The Apr. 14 News Quiz: Who is the first US president arrested on criminal charges?

Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury in New York County on Mar. 30, 2023, on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a hush-money payment his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, paid to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump was arrested on Apr. 4, 2023, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and flown to New York City by federal marshals. He pleaded not guilty and was released without posting bail. His next court date is Dec. 4. The judge, Juan M. Merchan, warned Trump’s defense to refrain from statements that incite civil unrest. This relates to Trump’s recent social media posts that threatened “death and destruction” if he was charged and used racist language and images against the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg. Trump is a candidate for the US presidency in 2024.

What about Nixon, Johnson, and Clinton?

Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon after he resigned in 1974. The Senate acquitted Andrew Johnson of impeachment in 1868 and Clinton in 1998. However, Clinton was barred from practicing law in Arkansas and before the Supreme Court. Neither of them was ever arrested.

A major leak of classified US documents that exposed details of its intelligence gathering started in a chatroom on a social media platform popular with gamers called Discord. An anonymous poster shared the classified documents, first typing them out, then posting images of papers. The posts appear to have gone unnoticed until they began circulating on social media and were picked up by major news outlets.

What’s in the leak?

The records have provided startling and timely details of US and NATO assistance to Ukraine and efforts to assist Ukraine in its war with Russia, including an anticipated spring offensive. By April 11, 2023, the Pentagon claimed some of the leaked documents had been doctored. The Associated Press interviewed a chat group member in which documents appeared for several months. He said the person who uploaded the documents did not appear driven by ideology. He also said he had copies of hundreds of pages of files and would leak them all if the original poster was arrested.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born on July 6, 1935. He is Tibet’s spiritual leader and describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. On April 10, 2023, the 87-year-old Dalai Lama apologized for asking a boy to “suck his tongue” at a public event in India in late February.

What happened exactly?

In a video that has become viral, a young student approached a microphone at the event and asked the Dalai Lama: “Can I hug you?” The Dalai Lama told the boy to come up to the stage. After the child kisses the Dalai Lama on the cheek and hugs him, the Dalai Lama holds onto the boy, saying, “I think here also,” kissing his lips. “And suck my tongue,” the Dalai Lama added, sticking out his tongue forehead to forehead with the young student. When the boy moved away, the Dalai Lama pulled him in for another hug as the audience laughed. The controversy prompted an apology from the Dalai Lama’s office, which said his behavior was “innocent and playful,” adding, “His Holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his family… he regrets the incident.”

Taiwan is an island nation in East Asia that was formerly called Formosa by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century. The Formosan black bear is an endangered subspecies of black bears native to Taiwan and is seen as a symbol of Taiwanese identity.

Why is it beating Pooh?

A patch depicting a Formosan black bear holding Taiwan’s flag and punching Winnie-the-Pooh, representing China’s president Xi Jinping, has become viral online as a defiant gesture against China’s military drills around Taiwan in April 2023. Winnie-the-Pooh is often used as an internet meme to mock Xi Jinping and is censored in China.

Elon Musk announced plans to build an upcoming factory in Shanghai, China, on April 9, 2023. The factory will annually produce 10,000 megapacks – Tesla’s energy storage products that stabilize energy grids and prevent power outages. Building work on the proposed factory is expected to begin later this year, with battery production due to begin by the summer of 2024. The new factory will supplement Tesla’s existing Megapack plant in California, producing another 10,000 units annually. Tesla has announced plans for another overseas plant in Monterrey, Mexico, but not a Megapack plant.

Sanna Marin became the world’s youngest leader when she became Finland’s Prime Minister in 2019 at age 34. She headed a coalition of five parties, all led by women. Marin was widely praised for steering Finland toward its imminent NATO entry and navigating her country through the Covid-19 pandemic. However, she was scrutinized in 2022 when a video emerged of the young PM singing, dancing, and drinking at a party.

What happened in Finland’s 2023 elections?

While all mainstream parties in Finland backed NATO membership, Sanna Marin’s center-left Social Democrats (SDP) garnered just 19.9% of Finland’s Apr. 2, 2023, election vote and secured second place. As a result, Marin resigned as chair of her party. The right-wing Finns Party achieved the highest result in its history with 20.1% of the vote and won more regions than any other party in mainland Finland. Petteri Orpo’s center-right National Coalition Party won with 20.8%. Orpo became Finland’s prime minister. Finland officially joined NATO on Apr. 5, 2023.

Jon Rahm, born in Spain, won his first major title at the US Open in 2021. He won his second major title and first green jacket at the 2023 Masters on April 9. He became the first European golfer to achieve this feat. Rahm joins an elite group of Americans who have won both majors, such as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson. He also became the fourth Spaniard to win the Masters, joining Sergio Garcia, José María Olazábal, and Seve Ballesteros. He won on Ballesteros’s 66th birthday. Ballesteros died in 2011 and was Rahm’s idol and a two-time Masters champion in 1980 and 1983.

Tiger Woods won his fifth green jacket in 2019, at 43, becoming the second-oldest Masters winner. The oldest Masters winner is Jack Nicklaus, who was 46 when he won his sixth green jacket in 1986. Woods’s 2019 victory was his first major title in 11 years after overcoming multiple injuries and personal issues. He is currently still recovering from another car crash in 2021 that left him with severe leg injuries.

Did Woods play the 2023 Masters?

Woods appeared on Apr. 6 at the 2023 Masters, battling injury concerns with his back and foot. He withdrew before the third round resumed on Apr. 9, ending his streak of completing every round he has played at Augusta National.

J.K. Rowling wrote seven books in the main Harry Potter series, each covering one year of Harry’s adventures at Hogwarts. The series started with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997 and ended with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007. Rowling also wrote nine additional books related to the Harry Potter universe, but they are not part of the main series.

Is there a Harry Potter TV series?

On April 4, 2023, Bloomberg reported that Warner Bros. and HBO Max are talking with Rowling to create a streaming TV series based on the original books. The series would have seven seasons, one for each book, and Rowling would be a producer with creative control. However, the project sparked controversy among some fans and activists who criticized Rowling’s views on transgender issues.

Ari Emanuel is a big-shot Hollywood agent and the co-founder of Endeavor Talent Agency, which merged with William Morris Agency in 2009. He is also the real-life inspiration for Ari Gold, the charismatic agent on HBO’s Entourage. On Apr. 2, 2023, he announced a $21 billion deal to acquire WWE from Vince McMahon and combine it with the UFC to create a combat-entertainment powerhouse.

Fun Fact: He is also the brother of Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and White House chief of staff under Barack Obama.

Mario and Luigi are the main characters of Nintendo’s Mario video game series, which debuted in 1981 with Donkey Kong. They are also the protagonists of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a 2023 computer-animated film produced by Illumination, Universal Pictures, and Nintendo.

What’s the Mario movie about?

The film features an origin story for the brothers, who are transported to an alternate world. It was released in the US on Apr. 5, 2023, and is scheduled for Japan on Apr. 28. Watch the trailer.

How did it do?

On its opening weekend, the Super Mario Bros Movie took $377m (£304m) worldwide. US cinemas recorded $204.6m in box office sales. This means the Mario movie has broken the record for opening weekends for both video game adaptations (beating Warcraft’s $210m) and animated films (beating Frozen 2’s $358m). It also makes it the second biggest three-day US animated opening (behind Finding Dory).

Fun Fact: The film’s post-credits scene hints at a sequel featuring a cracking Yoshi-Egg.

This image shows Lizzo and Jack Black as the Duchess and Captain Bombardier of Plazir-15, a fictional planet in the Star Wars universe. They appeared as guest stars in The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 6/Chapter 22, released on April 5, 2023, on Disney+. The episode also featured another celebrity cameo by Christopher Lloyd as Commissioner Helgait, Plazir-15’s head of security. Lizzo and Jack Black celebrated their Star Wars debut on social media by posting photos of themselves with Grogu merchandise and each other.

After working together on several Marvel films, Chris Hemsworth, the Russos, and Sam Hargrave decided to branch out and make their own action franchise for Netflix. Hemsworth (Thor) stars in the Extraction franchise as Tyler Rake, a mercenary who can take down an army of bad guys with his bare hands, one of them flaming. Anthony and Joe Russo are the producers and writers who came up with this original story based on a graphic novel they also co-wrote. And Sam Hargrave is the director who was a stuntman and stunt coordinator for Marvel films before turning director with Extraction in 2020. The entire pack is back for the sequel, Extraction 2, streaming on Netflix starting June 16, 2023. Watch the action-packed trailer.

Logan Roy, played by renowned Shakespearean stage actor and Emmy winner Brian Cox, is the founder and CEO of the fictional Waystar-Royco, the global media and entertainment conglomerate on HBO’s Succession. He is also the father of four children – Kendall, Shiv, Roman, and Connor – who constantly vie for his approval. Cox and the actors portraying Kendall, Shiv, and Roman were all nominated for the 2023 Emmys.

SPOILER: The character died unexpectedly in the third episode of Succession’s final season, which aired on April 9, 2023.