What you missed during the Gonzales frenzy

JOSHUA ROBERTS/Getty Images News

Alberto Gonzales can never seem to get his story straight. The U.S. attorney general found himself in the hot seat again this week, this time over the authorization of the NSA’s domestic surveillance program.

But believe it or not, the Earth did continue to rotate on its axis while senators on the Judiciary Committee grilled Alberto. Here’s what you might have missed in the meantime:

• Five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor who had been convicted of intentionally infecting children with HIV/AIDS in Libya were released and immediately, much to Qaddafi’s dismay, pardoned by Bulgaria. French President Sarkozy (whose wife played a controversial role in the negotiations) seized the opportunity to take relations one step further, announcing a nuclear energy project with the North African country.
• World stock markets took a turn for the worse amid fears of a weakening U.S. economy and borrowing woes. Asian markets were hit particularly badly, suffering one of the worst days of the year on Friday.
• Taliban insurgents killed one of the kidnapped South Korean aid workers, and as the deadline for their release passed, the fate of the remaining 22 hostages remains uncertain.
• Freak weather continued to baffle the European continent. While hundreds were dying from heatstroke in southeastern Europe, Britain was drowning as rainfall levels exceeded the previous high set all the way back in 1789.
• There was a good deal of talking in the Middle East: U.S. and Iranian diplomats held a rare meeting to discuss Iraq and Tony Blair kicked off his tenure as Mideast peace envoy with a trip to Jerusalem. Hamas, however, was left out of the conversation.