TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given a question, along with a context passage. The passage will not have a direct answer to the question, but can include some information and a clue for the answer. Assuming you can only obtain information about one entity in the passage, your job is to determine whether information from the passage can be used to answer the question. Indicate your choice as 'a' for Yes or 'b' for No.
PROBLEM: Question: How long had Nawaz Sharif been in power as the Prime Minister when he acknowledged his country's nuclear capabilities? Passage:After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the rivalry between Iran and Pakistan intensified. After 1989, both state's policies in Afghanistan became even more divergent as Pakistan, under Benazir Bhutto, explicitly supported Taliban forces in Afghanistan. This resulted in a major breach, with Iran becoming closer to India. Pakistan's support for the Sunni Taliban organisation in Afghanistan became a problem for Shia Iran which opposed a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Pakistani backed Taliban fought the Iranian backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and gained control of 90 percent of that country. As noted by a Pakistani foreign service officer, it was difficult to maintain good relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Iran at the same time, given Iran's long history of rivalry with these states. In 1995 Bhutto paid a lengthy state visit to Iran, which greatly relaxed relations. At a public meeting she spoke highly of Iran and Iranian society. However, increasing activity by Shia militants in Pakistan strained relations further. This was followed by the Taliban's capture of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, in which thousands of Shias were massacred, according to Amnesty International. The most serious breach in relations came in 1998, after Iran accused Taliban Afghanistan of taking 11 Iranian diplomats, 35 Iranian truck drivers and an Iranian journalist hostage, and later killing them all. Iran massed over 300,000 troops on the Afghan border and threatened to attack the Taliban government, which it had never recognized. This strained relations with Pakistan, as the Taliban were seen as Pakistan's key allies. In May 1998, Iran criticised Pakistan for its nuclear testing in the Chagai region, and held Pakistan accountable for global "atomic proliferation". New Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif acknowledged his country's nuclear capability on 7 September 1997.

SOLUTION: b

PROBLEM: Question: Did the film that Ripstein produced in 2015 win any Oscar awards? Passage:Ripstein, Moises Zonana, and Michel Franco produced Franco's Chronic (2015). The film competed for the Palme d'Or and received the Best Screenplay Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, was screened out of competition at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Film at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards. Chronic premiered in Mexican theaters on April 8, 2016; at the end of its first week, it was among the top ten most-watched films in the country. Ripstein, Franco, Lorenzo Vigas, Guillermo Arriaga, Rodolfo Cova, and Edgar Ramirez produced From Afar, a film directed by Vigas which won the Golden Lion at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival and was screened at the 13th Morelia International Film Festival.

SOLUTION: a

PROBLEM: Question: How many people lived in San Francisco the year Davis embarked on his journey to the city? Passage:Davis sailed for San Francisco, California, around Cape Horn in 1852, and upon arriving, engaged for a brief time as a gold miner, a lumber supercargo surveyor for a coastal steamer, and a purser for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. In addition he helped found the Mercantile Library Association of California (its oldest public library). Under his administrative tutelage interest in the library was restored with his creation of a library catalog (an act which later lead to his poor eyesight). He resigned in 1855 and relocated to San Francisco in 1860 at which time he established the highly successful Golden Gate Flouring Mills and the Sperry Flour Company. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1862. When the American Civil War broke out, he served in the secretive San Francisco-based Home Guard acting to secure both the loyalty of California to then Union President Abraham Lincoln and the election of Leland Stanford as governor of California (by patrolling the polls on election day). He presided over the Produce Exchange of San Francisco from 1867 to 1877 until he was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives of the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1877 - March 3, 1881), where on June 8, 1878 he spoke in support of a bill to restrict Chinese immigration. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress.

SOLUTION:
b