What in the World?
Test yourself on the week of Sept. 5: A German state votes, Philippine police make a high-profile arrest, and Nigeria appoints a new military commander.
School is back in session in much of the world, so it feels appropriate to proctor a quiz for our readers. Find out if you’ve kept up with the globe’s latest developments!
Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts.
School is back in session in much of the world, so it feels appropriate to proctor a quiz for our readers. Find out if you’ve kept up with the globe’s latest developments!
1. The far-right Alternative for Germany party won a state election on Sunday but fell short of the majority needed to form a government without a coalition. If the party succeeds in coalition-building, it would be the first far-right party to lead a German state since when?
The fall of the Berlin Wall
World War II
The Soviet consolidation of East Germany
The Weimar Republic
The rise of the far right in Germany signals the end of German postwar democracy as we know it, John Kampfner argues.
2. Philippine police arrested a lawmaker and cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday over his alleged involvement in a massive corruption scandal concerning what?
Road restoration projects in Manila
Housing allowances for national legislators
A slush fund for the military
Flood-control projects
Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez was officially charged with plunder and personally accused of misappropriating $118 million, FP’s Joseph Rachman reports in Southeast Asia Brief.
3. Jamaica’s culture minister traveled to London on Monday to petition King Charles III to refer a series of questions to a committee on the Privy Council, which serves former colonies. What topic did the questions concern?
Reparations for slavery
British citizenship for Jamaicans
Jamaican cultural artifacts in the British Museum
Licensing deals to show English soccer games in Jamaica
The petition asked the highest court of appeal of the Commonwealth countries whether Britain’s trafficking of enslaved Africans was unlawful and whether London owed financial reparations to Jamaica, FP’s Catherine Osborn reports in Latin America Brief.
4. On Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced about $20 billion worth of tariffs on the United States as retaliation for what?
U.S. President Donald Trump’s taunting of Carney
Recent posts from Trump claiming Canada as the 51st U.S. state
Trump’s latest round of tariffs on Canada
Trump critiquing Canada’s defense spending
The duties mimic recent tariffs that the White House has imposed on Ottawa, FP’s Alexandra Sharp reports in World Brief.
5. Which country did Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis attack on Tuesday?
Saudi Arabia
Iraq
The United States
Turkey
Riyadh’s lack of strategic forethought and poor judgment have placed it squarely in the middle of conflicts with both Iran and the Houthis, FP’s Steven A. Cook argued last month.
6. Opposition lawmakers in Argentina called a special legislative session on Wednesday to consider a variety of measures intended to help Argentines do what? (Hint: One measure concerns interest rates.)
Start small businesses
Get access to better healthcare
Buy property
Renegotiate household debts
Financial strains continue to mount for regular Argentines, despite the government negotiating numerous multibillion-dollar arrangements, including a credit line from the United States, which FP’s Keith Johnson wrote about last October.
7. Nigeria appointed a new military commander on Wednesday who is now responsible for doing what?
Reforming Nigeria’s military command structure
Overseeing the border to crack down on migration
Leading operations against Boko Haram
Creating a new presidential security force
Boko Haram is among the extremist groups in West Africa endangering the stability of the entire region; the West is ignoring these groups’ rise at its own peril, FP’s Howard W. French argued in May.
8. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday that he expects that Russian forces will do what to weaken Ukraine?
Bomb Polish weapons depots
Target Poland-Ukraine border crossings for attack
Sabotage Ukrainian rail traffic
Begin a new Black Sea campaign to blockade Ukrainian trade
As the threat from Russia appears to increase across Europe, commentators have criticized Germany’s relatively muted response to a recent attempted drone attack that has been attributed to Moscow, FP’s John Haltiwanger and Sam Skove report.
9. A group of thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in France on Tuesday and escaped with what?
A bronze bust of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir
A collection of photographs
Two of the artist’s paintings
A couch Renoir used to sit on while painting
The thieves originally took four paintings but had to abandon two as they fled, The Associated Press reports.
10. Scientists on Thursday reported that something is happening to the planet Mercury faster than expected. What is occurring?
Mercury is shrinking.
The planet’s axial rotation is changing.
Its surface temperature is increasing.
Mercury is expanding.
The planet may have shrunk 30 percent more than previously believed, partially due to how its oversized iron core repeatedly cools and contracts, The Associated Press reports.
You scored
It’s a big world out there! Brush up on global goings-on by subscribing to World Brief, Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter.
You scored
Great job! Now, dig deeper by subscribing to Foreign Policy’s one-stop regional newsletters: Africa Brief, China Brief, Latin America Brief, South Asia Brief, and Southeast Asia Brief.
You scored
Perfection! You’re a pro who needs the in-depth insights offered in Situation Report, our newsletter on national security and defense.
Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts.
Drew Gorman is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.
Stories Readers Liked
-
A statue of a seated, bearded man with a bare torso and draped cloth around his waist, holding a scroll in one hand, positioned in front of a row of large classical columns. -
An illustration of Donald Trump in a blue suit and long red tie gesturing with open hands in front of a grid patterned background with jagged red, blue, and black line graphs diving downward. -
Five people sit in folding chairs pushed up against a wall, all of them on their phones and several looking board. Text on the wall behind them says “AI for Real” with images of robotic arms and household appliances printed around it. -
An illustration depicting a man submerged up to his nose in water. The wavy water is divided horizontally into three color bands that mimic a flag: white foam at the very top peaks, a deep blue middle section filled with bubbles, and a red lower section covering his neck and suit jacket. His blue eyes look upward with a wide, strained expression. -
Negotiators from the United States, Canada, and five European countries converse after finishing the draft of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington on March 18, 1949. -
A woman crosses a road in front of a mural depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kashira, Russia, southeast of Moscow, on Oct. 16, 2017. -
An illustration of a vintage-style map featuring North America and parts of Europe and Africa. Overlaid on the map are 3D red brick walls shaped exactly like the borders of the contiguous United States and Alaska, casting long shadows to the right. -
A creative illustration against a pale yellow background showing a garden planter containing a dense green hedge. Five human arms emerge from the hedge, with four of the hands holding small flags of China, Russia, the United States, and the European Union, while the fifth hand holds the flag of India. -
An illustration showing a pair of hands tightly wringing out an American flag. Water droplets shaped like missiles squeeze out of the twisted fabric and fall toward a puddle shaped like the map of Iran on a red background. -
An aerial photo shows Doha in the booming petrostate of Qatar.
The U.S. and China
-
A line of Chinese youth wearing white pants and blue long-sleeved shirts are seen from the waist down with U.S. and Chinese flags in their hands. -
Leaders of Pacific Islands nations pose for the family photo at the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on September 11, 2025. -
Five people sit in folding chairs pushed up against a wall, all of them on their phones and several looking board. Text on the wall behind them says “AI for Real” with images of robotic arms and household appliances printed around it.
