"What in the World?" - Week of April 22-28 2018

Mexico signed a major update to a free trade agreement with WHO on Saturday, giving it enhanced access to an advanced consumer market allowing almost all goods, including agricultural products to flow across their borders. The agreement is seen as part of Mexico’s reaction to pressure by Washington on trade and an uncertain outcome of NAFTA modernization talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif told reporters this week that it was unlikely his country would remain in the “nuclear agreement” if President Trump, as threatened, refused to waive sanctions as required by the agreement at the May 12^th deadline. Zarif said, “The situation is creating an impression globally that agreements don’t matter,” and he threatened unspecified “consequences” but could return to uranium enrichment. The agreement between Iran and the P5+1 which was signed to prevent Iran from being able to build a nuclear weapons is called THIS:

Police identified the suspects in a March assassination attempt on a former Russian spy that dramatically increased the strain in relations between Moscow and the West. The suspects were identified by scanning images from the scene and passengers boarding flights. The attack occurred in THIS country.

Amidst talks of a Sino-American trade war China has signaled it would welcome a high level visit from Washington. The Trump Administrations proposed tariffs of up to $150 billion dollars and China’s counterattack has international markets and U.S. Exporters worried. THIS US official who offered to go to Beijing for trade talks was:

The U.S. Could be drawn into a conflict with Beijing over THIS contentious territory, which was highlighted last week by China’s military exercises.  President Xi-Jinping was guest of honor for a naval parade including 48 warships, 10,000 servicemen and the PLA Navy’s aircraft carrier – the largest such display in the history of the PRC. That coincided with maneuvers interpreted as threatening THIS place: