NewsTracker Answers for week of Sep. 23, 2019

Q: Protests erupted in Egypt last week after online videos accused Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi, his wife and top army generals of stealing millions of taxpayer dollars to build a luxury hotel and a seaside palace, among other projects. Where is Egypt?

Circle the area on this map


Q: The protests scattered across the country were small, but any protests under al-Sisi’s military-led regime are extremely rare and dangerous. Dozens of people were arrested after a protest in Egypt’s capital . . .

A. Alexandria

B. Cairo

C. Memphis

D. Thebes


B. Cairo is the capital and largest city in Egypt. With more than 20 million people, Cairo’s metropolitan area is the most populous in the Middle East. Since gaining power in a 2013 military takeover, el-Sissi has silenced free speech and thousands of critics with harsh punishments and long prison sentences.


Q: Earlier this month, President Donald Trump referred to el-Sissi as “my favorite dictator” and said “he’s done a fantastic job in Egypt. Not easy.” Egypt ranks fifth among nations receiving U.S. foreign aid. Which nation received the most U.S. aid in 2017?

A. Afghanistan

B. Iraq

C. Israel

D. Jordan


A. War-ravaged Afghanistan received $5.7 billion in economic and military assistance from the United States. It was followed in order by Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Egypt, which received nearly $1.5 billion in U.S. aid. Most of that - $1.3 billion – was aid to Egypt’s military.


Q: A former contractor who got rich for the working military posted the videos that triggered last week’s protests in a nation where a third of its people live in poverty. With nearly 100 million people, Egypt is Africa’s . . .

A. Most populous nation

B. Second most populous

C. Third most populous

D. Fourth most populous


C. With more than 200 million people, Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa. It is followed by Ethiopia with about 108 million and then Egypt. While poverty is widespread in Egypt, the nation is better off than much of Africa which has many of the poorest countries in the world.


Q: The protest in Cairo took place in Tahrir Square where protests in 2011 helped drive out former president Hosni Murbarak after 30 years in office. The protests were part of the “Arab Spring” protests that began in what north African nation?

A. Bahrain

B. Jordan

C. Syria

D. Tunisia


D. In December 2010, a 26-year-old Tunisian vegetable seller set himself on fire after being harassed by police. That set off a an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance that drove out the nation’s autocratic president after 23 years in power. Demonstrations spread across the Arab world including Bahrain, Jordan and Syria which are all in southwest Asia.