Places in News Current Affairs MCQs

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Recently, the Noon River in Rampur Narua village, Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, was revived under the “One District, One River” campaign launched during the Saryu Mahotsav on June 5 by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The 48.5 km-long Noon River flows through 34 gram panchayats and originates from Kanhaiya Lake, ending at the Ganga near Bithoor. It had dried up mainly due to jal kumbhi (water hyacinth) infestation, waste dumping, and boulders from nearby construction sites. The revival work began on February 22, 2024, and was completed using old satellite images, drone mapping, and technical support from institutes like IIT Kanpur, BHU, BBAU, and the Remote Sensing Application Centre.

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Turkey recently closed the Dardanelles Strait to shipping traffic due to nearby forest fires. The Dardanelles Strait is in northwestern Turkey, linking the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. It separates Europe from the western tip of Asia Minor. It is named after the ancient city of Dardanus. It was once called the Hellespont, meaning “Helle’s sea.”

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Recently, the Sea of Galilee in Israel turned red due to the bloom of Botryococcus braunii algae. The Sea of Galilee is a large freshwater lake located in northeastern Israel. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, mainly fed by the Jordan River and some underground springs. Known by names like Sea of Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, and Lake of Tiberias, it is bordered by plains in the north and hills of Lower Galilee in the west and southwest. Botryococcus braunii is a single-celled green algae found in freshwater or brackish lakes, known for producing hydrocarbons and forming protective biofilm structures.

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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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The Pong Dam, also called the Beas Dam, recently saw water levels breaching the danger mark in Himachal Pradesh. It is an earth-fill embankment dam built on the Beas River in the Shivalik hills of Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh. The dam was constructed between 1961 and 1974 and was the tallest of its type in India at that time. It serves purposes of irrigation and hydroelectric power generation. The dam created an artificial lake named Maharana Pratap Sagar.

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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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Recently, India bagged an exploration contract from the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to explore polymetallic sulphides in the Carlsberg Ridge of the northwest Indian Ocean. This is the first such global licence, signed in Delhi on September 15, 2025, between ISA (Jamaica-based) and India. Polymetallic sulphides are deep ocean rocks rich in manganese, cobalt, nickel and copper. Carlsberg Ridge is a mid-oceanic ridge and a divergent plate boundary in the Indian Ocean. It extends from the triple junction of the African, Indian, and Australian plates (Mid-Indian Ridge) northwest to the Gulf of Aden. It separates the Arabian Sea in the northeast from the Somali Basin in the southwest.