney attacked John Kerry for having a "habit of indecision" and a "message of confusion"; and the president formally accepted his party's nomination and promised to make the world a safer place.¹¹

Millions of people in Florida were evacuated because of Hurricane Frances; there¹² were floods and landslides in southwest China; earthquakes¹³ in western Japan caused tsunamis, and a typhoon hit the country's southern islands.¹⁴ Malaysia announced another outbreak of bird flu.¹⁵ The World Health Organization said that hepatitis E cases have tripled in the last month in Darfur.¹⁶ It was discovered that full-body CT scans expose patients to the same level of radiation that people a few miles from Hiroshima received in World War II, and that the scans increase one's risk of developing cancer.¹⁷ New research revealed that pollution affects the behavior of many animals such as egrets, gulls, snails, quail, rats, macaques, minnows, mosquito fish, falcons, and frogs. Endosulfan, for example, weakens newts' sense of smell, lead disrupts the balance of gulls, and goldfish become hyperactive when exposed to atrazine.¹⁸ The United States was planning to develop portable nuclear power plants, and a¹⁹ New Jersey man died of Lassa fever.²⁰ The Food and Drug Administration was trying to decide whether it's ethical to give children amphetamines as part of a study.²¹ Two new AIDS vaccines failed to work.²² Researchers concluded that the Atkins diet doesn't work in the long term, and²³ Bill Clinton underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery.²⁴ Argentine researchers discovered that smoking and drinking are bad for men's semen.²⁵

About half a million people protested the Republican National Convention in New York City; the protests were said to be the largest ever at a U.S. political convention.²⁶ President Bush again called for the privatization of Social Security, and the²⁷ White House announced that monthly Medicare premiums will rise by a record 17 percent next year.²⁸ Dick Cheney said that John Kerry is unfit to be president, and it²⁹ was reported that Cheney's presence on the Republican ticket will either help or hinder President Bush.³⁰ The FBI was still investigating a possible Israeli mole in the Pentagon.³¹ A Jewish man was arrested in France for setting fire to a Jewish community center and painting swastikas on the walls.³² Investigators reported that Osama bin Laden apparently does not fund Al Qaeda operations with his personal fortune, as was previously believed.³³ Several swift boat veterans were angry that their names were included without their permission on letters attacking John Kerry.³⁴ Alan Keyes, the Illinois Republican Senate candidate, declared that Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter is "a selfish hedonist."³⁵ A man was arrested in West Monroe, Louisiana, for committing a crime against nature with his sister's 125-pound Vietnamese potbelly pig.³⁶ A scientist in Kentucky claimed to have created viable embryos using cells from dead people and cow eggs; Panayiotis Zavos claimed that his work, which used tissue from an 11-year-old girl who died in a car crash, a dead 18-month-old baby, and a 33-year-old dead man, proved that clones could be made of people after they have died.³⁷ It was reported that Al Gore was given a speeding ticket in Oregon.³⁸ Chinese zookeepers were showing videos to a giant panda in an attempt to teach her how to take care of her two cubs.³⁹ Consumer confidence was down.⁴⁰ A Kansas City company said that its synthetic urine was proving popular with researchers, and demand⁴¹ for buttock augmentation surgery was on the rise.⁴² Brown bears were terrorizing a village in Transylvania.⁴³