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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. Who is Turkey’s top trading partner in the European Union?
[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”]Germany. The German government recently joined France, the European parliament, and Pope Francis in terming the death of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a century ago as a “genocide.”[/toggle]
2. If the Federal Reserve raises interest rates in June, how high do economists think this rate hike will be?
[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”]Most economists believe that if the Federal Reserve moves to raise interest rates in June that the rate hike will only be 0.25%. This would allow the Federal Reserve to observe how markets react to a rate hike before moving further. Eventually, the Federal Reserve will probably want to raise interest rates to 3.5% by 2017.[/toggle]
3. Why did United Airlines recently prohibit a security researcher from boarding a flight?
[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”]Chris Roberts, the security researcher in question, was not allowed to board a flight from Colorado to San Francisco after he Tweeted that he might be able to hack into the airline’s onboard systems. His laptop was seized along with other electronics. Roberts is the founder of One World Labs, a security firm.[/toggle]
4. The U.S. and Israel recently criticized this Russian arms sale to Iran.
[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”]Russia recently agreed to sell Iran a S-300 air-defense system, thereby abrogating its ban on selling arms to the Islamic Republic. Israel and the U.S. argue that this would make air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities much more difficult.[/toggle]
5. How large is Greece’s debt?
[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”]313 billion euros. The Greek government is still in a standoff with its creditors over meeting its debt obligations, with the leftist SYRIZA government refusing to privatize elements of its economy.[/toggle]
6. Why are sixty-nine party leaders and activists of the neo-Nazi Greek Golden Dawn Party standing trial?
[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 party leaders and activists are on trial for running a violent criminal organization that conspired to murder an anti-fascist musician. It also stands accused of violence against immigrants. Most of those on trial have been in prison since October 2013 after the murder of Greek rapper Pavlos Fyssas. Despite the legal proceedings, Golden Dawn has seventeen members in the Greek parliament.[/toggle]
7. On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered this state’s Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling concerning redistricting.
[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”]North Carolina. The Supreme Court overruled a decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court that found a Republican redistricting plan was constitutional. The Court demanded that North Carolina revisit whether the legislature relied too much on race when redrawing districts.[/toggle]
8. Why are Poles demanding an apology from FBI Director James Comey?
[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”]Comey gave remarks last week at the U.S. Holocaust Museum suggesting that Poles were responsible for the Holocaust, saying that “In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn’t do something evil…They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do. That’s what people do. And that should truly frighten us.” Poles argue that they did not run the death camps that existed in their territory under the Third Reich and note that they were active participants in anti-Nazi resistance movements throughout the war. President Obama also ran afoul of Poles in 2012 by referring to some of the Holocaust death camps as “Polish death camps,” which implied Polish complicity. He later apologized for the remarks.[/toggle]
9. China and Pakistan recently agreed to create a Pakistan-China Economic Corridor. What is 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”]The corridor is a network of roads, railways, and pipelines that will link both nations together. The project will cost $46 billion and is a way for both nations to express their shared geopolitical interests. China hopes to get Pakistani cooperation to clamp down on Muslim militants, while Pakistan hopes for Chinese cooperation in its energy sector.[/toggle]
10. What is the name of the European Union’s search-and-rescue operation for migrants?
[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”]Triton. The EU began Triton at the end of last year after the Italian government scaled back its Mare Nostrum operation after it says it was not receiving enough support to handle migrants coming over the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa. Sunday saw an estimated 700 migrants perish when their boat capsized, prompting calls for a more cohesive EU migration strategy and causing some to question Triton’s effectiveness.[/toggle]