August 20 Weekly News Quiz: Panic, Parties, Pope

Kabul is the capital city of Afghanistan.

Kabul Seized by Taliban Facts

After a rapid advance across the country, the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan and its capital Kabul on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, causing many citizens to flee in panic. By Tuesday, shops reopened in the Afghani capital, and the Taliban vowed to uphold women’s rights.

July 2021 became the hottest month in 142 years of recordkeeping, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. The globe averaged 62.07 degrees Fahrenheit (16.73 degrees Celsius) in July 2021, beating previous records set in July 2016, July 2019,  and July 2020. The last seven Julys, from 2015 to 2021, have been the hottest seven Julys on record.

Modern Sudoku was introduced in Japan by Maki Kaji, president of the Nikoli puzzle company, in April 1984 as Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru - Japanese for "Unmarried (or single) Numbers" - and in short, Sudoku. "Sudoku" is a registered trademark in Japan.

Maki Kaji's Death

Maki Kaji, the "Godfather of Sudoku," died Tuesday, Aug 17, 2021. He was 69 and had bile duct cancer.

Ten new works by Banksy appeared in the coastal towns of Norfolk and Suffolk in eastern England over the week ending Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. The artist’s website has depicted images of the works under the title "A Great British Spraycation," a play on the word staycation.

Kunta Kinte is a character in the 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley. Haley based Kunta Kinte on one of his ancestors: a Gambian man born in 1750, enslaved and taken to America, who died in 1822. “Roots” earned Haley a Pulitzer Prize and was turned into a TV miniseries watched by a record-setting 130 million people in 1977.

Alex Haley News Fact

On the occasion of his 100th birthday, Alex Haley’s legacy is being invoked at the renovated Alex Haley Museum and Interpretive Center, which opened Friday, Aug 13, 2021. Visitors are welcome to view a short documentary film, visit a galley that includes a life-size replica of a slave ship, and tour the boyhood home of Alex Haley.

Madonna celebrated her 64th birthday on Aug. 16, 2022.

Madonna Bonus Fact

Madonna announced a partnership with Warner Music Group that will see her entire catalog reissued beginning in 2022, marking the 40th anniversary of her recording career. Madonna will "personally curate expansive deluxe editions for many of her landmark albums," WMG said.

Robert De Niro celebrated his 78th birthday on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, with a boat ride in France. According to Page Six, De Niro was with Tiffany Chen, a New York-based martial arts instructor, who appeared alongside De Niro in 2015’s “The Intern,” teaching his character tai chi in a park.

The character English actor Dominic West played on HBO’s The Wire was named Jimmy McNulty. He played Noah Solloway on Showtime’s The Affair, but soon you’ll know him as no other than Prince Charles on Netflix’s The Crown.

The Crown Season 5 News Facts

On Aug. 17, 2021, Netflix released the first photos of Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Dominic West as Prince Charles for Season 5 of The Crown. Also appearing in the season will be Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip. Season 5 of The Crown is expected to stream no sooner than 2022.

Mile White was the co-creator, executive producer, writer, director, and actor of the HBO series Enlightened. He also created, wrote, and directed the 2021 HBO satire comedy miniseries The White Lotus, as well as wrote screenplays for films such as The Good Girl (2002), School of Rock (2003), and Nacho Libre (2006).

The White Lotus News 2022

HBO renewed The White Lotus for a second season, telling the story of a different group of travelers during their stay at another White Lotus property. The White Lotus focuses on the lives of staff and guests at a Hawaii tropical resort over a week.

“Free Guy” is an action-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds as a background character in a GTA-like videogame. The movie, released Aug. 13, 2021, opened better than expected over the weekend, collecting an estimated $28.4 million in ticket sales. On Saturday, Aug. 14, Reynolds announced that Disney (which owns 20th Century Studios) already wants a sequel. Watch the trailer.

Star Wars: Visions is a Star Wars Japanese anime anthology series scheduled for release on Disney+ on Sept. 22, 2021. The series includes nine short films produced by six Japanese animation studios, each telling their original stories based on the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars: Visions News Fact

Disney+ has released the trailer and unveiled the voice casts for Star Wars: Visions on Aug.17, 2021. Lucy Liu, Neil Patrick Harris, George Takei, Alison Brie, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are among the English voice cast for the series, which has an original Japanese soundtrack. Watch the trailer.

Edvard Eriksen's famous The Little Mermaid bronze statue has been displayed on a rock by the waterside in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, since 1913, representing the story of Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.

The Little Mermaid Odd New York Times Report

The Eriksen estate has initiated legal proceedings demanding that a somewhat similar sculpture, displayed since 2016 in the village of Asaa, in the north of Denmark, be torn down. According to a New York Times Aug. 17, 2021 report, the Eriksen estate also seeks 37,000 Danish crowns($6,000) in compensation. While the Asaa mermaid is plumper and her facial features coarser, her posture is identical to Eriksen's mermaid.

Red Ventures, which owns Lonely Planet, CNET, TV Guide, Metacritic, and GameSpot, is arguably the most prominent digital publisher in America, according to the New York Times, with 4,500 employees and roughly $2 billion in annual revenues, and an average of 751 million visits a month.

Pope Francis issued a video appeal on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021, on behalf of the nonprofit U.S. group the Ad Council and the public health coalition COVID Collaborative, saying, "Thanks to God's grace and the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19. They grant us the hope of ending the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we work together."