Places in News Current Affairs MCQs

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Recently, a cruise liner with Israeli tourists was denied docking at Syros Island, Greece due to protests over the Gaza war, forcing it to reroute to Cyprus. Syros island is located in Greece, specifically within the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea. It lies 78 nautical miles (144 km) southeast of Athens, the capital of Greece.

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Recently, the Klyuchevskoy volcano erupted following a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Russia’s eastern coast on July 30, 2025. Klyuchevskoy is a stratovolcano located on the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia. It is considered the tallest active volcano in Eurasia and a key part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Kamchatka Peninsula is home to nearly 300 volcanoes, with 29 classified as active. It is one of the most seismically active volcanic zones, known as the “land of fire and ice.”

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Kabak Yano, a mountaineer from Arunachal Pradesh, has successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak. She is on a Seven Summits expedition to scale the tallest peaks on all seven continents. Mount Kilimanjaro, located in northeastern Tanzania near the Kenya border, stands 5,895 meters above sea level. It is Africa’s tallest peak and the world’s highest free-standing mountain. Kilimanjaro is a stratovolcano with three cones — Kibo (dormant), Mawenzi, and Shira (both extinct).

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Recently, the Great Barrier Reef recorded its steepest decline in hard coral cover in nearly 40 years due to climate change-induced heat stress, cyclones, and coral-eating starfish outbreaks. It is located in the Coral Sea, off northeastern Australia. It is the world’s longest and largest reef complex and the largest living structure on Earth. It stretches over 2,000 km, covering around 350,000 sq. km, and forms about 10% of global coral reef ecosystems. It consists of about 2,100 individual reefs and 800 fringing reefs, with 400 coral types, 1,500 fish species, and 4,000 mollusk species.

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Scientists recently warned of faster melting in Argentina’s Perito Moreno Glacier due to rising temperatures. Perito Moreno Glacier, also called the ‘White Giant,’ is located near El Calafate in Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is part of Los Glaciares National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The glacier is 30 km long and lies in the Andes mountain range. It formed around 18,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.

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Recently, at least 20 people died after a migrant boat capsized off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. It is administratively part of the autonomous region of Sicily in Italy but geographically part of the African continent. It is located in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and Tunisia, 170 km southwest of Licata, Sicily. It is volcanic, with the last eruption about 9,000 years ago and major seismic events in the late 1800s.

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An earthquake of magnitude 5.7 recently struck Sulawesi in Indonesia. Sulawesi, earlier called Celebes, is a large island in Southeast Asia and part of the Indonesian archipelago. It belongs to the Greater Sunda Islands and is the 11th largest island in the world with an area of 180,680.7 square kilometers. The island has four interconnecting peninsulas and is surrounded by Borneo, Philippines, Maluku Islands, Flores, and Timor. It is mountainous with active volcanoes and rich rainforests, though much deforested.

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Kabak Yano, a mountaineer from Arunachal Pradesh, successfully climbed Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe. Mount Elbrus is located in southwest Russia and is part of the Caucasus Mountains. The Caucasus Mountains were formed by the northward collision of the Arabian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. Mount Elbrus was formed over 2.5 million years ago and was most active during the Holocene Epoch.

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Three of six reactors at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France were shut down. The shutdown was caused by a massive swarm of jellyfish clogging the cooling system. The plant is operated by Électricité de France (EDF). Jellyfish are gelatinous zooplankton belonging to the phylum Cnidaria. They are simple invertebrates with stinging tentacles and jet propulsion movement. They lack brains, blood, or hearts and are made of epidermis, mesoglea, and inner layer. Jellyfish blooms disrupt ecosystems by reducing biodiversity and collapsing fish populations.

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A Ukrainian drone attack recently caused a short-lived fire at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia. Kursk region is located in the European part of Russia, bordering Ukraine to the west. It is historically famous for the Battle of Kursk in 1943, the largest tank battle in history and a turning point in World War II. The region lies within the basins of the Dnieper and Don rivers. Kursk hosts the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, the world’s largest magnetic anomaly and one of the richest iron ore deposits. The incident raised concerns over nuclear safety in a strategically important region.