"What in the World?" Weekly Quiz -- August 12-18, 2018

Three strong earthquakes hit THIS Indonesian island in the last week, leaving over 250 people dead and 150,000 homeless:

Flores

Lombok

Bali

Sumatra

The senate of THIS nation rejected a bill legalizing abortion in the first 14 weeks by a vote of 38-31. The abortion issue is a divisive one in the nation in question, with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating because of it:

Argentina

Colombia

Brazil

Peru

A quickly escalating diplomatic row between Canada and Saudi Arabia broke out when the Canadian Foreign Ministry tweeted about THIS issue. Riyadh has expelled Canada's ambassador, suspended direct flights between the two nations, and told Saudi students studying in Canada to leave:

Saudi Arabia's involvement in the war in Yemen

Saudi Arabia's criticism of Iran

Saudi Arabia's arrest and imprisonment of women's rights activists

Saudi Arabia's boycott of Canadian exports

Mass student demonstrations have paralyzed Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, over the last week and a half. Students demanding THIS have blocked streets and created checkpoints that stop traffic and allow only emergency vehicles to pass:

Educational reforms

Stricter traffic safety enforcement

Looser government hiring guidelines

Reduced tuition

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reaffirmed his country's commitment to reducing carbon emissions this week. Some in Mr. Turnbull's government having called curbing emissions pointless, stating that such action won't help farmers in THIS Australian state—the nation's most populous—who are currently facing severe drought:

Victoria

New South Wales

Queensland

Tasmania

When U.S. Economic sanctions against Iran became active again on 6 August, Donald Trump tweeted that, "Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States." According to Mr. Trump's tweet, the reinstated sanctions are his way of asking for THIS:

An end to Iran's nuclear program

A "better deal" for the United States than the JCPOA (aka the Iran Nuclear Deal) provided

That Iran improve its human rights record

World peace

Officials at the prestigious Tokyo Medical University apologized for THIS discriminatory action against women:

Refusing to hire female faculty

Not allowing female students full access to laboratories

Lowering female students' scores on the admissions test

Charging female students higher tuition

Although his five-year term officially ended in 2016, Joseph Kabila, president of THIS African nation, has held the office for seven years, under the pretext that violence in some regions precluded calling presidential elections. After leading a government whose tenure was marked by conflict, repression, and humanitarian disaster, Mr. Kabila announced that he would not seek a third term:

Rwanda

Zimbabwe

Democratic Republic of Congo

Republic of the Congo

Hundreds of people in northwestern China are in a standoff with the government. Protestors are preventing officials in the Ningxia region from demolishing THIS religious structure, which the government claims was built without the proper permits:

A mosque

A synagogue

A church

A Buddhist temple

Turkey's currency lost 20% of its value in 24 hours as the United States announced a doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the NATO ally. Which of the following is the Turkish currency?

Dinar

Drachma

Lira

Krona

"What in the World?" Weekly Quiz -- August 12-18, 2018

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