World Boston What in the World? Weekly Quiz – January 24-30, 2022

American and British diplomats and embassy staff dependents are being withdrawn from THIS capital amid heightened tensions of a Russian invasion.

A second volley of ballistic missiles were reportedly intercepted by United Arab Emirates air defense forces. It followed last week’s deadly missile and drone strikes by THIS Yemeni group battling a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE.

Two U.S. Navy aircraft carrier groups are in THIS strategic waterway where China and a handful of nations dispute claims to islands and territorial seas. China has militarized many of the islands and routinely warns America about sailing in its claimed waters.

The British Prime Minister is under fire for the “Partygate” scandal that led him to apologize in the House of Commons. The staff party, during Covid-lockdown times, that he attended may unseat him as Prime Minister and leader of THIS British political party.

Burkina Faso’s President, Roch Kabore, was arrested by mutinous troops in the latest military coup in West and Central Africa. All of these countries EXCEPT THIS ONE experienced overthrow of government in what is being called the “coup belt.”

The political party led by Sunni Muslim Saad al-Hariri may skip an election set for May and the absence of his movement from the vote will cause more chaos in Lebanon amid its economic collapse. THIS Iranian-backed Shiite opposition party won a majority in the 2018 vote and it adversaries hoped the May vote would reverse that win.

There’s one more concern for Olympic organizers after authorities warned efforts to keep the air clean were “unfavourable.” The current level of hazardous airborne particles in THIS Olympic city was 205 micrograms per cubic meter, with the WHO recommending a level of no more than 5.