What in the World?
It’s Friday the 13th! Are you feeling lucky about this week’s quiz?
Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts.
It’s Friday the 13th! Are you feeling lucky about this week’s quiz?
1. Thailand’s ruling conservative Bhumjaithai Party won the most seats in Sunday’s general election. On the same day, a referendum vote was held to determine what?
Whether to repeal military conscription
Whether same-sex marriage should be legalized
Whether the country’s 2017 constitution should be rewritten
Whether to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court
The constitutional referendum passed handily, FP’s Joseph Rachman reports in Southeast Asia Brief.
2. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance signed an agreement with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday to proceed with negotiations over what topic?
A civil nuclear energy deal
Critical mineral mining rights
The meeting comes several months after the Trump administration helped broker a framework agreement that could eventually lead to the end of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, which Jeffrey Mankoff wrote about last August.
3. The Chinese Embassy in London on Tuesday criticized the British government for expanding a visa program for which group?
The visa program expansion came as former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a British national, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, FP’s James Palmer writes in China Brief.
4. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, a week earlier than originally planned. What caused him to move up his trip?
The second phase of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire plan has been put on hold.
The first meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace is next week.
Trump recently called to halt Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
Renewed U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations are planned for next week.
Despite the diplomatic showing between Washington and Tehran, Trump has continued to threaten possible military action. Arash Reisinezhad and Arsham Reisinezhad write about the United States’ options if Trump decided to attack Iran.
5. African Union foreign ministers convened in Ethiopia on Wednesday for a two-day summit. What was the main focus of the gathering?
Africa’s water security
Combating resurgent terrorism in the Sahel
Navigating critical mineral mining deals
Public health following a drop in international aid
Although the forum provided a show of continent-wide unity, Ethiopia’s actions in the Horn of Africa have provoked regional tensions, Cameron Hudson and Liam Karr argued last month.
6. Barbados held a general election on Wednesday that saw Prime Minister Mia Mottley win a third term. There was an unusual result in the vote for the lower house of Parliament. What happened?
Voter participation was 100 percent.
Mottley’s Barbados Labour Party won every seat.
The assembly was split evenly between the two leading parties.
The opposition party refused to concede its sole legislative seat.
Mottley’s party bucked a regional anti-incumbency trend by campaigning on affordability, social justice, and Barbados’s role in the world, FP’s Catherine Osborn reports in Latin America Brief.
7. South Korea’s spy agency on Thursday said it believed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was getting close to designating his eventual successor. Who does the agency believe will be tapped?
Vice Premier Ju Chol Gyu
His sister, Kim Yo Jong
The possible announcement comes as North Korea continues to strengthen its ties with Russia and China, Sangsoo Lee wrote in July 2025.
8. Bangladesh on Thursday voted in its first election since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024. Hasina’s party, the Awami League, rejected the election. Why?
It believes Hasina is still the rightful prime minister.
It believes the rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) manipulated the polls.
It believes Hasina should have been allowed to run.
It was barred from participating in the vote.
The ban on the Awami League was one reason why the BNP won a landslide victory, which FP’s Michael Kugelman predicted in South Asia Brief.
9. Puerto Rican reggaeton star Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday featured a couple that did what during the performance?
Revealed the name of their newborn child
Celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary
Celebrated their daughter’s quinceañera
The show, performed during the National Football League’s championship game, also included appearances by Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, and Pedro Pascal, among others, ESPN reports.
10. Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid used his interview following his third-place finish in the 20-kilometer individual race on Tuesday to talk about what?
The state of the cease-fire in Gaza
His desire to take U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim on a date
Climate change’s effects on the Winter Games
Cheating on his ex-girlfriend
Laegreid’s former partner responded on Wednesday, saying it would be “hard to forgive” him for cheating on her, VG reports. (Hard… but not impossible?)
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