Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz!
1. What threat did U.S. intelligence officials disclose to lawmakers last week concerning Russia?
Spoiler
According to reports, the Russian government is looking to put a nuclear weapon in space. Intelligence suggests that Russia would seek to use the weapon to blow up satellites more than shoot a missile down on Earth from orbit. The report alarmed U.S. policymakers, who see it as a destabilizing move.
2. What decision by the Indian Supreme Court dealt a blow to Narendra Modi’s BJP party?
Spoiler
India’s highest court ruled that the use of electoral bonds, which allowed people to make anonymous donations to political parties, were unconstitutional. The bonds were used by India’s governing BJP party for most of its funding. It had been using them since 2018. Critics argued that it allowed corporations to make illicit donations to candidates. The Court justified its decision by saying that anonymous donations violated Indian citizens’ right to information.
3. Which notable dissident of Russian President Vladimir Putin died last week?
Spoiler
Alexei Navalny. An anti-corruption crusader who criticized Putin’s consolidation of power, Navalny was poisoned in 2020, saved only by the intervention of a German-based charity that had him flown to Germany for treatment. Navalny returned to Russia in January 2021 and was immediately arrested on a suspended fraud conviction and in March 2022 his sentence was increased by 9 years for embezzlement and contempt of court and then increased to 19 years last August. In recent months, Navalny’s lawyers and loved ones sounded the alarm about his health in a Siberian penal colony, where he reportedly collapsed on a walk and died. More than 400 Russians were arrested for paying tribute to Navalny.
4. What were the terms of a judge’s ruling against President Donald Trump in a civil trial after finding that he lied about the values of his properties in New York?
Spoiler
Trump was ordered to pay a $355 million fine (with interest it could total as much as $450 million) and was barred from serving as a company director or taking out loans from a bank in New York over the next three years. Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, were also barred from doing business in New York for two years and fined $4 million. Judge Arthur Engoron stopped short of dissolving some of Trump’s companies, a step that some analysts thought could mean bankruptcy for the former President of the United States. Trump has vowed to appeal the verdict.
5. Who is the projected winner of the Indonesian presidential election last week?
Spoiler
Prabowo Subianto, a former general. He was projected to win the first round of the election with more than 50% of the vote, avoiding a runoff against other challengers. Subianto took outgoing President Joko Widodo’s son as his running mate and was endorsed by Widodo during the campaign. Critics of Subianto’s candidacy highlighted how he has stood accused of human rights abuses during the Suharto dictatorship. He was once banned from entering the United States for 20 years because of his human rights record.
6. How many times has the United States vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council about the Israel-Hamas War?
Spoiler
Three times. The U.S. vetoed an Algerian resolution yesterday that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The U.S. has argued that the resolutions impede its ability to broker a peace deal that would lead to the release of hostages and allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
7. On Monday, which U.S. state approved of a new legislative election map after its old map was found unconstitutional by a state supreme court?
Spoiler
Wisconsin. Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, signed off on legislative maps created by the Republican legislature after old maps were tossed out by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in December. Republicans decided to go with the maps Evers proposed so that they could avoid having the maps made by Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, which has a left-leaning majority. It is only the second time since the 1960s that there was bipartisan agreement on what the state legislative election maps should look like. The new maps are expected to reduce the Republican majority in the state legislature.
8. What are the five largest economies in the world, as measured by their gross domestic product (GDP)?
Spoiler
The United States, China, Germany, Japan, and India. Japan was third but economic data came out last week that dropped Japan to fourth place because its GDP contracted in the last quarter of 2023. Like the country that is the answer to question nine on this week’s quiz, Japan officially entered a recession based on that data as well.
9. Which Western European economy was announced as entering recession last week?
Spoiler
Great Britain. It was announced that the British economy sank into recession in the last quarter of 2023 as economic activity shrank by 0.3%, more than the 0.1% decline that was anticipated. It is another bad news for the Conservative Party, which is bracing for heavy losses in this year’s general election.
10. According to a deal announced last week, what does the new Pakistani government look like?
Spoiler
It will be a six-party coalition led by the Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), headed by former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Joining it will be the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and four smaller parties. The coalition will have more than 150 seats in the Pakistani Parliament, more than the 134 required for a majority. The governing agreement will keep the Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party out of government even though its independent candidates won more seats in the chamber than any other party in the recent elections. Its leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, is imprisoned on corruption charges.