Places in News 12th April 2025

Taiwan Strait

Context: China launches aggressive navy drills in Taiwan Strait.

• Location: The Taiwan Strait is a strategically significant and geopolitically sensitive water body keeping apart mainland China from the island of Taiwan.
  • Approximately 180 kilometers huge at its broadest point and narrowing to about 130 kilometers, it connects the South China Sea to the East China Sea.
  • The strait is particularly shallow, with depths averaging around 70 meters (230 feet), and encompasses the Pescadores (Penghu) Islands, which can be administered by Taiwan. ​
• About: The strait was named Formosa (“Beautiful”) by Portuguese navigators in the 16th century; even though it continues to be recognised in the West by its European call, the Chinese and now most Westerners use the name Taiwan Strait.
• Importance: The strait is likewise one of the most essential fishing grounds in China, and more than 100 economically vital fish species are located right here.

Portugal

Context: The president’s visit is historical, as it aligns with the 50th anniversary of India-Portugal diplomatic relations.

• Location: Portugal is the westernmost country in continental Europe, situated at the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula.
  • It is bordered by Spain on the north and east, and the North Atlantic Ocean at the south and west.
• Portugal also administers two self reliant regions: the Madeira and Azores archipelagos, located in the Atlantic Ocean.
• Capital: Lisbon, its capital, is among the oldest cities in Europe, rich in maritime and colonial history.
• Climate: The country studies a maritime temperate climate—cool and rainy within the north, and warmer and drier in the south.
• Terrain: The Tagus River flows westward and divides Portugal into mountainous northern areas and rolling plains inside the south.
  • The highest point in Portugal is Ponta do Pico (Pico Alto), located in the Azores.

Slovakia

Context: The president’s visit coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Indian Embassy in Bratislava, underlining 30 years of diplomatic engagement.

• About: Slovakia is a landlocked country in Central Europe, strategically placed on the crossroads of Eastern and Western Europe.
  • It shares borders with Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest.
• The terrain is dominated by the Carpathian Mountain variety, which incorporates the Tatra Mountains, a well-known visitor and ecological zone.
• The maximum height is Gerlachovský Peak, a part of the High Tatras.
• Major rivers flowing through Slovakia consist of the Danube, Váh, and Hron, important for inland navigation and hydroelectric energy.

Mount Kanlaon

Context: A dramatic eruption of Mount Kanlaon, one of the Philippines’ maximum energetic volcanoes, sent a towering ash plume 4,000 meters (2.5 miles) into the sky lately.

• Location: It is a stratovolcano in the north-principal a part of the island of Negros., Philippines.
• About: It is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines and part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
  • The volcano comprises a number of pyroclastic cones and craters.
  • The summit of Kanlaon includes a vast, elongated northern caldera with a crater lake and a smaller, but better, traditionally active crater to the south.
  • It is underlain by tropical volcanic substances composed of sheeted lava flows, lahar deposits, airfall tephra, and apron pyroclastic materials.
• Importance: 
  • It is biologically diverse; and home to a number of species of flora and fauna.

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