Extemp Central News Quiz for the Week of February 23-March 1, 2015

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

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

1. Who is Rajendra Pachauri?

[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. Pachauri was the head of the United Nations Climate Change Panel (IPCC).  He resigned this week in the wake of sexual harassment allegations.  The accuser argues that the harassment took place through e-mails, texts, and phone messages and Indian police are currently conducting an investigation.  Mr. Pachauri argues that he did nothing wrong and was the victim of a hacker.[/toggle]

2. Why is Ivory Coast’s former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, on 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”]Mrs. Gbagbo stands accused of “undermining state security” by playing a role in violence that followed the country’s 2010 presidential election.  More than 3,000 Ivory Coast citizens died in the unrest.  Her husband, former President Laurent Gbagbo, will faces a trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the same incident.[/toggle]

3. Venezuelan officials recently arrested Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma. What charge does he face?

[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”]Ledezma, currently housed in a military prison, stands accused of plotting violence against Venezuela’s government.  He has been the mayor of Caracas since 2008.  Of the seventy-six opposition mayors currently in office, thirty-three are facing trials.[/toggle]

4. Leaked information suggested that this person is challenging Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman in 2016.

[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”]Former Ohio Democratic Governor Ted Strickland.  Strickland governed Ohio between 2007-2011.  He was defeated by John Kasich in the state’s 2010 gubernatorial race.  National Democrats hope that Strickland can put Ohio in play for their party in a presidential year.[/toggle]

5. This U.S. political figure was in hot water last week after making statements questioning President Obama’s patriotism.

[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”]Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.  Giuliani commented at a New York donor dinner for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker that he did not believe President Obama loved America.[/toggle]

6. The exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran released information this week that may jeopardize its nuclear talks with the West. What was this information?

[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 National Council of Resistance claimed that it has found a secret nuclear facility in a Tehran suburb.  It argues that Iran is using this site to continue uranium enrichment that is in violation of its current agreements with other major global powers.  While some say that the National Council is trying to scuttle the ongoing Iranian nuclear negotiations, opponents of a nuclear deal say that the revelation illustrates that Iran’s government cannot be trusted.[/toggle]

7. What reason did President Obama give for vetoing the Keystone XL pipeline project?

[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 justified the veto – the third of his presidency – on the grounds that the congressional bill for the pipeline violated a long-established review process that is still looking into the project’s affect on climate change.  Environmentalists argue that Keystone would carry 830,000 barrels of oil sands from Canada to the United States and thereby exacerbate the global warming problem.[/toggle]

8. The European Union recently extended Greece’s debt relief for this length of time.

[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”]Four months.  The EU agreed to continue Greece’s debt relief on the condition that Greece’s left-wing government backdown on campaign promises to end privatizations and significantly increase social welfare spending.  The Greek government pledged to consult EU partners before reforms were made and ensure that any new spending remains budget neutral.[/toggle]

9. How did a United States court interject itself into the Israeli-Palestinian dispute 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”]A Manhattan jury on Tuesday awarded the Israeli victims of 2002 and 2004 terrorist attacks by Palestinian militants $218.5 million in damages.  U.S. anti-terrorism laws triple this figure to $655.5 million.  The verdict is leveled against the Palestinian Authority, which will likely not have the funds to pay the decision.  The Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organizations aid that the charges against them in the case were “baseless.”[/toggle]

10. What day this week will the Department of Homeland Security run out of money if Congress does not approve a new appropriations measure?

[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”]Friday.  Republicans in Congress have refused to reauthorize funding for the Department of Homeland Security in order to halt the implementation of President Obama’s executive order on immigration.  If funding is not provided for the DHS by Friday it will have to temporarily shut down its operations.[/toggle]

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