The United Nations climate conference known as COP28 has dominated headlines this week. Have you remembered to stay on top of goings-on across the rest of the world?
1. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday demanded what item be removed from the agenda of the European Union leaders’ summit, which is set to take place next week?
Orban’s disruptive tactics in EU fora have provided a model for other far-right politicians within the bloc, such as Geert Wilders, whose party won the Nov. 22 elections in the Netherlands, FP’s Caroline de Gruyter writes.
2. The United States on Monday charged a former ambassador with acting as a spy for which country for more than 40 years?
Victor Manuel Rocha, a former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, also served on the National Security Council and as an advisor to the commander of U.S. Southern Command, which includes Cuba, FP’s Jack Detsch and Robbie Gramer write in Situation Report.
3. Israel intensified its bombardments against Hamas on Tuesday in which city in the Gaza Strip?
Lost in the conversation about Israel’s brutal tactics is what happens to Gaza after the war. According to FP’s Steven A. Cook, an Israeli reoccupation of the territory is likely.
4. Guyana’s president, Irfaan Ali, said on Wednesday that his country is taking necessary steps to be able to defend itself against which encroaching South American state?
Venezuela claims the oil-rich Esequibo region, which falls within Guyana’s international boundaries. After a disputed referendum last weekend, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appears to be readying for a possible incursion into the territory, FP’s Catherine Osborn writes in Latin America Brief.
5. On Wednesday, the Taliban announced that an Afghan embassy would soon reopen in which Asian country?
New Delhi still does not recognize the Taliban, but the embassy’s reopening signals a pragmatic shift in India’s policy toward a regime it had previously viewed as a hostile entity, FP’s Michael Kugelman writes in South Asia Brief.
6. Cyclone Michaung had killed how many people in southern India by Thursday?
Despite being increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters due to climate change, India has not expressed much interest in transitioning away from coal, Shayak Sengupta and Abhinav Jindal write.
7. Which armed rebel group seized a town in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo after clashing with that country’s military on Thursday?
M23’s violent incursion into Congo has interfered with preparations for elections later this month, with more than a million citizens left without voter cards due to security concerns, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi wrote in last week’s Africa Brief.
8. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said Ankara is considering allowing which neighboring country to benefit from a nuclear power plant it plans to build near its Black Sea coast?
The longtime regional rivals, who’ve been on the brink of war three times in the past 50 years, have now agreed to double trade investment, keep lines of communication open, and improve military trust, among other areas of cooperation, FP’s Alexandra Sharp writes in World Brief.
9. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was seen wiping tears from his eyes while discussing what topic?
Kim delivered a speech at the National Conference of Mothers over the weekend, during which he described the challenge of the nation’s declining birth rate as “everyone’s housekeeping,” according to Reuters.
10. Authorities in Tokyo this week arrested a taxi driver for deliberately driving into a group of what animal?
Police called his behavior “highly malicious,” Channel News Asia reports.
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