Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz.  Good luck!

1. Vice President Kamala Harris released what type of report last week and has demanded former President Donald Trump do the same?

Spoiler
A medical report. Harris released the results of a recently physical to the media and her campaign noted that the former president has yet to do the same. All the Trump campaign has given out is a three-paragraph letter about his health, which is not of the same standard. It is part of the Harris campaign’s attempt to turn the age question against Trump, which his team was using against President Joe Biden in the spring and summer.

2.  What anti-missile defense system is the U.S. sending to Israel?

Spoiler
The THAAD defense system, which has a near-perfect success rate of intercepting ballistic missiles up to a distance of 124 miles. The U.S. military has seven of them and one is being sent to Israel to shore up its missile defense network. 100 U.S. troops are also being sent there to help Israel operate it.

3. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently called on the United Nations to pull its peacekeepers out of which area?

Spoiler
Southern Lebanon. Netanyahu said that Hezbollah was using members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as human shields. UNIFIL, which has been in the area since 1978, has accused Israel of deliberately hitting its posts. Several of its troops have been injured in Israeli operations against Hezbollah in the area.

4. Who won the Nobel Peace Prize last week?

Spoiler
Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The group hopes that the recognition will help it better advocate for nuclear disarmament and reach younger people.

5. Former U.S. President Barack Obama made an appeal to which demographic group, encouraging them to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid?

Spoiler
Black men. In a speech for the Harris campaign in Pittsburgh, Obama told Black men that they need to overcome thoughts of electing a woman as president. The comments underscore the necessity of increasing Black turnout for Harris’ campaign in critical states.

6. Which aerospace company said that it was cutting jobs last week?

Spoiler
Boeing. The company announced that it was cutting 10% of its workforce (17,000 jobs) because of lost revenue from a machinists strike that has been happening since September. Boeing says the strike is costing it $1 billion a month. The company has also had to delay the delivery of its wide-body 777X and its Starliner space transport vehicle has left astronauts abandoned on the International Space Station.

7. Why did the Honda Motor Company recall 1.7 million vehicles last week?

Spoiler
Honda, at the order of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, recalled the vehicles because of a steering gearbox assembly that could lead to crashes by making the steering wheel stick. The recall applies to Honda vehicles from 2022-2025.

8. What was the only G7 economy to experience a recession last year?

Spoiler
Germany. The German economy was hit hard by a lack of Russian natural gas supplies and inflation battered the country, triggering high interest rates that have caused unemployment to rise. The German government has announced that it expects gross domestic product (GDP) to contract by 0.2% in 2024. The economic woes have led to poor polling results for Germany’s coalition government, headed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

9. What action did North Korea take against South Korea last week?

Spoiler
North Korea moved to permanently block its border and build a “front-line defense structure.” North Korean officials said that there was a “confrontational hysteria” by South Korea and U.S. forces. This reportedly includes adding anti-tank barriers along the border. The move is largely symbolic since North Korea has not allowed cross-border travel and exchanges with South Korea for the last few years.

10. What is the Supreme Court case of United States v. Skrmetti about?

Spoiler
The case is a challenge to Tennessee Senate Bill 1, which went into effect in July 2023. It prohibits treatments for transgender minors, including the prescription of puberty blockers and hormones. The Supreme Court is being asked to strike the law down via the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.