Test your news knowledge (copy - December 14, 2012)

1. What is the most “acute risk” facing the country’s economy, in the view of Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney? *This question is required.

• The decline in consumer spending
• Growing household indebtedness
• The U.S. "fiscal cliff"
• A widening external trade deficit

2. What is the ostensible purpose of North Korea’s new space satellite? *This question is required.

• Communications link
• Earth observation
• Undisclosed military use
• Deep space photography

3. When did the first transplant of a human organ occur?  *This question is required.

• 1954
• 1961
• 1966
• 1971

4. What sort of hiring activity do Canadian employers expect in January? *This question is required.

• Declining
• Unchanged
• Modest
• Strongly higher

5. Who was the winner of this year’s Lou Marsh trophy? *This question is required.

• Sherry Cooper
• Christine Sinclair
• Christina Pedersen
• Ryder Hesjedal

6. What skilled trade will be fast-tracked by federal immigration authorities? *This question is required.

• Pipe fitters
• Welders
• Electricians
• All of the above

7. How long does the U.S. Federal Reserve intend to keep that country’s interest rates effectively at zero?  *This question is required.

• Until the end of 2013
• Until Washington's budget impasse is resolved
• Until the global recession is over
• Until the U.S. jobless rate is below 6.5 per cent

8. What is the good news about U.S. childhood obesity rates?  *This question is required.

• They are increasing more slowly than in the 1990s
• They remain unchanged from 2011
• Several cities are reporting their first declines
• In rural areas, rates have shown no growth

9. What animal is not regarded as a pet, under a proposed new bylaw in Oshawa, Ont.?  *This question is required.

• A pig
• A metre-long lizard
• A tarantula
• All of the above

10. What advantage can people who used to go hungry as children find in later life? *This question is required.

• Longer lifespans
• Stronger bones
• Less central obesity
• Slower cognitive decline

11.

What Canadian musical act is among this year’s inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

*This question is required.

• Blue Rodeo
• Rush
• Royal Commission
• Public Enemy