Places in News 29th March 2025

Mount Kenya

Context: Climate change is rapidly accelerating the melting of glaciers on Mount Kenya, Africa’s second-most mountain after Kilimanjaro.

• Location: Central Kenya, simply south of the Equator.
• Elevation: 5,199 meters (17,058 ft) at its highest height (Batian).
• UNESCO World Heritage Site: Designated in 1997 for its ecological and cultural significance.
• Geological Origin: A long-extinct stratovolcano, closely eroded over time.
• Glaciers: Home to Lewis Glacier and Tyndall Glacier, the various remaining ultimate tropical glaciers in Africa.

Senkaku Islands

Context: Japan recently voiced extreme concerns over incursion by Chinese Coast Guard ships close to the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, marking one of the longest intrusions into Japan’s territorial waters.

• • About: The Senkaku Islands are an uninhabited group of islands located in the East China Sea, about 90 nautical miles north from the Yaeyama Islands in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture and 120 nautical miles northeast of the island of Taiwan.
    • The islands incorporate Uotsuri Island, Kuba Island, Taisho Island (also referred to as Kumeakashima Island), Kitakojima Island, Minamikojima Island, Tobise Island, Okinokitaiwa Island, and Okinominamiiwa Island.
  • Significance: The Senkaku encompass conglomerate sandstone , tuff, andesite, andesitic lava, coral outcroppings extended above sea level all through the Holocene generation, and other rocky material.
  • Dispute: The islands are the focus of a territorial dispute between Japan and China and between Japan and Taiwan.

• Administration:

• • They were never administered by another country before Japan incorporated them into its territory in 1895.
  • Currently, Japan administers and controls the Senkaku Islands as a part of the metropolis of Ishigaki in Okinawa Prefecture.

South Island

Context: A sturdy 6.7 significance earthquake struck off New Zealand’s South Island recently.

• About: It is the larger and southernmost of the 2 main islands of New Zealand, within the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
  • It is separated from North Island to the north by Cook Strait and from Stewart Island to the south by Foveaux Strait.
  • The Southern Alps separate the slender coastal strip of the Westland Plain (west) from the broad Canterbury Plains (east).
• Fiordland National Park in the southwest is a different location with its several coastal fjords (inlets) and high lakes.
• The park is a part of the Te Wāhipounamu (South West New Zealand) area of protected desolate tract alongside the west facet of the island that was a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.
• Lakes: Includes Lake Tekapo, Lake Wakatipu, and Lake Pukaki.
• Settlement: It has several huge city areas—inclusive of Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill.

North Sea

Context: A shipment ship wearing poisonous chemicals collided with a US army-chartered oil tanker in the North Sea.

• Location: A shallow, northeastern arm of the Atlantic Ocean between the British Isles and mainland northwestern Europe. 
  • It is established to the Atlantic through the Strait of Dover and the English Channel and to the Baltic Sea through the Skagerrak and Kattegat. 
  • The deepest point in the North Sea is the Norwegian Trench (725 meters). 
• Borders: Surrounded by means of the UK, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. 
• Economic Importance: Major exchange direction for Europe, linking key ports in the UK, Scandinavia, and mainland Europe. 
  • The 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf established nations’ rights over adjacent shelves, allowing North Sea exploration that is rich in oil and gas with large offshore drilling.

Haiti

Context: Haiti faces a surge in gang violence, with over 5,600 deaths in 2024. 

• About: It is pushed by political instability, corruption, vulnerable governance, economic concern, impunity, and the drift of unlawful palms, compounded by huge displacement. 
• Location: Between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. 
  • It occupies the western third of Hispaniola Island, bordered by the Dominican Republic to the east, Jamaica to the west, and Cuba to the northwest. 
• Official Languages: French and Haitian Creole 

Historical Significance: World’s first independent Black-led republic, after over 200 years of Spanish rule and more than 100 years of French rule.

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