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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. If President Obama’s proposed $10 per barrel oil fee is approved it would be used for what purpose?

[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”]To fund better public transport and green energy programs.  The fee would constitute a tax per barrel of oil, but Republicans consider the idea dead on arrival, arguing that it would increase the price of gasoline on consumers and hurt the economy.[/toggle]

2. Thailand’s military junta envisions that a draft constitution will be voted on by the nation’s voters at this point of 2016.

[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”]July.  The Thai junta, which seized power nearly two years ago, is trying to get parliament to approve of a constitution that would significantly empower at the military at the expense of democratic interests.  It is not certain, though, whether the nation’s population would approve of such a constitution and that may necessitate the military using intimidation in order to gets its way.[/toggle]

3. The U.S. stock market is down by this number of percentage points 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”]6%.  Critics of the Federal Reserve argue that this is one of the reasons that it should hold off of future interest rate increases.  There are signals that the Fed is listening with Bill Dudley, head of the New York Fed, saying that conditions in markets were “considerably tighter.”[/toggle]

4. Why did Ukraine’s economy minister resign 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”]Economy minister Aivaras Abromavicius resigned after accusing the Ukrainian government of doing very little to remove corrupt figures.  According to Abromavicius, who was popular among Western nations, these figures blocked significant economic reforms that the nation needs.[/toggle]

5. How long will Ireland’s general election campaign 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”]Three weeks.  This will be one of the shortest in the country’s history and the vote will take place on February 26.[/toggle]

6. Why is Martin Shkreli currently dubbed as “America’s most hated man”?

[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”]Shkreli, who used to run Turing Pharmaceuticals, acquired a negative reputation last year when he bought Daraprim, a drug taken by some AIDS and cancer patients, and raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill.  The House oversight committee had Shkreli testify last week, during which he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights.  He is currently under investigation for securities fraud.[/toggle]

7. What percentage of seats does the military control in the Burmese parliament?

[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”]25%.  The military is also in charge of defense and borders-affairs ministries.  The large share of the vote is so that the military can block constitutional changes that would enable its long-time foe Aung San Suu Kyi to take power.[/toggle]

8. Who is the President of the European Council?

[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”]Donald Tusk.  Tusk served as Poland’s prime minister from 2007 to 2014 and assumed office in December 2014.  Tusk has been in negotiations with British Prime Minister David Cameron to prevent a “Brexit” and has worked for a united European response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.[/toggle]

9. According to a recent report, Nigeria’s GDP would be this many percentage points higher if it controlled corruption.

[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”]22%.  The report by PricewaterhouseCoopers says that corruption drained billions of dollars from the Nigerian economy last year.  President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to aggressively fight corruption through arrests, arguing that it steals from the nation’s future.[/toggle]

10. Who were the top three Republican finishers in last week’s Iowa caucus?

[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”]Texas Senator Ted Cruz (27.65%), Donald Trump (24.31%), and Florida Senator Marco Rubio (23.1%).  Cruz scored the upset over Trump, who led all polls going into election day, but Trump’s campaign alleges that Cruz used dirty tricks by telling Ben Carson’s supporters that he was dropping out in order to win late votes.[/toggle]