Places in News Current Affairs MCQs

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India’s External Affairs Minister recently greeted Samoa on its Independence Day, celebrated every year on 1st June. Samoa is a Polynesian island nation located in the central South Pacific Ocean. It lies about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii and consists of nine islands, with four inhabited. Its capital and main commercial centre is Apia, located on Upolu. Samoa gained independence from New Zealand in 1962 as the first Pacific island nation to do so.

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Recently, Mount Etna volcano on Sicily island in Italy erupted, drawing global attention. It is the highest mountain on a Mediterranean island and the most active stratovolcano in the world. It is also recognised as a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site.

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Guatemalan authorities recently evacuated over 500 people as Fuego Volcano released gas and ash. Volcan de Fuego, meaning “Volcano of Fire” in Spanish, is located in Guatemala and is one of the most active volcanoes in Central America. Fuego Volcano has erupted over 60 times since the year 1524, showing a long history of intense volcanic activity.

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Lake Natron in Tanzania is gaining global attention due to environmental threats from climate change and development projects. It is a shallow, hyper-alkaline salt lake located in the Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region, near the Kenya-Tanzania border. It is fed by the Ewaso Ng’iro River and mineral-rich hot springs. Lake Natron is listed as a Ramsar wetland site.

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Prime Minister of India recently visited Croatia, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to do so during his 3-nation tour after the G7 Summit in Canada. Croatia is located in Central and Southeast Europe along the eastern Adriatic Sea, giving it strategic maritime importance. Its capital is Zagreb, and it shares borders with Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Italy.

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New Zealand has recently suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands due to growing tensions over the island group’s closer ties with China. The Cook Islands are a group of 15 small islands spread over 2 million square kilometres in the South Pacific Ocean. They lie in the centre of the Polynesian Triangle, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. Geographically, they are east of Niue, Tonga, and Samoa; northeast of New Zealand; south of Kiribati; and west of French Polynesia.

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Recently, a tragic incident occurred at Lake Tahoe where a boat capsized, causing the death of six people and leaving two missing. Lake Tahoe is a cobalt blue freshwater lake located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the border of California and Nevada, United States. Lake Tahoe contains extremely pure water, with 99.994% purity.

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Recently, a satellite image showed Alaska’s Iliamna Volcano “ready to rumble,” following a rise in earthquakes on its slopes, drawing scientific attention. Iliamna Volcano is located in southwest Alaska, United States, within the Chigmit Mountains of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. It is a stratovolcano, known for its steep shape and occasional explosive eruptions. The volcano is made up of andesite lava flows and pyroclastic rocks over Jurassic-era granite.

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Recently, researchers discovered a buried ancient forest under the Falkland Islands, which grew before humans or sheep ever arrived. The Falkland Islands, also called the Malvinas Islands, is an internally self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies about 480 kilometers northeast of South America’s southern tip and east of the Strait of Magellan. The islands include East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 smaller islands, separated by the Falkland Strait.

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Ethiopia’s Prime Minister recently announced that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is now complete and will be inaugurated in September. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), earlier called the Millennium Dam, is built on the Blue Nile River. It is located in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region near the border with Sudan. The Blue Nile is a major tributary of the Nile River.