What in the World?

Test yourself on the week of Sept. 12: Modi and Xi meet, the Houthis fire on Saudi Arabia, and EU leaders gather in Finland. Dangote stands surrounded by a crowd of people with a mallet in his hand. Aliko Dangote, the president and CEO of the Dangote Group, hits the gong during his company’s initial public offering at the Nigerian Exchange Group in Lagos on Sept. 14. Temiloluwa Johnson/AFP via Getty Images Politics September 18, 2026, 2:54 PM Is that chill in the air the first sign of fall in the Northern Hemisphere, or the realization that you haven’t paid attention to what’s happening in the world this week? Find out with our international news quiz! Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts. Is that chill in the air the first sign of fall in the Northern Hemisphere, or the realization that you haven’t paid attention to what’s happening in the world this week? Find out with our international news quiz! 1. The Indian Foreign Ministry stated on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had pledged to strengthen ties in what areas? Xi’s trip to the BRICS summit in New Delhi was brief but signaled the culmination of a thaw in China-India relations, FP’s Michael Kugelman writes in South Asia Brief. 2. What did Yemen’s Houthi rebels target with dozens of missiles and drones in the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait on Monday? The Trump administration has recently begun blaming Ukraine for high oil prices. The real culprit for the latest spike, however, is the Iranian-backed Houthis’ attacks in the Red Sea, FP’s Keith Johnson wrote last week. 3. European leaders met in Finland on Monday to call for greater European Union engagement in which region? The EU is seeking to address rising security concerns from Russia, as European leaders worry that Moscow may launch an attack from the Arctic in the coming years, FP columnist Christian Caryl wrote last month. 4. Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote, launched the continent’s biggest-ever initial public offering on Monday, floating 4.1 billion shares for his business in what field? Dangote Industries said it would use the money raised from investors to double production capacity and build another refinery in Kenya, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi writes in Africa Brief. 5. Thailand and Cambodia’s foreign ministers delivered their opening statements on Tuesday as part of the countries’ meeting to settle a border dispute concerning what in particular? Nationalist fervor has taken hold in both countries in the wake of border clashes that reignited in May 2025. What comes next is hard to predict, Andrew Nachemson wrote last September. 6. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested on Wednesday that the EU could make which country an “associate member” of the bloc? Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been pitching the idea for months—especially as the United States under the Trump administration has become the biggest threat to Canada’s peace and prosperity, Casey Michel argued in February. 7. Ahead of next month’s election, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree on Thursday that did what? Neither Lula nor Bolsonaro is likely to solve Brazil’s core issues of anemic long-term growth and entrenched corruption, Adam Goldsmith argues. 8. Why did Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson resign on Thursday? Progressive leaders in Sweden are hailing the victory as a blow to the far right, whose influence has been growing across Europe in recent years, FP’s Alexandra Sharp writes in World Brief. 9. The United States confirmed for the first time on Monday that it had deployed weapons where? U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Washington had fielded “on-orbit space control weapons” but did not provide details on what those weapons were, The Associated Press reports. 10. A Paris court awarded Kim Kardashian 1 euro on Tuesday as compensation for being the victim of an armed robbery in 2016. Due to the robbers’ age when they were found guilty last year, what have they come to be known as? With time already served in pretrial detention, none of those found guilty went back behind bars. Kardashian has sought to move on from the case and expressed gratitude to the French justice system, The Associated Press reports. You scored It’s a big world out there! Brush up on global goings-on by subscribing to World Brief, Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter. You scored Perfection! You’re a pro who needs the in-depth insights offered in Situation Report, our newsletter on national security and defense. Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts. Politics Drew Gorman is a deputy copy editor at Foreign Policy. OTHER SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS Stories Readers Liked Go to slide 1 Go to slide 2 Go to slide 3 Go to slide 4 Go to slide 5 Go to slide 6 Go to slide 7 Go to slide 8 Go to slide 9 Go to slide 10 A statue of a seated, bearded man with a bare torso and draped cloth around his waist, holding a scroll in one hand, positioned in front of a row of large classical columns. An illustration of Donald Trump in a blue suit and long red tie gesturing with open hands in front of a grid patterned background with jagged red, blue, and black line graphs diving downward. Five people sit in folding chairs pushed up against a wall, all of them on their phones and several looking board. Text on the wall behind them says "AI for Real" with images of robotic arms and household appliances printed around it. An illustration depicting a man submerged up to his nose in water. The wavy water is divided horizontally into three color bands that mimic a flag: white foam at the very top peaks, a deep blue middle section filled with bubbles, and a red lower section covering his neck and suit jacket. His blue eyes look upward with a wide, strained expression. As the Tide Turns Against Putin, Beware the Drowning Man By Peter Frankopan Negotiators from the United States, Canada, and five European countries converse after finishing the draft of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington on March 18, 1949. Trans-Atlanticism Isn’t Dead—It’s Being Renegotiated By Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer A woman crosses a road in front of a mural depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kashira, Russia, southeast of Moscow, on Oct. 16, 2017. The Western Myth of Russian Greatness By Christian Caryl An illustration of a vintage-style map featuring North America and parts of Europe and Africa. Overlaid on the map are 3D red brick walls shaped exactly like the borders of the contiguous United States and Alaska, casting long shadows to the right. America, the Once Global Nation By Odd Arne Westad A creative illustration against a pale yellow background showing a garden planter containing a dense green hedge. Five human arms emerge from the hedge, with four of the hands holding small flags of China, Russia, the United States, and the European Union, while the fifth hand holds the flag of India. An illustration showing a pair of hands tightly wringing out an American flag. Water droplets shaped like missiles squeeze out of the twisted fabric and fall toward a puddle shaped like the map of Iran on a red background. An aerial photo shows Doha in the booming petrostate of Qatar.