Extemp Central News Quiz for the Week of January 19-25, 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. What is the goudougoudou?

[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”]Goudougoudou is the nickname given to the 2010 Haitian earthquake.  The name mimics the sound that buildings make when they shake items on the surface.  The 2010 Haitian earthquake claimed about 160,000 lives and it did significant damage to the capital of Port-au-Prince.[/toggle]

2. When will the Supreme Court hear oral arguments for its collection of cases about gay marriage?

[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”]April.  The Supreme Court will hear two-and-a-half hours of oral argumetns concerning whether gay couples should have the right to marry in all U.S. states.  Fourteen states currently have prohibitions on gay marriage.  The Court is expected to announce its decision in the case in late June.[/toggle]

3. Who delivered the Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union?

[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”]Newly elected Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa.  Ernst defeated Democrat Bruce Braley 52-43% to win Iowa’s open Senate seat in November.[/toggle]

4. President Obama says he will veto Republican-backed legislation that would impose this limit on abortions.

[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 Republican-backed bill would prohibit abortions after twenty weeks, which President Obama says he opposes because it infringes upon the right of women to have an abortion under Roe v. Wade.  The Republicans tried to pass a similar bill in 2013, but the bill never passed Congress and reached the President’s desk.  President Obama also opposes part of the legislation that would require a rape victim to report the crime to the police.[/toggle]

5. 15 California community colleges are participating in a pilot program that allows them to do this.

[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”]Fifteen California community colleges have been allowed to grant four-year Bachelor’s degrees.  Until recently, California’s 112 community colleges were only allowed to offer two-year degrees, but a seven-year pilot program is under way that allows some of these colleges to grant four-year degrees.  Those in favor of the program say that it will help students get their degrees faster, thereby helping the state’s economy.[/toggle]

6. Why is the New Democratic Party arguing that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper misled the country about its role 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”]NDP leader Thomas Mulcair says that Harper promised Canadian voters that the country’s troops would not be engaged in combat.  Recent reports show that Canadian forces have been directing airstrikes and extremists in Iraqi territory since last September.[/toggle]

7. According to media reports, these five countries are willing to provide troops for a regional force to fight Boko Haram.

[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”]Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama says that five countries are willing to join forces to battle Boko Haram via a multinational force.  These countries are Ghana, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.  Since 2009, Boko Haram has kileld more than 13,000 people in Nigeria and it has recently been responsible for some bombings in Cameroon.[/toggle]

8. The Islamic State’s latest video threatens to kill two hostages from this 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”]Japan.  The Islamic State has demanded $200 million from the Japanese government in return for the men, one of whom was a private military company operator.  Japan has been a supporter of U.S. operations against the Islamic State.[/toggle]

9. On Tuesday, Shi’ite insurgents stormed the presidential palace of this 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”]Yemen.  Shi’ite insurgents backed by Iran stormed the Yemeni presidential palace and threatened to topple a government that has been supportive of U.S. drone strikes against al-Qaeda.  Analysts fear that if the Yemeni government is toppled it would unleash a Syria-style civil war.[/toggle]

10. President Obama’s proposed taxes on capital gains and dividends are meant to pay for how much in middle-class tax cuts?

[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”]$320 billion.  President Obama’s State of the Union sketched out plans to raise the top capital gains and dividend tax rate from 23.8% to 28%.  This is part of the President’s agenda to reduce income inequality in the United States.[/toggle]

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