This week started with a war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV. Have you looked beyond the baffling AI-generated images that Trump posted during the spat to keep up with the rest of the world’s headlines? Find out with our international news quiz!

Have feedback? Email [email protected] to let me know your thoughts.

This week started with a war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV. Have you looked beyond the baffling AI-generated images that Trump posted during the spat to keep up with the rest of the world’s headlines? Find out with our international news quiz!

1. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party lost the country’s parliamentary elections on Sunday for the first time since 2010. Orban was also elected prime minister once before his 16-year rule. When was that?

Fidesz suffered a crushing, historic defeat despite rigging the electoral playing field to its advantage—offering lessons to Republicans and Democrats in the United States as midterm elections approach, Thomas Carothers writes.

2. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. Navy would immediately begin a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. However, the military quickly contradicted Trump, saying the blockade would only apply to what?

Vessels carrying cargo besides oil and gas

Russian and Chinese vessels transiting the strait

All non-Gulf Arab vessels attempting to transit the strait

Vessels entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas

Trump’s announcement came as Pakistan-brokered negotiations to end the U.S.-Iran war failed to produce any result. Part of the reason for that failure is that Trump often relies on friends and relatives to conduct talks over seasoned diplomats, FP’s Emma Ashford writes.

3. Indonesia and the United States on Monday announced a new defense cooperation agreement that focuses on military modernization, training, and exercises. Alongside the agreement, the two countries are also discussing a controversial arrangement that would do what?

Give the U.S. military unfettered access to Indonesian airspace

Establish a U.S. military base in Indonesia

Use Indonesian intelligence for U.S. Indo-Pacific operations

Host U.S. naval assets at Indonesian ports

The same day, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto signed an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to increase economic and energy cooperation, FP’s Joseph Rachman reports in Southeast Asia Brief.

4. Leo landed in Algeria on Monday on the first stop of his 11-day tour of Africa. Why did he choose to visit the Muslim-majority country?

Twenty percent of its population is Catholic.

Pope Leo XIII also visited the country.

It was the birthplace of St. Augustine.

St. Peter cited it as a holy place for Christendom.

Leo is the first Augustinian pope, an order of Catholicism that focuses on building and serving communities. That affiliation is more indicative of how he will reign than his U.S. citizenship, Mark Lawrence Schrad argued in May 2025.

5. In further diplomatic news, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday agreed to strengthen bilateral collaboration with which nation’s leader? (Hint: This country has vocally criticized Trump’s war in Iran.)

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez

Beijing has so far tempered its response to the war in an effort to present itself as a more stable global power than the United States, FP’s James Palmer writes in China Brief.

6. Wednesday marked the anniversary of the civil war in Sudan, which has now entered its fourth year. The conflict has been waged between the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary RSF. What does “RSF” stand for?

Revolutionary Socialist Force

Renegade Support Faction

The war continues with seemingly no end in sight, facilitated in part by regional players who have invested resources in the warring parties, Cameron Hudson and Liam Karr wrote in January.

7. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele signed legal reform into law on Wednesday that allows for what length of prison sentence for minors as young as 12?

While Bukele has made El Salvador one of Latin America’s safest countries, his harsh methods are unlikely to be replicated in other countries, Oliver Stuenkel argued in June 2025.

8. The executive director of the International Energy Agency on Thursday warned that Europe only has about a six-week supply left of which crucial refined petroleum product?

The jet fuel crisis foreshadows the much more painful impact of a diesel shortage, which fuels trucks and tractors and could lead to a further spike in food prices, FP’s Keith Johnson reported earlier this month.

9. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday did jumping jacks and went for a brief jog in front of reporters to dispel rumors of his ill health. What recently happened to the 68-year-old leader to prompt such a public display of physical fitness?

He fell down the stairs to the press conference.

He was hospitalized in January.

He has vanished from public life for a week each of the last six months.

He was filmed with an aggressive, hacking cough.

Marcos said he did the impromptu workout to ease anxiety about his health at a time when people are already grappling with numerous other problems due to the war in the Middle East, The Associated Press reports.

10. Paris resident Ari Hodara won a painting by Pablo Picasso on Tuesday at a charity event that raised funds for research into what disease?

Hodara purchased a raffle ticket for the painting for 100 euros. The piece, “Head of a Woman,” is worth more than $1 million, The Associated Press reports.

It’s a big world out there! Brush up on global goings-on by subscribing to World Brief, Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter.

Great job! Now, dig deeper by subscribing to Foreign Policy’s one-stop regional newsletters: Africa Brief, China Brief, Latin America Brief, South Asia Brief, and Southeast Asia Brief.

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.

© Foreign Policy