NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 06, 2018

Q: Thieves stole priceless royal artifacts in a daring raid on a Swedish cathedral before escaping by speedboat, police said. Where is Sweden?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Two crowns and orb made for the 17th century funerals of a Swedish king and his wife were stolen last week from the Strängnäs Cathedral near the nation’s capital . . .

A. Copenhagen

B. Helsinki

C. Oslo

D. Stockholm


D. Stockholm is Sweden’s capital, and with 952,058 people it is the largest city in the Nordic Countries. Copenhagen, Helsinki and Oslo are the capitals of Sweden’s neighbors Denmark, Finland and Norway.


Q: Which country is NOT a constitutional monarchy like Sweden?

A. Denmark

B. Finland

C. Norway

D. All of the above


B. Democratically elected parliaments hold political power and run the governments of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. But, monarchs serve as largely ceremonial heads of state in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In Finland, an elected president serves as head of state while a prime minister elected by the parliament is the head of the government.


Q: Police said several thieves were involved in the jewel heist. They fled in an open-topped motorboat across Lake Malar from the base of the church. The lake drains into what sea east of Sweden?

A. Baltic

B. Barents

C. Beaufort

D. Bering


A. Sweden shares the Baltic Sea with the nations of Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, and Germany. The Baltic is a marginal sea of the northern Atlantic Ocean, while the Barents and Beaufort seas are part of the Arctic Ocean and the Bering sea is part of the northern Pacific Ocean.


Q: Swedish police logged the theft with Interpol, an international organization for police cooperation that Sweden helped form in 1923. Sweden is NOT a member of which international body?

A. Council of Europe

B. European Union

C. North Atlantic Treaty Organization

D. United Nations


C. Sweden has not fought a war in more than 200 years and maintained its neutrality through several European wars, including two World Wars. Sweden has close ties to the U.S. but has not joined NATO. Sweden now is buying U.S. missiles amid growing anxiety over Russia’s actions in Ukraine and Crimea.