NewsTracker Answers for week of Oct. 10, 2011

Q: South Africa refused to give the Dalai Lama a visa to visit for Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday because the foreign ministry feared his trip would jeopardize trade ties with China, according to a secret government document published by a newspaper. Where is South Africa?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The Chinese ousted the Dalai Lama as the ruler of which country?

A. Korea

B. Taiwan

C. China

D. Tibet

D. The Dalai Lama fled after Chinese troops took over Tibet in 1959 and made it part of the newly established People's Republic of China.

Q: The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu are leaders in the dominant religions of their respective homelands. Which religions are dominant in Tibet and South Africa?

A. Hinduism and Islam

B. Buddhism and Christianity

C. Judaism and Islam

D. Hinduism and Christianity

B. The Dalai Lama is a leader of Tibetan Buddhism and is regarded as the reincarnated embodiment of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid.

Q: China is South Africa's largest trading partner and the secret government document said the country needed to support China to protect a "strategic relationship." China has gained influence as its economy has grown to become the world's . . .

A. Fourth largest

B. Third largest

C. Second largest

D. Largest

C. China in 2010 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the U.S., having surpassed Japan in 2001. It sells far more goods than it buys giving it the world's largest trade surplus, while the U.S. has the world's biggest trade deficit.

Q: Tutu was so angry over the blocked visit that he said President Jacob Zuma's administration "is worse than the apartheid government." Under apartheid the majority black population was ruled by the white descendants of mostly . . .

A. American colonists

B. British colonists

C. Canadian colonists

D. Dutch colonists

D. Colonists of the Dutch East Indies Company started moving to the area in the 1600's. The British took over the country in the 1800's after the discovery of diamonds, but most of the white population descended from the original colonists.