NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 08, 2011

Q: With protests ranging from kiss-ins to huger strikes and violent clashes with police, students are demanding reforms in Chile's education system. Where is Chile?

Circle the area on this map

Q: High school and college students demanding more education spending and more equality clashed with police in the capital city of . . .

A. Asuncion

B. Buenos Aires

C. Lima

D. Santiago

D. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters from Santiago's streets, and nearly 900 people were arrested, with more than a dozen police officers and protesters injured.

Q: Chile sets aside 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for education. Which of these countries spends the biggest percentage of its income on education?

A. Argentina

B. Bolivia

C. Cuba

D. United States

C. According to the CIA World Factbook, Cuba spends 13.6 percent of its GDP on education, compared with 6.3 percent for Bolivia, 5.5 percent for the U.S. and 4.9 percent for Argentina.

Q: The student demonstrations follow large protests in June against government plans to build a $3.2 billion dam in Patagonia, known for breathtaking glaciers and lakes. Patagonia is in what part of Chile?

A. North

B. East

C. South

D. West

C. Chile extends from the Atacama desert in the north - the driest place on earth - to Patagonia at the southernmost end of the Andes mountains. Many Chileans consider Patagonia a national treasure.

Q: President Sebastian Pinñera said Chileans were rebelling against "excessive inequality." On a scale that rates nations from most unequal to the most equal distribution of wealth, Chile ranks 16th. Which of these nations is more unequal?

A. Argentina

B. Bolivia

C. Canada

D. United States

B. Bolivia ranks as the ninth worst, while the U.S. ranks 39th worst, Argentina ranks 53rd and Canada ranks 101st. At 136, Sweden has the most equal distribution of wealth, according to the CIA World Factbook.