Current Events Quiz – Feb/2012

It’s that time of the year again. Students in my 4th year International Health class are being treated to their one-per-semester Current Events quiz. As always, I share the questions in this space immediately after, and ask that you, the reader, enter your score in the Doodle link below, so that we can gauge what a member of the general public typically knows about global current events.

Like the last quiz, this one was based on the BBC global news podcasts for the period from Jan 29 to Feb 4, 2012.

You know the drill.  If you’d like to participate, try to be honourable about it.  Take the multiple choice test below.  The answer key is at the bottom of this post.  Then, share your results with the rest of the world by clicking on the following Doodle.com link:

http://www.doodle.com/niwsha29np5xr88m

Keep in mind that the answers are relevant to the date of the quiz (Feb 6, 2012), and are according to the facts as presented by the BBC.

As always, remember: this is not a contest.  And feel free to share the quiz widely.

1. EU leaders met this week in which city to discuss the debt crisis?
A.    Paris
B.    Brussels
C.    Athens
D.    London
E.    Prague

2. Goodluck Jonathan is the president of which African country that has recently endured bombings by the Islamist group, Boko Haram?
A.    South Africa
B.    Nigeria
C.    Mali
D.    Chad
E.    Burkina Faso

3. The African Cup of Nations Football Tournament is being hosted in which oil-rich, central African country?
A.    Equatorial Guinea
B.    Angola
C.    Gabon
D.    Cameroon
E.    Chad

4. Which former Haitian President has been charged this week for financial irregularities?
A.    Henri Christophe
B.    Jean Pierre Boyer
C.    Philippe Guerrier
D.    Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier
E.    François “Papa Doc” Duvalier

5. More than a dozen people were killed this week during football riots in which African country?
A.    Angola
B.    Chad
C.    Cameroon
D.    Syria
E.    Egypt

6. There are new challenges to the legitimacy of Joseph Kabila’s recent re-election to the office of President of which African nation?
A.    Democratic Republic of Congo
B.    Cameroon
C.    Chad
D.    Angola
E.    Syria

7. More than 200 Tamil refugees fleeing Sri Lanka en route to Canada are currently stranded in which West African country?
A.    Sierra Leone
B.    Senegal
C.    Togo
D.    Mali
E.    Liberia

8. Failure of the millet crop has exacerbated the food crisis in this West African country.
A.    Niger
B.    Benin
C.    Senegal
D.    Lesotho
E.    Algeria

9. At least 55 civilians were killed by government shelling this week in the city of Homs in which country?
A.    Israel
B.    Syria
C.    Bahrain
D.    Libya
E.    Turkey

10. According to a Lancet article, the deaths from this infectious disease in 2010 were 1.2 million people –nearly double that estimated by the WHO.
A.    Malaria
B.    HIV/AIDS
C.    Tuberculosis
D.    Leishmaniasis
E.    Onchocerciasis

There you have it.  The answers are below.  Don’t cheat!

A couple of quick announcements.  Check out my latest cover story at India Currents Magazine.  As well, tomorrow (Tuesday Feb 7, 2012), I’m giving a public lecture on the same topic.  Details are here.

Maybe I’ll see you there!

.

.

.

—–

Answers:

1.b
2.b
3.a
4.d
5.e
6.a
7.c
8.a
9.b
10.a