Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
1. What caused Facebook’s mass outage on Monday?
Spoiler
According to Facebook, the outage took place because of “configuration changes on backbone routers.” The outage lasted for seven hours, impacting Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It also cost founder Mark Zuckerberg a reported $7 billion.
2. Which Hollywood union is threatening to go on strike?
Spoiler
The International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). It represents 150,000 people in the entertainment world who do special effects, costuming, makeup, and electrical and camera work, among other tasks. On Monday, IATSE’s rank-and-file membership voted to authorize a strike if terms cannot be reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
3. Which state’s beaches are threatened be a recent oil spill?
Spoiler
California. An oil spill off the Southern California coast is creating an ecological disaster, with more than 140,000 gallons of oil leaking into the Pacific Ocean. The spill is not far from Huntington Beach. Investigators are trying to find an exact cause of the disaster, while the incident has mobilized opponents of offshore oil drilling. Currently, House Democrats are advancing bills to end offshore oil drilling in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
4. What are the Pandora Papers?
Spoiler
The Pandora Papers are a leak of more than ten million documents that purport to reveal the wealth of global political figures and big financial players, exposing hidden wealth and ways that these figures have avoided paying taxes. Some revelations are that Qatar’s ruling family has avoided more than £18.5m tax on a London mansion and the King of Jordan owns proxy properties int he United States and Great Britain. The leak has led to the British government promising to tighten laws on money laundering and strengthen enforcement.
5. According to proposals in the House Ways and Means Committee, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would have the power to review every bank account above what monetary threshold?
Spoiler
$600. It is part of an effort to help the IRS catch the wealthy doing tax avoidance. Treasury officials, supported by Democratic officeholders, believe that if the IRS has access to Americans bank accounts that it will encourage more truthful income reporting. However, privacy groups argue that the $600 threshold is too low and the measure is not “remotely targeted.” The House Ways and Means Committee is weighing whether the measure makes its way into President Biden’s $3.5 trillion social infrastructure package.
6. The United Nations has recently warned that the climate change crisis will also create a crisis for this resource.
Spoiler
Water. The UN argues that global water management systems are inadequate and up to 5 billion people may lack adequate access to water resources by 2050. That would be an increase over today’s number of three and a half million. The UN has also noted that a quarter of all cities today are experiencing water shortage, which climate change will make worse.
7. Over the weekend, China launched 155 warplanes into the skies near the coast of this country.
Spoiler
Taiwan. China refuses to recognize Taiwan as a country as part of its “One China” strategic outlook, and places pressure internationally to prevent others from doing so. Chinese political officials have advocated that they will resort to force to take Taiwan and it is becoming a significant defense debate in the United States about whether an explicit security guarantee should be made to the island. Currently, the U.S. has a policy of strategic ambivalence toward Taiwan, meaning that it is unclear what actions the U.S. might take if China were to attack Taiwan and attempt an invasion.
8. Prior to becoming Japan’s prime minister, what roles did Fumio Kishida play in Japanese government?
Spoiler
Kishida served as Japan’s foreign affairs minister as well as defense minister during the premiership of Shinzo Abe. He worked as foreign affairs minister from 2012-2017 and defense minister for a week in the summer of 2017. After leaving Abe’s cabinet, Kishida was the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Policy Research Council before running for – and winning – the LDP’s leadership position this year.
9. Which political figure announced their retirement from politics over the last week?
Spoiler
Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte is constitutionally prohibited from running for another term as his country’s president. He floated the idea of running as a vice-presidential candidate in next year’s Filipino elections before making his announcement last week. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating Duterte for crimes against humanity during his drug war.
10. What is a “keyword warrant”?
Spoiler
A keyword warrant is a warrant that police issue and requires a search engine company to provide a list of every person who searched for a topic within a specified time period. Government officials used a keyboard warrant in their racketeering case against singer R. Kelly. Privacy advocates warn that the orders are not completely legal and could implicate innocent Americans.