Places in the News, 2001 Quiz

In June 2001, Carlos Menem was arrested on charges of illegal arms sales during his tenure as president of what country?: The popular and flamboyant Carlos Menem was president of Argentina from 1989 to 1999, when prosecutors say he illegally organized the sale of thousands of tons of weapons to Ecuador and Croatia.

Tony Blair was reelected prime minister of what country?: Tony Blair was easily elected to a second term as prime minister of United Kingdom on June 7, 2001.

Several members of the royal family of which country were massacred in June 2001?: King Birendra of Nepal and eight members of his family were shot to death on June 1, 2001.

What country held the 24 crew members of an American military plane captive for 11 days in April 2001?: After colliding with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea, an EP-3 military aircraft landed at Hainan Island, China, where the crew was held for 11 days.

In January 2001, the president of what country announced his nation is facing a severe population shortage?: Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia's declining population is the country's number-one problem, caused by a low birth rate and high rates of AIDS, tuberculosis, and alcoholism.

During the winter and spring of 2001, what country suffered a serious outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, forcing the mass slaughter of farm animals?: United Kingdom. Between February and May 2001, more than 3 million sheep, pigs, and cattle were killed in an effort to eradicate the highly contagious disease.

A Belgian trial in June 2001 found two nuns guilty of complicity in genocide in what country?: Rwanda. Benedictine Sisters Maria Kisito Mukabutera and Gertrude Mukangango were convicted of allowing Hutu militia to take some 7,000 Tutsis who had sought refuge in their convent in southern Rwanda in 1994, and of giving the Hutu soldiers cans of gasoline to burn the Tutsis.

In June 2001, President George Bush sent CIA director George Tenet to discuss peace between whom?: Tenet was dispatched to the Middle East to talk with Israel and the Palestinians.

Fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and government troops devastated portions of what country in early 2001?: Ethnic Albanian Muslim rebels clashed with government troops in the Balkan nation of Macedonia.

Silvio Berlusconi was elected prime minister of what country in spring 2001?: Media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi was elected to a second, non-consecutive, term as prime minister of Italy.