Test yourself on the week of Jan. 25: Congolese rebels take a major city, Denmark boosts defense spending, and Trump announces new plans to detain… Read More World News
What in the World?
Test yourself on the week of Jan. 25: Congolese rebels take a major city, Denmark boosts defense spending, and Trump announces new plans to detain migrants.
Dancers carry massive puppets portraying dragons and lions as they dance through a street in Manila. Smoke from displays of fire drifts around them as they move the colorful puppets above their heads.
Dancers perform during Lunar New Year celebrations in the Binondo district, widely considered the world’s oldest Chinatown, in Manila, Philippines, on Jan. 29. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
Happy Lunar New Year! How well did you follow the week’s events? Find out with our international news quiz.
Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts.
Happy Lunar New Year! How well did you follow the week’s events? Find out with our international news quiz.
1. The United States reached an agreement with which South American country on Sunday following a disagreement over deportations?
Argentina
Ecuador
Colombia
Venezuela
If U.S. President Donald Trump continues to bully Latin American countries, it could push them into China’s embrace, Oliver Stuenkel writes.
2. On Monday, a coalition of rebel groups announced that it had gained control of which city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
Goma
Kinshasa
Lubumbashi
Mbuji-Mayi
Tens of thousands of people are now fleeing the densely populated city amid reports of looting and attacks on essential services, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi reports in Africa Brief.
3. Denmark announced on Monday that it would up Arctic defense spending with a one-time boost of roughly how much?
$700 million
$2 billion
$3.4 billion
$5 billion
Hiked defense spending isn’t the only lever that Denmark has to defend itself against Trump’s demands to acquire the Arctic territory of Greenland, FP’s Elisabeth Braw writes.
4. Train schedules were disrupted across which South Asian country on Tuesday as workers went on strike to demand better pension benefits?
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Bhutan
Bangladesh
The country’s state-run rail system employs about 25,000 workers, FP’s Michael Kugelman writes in South Asia Brief. Train services resumed on Wednesday after workers ended their protest, saying that the government had agreed to fulfill their demands.
5. Which multilateral group did Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso formally withdraw from on Wednesday?
Economic Community of West African States
African Development Bank
BRICS+
African Groundnut Council
The bloc has pledged to keep its doors open to the exiting members—prompting criticism that it hasn’t done enough to stand up to the region’s spate of coups, Jessica Moody wrote last June.
6. On Wednesday, Trump announced plans to detain up to 30,000 migrants at a facility in which location?
Puerto Rico
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
American Samoa
Guam
The existing facility is separate from Guantánamo’s more infamous high-security prison, which has held some 800 foreign terrorist suspects—many of whom were never charged with a crime—since its inception in 2002, FP’s John Haltiwanger reports.
7. Also on Wednesday, at least 30 people were killed in a stampede at India’s Maha Kumbh festival, the world’s largest religious gathering. Roughly how many people had already attended the six-week festival at the time of the incident?
20 million
50 million
90 million
150 million
The chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh has announced a judicial inquiry into why the crush occurred, FP’s Alexandra Sharp reports in World Brief.
8. Which European country announced on Thursday that it would donate an aid package worth roughly $1.2 billion to Ukraine?
Ireland
Lithuania
Sweden
Germany
The commitment comes just a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again castigated European leaders for not investing more in the continent’s defense, FP’s Amy Mackinnon reports.
9. During a confirmation hearing on Thursday for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Sen. Bernie Sanders questioned Kennedy about which item of clothing?
A necktie that once belonged to Kennedy’s father
“Never Trump” hats once sold on Kennedy’s website
Baby onesies decorated with anti-vaccination phrases
$7,000 custom-made cowboy boots
The onesies were sold by Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccination organization that Kennedy co-founded—one of several reasons his nomination has public health experts up in arms, Angela Rasmussen writes.
10. Wednesday marked the Lunar New Year, celebrated in many Asian nations. According to the Chinese zodiac calendar, we are now in the year of which animal?
Tiger
Snake
Dragon
Rooster
More than a billion people around the world participated in Lunar New Year festivities this week, the New York Times reports.
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