PART 2: What's the Real News? --The Rich and the Scandalous VS. The Rest of the Universe

MAY 2007

As a videotape of a completely hammered Hasselhoff is leaked to Extra,

and Lindsay Lohan gets BUSTED on a DUI charge,

President George Dubya vetoes the Iraq withdrawal bill claiming that setting such a deadline would be like "setting a date for failure" in Iraq (BBC News),

Nicolas Sarkozy is elected as the new president of France and vows to smooth over relations with his American counterparts (the CBC),

and a 114 people die as a Kenyan Airways jet tragically crashes in Cameroon (BBC News).

JUNE 2007

As this Hilton heiress only serves 3 days of her 45-day sentence in the slammer for a probation violation on a previous DUI arrest,

and "The Canadian Crippler," Chris Benoit, sadly kills himself along with his wife and 7 year-old son,

at least 79 people are killed in massive mudslides that hit Chittagong, Bangladesh (BBC News),

Hamas proclaim victory over Gaza as they seize key Fatah infrastructure such as the Preventative Security building and the intelligence service headquarters (BBC News),

and to much criticism and dismay of AIDS activists, G8 leaders pledge $60 billion to fight AIDS, malaria, and TB in Africa (North County Times).

JULY 2007


While yet another young and skinny celebrity gets sentenced to do some soft time for a DUI offense,

and David Beckham makes his very high-profile debut with the LA Galaxy






over 100 people are killed and 250 more are injured in a Northern Iraq car bombing in which 2 tons of explosives are detonated at an outdoor market (BBC News),

Red Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, is the scene of a deadly confrontation between Pakistani security forces and a fundamentalist students group in which 100 people are killed following a raid led by the Musharref's security fighters (New York Times),

and 200 people die as TAM Airlines Airbus 320 attempts to land in heavy rain and skids into a deadly crash at Sao Paolo's Congonghas Airport.

AUGUST 2007

While tabloid journalists clamour to get the latest photo-op of a very troubled Owen Wilson,

and this trainwreck couple finally check their butts into rehab in the U-S-of-A,

the Interstate-35W highway bridge collapses into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, resulting in 13 deaths and injuring 100 more (CBC News, Hometown Source,)

and India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal are hit with the worst floods to hit these regions in living memory as 20 million people are displaced, while hundreds of thousands more have lost their homes, possessions, and livelihoods in the aftermath of a devastating monsoon season (BBC News).

By the end of this month, the death count reaches approximately 720,000 people succumbing to AIDS in Africa in 2007.