What in the World?

This week in FP’s international news quiz: extreme weather, Afghanistan’s future, and a new northern discovery.

By , a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.
A home in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Louisiana
A home in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Louisiana
A search-and-rescue team checks homes destroyed in the wake of Hurricane Ida in Grand Isle, Louisiana, on Sept. 2. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Are you a world news nerd? Try your hand at our weekly quiz!

Are you a world news nerd? Try your hand at our weekly quiz!


1. Extreme weather hit the eastern United States this week, with Hurricane Ida devastating communities from the Gulf Coast to New England. Ida is now tied as the most powerful storm to ever hit Louisiana, alongside the Last Island Hurricane of 1856 and Hurricane Laura of which year?


2. The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan this week, but it isn’t done conducting airstrikes there. What term does the U.S. military use to refer to strikes originating from undisclosed locations in the Persian Gulf?

Read a report from Foreign Policy’s Jack Detsch and Amy Mackinnon on these airstrikes’ potential collateral damage.


3. Now that they are largely in control, who are the Taliban expected to name as the new supreme leader of Afghanistan?

Learn more: Lynne O’Donnell breaks down what the Taliban government will look like.


4. To obstruct anti-government protests on Monday, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir sent security forces to arrest demonstrators—and employed what 21st-century tactic?


5. U.S. President Joe Biden met this week with the world leader who in 2020 was caught up in former President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Think back—who was Trump accused of trying to pressure to investigate Biden and his family?


6. Talks resumed this week between Venezuela’s Maduro government and the country’s opposition. What is the alliance of opposition parties called?

Response text: For more on the Venezuelan opposition’s new engagement, check out this week’s Latin America Brief.


7. According to a new report, air pollution in India could reduce 480 million people’s life expectancy by how long?


8. A restrictive new abortion law took effect this week in which U.S. state?

From the Foreign Policy archives: Staff writer Amy Mackinnon looks to Romania to examine what actually happens when a country bans abortion.


9. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on Friday he will step down later this month after just over a year in office. Of his 10 most recent prime ministerial predecessors, how many made it to the two-year mark?


10. Researchers recently announced they discovered a new islet, thought to be the northernmost island in the world. Which country has laid claim to this far-north outpost?

The tiny spit of land, dubbed Qeqertaq Avannarleq (Greenlandic for “the northernmost island”), “could disappear as soon as a powerful new storm hits,” according to the lead researcher on the team that discovered it.

You scored

It’s a big world out there! Brush up on global goings-on by subscribing to Morning Brief, Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter.

You scored

Great job! Now, dig deeper by subscribing to Foreign Policy’s one-stop regional newsletters: Africa Brief, China Brief, Latin America Brief, and South Asia Brief.

You scored

Perfection! You’re a pro who needs the in-depth insights offered in Situation Report, our newsletter on national security and defense.


Have feedback? Email whatintheworld@foreignpolicy.com to let me know your thoughts.

Nina Goldman is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.

Join the Conversation

Commenting on this and other recent articles is just one benefit of a Foreign Policy subscription.

Already a subscriber? .

Join the Conversation

Join the conversation on this and other recent Foreign Policy articles when you subscribe now.

Not your account?

Join the Conversation

Please follow our comment guidelines, stay on topic, and be civil, courteous, and respectful of others’ beliefs.

You are commenting as .

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.