[fblike]
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
To access a list of all our old quizzes, click here.
1. What are the tenets of Nigeria’s anti-gay law?
[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 law bans gay marriage, gay organization, and non-martial gay relationships and those found in violation of the law could serve up to 14 years in prison. Human rights organizations have been critical of the law and say that it could undermine the government’s HIV/AIDS campaign. Homosexuality is illegal in 36 of Africa’s 55 countries and countries like Nigeria that are insulted from Western aid efforts have been free to pass anti-gay legislation.[/toggle]
2. This state’s ban on gay marriage was found unconstitutional by a federal judge 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”]Oklahoma. The state is appealing the decision. Oklahoma’s gay marriage ban was found in a state constitutional amendment that voters approved of in 2004.[/toggle]
3. The trade of this drug has served to undermine American security efforts in Afghanistan.
[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”]Opium. The U.S. has led a long-term fight against opium cultivation in Afghanistan, but poor farmers rely on it because it can grow in a dry climate and a series of droughts in the country, which began in 1995, ruined the country’s vegetable industry. Opium poppies contribute to the world’s heroin trade and have served to enrich warlords that challenge the central authority of the Afghan government in Kabul.[/toggle]
4. This incident in Brazil has created public calls for reform’s of the country’s prison system.
[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”]On January 7th the Brazilian paper Folha de Sao Paulo published footage of three inmates who had been decapitated in Pedrinhas, a prison complex in northern Brazil. Brazil has the fourth highest prison population in the world after the United States, China, and Russia and its jails are known to be very unsafe.[/toggle]
5. This Republican Senator announced his premature retirement from the chamber 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”]Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Coburn has been battling prostate cancer and his term did not expire until 2016. Coburn is known for his opposition to federal spending measures and he voted against the Iraq War in 2003.[/toggle]
6. What did Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently blame for Venezuela’s high crime rate?
[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”]Maduro recently blamed telenovelas for the country’s high crime rate, alleging that they glamorize violence and spread antisocial values to young people. Venezuela has the fifth highest homicide rate in the world and Maduro has a history of attacking popular culture, as he criticized violent video games and the movie Spider-man last year.[/toggle]
7. Who is Kenneth Bae?
[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”]Kenneth Bae is an American missionary and businessman that has been serving a fifteen year sentence with hard labor in North Korea. He was convicted of state subversion last year for a “Jericho plot” of trying to undermine the North Korean government through religious activities. He has been detained by North Korean authorities since November 2012.[/toggle]
8. Why did UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon withdraw an offer to Iran to participate in peace negotiations on the Syrian civil war?
[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 offer was withdrawn after the Iranian government announced that it was opposed to a transition deal from June 2012 that is the basis for the peace negotiations.[/toggle]
9. Japan’s annual hunt of this annual has been criticized by U.S. ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy.
[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 dolphin. Western Japan engages in dolphin fishing , which they claim is part of traditional culture. The topic was the subject of The Cove, a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary.[/toggle]
10. What is Russia’s “ring of steel?
[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 “ring of steel” is a $2 billion network of security defenses for the Sochi Winter Olympics. It is sixty miles long, twenty-five miles deep, and within the zone there is total surveillance. An estimated 25,000 special police, 8,000 interior troops, and other special agents assist with the defenses.[/toggle]