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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 American city is looking into holding a cash lottery for those who show up to vote in local 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”]Los Angeles. The city’s Ethnics Commission recently voted to recommend that the City Council look into awarding a cash prize for those who show up to vote. Los Angeles has looked into ways to boost anemic voter turnout.[/toggle]
2. Last week saw Spain report a sudden surge of illegal immigrants from this North African country.
[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”]Morocco. The Spanish government has reported that more than 1,200 migrants crossed from Morocco over the Mediterranean Sea.[/toggle]
3. Senator Brian Schatz won a tough primary battle in this state last weekend.
[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”]Hawaii. Senator Schatz, a Democrat, was appointed by Hawaiian Governor Neil Abercrombie after the death of longtime Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye in 2012. Despite Inouye wishing for Representative Colleen Hanabusa to be appointed in his place, Abercrombie appointed Schatz instead. This set off a bitter primary campaign whereby Schatz defeated Hanabusa in a close race by the margin of 48.5% to 47.8%. However, Abercrombie became the first sitting governor in state history to lose his primary contest. He was defeated by State Senator David Ige.[/toggle]
4. Where did President Obama recently go on vacation?
[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”]Martha’s Vinyard, which is an island located south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. President Obama has weathered criticism in recent weeks that going on vacation as violence surges in Iraq makes him an “absentee president.”[/toggle]
5. Why are Pakistani protesters demanding the arrest and ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resign?
[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”]Opposition demonstrators, led by cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri and Imran Khan have called for the arrest and ouster of Sharif for murdering political opponents and conducting a fraudulent election last year. Analysts fear that the political deadlock generated by the protests may strengthen the hand of the Pakistani military.[/toggle]
6. Who is the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)?
[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”]Yukiya Amano. Mr. Amano is a former Japanese diplomat and civil servant of the United Nations. He has been in charge of the IAEA since July 2009.[/toggle]
7. Why is the control of Mosul Dam so important in Iraq?
[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 Mosul Dam is Iraq’s largest dam and if it falls into the wrong hands it could become a “weapon of mass destruction” that could flood Mosul with sixty-five feet of water and flood the capital of Baghdad. Kurdish and Iraqi forces, with U.S. help, pushed back forces from the Islamic State near the dam on Sunday.[/toggle]
8. What did Missouri Governor Jay Nixon do in an attempt to stop confrontations and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri?
[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”]Governor Nixon imposed a midnight curfew on Saturday and declared a state of emergency. Despite the curfew, demonstrators continued to clash with police forces. Part of Nixon’s declaration of emergency was also due to looting that has plagued the city since the shooting of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown on August 9.[/toggle]
9. When does the Scottish independence referendum take place?
[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”]September 18, 2014. On that day Scottish voters will decide whether Scotland should become an independent country. Polls currently have the “no” side winning the vote.[/toggle]
10. Texas Governor Rick Perry was indicted by a grand jury last week. What two crimes does he stand accused of?
[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”]Perry was indicted on felony counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. The charges stem from a veto of a $7.5 million appropriations bill to a division of the Travis County district attorney’s office after District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was arrested for drunken driving. Democrats hope that Perry’s indictment will drag down Republican candidates in the state this year, but some Democratic analysts like David Axelrod say that the indictment appears politically motivated. Perry is the first sitting Texas governor to be indicted since 1917.[/toggle]