What in the World?
Test yourself on the week of May 30: Malta votes, Japan responds to militarism accusations, and Iran pauses talks with the U.S.
Summer is right around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere—and so is the World Cup. Have you made sure to keep up with this week’s headlines amid all the excitement?
Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts.
Summer is right around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere—and so is the World Cup. Have you made sure to keep up with this week’s headlines amid all the excitement?
1. Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela’s Labour Party won an unprecedented fourth consecutive term in Saturday’s snap elections. Despite the loss, opposition leader Alex Borg celebrated what?
His party’s role in an expected coalition government
The strength of democracy in Malta
His party’s decreased margin of defeat
The new electoral map introduced this year
The snap election was called in April due to Abela’s fear that the war in Iran would erode public confidence in his government, FP’s Alexandra Sharp reports in World Brief.
2. Japan’s defense minister on Sunday rejected accusations that Tokyo had embraced a “new militarism,” an assertion made by which regional neighbor?
Philippines
South Korea
North Korea
China
China’s delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend attempted to stir resistance to Japan’s growing security presence in the region by invoking memories of World War II, FP’s Joseph Rachman writes in Southeast Asia Brief.
3. Why did Iran say on Monday it was pausing its participation in negotiations to end its war with the United States?
In protest of increased U.S. strikes on Iran over the weekend
In protest of Israel’s escalating attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon
Because the United States was asking for too many concessions
Because the United States refused to unconditionally surrender
U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to browbeat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into following his orders threatens the latter’s political grip on Israel, Aaron David Miller and Daniel C. Kurtzer write.
4. An international panel of arbitrators formally announced on Monday that it had rejected a multimillion-dollar claim by Rwanda against the United Kingdom concerning a scrapped 2024 deal over what?
Refugee resettlement
Military funding
Public health aid
Rare-earth mining
Rwanda argued that it had spent considerable funds preparing to host migrants who had arrived in Britain as part of the deal, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi reports in Africa Brief.
5. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine on Tuesday claimed in a Senate hearing that the Trump administration’s criteria for striking alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific did not include what element?
Confirmation of the passengers’ nationality
The presence of drugs or weapons
A specific amount of drugs required to take action
Confirmation of the boats’ connections to drug cartels
The revelation raises questions about the Trump administration’s claims that its boat strikes are in response to the activity of “narcoterrorists” in the region, FP’s John Haltiwanger reports.
6. Ukrainian drones hit an oil terminal in which major Russian city on Wednesday? (Hint: Think tsars.)
Nizhny Novgorod
Moscow
St. Petersburg
Kazan
Mid-range strike drones have transformed the battlefield in the war between Russia and Ukraine and injected the weary Ukrainian military with some optimism, FP’s Sam Skove reports.
7. What did thousands of students, teachers, and social organizations protest in downtown Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday?
A lengthening of the academic school year
Education budget cuts and other austerity measures
Legislation to restrict freedoms for LGBTQ+ individuals
An expansion of Chile’s military draft
Chilean President José Antonio Kast is among a wave of Latin American right-wing figures elected into office with ambitious plans to rein in public spending and crack down on crime, Michael Albertus wrote in December.
8. To address a recent spate of anti-immigrant violence in the country, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that Pretoria would do what?
Negotiate with origin countries to repatriate migrants
Increase police presence in major cities
Pass legislation to better integrate migrants
Deploy envoys across Africa
Attacks on migrants in South Africa are a consequence of government and economic failure, Patrick Egwu argued in November 2020.
9. A festival concluded on Monday in New Zealand that celebrates a literary and artistic genre that blends Victorian aesthetics with science fiction steam-driven mechanics. What is that genre called?
Steampunk
Victorian steam
Steam-fi
Gilded fiction
The tradition in the town of Oamaru is in its 17th year, The Associated Press reports.
10. The U.S. Defense Department confirmed on Monday that journalists will no longer have access to the Pentagon’s press office. Why?
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doesn’t like the reporters.
It is being converted into a Trump bust room.
A reporter published a piece unfavorable to Hegseth.
It is now a classified space.
Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said on X that there was “nothing controversial” about the move, claiming this Defense Department is the “most transparent” ever.
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Drew Gorman is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.
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