What in the World?
Test yourself on the week of Oct. 15: France strikes, Ethiopia’s war escalates, and Liz Truss resigns.
Think you’re smarter than an FP-er? See what you can remember with our weekly international news quiz!
Have feedback? Email whatintheworld@foreignpolicy.com to let me know your thoughts.
Think you’re smarter than an FP-er? See what you can remember with our weekly international news quiz!
1. An Iranian prison infamous for holding political prisoners and dissidents caught fire on Saturday, killing at least eight detainees. What is its name?
U.S. and British support for Iranian pro-democracy protesters could help redeem the two countries—which overthrew Iran’s last democratic government, Roham Alvandi argues.
2. Also on Saturday, Uganda’s president announced a three-week lockdown in two districts to contain an Ebola outbreak. What is his name?
Museveni has been president since 1986. Western support has helped keep him in power despite domestic opposition, Carey Baraka argued in February 2021.
3. More than 100,000 people walked out of work and school to protest rising inflation and costs of living in France on Tuesday, the latest in a string of strikes that have gripped the country for weeks.
In which sector did the boycotts begin?
French President Emmanuel Macron now faces an uphill battle to quell public unrest. He’s a man known for his many political contradictions, Blake Smith wrote in January.
4. Ethiopian and Eritrean forces are in a better position to capture the capital of Ethiopia’s rebel Tigray region after they seized Shire, a strategic city in Tigray, on Monday. What is Tigray’s capital?
The only way to bring peace to Tigray is to meet its civilians’ demands, including ending a humanitarian blockade in the region, Mehari Taddele Maru argues.
5. Liz Truss announced her resignation on Thursday, making her Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister.
Truss’s imminent departure has deepened turmoil within the governing Conservative Party, whose leadership has experienced high turnover in recent years. How many prime ministers has Britain had since 2016?
Truss’s downfall began when she announced an economic plan that sent the pound—and public trust in government—crashing, FP’s Amy Mackinnon and Anusha Rathi explain.
6. Last week, Britain’s Daily Star tabloid caricatured Truss’s unstable hold on power by launching a livestream to see whether which perishable food could outlast her?
Dressed in a blonde wig, googly eyes, blue shoes, and (occasionally) a sleep mask, the head of lettuce celebrated its win online.
7. On Tuesday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed her country was walking back its controversial diplomatic recognition of what?
In an FP profile, Margaret Simons highlights how Wong’s focus on strategy over politics is transforming Australia into a major global power.
8. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law in Russia’s four illegally annexed territories in eastern Ukraine as well as increased his power inside Russia. What did this declaration not do?
A failed partial mobilization order and battlefield losses in Ukraine are breaking the social contract in Russia, Alexey Kovalev writes.
9. Mexican activist groups have filed a criminal complaint with the International Court of Justice to investigate alleged government ties to drug cartel abductions. Where is the court based?
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has militarized the country’s drug war, Jared Olson reported in June.
10. On Wednesday, a man who works for a cultural heritage preservation organization damaged what after accidentally backing his car into a 15th-century temple in Kyoto, Japan?
Its nickname is hyakusecchin, or 100-person toilet, since it was once used by 100 monks in training, the BBC reported.
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Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @AlexandraSSharp
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