What in the World?
Test yourself on the week of July 22: Spain heads to the polls, Israel forces through a judicial overhaul, and Putin courts African leaders.
Buried beneath the international headlines this week was an unusual story. Were you keeping up?
Have feedback? Email whatintheworld@foreignpolicy.com to let me know your thoughts.
Buried beneath the international headlines this week was an unusual story. Were you keeping up?
1. Which party won the most votes in Spain’s snap parliamentary elections over the weekend?
The People’s Party won the most votes and seats in the weekend election. Last week, Mark Nayler argued that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s decision to call snap elections reflected desperation—although the socialist Sánchez may find a way to stay in power.
2. Israel on Monday approved a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform plan. What does the approved measure do?
The government’s judicial overhaul has met big-tent resistance among Israelis seeking to stop religious law from being used to allow profound corruption, Gitit Ginat writes.
3. China removed Qin Gang, the head of which government ministry, from his post on Tuesday?
Qin, missing from public view since June, only assumed the position in January. He was replaced by his predecessor, Wang Yi, FP’s James Palmer reports in China Brief.
4. Around how many protesters gathered in Tunisia’s capital on Tuesday on the second anniversary of President Kais Saied’s power grab?
Among the protesters’ demands was the release of detained opposition figures. Since consolidating power in 2021, Saied has engaged in a steady assault on human rights, Eric Goldstein wrote in May.
5. Which African leader did Russian President Vladimir Putin meet on Wednesday ahead of a two-day regional summit in Russia this week?
The summit to shore up support with African leaders follows Moscow’s withdrawal from a grain deal with Ukraine that permitted the latter to export food to nations in Africa and Asia, which FP’s Christina Lu and Amy Mackinnon reported on last week.
6. On Wednesday, El Salvador’s congress passed new rules that will allow courts to do what?
The rules are the latest move in President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gang violence, which has included jailing tens of thousands of suspects and deploying armed forces to gang strongholds, FP’s Christina Lu wrote in World Brief last year.
7. U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday sent which top official to Saudi Arabia to explore normalizing relations between that country and Israel?
Sullivan’s trip comes a month after Blinken’s visit to the country, as Biden pushes to achieve a historic normalization that would boost Israeli and U.S. standing in the region, as Aaron David Miller wrote last month.
8. Polish lawmakers on Friday approved a law that calls for the creation of a commission to investigate what?
International observers have criticized the law, thought to target opposition leader and former Prime Minister Donald Tusk ahead of a parliamentary election this fall, which FP’s Allison Meakem previewed in January.
9. Russia’s version of Ikea opened this month, and it disappointed customers. Shoppers complained of a lack of variety—and what else?
The Swedish furniture giant pulled out of Russia last year. Despite similarity with Ikea products, customers instantly detected a decrease in quality, the Moscow Times reports.
10. A former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer this week testified that the United States has concealed a program for decades that does what?
Ret. Maj. David Grusch claims that the U.S. government has covered up its knowledge of extraterrestrial “non-human” activity since the 1930s, The Associated Press reports. The Pentagon denies the claims.
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Drew Gorman is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.
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