Roman rotters, river otters and a ridiculous way to get caught – take the Thursday quiz

It is time. Thursday lunchtime. Time to enjoy our cunningly titled Thursday quiz. Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical news trivia, laced with a few weird facts and some jokes. It is just for fun and there are no prizes, but let us know how you get on in the comments below.

The Thursday quiz, No 5

GLOBAL NEWS: Which Pacific nation has seen dramatic scenes outside its parliament this week with a dispute about the swearing in of a new prime minister?

SPACE: How many moons of Jupiter have been discovered to date?

NAME THE FLAG: Only one US state features the flag of a foreign nation on its own. Which state?

UK (AND ROMAN) NEWS: The British Museum is to open an exhibition on 27 May dedicated to which Roman emperor with an unsavoury reputation?

COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING: The Volga and the Danube are considered to be the two longest rivers in Europe. But which of THESE four major European rivers is the longest of the four?

THE NATURAL WORLD: Talking of rivers, here is a blurry pic of a wild giant river otter. It has been spotted in a country where it had not been seen since the 1980s and was feared extinct. Where?

SPORT: Who won the Monaco F1 grand prix at the weekend to take the lead in the drivers’ world championship?

CITIES: Istanbul should have been hosting this weekend’s UEFA Champions League final, not Porto. When did Istanbul first have its name changed to Istanbul?

MUSIC: Which of these female recording artists has won the most Grammy awards? Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Whitney Houston, or Kate Bush?

FROM THE AIR: Can you name this Spanish landmark?

LITERATURE: In the Asterix books, what is the name – in the English translation – of the druid with the long white beard?

KINGS AND QUEENS: Thieves this week broke into Arundel castle and stole what?

MARINE GEOGRAPHY: In which ocean is the Mariana Trench?

DIGITAL CULTURE: In December 2019, a WhatsApp message sent by ‘Gibbo’ to a bunch of army colleagues saying that the Queen had died went viral. Who were his mates in the WhatsApp group?

AND FINALLY: A court heard that police were able to identify a prolific drug dealer when he posted a picture of his hand holding what on the encrypted messaging service EncroChat?

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• If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com but remember, the quizmaster’s word is always final and you don’t want him to have to tap the sign, do you?