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1. Will Pakistan’s military stage a coup?
2. What changes does Uber need to make to its service?
3. How will the Ebola outbreak affect the world economy?
4. Should the Bank of Canada raise interest rates?
5. Are austerity policies having a negative effect on the eurozone?
6. Can Mahamat Kamoun quell ethnic and religious violence in the Central African Republic?
7. How can Venezuela remedy food shortages?
8. The Syrian Civil War: Was Putin right?
9. How can African nations best meet their energy needs?
10. Is Grace Mugabe the next leader of Zimbabwe?
Of all of the known deadly pathogens in the world, few are as scary as the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). With a 90% fatality rate, the hemorrhagic fever has spread to three West Africa countries since it was discovered in Guinea in February. To date, the virus has infected more than 1,400 people and killed more than 700. The United States, the European Union, and Asian nations are watching the Ebola outbreak closely and have ramped up security at their international airports to deal with the contagion. Due to the fact that medical experts believe it will take several months to bring this recent Ebola outbreak under control, extempers should be prepared to talk about it in the first few months of the 2014-2015 season.
Iraq has largely stayed under the radar during the 2013-2014 extemporaneous speaking season, which is a far cry from when the country was the focal point of many rounds between 2002 and 2008. However, on the eve of this year’s National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament, Iraq has come back into the public eye in light of the collapse of the Iraqi Army in Mosul and Tikrit. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIL), forced the Iraqi Army to flee last week and are now threatening to capture Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The ISIS, who have been active in the Syrian civil war and aim to create a Sunni caliphate that encompasses territory from both countries, could threaten Middle East instability, lead to the partition of Iraq, and have a negative impact on global oil markets.
On June 2, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled new regulations to limit America’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Using provisions of the Clean Air Act of 1970, which require the EPA to regulate pollutants, the EPA has laid out a series of regulations designed to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. Successfully doing so will help America maintain its international commitments to reduce its carbon emissions and the Obama administration and environmental forces believe that it will encourage other nations to take action on climate change. Opponents of the EPA regulations argue that they unconstitutionally strip regulatory control of carbon emissions from Congress and warn that they will harm the nation’s economy. Since the EPA regulations will go into effect over the next four years, extempers should be prepared for questions about their implementation and effectiveness.
Elections for the European parliament, which took place from May 22 to May 25, were deemed as a political earthquake. Parties that were anti-European Union (EU), anti-immigration, and pro-Russian won sizable vote shares across the continent, especially in Western Europe, and significantly increased their representation in the new European Parliament. In France and Great Britain, far-right political parties defeated more moderate liberal and conservative parties and illustrated that predicting future electoral outcomes in these countries will not be easy. Since the parties of the far-right have largely been ostracized in the past due to Europe’s experiences with far-right forces in the lead up to the Second World War, their recent rise has focused attention on the continent’s economic and social problems and put the future of European integration in doubt.