NEWS QUIZ

Political leaders and other muckety-mucks are cramming a last whirl of trade talks and tours into their year-end schedules. Here’s a pop quiz of recent goofs, gaffes and odd gift-giving.

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1. On a 1992 visit to Japan, George H.W. Bush vomited onto Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa after being served beef medallions, French-style. What did his son serve the current prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, on his 2003 visit to Crawford, Texas?

a) Roast duck, Peking-style

b) Beef tenderloin, Texas-style

c) Alligator sashimi, Cajun-style

2. What did First Daughter Jenna Bush use to shield herself from French photographers on a trip to Europe with her mother in 2002?

a) A Von Dutch trucker hat

b) A round of brie a Secret Service agent had just purchased

c) A Neiman Marcus garment bag

3. On a 2003 trip to Namibia, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told business leaders that the capital, Windhoek, was “so ____” that “it doesn’t seem like you’re in an African country.”

a) modern

b) clean

c) neo-Jungian

4. What were British Prime Minister Tony Blair and two of his senior ministers criticized for commandeering to travel from London to Portugal in 2000?

a) Three Royal Air Force jets

b) A French bullet train

c) Three hot air balloons, from mogul Richard Branson

5. Who is Hana Plant?

a) A woman who flashed Prince Charles during his March visit to New Zealand, revealing the message “Get Your Colony Shame Off My Breasts”

b) A BBC reporter Charles was overheard calling “awful” during a photo op at a Swiss ski resort in March

c) An organic farmer Charles and his wife, Camilla, visited in Northern California recently

6. Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew was recently criticized for spending taxpayer dollars to take Bruno Labonte, his _______, on official foreign travel.

a) toy Chihuahua

b) personal chauffeur

c) yoga instructor

7. On his recent visit to Mongolia, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was given a gelding horse as a gift. According to the Mongolian Defense Ministry, who will ride the horse until Rumsfeld is ready to transport the animal to his New Mexico ranch?

a) The chief of the herding clan that made the gift

b) The chief’s wife

c) “Only the steppe winds”

Answers:

1: b, 2: c, 3: b, 4: a, 5: a, 6: b, 7: c

-- ALLISON HOFFMAN