Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz!

Note:  This will be the last news quiz of the 2023-2024 season.  Questions will continue through NSDA Nationals.  News quizzes will return the first week of September for 2024-2025.

1. A helicopter crash on Sunday killed two prominent officials in which country? Who were they?

Spoiler
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. Both were hardliners in the Iranian regime. Raisi was seen as a successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The men died in a helicopter crash in the northwestern region of the country. No foul play is suspected at present. Many believe the crash could have been caused by foggy weather.

2. Who has become the interim president of the country that is the answer to question #1?

Spoiler
Mohammad Mokhber, who was serving as one of Iran’s vice president. He had formerly been sanctioned by the European Union (EU) for involvement in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program. He also led a multi-billion dollar charitable conglomerate for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for 14 years, called the Setad. Mokhber will not serve as interim president for long as Iran’s constitution requires there to be a new presidential election within 50 days.

3. Which two prominent individuals did International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan announce that he is seeking arrest warrants for this week for war crimes and crimes against humanity?

Spoiler
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. In the statement, Khan said that he was filing applications for arrest warrants due to war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. That application will be looked at by a panel of three judges who will decide if the warrants will be issued, a process that could take months. U.S. President Joe Biden was critical of the announcement, arguing that it created an equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

4. Which two states announced that there will be abortion rights measures on their ballots in November after activists got enough signatures?

Spoiler
Colorado and South Dakota. Colorado’s measure will put abortion protections into the state constitution. South Dakota voters will decide whether the state can ban abortion before the end of the first trimester and regulate it after the second trimester. While Colorado has enhanced legislative rights to an abortion in recent years, South Dakota had a trigger rule after Roe v. Wade was overturned and bans all abortions in the state except when the life of a mother is threatened.

5. Benny Ganz, who is part of Israel’s War Cabinet, has threatened to resign from the Israeli government unless which demand is met?

Spoiler
Ganz, who leads the National Unity Party, has demanded that the Israeli government follow a new plan for the war in Gaza. The plan calls for Hamas to return Israel’s hostages; ending Hamas rule over Gaza; demilitarizing the Gaza Strip and creating a new international administration or the area involving the united States, Europeans, Arabs, and Palestinians; normalize Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia; and broaden the number of Israelis that would be eligible for military service. The deadline that he has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the plan is June 8.

6. What controversy has recently ensnared Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito?

Spoiler
A revelation that the U.S. flag was flying upside down at his residence in January 2021. Alito has argued that his wife flew it because of a dispute with neighbors but others see it as a connection to former President Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. It has called into question whether Alito should hear claims about the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill and others about former President Trump’s behavior in the 2020 election. Fellow justice Clarence Thomas has also faced calls to recuse himself from cases because his wife was involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election result.

7. When did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s term expire?

Spoiler
May 20. According to Ukrainian law, a new presidential election cannot happen while the nation is under the rule of martial law, which has been the case since February 2022. However, the lack of elections in Ukraine is giving ammunition to Russian critics of Zelensky that he is illegitimate. Also, it could weaken Zelensky, who is facing growing unrest over his handling of the conflict at home.

8. President Biden and Donald Trump agreed to two presidential debates last week. When will those debates take place?

Spoiler
June 27 and September 10. The two campaigns made a deal for the June 27 debate on CNN and the September 10 debate on ABC News. Each went around the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has operated since 1988, because of disagreements with its handling of past debates. Each campaign argued that the dates set by the Commission were after people had cast ballots in some states. The debates will not have a live audience, the first time that has happened since John F. Kennedy debated Richard Nixon in 1960. The June 27 debate is also the earliest in American political history between major presidential candidates of opposing parties.

9. What is the Darien Gap?

Spoiler
It is a geographic region that connects Panama with Colombia, full of dense rainforest and mountains. The area has become a transit point for migrants who are looking to move through Panama to get to the United States. Under pressure from the United States, Panama is looking to shut down movement through the Gap, arguing that it is a national border.

10. Which European prime minister was nearly assassinated last week?

Spoiler
Robert Fico of Slovakia. Fico was shot on May 15 while visiting the town of Handlova. Fico has been prime minister since October 2023, leading the Direction – Social Democracy Party, a left-wing nationalist group. Protests against corruption in Fico’s previous government led to his ouster as prime minister in March 2018.