NewsTracker Answers for week of June 30, 2008

Q: Italy's interior minister has sparked criticism with a proposal that would see police fingerprinting all members of the Roma -- or Gypsy -- community, living in camps. Where in the world is Italy?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Where did the Roma people originally come from?

A. Rome

B. Romania

C. India

D. North Africa

C. Linguistic and genetic evidence shows the Roma came from the Indian subcontinent.

Q: Critics called the proposal to fingerprint all Roma – including children - a form of "ethnic surveying" and compared it to Italy's years of fascism. Who led the fascists in Italy?

A. Giuseppe Garibaldi

B. Benito Mussolini

C. Marco Polo

D. Vito Corleone

B. Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 to 1945. He allied Italy with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II to fight against France, Great Britain and the United States.

Q: Most of Italy is a peninsula, but it also is comprised of islands. Which of these islands is part of Italy?

A. Corsica

B. Majorca

C. Malta

D. Sardinia

D. Italy's main islands are Sicily and Sardinia. Nearby Corsica is part of France, while Majorca is Spanish and Malta is independent.

Q: Rome is the capital of Italy and its largest city. What is the second largest city?

A. Naples

B. Milan

C. Palermo

D. Turin

B. With 1.3 million inhabitants the city of Milan is about half the size of Rome. But, the Milan metropolitan area is twice as large as Rome's. Milan is in northern Italy, which has the nation's highest population density.