What in the World?

Test yourself on the week of Jan. 7: Russia advances in Ukraine, Myanmar strikes India, and France debates education reforms.

By , a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.
French First Lady Brigitte Macron (left) and French Education Minister Pap Ndiaye visit a classroom in Paris.
French First Lady Brigitte Macron (left) and French Education Minister Pap Ndiaye visit a classroom in Paris.
French First Lady Brigitte Macron (left) and French Education Minister Pap Ndiaye visit a classroom in a primary school for nonnative speakers in Paris on Dec. 13, 2022. JULIEN DE ROSA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

What in the world has gone on this week? See what you can remember with our weekly international news quiz!

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

What in the world has gone on this week? See what you can remember with our weekly international news quiz!


1. Right-wing rioters in which country staged their own version of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection on Sunday?

Although the revolt by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro failed to remove newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from office, it revealed the strength and reach of Brazil’s far right, FP’s Catherine Osborn writes.


2. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak came under fire this week after he refused to disclose what information to the public?

Sunak’s secrecy comes amid a crisis in Britain’s National Health Service. FP’s Sasha Polakow-Suransky highlighted Downing Street’s tumultuous 2022—and the many challenges Sunak faces—last month.


3. Chinese President Xi Jinping claims only 120,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 since he removed China’s zero-COVID restrictions last December. But local officials beg to differ. According to their figures, how many people have been infected in Henan province alone since zero-COVID was retired?

China’s botched COVID-19 response damaged the country’s once seemingly unshakable leadership, FP’s Howard W. French argued last month.


4. On Tuesday, the United Nations published a report saying 5 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday in 2021. Children born in sub-Saharan Africa are how many times more likely to die in childhood than those born in Europe or North America?

Africa would benefit from improved public health policies and infrastructure to lower death rates, FP’s Adam Tooze argued in May 2022.


5. Also on Tuesday, the Wagner Group, a private Russian military contractor, claimed control of which town in eastern Ukraine—marking Moscow’s first breakthrough in the region in months?

The Wagner Group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has a history of funding complex schemes to advance Russian President Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical goals, FP’s Amy Mackinnon reported last October.


6. Myanmar launched at least two bombs into Indian territory on Wednesday to crack down on pro-democracy forces along the nation’s border. When did Myanmar’s military overthrow the country’s democratically elected government in a coup?

Since then, the international community has failed to protect the Myanmar public against systemic violence, Wai Wai Nu wrote on the coup’s first anniversary.


7. Which European country goes to the polls on Friday to elect a new president?

Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed the politics of Central European countries like the Czech Republic, FP’s Caroline de Gruyter argued in August 2022.


8. French First Lady Brigitte Macron and French Education Minister Pap Ndiaye butted heads this week over which proposed education reform?

Macron is in favor of the proposal, whereas Ndiaye opposes it. The appointment of Ndiaye as France’s first Black education minister last year sparked criticism in a nation that prides itself on its supposedly colorblind politics, J. Alex Tarquinio wrote at the time.


9. Facing mounting inflation, Argentine artist Sergio Guillermo Diaz has begun painting on what national symbol to turn a profit?

“Once I paint on [the largest denominated bill], I can sell it for much more than what the bill is worth,” Diaz told Reuters. Argentina’s annual inflation was nearly 100 percent in 2022.


10. This month, Bolivia’s state airline used what unorthodox method to locate a passenger’s cat when it went missing in transit?

The “interspecies communicator” was unable to find Tito the cat after a week of searching—but did say he was alive, the Guardian reported.

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

Alexandra Sharp is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @AlexandraSSharp

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