1. Cyclone Idai hit what country on March 15, leaving an official death count of 84 and displacing upwards of 400,000 people?
a. Kenya
b. Mozambique
c. Somalia
2. Which country just fired its governmental leaders and voted on new ones after only six months of leadership by the former?
a. Guatemala
b. Nicaragua
c. Haiti
3. Following the massacre of 49 at a New Zealand mosque, which person, set to visit Australia later this year, has been banned from entering the country?
a. Former Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos
b. President Donald Trump
c. American radio host Alex Jones
4. Which potential Democratic presidential candidate has separated him – or herself – from the field by being the only one willing to directly attack Trump in speeches and on social media?
a. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
b. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker
c. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar
5. Disney fired “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn from the third movie in the franchise last July after years-old tweets by Gunn surfaced where he joked about pedophilia, rape and the Holocaust. Which director, who has already worked within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was recently confirmed to be working on the movie now?
a. “Thor: Ragnarok” director Taika Waititi
b. “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler
c. James Gunn, again
Answers:
1. b. Cyclone Idai made landfall in Mozambique on March 15 before traveling to Zimbabwe, according to dpa International. According to dpa, the Mozambique president has expressed concern that the true death count may be over 1,000. As many as 400,000 people have been displaced by the cyclone and subsequent flooding, according to the American Red Cross.
2. c. After just six months of leadership by Prime Minister Jean Henry Céant, the Haitian Lower Chamber of Deputies fired Céant and his government on March 18, according to the Miami Herald. In an interview with the Herald, Céant called the decision “illegal and outside the constitution.” Céant was not present at the hearing where his government was overthrown because he was at a Senate quorum discussing the arrest of armed Americans in Haiti and their release through the help of the Justice Department. Lower Chamber President Gary Bodeau proceeded with the vote to oust Céant despite knowing Céant would not be present, according to the Miami Herald.
3. a. Yiannopoulos was banned from entering Australia after making claims on Facebook that attacks like those in Christchurch happen “because the establishment panders to and mollycoddles extremist leftism and barbaric alien religious cultures,” according to the New York Daily News. The New York Daily News reported that immigration minister David Coleman said that he would not allow Yiannopoulos into the country in the wake of the comments and denied his visa, just one week after approving it.
4. a. Sanders has made a point of calling Trump out by name on the campaign trail and having advisers publicize Sanders’ route to victory in a general election, according to the McClatchy Washington Bureau, a tactic that has separated him from a field of Democratic challengers who have largely focused on promoting their own political and policy agendas. At a speech in Brooklyn earlier this month, Sanders decried Trump, calling him “the most dangerous president in American history.”
5. c. In a move the Los Angeles Times described as an “about-face,” Disney has rehired Gunn to direct “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.” According to the Los Angeles Times, Disney made the decision to rehire Gunn months ago but kept the decision quiet until recently.