International Affairs Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The country is the Maldives.

The Maldives left the Commonwealth in 2016 amid criticism of its record on democracy and human rights. After a change of government it applied to return and was readmitted on 1 February 2020, becoming the 54th member.

Bhutan and Afghanistan are not Commonwealth members, and Nepal has never been a member.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of countries, most of them former British territories, headed symbolically by the British monarch; members must accept the values set out in its charter.

Answer: B

The country is Australia.

In November 2024 Australia's Parliament passed a world-first law setting a minimum age of 16 for social media accounts, requiring platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X to take reasonable steps to keep younger children off, with heavy fines for failure.

Switzerland, France and New Zealand had debated limits on children's use of social media, but none enacted this ban first.

Answer: A

The country is Nigeria.

Brazil, holding the BRICS chair, announced in January 2025 that Nigeria had become a BRICS partner country, joining the partner category created at the Kazan summit in 2024.

Iran became a full member in 2024, so it is not a partner state. Saudi Arabia was invited to become a member, and Argentina declined its invitation to join in 2023, so neither became a partner in 2025.

Answer: D

The key's answer is Peaceful resolution of disputes.

Resolution 2788 was adopted by the Security Council in July 2025, during Pakistan's presidency of the Council. It calls on member states to settle disputes by peaceful means and to make fuller use of the mechanisms the UN Charter provides for that purpose, such as negotiation, mediation and judicial settlement.

It is not a resolution on women's safety, cyber crime or terrorism.

Answer: A

The tsunami struck coastal towns in Indonesia.

On the night of 22 December 2018 a flank of the volcano Anak Krakatau collapsed into the sea in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. The waves it raised hit the coasts on both sides without warning and killed more than 400 people.

Because it came from a landslide rather than an earthquake, the tsunami was local to the Sunda Strait; Malaysia, the Maldives and Thailand were not affected. (The paper's 'stuck' means struck.)

Answer: B

India ranked 141 in the Global Peace Index 2019.

The Global Peace Index, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace in Sydney, ranked 163 countries in 2019. India was placed 141st. Iceland was ranked the most peaceful country.

125, 112 and 87 are not India's 2019 rank.

The index ranks countries on three broad areas: the level of safety and security in society, the extent of ongoing conflict, and the degree of militarisation.

Answer: C

The 3rd edition of the Namaste Thailand Festival 2019 was held in New Delhi.

The Namaste Thailand Festival is organised by the Royal Thai Embassy in India to showcase Thai culture, food, handicrafts and tourism and to strengthen ties between the two countries. Its 2019 edition, the third, was held in the capital.

Bengaluru, Agra and Vadodara were not the venue of the 2019 festival.

Answer: C

The Global Peace Index is released by the Institute for Economics and Peace.

The IEP, an independent think tank based in Sydney, has published the Global Peace Index every year since 2007. It ranks more than 160 countries on indicators grouped under societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and militarisation.

The International Peace Institute is a separate think tank in New York, the UN Security Council does not publish rankings of this kind, and the last option is not an organisation that issues any index.

Answer: D

The country that is not a G4 member is South Africa.

The G4 is a group of four countries that support each other's bids for permanent seats on the UN Security Council: Brazil, Germany, India and Japan.

India, Japan and Brazil are all members, so they are wrong answers. South Africa is often grouped with India and Brazil in IBSA and BRICS, which is why it makes a tempting distractor, but it is not part of the G4.

Answer: D

The country is Venezuela.

In 2018, during its hyperinflation crisis, Venezuela launched the petro, a state cryptocurrency said to be backed by its oil reserves, and redenominated its currency as the bolivar soberano, pegging it to the petro. The petro was thus used as a reference for the exchange rate.

China and Japan have their own central-bank currencies with no crypto peg, and Iceland is known for heavy bitcoin mining, not for a crypto-linked exchange rate.