Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz.  Good luck!

1. The Justice Department recently announced that they were imposing limits on this behavior by federal law enforcement officers.

Spoiler
The use of “no-knock” warrants and chokeholds. “No-knock” warrants came into the national spotlight last year when Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police officers in Louisville, Kentucky during a botched raid. With regards to chokeholds, new guidelines from the Department of Justice (DOJ) do not allow them unless deadly force is justified. Some of the DOJ’s new order can also apply to local police departments if they are working with the department as part of a joint task force.

2. Senate Democrats recently reached a deal with this individual over election reform.

Spoiler
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. Manchin has criticized the initial scope of the Democratic Party’s efforts to overhaul national voting laws. It was announced yesterday that Senate Democrats got Manchin on board in the 50-50 Senate to bring the bill to the floor. The proposal would create standards for voting by mail, automatically register new voters, and set national standards for states that use ID to vote, mandate fifteen days of early voting, and set rules for redistricting. However, Manchin opposes abolishing the Senate filibuster, so it is unlikely that the reform proposal will pass before the 2022 midterm elections.

3. Who is the Secretary of Defense?

Spoiler
Lloyd Austin. Austin was a four-star general in the U.S. Army before he was picked by President Biden as Secretary of Defense. He is the first African American to serve in the role. Along with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Austin has faced significant criticism over last month’s collapse of the Afghan government in the face of Taliban resistance and America’s withdrawal from the country.

4. President Biden’s social infrastructure bill would raise the nation’s corporate tax rate by how much?

Spoiler
From 21% to 26.5%. The total cost of Biden’s social infrastructure spending bill is $3.5 trillion and increased taxes on corporations, surcharging individuals who make more than $5 million, and raising the capital-gains tax are part of the way the President plans to fund it. The likelihood of the bill making it through the Senate is problematic, though, as Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have voiced issues with its size and scope.

5. Aside from Texas’ controversial abortion law, the Supreme Court is being asked by abortion providers to strike down this state’s abortion statute.

Spoiler
Mississippi. The state’s bill, passed in 2018, prohibits most abortions in the state after fifteen weeks. Mississippi’s Attorney General Lynn Fitch has told the Supreme Court that it is time to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that struck down state-level abortion bans across the United States. Unlike Texas’ recent heartbeat bill, Mississippi’s has been blocked at the district court and circuit court.

6. What is the name of the ruling political party in Russia?

Spoiler
United Russia. Founded in 2001, it holds nearly three-quarters of the seats in the Russian Duma and has had a majority of the seats in the chamber since 2007. Its platform espouses conservative values. Russian President Vladimir Putin is officially independent, but he was a member of the party from 2008-2012, when he served as the nation’s prime minister. Russia will hold new federal elections this weekend but the vote will not be fair as opponents of Putin have not been allowed to contest the vote. For example, Putin opponent Alexei Navalny, who sits in a Russian prison, has had his party banned and those who were members of it barred from running.

7. Nigeria is facing an epidemic of this illness.

Spoiler
Cholera. More than 2,300 people have died and the contagion, the worst that Nigeria has had in four years, is blamed on flooding and poor sanitation in the nation’s northern region. The Associated Press notes that Nigeria has seasonal cholera outbreaks because only 14% of the nation’s 200 million people have access to safely managed drinking water.

8. Which political party triumphed in Norway’s recent elections?

Spoiler
The center-left Labour Party. It displaced the ruling Conservative Party, which had governed since 2013. Analysts expect the Labour Party to form a governing coalition with the Center Party and Socialist Left Party. A big issue in the election was Norway’s oil industry, the second-largest in Europe. The Norwegian Green Party wanted to end fossil fuel exploration but it is not expected that the Labour Party will go that far since its leader Jonas Gahr Store, has taken pro-oil stances.

9. How much money was the United Nations recently able to raise in emergency pledges for Afghanistan?

Spoiler
$1.2 billion. Extempers should be aware of Afghan aid efforts as the new Taliban government needs assistance in order to keep running the country. This is because Western countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have suspended aid to the country. Experts fear that the country is headed for a humanitarian crisis, with the World Food Programme (WFP) recently noting that 14 million Afghans are on the verge of starvation.

10. Which Balkan states wish to join the European Union?

Spoiler
Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, and North Macedonia. The prospective members have been called “The Balkan Six.” Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel has argued in the past for the EU to grow to include the Western Balkans. She has urged greater cooperation among the nations in the region because that might strengthen their membership profile. However, Bulgaria is holding up talks for North Macedonia and Albania due to a culture spat with the Macedonians.