[fblike]
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. This week’s quiz includes twenty questions to make up for last week not having a quiz. Good luck!
To access a list of all our old quizzes, click here.
1. How did the Supreme Court rule in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores?
[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 Supreme Court held that Hobby Lobby, a Christian-owned company, can claim a religious exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s provision that requires employers to pay for contraception coverage. Hobby Lobby objected to providing two types of emergency contraception and two intrauterine devices to its employees.[/toggle]
2. In ruling in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores case, the Supreme Court used the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). What does this law do?
[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 RFRA, passed during the Clinton administration, prohibits the United States government from imposing substantial burdens on the exercise of religion. The Hobby Lobby Stores case argues that the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate violated the terms of the RFRA.[/toggle]
3. When did Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos begin informal negotiations with the FARC?
[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”]Santos began negotiations with the FARC after he took office in August 2010. He has tried to end Colombia’s civil war, which began inthe 1960s and has killed 220,000 people, through negotiations. Polls indicate that a slim majority of Colombians favor negotiations.[/toggle]
4. Which two countries voted to block the appointment of Jean-Claude Junker as the European Commission’s next president?
[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”]Great Britain and Hungary. Opponents of British Prime Minister David Cameron argue that Juncker’s appointment illustrates that he cannot effectively work with other EU members.[/toggle]
5. Which three West African nations have the highest number of Ebola cases?
[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”]Guinea (396 cases), Sierra Leone (176), and Liberia (63). Governments in these countries have warned people against holding Ebola sufferers in their homes amidst reports that health workers are being attacked in the region. There is no cure for the Ebola virus, which spreads via contact of fluids between infected people and animals.[/toggle]
6. ISIS rebels have recently declared a caliphate in the territories that they control. Rebels affiliated with ISIS currently control parts of which two 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”]Syria and Iraq. ISIS has proclaimed its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi caliph and the “leader for Muslims everywhere.” ISIS militants have told the international press that they want to be referred to as “the Islamic State.”[/toggle]
7. This recent incident has reignited tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians.
[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 bodies of three Israeli teenagers that went missing on June 12 as they were hitchhiking were found on Monday. Israel blames Palestinian militants for the deaths of the three men, which Palestinians deny.[/toggle]
8. In a very limited ruling, the Supreme Court held that public sector unions cannot collect fees from home health care workers that object to being in a union.
[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”]Illinois. The Supreme Court found 5-4 that Illinois cannot force home healthcare workers to pay union dues because it was a violation of the First Amendment.[/toggle]
9. What makes Bolivia’s “clock of the south” unique?
[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 clock, which is in the Bolivian capital of La Paz, has inverted numbers and hands and turns counterclockwise, rather than clockwise. Bolivia’s government argues that the clock is an expression of decolonization.[/toggle]
10. A revision last week of first quarter GDP growth figures found that the U.S. economy contracted. How large was the contraction?
[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”]2.9%. It was the sharpest documented pullback of economic growth in five years. While some point to the data as evidence of the fragility of America’s economic recovery, others argue that weather disruptions and weak global demand created the figure and that second quarter numbers will be better.[/toggle]
11. The European Commission recently agreed to provide funding for some of this country’s banks.
[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”]Bulgaria. The European Commission provided $2.3 billion in assistance after Bulgarian officials alerted EU officials that there was a plot to undermine the country’s banking system.[/toggle]
12. Political activists in Hong Kong are demanding this concession from the Chinese government.
[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”]Hong Kong activists are demanding that the Chinese government allow the city-state to elect its leader. 800,000 Hong Kong voters recently participated in an unofficial “democracy referendum” to illustrate the power of their demands. China has condemned the referendum. It took control of Hong Kong from Great Britain on July 1, 1997.[/toggle]
13. Aereo was recently forced to suspend its operations after the Supreme Court declared that it was violating copyright law. What is Aereo?
[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”]Aereo is a New York City-based technology firm that allowed subscribers to view live television over the Internet. Launched in February 2012, it was recently forced to suspend service after the Supreme Court ruled that it was a cable TV company and was violating the rights of copyright holders.[/toggle]
14. The Polish government has recently come under fire when illegal recordings of government officials were released. Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski has come under fire for making these comments about Poland’s alliance with the United States.
[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”]Foreign Minister Sikorski claimed that Poland’s alliance with the United States was “worthless” when speaking with former finance minister Jacek Rostowski. Sikorski went on to make several lewd comments about the Polish-American relationship.[/toggle]
15. This U.S. state passed legislation last week that clears the way for the use of bitcoin.
[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”]California. Governor Jerry Brown signed the legislation on Saturday.[/toggle]
16. Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court found that police must meet this standard in order to search someone’s cellphone.
[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 Supreme Court held that police must demonstrate “probable cause” and acquire a warrant to search a subject’s cellphone. Exceptions to the rule include cases of extreme emergency or a risk that vital evidence could be destroyed.[/toggle]
17. General Motors has announced that it will not limit compensation to those who have been injured or killed by faulty ignition switches. Those who will receive compensation will receive how much money?
[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”]Kenneth Feinberg, who GM has placed in charge of its compensation plan, has announced that victims of the faulty ignition switch problems will receive between $20,000 and several million dollars. Thirteen people have been killed by the ignition switch defect.[/toggle]
18. How many minors have been apprehended along the U.S.-Mexican border since October 2013?
[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”]37,000. President Obama has requested $2 billion from Congress to step up deterrence strategies and handle the influx of children across the border, which is triple the number seen between 2012-2013. Most of the children crossing the border are from Central American nations.[/toggle]
19. Why has General Xu Caihou, one of China’s top military officials, been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party?
[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”]General Xu was recently expelled from the Chinese Community Party for allegedly accepting bribes. His arrest is part of the President Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption, which has been waged since 2012.[/toggle]
20. President Obama is nominating this individual to lead the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
[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”]Bob McDonald, the former head of Procter and Gamble, a consumer productions firm. McDonald’s corporate background is deemed an asset for heading the troubled VA.[/toggle]