NewsTracker Answers for week of Mar. 12, 2018

Q: In the largest Slovak demonstrations since the fall of Communism, tens of thousands of people marched last week to protest the murders of an investigative reporter and his fiance. Where is the small Central European nation of Slovakia? (It’s south of Poland, west of Ukraine, north of Hungary and east of Austria and the Czech Republic.)

Circle the area on this map

Q: Investigative reporter Jan Kuciak was probing alleged links between the Italian mafia and figures close to Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico when he was killed at home last month with his fiance. The biggest protest was in Slovakia’s capital . . .

A. Belgrade

B. Berlin

C. Bratislava

D. Brussels

C. With a population of about 450,000 people, Bratislava is one of the smaller capitals of Europe but still is Slovakia’s largest city. The nation has a population of 5.4 million.

Q: The killings of Kuciak and his fiance Martina Kusnirova came less than six months after a car bombing killed another journalist investigating government corruption in the Mediterranean island nation of . . .

A. Corsica

B. Malta

C. Rhodes

D. Sicily

B. Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating Malta’s links to offshore tax havens when the car she was driving exploded. Malta is an independent nation. Corsica is part of France; Rhodes is part of Greece; and Sicily is part of Italy.

Q: Slovakia is a member of . . .

A. European Union

B. Eurozone

C. NATO

D. All of the above

D. The slain journalist linked a Mafia figure and government officials to an alleged scheme to embezzle European Union funds meant to bolster agriculture in Slovakia. The nation uses the euro as its currency and is part of the NATO military alliance.

Q: Slovak media called last week’s demonstration the biggest since 1989 when peaceful Velvet Revolution protests led to the collapse of the Communist government of . . .

A. Czechoslovakia

B. Moravia

C. Transylvania

D. Yugoslavia

A. After the end of Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime, Czech and Slovak leaders negotiated a peaceful split in the what was called the Velvet Divorce that created the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Slovakia has remained a close partner with the Czech Republic.