"What in the World?" - Week of Dec 3-9, 2017

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump Administration’s travel ban targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries to go into effect as legal challenges continue in lower courts. The ban limits travel to the United States by people from each of these countries EXCEPT:

The death over the weekend of THIS former President of Yemen complicates the chances for a political settlement to the protracted civil war.

The United States and South Korea opened air warfare exercises this week in response to THIS military development last week in North Korea.

The results of the November 26th presidential election in Honduras were marred by the announcement that Organization of American States’ observers said there were irregularities, errors and systematic problems in the voting. The capital of Honduras is:

The President of France and a number of leaders from around the Middle East raised concerns about the impending announcement by President Trump about the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in THIS country.

Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri is set to meet representatives from major powers for consultations on stabilizing the political situation in Lebanon. The country is in the midst of security and political turmoil as a result of a proxy battle between THESE TWO countries.

British Prime Minister Theresa May hit a roadblock in opening trade talks with the EU for post-Brexit relations over a “regulatory alignment” on both sides of a UK-EU land border. That border concerns this part of the United Kingdom.

Venezuelan President Nicolar Maduro is attempting to shore up his country’s troubled economy by the introduction of a new digital currency based on its reliance on oil exports called THIS.

Moscow retaliated against Washington’s moves against Russian-backed media operating in the United States – requiring RT to register under FARA – by mandating THIS news operation register as “foreign agents” there.

Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa recently replaced long-time authoritarian figure Robert Mugabe as president and this past week was criticized for THIS.