"What in the World?" - Week of April 1-7, 2018

South Korea announced that K-Pop band Red Velvet will headline a series of cultural diplomacy concerts in North Korea.  Sending a K-Pop band as the thawing of relations between the two Koreas is still incipient is an unusual choice because:

 
North Korean defectors to South Korea often cite K-Pop as their inspiration for fleeing
The South Korean army often uses K-Pop for psychological warfare against North Korea
K-Pop is a prime symbol of the decadent capitalism that North Korea shields itself from
All of the above
Ecuador announced this week that it’s cutting off Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s communication outside the nation’s London embassy for THIS reason:
Assange has been implicated in a multiple-country scandal
Assange violated an agreement to refrain from any communication that could interfere with Ecuador’s external relations
Assange was caught leaking sensitive information to Russia
Assange asked to be incommunicado
Russia has successfully completed a second test of its most advanced, nuclear-capable ICBM, near the Arctic Circle.  Officially named the RS-28 Sarmat, and designed to replace Russia’s stockpile of aging Soviet-era missiles, NATO has given the Sarmat THIS nickname:
Hellfire 7
Whoop-Ass 3
Satan 2
Widowmaker 6
For the first time since 1927, pubs in Ireland are allowed to sell THIS on Good Friday:
Oranges
Alcohol
Steak and kidney pie
Leavened bread

16 Palestinians were killed and over 1,000 were injured as six weeks of protest began this week along Gaza’s border with Israel.  Known by THIS name, the protests were called for by Hamas and will last through mid May, the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel:

March for Freedom
March of Return
Green March
March for Our Lives

THIS U.S. city is the latest major metropolitan area to fall victim to a ransomware attack, which has hobbled its computer systems for the last two weeks:

Miami
Seattle
Sacramento
Atlanta
Voters in THIS African nation went to the polls to choose their next president in a run-off election that was delayed after allegations of electoral fraud:
Sierra Leone
Kenya
South Africa
Angola
A firestorm of controversy ignited this week when an Italian newspaper quoted Pope Francis as saying that THIS does not exist:
Hell
Holy trinity
Purgatory
Heaven
The U.S. Department of State issued proposed rules that will require everyone who applies for a visa to enter the United States—a number estimated at 14.7 million per year—to incude THIS as part of the application process:
DNA samples
Banking records
Finger prints
Social media user names

A French waiter sued the Vancouver restaurant that fired him for being rude, claiming THIS as the basis of his law suit:

The firing was a case of age discrimination; the waiter is older than all the other staff
The firing was a case of linguistic misunderstanding; he didn’t understand directions from the managers
The firing was a case of cultural discrimination; since he’s French, being rude is part of his culture
The firing was a case of gender discrimination; the waiter is the only male on staff
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