World Hot Spots in 2017 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brexit

Brexit is shorthand for "Britain's Exit". The UK voted in June of 2016 to leave the EU, by a slim majority of 51.9% of the participating voters. However, it wasn't until March of 2017 that the formal process of exiting was begun when the UK invoked Article 50 of the EU Treaty of Lisbon.

Answer: Rohingya

The 1.1 million mostly Muslim Rohingya living in Myanmar have been denied citizenship by the Buddhist-controlled Myanmar government. Although their mistreatment goes back to the creation of the independent state of Myanmar (then called Burma) in 1948, the ethnic cleansing that resulted in an estimated half of the Rohingya population fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh took place primarily in 2017.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar, has refused to condemn the government's genocide, to the disgust of the world community, which has often described the Rohingya as "the world's most persecuted minority".

Answer: North Korea

President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un exchanged insults and belligerent threats throughout 2017 over North Korea's development of its nuclear weapons capability, but at year's end no resolution to the conflict was in sight.

Answer: South Sudan

The ongoing civil war has resulted in the displacement of over 3.5 million people, in a country of only 12 million total. It is truly a tragic situation.

Answer: The Philippines

China refused to participate in the proceeding in the Court of Arbitration, and refuses to honor the decision. The South China Sea is believed to contain 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In addition, the sea lies on an important world shipping route, and has military importance as well.

Answer: India and Pakistan

India and Pakistan have fought three major wars since 1947 over the disputed region of Kashmir, located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. A fragile cease-fire has been in place since 2003, but the two sides regularly exchanged fire across the disputed border throughout 2017.

The wrong answers are other pairs of Asian countries which were engaged in ongoing border disputes during 2017.

Answer: Nigeria

Boko Haram launched its insurgency against the Nigerian government in 2009, its goal being to establish an Islamic caliphate in West Africa. It is estimated that, by the end of 2017, two million people had been displaced by the ongoing conflict.

Answer: Saudi Arabia

The Houthis are a Shiite group with links to Iran, while the government is Sunni-led with links to Saudi Arabia. Thus, both Yemeni groups are in a sense proxy groups for the predominant struggle within the Muslim world of Sunni (led by Saudi Arabia) versus Shiite (led by Iran).

Answer: Russia

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, although Russian officials have denied it and President Trump remained dubious. In May of 2017 former FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to look into Russian involvement in the election, and, in particular, whether the Trump campaign was guilty of colluding with Russia in this effort.

Answer: London

The controversial Assange, who oversaw the publication BY Wikileaks of many confidential documents, entered the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June of 2012, and was granted formal political asylum by the Ecuadorean government the following August. London police maintained a vigil outside the embassy for three years, hoping to arrest Assange if he ever left the embassy, but the vigil was ended in 2015 due to the tremendous cost, estimated to exceed twelve million pounds.