June 23 News Quiz: What was the destination of the missing Titan sub?

In case you missed it, the Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on Apr. 15, 1912. It collided with an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The Titan submerged on a dive to the Titanic wreckage site on Jun. 18, 2023, for $250,000 per ticket. The sub was lost 900 miles east of Cape Cod in water 13,000 feet deep. The US and Canadian Coast Guards launched a search and rescue operation to locate the submarine but found only debris. Five people were aboard the Titan: an operator and four passengers. One of them was Hamish Harding, a British billionaire and adventure traveler.

On June 21, 2023, as part of the International Day of Yoga celebrations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a yoga session at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The session broke the Guinness World Record for the participation of people of 135 different nationalities. This beat the previous record of 114 nationalities set in Qatar in March 2022. PM Modi performed various yoga poses on the UN lawn with hundreds of people and delivered a speech on yoga’s benefits. He also met with various leaders and dignitaries during his three-day visit to the US, which started a day earlier.

Scientists found traces of phosphorus in water plumes squirting through the ice crust of Enceladus, a tiny ocean-bearing moon that orbits Saturn. The discovery was announced in June 2023, based on 2008 data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Enceladus has all six elements needed for life: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and, apparently, phosphorus in the form of phosphates. Enceladus also has a “soda ocean” beneath its icy surface, discovered in May 2023 by another team. The soda ocean is rich in sodium carbonate, which could help regulate the pH and alkalinity of the water and make it more suitable for life.

The last time an American secretary of state visited Beijing was in October 2018. Mike Pompeo met with Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials to discuss North Korea and other issues. Since then, relations between the two countries have deteriorated over China’s crackdown on Hong Kong, its military threats to Taiwan, its alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, its cyberattacks and espionage activities, its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and its trade and technology rivalry with the US. Not to mention the famous “China virus” Pompeo’s former boss used to gush about. The most recent flare-up occurred in February 2023, when the US military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon drifting across the continental United States. Blinken finally made his first visit to China as secretary of state on June 19, 2023. He met with Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials to ease tensions and explore cooperation.

Fun Fact: The following day, US President Joe Biden called the Chinese leader a “dictator.” We guess that’s one way to ease the tension.

The Church of England clergy made a formal pay claim for the first time in their nearly 500-year history on June 19, 2023. They demanded a 9.5% increase in their allowance from April 2024. The trade union Unite, representing over 2,000 clergy and lay officers in the Church of England, said that many clergy had to turn to charitable aid because they could not make ends meet on their current stipend, which was £26,790 ($34,300) in 2023. The union also pointed out that the Church of England had billions in the bank and could fully afford this modest increase. The Church of England said it would consider the pay claim in its annual recommendations.

Tradition says Julius Caesar died in Largo Argentina Square, where the remains of four ancient temples are located. He was attacked by senators who feared his growing power. Among them was his friend Brutus, to whom he allegedly uttered the famous words “Et tu, Brute?” (And you, Brutus?) as he plunged his dagger into Caesar’s chest. The site was first discovered and excavated in the 1920s but was only accessible behind barriers until Jun. 20, 2023. On this date, a newly constructed walkway, funded by the Italian fashion house Bulgari, opened to the public.

The US Department of Agriculture approved the first-ever lab-grown chicken in the US on June 21, 2023. Two California companies, Upside Foods, and Good Meat, have the go-ahead to offer chicken derived from animal cells in restaurants and later in supermarkets. The process involves taking a small sample of cells from a live chicken and placing them in a bioreactor with nutrients to grow them into meat. The result is a chicken nugget or burger with the same texture and flavor as conventional chicken. However, it is without harming any animals or producing greenhouse gases.

Joseph Tsai, a co-founder and executive vice chairman of Alibaba, bought the Brooklyn Nets in 2019 and became the sole owner of the NBA team. In June 2023, Alibaba announced that Tsai would succeed Daniel Zhang as board chairman. Tsai is a Taiwan-born Canadian citizen who helped start Alibaba in 1999 with Jack Ma (who is currently a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo until Oct. 31).

Fun Fact: Tsai also owns the New York Liberty of the WNBA and the San Diego Seals of the NLL. And there’s more: He’s the chairman of the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper owned by Alibaba.

Unpaid Reddit moderators on strike, blocking users and advertisers, chose to post only images of comedian John Oliver as a symbol of protest. The strike started on June 14, 2023, and affected over 9,000 subreddits. This is after Reddit announced that it would start charging fees to some third-party developers from July 1, 2023, as part of its plan to go public later in 2023. This angered many moderators who use third-party apps to access Reddit’s data and perform tasks unavailable on the official app (such as content moderation). Reddit’s CEO Steve Huffman refused to negotiate with the protesters.

xQc, whose real name is Félix Lengyel, is a popular Twitch streamer who plays video games and hosts shows for almost 12 million followers. Many consider him Twitch’s most popular streamer. On June 17, 2023, he announced his departure from Twitch for Kick, a rival streaming platform. He signed a two-year non-exclusive contract worth roughly $70 million, with incentives that could bump that to $100 million. Kick is backed by online gaming and gambling sites in Australia and offers streamer-friendly policies such as lower subscription fees, non-exclusive contracts, and more creative freedom. xQc plans to continue streaming on Twitch and appearing on YouTube and TikTok, but he aims to focus on Kick. His agent, Ryan Morrison, said his deal was “one of the highest deals in entertainment, period.“

The 2023 movie “The Flash” features three cameos from different Superman versions (and many other superheroes) across the DC multiverse. Nicolas Cage portrays the most surprising Superman. He finally got to wear the cape and tights after being cast in Tim Burton’s scrapped “Superman Lives” project 25 years ago. The second Superman is played by George Reeves, who starred in the 1950s TV show “Adventures of Superman.” His black-and-white footage was digitally inserted into the movie as an homage to the classic hero. Christopher Reeve’s Superman is also featured in The Flash, but very briefly. Henry Cavill’s Superman was famously cut from the film, and his face is not seen in the movie. All in all, the movie features three Supermen and four Batmen.

According to director and executive producer Ali Selim, Marvel’s Secret Invasion intro sequence was designed by Method Studios using artificial intelligence. The opening credits show a watercolor rendering of Secret Invasion’s key players and themes. The series follows Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as he uncovers a covert invasion by the shapeshifting Skrull population on Earth. The AI-generated credits sparked backlash online and criticism that the controversial technology might cost artists their jobs. The series debuted on Disney+ on June 21, 2023.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson played three different Marvel characters in different universes. He’s most recognizable as Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver, who sacrificed himself in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). He then switched sides and became Sergei Kravinoff, aka Kraven the Hunter, a ruthless predator who hunts down other superhumans. Kraven the Hunter is set to be released on Oct. 6, 2023. The first trailer was released on Jun. 19, 2023. Another Marvel character he played was Dave Lizewski, aka Kick-Ass, a teenage vigilante who fought crime with a baton in Kick-Ass (2010) and Kick-Ass 2 (2013). And yes, Kick-Ass is an adaptation of a comic book series published by Marvel’s Icon imprint.

The Walking Dead: Dead City is a post-apocalyptic horror drama series created by Eli Jorné for AMC, based on The Walking Dead characters Maggie and Negan. It is the fourth spin-off and overall fifth series in The Walking Dead franchise and the first sequel to The Walking Dead TV series. The series follows Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan cut off from the mainland to find Maggie’s kidnapped son, Hershel. The six-episode series premiered on June 18, 2023.

Fun Fact: Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are expected to appear in another series set in The Walking Dead universe, premiering in 2024. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) will also have their own spin-off series, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.

In episode 8 of Squid Game (SPOILERS AHEAD!), it is revealed that the masked leader, known as Front Man, is actually Hwang In-ho, the brother of Detective Hwang Jun-ho, who infiltrated the games to find him. In June 2023, Netflix announced that Lee Byung-hun, who portrayed Front Man, will return for season 2 of Squid Game along with other cast members. They just didn’t say when. Netflix did announce that the reality spinoff Squid Game: The Challenge will premiere in November 2023.