What in the World?
Test yourself on the first week of 2023: The IMF warns of a recession, an important U.S. consulate reopens, and Ebola cases decline.
What major events kicked off 2023? See what you can remember with our weekly international news quiz!
Have feedback? Email whatintheworld@foreignpolicy.com to let me know your thoughts.
What major events kicked off 2023? See what you can remember with our weekly international news quiz!
1. On Monday, the International Monetary Fund warned that one-third of the world’s economies will experience a recession this year, a slowdown projected to hit China particularly hard. When was the last time China’s economy grew at or below the global average rate?
China’s recently lifted zero-COVID policy caused far less damage to the country’s economy than the “four D’s”: demand, debt, decoupling, and demography, Zongyuan Zoe Liu argued in November 2022.
2. As China’s COVID-19 caseloads rise in the aftermath of zero-COVID, which country has not yet begun screening Chinese travelers for the disease at border crossings?
The World Health Organization has denounced the Chinese government’s lack of transparency in reporting COVID-19 figures, FP’s James Palmer reported in China Brief.
3. More than two dozen inmates escaped from a prison in which country on Sunday after gunmen thought to be part of a cartel opened fire on the facility?
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has fueled the country’s drug war by militarizing security forces, Jared Olson reported in June 2022, just two months before 11 people died during a riot at the same prison.
4. Palestinian leadership criticized new Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he visited which contested holy site in Jerusalem on Tuesday?
Ben-Gvir is a member of Israel’s most far-right government in history. He has been convicted of supporting a Jewish supremacist terrorist group and inciting racism against Palestinians, Neri Zilber reported in November 2022.
5. In its latest report on climate change, the United Nations linked extreme weather to domestic violence. Which international body publishes the annual communique?
FP’s Chloe Hadavas rounds up our top climate coverage of 2022.
6. The United States resumed full consular operations at its embassy in Cuba on Wednesday. When was the last time U.S. visa services were available in Havana?
Consular services initially shut down following health incidents known as “Havana syndrome” among U.S. Embassy staff. State Department officials struggled to understand the ailment for years, FP’s Robbie Gramer and Amy Mackinnon reported in June 2021.
7. On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the Ebola outbreak in which country was improving after 39 days with no new cases?
Jump through the FP archives to 2019, where FP’s Laurie Garrett predicted today’s outbreak in Uganda and lambasted the World Bank for not funding Ebola prevention measures in Africa.
8. According to new analysis published by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change this week, there are fewer populist leaders today than at any point in the past 20 years. Which populist leader did not lose power in 2022?
The year 2022 was good for democracy and bad for authoritarianism and xenophobic populism, FP’s Michael Hirsh highlighted last month.
9. Which country’s military test-launched a rocket last Friday and inadvertently sparked public fears of a UFO sighting in the process?
The country’s defense ministry did not pre-announce the rocket launch to protect national security details, and it later said the test was to build space-based surveillance capabilities, The Associated Press reported—not to “phone home.”
10. In 2022, Denmark did not record a single incident of which illegal act?
Criminals are focusing on defrauding people online as Danes swap cash transactions for digital payments, The Associated Press reported.
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Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @AlexandraSSharp
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