Iceland Vote and China’s Pacific Threats: Foreign Policy’s Weekly International News Quiz
1. Voters in Iceland on Sunday rejected a government proposal to reopen talks to do what?
Create an official standing army
Join the European Union
Absorb Greenland as a new province
Expand U.S. military access to the country
The move was prompted by concerns over Iceland’s lack of a military and its reliance on the U.S. security umbrella, Gloria Dickie wrote last week.
2. U.S. President Donald Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated video on Sunday depicting U.S. military forces doing what?
Lifting weights as part of “Make America Healthy Again” promo content
Parachuting into Venezuela to protect oil fields
Dancing to the Village People’s “YMCA”
Attacking Iran’s Kharg Island
Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran has almost certainly irreparably damaged his foreign-policy toolkit and led to the premature peak of his global influence, FP’s Ravi Agrawal writes in an exclusive prerelease from our latest magazine.
3. Why did China’s Pacific islands envoy on Monday threaten “consequences” for participating members of the Pacific Island Forum, which held a meeting this week?
They required that attendees wear Hawaiian shirts.
They criticized China’s actions in the South China Sea.
They allowed Taiwan’s foreign minister to attend.
They issued a joint declaration in support of AI regulation.
Australia and other members of the forum pushed back against China’s attempt to influence the meeting, FP’s James Palmer reports in China Brief.
4. Why did the United Nations’ food agency say on Tuesday that it is halving food assistance to Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank starting this month?
Due to severe funding shortages
In protest of Israeli settlers’ violence against Palestinians
Under pressure from the Israeli government
To increase food assistance to Gaza
Preventing the next large-scale conflagration in the West Bank—not Gaza— should be Trump’s priority, Azriel Bermant argued last month.
5. Provisional results on Tuesday showed that voters had approved a referendum on a new constitution in Guinea-Bissau. The new charter would expand presidential authority. Which of the below is not one of the powers it would grant to the president?
Appoint and dismiss the prime minister and cabinet
Create and abolish ministries
Unilaterally determine the military’s annual budget
Dissolve parliament in a political crisis
Coup leaders across Africa have changed strategies to retain power, sometimes extending transitional government windows, delaying elections, or using elections to legitimize their continued grip on power, Salah Ben Hammou and Sydney Dobbins wrote in July 2025.
7. Argentine President Javier Milei said on Thursday that he would assert the country’s claims on the Falkland Islands, currently a British overseas territory, by doing what?
Deploying Argentine military units
Sanctioning oil companies drilling there
Funding Spanish-language schools and cultural centers
Blockading the islands
Claims to the islands are a rare point of national consensus in Argentina, while younger British voters care less and less about them, Antonio De Loera-Brust wrote in July.
9. Soccer superstar Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international soccer on Monday. Across 21 years as a member of the Argentina national team, Messi scored 125 goals, placing him second in all-time goals scored by men at the international level. Who is in first place?
Iran’s Ali Daei
Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo
England’s Harry Kane
Messi wrote his retirement letter shortly after the World Cup, but decided to make it official following the death of his father, Jorge, on Aug. 8, ESPN reports.
10. French President Emmanuel Macron joined King Charles III, Queen Camilla, and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham at the British Museum in London on Wednesday to view a nearly 1,000-year-old embroidery depicting what event?
The Norman conquest of England
Romans’ Battle of the River Medway in England
The Battle of Thermopylae
The coronation of Charlemagne
The Bayeux Tapestry’s loan to the British Museum marks its first time on English soil since its creation, Reuters reports.
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