Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got engaged! What’s that? This is supposed to be an international news quiz? OK, then, let’s see if you kept up with the week’s other (less thrilling) headlines.
1. While meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned another East Asian person he wants to meet this year. Who was it?
Trump’s insistence on forging an inter-Korean peace deal will fail because the Korean Peninsula is far more dangerous today than it was in 2019, Robert A. Manning and Rachel Minyoung Lee write.
2. In an effort to further diversify its trade partners due to U.S. tariffs, South American trade bloc Mercosur said on Monday that it would reopen free-trade negotiations with which country?
A group of Brazilian business leaders will travel to Canada in September to resume discussions, FP’s Catherine Osborn reports in Latin America Brief.
3. Chinese company Evergrande was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday. What kind of company was Evergrande?
The once-colossal real estate firm’s slow collapse could poison China’s investment atmosphere for years to come, FP’s James Palmer writes in China Brief.
4. Australia severed diplomatic ties with Iran on Tuesday, expelling the Iranian ambassador and closing its embassy in Tehran. What revelation caused the rupture?
Australia’s spy agency concluded that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps directed people in the country to commit these crimes, FP’s Alexandra Sharp reports in World Brief.
5. An additional 25 percent U.S. tariff kicked in against India on Wednesday. The White House’s official line is that the extra levy is due to India’s continued purchase of Russian oil. But according to people in the know, what is the real reason Trump imposed the tariff?
Only respect and dialogue, not coercion through tariffs or other means, will help the U.S.-India partnership survive, Syed Akbaruddin argues.
6. According to a Danish public broadcasting report on Wednesday, at least three people connected to the White House have carried out covert influence operations in which country or territory?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed Trump’s rhetoric saying he wants to seize the island, Sergey Radchenko wrote earlier this month.
7. Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye arrived for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Wednesday. The meeting occurred just weeks after France did what in Senegal, which is a former French colony?
African backlash against France has led the country to withdraw from many of its former colonies on the continent, FP’s Howard W. French documented last year.
8. Thailand’s Supreme Court dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office on Friday due to what it called an ethics violation. The court was referring to what recent action by Shinawatra?
The former prime minister’s call to Hun Sen came amid a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which have maintained a tenuous cease-fire since late July. Derek Grossman explained the situation on the ground last month.
9. A 25-meter race to determine the quickest canine occurred in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Saturday. What breed of dog participated? (Hint: They were a favorite of Queen Elizabeth II.)
The winning dog, Mango, “knows what he did and he’s really proud of himself,” his owner said, according to ABC News.
10. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned a U.S. filmmaker on Monday for speaking virtually at a Russian film festival over the weekend. Who was it?
The ministry called Allen’s participation a “disgrace and an insult” to the victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, The Associated Press reports.
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