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Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
1. What is Mercosur and name its five full-time members.
[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”]Mercosur is a regional trade organization that was formed in 1991 to promote a common market and trade policy in South America. It is sometimes called the Southern Common Market and is the world’s fifth-largest economy, with a GDP value of $3 trillion. Its five full-time members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Bolivia is in the process of becoming a full-time member.[/toggle]
2. Which country is set to become the first in the world to legalize marijuana?
[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”]Uruguay. Its president, Jose Mujica, has said that he will sign legislation that legalizes and regulates marijuana cultivation in the country.[/toggle]
3. What prompted the United States and Great Britain to suspend aid to Syrian rebels 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 United States and Great Britain suspended “non-lethal” aid to the Syrian rebels in the northern part of the country after Islamist forces seized control of the headquarters of the Free Syrian Supreme Military Council, which is a moderate force in the Syrian opposition movement supported by the West.[/toggle]
4. Eastern European nations expressed alarm after Russia moved nuclear-capable missiles to this location on Monday.
[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”]It was reported on Monday that Russia had moved nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad, which is a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea.[/toggle]
5. President Obama’s handshake with this foreign leader at Nelson Mandela’s funeral created criticism at home, although it drew praise from others like former President Jimmy Carter.
[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”]President Obama shook hands with Raul Castro, the president of Cuba. Conservatives blasted it as a “propaganda coup” for Castro, whose nation is still feeling the pressure of a U.S. embargo that dates back to 1960.[/toggle]
6. On Monday, a federal judge found the National Security Agency’s collection of phone records unconstitutional on what grounds?
[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”]U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that the NSA’s “metadata” program on collecting telephone calls violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This is the first setback for the NSA’s program, which Edward Snowden exposed earlier in the year.[/toggle]
7. This country recently became the third country to place a rover on the moon.
[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”]China. Their Chang’e 3 was the first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in 37 years. China is looking into a possible moon landing for its astronauts in 2020. [/toggle]
8. What is Pemex and what is the Mexican government doing with it?
[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”]Pemex is the Mexican state-owned oil company. The Mexican government is seeking to end its monopoly on oil production in an attempt to boost the nation’s output. The Mexican Senate approved of the measure last week and Mexican state legislatures must now vote for the bill. If the Mexican oil industry is deregulated and opened to private investment, some economists estimate that it could add another Nigeria to the global oil market.[/toggle]
9. Last week, it was reported that the National Security Agency said that it would consider giving Edward Snowden amnesty in exchange for what?
[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”]NSA sources told the media that they would consider giving Snowden amnesty if he handed over the documents that he allegedly took with him when he fled the country earlier in the year. Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum in September.[/toggle]
10. What is the current federal minimum wage?
[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 current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. It was lasted raised in July 2009, which was part of a phased-in increase wage increase passed by a Democratic Congress under President George W. Bush in 2007.[/toggle]