World Affairs Council of Hilton Head What in the World? Weekly Quiz – December 11-17, 2023

This year is on track to be the hottest year of climate temperatures ever on record. Among the worrisome trends are warmer ocean waters feeding stronger, more frequent storms. THIS Eastern Pacific climate pattern is making that problem worse.

The Congress faces a fast-approaching holiday recess as negotiations continue on a Ukraine aid package, as U.S. resources for the embattled nation are running out. The hitch is an effort to tie THIS measure to funding for Kyiv.

The year 2024 will be a reelection year for THIS autocrat who is seeking his sixth term in office after changing the constitution in 2020 permitting him to serve through 2036.

The Constitutional Court of THIS country essentially reinstated a 2017 pardon of former President Fujimori who had been sentenced to a 25-year prison term for human rights abuses during his decade-long rule in the 1990s.

Following a referendum on the issue, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has threatened to annex nearly three-quarters of THIS oil-rich neighbor.

Moody’s ratings agency downgraded THIS country’s credit outlook to negative, citing the country’s lower than expected economic growth and an ongoing property crisis.

A group of 117 countries rejected the final agreement on climate at THIS annual summit, hosted by petrostate UAE, over failure to call for phasing out of fossil fuels.

An election is certain to return the autocratic president of THIS Arab Spring disrupted nation who took power in a 2013 coup. His advice to his countrymen who have seen food prices rise 70% in a year, “If the price of the nation’s progress and prosperity is hunger and thirst, then let us not eat or drink.”

The Supreme Court in New Delhi upheld a government decision to remove the special status – semi-autonomy and a separate constitution – of THIS Muslim majority region that has been central to conflicts between nuclear armed India and Pakistan.

Beijing’s 2019 national security law for the Hong Kong special administrative unit included prohibitions on opposition electoral candidates, allowing “patriots” only. The crackdown goes against the 50-year 1997 agreement for the region’s autonomy when it was handed over by THIS colonial power.