Q: Affirmative action in the United States tends to focus on issues such as education and employment, specifically granting special consideration to racial minorities, Native Americans, and women who have been historically excluded groups in America. Reports have shown that minorities and women have faced discrimination in schools and businesses for many years and this discrimination produced unfair advantages for whites and males in education and employment. The impetus toward affirmative action is redressing the disadvantages associated with past and present discrimination. Further impetus is a desire to ensure public institutions, such as universities, hospitals, and police forces, are more representative of the populations they serve.

Affirmative action is a subject of controversy. Some policies adopted as affirmative action, such as racial quotas or gender quotas for collegiate admission, have been criticized as a form of reverse discrimination, and such implementation of affirmative action has been ruled unconstitutional by the majority opinion of Gratz v. Bollinger. Affirmative action as a practice was upheld by the Supreme Court's decision in Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003. Affirmative action policies were developed in order to correct decades of discrimination stemming from the Reconstruction Era by granting disadvantaged minorities opportunities. Many believe that the diversity of current American society suggests that affirmative action policies succeeded and are no longer required. Opponents of affirmative action argue that these policies are outdated and lead to reverse discrimination which entails favoring one group over another based upon racial preference rather than achievement.

1. United States
2. discrimination
3. employment
4. women
5. 2003
6. no
7. Supreme Court
8. decades
9. no
10. Reconstruction Era

Numbered questions:
1. where is affirmative action?
2. what is the disadvantage?
3. where is it used?
4. who?
5. when did it start?
6. is it widely accepted?
7. where was it decided?
8. how long has discrimination been going on?
9. is it still discrimination?
10. where did it come from

Q: Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Rebels pushed Thursday northward on three fronts toward the coastal cities of al-Zawiya, Aziziya and Sorman, with their ultimate goal being Tripoli, rebel field commander Adel Al-Zintani told CNN.

Six rebels died and dozens more were wounded in fighting Wednesday and Thursday, he said.

He predicted that the fighters would reach the coastal road that leads to the capital city within days.

Zawiya is strategically important because the coastal road through the city is the main supply line from the Tunisian border to areas held by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Regime officials were not available Thursday evening for comment.

Fighting was continuing around Misrata, where rebel spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim said the main hospital reported four rebels killed and 54 wounded.

Meanwhile, in New York, a spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon said the U.N. secretary-general "is deeply concerned by reports of the unacceptably large number of civilian casualties as a result of the conflict in Libya."

Ban is urging "all Libyan parties" to engage with his special envoy, Abdel-Elah Al-Khatib, "and respond concretely and positively to the ideas presented to them, in order to end the bloodshed in the country," the spokesperson said.

His remarks came three days after allegations that a NATO strike in the village of Majer near Zlitan wound up killing 85 civilians --- 33 children, 32 women and 20 men.

The Tripoli government called it "a massaacre" of civilians; NATO has said its warplanes struck two farms used as a staging point for Gadhafi's forces

1. northward
2. Three
3. Aziziya
4. Sorman
5. al-Zawiya
6. Tripoli
7. Libya
8. within days
9. Moammar Gadhafi
10. Zawiya and Tunisia
11. yes
12. 85
13. Adel Al-Zintani
14. no
15. main hospital
16. 54
17. yes

Numbered questions:
1. In what direction were the rebels headed on Thursday?
2. On how many fronts?
3. What's one of them?
4. Can you name another?
5. And the last?
6. Which was the main city on their agenda?
7. In what country?
8. How long would it take them to arrive at the capital?
9. Who was the leader there?
10. What two places shared a common supply line?
11. Were there any casualties during this midweek battle?
12. How many?
13. Which field commander spoke with CNN?
14. Was it peaceful in Misrata?
15. Who reported the dead and wounded there?
16. How many were wounded?
17. Did any die?

Q: Ivory Coast () or Cote d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire (), is a country located in West Africa. Ivory Coast's political capital is Yamoussoukro, and its economic capital and largest city is the port city of Abidjan. Its bordering countries are Guinea and Liberia in the west, Burkina Faso and Mali in the north, and Ghana in the east. The Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean) is located south of Ivory Coast.

Prior to its colonization by Europeans, Ivory Coast was home to several states, including Gyaaman, the Kong Empire, and Baoule. Two Anyi kingdoms, "Indenie" and "Sanwi", attempted to retain their separate identity through the French colonial period and after independence. Ivory Coast became a protectorate of France in 18431844 and was later formed into a French colony in 1893 amid the European scramble for Africa. Ivory Coast achieved independence in 1960, led by Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who ruled the country until 1993. The country maintained close political and economic association with its West African neighbors while at the same time maintaining close ties to the West, especially France. Since the end of Houphouet-Boigny's rule in 1993, Ivory Coast has experienced one "coup d'etat", in 1999, and two religion-grounded civil wars. The first took place between 2002 and 2007 and the second during 20102011. In 2000, the country adopted a new Constitution.

1. Europeans
2. Felix Houphouet-Boigny
3. France
4. Yes
5. Ivory Coast
6. 1960
7. from 1960 until 1993
8. they achieved independence
9. political capital is Yamoussoukro
10. West Africa

Numbered questions:
1. Who colonized the Ivory coast?
2. Who ended up controlling it?
3. Which European power ended up controlling it?
4. Did anyone try to maintain independence during that time?
5. Who?
6. When did the become independent from France?
7. How long was Felix Houphouet-Boigny head of state?
8. What ended his reign?
9. What is the country's capital?
10. Where is the country located?