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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. This year’s Syrian presidential election will feature two names on the ballot. Why is this unique?
[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”]Syrian voters have never had the chance to vote for someone other than an Assad since 1970 when President Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, took power.[/toggle]
2. According to the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) how much did the U.S. give in development aid last year?
[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”]$31.6 billion. Most U.S. aid was concentrated on humanitarian efforts and the fight against AIDS. However, critics argue that America could have given more as its aid was only 0.19% of its national income.[/toggle]
3. Which two European nations are trying to get the European Commission to grant it an exemption from the EU’s 3% budget deficit limit?
[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”]Italy and France. Both nations want to use tax cuts and government spending to grow their weak economies, but doing so will cause them to breach EU rules that prohibit eurozone members from running deficits worth more than 3% of their GDP.[/toggle]
4. Last week, Japan signed its a trade agreement with this country, its first with a big agricultural exporter.
[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”]Australia. Japan is reducing some tariffs on farm produce and the United States hopes that the deal may lay the foundation for Japan opening itself up more to U.S. farm products.[/toggle]
5. Provide one reason why being unemployed for long stretches of time is bad for a prospective employee.
[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”]Economists argue that there are two reasons that long-term unemployment is bad for prospective employees. First, job skills tend to erode the longer someone stays out of the workforce. And second, employers are unlikely to hire workers who have been unemployed for long periods of time.[/toggle]
6. Why is the Justice Department planning to file hate crime charges against Frazier Glenn Cross, who sot and killed three people at a Jewish Community Center and a Jewish assisted living facility in Overland Park, Kansas?
[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 Justice Department announced that it plans to bring hate crime charges against Cross because they believe that the shooting was motivated by anti-Semitic beliefs. Cross, a 73-year-old native of Southwest Missouri has a history of anti-Semitism and reportedly yelled “Heil Hitler” when he was arrested.[/toggle]
7. Who has President Obama pegged to replace outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius?
[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”]Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Sylvia Mathews Burwell. Republicans have argued that she will “spin” the numbers concerning the Affordable Care Act and argue that she was responsible for the controversial closings of public property that took place during last fall’s government shutdown.[/toggle]
8. Supposed 2016 Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was attacked by other contenders for saying that illegal immigration was a….
[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”]”Act of love.” Bush’s comments were made at an event marking the 25th anniversary of his father George H.W. Bush’s presidency at his presidential library and museum in College Station, Texas. Conservatives have seized on the comments as evidence that Bush is not worthy of the Republican presidential nomination.[/toggle]
9. Why was the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) locked in a dispute with a Nevada rancher 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”]The BLM was in a standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who has refused to pay the U.S. government $1 million in order to allow his cattle to graze on federal lands. Bundy argues that his family grazed cattle on the lands before the federal government took control of them and refuses to recognize federal authority over the territory. The BLM retreated from the standoff near the end of last week due to the possibility of violence between its agents and Bundy’s supporters.[/toggle]
10. Why did Nigeria’s economy suddenly move past South Africa in terms of GDP value 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”]Nigeria rebased its GDP, which means that it re-evaluated the weights given to certain economic activities. Nigeria had not rebased its economy since 1990 and the new rebasing added small business, the country’s Nollywood film industry, and its growing telecom sector. Nigeria’s economy is now worth $510 billion versus South Africa’s $385 billion.[/toggle]