What in the World?

This week in FP’s international news quiz: Tensions ramp up in Taiwan, floods consume Pakistan, and the MTV Video Music Awards go global.

By , a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.
Flooding in Pakistan
Flooding in Pakistan
An aerial photograph of flooded residential areas after heavy monsoon rains in Dera Allah Yar, Pakistan, on Sept. 1. FIDA HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images

What in the world has gone on this week? Test your knowledge with our international news quiz!

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

What in the world has gone on this week? Test your knowledge with our international news quiz!


1. On Tuesday, tensions ramped up further in the Taiwan Strait after the Taiwanese military sent warning shots at what encroaching Chinese machinery?

With the fraught Taiwan issue in the backdrop, Washington last month passed the CHIPS and Science Act to lessen U.S. dependence on Chinese-produced semiconductors, FP’s Mary Yang reports.


2. Monday marked the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. Which country has conducted the most known nuclear tests to date?

Conflicts from Ukraine to Taiwan have led to renewed fears of nuclear conflict. In May, John Last looked at the state of Europe’s Cold War-era bunkers.


3. Pakistan is being rocked by massive floods, which have affected at least how many people as of this week?

Poor governance made Pakistan’s crisis worse, FP’s Michael Kugelman writes in this week’s South Asia Brief.


4. Who is Argentina’s vice president, who survived an assassination attempt on Thursday?

The threat to Fernández de Kirchner’s life comes as Argentina experiences an economic crisis. FP’s Anusha Rathi chronicled the country’s tricky relationship with inflation last month.


5. Tuesday marked one year since the last U.S. troops left which country?

The United States’ actions in Afghanistan sealed its fate, FP’s Lynne O’Donnell writes.


6. Who is the outgoing United Nations high commissioner for human rights, who left office on Wednesday?

Just minutes before her resignation, Bachelet’s office published a highly anticipated report on possible crimes against humanity in China’s Xinjiang province, FP’s Christina Lu wrote in Thursday’s Morning Brief.


7. Sudanese workers in which field voted this week to form the country’s first independent professional union in decades?

In February, Hala al-Karib argued that trade unions and other civil society groups are essential to mediating Sudan’s democratic transition.


8. Washington announced a plan late last week to appoint its first-ever ambassador to which region?

Multinational governance of the Arctic has been upended by Russia’s war in Ukraine, Ingrid Burke Friedman wrote in April.


9. Which musician became the first singer who performs in a language other than English to win Artist of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards last weekend?

The Puerto Rican star is known for his trap and reggaeton performances. FP’s Catherine Osborn breaks down reggaeton’s role in world history in this week’s Latin America Brief.


10. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev died on Tuesday at age 91. Which American fast-food chain did he famously make a commercial for in 1997?

Paul Musgrave explains how Gorbachev’s Pizza Hut commercial came to be.

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

Nina Goldman is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.

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