What in the World?
What in the World?
Test yourself on the week of April 12: Ecuador and Gabon vote, China ups its diplomacy, and the Maldives announces a travel ban.
Tourists relax at a beach in Maafushi, an island in Maldives, on Oct. 22, 2024. Mohamed Afrah/AFP via Getty Images
Easter is on Sunday! Since eggs are in short supply in the United States, try hunting instead for this week’s headlines in our international news quiz.
Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts.
Easter is on Sunday! Since eggs are in short supply in the United States, try hunting instead for this week’s headlines in our international news quiz.
1. Gabon’s military coup leader won a presidential election on Saturday with more than 90 percent of the vote. When was the last election held in Gabon?
2023
2016
2004
1998
Brice Oligui Nguema’s landslide victory is unlikely to bring about significant change due to his connections to Gabon’s recently deposed ruling family, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi reports in Africa Brief.
2. In further election news, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa won reelection in a runoff contest on Sunday. Around what percentage of votes did he receive?
49 percent
56 percent
62 percent
70 percent
Noboa has drawn closer to the United States and U.S. President Donald Trump in an effort to bolster his tough-on-crime image, Nick Aspinwall writes.
3. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday attended the signings of dozens of bilateral cooperation agreements with which country?
South Korea
Malaysia
Indonesia
Vietnam
Xi is using his tour of Southeast Asia to sell Beijing as a bulwark of “stability and certainty”—in contrast to Washington, FP’s James Palmer writes in China Brief.
4. Former Peruvian first lady Nadine Heredia requested asylum at the Brazilian Embassy in Lima on Tuesday after being sentenced to prison for what crime?
Embezzlement of public funds
Abuse of power
Money laundering
Drug trafficking
Peru’s ongoing instability can be boiled down to a single factor: corruption, Simeon Tegel argued in 2023.
5. The Maldives on Tuesday announced it would ban the entry of nationals from which country?
Israel
The United States
El Salvador
Sudan
The gesture was intended to express “resolute solidarity” with Palestinians in Gaza, FP’s Michael Kugelman reports in South Asia Brief.
6. Which U.S. tech company received a letter from the U.S. House Select Committee on China on Wednesday demanding details of its business dealings with Beijing?
Meta
Nvidia
Amazon
Oracle
The letter follows a new report released by the committee that found that Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek may have used Nvidia chips to develop its latest AI model, FP’s John Haltiwanger and Rishi Iyengar write in Situation Report.
7. On Thursday, which European leader became the first to meet with Trump since his imposition of tariffs on countries around the world?
French President Emmanuel Macron
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
The European Union is hoping to take advantage of Trump’s 90-day pause on most duties to negotiate better trade terms, FP’s Alexandra Sharp reports in World Brief.
8. Iran on Friday said it had requested the help of which nation in upcoming talks with the United States over its nuclear program?
Russia
China
North Korea
Pakistan
Trump will come to learn that Iran’s nuclear program is a problem without an easy solution, Aaron David Miller and Lauren Morganbesser write.
9. Which American pop singer participated in Blue Origin’s spaceflight on Monday?
Madonna
Lady Gaga
Katy Perry
Miley Cyrus
The all-women flight was the first of its kind since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963, NPR reports.
10. On Tuesday, Sweden kicked off a new season of a hit reality TV show that provides live 24-hour coverage of what?
Moose searching for summer pastures
A family homesteading in Sweden’s deep north
Fishing crews braving the Barents Sea
Swedish yellow duck mating season
The 20-day event hit 9 million viewers in 2024; this year, it began a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement, The Associated Press reports.
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Drew Gorman is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.
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