NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 05, 2013

Q: Tunisian forces launched air and ground strikes on Islamist militants last week amid increased instability and political turmoil in the north African nation. Where is Tunisia on this map?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The operation was launched in the same area where militants killed eight soldiers earlier last week. The area is near Tunisia's border with its western neighbor . . .

A. Algeria

B. Egypt

C. Libya

D. Morocco

A. Tuisia is bordered by Algeria on the west, the Mediterranean Sea on the north and east and Libya on the southeast.

Q: Tunisia has had a reputation for being one of the most secular states in the Arab world, but radical Islamists have flourished in the country since its longtime leader was ousted in 2011 during a revolutionary wave of protests called the . .

A. Arab Awakening

B. Arab Spring

C. Arab Uprisings

D. All of the above

D. Arab Spring is the most well-known name for the unrest that toppled longtime autocratic leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. But, the other terms also have been used to describe the events that began in Tunisia in December 2010 when a street vendor set himself on fire in protest of harassment by authorities.

Q: Protesters have demanded the resignation of Tunisia's Islamist government since the assassination of a second liberal opposition leader this year. The government has blamed the deaths on Salafist extremists – followers of a movement that began in . . .

A. Algeria

B. Egypt

C. Saudi Arabia

D. Yemen

C. Like Islam itself, the puritanical Salafi movement has its roots in what is now Saudi Arabia. Salafism has been supported by Saudi leaders, and it has been embraced by extremists like Al-Qaeda. But, terrorist acts have consistently been opposed by some Salafi scholars.

Q: The secularist opponents of the ruling Islamist party have been protesting in the capital of Tunis, which is built near the site of which ancient city?

A. Alexandria

B. Carthage

C. Troy

D. Ur

B. The city-state of Carthage was founded by Phoenicians from the eastern Mediterranean and destroyed by the ancient Romans.