NewsTracker Answers for week of May 16, 2011

Q: A video showing a bus driver using two cell phones while steering through the streets of Rome with his elbows has sparked calls for his firing. Where is Rome?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Which river runs through Rome?

A. Seine

B. Spree

C. Thames

D. Tiber

D. The Tiber runs through Rome, while London is on the Thames. The Spree runs through the center of Berlin, and Paris sits on the Seine.

Q: Rome is Italy's capital and largest city with about 2.7 million people. What is the largest city in Europe?

A. Rome

B. Berlin

C. London

D. Paris

C. With 7.5 million people, London is the largest city in Europe. Rome was the world's largest city two thousand years ago with a population of 1 million. That fell to less than 50,000 after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Q: What is the Vatican in Rome?

A. District

B. City-state

C. Cathedral

D. Piazza

B. Vatican City is the world's smallest state, covering only a few acres and having a permanent population of about 800. It is ruled by the Bishop of Rome - the Pope.

Q: The beatification of the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican earlier this month attracted more than a million people and overflowed . . .

A. Saint Peter's Square

B. Saint Paul's Square

C. The Catacombs

D. The Pantheon

A. Saint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica where the ceremony took place. Beatification is the final step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.