International Places in News Part 1

/ IR

Que- Recently INS Kesari entered Port Antsiranana, carried a consignment of COVID related essential medicines for the people of which country

  1. a) Mauritius
  2. b) Seychelles
  3. c) Madagascar
  4. d) Maldives

Ans- (c)

  • Part of ‘Mission Sagar’ builds on the excellent relations existing between the two countries to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant difficulties. 
  • The deployment also resonates the vision of our Prime Minister of Security and Growth for All in the Region ‘SAGAR’ and highlights the importance accorded by India to relations with the countries of the IOR.

House sends Uyghur human rights bill to Trump’s desk

  • It would impose sanctions on Chen Quanguo, the top Communist Party official in Xinjiang, where the camps are, and mandate that the director of national intelligence produce a list of Chinese companies involved in the construction and operation of the camps.
  • To punish Beijing for its ruthless campaign against Uighurs, Muslim ethnic minorities, and to press the administration into action to condemn China’s mass detentions.

Que- As part of Mission Sagar (‘Security and Growth for All in the Region), Indian Naval Ship Kesari entered Port of Moroni, carrying a consignment of COVID related essential medicines. Port of Moroni is located in which country

  1. a) Comoros
  2. b) Seychelles
  3. c) Madagascar
  4. d) Cape Verde

Ans- (a)

Amery Ice Shelf (AIS)

  • The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) predicts that there would be a 24% increase in the expansion of Ameri Ice Shelf (AIS) boundaries by 2021.
  • another 24% expansion by 2026 from its 2016 positions.
  • The study is based on the satellite data collected from 2001 to 2016.
  • AIS is one of the largest glacier drainage basins in the world, located on the east coast of Antarctica, at about 70ºS Latitude, 70ºE Longitude.
  • The AIS dynamics and mass balance help in understanding the changes in the global climate scenario.
  • The floating sheets of ice called the ice shelves play a multi-faceted role in maintaining the stability of a glacier. Ice shelves connect a glacier to the landmass.
  • The ice sheet mass balance, sea stratification, and bottom water formation are important parameters for the balancing of a glacier. Latent and sensible heat processes do play important roles here.

Que- Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil to spilled into which river, turning its surface crimson red, in its Arctic region

  1. a) Volga River 
  2. b) Ambarnaya River
  3. c) Ob River
  4. d) Don River

Ans- (b)

Que- Recent oil spill in Russia’s Arctic region caused bacause the thermoelectric power plant at Norilsk is built on permafrost, which has weakened over the years owing to climate change. This caused the pillars that supported the plant’s fuel tank to sink., leading to a loss of containment

Which is incorrect regarding Permafrost

  1. a) Permafrost is ground that remains completely frozen at 0 degrees Celsius or below for at least ten years.
  2. b) It is defined solely based on temperature and duration.
  3. c) The permanently frozen ground, consisting of soil, sand, and rock held together by ice.
  4. d) It is believed to have formed during glacial periods dating several millennia.

Ans- (a)

  • Permafrost is ground that remains completely frozen at 0 degrees Celsius or below for at least two years.
  • These grounds are known to be below 22 per cent of the land surface on Earth, mostly in polar zones and regions with high mountains. 
  • They are spread across 55 per cent of the landmass in Russia and Canada, 85 per cent in the US state of Alaska, and possibly the entirety of Antarctica. 
  • In northern Siberia, it forms a layer that is 1,500 m thick; 740 m in northern Alaska. At lower latitudes, permafrost is found at high altitude locations such as the Alps and the Tibetian plateau.
  • While permafrost itself is always frozen, the surface layer that covers it (called the “active layer”) need not be. 
  • In Canada and Russia, for example, colourful tundra vegetation carpet over permafrost for thousands of kilometres. 
  • Its thickness reduces progressively towards the south, and is affected by a number of other factors, including the Earth’s interior heat, snow and vegetation cover, presence of water bodies, and topography.

 

“Haidou-1”

  • China’s unmanned submersible has dived to a depth of 10,907 metres at the world’s deepest ocean point, setting a new record for the country during which samples from the deep sea and high-definition images of the geological environment were collected.

Submerging under the Pacific Ocean surface of the Mariana Trench, the deepest area in the world.

Kathy Sullivan

  • The first American woman to walk in space has become the first woman to reach the deepest known spot in the ocean.
  • An astronaut and oceanographer, emerged from her 35,810-foot dive to the Challenger Deep.

The Challenger Deep was discovered by the H.M.S. Challenger, a British ship that sailed the globe from 1872 to 1876.

Myanmar to scrutinise Chinese BRI Railway project

  • Muse-Mandalay railway project connecting Mandalay with the capital city of Yunnan province in China.
  • Swiss company will review the feasibility study of the railway project submitted by the Chinar Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEG).

The 430 kilometre long railway project is a key component of the China Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for creation of infrastructure spanning the Asia Pacific region.

  • Connect Kyaukphyu in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State with Kunming via Muse in Shan State through a high speed railway connection.

Criticism from the local people about the influx of Chinese people, environmental and other implications of the project like displacement and water resources depletion.

Magallanodon baikashkenke

  • Researchers from Chile and Argentine have discovered teeth of an extinct species of the lineage of Gondwanatheria.
  • A group of long-extinct early mammals that co-existed with dinosaurs, over 70 million years ago, in Patagonia, the Chilean Antarctic Institute.
  • Name Magallanodon is due to the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Hernando de Magallanes and Baikashkenke’s first round the world tribute to the Tehuelches, in whose language it means “grandfather’s valley”.

Discovered during a dig near Torres del Paine National Park, a remote area of Patagonia famous for its glacier-capped Andean spires and frigid ocean waters.

Que- What is the name of the tortoise whose  reproductive efforts almost single-handedly saved his species, retires recently

  1. a) Diego
  2. b) Donatello
  3. c) Flippy
  4. d) Leonardo

Ans- (a)

  • The breeding programme was a success, producing more than 2,000 giant tortoises since it began in the 1960s.
  • Diego, aged 100, is thought to have fathered hundreds of progeny, around 40% of the 2,000 giant tortoises alive today by some estimates.
  • Around 50 years ago, there were only two males and 12 females of Diego’s species alive on Española.
  • Diego was shipped out from the Galápagos national park’s breeding program on Santa Cruz to the remote and uninhabited Española.
  • The indigenous species found on the Galápagos, including iguanas and tortoises, played a key role in the development of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution..

 

Que- Recently, North Korea blew up the joint liaison office with South Korea in Kaesong, an industrial township on its side of the border, becoming one of the most serious incidents to have occurred between the two countries, without them actually going to war. Choose incorrect statement in this respect

  1. a) The liaison office was set up in Kaesong in 2018 to facilitate communication between North Korea and South Korea.
  2. b) The demolition occurred just days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong had threatened to destroy the liaison office.
  3. c) In 2003, North Korea and South Korea jointly set up a liaison office at Kaesong in North Korea.
  4. d) The Kaesong Industrial Complex is North Korea’s Industrial Zone but factories are operated and run by both North Koreans and South Koreans.

Ans- (d)

  • The Kaesong Industrial Complex is a joint industrial zone where factories are operated and run by both North Koreans and South Koreans.

 

Que- Indonesia’s Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupted twice recently. With respect to this choose incorrect statement

  1. a) It is an active stratovolcano located on the Sumatra Island.
  2. b) It is the most active volcano in Indonesia.
  3. c) It is situated at a subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian Plate is subducting under the Sunda Plate.
  4. d) part of the volcano is located in the Southeastern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire–a section of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and South East Asia.

 

Ans- (a)

Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi (literally Fire Mountain in Indonesian and Javanese), is an active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Java and Special Region of Yogyakarta provinces, Indonesia.

UAE-backed separatists take control of Socotra

  • UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council  separatists in Yemen seize control of the strategic Socotra island from the Saudi Arabian-backed government.
  • Yemen’s Saudi-backed government is calling it a coup.
  • Socotra island known as the “Galapagos” of the Indian Ocean.
  • Socotra, the main island in an archipelago at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, is famed for its flora and fauna.

Socotra, more than 350 km (220 miles) south-east of the Yemen mainland, is a Unesco World Heritage site famed for its striking natural treasures, including the Dragon’s Blood Tree.

Que- The Japan recently detected an unknown submarine in the area of the which Islands in the country’s contiguous zone. 

  1. a) Amami
  2. b) Ōsumi Islands
  3. c) Tokara Islands
  4. d) Okinawa Islands

Ans- (a)

  • A foreign submarine was detected as it passed near Kagoshima Prefecture’s Amami-Oshima Island in Japan’s southwest while submerged.
  • The vessel passed through a narrow strip of waters between the prefecture’s Tokara island chain and Amami Oshima without surfacing.
  • It was believed to be a Chinese Navy submarine, but the Defense Ministry refused to formally disclose this or its type because that could provide clues about the Maritime Self-Defense Force, MSDF’s detection abilities.

 

 Fugaku

  • Japan’s Fugaku supercomputer claimed the top spot, carrying out 2.8 times more calculations per second than an IBM machine in the US.
  • The US machine, called Summit, came top of the bi-annual Top500 list the previous four times.
  • Fugaku’s victory broke a long run of US-China dominance, returning Japan to the top for the first time in 11 years.
  • Developed over six years by Japanese technology firm Fujitsu and the government-backed Riken Institute. 
  • Its name is another way of saying Mount Fuji.