Quiz of The Week: 19 - 25 October

This week's headlines highlight rising tensions in the US election as Kamala Harris accuses Donald Trump of being a fascist, while in the UK, Keir Starmer faces increasing pressure over paying £200 billion in slavery reparations. Elsewhere, a suspected terrorist attack targets an aerospace firm in Turkey.

To get all the news that matters delivered to your inbox every day, sign up for our new daily digital editions: US readers can find out more here, and here if you're a reader in the UK.

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.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

1. What antiquated disease is seeing a resurgence in the developed world, according to reports from Australia?

• Polio
• Rickets
• Scurvy
• Scarlet fever

2. The Labour government is to ban what in England and Wales from June 2025?

• E-scooters
• Gambling adverts
• Disposable vapes
• Alcohol multibuy discounts

3. Vladimir Putin welcomed world leaders to a Brics group summit in which Russian city?

• Rostov-on-Don
• Murmansk
• Kazan
• Nizhny Novgorod

4. The former CEO of which clothing retailer was arrested over sex-trafficking allegations?

• Topshop
• Hollister
• Abercrombie & Fitch
• Calvin Klein

5. A plan spearheaded by the UK and Chile is calling for what to be given an elevated conservation status?

• Fungi
• Trees
• Bees
• Moss

6. Members of which group are suing Donald Trump for defamation?

• Central Park Five
• The Birmingham Six
• The West Memphis Three
• The Chicago Seven

7. The London Film Festival cancelled a screening of a documentary on what subject, citing safety fears?

• Animal welfare
• Scientology
• Far-right extremism
• Sex offenders

8. Which Caribbean nation spent much of the week without power after the collapse of its electrical grid?

• The Bahamas
• Cuba
• Antigua
• Puerto Rico

9. What profession took to the streets of Athens in a 24-hour walkout calling for better pay and conditions?

• Teachers
• Doctors
• Civil servants
• Bus drivers

10. An amateur historian discovered a previously unknown short story by which author?

• Mary Shelley
• Jules Verne
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Bram Stoker

1. Scurvy

Doctors from the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth, Australia said scurvy is a "re-emerging diagnosis" after it was found in a patient who "hardly ate any fruit and vegetables" and "survived mainly on processed foods", according to The Times. Cost-of-living pressures and access to fresh food have been suggested as fuelling a rise in vitamin-deficient diets.

2. Disposable vapes

Keir Starmer's government is to take up its predecessor's proposal to ban single-use vapes. They are a growing source of plastic waste and the bright colours of disposable vapes are reportedly appealing to children, one in five of whom have vaped before the age of 16.

3. Kazan

Putin's role as host of the summit was a far cry from the last Brics meeting in South Africa, which he had to attend via video link due to the international arrest warrant against him. Dozens of countries are apparently keen to join the emerging power bloc.

4. Abercrombie & Fitch

The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries, was arrested after a grand jury indicted him and two associates for allegedly running a sex trafficking ring from 2008 to 2015. Prosecutors accused Jeffries, 80, of using force and coercion to exploit men at sex parties.

5. Fungi

The Fungal Conservation Pledge, submitted to this week's UN conference on biodiversity in Colombia, calls for the "funga" kingdom to be granted equal status to flora and fauna in international conservation agreements.

6. Central Park Five

The Central Park Five, who were wrongfully convicted of the rape of a jogger in 1989, sued Donald Trump for making false claims about their case during his presidential debate with Kamala Harris. The group, now known as the "Exonerated Five" is seeking damages for reputational and emotional harm.

7. Far-right extremism

"Undercover: Exposing the Far Right" follows a journalist and a researcher who infiltrated Britain's right-wing extremist networks, including proponents of eugenicist "race science". Havana Marking, the director of the film, said she understood the need to prioritise staff safety but said the last-minute cancellation was "a very unfortunate outcome".

8. Cuba

Cuba's power grid collapsed, leaving much of the island in darkness as Hurricane Oscar made landfall. The country's decades-old power plants have been struggling for years, with residents saying the rolling blackouts reminded them of the "Special Period" in the early 1990s.

9. Teachers

The schoolteachers' strike has fuelled broader discontent among the Greek workforce, with other sectors also blaming the conservative government for austerity measures and restrictions on labour unions dating from a series of international bailouts between 2010 and 2018.

10. Bram Stoker

Brian Cleary came across the "Dracula" author's forgotten story in a Dublin library archive. The story, titled "Gibbet Hill", was uncovered in a Christmas supplement of the Dublin edition of the Daily Mail from 1890.