US federal disaster agency FEMA was forced to temporarily halt Hurricane Helene relief work in North Carolina this week due to threats against its personnel, as the agency becomes a target for right-wing attacks. In the UK, Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s forthcoming Budget is increasingly looking like a “make or break” moment for the beleaguered new Labour government. And fans worldwide mourned the loss of former One Direction member Liam Payne, who died on Wednesday aged 31 after a fall from a balcony at his hotel in Argentina.
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And now, find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest news and other global events by putting your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week.
1. Canada expelled which country’s ambassador as part of an escalating diplomatic feud between the two nations?
IndiaEgyptTurkeyChina
2. What was found in a Viking-era site discovered by archaeologists in Denmark?
Gold ingotsSkeletonsA longboatRunestones
3. England’s new men’s football coach, German Thomas Tuchel, said he plans to learn what before taking up the role in January?
EnglishThe national anthemHow to make teaFootball chants
4. Nasa’s Europa Clipper spacecraft has launched, headed towards which planet?
JupiterSaturnMarsPluto
5. Which controversial fashion event returned to the catwalk after a five-year hiatus – to decidedly mixed reviews?
Fashion Week RussiaVictoria’s Secret Fashion ShowYeezy Season 4Christian Fashion Week
6. What did the Biden administration warn Israel it must do to continue receiving US military aid?
Scale back military operationsIncrease humanitarian aidNegotiate a ceasefireRelease Palestinian prisoners
7. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has announced a ban on what, putting media freedom in peril?
Interviewing womenTaking photos of peopleWriting for non-religious publicationsHaving a social media account
8. Why did a Georgia judge block a new rule requiring three workers to hand-count every ballot cast on US election day?
It was too expensiveIt was too lateIt favoured one partyIt violated voter privacy
9. A new bill under consideration by the UK Parliament opens the door to legalising what?
Recreational cannabisCarrying pepper sprayWatching TV without a licenceAssisted dying
10. Briton Adriana Brownlee has become the youngest woman to climb the world’s 14 highest mountain peaks, at what age?
19232831
(Image credit: The Week)
1. India
Ottawa announced that it was expelling six Indian diplomats after discovering evidence linking the fatal shooting of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia last year to Indian intelligence services. India, which denies the allegations, responded by asking Canada’s acting ambassador and five other officials to leave the country.
2. Skeletons
Fifty skeletons were discovered in a burial ground near the village of Åsum, believed to date back to the Viking era. The remains may help scientists unravel some of the mysteries surrounding Viking DNA.
3. The national anthem
Tuchel, whose appointment has caused consternation among some commentators, said he would “absolutely start learning” the words to “God Save the King”. However, he stopped short of promising to sing it at matches, saying he would “take a little bit of time for this decision”.
4. Jupiter
Nasa’s largest extraplanetary spacecraft launched from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Monday. It will travel 1.8 billion miles over more than five years to reach Jupiter, where it will study an ocean believed to lie 10 to 15 miles beneath the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa.
5. Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
The runway show was back at the brand’s flagship store in New York on Tuesday, after it was pulled in 2019 following toxic workplace allegations during the #MeToo era. But the much-vaunted revamp was a “far cry from the event’s heyday”, said the Daily Mail.
6. Increase humanitarian aid
The Biden administration warned Israel that US military aid could be at risk unless Israel permits at least 350 aid trucks a day into Gaza, ensuring increased deliveries of food, medicine and humanitarian aid within 30 days. An Israeli official confirmed the ultimatum is “being thoroughly reviewed”.
7. Taking photos of people
State media outlets in the provinces of Kandahar, Takhar and Maidan Wardak have been “advised” not to show photos or videos of “anything with a soul”, due to the Taliban’s severe interpretation of sharia law. A Taliban spokesperson said the advice to journalists was currently only “guidance”.
8. It was too late
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said the rule, passed on 20 September, was “too much, too late“. With early voting already under way in Georgia, there wasn’t enough time to guide, train or hire the necessary workers for every precinct.
9. Assisted dying
MPs will get a vote on Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private members’ bill to permit assisted dying for terminally ill people in England and Wales at a second reading next month. When the subject was last considered in 2015, members voted 330 to 118 against legalising assisted dying, but recent polls show the public is overwhelmingly in favour.
10. 23
Adriana Brownlee became the youngest woman to climb 14 of the world’s highest mountain peaks after reaching the 8,027-metre summit of Shishapangma in Tibet. She is the second person from Britain to have achieved this feat.