Places in News Current Affairs MCQs

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The US President signed an executive order to prepare a large-scale migrant detention center at Guantánamo Bay. Guantánamo Bay, located in southeastern Cuba, is a sheltered inlet with strategic importance, near the Windward Passage. It is served by the ports of Caimanera and Boquerón. “Gitmo” has housed terrorism suspects since 9/11 and has a Migrant Operations Centre for migrants from Haiti and Cuba. The current facility is small and cannot accommodate the 30,000 detainees expected in the new center.

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A magnitude-7.6 earthquake struck the Caribbean Sea southwest of the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. It consists of three islands: Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. The islands are peaks of the Cayman Ridge, an underwater mountain range. Known for coral reefs, clear waters, and white sand beaches, Grand Cayman is the largest and most populous island. The territory covers 264 sq. km, with George Town as its capital.

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Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupted again, sending lava 300 feet high into the air. This marks its ninth eruption since December 2024. Kilauea volcano is located in the United States, on the island of Hawaii. It’s part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Kilauea is the world’s most active volcano. It’s located on the southeastern part of Hawaii’s Big Island. Kilauea is a shield volcano, and the youngest and most active of the Hawaiian shield volcanoes.

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Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to maintain communal harmony at Thiruparankundram hill. Thiruparankundram hill is located in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu and has historical and religious significance. It houses the rock-cut Thiruparankundram temple, built in the 8th century by the Pandyas. It is one of six temples of Lord Muruga, the son of warrior goddess Korravai. The hill also has a Muslim shrine of Sikandar Shah, the last Sultan of the Madurai Sultanate. Jain caves are also found here, adding to its religious diversity.

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Amsterdam Island, also called Nouvelle Amsterdam, is a small French territory in the southern Indian Ocean. It is part of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories and is located midway between Australia, Antarctica, Madagascar, and other regions. The island is about 3,200 km away from neighboring territories. Amsterdam Island is an elliptical-shaped volcanic island, covering 55 sq.km with a 10 km length and 7 km width. The island has been burning for nearly a month.

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Nauru, a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean, plans to sell citizenships to fund the relocation of 10,000 residents threatened by rising sea levels. It is the world’s smallest republic, covering 8 square miles, with a population of 12,500. It is located 1,300 km northeast of the Solomon Islands, its closest neighbor is Banaba in Kiribati. A fossilized coral atoll, it is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific.

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Vietnam’s foreign ministry recently published a map defining its claim in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Gulf of Tonkin is also called “Beibu Gulf” in Chinese and “Bac Bo Gulf” in Vietnamese. It is a shallow, semi-enclosed water body in the northwestern South China Sea. It is bordered by Vietnam’s northern coast, China’s Guangxi region, the Leizhou Peninsula, and Hainan Island. It connects to the South China Sea via its southern mouth and the Hainan Strait in the northeast. Major ports include Haiphong and Ben Thuy in Vietnam and Beihai in China.

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The Israel-Hamas conflict has escalated, leading to a fragile ceasefire brokered by the US, Egypt, and Qatar. A key issue is Israel’s withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor, a strategic area along Gaza’s border with Egypt. The corridor is a 14 km long, 100-meter-wide strip, including the Rafah crossing and Kerem Shalom crossing. It was designated a demilitarized zone under the 1979 Camp David treaty. After Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority took control, but Hamas seized it in 2007.

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Fugitive ex-IPL chief Lalit Modi has applied to surrender his Indian passport and has acquired Vanuatu citizenship. Vanuatu is a small island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 83 islands, with only 65 inhabited, forming an irregular Y shape. It lies east of Australia and north of New Zealand, between Australia and Fiji. The landscape includes mountains, plateaus, hills, terraces, and coral reefs. It has several active volcanoes, including Mount Yasur. The capital and largest city is Port Vila on Efate Island. The country’s currency is the vatu.

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Japan plans to consider deploying long-range missiles on Kyushu Island. Kyushu is the southernmost and third-largest of Japan’s four main islands, covering 35,640 sq. km. It is bordered by the East China Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. The Tsushima Strait separates Kyushu from the Korean Peninsula. It has volcanic ranges, including Mount Aso, the world’s largest active volcanic crater.