[fblike]
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
To access a list of all our old quizzes, click here.
1. Oil prices hit a new low on Monday ($41.87 a barrel). When was the last time that oil prices were this low?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]March 2009, which was six-and-a-half years ago. That low figure was posted in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis. The low price is owed to fears of a global economic slowdown and abundant supplies. Oil prices are 55% lower than a year ago and are 30% lower than this past June.[/toggle]
2. According to recent polls, most notably one conducted by Fox News, who gained the most from the first Republican presidential debate?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. In the Fox poll, Carson jumped five points from a pre-debate poll, which is the most dramatic move by any of the GOP candidates.[/toggle]
3. How many Americans had their taxpayer accounts at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) hacked back in May?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]334,000. This is three times the initial reported number that the IRS provided in May (which was 114,000). It is not known whether information was stolen from these accounts.[/toggle]
4. New documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden show that this telecommunications firm provided the National Security Agency (NSA) with metadata on billions of e-mails.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]AT&T. The company reportedly had secret rooms at facilities in San Francisco, Missouri, and other locations that the NSA used to intercept and decipher internet data. AT&T was also reportedly the first to try out new surveillance technologies that were developed by the NSA to monitor Internet traffic.[/toggle]
5. What are some parts of the White House’s new strategy to confront America’s growing heroin epidemic?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]The White House announced that it would seek to focus more on treating addicts instead of punishing them and target high-level suppliers of the drug for criminal prosecution. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently noted that heroin use has doubled among people aged 18-25 over the last decade.[/toggle]
6. Author John Grisham and actor Morgan Freeman recently called for this state to remove Confederate imagery from its flag.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Mississippi. The state is the only one remaining where the Confederate symbol is flown above the state capital. In 2001, voters opted to keep the flag’s present design by a landslide margin.[/toggle]
7. Why is the Iraqi parliament demanding that former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki go on trial?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]The Iraqi parliament alleges that al-Maliki and thirty other top officials were responsible for the fall of Mosul to the Islamic State last year. The parliament alleges that Maliki chose corrupt commanders to defend the city and his failure to hold them accountable led to the Islamic State triumph in June 2014. Iraqis cheered the decision, but Iran may try to place pressure on the Iraqi government to leave al-Maliki alone.[/toggle]
8. How much time did South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir say he needs before agreeing to sign a peace agreement with rebel forces?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Fifteen days. Kiir was expected to sign the accord with rebel leader Riek Machar on Monday, but he said that he needs more time to look it over. The proposed peace deal, negotiated in Ethiopia, would see the emergence of a power sharing arrangement and a coalition government. This would end a civil war that has existed since December 2013 in the world’s youngest country.[/toggle]
9. What are some of the punishments contained in Egypt’s new anti-terrorism law?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]The new law, approved by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, was signed into law on Sunday night. It provides heavy prison sentences for those that promote or encourage terrorism (which is loosely defined as an act that disturbs the public order with force). Those that lead or organize a terrorist group can be sentenced to death. Also, heavy fines exist for journalists that publish “false news” and a special circuit for terrorism cases was created. Analysts note that the new law appears like Egypt’s old “emergency law” that allowed police to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood for decades prior to the 2011 deposition of President Hosni Mubarak.[/toggle]
10. A bombing in this Asian capital left at least nineteen dead on Monday as well as 120 injured.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Bangkok, Thailand. As of Monday, it was unclear who was responsible for the blast, but potential suspects include Muslim separatists and political dissidents that are unhappy about the increasingly autocratic status of the Thai government. The bomb detonated at 6:55 p.m. near Erawan Shrine, a Hindu structure that is near a popular shopping and tourist area in the central part of the city.[/toggle]