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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 is Shinzo Abe calling for new Japanese parliamentary elections?
[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”]Abe is seeking a mandate from voters to delay a scheduled tax increase now that the country has fallen into recession. An increase in the nation’s consumption tax in April from 5% to 8% is seen as a contributing factor to slowed economic growth. Abe had implemented the tax increase as part of his Abenomics program. Japan has experienced four recessions since the 2008 global financial crisis. Analysts see the new elections as a chance for voters to endorse or reject Abe’s platform, as the prime minister has said he will resign if his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) does not win a majority.[/toggle]
2. What was the turnout for Catalonia’s non-binding independence vote?
[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%. Of those who voted, 81% said that they favored independence from Spain. Spain’s Constitutional Court barred Catalonia from holding an official referendum. The Spanish government argues that Catalan independence must be decided by all Spanish voters.[/toggle]
3. According to reports that emerged last week, how many illegal immigrants might be granted legal status?
[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”]4.5 million. President Obama has vowed to move on immigration before his second term finishes, possibly before Christmas, but his political opponents argue that he lacks the constitutional authority to enact sweeping immigration reform measures without congressional approval.[/toggle]
4. What is the issue that is at the center of King v. Burwell?
[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 case argues that the text of the Affordable Care Act prohibits the federal government from giving subsidies to citizens who purchase insurance policies on the federal exchange. Instead, only those who purchase policies on state-run exchanges are supposed to be eligible for subsidies. The Supreme Court has decided to hear the case and if it finds subsidies on the federal exchange unconstitutional it could limit the number of Americans who will purchase insurance policies because the cost of those policies could become prohibitive.[/toggle]
5. The European Space Agency made history last Wednesday by doing this.
[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”]Placing a lander on a comet. The Philae lander mission cost $1.6 billion and its goal was to take surface samples, which are thought to contain material from the origins of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.[/toggle]
6. Last week, FIFA made a controversial ruling on Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup. What did it 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 world soccer body cleared Qatar of bribery. Investigators of the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar alleged that the country bought votes for the rights to host the event. In addition to the bribery scandal, Qatar’s hosting of the tournament has come under fire due to deaths of construction workers and the country’s policies concerning homosexuality.[/toggle]
7. This Indonesian test for women seeking to join the nation’s national police force has been criticized as “discriminatory” by Human Rights Watch.
[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”]Women seeking to join Indonesia’s national police force are required to take a virginity test. Indonesia is a deeply conservative society and is the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Human Rights Watch argues that the virginity tests violate international human rights to “equality, non-discrimination, and privacy.”[/toggle]
8. What is APEC?
[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”]Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It is a forum for twenty-one nations that exist along the Pacific Rim. It seeks to open up new trade opportunities and provides a talking shop for sustainable growth strategies. Its prominent members include the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, and Mexico.[/toggle]
9. Why is the Temple Mount a source of contention between Israelis and the 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”]Both sides are clashing over prayer rights at the site, which is located in East Jerusalem. Jews contend that the site was the location of the Jewish temple, which the Romans destroyed in 70 AD. Muslims built the Haram al-Sharif, the third holiest site in Islam where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven, on the site more than one thousand years ago and it is currently administered by Jordanian-appointed religious authorities. Currently, Jews and non-Muslims can visit the site, but not pray there, but militant Jews are demanding the right to pray at the site, thereby creating sectarian unrest in the city in recent months.[/toggle]
10. According to its climate accord with the United States, when does China have to begin curbing its carbon emissions?
[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”]2030. The cap that China pledged to uphold is the first time that it has agreed to limit its CO2 emissions in an international agreement. China is the largest emitter of CO2 in the world, a ranking that it has held since 2006.[/toggle]