Sapere Aude || The Quizarc Newsletter. Vol 15
Fifteenth edition of Quizarc's "week in review" newsletter
Sapere Aude is a weekly newsletter from Quizarc, where we distil all the happenings of the last week into bite-sized trivia, divided into four distinct sections:
This is Business (Business, finance, and brands),
It's in the game (Sports and games),
MELA (Music, Entertainment, Literature, Arts), and
General (Politics, Space, Nature, and everything else).
This newsletter is aimed at everyone who wants to stay updated on all recent happenings and provides special insights on the news, tailored for quizzers.
Share this newsletter with your friends and family – don't keep it a secret
This is business
֎AI Updates
Ⓜ️Meta unveiled its first standalone AI assistant app called Meta AI which delivers a social media-like experience with support for voice mode.
Quizarc Insight
The app is powered by Meta’s latest large language model (LLM), Llama 4.
OpenAI
⚛️OpenAI declared that it isn’t going to become a for-profit company after all.
Quizarc Insight
Using phrases like "please" and "thank you" with ChatGPT can contribute to increased operational costs for OpenAI, particularly in terms of electricity consumption.
🌐Windsurf, the maker of a popular AI coding assistant, is in talks to be acquired by OpenAI for about $3 billion.
Quizarc Insight
If the deal happens, it will put OpenAI in direct competition with several other AI coding assistant providers, including Anysphere, the maker of Cursor, which OpenAI backed from its OpenAI Startup Fund.
🧠Google's DeepMind unveils AlphaEvolve, an AI-powered model capable of developing algorithms to solve general-purpose problems and reduce hallucinations by chatbots.
👁️🗨️Google's advanced AI, Gemini 2.5 Pro recently conquered the classic 1996 GameBoy game Pokémon Blue.
💳Visa unveiled Intelligent Commerce, a tool that lets AI agents make purchases on behalf of customers based on their preferences.
Quizarc Insight
Mastercard recently released Agent Pay, which integrates payments into customized recommendations; PayPal announced an agentic commerce tool; and Amazon launched Buy for Me, its AI shopping agent.
🦉Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn said that Duolingo would shift to an “AI-first.” model, replacing contractor roles and integrating AI into hiring and performance reviews.
Quizarc Insight
Von Ahn is the founder of reCAPTCHA, which was sold to Google.
꩜ Geoff Ralston, well-known in the startup community for being the president of Y Combinator, is back in the formal investing ring with his new AI VC fund called Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund, or SAIF.
Quizarc Insight
Geoff Ralston also developed Lala, a web browser-based music distribution site and Yahoo! Mail.
🍎Apple said that it is “actively looking at” bringing AI search to Safari.
Quizarc Insight
Apple’s SVP of Services, Eddy Cue, revealed the potential revamp while testifying yesterday in a DOJ competition lawsuit against Google that takes aim at the $20 billion a year the search engine pays to be the default in Apple’s browser.
📦Amazon
🅰Amazon unveiled Nova Act, a general-purpose AI agent that can take control of a web browser and independently perform some simple actions.
Quizarc Insight
Nova Act, developed by Amazon’s recently opened San Francisco-based AGI lab, will also power key features of the company’s upcoming Alexa+ upgrade, a generative AI-enhanced version of Amazon’s popular voice assistant.
🛒Amazon also introduced Vulcan, a new AI warehouse robot with a sense of touch.
💻The United Arab Emirates aims to use artificial intelligence to help write new legislation and review and amend existing laws.
💰Hyderabad-based Goldsikka unveiled an AI-powered Gold-Melting ATM offering users the ability to buy, sell, exchange, lease, digitize and monetize gold and gold jewelry.
Quizarc Insight
Goldsikka which launched India's first real-time Gold ATM in 2022
🤖Sarvam AI, an AI startup based in Bengaluru, has introduced Bulbul-v2, its next-generation text-to-speech model which accommodates 11 Indian languages and delivers a realistic, human-like audio experience.
Quizarc Insight
The government recently announced that it has selected Sarvam AI to build the country’s first artificial intelligence foundational model.
🤖Other Big Tech
🔎Google
🗂️In a significant blow to Google’s advertising empire, a US federal judge has ruled that the California-based tech giant illegally monopolized parts of the online advertising technology market, undermining competition.
Quizarc Insight
The decision was the second antitrust win for the US government against Google: Last year, a judge ruled that the company held a monopoly over online search.
🌐Google’s logo has changed for the first time in a decade.
Quizarc Insight
According to Google, the redesign is part of a broader visual transformation to unify their AI-powered tools under one cohesive brand.
🎞️Google has launched a film and TV production initiative called "100 Zeros" in partnership with production company Range Media Partners.
Quizarc Insight
It is called "100 Zeros" as a playful reference to the term "googol," which represents the number 10 to the 100th power.
📱Ireland fined TikTok $600M for sending EU user data to China.
🌎The European Union fined Apple a €500 million fine for breaching competition rules by directing consumers away from competitors to its app store, and Meta was hit with a €200 million penalty for requiring EU users to pay to access ad-free versions of its products.
Quizarc Insight
These are the first fines issued under 2024’s Digital Markets Act, although the EU hit the same two companies with even larger fines under antitrust laws last year.
🍎Apple
🍏Apple was banned from charging US customers commission on purchases via third-party apps and from making it difficult to buy from other stores.
Quizarc Insight
The order by a district judge represents a major defeat in the tech giant’s dispute with Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, which said Apple was illegally restricting competition. Epic Games joined the App store after 5 years following the judgement.
❦ Apple partnered with tech startup Synchron to create brain-computer interfaces allowing people with disabilities to control iPhones with their thoughts.
🪟Microsoft
💻Microsoft became the largest company in the world following a rise in stock prices.
Quizarc Insight
Microsoft's quarterly revenue rose 13% year-over-year to $70B, driven by cloud business.
⊞Microsoft researchers claimed that they’ve developed the largest-scale 1-bit AI model to date. Called BitNet b1.58 2B4T, it’s openly available under an MIT license and can run on CPUs.
Quizarc Insight
Bitnets are essentially compressed models designed to run on lightweight hardware. In standard models, weights, the values that define the internal structure of a model, are often quantized so the models perform well on a wide range of machines.
🅾Instagram has launched Blend, a new feature allowing users to create personalized, shared Reels feeds within Direct Messages (DMs) with friends or groups.
Quizarc Insight
Instagram also launched a new standalone video editing app called "Edits" to provide creators with a more robust set of tools and features for creating short-form videos.
🎨Canva launches spreadsheets, a competitor to Microsoft Excel.
Quizarc Insight
Canva was co-founded by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams in Perth, Australia, in 2013.
💸Money Matters
🧾The US ended a "de minimis" tariff exemption for packages from China and Hong Kong which allowed duty-free entry for shipments of goods valued under $800.
Quizarc Insight
The so-called loophole was widely used by overseas online retailers, like Shein and Temu, to offer cheap products directly to American consumers.
🚗Hertz’s shares leapt 56% after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square disclosed its large stake in the car rental company.
Quizarc Insight
Hertz Global Holdings, originally known as Rent-a-Car was founded by Walter L. Jacobs in 1918.
🎓 Harvard University has filed a lawsuit to block a federal freeze on over $2.3 billion in grants, following its decision to oppose the Trump administration’s efforts to curb campus activism.
Quizarc Insight
The Trump administration froze federal funding to Harvard University after it rejected a list of controversial demands including dismantling DEI programs, enforcing merit-based policies, and restricting student activism.
🌴California surpassed Japan as world's fourth-largest economy, with a nominal gross domestic product of $4.1T.
🏦Credit Suisse will have to pay $511 million to settle a case with the Department of Justice, which accused the bank of helping US taxpayers stash $4 billion offshore.
👨💼Bill Gates vowed to give away “virtually all” of his wealth through the Gates Foundation by the end of 2045 before it shutters for good.
Quizarc Insight
The foundation has given away $100B+ so far, and Gates estimates it will donate an additional $200B+ over the next 20 years. While the original plan was to keep the foundation running decades after his death, Gates wrote that he wants to achieve its goals — which focus on child and maternal health care and fighting poverty — on a “shorter timeline.
🚨 The Enforcement Directorate stated that coaching institute FIITJEE collected over ₹206 crore from students, primarily for educational services that were not delivered.
Quizarc Insight
DK Goel, a Mechanical Engineering Graduate from IIT Delhi, founded FIITJEE in 1992.
🏪Walgreens has agreed to a settlement of up to $350 million to resolve federal claims regarding the alleged filling of millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances between August 2012 and March 2023.
Quizarc Insight
In 2014, Walgreens acquired Switzerland and UK-based Alliance Boots, and formed a new holding company, Walgreens Boots Alliance.
👨🏻💻WhiteHat Jr founder Karan Bajaj bagged a seed funding of $16 Mn for his cancer care venture Complement1.
Quizarc Insight
WhiteHat Jr. was acquired by BYJU'S in 2020.
🪙American crypto giant Coinbase was hit by a massive data breach.
Quizarc Insight
CEO Brian Armstrong refused to pay the $20 million ransom, offering a $20 million reward instead to help identify the attackers.
🌐IBM plans to invest $150 billion in the US over five years.
Quizarc Insight
Nvidia and Apple have each separately said that they plan to spend $500 billion stateside over the next four years.
🏛️Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is reportedly exploring the acquisition of a 51% stake in Yes Bank.
Quizarc Insight
In 2020, RBI took over Yes Bank in a bailout provision and reconstructed Yes Bank's board.
👜In the luxury market, Hermès has surpassed LVMH in market capitalization, becoming the most valuable luxury company.
Quizarc Insight
The Hermès logo, featuring a horse-drawn carriage, is inspired by a painting called "Le Duc attelé, groom à l'attente" by Alfred de Dreux.
💎Absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi was arrested by Belgium authorities following an extradition request by Indian probe agencies.
Quizarc Insight
Choksi, along with Nirav Modi were involved in the ₹13,000 crore PNB loan “fraud” case.
🚪Porter became India’s second unicorn of 2025.
Quizarc Insight
Netradyne, an AI-driven logistics solutions provider, became India's first unicorn of the year.
📱Samsung has challenged the Indian tax authority’s $520 million tax demand in an arbitration court.
Quizarc Insight
A Reuters report said that Indian tax authorities fined both Samsung and Volkswagen for misclassifying imported parts to avoid paying tariffs.
🤝Mergers, acquisitions, breakups and bankruptcies
👟3G, an US-Brazilian private-equity firm — known for its buyouts of blue-chip household companies is back this week with its first deal since 2021, a $9.4 billion takeout of Skechers.
Quizarc Insight
3G was once a marquee M&A player feared and respected for its ruthless cost-cutting, a playbook described by Fortune as “buy, squeeze, repeat.” It worked on Anheuser-Busch and Burger King, less so on Kraft-Heinz.
💳US banking regulators have approved Capital One’s $35B acquisition of Discover Financial, clearing the last major hurdles for a deal that will create America's largest credit-card issuer by total loan volume.
Quizarc Insight
In addition to approving the deal, the Fed fined Discover $100M for overcharging merchants certain fees between 2007 and 2023. Similarly, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. asked Discover to pay $1.2B in restitution and a $150M civil penalty.
📡Charter Communications and Cox Communications—the first- and eighth-largest cable providers in the US by subscribers—announced a merger in a deal consisting of $21.9B in equity and $12.6B in debt.
🩺Function Health, a startup that offers annual subscribers 160+ blood tests for $499, acquired Ezra, a full-body MRI and CT scanning company.
🤑Coinbase acquired Deribit, a popular trading platform for bitcoin and ether options, for $2.9 billion.
👨🍳Chef Boyardee was sold to a private equity firm for $600 million.
Quizarc Insight
Chef Boyardee was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1928.
💵The CCI has approved the acquisition of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. (HCG) by KKR.
Quizarc Insight
KKR was founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg Jr., and cousins Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts, all of whom had previously worked together at Bear Stearns.
👖WeightWatchers filed for bankruptcy after getting outpaced by GLP-1 weight loss drugs and succumbing to $1.5B in debt.
Quizarc Insight
Oprah Winfrey had earlier exited the company’s board shortly after revealing she’d been using weight loss drugs.
🚪DoorDash is acquiring Deliveroo, a British food delivery platform, in a deal valued at $3.9 billion. and is also buying hospitality software company SevenRooms for $1.2 billion.
Quizarc Insight
Between DoorDash and Deliveroo are a combined 50 million monthly active users, while SevenRooms’ restaurant reservation platform with clients like Marriott and MGM could give DoorDash insight into customer trends and habits.
🍗Devyani International has acquired a majority stake (80.72%) in Sky Gate Hospitality, the parent company of brands like Biryani By Kilo, Goila Butter Chicken, and The Bhojan.
Quizarc Insight
Devyani International already owns the Indian franchise of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Costa Coffee.
👕The Souled Store, a leading online platform for pop culture merchandise, acquired Redwolf, another pop culture merchandise brand.
Quizarc Insight
The Souled Store was co-founded by Vedang Patel, Aditya Sharma, Rohin Samtaney, and Harsh Lal in 2013
💰Hirings and Firings
🏛️IndusInd Bank CEO Sumant Kathpalia stepped down, taking moral responsibility for the derivative accounting lapse that led to losses of nearly ₹2,000 Cr.
Quizarc Insight
IndusInd Bank obtained a banking license in 1994; and was promoted by the Hinduja Group.
🏦Klaus Schwab, the 87-year-old founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), resigned as Chairman after leading the institution since 1971.
Quizarc Insight
Known as the face of the Davos Summit, Schwab's departure marks the end of an era as WEF faces criticism of elitism, internal workplace issues, and a broader globalization backlash.
⌚Titan Ltd. has announced that Ajoy Chawla, the head of its jewelry division, will become the company's next Managing Director starting January 1, 2026.
Quizarc Insight
This leadership change coincides with the retirement of the current MD, C.K. Venkataraman, at the end of 2025.
✈️Campbell Wilson is stepping down as Chairman of Air India Express.
Quizarc Insight
Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Air India, will take over as Chairman, aligning both airlines' strategies.
👁️Kohl’s fired CEO Ashley Buchanan, a former Michaels CEO who took over the role in January, after a company investigation found he failed to disclose vendor transactions involving “conflicts of interest,” including a deal that offered “highly unusual terms favorable to the vendor.”
Quizarc Insight
Kohl’s was founded by Polish immigrant Maxwell Kohl, who opened a corner grocery store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1927.
🥪Jersey Mike’s Subs founder and CEO Peter Cancro left his leadership position after 50 years heading the company.
Quizarc Insight
Cancro started working at the chain’s first location in 1971 as a high-school student before buying the store at age 17. He’s helmed the business ever since, now cashing in on its $8B sale to Blackstone.
👨🦳President Trump ousted his national security advisor, Mike Waltz, just over a month after Waltz mistakenly added a journalist to a group chat on the app Signal where officials were discussing highly sensitive military plans.
📦UPS said that it plans to cut 20,000 jobs this year because of its decision to deliver fewer Amazon packages.
Quizarc Insight
The origin of UPS was in a Seattle basement with a $100 loan, when Claude Ryan and Jim Casey opened the American Messenger Company.
💊Pharma giant Novo Nordisk ousted its CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen.
Quizarc Insight
The Danish firm, maker of GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, has lost ground to competitor Eli Lilly in the Anti obesity market over the past two years. Shares of the company have fallen more than 50% since mid-2024 amid increased competition.
🥖Jersey Mike’s has a new CEO for the first time in 50 years after founder Mike Peter Cancro said he was stepping back in light of the company’s $8 billion sale to Blackstone.
֎OpenAI hired Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to run its business and operations teams.
Quizarc Insight
Simo, who was already on OpenAI’s board, took Instacart public last year after the grocery delivery company took off during the Covid-19 pandemic.
🚗From the Auto world
🚘 BluSmart suspended its cab services in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and Bengaluru due to financial issues and a SEBI investigation into alleged fund misuse by its co-founder, Anmol Singh Jaggi, and his company Gensol.
Quizarc Insight
Gensol provided loans to BluSmart to acquire electric vehicles, and the SEBI investigation suggests that funds were diverted from this purpose.
⛐Toyota and Waymo signed a preliminary agreement to work together on creating autonomous vehicles.
Quizarc Insight
Toyota is the world’s largest auto manufacturer, and Waymo is the most successful self-driving car company.
🚗Lyft is expanding into Europe by acquiring Freenow, a European taxi app owned by BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Quizarc Insight
Lyft was launched in the summer of 2012 by computer programmers Logan Green and John Zimmer as a service of Zimride, a long-distance intercity carpooling company.
🚘Volkswagen and Uber are collaborating to launch a robotaxi service in the U.S. using Volkswagen's ID. Buzz microbuses.
Quizarc Insight
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a battery electric minivan. Its name is a reference to the sound of electricity, and also a derivative of the word bus
🚗Uber launched Courier XL, a new service within its logistics arm, to handle larger and heavier deliveries.
Quizarc Insight
Uber joins Nike as official ride partner for Mumbai's After Dark Tour, promoting safe, accessible night-time mobility for women.
⛐Jeff Bezos backed Slate unveiled a bare bones electric pickup truck expected to cost $20K after incentives when it goes to market next year.
🚗Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that he will pull back from his role as a White House adviser, after the electric vehicle company posted a 39% decline in profit.
🚚Autonomous trucking company Aurora Innovation launched its first driverless truck.
Quizarc Insight
It will take its maiden voyage on I-45 between Dallas and Houston and will be joined by additional vehicles as the company slowly expands its fleet.
🛻GM revealed that it’s developing a “groundbreaking” battery technology to boost the range of its electric trucks and SUVs at a cheaper cost by using lithium manganese-rich (LMR) cells, which have been around for decades but with a much shorter lifespan.
Quizarc Insight
Ford is working on launching similar battery technology by 2030, but GM expects to be first to market.
✈️Aviation
✈︎Boeing to sell parts of its digital aviation business to private equity firm Thoma Bravo in all-cash deal valued at over $10B.
Quizarc Insight
Thoma Bravo, LP is an American private equity and growth capital firm based in Chicago.
🛫Pentagon says it has accepted Qatar's gift of a luxury megajet for Trump's use as Air Force one.
Quizarc Insight
Valued at $200 to $400 million, the plane has been called a “flying palace.”
💼Indian Business stories
🏛️India has completed the merger of 26 Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) across 11 states, implementing the "One State, One RRB" policy.
Quizarc Insight
This consolidation, the fourth phase of RRB mergers, reduces the number of RRBs from 43 to 28.
💲MobiKwik's Zaakpay has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator.
Quizarc Insight
The first online payment aggregator in India was BILLDESK, which launched operations in 2000.
🍔Zomato will shut down its 15-minute food delivery service 'Quick' and Zomato Everyday.
Quizarc Insight
This decision follows a previous unsuccessful attempt at rapid food delivery with Zomato Instant, which was also shut down in 2023.
😋 Swiggy is entering the professional services market with a new platform called Pyng to become a hyperlocal marketplace for urban consumers seeking skilled service providers.
Quizarc Insight
Swiggy has Snacc for 15-minute food delivery.
🛵Ather Energy's IPO, priced at ₹2,981 crore, saw its shares list at a 2% premium to the IPO price.
Quizarc Insight
Ather was started in 2013 by two IIT Madras alumni, Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, embarked on a journey that would position them at the forefront of India's electric vehicle (EV) revolution.
💻India has successfully tested its first Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) transmission over a 4-core Multi-Core Fibre (MCF), a joint effort by C-DOT and Sterlite Technologies Ltd.
Quizarc Insight
The test sustained QKD transmission over 100 km, using one core for quantum signals and the other three for high-speed classical data, showcasing the cost-effective, interference-free advantages of MCF for building a national quantum communication network.
🖥️India is set to establish its first Quantum Computing Village in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, led by the RealTime Governance Society (RTGS) with key collaborators IBM, TCS, and L&T.
Quizarc Insight
Spanning 50 acres, the facility will feature the IBM Quantum System Two, a cutting-edge quantum computer.
🛒Zepto has rebranded its parent company from Kiranakart Technologies Private Limited to Zepto Private Limited.
Quizarc Insight
Zepto also launched Zepto Atom, a subscription-based analytics and commerce platform.
💸Other Business news
🍕Domino's introduced Mac Scott, a 7-foot-tall, 5-Cheese Mac & Cheese mascot, as its new brand ambassador.
Quizarc Insight
Domino’s previously had an advertising character called The Noid who was a physical manifestation of all the challenges in delivering a pizza within 30 minutes.
🏰The Walt Disney Co. is opening its seventh theme park resort on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island.
Quizarc Insight
Disney is partnering with immersive destination and experiences company Miral on the park,
💎De Beers, the South African-British diamond giant, is closing its lab-grown diamond business.
Quizarc Insight
The phrase "A Diamond is Forever" was coined by Mary Frances Gerety. She was a copywriter working for the N.W. Ayer advertising agency, which was tasked with creating a campaign for De Beers to promote diamond engagement rings in the United States.
👴Warren Buffett is stepping down after a legendary six-decade run at Berkshire Hathaway. Greg Abel who was the Vice Chairman since 2018 is going to be his successor.
Quizarc Insight
In 1965, Warren Buffett took over a struggling textile company and over the next six decades transformed it into a $1.1 trillion conglomerate that’s among the most successful American companies of the modern era. Berkshire now owns 189 operating businesses, such as Geico, Duracell, and Fruit of the Loom, as well as a bunch of stock holdings, including Coca-Cola and Apple.
🚀Starbase, which serves as the headquarters for SpaceX's Starship program became an official city following a near-unanimous vote cast primarily by SpaceX employees living and working in the area.
🍜Barilla has partnered with Spotify to create a series of playlists that correspond to the cooking times of different pasta shapes.
Quizarc Insight
Barilla uses the slogan Noi la pasta, tu la fantasia ("We have the pasta, you have the imagination").
🔮Sam Altman's World project has launched in the US with six retail locations offering iris scans using its "Orb" device.
Quizarc Insight
The Orb is a basketball-sized device that generates an "IrisCode," which forms the basis of the World ID.
🍿Khloé Kardashian launched "Khloud Protein Popcorn", a protein-focused snack brand.
Quizarc Insight
Its protein boost comes from a proprietary blend of seasonings and milk protein powder called “Khloud dust” that’s sprinkled over the air-popped kernels.
🤭OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely is launching Subs, a creator platform that aims to help creators build audiences more easily.
Quizarc Insight
Stokely's first businesses were the adult performance website GlamWorship and Customs4U, a site to connect customers to adult content creators.
🌞Hindustan Unilever agreed to withdraw and modify its Lakme sunscreen advertisement after a legal dispute with Honasa Consumer, maker of The Derma Co.
Quizarc Insight
The ad, which claimed an "online bestseller" sunscreen misrepresented its SPF, was found to be disparaging to Derma Co.
⚭Ananya Panday has been named Chanel's first-ever Indian brand ambassador.
Quizarc Insight
Chanel is well known for its No. 5 perfume and "Chanel Suit".
✔Nike is partnering with runner Faith Kipyegon for an event in which she’ll try to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.
Quizarc Insight
Faith is a three-time Olympic champion and current world record holder for the women's mile.
Ω An Omega Speedmaster once owned by Neil Armstrong has achieved a remarkable $2.1 million at auction.
Quizarc Insight
It’s engraved with the words, “To mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time.”
🥙Chipotle is set to open its first restaurant in Mexico in early 2026, marking the company's debut in the country.
Quizarc Insight
Taco Bell attempted to enter the Mexican market twice, but both times failed and closed its locations.
🍶Chobani, the yogurt company is opening a 1m-square-foot factory in Rome, New York, that will cost $1.2B+ and produce 1B pounds of dairy products annually.
Quizarc Insight
Chobani was founded in 2005 by Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish businessman.
🍦Amul has officially launched the world's first high-protein kulfi.
Quizarc Insight
The full form of AMUL is Anand Milk Union Limited. It is also derived from the Sanskrit word "Amulya", which means "invaluable".
🧑🏼✈️The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has withdrawn the security clearance of Celebi and its affiliate companies due to national security concerns.
Quizarc Insight
Celebi is a Turkish-based ground handling company operating across multiple Indian airports. It provides services such as baggage handling, cargo loading/unloading, aircraft cleaning, and tarmac operations.
🤝India and the UK have finalized a long-awaited free trade deal that slashes tariffs and promises to boost annual trade by £25.5 billion by 2040.
Quizarc Insight
The pact — sealed after three years of negotiations — will halve duties on UK whisky and lower levies on cars, aerospace and food products. In return, Indian clothing and footwear exports will face reduced taxes.
💨DRDO successfully tested a Scramjet engine for over 1000 seconds.
Quizarc Insight
Scramjets are a type of air-breathing engine that uses the high speed of the vehicle to compress incoming air, allowing for supersonic combustion at extremely high speeds.
📍PhonePe's Pincode app is offering 10-minute medicine delivery.
Quizarc Insight
PhonePe relaunched quick commerce venture Pincode in 2024 after splitting from ONDC to venture into quick commerce.
🍸Indian gin brand Jin Jiji has been crowned "Spirit of the Year" at the 2025 London Spirits Competition.
Quizarc Insight
The gin is known for its unique blend of Indian botanicals, including Himalayan juniper, tulsi, and chamomile.
It's in the game
🏏Cricket
\|/ Jasprit Bumrah and Smriti Mandhana were named the Leading Cricketers of the Year in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2025.
Quizarc Insight
Bumrah, with 200 Test wickets was hailed for his role in India's T20 World Cup victory. Mandhana set a record for women with 1659 runs across formats, including four ODI centuries.
👩🏻Sanjay Bangar's son, Aryan, underwent a hormonal replacement therapy and now identifies as Anaya.
Quizarc Insight
She also spoke out about alleged harassment from fellow cricketers after her gender transition.
🏏Kapil Dev has joined SoBo Mumbai Falcons as brand ambassador for the T20 Mumbai League 2025.
Quizarc Insight
Other notable players like Suryakumar Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane will also feature in the event, which will be broadcast on Star Sports and Jio Hotstar.
🏆Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) held a special ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium to honour Rohit Sharma by renaming a stand after him.
Quizarc Insight
Additionally, stands were dedicated to Ajit Wadekar and Sharad Pawar, acknowledging their significant impact on Indian cricket history.
👟 Virat Kohli has ended his eight-year partnership with Puma, rejecting a renewal offer reportedly worth Rs 300 crore.
Quizarc Insight
Instead, he has chosen to invest in Agilitas, a homegrown sportswear and athleisure brand, taking ownership stakes.
🏆IPL
🏏Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest-ever to score a hundred in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when the 14-year-old reached the milestone in just 35 balls against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur.
Quizarc Insight
His innings, featuring 7 fours and 11 sixes, placed him second on the list for the fastest IPL centuries, behind Chris Gayle. At just 14 years and 32 days old, he also became the youngest batter to score a fifty in T20 cricket.
🏏Virat Kohli set a new record in IPL history by surpassing David Warner for the most fifty-plus scores with his 67th half century, achieved during RCB’s victory over PBKS.
Quizarc Insight
Rohit Sharma has become the second Indian after Virat Kohli and the eighth player overall to score 12,000 runs in T20 cricket.
🐶Champak Magazine has filed a lawsuit against BCCI, claiming their robot dog character was copied without permission during IPL promotions.
Quizarc Insight
The magazine claims the BCCI infringed on its trademark by using the name "Champak" for an AI-powered robotic dog with a camera during IPL 2025 promotions.
⚽︎Football
⚽︎Liverpool clinched the 2024–25 Premier League title with a 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield, marking their 20th top-flight championship, tying them with Manchester United.
Quizarc Insight
The match featured goals from Luis Diaz, Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah (his 28th of the season), and an own goal from Destiny Udogie. Liverpool Football Club won the English soccer league in front of its fans for the first time in 35 years.
🕺Wrexham AFC, which is owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney won promotion to the division below the Premier League, becoming the first ever team to secure three consecutive promotions in the English Football League.
Quizarc Insight
The club will compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following three promotions in the past three seasons.
⚽Paris Saint-Germain topped Arsenal 1-0 in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal.
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Inter Milan defeated FC Barcelona in the other semifinal.
🏆Mohun Bagan Super Giant made history by winning the 2024-25 Indian Super League title with a 2-1 victory over Bengaluru FC.
Quizarc Insight
This win was the first time an ISL final was won at home, and Mohun Bagan became the first team to secure both the ISL title and the ISL League Shield in the same season.
🎾Tennis
🥎Carlos Alcaraz clinched the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters 2025 title with a stunning comeback victory over Lorenzo Musetti, winning 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 in the final.
Quizarc Insight
This is his 6th ATP Masters 1000 and 18th career title. He also won the Italian Open beating rival Jannik Sinner 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 in the final.
🎾Jannik Sinner was invited to the Vatican along with his parents and a delegation from the Italian Tennis Federation where he met the Pope and presented him with a tennis racket.
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⚾︎ Novak Djokovic announced that he will be parting ways with his former rival and current coach, Andy Murray, after a stint of six months.
🕹️Video Games
🎮Grand Theft Auto VI got delayed once more and is now set to release on May 26, 2026.
Quizarc Insight
The video game with the longest development period is Duke Nukem Forever. It was officially announced in April 1997 and finally released in June 2011, taking a total of 14 years and 43 days.
👾Indian games publisher Nazara Technologies has acquired UK outfit Curve Games for $28.9 million.
Quizarc Insight
Actor union Sag-Aftra has filed a complaint over the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to recreate the voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader in Fortnite.
🕹️Fortnite is now available on Apple's app store in the US after being taken off the platform nearly five years ago.
💻GoldenEye 007 and Tamagotchi were among the newest inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2025.
Quizarc Insight
Other games inducted alongside them were Defender and Quake.
🥇Other Sports news
🏊🏻♀️Katie Ledecky broke her own 800-meter freestyle world record.
Quizarc Insight
She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer.
🏀San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich – the NBA's all-time winningest coach – has made the decision to step down.
Quizarc Insight
He concluded his coaching career with an NBA-record 1,422 wins and five championships.
🤸♀️Mondo Duplantis, the 25-year-old Swedish-American pole vaulter, was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, a title he clinched for the first time after being nominated three years in a row.
Quizarc Insight
Simone Biles was honored with the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, making it her fourth win, a feat that equals Serena Williams’ record.
🏎️Oscar Piastri of McLaren triumphed at the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix, securing his second win of the season.
Quizarc Insight
Piastri's performance marked McLaren’s first-ever victory at the Bahrain Circuit and his 50th Formula One race.
🎾Andre Agassi has entered the world of professional pickleball, making his debut at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships.
Quizarc Insight
He partnered with Anna Leigh Waters, the top-ranked pickleball player, in a mixed doubles match.
🏃🏻♀️Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa won the 2025 London Marathon, breaking the record for a women's-only race.
Quizarc Insight
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe won the men's race.
🏃♀️Kenya’s John Korir won the Boston Marathon, finishing the race in 2 hours, 4 minutes, and 45 seconds on the men's side. Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi won on the women’s side with a time of 2:17:22—a new women's course record.
Quizarc Insight
The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest, dating back to 1897, and is widely considered the most prestigious
⛹🏼♂️NBC will use NBA narrator Jim Fagan’s voice on its next season of “NBA on NBC,” even though Fagan, who narrated the games from 1990 to 2002, died in 2017.
Quizarc Insight
Previously, NBC used AI to recreate broadcaster Al Michaels’ voice for use during the 2024 Paris Olympics, though Michaels is still alive and calling NFL games.
🦾Beijing hosted the world’s first Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, where robots and humans ran in parallel lanes.
Quizarc Insight
While the fastest human clocked 1:02 hours, the top robot, Tiangong Ultra, finished in 2:40 hrs.
🤼♂️WWE's WrestleMania 41, which was broadcast on Peacock and Netflix over two nights, saw 114% increase in viewership over 2024's event.
Quizarc Insight
Utah’s NHL team will now officially be called the Mammoth. The permanent name was selected after a 13-month process and 850,000 fan votes.
↗ Neeraj Chopra made history at the 2025 Doha Diamond League by surpassing the 90m mark for the first time in his javelin career.
Quizarc Insight
Although Chopra led until the final round, Germany's Julian Weber overtook him for the top spot. Neeraj Chopra was also awarded the honorary title of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army by the Indian Government.
🏹Deepika Kumari won a bronze medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai.
Quizarc Insight
Deepika was the first Indian archer to rise to the top of the world rankings.
🏓Manush Shah and Diya Chitale created history by winning the Mixed Doubles title at the 2025 WTT Contender Tunis, becoming only the second Indian pair after Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (2021) to achieve this feat.
🏸China claimed their 14th Sudirman Cup title after defeating South Korea 3-1 in the World Mixed Team Badminton Championships 2025.
Quizarc Insight
The cup is named after Sudirman, a former Indonesian badminton player.
♟️Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa won his first-ever Grand Chess Tour title by conquering the Superbet Classic 2025 in Romania.
Quizarc Insight
He emerged victorious after a tense tiebreak battle against top-ranked players including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja
🎱 Pankaj Advani secured his third CCI Billiards Classic title by defeating Dhruv Sitwala 5-2 in the 2025 final at the Cricket Club of India, Mumbai.
⚽Luis Galván, Argentina’s 1978 World Cup-winning defender, passed away at 77.
Quizarc Insight
His contributions in Argentina’s controversial 1978 victory—held during a military dictatorship—remain a key part of football history.
MELA
🎵Music Scene
👩🏼🎤Lady Gaga’s biggest-ever concert drew over 2 million fans in Brazil this weekend.
Quizarc Insight
This broke Madonna’s record for highest-attended concert by a female artist set in 2024 at the same venue.
🎤Barbra Streisand has announced a new studio album titled "The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two".
Quizarc Insight
This album will feature collaborations with Sir Paul McCartney, Mariah Carey, Bob Dylan, Ariana Grande, among others.
👩🎤Billy Idol released his first full-length album in more than a decade.
Quizarc Insight
Titled "Dream Into It, the album features contributions from his longtime collaborator, Steve Stevens, plus guest appearances by Avril Lavigne, Joan Jett, and Alison Mosshart.
🐔 Jack Black’s musical ode to the impossible-to-prepare IRL dish “Lava Chicken” has made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 78.
Quizarc Insight
And at just 34 seconds, it’s the shortest song to ever make it onto Billboard’s 67-year-old hot list.
🎉Shawn Rech — founder of crime and investigative content platform TruBlu — acquired two trademarks for the failed Fyre Festival to launch a new music streaming platform.
Quizarc Insight
Fyre Festival was a fraudulent luxury music festival organized by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule.
🎸Universal Music Group filed a motion to dismiss Drake's updated defamation lawsuit, which alleges UMG damaged Drake's reputation by promoting Kendrick Lamar's diss track "Not Like Us”.
Quizarc Insight
The motion comes weeks after Drake filed an amended complaint in the case against his own record company, alleging that Lamar’s Super Bowl performance — and Lamar omitting the word “pedophile” during “Not Like Us” — affirmed his claim that the song’s lyrics were defamatory.
🎬Hollywood
✝️The movie "Conclave" experienced a significant surge in viewership following the death of Pope Francis, with a 283% jump in viewing minutes.
Quizarc Insight
This spike in interest is attributed to the film's focus on the secretive process of selecting a new pope, a topic of heightened interest in the aftermath of the Pope's passing.
🤵Letterboxd's Year in Review 2024 included its most watched actor list, which was topped by Willem Dafoe.
Quizarc Insight
The 69-year-old appeared in five releases in the year - Kinds of Kindness, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Saturday Night, Zero, and Nosferatu.
😈The Michael B. Jordan-led movie "Sinners" has grossed approximately $320 million globally.
Quizarc Insight
"Sinners" is the first truly original Hollywood movie since "Us" to earn over $200 million domestically.
⚔️Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith was re-released in theaters for its 20th anniversary and earned $42.2 million worldwide.
🎬Lionsgate, the studio behind Now You See Me: Now You Don't offered $119 to fans who texted a special number, with the money sent through Venmo.
Quizarc Insight
This promotion, which involved a billboard in Times Square with a countdown, was designed to generate buzz for the trailer release.
🎛️Natasha Lyonne, the star of Orange is the New Black and Russian Doll, will direct a sci-fi movie using generative artificial intelligence.
Quizarc Insight
Uncanny Valley, Lyonne’s project, will include visuals made by the AI company Asteria, which said it compensated artists for the footage it trained its model on.
💽Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences explicitly addressed the use of generative AI in the making of films, saying that it would “neither help nor harm” a movie’s chances, although the degree of human creativity involved would be taken into account.
Quizarc Insight
Adrien Brody’s Hungarian accent in The Brutalist was AI-assisted, as were some effects in Dune: Part Two — although it remains controversial.
💃🏻Bollywood
🕺Aamir Khan made headlines at the Macau International Comedy Festival 2025 in China, where he was honored with the ‘Master Humor Award’.
Quizarc Insight
Known as ‘Uncle Mi’ in China, Aamir has enjoyed immense popularity, with his films like 3 Idiots (2009), PK (2014), and Dangal (2016) earning huge success in the country.
🌟Aamir Khan’s upcoming film Sitaare Zameen Par will skip OTT platforms and instead follow a pay-per-view model as an experimental distribution strategy.
Quizarc Insight
"Sitaare Zameen Par" is inspired by the Spanish film "Champions" (also known as "Campeones"). The 2018 Spanish film, in turn, was inspired by a real-life basketball team of individuals with intellectual disabilities in Burjassot, Valencia.
🎞️Babil Khan broke down in viral video, called Bollywood the worst and most fake industry.
Quizarc Insight
He deactivated his Instagram after this.
📽️Harshvardhan Rane declined to participate in "Sanam Teri Kasam 2" if Pakistani actress Mawra Hocane is part of the sequel, citing concerns about her comments regarding India's Operation Sindoor.
🎬Ajay Devgn starrer Raid 2 became the second highest-grossing Hindi film of 2025 after Chhaava.
Quizarc Insight
Set 7 years after the events of the first film, it follows the return of IRS officer Amay Patnaik, who tracks another white-collar crime.
📜UK MP Bob Blackman recently asked the UK government to apologize over the tragic Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in Amritsar by the British in 1919.
Quizarc Insight
The demand for an apology gained momentum after the trailer of Akshay Kumar starrer Kesari Chapter 2
🧑⚖️Akshay Kumar sued Paresh Rawal for Rs 25 crore as damages for leaving Hera Pheri 3 shoot midway.
Quizarc Insight
Akshay Kumar's production House, Cape of Good Films is the producer of the movie.
🎥Shows Galore
📺60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned after 37 years with CBS News, citing inability to make "independent decisions" about the show's programming.
Quizarc Insight
Leaders at the company have been discussing settling Donald Trump’s lawsuit, which stems from a 60 Minutes Kamala Harris interview he claimed was doctored.
🤩The British version of NBC's long-running live sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live will hit screens in 2026 and will be executive produced by 'SNL' creator Lorne Michaels.
Quizarc Insight
Throughout five decades on air, SNL has received 84 Primetime Emmy Awards, 6 Writers Guild of America Awards, and 3 Peabody Awards.
👀The "The Office" spinoff, "The Paper," is set to premiere on Peacock in September 2025.
Quizarc Insight
It features a new cast including Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, and Oscar Nunez.
📖Books
📓BBC Maestro launched a “world-first” writing course taught by an AI version of the late mystery writer Agatha Christie, in cooperation with her estate, using her writing and interviews.
Quizarc Insight
Christie wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.
🔪Rushdie attacker Hadi Matar was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Quizarc Insight
Hadi Matar, 27, stabbed and blinded the famous author in his right eye during a public lecture in Chautauqua, New York, in 2022.
👨🏻🎨Art news
🐌A newly discovered snail species, Anauchen picasso, has been named after the artist Pablo Picasso because its shell exhibits a distinctive cubist-like shape.
Quizarc Insight
Pablo Picasso’s daughter Paloma curated dozens of her father’s rarely seen paintings for a new exhibit
🖼️A child in the Netherlands scratched Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8, a Mark Rothko painting worth ~$56m.
Quizarc Insight
The mischievous youngster reportedly damaged the piece, which hangs inside Rotterdam’s Boijmans Van Beuningen museum, during an “unguarded moment.
🎨Caravaggio's "Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy" was exhibited in India for the first time.
Quizarc Insight
The painting, a rediscovered masterpiece, was showcased at the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre in New Delhi and then at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.
☕︎Other MELA news
Met Gala scenes
🎭SRK made his debut at Met Gala becoming the first male Bollywood actor to attending an all-black Sabyasachi ensemble.
The first Bollywood actress to attend the Met Gala was Priyanka Chopra who made her debut at the event in 2017, wearing a Ralph Lauren gown. The theme for this year’s Met Gala was “Tailored For You,” a celebration of Black dandyism.
The exclusive event is invitation-only — the guest list is approved by Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour herself — and individual tickets to this year’s event rang in at $75k
The iconic 63,000 sq ft red carpet at Met Gala 2025 was made in Kerala by Neytt by Extraweave.
🎞️Payal Kapadia has been awarded the prestigious ‘Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Government.
Quizarc Insight
Kapadia’s breakthrough came with her film ‘All We Imagine As Light’, which won the Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe.
🏆Sonu Sood will be honoured with the Humanitarian Award at the 72nd Miss World Festival in Hyderabad.
Quizarc Insight
This recognition celebrates his vital COVID-19 relief efforts, especially for migrant workers, students, and underserved communities, through the Sood Charity Foundation (SCF).
🎖️Death Becomes Her was one of three shows to receive 10 Tony Award nominations in the 78th Tony Awards.
Quizarc Insight
The other two were Buena Vista Social Club and Maybe Happy Ending.
👏Narendra Modi inaugurated the maiden World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai.
Quizarc Insight
It was organized by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
🪦Obituaries
🎤Mike Peters, front man for new wave band The Alarm, died at age 66 after three-decade battle with cancer.
Quizarc Insight
Peters also co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation, a cancer charity, with his wife.
💃🏻Kumudini Lakhia, a Kathak exponent passed away at 94.
Quizarc Insight
She revolutionized the classical form by challenging its reliance on narrative (katha) and literary content (sahitya), introducing abstraction, ensemble choreography, and contemporary themes.
🖋️Mario Vargas Llosa, a celebrated Peruvian novelist, essayist, and journalist, passed away at age 89.
Quizarc Insight
A Nobel Laureate in 2010, he was known for his incisive works exploring power structures and the individual's struggle against them.
🎬Robert Benton, three-time Oscar-winning director and screenwriter best known for "Kramer vs. Kramer," died at age 92.
Quizarc Insight
He was also known for his co-writing of the 1967 film "Bonnie and Clyde”.
General
🚀Space news
🌌 Scientists from Cambridge University using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have detected potential biosignature molecules— Dimethyl Sulphide (DMS) and Dimethyl Disulphide (DMDS)—in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b.
Quizarc Insight
This was the most promising sign yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system.
🛰️NASA's Lucy mission successfully flew by the 150-million-year-old asteroid fragment, Donaldjohanson, collecting images and data to understand its unique shape and geology, ultimately contributing to a better understanding of early solar system formation and evolution.
🚀Blue Origin's historic all-female crew returned to Earth safely after an 11-minute suborbital flight.
Quizarc Insight
The six-woman team, including Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, and others, traveled past the Kármán line (100 km) and returned to Earth under parachutes.
🪐Amazon launched the first 27 satellites for its long-delayed Project Kuiper internet network.
Quizarc Insight
The tech will be integrated with Amazon Web Services, offering the company’s cloud computing customers access to satellite imagery, weather forecasting, and large amounts of data.
👨🚀Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force set to become the first Indian to visit the International Space Station (ISS).
Quizarc Insight
He will be flying on the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), a private astronaut mission operated by Axiom Space, and will travel aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
🌲The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a satellite named Biomass to monitor global forests, measuring their carbon storage and tracking changes.
Quizarc Insight
This satellite uses P-band radar to penetrate forest canopies and assess woody biomass, which is directly related to carbon storage.
🌐Politics
💧India has terminated the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack.
Quizarc Insight
In the early hours of May 13, 2025, the Indian Army launched a high-intensity counter-terror operation in the dense forests of Keller in Shopian, South Kashmir. Named Operation Keller, the mission was initiated following credible intelligence reports.
📢The Singapore General Election 2025 culminated in a landslide victory for the People’s Action Party (PAP) under Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who led the party to secure 87 of 97 seats with 65.57% of the vote.
Quizarc Insight
Lee Kuan Yew is widely recognised as the founding father of the modern Singaporean state.
✊Anthony Albanese secured a second term as Prime Minister of Australia, leading the Labor Party to a landslide win in the 2025 general elections.
Quizarc Insight
Peter Dutton, seen as Australia's Trump-like figure, suffered a humiliating loss, even losing his seat.
🗣️Conservative leader Friedrich Merz has won a parliament vote to become Germany's next chancellor at the second attempt.
Quizarc Insight
Merz’s center-right party has formed a coalition with the main center-left party to build a firewall against the far-right AfD.
🛂Europe’s highest court ordered Malta to end its “golden passport” program, which allows wealthy foreigners to buy their way to citizenship in the European Union.
Quizarc Insight
The scheme, which offers a Maltese passport in exchange for a €600,000 investment, turned the acquisition of nationality into “a mere commercial transaction,” the court said, ruling it unlawful.
📝Mark Carney won the federal elections in Canada, with his Liberal Party holding narrow lead in the House of Commons.
Quizarc Insight
His win was fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Canada’s economy and sovereignty.
💼Former US Rep. George Santos was sentenced to over seven years in prison for federal fraud and identity theft yesterday after admitting to deceiving donors and misusing the identities of nearly a dozen people, including family members, to fund his campaign.
Quizarc Insight
The New York Republican—expelled from Congress in 2023 after less than a year in office—pleaded guilty to charges last summer and agreed to pay roughly $580K in fines and serve prison time.
🍃Nature
🌹Genomic analysis found that all roses were once yellow.
Quizarc Insight
Reconstructing the ancestral traits through genomic analysis of 205 samples of over 80 different Rosa species revealed that all roses trace back to a common ancestor—a yellow, single-petal flower with seven leaflets.
🐜The oldest-known ant specimen was discovered in Brazil.
Quizarc Insight
It's a fossilized "hell ant" from northeastern Brazil, dating back 113 million years.
🪸Record high temperatures have led to a two-year worldwide bleaching event which has now hit reefs in at least 82 countries or territories, affecting more than 80% of the planet’s coral reefs.
Quizarc Insight
Reefs are home to much of the ocean’s biodiversity, and while they can recover from bleaching, prolonged events can kill the coral entirely.
🦑One hundred years after the colossal squid was formally discovered and named as a species, scientists captured the first-ever footage of the animal swimming in its natural habitat.
Quizarc Insight
Since that initial finding in 1925, when a fisherman came upon remains inside the belly of a sperm whale, there have only been eight confirmed colossal squid sightings, and all have been postmortem.
🐆Two male cheetahs, Prabhas and Pavak were relocated to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary (GSWS) in Madhya Pradesh from Kuno National Park.
Quizarc Insight
This expansion aims to establish GSWS as a second home for cheetahs, with 64 sq.km enclosures and a boosted prey base.
🦩The Maharashtra State Wildlife Board has declared DPS Flamingo Lake as a conservation reserve, marking the first formal protection for a wetland linked to the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary.
Quizarc Insight
Flamingos migrate to India, particularly in winter, from various locations including parts of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Israel.
🐯Similipal Tiger Reserve was officially declared the 107th National Park of India and second in Odisha.
Quizarc Insight
Bhitarkanika is the other national park in Odisha.
😷A study in The Quarterly Journal of Economics highlighted the success of Surat’s cap-and-trade programme for particulate matter (PM) emissions—the world’s first ETS for PM and India’s first pollution trading system.
Quizarc Insight
Launched in September 2019 by the GPCB and the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, the scheme used CEMS, emission permits, and auctions to regulate 318 industrial plants.
🍚India has become the first country in the world to develop and officially announce genome edited rice varieties.
Quizarc Insight
Two innovative rice strains—DRR Rice 100 (Kamla) and Pusa DST Rice 1 were developed using CRISPR-Cas technology by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). These varieties are poised to boost productivity, conserve water, and enhance climate resilience.
⚡ReNew Power has unveiled plans to invest ₹22,000 crore in a renewable energy complex at Bethapalle in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.
Quizarc Insight
Slated as India’s largest single-site RE project, it marks a major development in the country’s clean energy goals and will be officially launched on May 16, 2025.
📋State news
🙏Telangana made history by becoming the first state in India to implement Scheduled Caste sub-categorisation, a long-debated move known as “reservation within reservation.”
Quizarc Insight
The move comes on April 14th, the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti. Under this law, the state’s 59 Scheduled Caste communities will now be divided into three groups.
👩🏻💻Andhra Pradesh has unveiled Creator Land, India’s first transmedia entertainment city, in Amaravati, aiming to become a global hub for digital innovation and creative industries.
Quizarc Insight
Announced by CM N. Chandrababu Naidu at the WAVES Summit, the ₹10,000 crore project is expected to generate 25,000 jobs across sectors like filmmaking, gaming, virtual production, and AI-driven content.
🤲Indore has been declared India's first beggar-free city.
Quizarc Insight
This achievement was recognized by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the World Bank.
👏Awards
🏆At Pulitzer Prize 2025 awards, The New York Times emerged as the top winner, securing four major awards.
Quizarc Insight
Among the highlights was an award for Breaking News Photography, credited to veteran photojournalist Doug Mills. Doug Mills won for his image capturing the assassination attempt on Donald Trump during a campaign event on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
🌽Mariangela Hungria, a Brazilian microbiologist, received the 2025 World Food Prize for her research in biological nitrogen fixation.
Quizarc Insight
This natural method supports crop growth with reduced reliance on chemical fertilizers.
🏅President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Padma Awards 2025 on 71 distinguished individuals at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Quizarc Insight
Highlights include L. Subramaniam receiving the Padma Vibhushan for music; Pankaj Udhas (posthumous), Nandamuri Balakrishna, S. Ajith Kumar, and P.R. Sreejesh receiving the Padma Bhushan for contributions hockey; and Jaspinder Narula, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid, and Stephen Knapp receiving the Padma Shri for achievements in music, cricket, Vedic scholarship, and literature respectively.
✨Madhusudan Sai was honored with Fiji’s highest award, the 'Companion of the Order of Fiji,' by President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu.
Quizarc Insight
He was recognized for the establishment of the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital — the South Pacific’s first fully free, state-of-the-art children’s hospital.
🏅Russia honored Biju Patnaik by unveiling a memorial plaque at its Embassy in New Delhi, recognizing his heroic role as a WWII pilot during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Quizarc Insight
Russia honored Biju Patnaik by unveiling a memorial plaque at its Embassy in New Delhi, recognizing his heroic role as a WWII pilot during the Battle of Stalingrad. Patnaik, who joined the Royal Indian Air Force in 1936, flew vital supply missions to support the Red Army, and played key roles in the Burma evacuation, China’s resistance against Japan, and Indonesia’s independence struggle.
🏆The Forbes India W-Power 2025 list honored international finance leaders like Gita Gopinath to sports champions such as PV Sindhu and Smriti Mandhana.
Quizarc Insight
Leena Nair, the Global CEO at Chanel was also honored.
✅The Department of Posts will release a commemorative stamp to celebrate the centenary of Pandit Chatur Lal, a legendary tabla exponent.
Quizarc Insight
Known for introducing the tabla to Western audiences, he collaborated with notable figures like Pandit Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin.
🪦Obituaries
👴🏼Pope Francis died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure, at 88 after battling double pneumonia.
Quizarc Insight
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina was elected as the first Latin American, Jesuit, and non European pope in 2013, and he led the Catholic Church through significant reform and challenges, including Vatican dysfunction and child abuse scandals.
🌌Dr. K. Kasturirangan, former ISRO Chairman, passed away at 84.
Quizarc Insight
A visionary scientist, he led ISRO from 1994 to 2003, overseeing key achievements like the operationalization of PSLV, development of GSLV, and launch of IRS-1A. He also directed India’s first earth observation satellites, BHASKARA-I & II.
🩺Dr. Mathew Samuel Kalarickal, who introduced angioplasty to India and mentored scores of cardiologists, passed away.
Quizarc Insight
A Padma Shri recipient, he was renowned for performing India’s first angioplasty in 1986.
👨💼Former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, famously known as the “world’s poorest president”, passed away at the age of 89.
Quizarc Insight
Mujica’s extraordinary life journey—from guerrilla fighter to the nation’s progressive leader—was marked by his deep commitment to simplicity, social reforms, and human dignity.
👨🏻💼Dr. Subbanna Ayyappan, a legendary figure in Indian fisheries science and recipient of the Padma Shri, was discovered dead in the Cauvery River near Srirangapatna.
Quizarc Insight
He is widely considered as the driving force behind India’s Blue Revolution.
📝Other News
👨⚖️Justice B.R. Gavai has been appointed as the 52nd Chief Justice of India.
Quizarc Insight
Justice Gavai has contributed to several landmark constitutional rulings, including on Article 370, demonetisation, and electoral bonds.
👴🏼Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States was elected as the 267th pope, adopting the name Pope Leo XIV.
Quizarc Insight
As the first American pope, Leo XIV faces challenges such as healing Church divisions, addressing abuse scandals, and reasserting the Church's moral leadership amid geopolitical conflicts.
📝Prayagraj's Shakti Dubey topped the UPSC civil services exam with 51.5% score.
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A total 9.92 lakh aspirants appeared for 979 seats in 2025.
🚉World's first 3D-printed railway station was built in Japan in six hours.
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The station was built in Hatsushima by The West Japan Railway Compay.
₿ Bhutan has unveiled a crypto-based tourism payment system in collaboration with Binance Pay and DK Bank, making it the first country in the world to officially embed cryptocurrency into its national tourism services.
Quizarc Insight
In 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal tender.
💎 The ₹400 Cr ‘Golconda Blue’ diamond, once owned by Indore’s Maharaja, was withdrawn from an auction at Christie’s as its owner decided to sell it within the family.
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The 23.24 carat pear-shaped diamond once belonged to Yeshwant Rao Holkar, the Maharaja of Indore.
🟡Researchers at MIT have achieved the strongest-ever coupling between a qubit and a light particle.
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This breakthrough, achieved using a novel superconducting circuit design, could enable faster quantum operations and readout.
📜A Titanic survivor’s letter sold for $400k at an English auction.
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The letter, penned by first-class passenger Col. Archibald Gracie, was dated April 10, 1912, the day the ill-fated ship set sail from Southampton, England.
🦁Archeologists found the first physical evidence of Roman-era gladiators fighting lions.
Quizarc Insight
A male skeleton found in York, England — once a major Roman city; was noticed to have deep bite marks on its pelvis from shortly before death, which modelling suggested came from a big cat, likely a lion.
🪶Manuscripts of the Bhagavad Gita and Bharat Muni's Natyashastra are among 74 new documentary heritage collections that have been added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.
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India now has 14 documentary heritages inscribed on the prestigious list.
🪈The Banaras Shehnai has been conferred with the prestigious Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
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Originating from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, this traditional wind instrument is deeply tied to ceremonies and rituals.
⚕️Doctors in Philadelphia have successfully used a custom Crispr gene-editing therapy to treat a newborn with a rare and life-threatening genetic disorder.
Quizarc Insight
The infant, named KJ, was diagnosed with severe carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, a rare metabolic disease.
⚓Narendra Modi inaugurated the ₹8,800 crore Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, marking India’s first deepwater transshipment port capable of handling the world’s largest cargo ships.
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The port aligns with national initiatives like Sagarmala, PMGati Shakti, and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.
🚁The Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), has been cleared for operational use by the Indian Army and Air Force.
Quizarc Insight
The fleet had been grounded since January 2025 after a fatal crash involving a Coast Guard Dhruv.
🛰India has successfully tested a new indigenous low-cost counter-drone system called "Bhargavastra," designed to detect and neutralize hostile drones, including drone swarms.
Quizarc Insight
The system was developed by Solar Defence and Aerospace Limited (SDAL) and utilizes guided munitions and micro-rockets.
🤿Deep dive Section
In this section, we share an interesting article which will provide you with in-depth knowledge about a particular topic.
For this week, know about the history of why girls wear pink and boys wear blue!
Ad in focus
🚖Uber
Royal Challengers Bangalore filed a lawsuit against Uber India for an advertisement titled "Baddies in Bengaluru ft. Travis Head", alleging it disparaged their trademark.
The ad, which shows a fictional character spray-painting "Royally Challenged Bengaluru" on a stadium signage, was interpreted by RCB as a mocking reference to their team.
Uber defended the ad as humor and not intended to be malicious. Delhi HC later rejected RCB’s plea.
Brand in focus
👟ASICS
ASICS has named Felix, a Samoyed dog, as its official brand ambassador. This move is part of ASICS's "Mind's Best Friend" campaign, which highlights the positive impact dogs have on their owners' mental wellbeing and movement.
Three companies ONITSUKA Co., Ltd., GTO Co., Ltd., and JELENK Co., Ltd. merged to form "ASICS Corporation" in 1977. The origin of the company name, ASICS, is the initial letters of the phrase "Anima Sana In Corpore Sano" by the ancient Roman satirist Juvenal. It means "(If you pray to God, you should pray for) a sound mind in a sound body."
Pop Culture Recommendation
👦🏻Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing
The Netflix documentary “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” investigates disturbing stories of alleged exploitation, cult-like manipulation, and abuse involving YouTuber Piper Rockelle and her group called “The Squad.”
The documentary explores the increasingly blurred line between parent and producer in the digital age and the dangers of the unregulated world of kidfluencing through firsthand accounts from teens and their families, making a compelling watch.
And that’s a wrap for this edition of Quizarc’s Sapere Aude newsletter.
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