June 17 News Quiz of the Week: Hearings, Syndrom

According to the Jan. 6 House Committee Hearings, Donald Trump’s supporters donated $250 million to a non-existent “Election Defense Fund” after the election. The committee investigator said millions of donated dollars flowed into a super PAC that Trump set up just days after the election, sending millions to charitable foundations and political groups run by several of Trump’s former staff members.

The Japanese yen is the third most-traded currency globally. The currency fell against the US dollar to levels last seen in 1998. The Bank of Japan, on June 10, 2022,  gave a rare joint statement that it may intervene if the weakness persists.

The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice, Italy, where Jews were forced to live since a 1516 decree of the Venetian Senate and until Napoleon’s army occupied Venice in 1797. The English word ghetto is derived from the Jewish ghetto in Venice. The ghetto’s 16th-century synagogues have remained operational continuously, except for the years of World War II during the German occupation, and are now being restored in a 6 million euros project.

The best-selling video game to date is Minecraft, released by Mojang in May 2009, selling more than 238 million copies across all platforms (as of April 2021). Microsoft revealed Minecraft Legends, a spinoff game planned for 2023, during its annual gaming showcase on June 12, 2022. The game will be available on all major platforms. Watch the trailer.

Lemon-Dou, Coca-Cola’s first ready-to-drink alcohol beverage, was launched in Japan in 2018. It was Coca-Cola’s first entry into the alcohol beverage market since the late 1970s when the company owned a winemaker in California. Coca-Cola announced its latest alcoholic product on June 13, 2022: a can of the iconic cocktail Jack & Coke. It will be available in global markets and will debut in Mexico in late 2022.

Justin Bieber was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a virus that affects nerves in the facial area. In a video posted on Instagram, Bieber said the left half of his face was paralyzed, and his right eye was not blinking. About 75% of patients with the Ramsay Hunt syndrome who receive early treatment, including steroids and antivirals, make a full recovery.

Pop star Lizzo has removed the phrase “I’m a spazz” from her 2022 track “GIRRRLS” and replaced it with “hold me back” – after realizing spaz is a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy. “I never want to promote derogatory language,” she wrote in a public apology on June 13, 2022. “As a fat black woman in America, I have had many hurtful words used against me, so I understand the power words can have.” The track will be part of Lizzo’s upcoming album Special, released in July.

With a Tony win for “A Strange Loop,” Jennifer Hudson, one of the show’s co-producers, joined on June 12, 2022, the select group of people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (aka EGOT). Hudson won an Oscar in 2007 for her role in “Dreamgirls,” two Grammys for the cast album of 2015’s “The Color Purple,” and a 2021 Daytime Emmy Award for an interactive animated short for which she was an executive producer, “Baba Yaga.” The EGOT club includes Rita Moreno, John Legend, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, and 16 others.

Rebel Wilson was born on Mar. 2, 1980, making her 42 in 2022. A self-proclaimed “late bloomer” in love, Wilson revealed on her Instagram account on June 9, 2022, that she is dating fashion designer Ramona Agruma. Wilson had come out after a Sydney Morning Herald reporter asked her to comment about her new partner, giving her a two-day deadline. The reporter later apologized.

The 2022 Toy Story prequel, Lightyear, features Disney/Pixar’s first onscreen same-sex kiss. In the film, starring Chris Evans as the real-life inspiration for the “Toy Story” character Buzz Lightyear, Buzz’s close friend is a female space ranger who marries another woman. A scene showing milestones in the couple’s relationship includes a brief kiss. As a result, Disney has been unable to obtain permission to screen “Lightyear” in 14 Middle Eastern and Asian countries, and it’s unlikely to open in China, according to a June 14 Reuters report. Lightyear premieres June 17 in theaters. Watch the trailer.