World Leaders in 2018 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cricketer

On 18th August 2018, Imran Khan became the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan when his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), won the most votes (although not an absolute majority) in the general election. Khan, who was born in 1952 in Lahore, was a former cricketer who became a national hero when he led his country to a Cricket World Cup victory in 1992.

Answer: Fifth

Xi Jinping (born 1952) was the fifth supreme Chinese leader, after Mao, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Jiang and Hu were the two previous leaders who served two five-year terms. In March 2018, he became the first overseas leader to meet North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un.

Answer: Najib Razak

Former Prime Minister Najik Razak's house was raided by the Malaysian police, seizing the biggest criminal haul in the country's history, including 567 branded handbags and 14 tiaras. His ruling party, Barisan Nasional, had been in power since 1957, until it lost the general election to 92-year-old Mahatir Mohammed's coalition party in a general election on 9 May 2018. Under Barisan Nasional, Mahatir (born 1925) previously served as Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003.

Najib (born 1953) was arrested on 3 July 2018 on corruption charges, accused of stealing 700 million from the state development fund 1MDB. He was the Malaysian Prime Minister from 2009 to 2018. His father, Tun Razak, had previously served in the same role from 1970 to 1976.

Answer: Barbados

Mia Mottley (born 1965) led her Barbados Labour party to a clean sweep of 30-0 victory over the Democratic Labour Party led by Freundel Stuart, to become the 8th Prime Minister of Barbados. Mottley first entered politics in 1991. Among her strong supporter was Barbados's famous singer, Rihanna, who was appointed as a special ambassador for the country in 2018.

Answer: Someone else

Miguel Diaz-Canel (born 1960) was "elected" as the new Cuban President by a vote of 603-1 to replace Raul Castro. Raul retained his post as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and still remained the most powerful political figure in Cuba, although he stated his intention to step down from the post in 2021 and hand the ultimate power to Diaz-Canel.

Answer: Three

Putin (born 1952) won 76% of the votes to begin his fourth term as the Russian President. He had been in this post since 2012, and previously served from 2000 to 2018. Although the Russian Constitution prevented anyone from serving for more than two consecutive terms, in between his second and third terms Putin served as Prime Minister, while his close associate, Dimitry Medvedev, formally acted as President.

Answer: Vladimir Putin

Rex Tillerson claimed that Putin was more prepared than Trump during a 2017 summit at Hamburg, Germany. Trump disputed his comments and mocked him as "ill prepared" and "dumb as a rock".

Tillerson (born 1952) served as the 69th American Secretary of State from 1 February 2017 to 31 March 2018. He was previously the CEO of ExxonMobil from 2006 to 2017. He was replaced by Mike Pompeo (born 1963). Pompeo, ex-CIA Director became the 70th US Secretary of State.

Answer: South Sudan

President Salva Kir and former Vice President Riek Machar of South Sudan agreed to a peace treaty after the main opposition signed a final peace deal in Khartoum in August 2018.

In late 2013, the civil war was sparked by fighting between Dinka and Nuer soldiers which formed about 70% of the population. Although a peace treaty was signed in August 2015 to form a transitional government, fighting broke up again in July 2016.

President Salva Kir, a Dinka, accused Riek Machar of trying to oust him from power. Machar's troops had seized Bentiu, the capital of oil-rich Unity state. There were fears of ethnic cleansing between both races similar to the crisis in Rwanda. The civil war destroyed many oil field facilities, affecting oil production which contributed more than 90% of the country economy.

Answer: Cyril Ramaphosa

Ramaphosa (born 1952 in Soweto) became the fifth South African President after Jacob Zuma was voted out by the ruling party, African National Congress. Zuma (born 1942) was the 4th South African President since 2009. His second term was plagued by numerous corruption and sex scandals, as well as stagnant economic growth.

Answer: Slow progress in Britain leaving the EU

Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, (born 1964 in New York) was the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Theresa May's administration from 2016 to 2018. After Brexit Secretary David Davis resigned on 8 July 2018, stating that May was "giving too much away, too easily", Johnson followed by resigning from his post in the same month.

He had been a leading spokesman for the pro-Brexit campaign in the run-up to the 2016 EU Referendum, and (like Davis) disagreed with Theresa May's negotiating posture.