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Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
To access a list of all our old quizzes, click here.
1. How many states have failed to hit their budget deadlines this year?
[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”]Eight. These include Iowa, Maine, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Iowa, Maine, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts eventually passed budgets, but the other four have seen budget agreements hampered by political deadlock.[/toggle]
2. The largest share of refugees trying to get into the European Union (EU) come from this country.
[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”]Syria. Migrants from the Middle East and North Africa, many of whom are escaping the Syrian Civil War or the ongoing conflict in Libya, are flowing into Europe, with more than 340,000 making the journey this year. The EU has been ill-prepared to deal with the influx and it may bolster the political fortunes of far-right parties that have sounded the alarm about the effects of excessive immigration into Europe.[/toggle]
3. How high will this year’s federal deficit be?
[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 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that it expects this year’s budget deficit to be $426 billion, the lowest total of Barack Obama’s presidency. While the reduced number has been taken as a good sign, the CBO warns that an ageing population and rising healthcare costs may cause the federal deficit to baloon to $1 trillion in 2025.[/toggle]
4. Why are some Duke University freshman refusing to read the graphic novel “Fun Home”?
[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”]Some Duke freshman are refusing to read the required book due to the fact that its themes and images conflict with their moral and religious beliefs. The move illustrates how campuses across the country are grappling with free speech issues versus a movement to not place students in situations where their beliefs are challenged or threatened.[/toggle]
5. What is the date that Greece hopes to hold new elections?
[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”]September 20. New elections are expected after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned last week following the defection of twenty-five members of his Syriza Party who were angry that Greece agreed to enact more austerity measures to handle the nation’s debt crisis.[/toggle]
6. This was pegged as the primary reason for triggering a brutal losing streak in the Dow Industrial Average.
[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”]Anxieties about the state of the Chinese economy. Investors seemingly want more monetary stimulus from the People’s Republic as fears of a slowdown are reducing confidence in global markets.[/toggle]
7. What did North and South Korean officials recently agree to do in order to defuse rising military tensions between both nations?
[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”]North Korea issued a statement saying that it regretted that South Korean soldiers were maimed by a land mine blast, while South Korea halted anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers near the border. Since South Korean soldiers were injured in a mine blast near the border earlier this month, tensions have gradually increased, with some fearing that both of the Koreas were on the verge of renewing their 1950-1953 war.[/toggle]
8. Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov was recently sentenced to twenty years in a labor camp by Russian authorities for this offense.
[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”]Sentsov was convicted of plotting terrorist attacks against Russian organizations in Crimea after Russia seized the region int he spring of 2014. Critics say that Senstov was punished for participating in anti-Russian demonstrations in Crimea.[/toggle]
9. The Internatonal Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that this is the cost of monitoring Iran’s nuclear program next year.
[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”]$10 million. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano says that the organization will run out of money next month and needs a funding increase from UN members. The IAEA is tasked with overseeing Iran’s implementation of its nuclear accord with other major world powers and its reports will determine whether significant sanctions relief takes place.[/toggle]
10. Three Americans stopped an armed assault on a high-speed train in this European nation last week.
[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”]France. Three Americans subdued Ayoub El-Khazzani, a 25-year-old Moroccan that boarded the trainw ith an assault rifle, rounds of ammunication, and box cutters. French President Francois Hollande bestowed the Legion of Honor, France’s highest decoration, to the three Americans on Monday.[/toggle]