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100
On June 12, a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 more when he opened fire in a crowded _________ in Orlando, Fla., making it one of the worst mass shootings in United States history. The shooting reverberated through some of the most divisive issues roiling the United States: gay rights, gun control, immigration, the Islamic State and homegrown terrorism, and fear of Islam.
What is "a gay nightclub"?
100
On his first trip to Central and Eastern Europe, ____________ expressed concern that young people “confuse happiness with a sofa” as they become indifferent to the increasingly dark events of the world. He also dismayed leaders of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups when he said that schoolchildren are being taught they can choose their gender as part of what he called an “ideological colonization.”
Who is "POPE FRANCIS"?
100
On June 19, LeBron James delivered on the grandest stage of his superhuman career, leading the ________ to their first championship in franchise history with a 93-89 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the N.B.A. finals.
Who are "the CLEVELAND CAVALIERS"?
100
On June 23, Britain voted to leave _______, a historic decision that set off an immediate wave of geopolitical, economic and cultural shocks. World markets plunged, Prime Minister David Cameron resigned, the British pound fell to a 31-year low, and European leaders began hashing out the logistics of an unprecedented breakup.
What is "THE EUROPEAN UNION"?
100
According to emails made public just days before the Democratic National Convention by WikiLeaks, top officials at the _________ criticized and mocked Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the primary campaign, even though the organization publicly insisted that it was neutral in the race.
What is "DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE"?
200
Partisan clashes over _______ erupted into a chaotic fight in late June on the House floor, where Democrats staged a 25-hour sit-in to demand votes on measures on the issue. Congress adjourned for a recess, however, and none of the proposed bills advanced.
What is "GUN CONTROL"?
200
The Supreme Court on June 23 rejected a challenge to a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin, handing supporters of ________ a major victory.
What is "AFFIRMATIVE ACTION"?
200
Court documents and almost daily revelations fed the furor over “rape culture” on college campuses after a California judge sentenced a former ____________ University swimmer to just six months on three felony counts of sexual assault. Denunciations of the sentence and widespread support for the victim suggest that the cultural attitude toward rape may be shifting.
What is "STANFORD"?
200
On July 14, a Tunisian immigrant with no known radical ties killed 84 people and injured hundreds in the Mediterranean city of __________. He barreled into holiday crowds with a huge rented truck, turning a mainstay of Western commerce into an instrument of mass death.
What is "NICE, FRANCE"?
200
_______, the Auschwitz survivor who became an eloquent witness for the six million Jews slaughtered in World War II and who, more than anyone else, seared the memory of the Holocaust on the world’s conscience, died on July 2 at the age of 87.
What is "ELIE WIESEL"?
300
Three suicide attackers killed at least 41 people and wounded dozens more at _________'s main airport on June 28, in the latest in a string of terrorist attacks in Turkey, a NATO ally once seen as a bastion of stability but now increasingly consumed by the chaos of the Middle East.
What is "Istanbul"?
300
The same day, the Supreme Court announced that it had deadlocked in a case challenging President Obama’s immigration plan, effectively ending what Mr. Obama had hoped would become one of his central legacies. The program would have shielded as many as five million _______ from deportation and allowed them to legally work in the United States.
What is "UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS"?
300
Olympic officials sanctioned Russian athletes on July 24, but stopped short of completely barring them from the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. Athletes had to appeal to individual sports federations to gain eligibility in the wake of widespread, government-ordered ________ at the last Olympics.
What is "DRUG CHEATING/DOPING"?
300
A stunning ______ in Turkey in mid-July left 260 people dead, thousands of soldiers rounded up and thousands of judges purged. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency and fired or detained tens of thousands of soldiers, civic officials and educators.
What is "COUP"?
300
The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, on July 6 recommended no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information using a private ______ while she was secretary of state, lifting an enormous legal cloud from her presidential campaign.
What is "EMAIL SERVER"?
400
The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into the fatal July 5 shooting of a black man, ____________, by the Baton Rouge, La., police after a searing video of the encounter reignited contentious issues surrounding police killings of African-Americans.
Who is "ALTON STERLING"?
400
On June 27, the Supreme Court reaffirmed and strengthened constitutional protections for abortion rights, striking down parts of a restrictive Texas law that could have drastically reduced the number of abortion clinics in the state. The 5-to-3 decision was the court’s most sweeping statement on abortion since Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992, which reaffirmed the constitutional right to abortion established in 1973 in __________.
What is "ROE V. WADE"?
400
Brazil, the first ________ country to host the Olympics, is reeling from an astonishing combination of political upheaval and economic crisis. Its efforts to stage the world’s biggest sporting event have met trouble at every turn, from the Zika virus to polluted waters to budget cuts so deep that basic operations became strained. So the opening ceremony of the Summer Games arrived Aug. 5 as a salve, disguising the wounds for a few hours and letting Brazilians celebrate.
What is "SOUTH AMERICAN"?
400
________ became a widespread obsession in mid-July, sending people into streets and parks all over the world, and spawning anecdotes about people falling off cliffs, discovering dead bodies and wandering unthinkingly into the street. But Saudi clerics renewed a fatwa against it, calling it “un-Islamic”; Bosnia warned players to avoid chasing virtual monsters across very real leftover land mines; and a member of Egypt’s Parliament denounced the game as “the latest tool used by spy agencies.”
What is "POKEMON GO"?
400
The Republican National Convention got off to a rocky start on July 18 with a speech from __________ that borrowed key passages, word for word, from Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention eight years ago.
Who is "MELANIA TRUMP"?
500
Three days after Philando Castile was killed, a retaliatory attack on white police officers shocked the nation as a black Army veteran with a troubled history opened fire on officers patrolling a protest in ______ against the two earlier police shootings of black men. He killed five officers and wounded others in a standoff that ended only when the police sent an explosives-laden robot to blow him up, a tactic of war.
What is "DALLAS"?
500
Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter on June 30 removed one of the final barriers to military service by lifting the Pentagon’s ban on _______ serving openly in the armed forces.
What is "TRANSGENDER PEOPLE"?
500
By Aug. 16, as the Rio Olympics were halfway over, many had logged historic triumphs, including ______, the most decorated Olympian in history, who won his 23rd and final gold medal on Aug. 13; SIMONE BILES, the world’s best gymnast, who won the women’s individual all-around gold medal on Aug. 11; _______, who became the first African-American woman to win an individual swimming event at the Olympics; and _______ of Jamaica, called the fastest man in the world, who was the first sprinter to win three straight Olympic 100-meter titles.
Who is "MICHAEL PHELPS", "SIMONE MANUEL", and "USAIN BOLT"?
500
Mr. Trump said on July 27 that he hoped ______ had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power’s cyberspying on a secretary of state’s correspondence. Mr. Trump’s call was an extraordinary moment at a time when the country is being accused of meddling in the United States presidential election.
What is "RUSSIA"?
500
__________, once one of the most powerful figures in the media industry, was ousted from his job as the chairman of Fox News on July 22 as the company investigated sexual harassment allegations against him. Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox anchor, had filed a lawsuit against him earlier in July, and others then stepped forward with similar complaints of inappropriate behavior.
Who is " ROGER AILES"?
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