As the Republican White House hopefuls prepared to do battle in the first debate of the 2024 primary contest in Milwaukee on Wednesday -- Donald Trump wisely upstaged his rivals by simply not showing up. GOP hopefuls took repeated shots at the front-runner for his failure to appear on stage, but it was Trump's planned appearance in an Atlanta court room today at the center of attention as his his latest indictment in numerous criminal cases are overshadowing his own comeback bid and harming other candidates' hopes of profile-boosting coverage.

WHY TRUMP'S ABSENCE WAS BAD NEWS FOR HIS GOP RIVALS

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group that in June attempted to topple Russia's military leadership, was on the passengers list of a plane that crashed Wednesday, Russian news agencies said. One news agency confirmed that a private plane traveling between Moscow and Saint Petersburg crashed with Prigozhin on the list of passengers. Since the June rebellion -- seen as the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin's authority since he came to power -- uncertainty has surrounded the fate of the controversial chief Prigozhin.

RUSSIAN EXPERTS NOT SURPRISED BY PRIGOZHIN'S DEMISE

India landed its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft near the moon's south pole, an area seen as critical for any sustained lunar operations because of possible water ice deposits there, becoming only the fourth nation to do so. The spacecraft touched down on the dark side of the Moon early Wednesday, and the lander radioed back to Earth: "India, I reached my destination and you too!" as the country erupted in celebrations.

INDIA'S MOON MISSION COULD BE CRITICAL TO COLONIZATION

Name the three nations to proceed India on the Moon, and the years.

Wednesday's answer: The rock band KISS was previously named Wicked Lester before adopting the lip-smacking moniker in 1973.