Places in News Current Affairs MCQs

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Ships of Indian Navy’s First Training Squadron (1TS), INS Tir and ICGS Sarathi, reached Réunion Island, while INS Shardul arrived in Port Louis, Mauritius, during training deployment. Réunion Island is a French territory in the Western Indian Ocean. Réunion is volcanic, with rugged mountains and short torrential rivers like Marsouins and Galet. It has the highest peak in the Indian Ocean, Piton des Neiges, and an active volcano, Piton de la Fournaise. The capital is Saint-Denis, on the northern coast.

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At least 900 tourists were stranded near Machu Picchu, Peru’s ancient Inca citadel. The disruption occurred after passenger train services were suspended due to a protest in the Cusco region. PeruRail reported the route was blocked by rocks of various sizes and that “third parties” had excavated part of the rail line, affecting track stability. Protesters demanded transparency and fairness in replacing the tourist bus operator Consettur, whose concession had expired. Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca site located 80 km northwest of Cuzco, Peru, in the Cordillera de Vilcabamba of the Andes Mountains.

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Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated NATO member Estonia’s airspace over the Gulf of Finland for 12 minutes. The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost part of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe, covering 30,000 sq.km. It extends 400 km east to west and 19–130 km north to south, bordered by Finland, Russia, and Estonia. Capitals Helsinki (Finland) and Tallinn (Estonia) lie on its shores, with St. Petersburg at the eastern end. The gulf is shallow, average depth 38 m, low salinity (6‰), and freezes 3–5 months in winter. It receives Neva and Narva rivers and the Saimaa Canal.

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A recent expedition to Argentina’s Mar del Plata Canyon discovered over 40 possible new deep-sea species, including glass squids and pink lobsters. The Mar del Plata Canyon lies 250–300 km off Buenos Aires Province and is one of Argentina’s largest submarine canyons. It has fine sandy sediments mixed with terrigenous material and planktonic foraminifera. The region is highly productive due to the Argentine Shelf-break Front, where subantarctic waters meet the Falkland-Malvinas Current. A submarine canyon is a steep underwater valley cutting into continental slopes and shelves.

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Myanmar has assured India that there is no Chinese presence at the Coco Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Coco Islands are a small group of islands located in the Bay of Bengal, under Yangon Region, Myanmar. Great Coco Island, the largest, is located 55 km from India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Geologically, the islands are an extension of the Arakan (Rakhine) Mountains, forming a chain that submerges and re-emerges as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The islands share the same topography as India’s Andaman & Nicobar Islands, making them strategically important for maritime security. The assurance comes amid regional security concerns in the Bay of Bengal.

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The Taftan Volcano in Iran is showing signs of reawakening after 700,000 years. It is a 12,927-foot or 3,940-metre-high semi-active stratovolcano. It lies in southeastern Iran, about 56 kilometres from the Pakistan border. It is the only active volcano in the Makran continental volcanic arc. The volcano formed due to the subduction of the Arabian Ocean crust beneath the Eurasian continent. It has two summits named Narkuh and Matherkuh. Taftan has an active hydrothermal system with sulfur-emitting vents called fumaroles. It has not erupted in recorded human history.

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Researchers studied the ratio of small to large earthquakes beneath Mount Etna and found it strongly linked to volcanic activity over the past 20 years. Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. Sicily is a part of Italy. It lies at the convergent boundary of the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe and the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. The volcano’s eruptive history dates back 500,000 years, with 2,700 years well documented. It was featured in ancient Greek legends. Mount Etna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Scientists have warned that the Axial Seamount underwater volcano near the Oregon coast, USA, may erupt soon due to increased earthquakes. It lies about 300 miles off Oregon’s coast in the Pacific Ocean. Axial Seamount is a shield volcano with a large caldera at its summit. It rises to a depth of 1,400 metres below sea level. It is part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) and houses the New Millennium Observatory (NeMO), the world’s first underwater volcanic observatory. NeMO transmits real-time volcanic data via undersea cables to Pacific City, Oregon, aiding scientific research.

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Lake Suchitlán in El Salvador is facing a crisis due to the rapid spread of invasive water lettuce. Lake Suchitlán is located in El Salvador. Water lettuce is a perennial, free-floating aquatic weed found in tropical regions across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It is also called water cabbage, Nile cabbage, or shellflower. The plant has lettuce-like leaves with long, feathery white to tan roots hanging below.

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A 5.8 magnitude earthquake recently struck Negros Island, Philippines. Negros Island is part of the Visayan Islands in central Philippines. It is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the country. The island is boot-shaped, measuring 217 km long and 35–79 km wide. It is separated from Panay Island by the Guimaras Strait and from Cebu Island by the Tanon Strait. The Visayan Sea borders it to the north and the Sulu Sea to the south. A central mountain range runs through the island, containing Mount Canlaon (2,465 m) — an active volcano and the highest peak on Negros.