“What In The World? Weekly Quiz” – Nov 11-17, 2019

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NOVEMBER 2019 MONTHLY QUIZ PRIZE

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

David Wallace-Wells

Amazon Review

It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible—food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation.

An “epoch-defining book” (The Guardian) and “this generation’s Silent Spring” (The Washington Post), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it—the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress.

The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation—today’s.

About David Wallace-Wells

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We’ll post the answers and the names of the winner(s) in next week’s quiz.

Here’s last week’s questions and answers:

WHAT IN THE WORLD QUIZ

WEEK OF NOV 4-10, 2019

1. The Islamic State confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was killed in a U.S. Special Operations raid in Syria last week and his heir apparent who died in a strike a day later. ISIS provided THIS apparent nom de guerre of the new leader, heretofore unknown to outside analysts, and referred to HIM as “emir of the believers” and “caliph.” The announcement also renewed threats to the West, “Do not be happy America, for the death of Sheikh al-Baghdadi, and do not forget the cups of death at his hands, may God accept him.”

A. Abu Hassan al-Muhajir
B. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi
C. Abu Omar al-Shishani
D. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Correct Response: B. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/world/middleeast/isis-al-baghdadi-dead.html

2. Major state-owned mobile phone carriers in China rolled out their new data plans for THIS next generation technology which offers faster speeds and wider coverage but is at the same time the focus of a technology turf war between Beijing and Washington.

A. 5G
B. 6G
C. 7S
D. C4

Correct Response: A. 5G
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50258287

3. The international events calendar was roiled by cancellations of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit – where presidents Trump and Xi planned to sign a trade agreement – and the COP25 UN climate summit in response to violent protests in the capital of THIS South American country.

A. Argentina
B. Brazil
C. Chile
D. Venezuela

Correct Response: C. Chile
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50233678

4. China, Russia and the European Union are major powers behind the threat to “de-dollarize” the global currency map as a way to be immune from U.S. jurisdiction over their international transactions. The drive away from U.S. currency stems mostly from reaction to THIS Trump Administration policy change.

A. The global “ripple effect” of the trade war with China.
B. Resentment over increased tariffs on European automobiles, French wines and Italian cheeses.
C. Cancellation of the Iran nuclear deal and U.S. demands for restoration of international sanctions on Tehran.
D. Resumption of economic isolation of Cuba.

Correct Response:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/31/de-dollarization-russia-china-eu-are-motivated-to-shift-from-using-usd.html

5. Details are sketchy but THIS country was set to start the process of disconnecting from the Internet on November 1st. A long-planned scheme would give the country the ability to disconnect from the global Internet in event of a cyberwar, providing a networked web sanctioned by the government, with the side benefit of exercising more control of its citizens.

A. North Korea
B. Iran
C. Russia
D. Venezuela

Correct Response: C. Russia
https://www.pcmag.com/news/371347/russia-is-about-to-disconnect-from-the-internet-what-that-m

6. Last week the Indian government took THIS unprecedented move in the Jammu and Kashmir region, an area still fraught with tensions following the August 5 decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of decades-old special autonomy. In the two months since, Jammu and Kashmir have experienced an influx of Indian troops into the Kashmir Valley, crackdowns on movement and public gatherings, and a suspension of communications.

A. Began negotiations with Pakistan over shared territorial authority
B. Decommissioned nuclear facilities in the region
C. Unified Jammu and Kashmir with the neighboring Himachal Pradesh state
D. Split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories

Correct Response: D. Split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/31/asia/jammu-kashmir-union-territory-intl-hnk/index.html

7. Amid stalled progress on denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea, North Korea is believed to have taken THIS action. It occurred on the same day South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended the funeral of his mother, whose death earlier in the week prompted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to express “deep condolences” to President Moon.

A. Imprisoned its chief envoy in negotiations with the United States
B. Fired two unknown projectiles into the Sea of Japan
C. Released South Korean hostages over the age of 50 to return home
D. Broke ground on a new Special Economic Zone (SEZ) funded by China

Correct Response: B. Fired two unknown projectiles into the Sea of Japan
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/north-korea-fires-unidentified-projectile-south-korean-military-191031081122181.html

8. In the aftermath of Hong Kong authorities using colonial-era emergency powers to ban face masks and face coverings, some pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong have adopted THIS DC Comics character as a “symbol of the resistance,” citing parallels between Hong Kong and the character’s home place.

A. Lex Luthor
B. Joker
C. Wonder Woman
D. Cyborg

Correct Response: B. Joker
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/29/asia/hong-kong-protests-joker-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

9. In one of the deadliest assaults of the past decade, militants in eastern Mali killed at least 49 soldiers and one civilian in an attack on a military post. Mali’s northern and eastern regions have experienced significant insecurity in the years since the 2012 jihadist insurgency, one of many challenges facing THIS five nation-member regional partnership for coordinating development and security and battling jihadist groups like al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the region.

A. G5 Sahel Joint Force (G5S)
B. Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
C. Organization of West African States (OWAS)
D. Maghreb Development Community (MDC)

Correct Response: A. G5 Sahel Joint Force (G5S)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50273312

10. Dresden, Germany, a city long-viewed as a bastion of the far-right and the birthplace of the anti-Islam Pegida movement, made news last week for THIS, a signal that many in the city view more must be done to tackle the issue.

A. Passing a resolution declaring a “Nazi emergency”
B. Creating a €10 million fund to combat Islamophobia in eastern Germany
C. Ranking number one in Europe for hate crimes per capita
D. Passing a ban on the use of hand signals in all public spaces

Correct Response: A. Passing a resolution declaring a “Nazi emergency”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/02/europe/nazi-emergency-dresden-grm-intl/index.html

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