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

To accesquiz-01s a list of all our old quizzes, click here.

1. When looking at the RealClearPolitics average, who are the top three contenders in the New Hampshire Republican primary?

[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”]According to polling data assembled by RealClearPolitics, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie are the top three Republican contenders.  However, polls are starting to also show movement for Ohio Governor John Kasich, who outpolled all candidates accept for trump in an ARG survey taken on December 20.[/toggle]

2. According to Amnesty International, how many nations have abolished the death penalty?

[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”]101.  Amnesty International noted that the use of capital punishment around the world continues to decline, with the U.S. executing just twenty-eight prisoners this year, the lowest amount since 1991.[/toggle]

3. What major accomplishment did SpaceX achieve 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”]The American space starup managed to return the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket to Cape Canaveral in Florida.  The ability to return and reuse the first stage of a rocket launch would significantly reduce the ability for future firms to access space since the first stage of rocket launches typically absorb more than 60% of the cost.[/toggle]

4. Last week the head of the defunct website “the Silk Road” was sentenced to life in prison. What was this website?

[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 Silk Road was deemed the “eBay of illegal drugs” and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut it down in October 2013.[/toggle]

5. Which major government official resigned in Brazil 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”]Finance minister Joaquim Levy.  Levy had favored austerity policies to curb Brazil’s growing public debt and to bring inflation under control, but his policies were rejected by Brazil’s Congress.  Levy’s resignation will probably lead to a continued decline in confidence in the ability of Brazil’s government to manage the economy.  Thus far, two ratings agencies have downgraded the nation’s debt to junk status and President Dilma Rousseff is distracted in trying to fight off impeachment proceedings.[/toggle]

6. What was the Doha trade round?

[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 Doha Round was inaugurated by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November 2001 in order to facilitate a lasting free trade agreement among member states with regard to agriculture, industry, and services.  Unfortunately, negotiations broke down as the United States, European Union (EU), and Japan refused to lower or eliminate agricultural subsidies, while developing markets such as India refused to lower or eliminate barriers to their industrial and service sectors.  After the recent Nairobi negotiations, officials have said that the trade round is dead.[/toggle]

7. Which nations are members of Mercosur?

[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”]Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela.  The group was formed in 1991 to promote free trade, but economists argue that countries need to do more to return to neoliberal policies as exports among the four founding members (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) have declined by 21% since 2000.[/toggle]

8. Why did thousands of Burundians take to the streets on Saturday and Sunday?

[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”]Thousands of pro-government Burundians marched to protest an African Union (AU) plan to deploy more than 5,000 peacekeepers to the country.  The AU is moving to deploy the force against the wishes of Burundi’s government to protect civilians and ensure that a genocide is averted.  Tensions have risen in Burundi since April when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced that he would seek a third term, something that is prohibited in the Burundian constitution.[/toggle]

9. Donald Trump criticized this state’s Republican Party for planning to require that all voters in its primary swear that they are Republicans.

[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”]Virginia.  The move comes as the Republican establishment is worried that Democratic-leaning voters will try to vote for Trump to disrupt the GOP primary.  Trump said that the move could discourage independents or first-time voters from going to the polls.  Virginia allows primaries to be open to all eligible voters.[/toggle]

10. Iraqi forces proclaimed a major victory on Monday when they said that they had retaken control of this city, which the Islamic State seized seven months ago.

[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”]Ramadi.  The city is the largest in Iraq’s western Anbar Province.  The Islamic State seized control of the area in May, leading U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter to question how reliable the Iraqi Army was with regards to U.S. efforts to beat back the group.[/toggle]