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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. This state’s drought recently came to a close.
[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. No parts of the state are experiencing drought conditions for the first time since 2010. However, the state’s Water Development Board warns that many communities need morewater to replenish their reservoirs. These officials hope that El Nino conditions will bring more rain.[/toggle]
2. With Ohio Governor John Kasich announcing a presidential bid, how many candidates are now seeking the Republican presidential nomination?
[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”]Sixteen. The crowded field may make it difficult for Republicans without name recognition to get a footing and may complicate the party’s efforts to win the White House in 2016. Kasich is deemed as one of the more qualified Republican candidates, but some say that he is not conservative enough to win the nomination.[/toggle]
3. How did Donald Trump anger South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham 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”]Trump gave out Graham’s personal cell phone number when speaking to supporters at a rally in South Carolina on Tuesday. Graham had called Trump a “jackass” on CBS “This Morning” earlier in the day. Both men are running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, with Trump leading the field with 18% and Graham registering less than 1% support.[/toggle]
4. Explain why a recent ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals was a victory for former Illinois Governor Rod Blajojevich.
[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 Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago recently found that federal prosecutors did not prove that Blagojevich broke the law when he tried to get a cabinet position for appointing Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to Obama’s vacated Senate seat after he won the 2008 presidential election. The court voided five of the eighteen corruption counts that Blagojevich was initially convicted of. Blagojevich is currently serving a fourteen-year sentence on those charges.[/toggle]
5. Which two EU nations refused to take any Mediterranean migrants from Italy and Greece?
[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”]Austria and Hungary. The European Union is trying to settle nearly 40,000 refugees that have crossed the Mediterranean Sea, but governments are not cooperating as much as hoped. The EU wants to resettle refugees equitably among member states over the next two years, but Austria and Hungary have refused to take more refugees at present.[/toggle]
6. Britons pay this percentage of their earnings between £112 and £815 a week in national insurance taxes.
[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”]12%. The system began in 1911 and expanded after the Second World War to provide Britons with universal health coverage. For those who may more than £815 a week, they pay an extra 2% on all earnings above that level. The British government is looking into the possibility of merging the national insurance tax with its income tax to reduce complexity for taxpayers. Critics argue that if such an “earnings tax” were created that it would force the elderly to pay the national insurance tax when receiving their pensions.[/toggle]
7. What ruling did the European Court of Human Rights recently make on gay marriage?
[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 European Court of Human Rights ruled in a case from Italy that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. The ruling may provide the basis for more legal challenges in European countries, especially in Eastern Europe, that do not recognize same-sex relationships.[/toggle]
8. What is the purpose of actor George Clooney’s “Sentry” project?
[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 “Sentry” project, which Clooney is collaborating on with human rights activist John Prendergast, is attempting to find who is funding and benefiting from Africa’s military conflicts in South Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and elsewhere.[/toggle]
9. This nation has announced that it is “not interested” in an Iranian-style nuclear deal.
[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. North Korean officials say that their situation is “quite different” than Iran. The country has conducted three nuclear tests in recent years and has refused to discuss eliminating its nuclear program.[/toggle]
10. What town has become the site of tension between Turkish and Kurdish ethnic groups?
[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”]Kobani. The town is located in Syria and has a Kurdish majority, but has endured repeated attacks by the Islamic State. Turkey’s Kurds accuse the Turkish government of not doing enough to protect the town despite it beingvery close to Turkey’s border.[/toggle]