Test yourself on the week of April 18: Taiwan’s president faces travel troubles, U.N. secretary-general candidates assemble in New York, and Pope Leo concludes his tour of Africa.
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1. Which event did North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend on Sunday?
China has largely downplayed Pyongyang’s recent missile tests, Jinwan Park wrote in Foreign Policy in January.
2. The country of Chad announced on Monday that it will soon send 1,500 of what to Haiti?
The U.N. recently launched another multinational policing force to deal with Haiti’s crisis. But Maurice Oniang’o wrote in November that the new mission shows little evidence of the U.N. learning from its past mistakes in the country.
3. After several countries revoked permission to use their airspace, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te announced on Tuesday that he was canceling a trip that had been scheduled to start the next day. Which country was his intended destination? (Clue: It’s one of Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies.)
A Taiwanese official accused Beijing of using “economic coercion” to convince Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Seychelles to restrict their airspace, FP’s Alexandra Sharp reports in World Brief.
4. On Tuesday, Japan overturned a long-standing ban on the export of what type of good?
China responded by accusing Japan of moving “toward militarism,” adding more fuel to the two countries’ ongoing escalation, FP’s James Palmer reports in China Brief.
5. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday evening (EDT) that he was extending the cease-fire with Iran for how long?
Despite the extension announcement and the conflict remaining deeply unpopular among Americans, FP’s John Haltiwanger reports that the truce is hanging on by a thread.
6. Candidates for the next U.N. secretary-general participated in dialogues at the institution’s headquarters in New York City on Tuesday and Wednesday. Three of the four contenders come from which region?
Many U.N. watchers believe that the organization’s next chief will come from the region due to a long-standing unwritten rule about leadership rotating through different parts of the world, J. Alex Tarquinio writes.
7. On Wednesday, flows of oil from Russia to Europe resumed through the Druzhba pipeline. What distinction does the pipeline hold?
Oil shipments have resumed to Slovakia and Hungary, which have faced growing criticism from the European Union over their continued reliance on Russian energy, FP’s Sam Skove wrote last year.
8. In which country did Pope Leo conclude his tour of Africa on Thursday?
During his trip, Leo clashed with the Trump administration over the Iran war. The tiff isn’t all that surprising when one considers the postwar precedent of papal peace advocacy, Vanessa R. Corcoran writes.
9. Which leader did acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez host in Caracas on Friday?
Petro is expected to discuss border security and trade with Rodríguez, who remains largely unpopular with Venezuelans more than three months after the U.S. operation that brought her to power, FP’s Catherine Osborn reported in Latin America Brief earlier in April.
10. In other papal news, how did tens of thousands of people in Buenos Aires mark the first anniversary of Pope Francis’s death on Saturday?
A Portuguese priest-slash-DJ played tunes ranging from techno remixes of video game soundtracks to electronic tracks inspired by Gregorian chants, the Buenos Aires Times reports.
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Syd Kuntz is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy.
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