Sapere Aude || The Quizarc Newsletter. Vol 10
Tenth edition of Quizarc's "week in review" newsletter
In this edition of Sapere Aude we will be reviewing the major developments for the entire month of January. (This is because we were doing a roundup of the last year in our previous editions. If you missed it, you can check them out here: Business, MELA, Sports, General)
This is Business
👱♂️The Trump effect
President-elect Donald Trump launched cryptocurrency; $TRUMP which saw a peak of $14.9B market capitalization before reaching a low of $5.5 billion. Trump’s wife Melania also launched a coin named after her.
On his first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order that extends the ban on TikTok, which briefly went dark in the U.S.
He pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.
Several mergers and acquisitions were announced after Trump becoming the president. Cintas made its $5 billion move to acquire its rival UniFirst. Constellation Energy is close to a $30 billion deal for Calpine in the tightly regulated power sector. JCPenney is merging with Sparc Group — which owns stores including Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, and Aeropostale — to form Catalyst Brands. Publicis Groupe merged Leo Burnett and Publicis worldwide to form Leo.
Trump announced a $100B+ joint venture called Stargate with OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle to build out data centers and AI infrastructure in the US.
🐋Chinese artificial intelligence company Deepseek released its first free chatbot app, based on the DeepSeek-R1 model, which surpassed ChatGPT as the most-downloaded free app on the iOS App Store, causing Nvidia's share price to drop by 18%.
Quizarc Insight
Deepseek is owned and funded by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, whose co-founder, Liang Wenfeng, established the company in 2023 and serves as its CEO.
֎OpenAI rolled out assistant-like feature 'Tasks' to take on Alexa and Siri.
Quizarc Insight
The AI assistant will enable ChatGPT users to request tasks to be performed at a future time, including one-time reminders such as concert ticket sales or recurring actions like weekly news briefings.
🔎Google has entered into a partnership with The Associated Press to integrate real-time news into its Gemini AI chatbot.
Quizarc Insight
Gemini, formerly known as Bard, is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Google.
🏗️L&T Chairman SN Subrahmanyan sparked widespread criticism when he proposed that employees should work 90 hours a week, including Sundays.
Quizarc Insight
L&T was founded in Bombay by Danish engineers Henning Holck-Larsen and Søren Kristian Toubro.
🏍️TVS Motor Company completed the acquisition of a 39.11% stake in DriveX Mobility, increasing its total stake to 87.38%, making DriveX a subsidiary.
Quizarc Insight
DriveX, founded by Narain Karthikeyan, is a digital platform for pre-owned two-wheelers.
🗯Hindenburg Research, known for its short-selling strategies and investigative reports announced its closure in January 2025.
Quizarc Insight
The firm was named after the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, which the founder Nathan Anderson characterized as a human-made avoidable disaster.
🏭377 metric Tonnes toxic waste from Bhopal gas leak factory was finally removed after 40 years and was transported to an incinerator plant in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh.
Quizarc Insight
Union Carbide was the epicenter of the gas tragedy that took place on the night of December 2, 1984, when methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from the factory. It killed thousands and left lakhs of others with long-term and debilitating health issues.
📺CNN was found liable of defamation over 2021 story suggesting US Navy veteran Zachary Young was paid excessively to rescue endangered Afghans following the Taliban takeover of that country.
Quizarc Insight
CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage.
ᯤSpotify signs multiyear deal with Universal Music Group to provide direct licenses for Spotify to stream UMG artists.
Quizarc Insight
Preventive healthcare technology company Neko Health, started by Spotify founder and chief executive Daniel Ek recently became an Unicorn.
📊The 55th annual World Economic Forum began in Davos, Switzerland.
Quizarc Insight
WEF was founded in 1971 by German engineer Klaus Schwab.
🅾Instagram released a new video editing app called Edits, intended to rival or replace TikTok’s CapCut editing app.
Quizarc Insight
Instagram’s parent Meta recently agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit with Donald Trump over banning him from Facebook and Instagram.
Ⓜ️Meta deleted its AI character profiles after backlash and racism accusations.
Quizarc Insight
Former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg stepped down from his role as president of Meta's global affairs as the company ends its fact checking program on social media.
💄HUL acquired premium beauty brand Minimalist’s parent company, Uprising Science Pvt Ltd.
Quizarc Insight
Founded in 2020 by Mohit Yadav and Rahul Yadav, Minimalist is one of the fastest growing digital-first brands that sits at the intersection of beauty and actives-led science.
🍎Apple has appointed Indian-origin executive Kevan Parekh as its new CFO.
Quizarc Insight
Kevan Parekh joined Apple in finance and product marketing in 2013 after four years at Thomson Reuters. He previously worked at General Motors, including in overseas operations.
🍎Apple paid $95m to settle a lawsuit over allegations that employees heard conversations recorded by Siri.
Quizarc Insight
Siri is a spin-off from a project developed by the SRI International Artificial Intelligence Center.
👠Shein is making a comeback to India through a partnership with Reliance Retail, after being banned in 2020 due to security concerns.
Quizarc Insight
Founded in Nanjing, China as ZZKKO by Chris Xu, Shein grew to become the world's largest fashion retailer in 2022.
✈️Air India becomes first airline to offer in-flight Wi-Fi services.
Quizarc Insight
Boeing famously used potatoes to test their in-flight Wi-Fi systems, as the potatoes' interaction with radio waves closely mimics how the human body absorbs signals
🍩Personal care brand Native is teaming up with Dunkin’ on a line of donut-scented deodorant, body wash, shampoo, and more.
Quizarc Insight
In 2019, Dunkin' Donuts changed its name to Dunkin' to reflect its focus on coffee and other drinks.
🍟Temasek, a Singaporean investment firm, is in talks with Haldiram Snacks Foods to buy a 10% stake in the company.
Quizarc Insight
Haldiram was founded in 1937, as a confectionery and desserts shop in Bikaner by Ganga Bhishen Agarwal.
𓉴VLC unveils offline AI subtitling and translation at CES 2025.
Quizarc Insight
John Deere announced a host of autonomous outdoor equipment at the same show, including a robot tractor, lawn mower, orchard sprayer, and dump truck.
🍔Swiggy ventures into professional services with new app Pyng.
Quizarc Insight
Pyng will enable professionals such as fitness coaches, yoga instructors, dance instructors, and education coaches to list their services on the platform.
🚑Blinkit launched a 10-minute ambulance service in Gurugram.
Quizarc Insight
Blinkit was founded by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar as Grofers.
🚗Two deadly incidents on New Year’s Day — an attack being investigated as an act of terrorism in New Orleans and an explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in Las Vegas — both involved vehicles that were rented on Turo, a peer-to-peer car sharing company.
Quizarc Insight
The platform was originally introduced as “RelayRides,” but rebranded to Turo in 2015.
👟Adidas has removed all Yeezy products from their website following Kanye West's lengthy Instagram rant.
Quizarc Insight
Adidas also recently unveiled the official match ball for the 2025 Club World Cup inspired by the American flag,
🚘The Tata Punch was the best-selling car in India in 2024, with over 2 lakh units sold.
Quizarc Insight
This was the first time in 40 years that a Maruti Suzuki model was not the top-selling car in India.
💸The Madoff Victim Fund has started distributing more than $131.4 million in its 10th and final round of payments, bringing the total amount of compensation to $4.3 billion.
Quizarc Insight
Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme was the largest financial scam in history.
💻The PC giant Dell is simplifying its laptop branding, moving away from long-standing names like "XPS" and "Inspiron" in favor of a tiered "Dell," "Dell Pro," and "Dell Pro Max" structure.
Quizarc Insight
Founded by Michael Dell in 1984, Dell started making IBM clone computers and pioneered selling cut-price PCs directly to customers.
🚗Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast will enter the Indian market with two premium electric SUVs.
Quizarc Insight
It was founded by Vingroup, one of the largest private conglomerates in Vietnam that was founded by Pham Nhat Vuong.
🇭 Honda unveiled a redesigned H mark for its future electric vehicles, which is the first significant update of its logo since the 1980s.
Quizarc Insight
Honda has built and sold the most produced motor vehicle in history, the Honda Super Cub.
💊A Kerala court issued a warrant against Baba Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna, and Divya Pharmacy for publishing misleading advertisements.
Quizarc Insight
The advertisements claimed that Patanjali products could cure diabetes and high blood pressure which violated the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.
🔆Walmart is selling a knockoff of the $10,000+ Hermès Birkin bag which is about as exclusive as the real thing.
Quizarc Insight
Selling for $78, it became known as the Wirkin and became a viral sensation on Tiktok.
🐭Chuck E. Cheese bounces back from bankruptcy through subscription service and trampolines.
Quizarc Insight
Nolan Kay Bushnell established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain.
☕A budget-friendly cafe named ‘UDAN Yatri Cafe’ was launched at the Kolkata Airport.
Quizarc Insight
The Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata celebrated 100 years of its operation on December 21, 2024.
⚕️In the largest-ever primary fundraise in the Indian diagnostics sector, Chennai-based Neuberg Diagnostics raised Rs 940 crore from Kotak Fund for growth and expansion.
Quizarc Insight
Founded in 2017, Neuberg aims to expand into personalized medicine and integrated diagnostics, among other areas, according to Business Standard.
📺Venu, the planned sports streaming service from Disney, Warner Bros., and Fox, has been scrapped.
Quizarc Insight
Disney combined FuboTV with Hulu + Live TV activities.
⚡Canoo is the latest EV startup to go bankrupt, joining brethren like Fisker and Lordstown Motors in the electric graveyard.
Quizarc Insight
The company squandered $600m in funding from a 2020 IPO, despite buzzy deals with the US Army, NASA, Walmart, and USPS.
🧬Colossal Biosciences, on a mission to raise the woolly mammoth and Tasmanian tiger from the dead raised a $200m round at a $10.2B valuation.
Quizarc Insight
It was founded in 2021 by George Church and Ben Lamm.
📞Reliance enters crypto world by launching JioCoin in collaboration with Polygon Labs.
Quizarc Insight
Reliance is giving away free JioCoins on the JioSphere web browsers.
🥇LVMH's Olympic medals are already rusting and more than 100 top athletes want replacements.
Quizarc Insight
The medals were designed by LVMH and manufactured by Monnaie de Paris, a French mint.
📝Co-Founder of SAAS major Zoho Corp, Sridhar Vembu, is stepping aside from his post as CEO, to assume the role of 'chief scientist' at the company.
Quizarc Insight
Zoho's co-founder Shailesh Kumar Davey will take over as the group CEO
🛒Costco is replacing the Pepsi in its food courts for Coca-Cola.
Quizarc Insight
Costco’s beloved $1.50 hot-dog and soda meal has held the same price since 1985, and the company sold ~150m combos last year.
🩺UnitedHealthcare named Tim Noel, as CEO following last month’s murder of former CEO Brian Thompson.
Quizarc Insight
It also revealed that a 2024 cyberattack affected the data of 190m people, the largest health care breach in US history.
🧼Tamannaah Bhatia is going to be the new brand ambassador for Mysore Sandal Soap after MS Dhoni.
Quizarc Insight
The Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited is a Karnataka government-owned company that makes Mysore Sandal Soap, detergents, cosmetics, and incense sticks.
📿The Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police, which is investigating the multi-crore Torres investment fraud, has arrested the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tausif Riyaz.
Quizarc Insight
The jewelry company is accused of defrauding investors of crores of rupees through a combination of Ponzi and multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes.
🍪Post Malone teams with Oreo for new limited edition mixed flavor cookies.
Quizarc Insight
The cookies feature nine different prints representing Malone’s career, including a butterfly, guitar pick, and truck.
🎧Patrick Spence, the CEO of Sonos, stepped down after a failed app update.
Quizarc Insight
Sonos is an American audio equipment manufacturer founded as "Rincon Audio, Inc." in 2002.
🚗The Tesla Roadster, launched by SpaceX in 2018, was mistakenly identified as a near-Earth asteroid, raising concerns over space debris tracking.
Quizarc Insight
The Roadster was launched as a test payload for SpaceX's Falcon Heavy's maiden flight with a mannequin named “Starman,” in the driver's seat.
✈A jet from aerospace company Boom broke the sound barrier during a test flight.
Quizarc Insight
It is the first private aircraft to achieve supersonic speed and the first of any kind to pass that mark since the France and UK government-funded Concorde jetliner retired in 2003.
MELA
🐉House of the Dragon was the most-pirated TV show of 2024, beating The Last of Us.
Quizarc Insight
House of the Dragon is a prequel to Game of Thrones and is set during the Targaryen civil war.
🎬Salman Khan starrer Sikandar’s teaser accumulated 48 million views in just 24 hours.
Quizarc Insight
It surpassed Pushpa 2: The Rule, starring Allu Arjun, and Shah Rukh Khan’s Dunki, to become one of the most-watched teasers in recent times.
🕉️4k remastered version of Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, the 1993 Japanese-Indian anime film released in theatres.
Quizarc Insight
The film is directed by Yugo Sako, Ram Mohan and Koichi Sasaki. In the film's earlier Hindi version, Ramayan star Arun Govil voiced the character of Rama, Namrata Sawhney voiced Sita, and the late Amrish Puri lent his voice to Raavan.
❤︎Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai was also re-released in theathres coinciding with Hritik Roshan’s 51st birthday.
Quizarc Insight
The film is inducted into the Guinness World Records for being a feature film with the most awards won with a total of 92 awards received in numerous ceremonies and categories.
🏆The 82nd Golden Globe Awards was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser which made her the first solo female host in Golden Globes history.
Quizarc Insight
The Brutalist won the Best film (drama) and Emilia Pérez won Best film (musical or comedy).
🎞️Indian short film Anuja is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the 97th Academy Awards.
Quizarc Insight
The film, roduced by Priyanka Chopra and Guneet Monga and directed by Adam J. Graves, tells the story of a young girl working in a garment factory in Delhi.
🍿Emilia Pérez, Netflix’s Spanish-language French musical crime film, topped the 2025 Academy Awards nominations with 13 nods, including one for best picture.
Quizarc Insight
Wicked and The Brutalist were close behind with 10 nominations apiece, while Conclave, A Complete Unknown, and Anora earned lots of love as well. Meanwhile, Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong secured nominations for playing Donald Trump and Roy Cohn, respectively, in The Apprentice.
☕Sabrina Carpenter launched Me Espresso perfume, inspired by her hit song.
Quizarc Insight
Espresso received the MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year, marking Carpenter's first VMA win.
💀M. Night Shyamalan wins copyright case claiming 'Servant' show was plagiarized.
Quizarc Insight
Italian filmmaker Francesca Gregorini had sought $81 million in damages, claiming that Shyamalan lifted ideas from her 2013 indie film “The Truth About Emanuel.”
🎙️Narendra Modi, in his first podcast, interacted with entrepreneur and investor Nikhil Kamath.
Quizarc Insight
"WTF is" is a podcast series where Nikhil Kamath hosts friends, industry experts and celebrities and holds casual yet intellectually stimulating conversations.
🕵After 1,547 episodes in first season, CID 2 is back with the second season.
Quizarc Insight
Krishi Darshan is the longest running television series in India with 16,780 episodes till date.
🚨CBS is planning a spinoff of its cop drama FBI that involves CIA agents, so they’ve made the official working title of the show, FBI: CIA.
Quizarc Insight
Stephen Colbert mocked the title of the proposed spin-off comparing it to the Adult Swim parody series NTSF:SD:SUV::.
🐵Better Man, the biopic about Robbie Williams, was a box office flop.
Quizarc Insight
Williams is portrayed as an anthropomorphic chimpanzee with CGI in the movie because, Robbie always felt "less evolved than other people".
🌟Iranian pop star Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, was sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Quizarc Insight
The sentence was handed down after he was convicted of insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
📖Eagles star wide receiver A.J. Brown was seen reading Jim Murphy's "Inner Excellence" on the sideline, catapulting the book into a bestseller.
Quizarc Insight
Before Brown read the book on the sideline, it was ranked 523,497th on the best-sellers list, but its sales were up by 53 million percent after the event!
🌲David Lynch, whose works include the surrealist cult classics Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks passed away aged 78.
Quizarc Insight
His last major project was Twin Peaks: The Return, which was broadcast in 2017, and continued the TV series that ran for two seasons in the early 1990s.
🪐Coldplay recorded 1.34 lakh attendees, its biggest-ever, during a concert in Ahmedabad.
Quizarc Insight
Italian singer Vasco Rossi who holds the world record for having 2.25 lakh attendees at his concert in Modena Park, Italy, in 2017. British rock and pop singer Sir Roderick David Stewart who saw a crowd of 3.5 million during his concert in Rio de Janeiro in 1994.
🕋Saudi Arabia has asked the Oscar-winning composer, Hans Zimmer, to work on a new version of its national anthem.
Quizarc Insight
The announcement comes as Saudi Arabia attempts to modernize its image and as work continues in Neom, its controversial $500B city.
⛓️Ram Gopal Varma was sentenced to three months in jail for a cheque bounce case.
Quizarc Insight
Guns and Thighs: The Story of My Life is his autobiography which he dedicated to “Ayn Rand, Bruce Lee, Urmila Matondkar, Amitabh Bachchan, and a few gangsters."
👨✈Captain Devi Sharan retired from Air India after 40 years of service.
Quizarc Insight
He was the captain of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 that was hijacked in December 1999.
📽Hoda Kotb signed off as host of the Today show yesterday after a 17-year run.
Quizarc Insight
After 73 years of broadcasting it is fifth on the list of longest-running American television series, a list topped by NFL on NBC which has been around for 85 years.
🖼️A painting submitted for an online valuation by a member of the public was revealed to be a JMW Turner worth up to $500,000.
Quizarc Insight
The Approach to Venice had belonged to an English family since the 1930s but was believed to be by the polymath John Ruskin. When submitted to Christie’s, though, a specialist in British art hinted strongly that it was by the landscapist Turner.
🌊Moana 2 becomes Disney's third 2024 release to top $1B at global box office.
Quizarc Insight
In total, 56 movies have ever crossed $1B worldwide. Moana 2 is the 32nd from Disney.
🎤Bob Dylan memorabilia auction nets $1.5M from the sale of around 60 items, including draft of lyrics for "Mr. Tambourine Man" that garnered $508K.
Quizarc Insight
The song "Mr. Tambourine Man" was influenced by artists as diverse as French poet Arthur Rimbaud and Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini.
🕉The Kinnar Akhada removed former actress Mamta Kulkarni from her role as Mahamandaleshwar.
Quizarc Insight
Kulkarni and her guru, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, were expelled from the religious group.
🤳Comedian Samay Raina launched India's Got Latent app, which reached top of the charts on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Quizarc Insight
Samay’s YouTube show, offers unfiltered and uncensored content in a talent show format, paving the way for creators to explore their talents without restrictions.
🤼Netflix drew 4.9m viewers for its first episode of WWE’s “Monday Right Raw” across countries where Netflix distributes the program.
Quizarc Insight
Netflix also saw its largest-ever jump in subscribers in the last quarter of 2024, with 19m new subscribers — bringing its total to 302m globally. The company cited the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul — the most-streamed sporting event in history, with 108m global viewers — as well as its two Christmas Day NFL games and “Squid Game” season two as reasons behind the growth.
👔‘Severance’ cast brought the Lumon offices to life at Grand Central Station.
Quizarc Insight
Stars Adam Scott, Britt Lower, and Zach Cherry appeared in character for a unique performance art event, offering passerby’s an immersive taste of the show’s mysterious corporate setting.
Its in the game
🏏Cricket
India's performance in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was poor, with a 3-1 loss to Australia.
In six of 9 innings, India failed to go past 200-run mark. On an average, India scored 235 runs on this tour as compared to Australia's 271.
In response to the team's poor performance in BGT, BCCI responded by restricting the time that wives and family members of Indian cricketers can spend with them on tours.
Nitish Kumar Reddy became the first Indian batter to score a century batting at number eight in Australia.
Jasprit Bumrah broke the record for the highest rating points for an Indian bowler in Test cricket when he reached 907 points in January 2025. This broke the previous record of 904 points set by Ravichandran Ashwin in 2016.
Arshdeep Singh surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal to become India's highest wicket-taker in T20Is with 97 wickets in 61 matches.
With 318 runs across 4 unbeaten innings, Tilak Varma smashed the record for scoring most runs between dismissals in T20Is, surpassing Mark Chapman's 271.
🏆India women’s team recorded their first above 400 score in ODI against Ireland.
Quizarc Insight
Their total of 435 for 5 is the fourth-highest total in women's ODIs. Ahead of them on the list are New Zealand with scores of 491, 455 and 440.
🏟Wankhede Stadium created the Guinness World Record for the "largest cricket ball sentence".
Quizarc Insight
The record was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the stadium's first Test match.
🤾♀️Rishabh Pant's Mumbai Pickle Power won four out of their five opening games in World Pickleball League.
Quizarc Insight
World Pickleball League is India's first and only official global franchise-based pickleball league.
💼Devajit Saikia is the new secretary of the BCCI.
Quizarc Insight
He replaced Jay Shah, who is now the ICC Chairman.
🆎AB De Villiers announces his return to cricket.
Quizarc Insight
He confirmed that he will lead the Game Changers South Africa Champions in the second edition of the World Championship of Legends.
Awards
🏅ICC Awards 2024
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah won Sir Gareld Sobers Trophy for being Men's Cricketer of the Year 2024. Afghanistan's Azmatullah Omarzai won Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year award, while Arshdeep Singh was named Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year. New Zealand's Melie Kerr won Women's Cricketer of the Year award, while Smriti Mandhana was named Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year.
Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, footballer IM Vijayan, paralympic medal-winning para-archer Harvinder Singh and athlete Satyapal Singh were among the sportspersons who won the 2025 Padma Shri awards.
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award was conferred upon Harmanpreet Singh (Hockey), Manu Bhaker (Shooting), Gukesh D (Chess), and Praveen Kumar (Para-Athletics).
Veteran hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh became only the second hockey player after Major Dhyan Chand to receive the Padma Bhushan.
The Arjuna awards were presented to a total of 32 athletes, 17 of them being para-athletes including the veteran Murlikant Petkar whose life was the base for the movie Chandu Champion.
♟️Magnus Carlsen was first fined and then disqualified from the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in New York by FIDE for wearing jeans.
Quizarc Insight
Carlsen married girlfriend Ella Victoria Malone in Oslo's Holmenkollen Chapel.
⚾Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player elected to MLB Hall Of Fame.
Quizarc Insight
Ichiro fell just one vote shy of unanimous selection in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America — something achieved to date only by Yankees pitching great Mariano Rivera.
🏈The Kansas City Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.
Quizarc Insight
The Chiefs, now in their fifth title game in six years, look to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls.
🎾American Madison Keys upset top seed Aryna Sabalenka to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Quizarc Insight
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner beat Alexander Zverev to win his second straight Aussie Open title.
⛳The inaugural season of TMRW Golf League which employs a combination of traditional golf play with elements of simulated indoor golf began in January.
Quizarc Insight
This golf league is created by TMRW Sports, a venture formed by sports executive Mike McCarley and professional golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in partnership with the PGA Tour.
🏎️Tamil actor Ajith Kumar's racing team secured third place in the 991 category at the 2025 Dubai 24H held at the Dubai Autodrome.
Quizarc Insight
The actor launched his racing team in September last year and participated in the event alongside teammates Mathieu Detry, Fabian Duffieux, and Cameron McLeod.
🏒The Hershey Bears ice hockey team hosted its annual Teddy Bear Toss where 100k stuffed bears were thrown onto the rink, breaking the event’s previous record of 74.6k bears.
Quizarc Insight
The toss, which donates all bears to charity, has collected 566.4k+ teddies since 2001.
General
👱♂️The Trump effect
Trump ended the birthright citizenship to eliminate automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants.
He announced the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organisation, citing concerns over its handling of global health crises and alleged bias against the U.S.
Trump signed an executive order initiating the formal withdrawal of the United States from this international climate accord. He criticised the agreement for imposing unfair economic burdens on the U.S. and aimed to limit financial contributions to climate initiatives abroad.
Trump insisted on buying Greenland from Denmark and making Canada the 51st US state.
A brief crisis between the United States and its longstanding ally Colombia erupted when President Trump threatened to impose emergency tariffs and other sanctions in response to Colombia’s president defying Trump’s migrant deportation plans. But by the end of the day, Colombia gave in to Trump’s demands, averting a costly trade war.
Google Maps says it will change Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” for US users, complying with President Trump’s executive order. Google will also change the name of Denali back to Mount McKinley in accordance with Trump’s order. President Obama renamed the Alaska peak in 2015 to honor the region’s Koyukon people, who have called it Denali for centuries.
A proposed armistice and hostages/prisoners exchange to end the Gaza war was agreed to by Israel and Hamas on 15 January 2025. The proposal was first drafted by mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
🔥Wildfires are ravaging Los Angeles, having left at least 28 people dead, 18k+ structures burned, and 212k+ residents under evacuation orders.
Quizarc Insight
The total loss is estimated to be between $250B and $275B, making it the costliest wildfire in history.
🏚️An earthquake measuring 7.1 struck Tingri County in Tibet killed 400 people.
Quizarc Insight
It was caused by normal faulting and originated within the continental crust at 10 km depth.
🚩The Maha Kumbh mela has been marred by incidents of stampede and multiple fires breaking out.
Quizarc Insight
The Maha Kumbh mela is held in Prayagraj every 144 years and is correlated with the full revolution of Jupiter and is the largest human gathering in the world.
ॐ India and China decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, stopped since 2020.
Quizarc Insight
Lake Manasarovar is located at an elevation of 4,600 m near the western trijunction between China, India and Nepal.
🧬The Genome India Project made the genomic data of 10,000 individuals publicly accessible.
Quizarc Insight
The GIP was initiated in 2020 by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
🛰India became the fourth country in the world to successfully achieve space docking through its "SpaDeX" mission which demonstrated the technology to dock two satellites in orbit.
Quizarc Insight
India joined the ranks of the United States, Russia, and China.
🚇The Z-Morh tunnel was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sonmarg.
Quizarc Insight
The Z-Morh tunnel, located in the picturesque Ganderbal district, will provide an all-weather route for all travelers enhancing connectivity between Srinagar and Sonamarg.
⚔️Scientists identified a new giant deep sea bug in the South China Sea that they’re calling Bathynomus vaderi because it looks like it’s wearing Darth Vader’s helmet.
Quizarc Insight
Vader's iconic helmet was created by Ralph McQuarrie by combining a full-face breathing mask with a samurai helmet.
💁🏽The era of Gen Aplha is over as Gen Beta has arrived.
Quizarc Insight
Generation Beta is the name given to people born between 2025 and 2039. The term was coined by demographer and futurist Mark McCrindle, who also named Generation Alpha.
☸Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has pledged a $1 million reward to decode the script of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which has remained undeciphered since its discovery.
Quizarc Insight
The script was discovered in the early 1920s by archaeologists led by Sir John Marshall.
🍁Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation in the face of rising discontent over his leadership and after the abrupt departure of his finance minister signaled growing turmoil within his government.
Quizarc Insight
Mark Carney, a veteran investment banker from Goldman Sachs is in the running to become the next PM.
🚀Dr. V. Narayanan assumes charge as new ISRO chief.
Quizarc Insight
Working with ISRO since 1984, Dr. Narayan is known for his exceptional work in cryogenic propulsion systems.
🛸India's first drone city to come up in Kurnool.
Quizarc Insight
Abraham Karem is considered the "founding father" of drone technology.
⚙️Engineers have developed a 3D-printed "metamaterial" made from titanium that is significantly lighter than traditional titanium while being roughly five times stronger.
Quizarc Insight
It was achieved through a unique lattice structure design that optimizes strength-to-weight ratio.
🗽Former US President Jimmy Carter passed away at 100.
Quizarc Insight
Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981, was celebrated for his humanitarian work and commitment to peace. He won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
🌸South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on insurrection allegations, the first time a sitting president has faced criminal charges in the country.
Quizarc Insight
Yoon has been under investigation and detained over his botched December attempt to impose martial law, plunging the country into political chaos;
🏞️Indore and Udaipur have become the first Indian cities to gain international recognition as accredited wetland cities under the Ramsar Convention.
Quizarc Insight
Currently, 85 Indian wetlands are protected under the Ramsar Convention, which includes 172 member countries globally.
💦India is embarking on an ambitious project to construct its largest hydropower dam on the Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh.
Quizarc Insight
With an estimated cost of ₹1.5 lakh crore, this project is not only a significant infrastructure development but also a strategic move to counter China’s hydropower construction across the border.
🛺Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to hold legal same-sex weddings.
Quizarc Insight
The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001.
🌐According to the draft rules of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) in India, children under 18 years old will require their parents' permission to join any social media platform.
Quizarc Insight
This follows Australia’s banning of children under 16 years from using social media.
🙏Over 2.55 crore pilgrims visited the iconic Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumala in 2024 and the temple received Rs 1,365 crore in Hundi collection in 2024.
Quizarc Insight
Six people died in a stampede at Vishnu Niwasam at Tirupati during the distribution of tokens for Vaikuntha Dwara Sarvadarshanam - a special 'darshan' for devotees for a period of 10 days.
☢️Renowned nuclear scientist Rajagopala Chidambaram, key figure in India's nuclear program, passed away at 88.
Quizarc Insight
He coordinated test preparation for the Pokhran-I (1974) and Pokhran-II (1998).
🎖Joe Biden awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 recipients. The award, which is the highest civilian honor in the United States, was bestowed upon a hodgepodge of a group, including politicians, musicians, athletes, advocates, and—for the first time—a fashion designer (Ralph Lauren).
Quizarc Insight
George Soros, the Democratic megadonor, and Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic candidate for president, were feted, as were Chef José Andrés, Jane Goodall, Magic Johnson, and Bono. Three posthumous awards were also given to George Romney, Robert F. Kennedy, and Fannie Lou Hamer, who helped get the 1965 Voting Rights Act passed into law.
☀️China’s artificial sun, known as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), burned for over 1000 seconds, creating a new record.
Quizarc Insight
The artificial sun maintained a steady-state high-confinement plasma operation for 1066 seconds, setting a new world record and reaching a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius.
🗻Starting in September, Nepal will increase permit fees to scale Everest by 36%.
Quizarc Insight
More than 4% of the country’s economy is fueled by mountain climbing and trekking expeditions.
💃🏽Spain is planning to impose a 100% tax on properties purchased by non-EU residents.
Quizarc Insight
This is being done to address the housing crisis and to prevent wealthy foreign investors from buying homes.
🎓The Delhi University executive council approved six value addition courses, including four centered on the Bhagavad Gita and one on Viksit Bharat.
Quizarc Insight
Niṣṭhā dhṛtiḥ satyam is the motto of DU.
Brand in focus
🖍Faber-Castell
'Shot on Faber-Castell,' campaign created by DAVID São Paulo, delivers stunning images with a key difference from Apple's ‘Shot on iPhone’ campaign: the images weren't captured with an iPhone, but were instead drawn using Faber-Castell pencils.
Faber-Castell is a 264 year old German company founded and still run by The House of Faber-Castell.
Ad in focus
✈️PIA
Pakistan's flag carrier has drawn widespread criticism for putting out an advertisement that showed a plane flying towards the Eiffel Tower. The ad was meant to promote the resumption of Pakistan International Airlines' flights to the French capital and had the caption "Paris, we're coming today".
Some social media users noted the ad's resemblance to the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001.
Pop Culture recommendation
👵🏻Thelma
This lighthearted movie is about 93-year-old Thelma Post who gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, and how she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her. This is a breezy feel-good movie that will leave a smile on your face.
And that’s a wrap for this edition of Quizarc’s Sapere Aude newsletter.
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Great newsletter.