NewsTracker Answers for week of June 06, 2016

Q: Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected a referendum to allow a guaranteed monthly income for all adults whether they worked or not. Where is Switzerland?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Any Swiss voter can propose changes to the country's constitution and if they gather 100,000 signatures in 18 months, a referendum will be put on a national ballot. To pass, the measure must win a majority of the national vote and win in a majority of Switzerland's political subdivisions called ...

A. Abbeys

B. Balliwicks

C. Cantons

D. Divides

C. The Swiss Confederation consists of 20 cantons and 6 half cantons. Final results from Sunday's referendum on the guaranteed basic income showed that nearly 77% of Swiss voters opposed the plan, with only 23% backing it.

Q: Opponents of the proposal warned that “billions of people who would try to move into Switzerland” if the nation offered a guaranteed income. Switzerland allows other Europeans travel freely to the country even though it is not a member of . . .

A. European Union

B. Eurozone

C. NATO

D. All of the above

D. The country has a long history of armed neutrality — it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815 — and did not join the United Nations until 2002. Switzerland is not part of the European Union, but it is a signatory to the Schengen Agreement, which allows free travel in much of Europe.

Q: Switzerland last week also opened the world’s longest rail tunnel which speeds travel to the nation on its southern border . . .

A. Austria

B. Italy

C. France

D. Germany

B. Switzerland is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Q: The 35-mile tunnel runs through which mountain range that runs through Switzerland?

A. Alps

B. Balkans

C. Carpathians

D. Drakensbergs

A. The Alps are a high mountain range running across the central-south of Switzerland, comprising about 60 percent of the country's total area.