NewsTracker Answers for week of Apr 16, 2018

Q: Hassan al-Kontar fled his home to avoid conscription into the Syrian army and fighting in that nation’s vicious civil war. After losing his job and other misadventures, he ended up living in a Malaysian airport for more than a month with nowhere else to go. Where is Malaysia?

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Q: After losing his work permit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), he was deported to Malaysia, later went to Cambodia, was denied entry was sent back to Malaysia and denied reentry. Since March 7th, has been stuck at the airport in Malaysia’s capital . . .

A. Damascus

B. Dubai

C. Kuala Lumpur

D. Phnom Penh

C. Kontar has been sleeping under stairwells and showering in lavatories in the transit section of Kuala Lumpur airport. Damascus is the capital of Syria which Kontar left to work in UAE where the biggest city is Dubai. At the Kuala Lumpur airport, he was turned away from a flight to Ecuador before flying to Phnom Penh in a vain attempt to enter Cambodia.

Q: Kontar said there is an arrest warrant waiting for him in Syria. "I'm not a killing machine and I don't want any part in destroying Syria,” he said. Recent events in Syria’s vicious civil war threatens a wider conflict between the United States and . . .

A. Iran

B. Russia

C. Syria

D. All of the above

D. Iran and Russia are the main supporters of the government of Syria’s Bashar Hafez al-Assad , which recently was accused of using chemical weapons on civilians in a rebel-held area. The U.S., Britain and France responded Saturday with missile strikes on what they identified as Syrian chemical weapon sites.

Q: Malaysia, one of the few countries willing to grant Syrians visas on arrival, refused to allow Kontar to reenter the country because he had overstayed his earlier three-month tourist visa.  What is the religion of most of Malaysia’s nearly 32 million people?

A. Islam

B. Buddhism

C. Christianity

D. Hinduism

A. Islam is the official religion of Malaysia and 61.3 percent of its people are Muslims. Another 19.8 percent are Buddhists; 9.2 percent are Christians; and 6.2 percent are Hindus.

Q: “It's not only my problem,” Kontar said of his situation. “It’s the problem of hundreds of Syrian guys who feel they are hated, rejected, unwanted, weak, lonely.” How many Syrians have fled their country in its civil war?

A. 22 million

B. 13.5 million

C. 6 million

D. 5 million

D. In 2016, from an estimated pre-war population of 22 million, the United Nations identified 13.5 million Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance, of which more than 6 million are internally displaced within Syria, and around 5 million are refugees outside of Syria.