Do you know what Vladimir Putin and President Obama are up to? Take our Week to Week news quiz and see if you're correct.
Here are some random but real hints: Environmental cleanup in aisle 5; the sky's the spending limit; know your audience; and now you see it, now you do.
1. What was the latest reason the United States and the European Union condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin?
a. He has ordered several nuclear missile batteries to target Kiev
b. He visited the newly annexed former Ukrainian province of Crimea
c. His news agency published racially insulting comments about President Obama
d. He threatened to annex the Baltic states "if needed to protect our Russian brothers and sisters there"
2. President Obama came to Silicon Valley to talk about solar energy. Where did he give his speech?
a. Solyndra headquarters
b. A solar industry investment conference
c. A windfarm
d. A Walmart store
3. How much is the Koch brothers' political arm planning to spend in this year's election cycle?
a. $2 million
b. $20 million
c. $50 million
d. $125 million
4. Why will you never see the new HGTV program Flip It Forward?
a. Three children were killed when a roof under repair collapsed during filming
b. The show was shelved after producer Oprah Winfrey deemed it not up to her standards
c. The hosts were fired after reports emerged of their anti-gay views
d. HGTV decided people are tired of house-repair shows
5. Russian President Vladimir Putin told pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to call off their secession referendum for this weekend. Crisis over?
a. Yes, the only outstanding issue between Russia and Ukraine is thus solved peacefully
b. No, Putin said they didn't need a referendum; they could secede at any time
c. No, the separatists announced plans to hold a referendum anyway
d. Yes, now nothing stands in the way of Kiev reestablishing authority in its eastern provinces
6. An organization you probably never heard about a couple months ago is Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram. Which one of the following is not true?
a. It has attacked churches as well as Muslim critics
b. It has no connection with al Qaeda
c. It kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls last month
d. This week it killed about 300 people in an attack on a town near the Cameroon border
7. What country's official news agency published a racist attack on President Barack Obama?
a. North Korea
b. Venezuela
c. Egypt
d. Saudi Arabia
8. Why did the Federal Trade Commission slap down messaging app company Snapchat?
a. Its 23-year-old CEO is too young to hold a chief executive position in a publicly listed company
b. It only spent $30,000 on Washington lobbyists
c. It has not given the NSA access to its servers
d. Snapchat deceived consumers into believing their messages would "disappear forever," which isn't true, and it also collected data from users' address books without consent
9. Richard Parsons, the former chairman of Citigroup and Time Warner, has been appointed interim CEO of what organization?
a. The National Association of Realtors
b. The Los Angeles Clippers
c. AOL
d. Google
10. Climatologists say there's a good chance we'll see what in the Pacific this summer?
a. El Niño
b. An iceberg
c. Traces of radiation from the Japanese nuclear disaster
d. A new continent
BONUS. Why are local Catholics upset at Harvard University?
a. The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club is hosting a Black Mass celebrating Satan
b. The university will no longer accept exchange students from Vatican City
c. The Harvardian Catholica student group has been disbanded by the administration
d. Latin is no longer included in the curriculum
Want the live news quiz experience? Join us Monday, May 19 in San Francisco for our next live Week to Week political roundtable with a news quiz and a social hour at The Commonwealth Club of California. Panelists include Carla Marinucci, Bill Whalen, and Dr. Larry Gerston.
ANSWERS: 1) b. 2) d. 3) d. 4) c. 5) c. 6) b. 7) a. 8) d. 9) b. 10) a. BONUS) a.
Explanations of the hints: Environmental cleanup in aisle 5: the president spoke at a Walmart; the sky's the spending limit: when guessing political spending, it helps to assume the most; know your audience: though the brothers are claiming they were silenced by gay politics, they might also come to understand that HGTV is not going to anger a large part of its audience; and now you see it, now you do: it turns out the messages don't necessarily disappear.