NewsTracker Answers for week of Sep. 15, 2014

Q: The Philippine Congress is considering a draft law that would create a self-governed, predominantly Muslim autonomous region in the country’s south, a major step in peace talks meant to end more than four decades of fighting with Muslim rebels. Where is the Philippines?

Circle the area on this map

Q: About 5 percent of the Philippine's 107 million people are Muslims. Most Filipinos are . . .

A. Agnostics

B. Buddhists

C. Christians

D. Druids

C. About 92 percent of Filipinos are Christians.

Q: Why is the Philippines predominantly Christian?

A. American missionaries

B. Dutch traders

C. Saint Philip

D. Spanish conquerors

D. The Spanish established a colony in the 16th century and named the islands after King Philip II of Spain. Spanish rule unified the fragmented states of the archipelago and converted the people to Catholicism.

Q: Which one of the Philippines' neighbors has more Muslims than any other nation?

A. Vietnam

B. Indonesia

C. China

D. Malaysia

B. With an estimated population of over 252 million people, Indonesia is world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia also is the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation with 87 percent of its people following Islam. Indonesia's islands are south of the Philippines.

Q: The peace talks led to the proposed law to create the new autonomous region did not include the most radical Muslim rebels. Philippine government officials are worried about security threats from Islamist radicals returning from fighting in . . .

A. Syria

B. Iran

C. China

D. Russia

A. The Philippines is investigating the involvement of Filipino Islamists in the three-year civil war in Syria after two locals were reported killed fighting for Islamic State militant group. Intelligence officials have noticed a gradual increase of foreign fighters heading to Syria coming from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Xinjiang, a troubled province in western China.