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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. What is the only former Soviet republic that has yet to achieve economic growth levels above those it enjoyed under Soviet rule?
[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”]Ukraine. Ukraine’s economy is experiencing less economic growth than it did under the Soviet Union and former Soviet republics like Poland have seen their national income rise four times faster than Ukraine.[/toggle]
2. How long does the new farm bill last?
[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 current farm bill under consideration would last for five years. It is budgeting nearly $1 trillion for farm subsidies and nutrition programs, but will include an $8 billion cut in food stamps.[/toggle]
3. Why did New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have a bad week regarding “Bridgegate”?
[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”]David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official, said that he had evidence that Christie personally ordered the lane closures of the George Washington Bridge. Christie continues to deny that he had any knowledge of the closures.[/toggle]
4. This week there will be negotiations in this African nation to settle violence in South Sudan. A ceasefire was declared in the conflict 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”]Ethiopia. Thus far, the conflict has killed an estimated 10,000 people and displaced an estimated 700,000 people. International experts argue that if the South Sudanese government does not release eleven prominent politicians that it is holding under house arrest for plotting a coup that the negotiations will get nowhere and the violence will reignite.[/toggle]
5. Some Democrats expect Pete O’Malley to run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. Who is Martin O’Malley?
[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”]O’Malley is the Democratic governor of Maryland. He has occupied that office since 2007 and won re-election by 14 points in 2010 over former Republican governor Robert Ehrlich. O’Malley has a liberal record on immigration reform, gay marriage, and signed legislation last year to end the death penalty for future offenders in Maryland. He is seen as a more liberal alternative to Hillary Clinton, who is expected to seek the nomination.[/toggle]
6. South African activist Mamphela Ramphele harmed the Democratic Alliance’s chances in this year’s presidential election by this earlier this 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”]Ramphele, an anti-apartheid activist and black South African, announced that she would not run against South African President Jacob Zuma in this year’s presidential election as a Democratic Alliance (DA) candidate. The DA hoped that nominating a black candidate would help them capture a larger share of South Africa’s voting base and start to erode the governing African National Congress’s (ANC) hold on power.[/toggle]
7. Al-Qaeda recently disavowed this militant groups that is operating in Syria after it has engaged in clashes with other Syrian rebels.
[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 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Al-Qaeda ordered ISIL to disband in May 2013 and return to Iraq and endorsed the Al-Nusra Front as its arm in Syria. However, the ISIL is still operating in Syria and some rebels there allege that is it trying to consolidate power in Northern Syria instead of fighting the Syrian government.[/toggle]
8. Why are American labor unions souring on the Affordable Care Act?
[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”]American labor unions are not happy about the Affordable Care Act because the legislation taxes self-funded healthcare plans (called “Taft-Hartley plans”) and does not permit those in these plans to receive subsidies that are available on state and federal run health insurance exchanges. Labor unions also argue that the mandates of the Affordable Care Act are making their healthcare costs increase.[/toggle]
9. North Korea has warned that a minor military exercise between these two nations next month could push the Korean peninsula “to the brink of war.”
[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 United States and South Korea. Both nations plan to conduct minor military drills for defensive purposes, but North Korea alleges that they are tests to invade and occupy Pyongyang.[/toggle]
10. This Academy Award-winning actor was found dead from an apparent drug overdose in their New York City apartment last weekend.
[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”]Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman battled drug addiction in recent years and won the 2006 Academy Award for his portrayal of Truman Capote in the film “Capote.” Early reports indicate that he died of a heroin overdose and heroin usage has been on the rise in the United States over the last several years.[/toggle]