June 30 News Quiz: How Close Did Wagner Troops Get to Moscow?

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner private military company, led an armed rebellion against the Russian military on June 24, 2023. He claimed that his forces came within 125 miles (200 kilometers) of Moscow before he agreed to halt his advance and return to his bases. He made this decision after talks with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin “to avoid bloodshed.” The rebellion was seen as the biggest threat to Putin’s rule in decades.

According to a recording first obtained by CNN, Former President Donald Trump showed a document titled “Plan of Attack” to a publisher and writer working on a memoir by his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in 2021. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Department, drew up the document. It contained options for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. The tape contradicted Trump’s recent statement that he was referring to news clippings when he mentioned the document in an interview with Fox News. Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them on June 13, 2023.

According to a Reuters special report published on June 27, 2023, Donald Trump is the only living US president whose ancestors didn’t enslave people. His family history is mostly European, with his paternal grandparents immigrating from Germany and his mother from Scotland. Joe Biden had just one direct ancestor, five generations distant, who owned one slave. Barack Obama also had one direct ancestor, six generations removed, who owned two enslaved people. George Bush’s direct ancestor was six generations removed and enslaved 25.

Some trivia facts:

• Thomas Jefferson owned over 600 enslaved people during his lifetime, the most of any US president. He was the first president to bring enslaved people to the White House (which was built largely by enslaved Black workers).
• Ulysses S. Grant was the last president to own a slave. He freed the formerly enslaved person, William Jones, in 1859.
• Woodrow Wilson was the last president born into a slave household.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the center-right New Democracy party, won a landslide victory in Greece’s general election on June 25, 2023. He was sworn in as prime minister for a second consecutive term a day later. Mitsotakis, who was at Greece’s helm during the Covid-19 pandemic and Europe’s energy crisis, staged a stunning economic turnaround for his country, now on the brink of returning to investment grade on the global market for the first time since losing market access in 2010. Mitsotakis has also taken a tough stance on immigration, overshadowed by several scandals and disasters.

Gustav Klimt was an Austrian painter known for his sensual and decorative style. His paintings are among the most expensive in the world. Lady with a Fan is his last completed portrait before his pneumonia death in 1918. The painting was sold at Sotheby’s in London on June 27, 2023, after a 10-minute bidding war. The final price of $108.4 million (85.3 million pounds) set the record for the most valuable artwork ever sold at auction in Europe. It surpassed the previous record of $104.3 million for Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture Walking Man I, set in 2010. The Van Gogh and Picasso mentioned in our multiple-choice options are displayed in museums and were not auctioned.

Sarah Ferguson and Sarah Thomson co-host this weekly podcast that promises to spill the tea on life’s roller coaster with candid conversations, special guests, and personal insights. Sarah Ferguson, also known as Fergie, is the Duchess of York and former wife of Prince Andrew. She is also an author, film producer, and, recently, a breast cancer survivor. She underwent surgery at King Edward VII Hospital in June 2023 and is now recuperating with her family in Windsor. Sarah Thomson is an entrepreneur who founded First News, a news organization aimed at children. The podcast debuted in May 2023 on all streaming platforms.

Tourette syndrome is a condition that affects the nervous system and causes people to make sudden sounds or movements that they cannot control, such as blinking, coughing, swearing, or repeating words. It usually starts in childhood and varies in severity and frequency. There is no cure for Tourette syndrome, but some treatments can reduce the symptoms. Lewis Capaldi, diagnosed with Tourette syndrome since childhood, announced on June 27, 2023, that he was taking a break from touring for the foreseeable future. He is focusing on his mental and physical health after struggling during a performance at the Glastonbury music festival three days earlier. He said he hoped to return to the stage soon.

Elton John started his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in 2018 and announced that it would be his final tour after more than 50 years of performing live. The tour had 330 shows across five continents and grossed over $887 million as of May 2023, making it the highest-grossing tour ever. The tour’s highlight was his performance at the Glastonbury Festival on June 25, 2023, with 120,000 people in the audience and a record 7.3 million people watching live on BBC One. Elton John ended his tour in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 8, 2023.

On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc held a party in the recreation room of an apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, New York City. He introduced his technique of extending record drum breaks by switching between two turntables, creating a continuous rhythm loop. This event is considered the birth of hip-hop culture. Hip-hop celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023 with performances by Lil Uzi Vert, Latto, Big Daddy Kane, and others at the June 25 BET Awards.

Ariana Grande was born June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida. She celebrated her 30th birthday in 2023 with an Instagram post featuring a birthday message to her younger self wearing a Dorothy costume from “The Wizard of Oz.” She also shared some photos from the set of her upcoming film “Wicked: Part One,” where she will star as Glinda the Good Witch. The film is scheduled to be released in November 2024, followed by the second installment in 2025.

The traditional “Korean age” system considers the time spent in the womb as one year and adds another year every January 1, regardless of the actual birthday. This means some Koreans can be two years older than their international age. However, this system changed starting June 28, 2023, when South Korea adopted the international age system for all official documents. This means more than 51 million people have become younger overnight.

Rachel Brosnahan, who was recently cast as Lois Lane in James Gunn’s upcoming Superman: Legacy movie, played the lead role of Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel in the Prime Video comedy series for five seasons. She won several awards for her performance, including two Golden Globes and an Emmy, and was nominated for a second Emmy in 2023. Brosnahan will star opposite David Corenswet, who will play Clark Kent/Superman in the reboot set to premiere in theaters on July 11, 2025. The casting news was announced on June 27, 2023, and confirmed by Gunn on Twitter.

American Idol host and producer of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Ryan Seacrest, will take over the iconic game show Wheel of Fortune. He will replace Pat Sajak, who has hosted it since 1981. Sony Pictures Television, which owns Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, announced on June 27, 2023, that Seacrest had signed a multiyear deal to anchor the show starting with Season 42 in September 2024. Seacrest said he looked forward to working alongside Vanna White, who will remain co-host. Seacrest will also continue to host his radio show On Air with Ryan Seacrest and produce various TV shows through his company Ryan Seacrest Productions. After six years of co-hosting, he left his Live morning show with Kelly Ripa in May 2023.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook), and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, have agreed to fight each other in a cage match after exchanging challenges on social media. The feud started when Musk tweeted he was “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg responded with “Send me the location” on Instagram. Musk then suggested “Vegas Octagon” as the venue, referring to the fenced-in area used for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bouts. The fight date and time are not set. However, Musk said it “might actually happen” and admitted it could end badly for him, as he has not started training yet. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has trained in mixed martial arts (MMA) and recently won jiu-jitsu tournaments. The fight was eventually canceled, as Zuck felt Musk was not serious enough.