While you're busy thanking your lucky stars you don't live in some of the world's many hotspots, take our Week to Week news quiz challenge.
Here are some random but real hints: It's step one toward impeachment, according to one White House aide; though some would argue they're already in one; Michael Bloomberg to the rescue; and longer weekends give you more time to sit around counting your money.
1. Who rejected a ceasefire plan put forth by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry?
a. Ukraine
b. Pro-Russia militias in eastern Ukraine
c. Israel
d. John Boehner
2. What did a House committee approve on Thursday?
a. A sense-of-the-chamber resolution condemning Russia for the downing of Flight MH17
b. A bill allowing homesteading in the Kansas territories
c. A lawsuit against President Barack Obama
d. Comprehensive campaign finance reform
3. Who met Pope Francis this week?
a. The Sudanese woman who escaped a death sentence in her home country for refusing to renounce her Christian faith
b. The German World Cup championship team
c. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was hoping to draw the pope into efforts to establish a ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas conflict
d. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was hoping to draw the pope into efforts to establish a ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas conflict
4. Which of the following is not a conspiracy theory used in Russian media concerning the downed Flight MH17?
a. The plane was shot down by the Dutch government in an attempt to provoke Russia into a war
b. A Ukrainian flight dispatcher intentionally directed the plane into a war zone so it would be shot down
c. The Ukrainian government shot it down, thinking it might be Vladimir Putin's plane
d. The plane had been preloaded with corpses
5. Where did a plane's crash landing result in dozens of dead?
a. Taiwan
b. Ukraine
c. Australia
d. Mexico
6. Where did the FAA ban flights over concerns for the planes' safety?
a. Kiev, Ukraine
b. Tel Aviv, Israel
c. Birmingham, UK
d. Tegucigalpa, Honduras
7. What has Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim proposed for the workplace?
a. Digital encoders implanted into the brains of employees to track the time they spend in bathrooms or smoking cigarettes in the parking lot
b. Expanding the week from seven to eight days to add another "efficiency work day"
c. A three-day work week and later retirement
d. More robots, fewer humans
8. What took nearly two hours to accomplish in Arizona this week?
a. Organize a protest against undocumented immigrants
b. Execute a prisoner
c. Drive one mile in downtown Phoenix, which has been named the nation's most gridlocked town
d. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lilly Freoton announced her candidacy, filed papers, and withdrew from the race -- all within 100 minutes
9. Why was the Watson family kicked off a Southwest flight??
a. Just before the plane was due to approach the runway, the family stood up and did an impromptu rendition of The Brady Bunch theme song
b. The mother complained that there were no kosher meals on board
c. The father had tweeted a complaint about a rude gate agent and was removed as "a safety threat"
d. The father tried to save money by putting one of his children in the overhead bin
10. General Motors said it would do what for the victims of ignition switch problems in its cars?
a. Give them a new GM car
b. Pay out $400 million or more to the victims
c. Give them a new Toyota car
d. Refuse all claims because "our internal investigation found that though errors were made, they were simple human errors"
BONUS. What happened at the nearly 3,000-year-old tomb of the Biblical Jonah?
a. It is the site of secret peace talks between the Iraqi government, Islamic State insurgents, and northern Kurdish leaders
b. It was occupied by Russian state security troops
c. It was blown up by Islamic State militants
d. It was turned into a whaling museum by Japanese investors
Want the live news quiz experience? Join us Monday, July 28 in San Francisco for our next live Week to Week political roundtable with a news quiz and a social hour at The Commonwealth Club of California. Panelists include Melissa Griffin Caen, C.W. Nevius, and Bill Whalen.
ANSWERS: 1) c. 2) c. 3) a. 4) a. 5) a. 6) b. 7) c. 8) b. 9) c. 10) b. BONUS) c.
Explanations of the hints: It's step one toward impeachment, according to one White House aide: an Obama aide suggested that the lawsuit was the first step in bringing impeachment proceedings against the president; though some would argue they're already in one: Russia's been accused by the West of arming, training, and even leading the Ukrainian rebels, and this week the United States accused Russia of firing at Ukrainian military planes from Russian soil; Michael Bloomberg to the rescue: the former New York mayor made a well-publicized visit to Tel Aviv despite the ban; and longer weekends give you more time to sit around counting your money: Carlos Slim thinks a three-day week, with longer working hours and delayed retirement, would be dandy.