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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. Former Petrobras executive Pedro Barusco recently testified that this Brazilian Party received kickbacks from company contracts.
[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 Worker’s Party. Barusco testified that the Worker’s Party, which governs Brazil, received $200 million in kickbacks from contracts of the state-owned oil firm. He argues that the Worker’s Party took payments from engineering and construction firms for over a decade in return for the granting of contracts from Petrobras.[/toggle]
2. What is the new U.S. unemployment rate?
[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”]5.5%. It was reported last week that the U.S. economy added 295,000 jobs in February. The favorable unemployment number makes it likely that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates before the summer.[/toggle]
3. Why did Peru recently recall its ambassador to Chile?
[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”]Peru claims that Chile engaged in military espionage against it. It claims that Chilean money was used to purchase confidential information from naval officials. Chile denies the claim. Both countries have a dispute over their maritime boundary that goes back to the late nineteenth century.[/toggle]
4. Who is the U.S. ambassador to the United 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”]Samantha Power. Power assumed the job on August 2, 2013 and was born in Ireland before coming to the United States when she was nine. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and is a scholar on U.S. foreign policy.[/toggle]
5. Students who led the singing of a racist chant were expelled from this university 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”]The University of Oklahoma. The two students involved, members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. They were videotaped using a racial slur, referred to lynchings, and claimed that an African American would never be allowed to join their fraternity. Five percent of the University of Oklahoma are African American.[/toggle]
6. Who is Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel’s opponent in a runoff that will be staged on April 7?
[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”]Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia. Garcia finished second to Emanuel in the first round of voting, thereby triggering the first mayoral runoff in Chicago history. Garcia considers himself a progressive and is a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He was born in Mexico in 1956.[/toggle]
7. Name some of the steps President Obama is planning to take to improve student loan repayment.
[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”]President Obama through executive order will require companies that service student loans to alert borrowers when they fall behind on payments or their loans are transferred to another firm. Also, a central access point will be created for people to check their payment accounts and loans with the highest interest rates must be paid by consumers first. Those who are collecting student loan debt will also be required not to charge exorbitant fees. All of the new rules, though, only apply to federal student loans and not those from private banks or other financial firms. The federal government currently holds more than $1 trillion in student loan debt.[/toggle]
8. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives announced yesterday that it would not move forward to ban this type of ammunition.
[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”]M855 “green tip” ammunition. The ATF looked into a ban on the ammunition because it can allegedly pierce police body armor. Gun rights groups claimed that the attempted ammunition ban was “backdoor gun control.”[/toggle]
9. The U.S. ambassador to this country was attacked with a knife last Thursday.
[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”]South Korea. U.S. ambassador Mark Lippert was attacked by a man who claimed he was motivated by ongoing South Korea-U.S. military exercises, which he says are complicating reunification efforts. Lippert was in the hospital for five days and required surgery after the attack.[/toggle]
10. Forty-seven Republican senators recently sent this to Iran’s 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”]A letter. The letter, authored by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, said that any agreement Iran brokers with the Obama administration could be modified or revoked under a new presidential administration. It also said that any agreement brokered without congressional approval would be an executive agreement that could be changed in a future presidential administration. The Obama administration and its allies said that the letter was counterproductive to ongoing talks concerning Iran’s nuclear program.[/toggle]