NewsTracker Answers for week of Jan. 06, 2014

Q: As much of the U.S. has been coping with temperatures near and below zero, Argentina has suffered through three weeks of temperatures above 100 degrees in the region's worst recorded heatwave. Where is Argentina?

Circle the area on this map


Q: At least seven have died in the heat amid power cuts, water shortages and protests in the nation's capital of . . .

A. Buenos Aires

B. Montevideo

C. Rio de Janeiro

D. Santiago


A. With nearly 3 million people, Buenos Aires also is the largest city in Argentina. Protesters demanded the government take action on the shortages. Government officials blamed utility companies which, in turn, blamed the government for not improving the nation's infrastructure.


Q: Temperatures soared to over 113 degrees in Argentina's warmest region, the . . .

A. North

B. East

C. South

D. West


A. The country's climate ranges from subpolar in the south to subtropical in the north, which is closer to the Equator. The north is characterized by very hot, humid summers with mild drier winters.


Q: Power-starved Argentina got a big boost from electricity produced by its eastern neighbor . . .

A. Peru

B. Bolivia

C. Chile

D. Uruguay


D. Uruguay exported 42 gigawatts an hour between Dec. 12 and 29 - over 45 percent of all electricity exports for Uruguay during 2013. Argentina is bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Chile to the West and the Drake Passage to the south.


Q: The Drake Passage around the southern tip of South America is named after a mariner from . . .

A. Argentina

B. Britain

C. Holland

D. Spain


B. The passage between the Atlantic and Pacific receives its English language name from the 16th century English privateer Sir Francis Drake. Some Spanish and Latin American historians call it Mar de Hoces after 16th century Spanish navigator Francisco de Hoces. Both Drake and de Hoces saw the passage, but Dutch navigator Willem Schouten was the first to travel through it in 1616.