Quiz of The Week: 6 - 12 January

The media on both sides of the Atlantic has been struggling to explain complex legal cases that have very human implications. 

Rishi Sunak this week announced emergency legislation to exonerate Post Office workers affected by what has been dubbed the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history. More than 700 sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted of fraud between 1999 and 2015, based on information from the faulty Horizon accounting system.

With critics now questioning how the Post Office got its prosecution powers, the row presents further challenges for the prime minister as he gears up for the UK's next general election.

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As the US also prepares to go to the polls, attorneys argued this week that Donald Trump should be granted near-absolute presidential immunity from criminal charges for his efforts to overturn his 2020 electoral loss. The likely 2024 presidential candidate has spoken out too against the $250 million fraud case against him. As that trial, in New York, closed on Thursday, Trump told the judge that the case is "a fraud on me".

Claims of plots and back-stabbing also abound on the BBC's hit game show "The Traitors", which has returned for a second season. But with viewers now "wise to the game" of "wink murder", the show faces "an uphill battle" to replicate the success of its debut, said the i news site's Emily Baker. Not unlike politicians up for re-election.

To find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week.

1. A plane door panel blew out mid-air last week on a flight operated by which airline? 

• United Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• Alaska Airlines 
• Delta Air Lines

 2. North Korea's Kim Jong Un is believed to have celebrated which big birthday this week?

• 30
• 40
• 50
• 60

 3. Which film won five awards at the 2024 Golden Globes?

• "Barbie" 
• "Oppenheimer" 
• "Poor Things"
• "Killers of the Flower Moon"
   

4. Who did Emmanuel Macron appoint as France's next prime minister?

• Gabriel Attal 
• Élisabeth Borne
• Julien Denormandie
• Bruno Le Maire

5. A nine-month world cruise operated by which company has been dubbed TikTok's favourite new "reality show"?

• Virgin Voyages
• Princess Cruises
• Fred Olsen
• Royal Caribbean
  
  

6. What is the title of Joe Biden's first re-election campaign ad of 2024?

• "Purpose" 
• "Cause"
• "Dreams"
• "United" 

7. South Korea passed a law this week banning the sale of what?

• Vitamin supplements
• Dog meat
• Chewing gum
• Radios

8. British scientists are launching an attempt to "refreeze" sea ice in which region?

• Greenland
• Iceland
• Antarctica
• Arctic

9. Which new security feature is to be trialled at Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport? 

• Robot agents
• Drone cameras
• Self-screening
• AI bag scanners

10. A Calvin Klein ad featuring which singer was banned for presenting her as "a stereotypical sexual object"?

• FKA Twigs
• Jorja Smith
• Rita Ora
• Janelle Monáe

1. Alaska Airlines
Flight 1282 made an emergency landing in Oregon after an outer section of the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane fell off shortly after take-off from Portland International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded 171 Boeing planes in order to carry out inspections, which revealed loose door plug bolts on at least five United Max 9s.

2. 40
Kim Jong Un is believed to have been born on 8 January 1984, although North Korea has never confirmed the exact date. He has been supreme leader of the hermit state since the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in 2011.

3. "Oppenheimer"
Christopher Nolan bagged the Best Director award with his hit movie, which also won Best Motion Picture, Best Drama Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr, and Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson's soundtrack. "Barbie", the highest-grossing global release of last year, won the first-ever Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement, plus Best Original Song for "What Was I Made For?" by Billie Eilish.

4. Gabriel Attal
The 34-year-old, who replaces Élisabeth Borne, is the youngest-ever and first openly gay prime minister in French history. Pundits have suggested that Macron chose Attal, previously education minister, in a bid to rejuvenate his flagging presidency.

5. Royal Caribbean
Since the operator's Ultimate World Cruise set sail from Miami on 10 December, TikTok has been flooded with posts tracking activity and potential dramas on the cruise ship, called Serenade of the Seas. The hashtag #ultimateworldcruise has now had hundreds of millions of views on the social media platform.

6. "Cause" 
Published on the US president's YouTube channel, the minute-long campaign video features images from the January 6 Capitol riot and is narrated by Biden, who warns that Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump has tried to "erode American democracy and excuse – and even promote – political violence". The attack ad has run on national TV and in local markets in swing states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as online.

7. Dog meat
South Korea has passed a bill, with near unanimous support in parliament, that bans the breeding and slaughter of dogs for human consumption. The legislation ends a centuries-old tradition that has become hugely controversial both domestically and around the world.

8. Arctic
A team from the University of Cambridge is joining an international team in the Canadian High Arctic this week to test whether pumping seawater on top of the ice to make it thicker and longer-lasting. Find out more with The Week Unwrapped podcast. 

9. Self-screening
Similar to supermarket self-checkouts, the new system allows travellers to "use passenger and carry-on screening systems at individual consoles or screening lanes themselves, reducing the number of pat-downs and bag inspections", said Dr John Fortune of America's national "Screening at Speed Program", which aims to make security screening faster and more efficient. Select passengers will trial the system at the Las Vegas airport from this month.

10. FKA Twigs
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the advertising campaign after receiving two complaints that the images objectified women. The singer responded that the ruling revealed "double standards", coming in the wake of another Calvin Klein campaign starring a scantily clad Jeremy Allen White.