Who’s the 1st Black to lead a party in Congress? And what did Barbara Walters ask Carter? (11 questions)

Nine years after resigning for the first time in 600 years, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed away on Dec. 31, 2022. Benedict resigned on Feb. 11, 2013, saying he was “lacking the strength of mind and body” because of his advanced age. His resignation was the first by a pope since Gregory XII in 1415 and the first on the pope’s initiative since Celestine V in 1294.

Known in Brazil as “O Rei” or “The King,” legendary professional footballer Edson Arantes do Nascimento, AKA Pelé, died on Dec. 29, 2022, at 82, following a battle with colon cancer.

Barbara Walters was known for asking intimate questions during her interviews, including asking President Jimmy Carter if he and his wife slept separately. The first female co-host of “Today” and first female anchor of a network evening news program, Walters died at her Manhattan home on Dec. 30, 2022. She was 93.

The House of Representatives released Donald Trump’s tax returns on Dec. 30, 2022. The thousands of financial documents became the subject of a lengthy legal battle after Trump broke a precedent by not releasing his tax returns while running for president. According to his tax returns, Trump had accounts in China, the United Kingdom, southern Ireland, and the Caribbean island nation of St. Martin. As of 2017, Trump earned $55 million from countries such as Azerbaijan, India, Indonesia, Panama, the Philippines, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. By 2018, he had closed all his overseas accounts except the one in the UK.

One of the 150 companies Trump reported in 2020 was called “Unreimbursed expenses.” This company claimed losses of $438,000 through gift card redemptions, and the Joint Committee on Taxation called on the IRS to investigate.

The House Democrats formally elected Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York to be their leader on Jan. 3, 2023, uniting around the liberal lawyer to fight a Republican majority. At 52, Jeffries represents a generational shift for House Democrats after two decades under Nancy Pelosi. He’s the first black politician to lead either party in Congress. In the first rounds of voting for speaker, Jeffries got more support than the main Republican candidate, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California – but not enough to win.

On January 1, 2023, Croatia joined the eurozone as the 20th member state. Croatia’s previous currency, the kuna, had used the euro (and, before that, the German mark) as its main reference since 1994. The dinar was the currency of Croatia between Dec. 1991 and May 1994.

Prince Harry’s 2023 memoir, Spare, details disagreements with his brother Prince William. “A landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about how love overrides grief,” Penguin Random House has called the ex-royal’s autobiography, released on Jan. 10, 2023.

Anita Pointer, one of four siblings who won Grammys and critical acclaim as The Pointer Sisters, died at 74 on Dec. 31, 2022. Her publicist didn’t give a cause of death. Between 1973 and 1985, the group had 13 hit songs on the US top 20, won three Grammys, and recorded hit songs like “I’m So Excited.” The Pointer Sisters performed in different lineups, including younger family members, through 1993.

Aretha Franklin topped Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time list, published on Jan. 1, 2023. Followed by Whitney Houston (no. 2) and Sam Cooke (no. 3), the list rounds up its top five singers with Billie Holiday (no. 4) and Mariah Carey (no. 5). While Lana Del Rey (no. 175) and many other international stars made it to the chart, Canadian superstar Celine Dion is not on the magazine’s updated list.

“Kaleidoscope” premiered on Jan. 1, 2023, on Netflix. The eight-part robbery drama stars Giancarlo Esposito (of Breaking Bad fame). Each Netflix viewer sees the story in a slightly different order, and each of the eight episodes corresponds with a different color – red, orange, white, etc. – instead of a number (but the same finale, “White”).