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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. Why has Sweden scrapped an arms deal with Saudi Arabia?
[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 Swedish government scrapped its arms deal after Saudi Arabia prohibited the Swedish foreign minister from giving a speech denouncing Saudi Arabia’s human rights record to the Arab League. In response, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Sweden.[/toggle]
2. Last week Russia detained five men from this Russian region for the murder of Boris Nemtsov.
[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”]Chechnya. Chechen independence fighters have been a problem for the Russian government for decades. Russian authorities said that Nemtsov’s support for the publishers of Charlie Hebdo may have led to his death, but one of the men who has been detained is linked to Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s leader and a political ally of President Vladimir Putin. Nemtsov’s allies say that Chechens would have little reason to kill him as he was a defender of Chechen rights.[/toggle]
3. A recent survey of economists said that the Federal Reserve will most likely raise interest rates during this month of 2015.
[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”]August. Economists expect interest rates to rise slowly over the next several years, with 3% interest rates forecasted by the fourth quarter of 2017.[/toggle]
4. How many countries in the world currently have a female head of state?
[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”]Nineteen out of 193 United Nations (UN) member states. UN statistics show that the number of female parliamentarians has doubled over the last twenty years, but women occupy only 22% of the seats in antional parliaments.[/toggle]
5. Last week this U.S. state voted to reinstate firing squad as an execution method if drugs for lethal injection run out.
[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”]Utah. The state outlawed firing squad as an execution method in 2004, but is willing to revive it due to a shortage of drugs needed to carry out executions via lethal injection. After the Supreme Court lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in 1976 Utah carried out the nation’s first execution of Gary Gilmore in January 1977 via firing squad.[/toggle]
6. Who is the leader of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)?
[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”]Morgan Tsvangirai (pronounced Shang-r-i). Tsvangirai served as prime minister in a coalition government with the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) between 2009 and 2013. There have been calls for him to step down after the MDC – Zimbabwe’s largest opposition party – has failed to take power from ZANU-PF.[/toggle]
7. Venezuela’s National Assembly recently gave President Nicholas Maduro this power.
[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 Venezuelan National Assembly voted on Sunday to give Maduro the power to govern by decree until December 31, 2015. Maduro was given decree powers between November 2013 and November 2014 as well. He claims that such powers are necessary to thwart aggression from the United States. Venezuela’s opposition says that it is a threat to the nation’s democracy.[/toggle]
8. Why did Senate Democrats filibuster an anti-human trafficking bill 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”]Democrats filibustered the Justice for Victims in Trafficking Act because the bill included a section that prohibited funds raised through fines to be used for abortions. The bill, which initially had bipartisan support, failed to reach cloture by five votes. Senate Democrats said that the abortion language would harm victims who may need an abortion.[/toggle]
9. Secret Service director Joseph Clancy is asking Congress for $8 million to build a replica of this in order to help in the training of new Secret Service personnel.
[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 facade and grounds of the White House. The replica would be built in the Maryland suburb of Beltsville. The Secret Service was embarrassed by security breaches last year, the most alarming of which saw a man jump the fence in front of the White House and run into the building.[/toggle]
10. What was the name of the cyclone that devastated the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu 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”]Cyclone Pam. The storm carried 185 mile per hour winds, destroying homes, forests, and buildings. The United Nations estimates that eleven people died as a result of the cyclone. The island’s tourism and agriculture industries will be significantly affected by the storm.[/toggle]