Extemp Central News Quiz for the Week of December 15th-21st, 2014

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quiz-01Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz.  Good luck!

To access a list of all our old quizzes, click here.

1. Who is Zhou Yongkang?

[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”]Mr. Zhou is a retired senior leader of the Communist Party and previously served on the Party’s powerful Politburo Standing Committee.  He oversaw China’s internal security apparatus as Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.  He now stands accused of bribery, adultery, and the leaking of party secrets.  He will be the most senior Chinese official put on trial since 1980.[/toggle]

2. Why do champions of e-cigarettes argue that the Food and Drug Administration should not regulate them under the Tobacco Control Act?

[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”]Opponents of regulating e-cigarettes under the Tobacco Control Act argue that e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco, only nicotine, and therefore the FDA should not regulate them like other tobacco products.  The FDA in April proposed regulations on e-cigarette sales, which would prohibit their sale to minors.[/toggle]

3. According to the Commerce Department’s housing report, which area of the country is seeing the worst market?

[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 South.  The Commerce Department noted that the South saw a 19.5% decline in housing starts, which are the beginning of construction on new homes.  This was the biggest drop in housing starts in the region since June.  Other areas of the country saw large increases, such as the West, which jumped 28.1%, but the South’s number dragged down the positive gains in other regions of the country.[/toggle]

4. When announcing his exploratory run for the presidency this week, what slogan did former Florida Governor Jeb Bush use?

[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”]”Onward, Jeb Bush.”  The slogan appears to be positioning Bush as a forward thinker and someone who represents the future, possibly attempting to deflect criticisms that another Bush presidency would be a return to the past.[/toggle]

5. Why were senators from both parties angry at Senator Ted Cruz this 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”]Senator Cruz objected to breaking up Congress for the weekend and returning on Monday, December 15 to vote on the government’s $1.1 trillion spending bill.  He tried to insert language into the legislation defunding elements of President Obama’s executive action on immigration.[/toggle]

6. In the new Israeli elections, what percentage of the vote must a party or alliance win in order to obtain representation in the Knesset?

[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”]3.25%.  The Israeli government increased the threshold to this number from 2%.  The thinking is that the higher percentage will yield a larger bloc of seats for larger parties, thereby reducing the instability inherent in Israeli coalition governments.[/toggle]

7. What new sanctions is the U.S. imposing on Russia?

[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 sanctions that President Obama will sign were approved unanimously by Congress.  They allow President Obama to direct lethal aid to Ukraine and puts sanctions on Russian defense and energy sectors.  If Russian state firms give military equipment to factions in Syria, Ukraine, Georgia, or Moldova without the consent of the governments in question, President Obama is required to impose sanctions on the Russian defense sector.  President Obama was initially reluctant to sign the sanctions bill, saying it would hinder efforts to get Russia to quit interfering in Ukraine, but he is changing course.[/toggle]

8. A cafe in this city was seized by a radical Islamist earlier this 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”]Sydney.  The gunman, Man Haron Monis, took control of the Lindt cafe.  He was eventually shot and killed by Australian police, but two hostages died in the rescue effort.[/toggle]

9. The Russian central bank recently raised key interest rates to this level to stop the falling value of the rouble.

[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 Russian central bank raised interest rates on Tuesday to 17%.  This is up from 10.5% and constitutes the bigger rate increase since 1998.  The Russian rouble has been tumbling in value due to falling global oil prices.[/toggle]

10. Which terrorist group was responsible for an attack on a Pakistani school this week? The attack led to 145 deaths, with many of the victims being children.

[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 Pakistani Taliban, otherwise known as Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan.  The group attacked the Army Public School and Degree College early Tuesday evening and killed at least 145 people, 132 of which were children.[/toggle]

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