August 2023 News Quiz: What’s Trump’s legal trouble in Fulton County?

Former US President Donald Trump is back in the spotlight after a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, served him with a fresh set of charges on Aug. 15, 2023. The charges include a spicy mix of forgery, racketeering, and violating an oath of office. This legal saga stems from Trump’s relentless efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Trump pleaded not guilty on Aug. 31 and waived his right to a hearing in the Georgia criminal case, probably to avoid TV coverage.

The 1918 Minnesota wildfires, better known as the Cloquet fire in Minnesota and Wisconsin, claimed a scorching 453 lives, making it the deadliest wildfire the US has ever seen. Fast forward to 2023, as the Maui Wildfires tried to compete, causing devastation in August and killing 89, earning the undesired title of second-deadliest wildfire in US history. The 2023 Maui wildfires are Hawaii’s most fatal natural disaster, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head honcho of the Russian mercenary Wagner force and the failed June 2023 rebellion, often dubbed “Putin’s chef,” met his untimely end in a plane crash on August 23, 2023. Following the event, President Vladimir Putin, in a rare display of culinary critique, described Prigozhin as an adept entrepreneur who navigated a challenging destiny and made serious mistakes. Prigozhin was buried in St. Petersburg, away from public attention. Russian state television hardly covered the funeral.

Lebanon’s Culture Minister, Mohammad Mortada, announced in August 2023 that the Barbie movie would be banned. The reason? The film was perceived to “promote homosexuality and champion gender fluidity,” which was seen as contradicting religious values. The radical Shia Muslim armed group, Hezbollah, backed this move. But Lebanon wasn’t alone in its cinematic critique. Kuwait also announced its ban on the film in the same month, citing that the movie promotes “ideas and beliefs alien to Kuwaiti society.” Meanwhile, on the global stage, Barbie laughs all the way to the bank. In three weeks since its debut on July 21, 2023, the film, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has raked in over $1 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide.

Cristiano Ronaldo danced, dazzled, and delivered by scoring a whopping six goals in the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup. In the August 12, 2023, final, his team, Al-Nassr, clinched their first-ever Arab Club Champions Cup title. This was Ronaldo’s first trophy with Al-Nassr.

“Pragyan” translates to ‘wisdom’ in Sanskrit. The rover, with its profound name, was part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission that successfully landed on the Moon on Aug. 23, 2023. It landed near the lunar south pole. On Sept. 2, the Pragyan rover was put into “sleep mode” to protect it during the lunar night, which lasts for two weeks and sees temperatures drop to -250 degrees Celsius. The ISRO planned to reawaken the rover on Sept. 22 but has been unable to contact the robot since.

O’Connor protested against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, but many viewers were outraged by her gesture and boycotted her music. She was also banned for life by NBC, the network that aired Saturday Night Live, where she performed the stunt. O’Connor converted to Islam and changed her name to Shuhada Sadaqat in 2018. She was found dead at her London home on July 26, 2023. O’Connor died at 56, 18 months after her son Shane.

Tim Burton directed “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” in 1985. This was before he became the go-to guy for all things delightfully macabre, like “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands,” and the recent Netflix series “Wednesday.” Sadly, Paul Reubens, who brought Pee-wee Herman to life, passed away on July 31, 2023, after a private battle with cancer.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the once-billionaire founder of FTX, couldn’t resist the urge to give a couple of witnesses in his upcoming trial a friendly ‘nudge’ (or, as the court calls it, “witness tampering”). The judge revoked his bail, leading to his imprisonment, in a hearing on August 11, 2023. He is suspected of sharing his ex-partner Caroline Ellison’s private writings with a New York Times reporter and contacting FTX’s general counsel with encrypted messages. Bankman-Fried faces charges of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund, where Caroline Ellison was CEO. Ellison has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify against him at his trial on October 2.

Sam Altman, OpenAI chief executive and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, is behind the Worldcoin project, which aims to scan the irises of every human being on Earth. The latest buzz was on Aug. 7, 2023, during a glitzy event at an art gallery in downtown Manhattan, where shiny orbs greeted attendees. These orbs contain cameras designed to capture images of a person’s irises, converting these scans into unique digital IDs. The grand plan is to provide support in a world transformed by AI, with these IDs serving as the foundation.

Stablecoins are a type of digital currency gaining prominence in recent years, with companies like PayPal diving into the mix as of August 7, 2023. Stablecoins are designed to minimize volatility associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. They achieve this stability by anchoring themselves to a “stable” reserve asset, such as the US dollar or gold. US PayPal customers can now transfer Paypal’s stablecoin, PYUSD, which equals $1 (US). They can also convert other supported cryptocurrencies to and from PYUSD.

Elon Musk, the SpaceX/Tesla maestro, sustained an injury he said might delay his proposed cage fight several years ago at an exhibition sumo match. It was brought up when his cage fight proposal with Zuckerberg heated up with a suggested date of August 26. Musk revealed he might need an MRI and surgery before stepping into the ring (or cage) with Zuckerberg, who said it’s time to move on to some more serious opponents.

In 2009, Taylor Swift released “Love Story,” echoing the timeless tale of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with all its balcony drama and star-crossed love. Fast forward to 2023, and Swift’s lyrical prowess inspires an entire university course in Belgium. The University of Ghent is set to launch “Literature (Taylor’s Version)” this autumn, where students will dive deep into literary classics, all through Swift’s songs. This elective course is considered the first of its kind in Europe. New York University’s Clive Davis Institute introduced a Swift-inspired course in 2022, focusing on her impact on country music.

Madonna has six children: two biological and four adopted. She gave birth to her daughter Lourdes in 1996 and her son Rocco in 2000 before adopting four children from Malawi: David in 2006, Mercy in 2009, and twins Estere and Stella in 2017. Madonna recently recovered from a bacterial infection that forced her to postpone her Celebration tour. She thanked her children, friends, and fans for their support on Instagram. She also posted a video of her dancing to her first album on August 1, 2023.