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Recently, the President of a Nation, has announced his resignation following violence in the nation after the military government was overthrown by a group of soldiers in the second coup in around eight months. Locate the nation on Map.
Burkina Faso, West Africa. Despite Damiba’s promises to improve the security situation in the country, the crisis worsened under Paul-Henri Damiba (President of Burkina Faso) government. A former French colony, Burkina Faso has suffered chronic instability since gaining independence in 1960, including several coups. Since 2015, the country has been fighting an Islamist insurgency that spilled over from neighbouring Mali. This has fuelled anger in the military and damaged the once important tourist industry.
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Recently, a barrage of missile tests by a nation has prompted South Korea, the United States and Japan to conduct joint drills in response against it. Locate the nation on the map.
North Korea. North Korea flew 12 warplanes near its border with South Korea, prompting the latter to scramble 30 military aircraft in response. The root of the conflict lies in the Japanese occupation of Korea between 1910-1945. When Japan was defeated in the Second World War, the Allied forces agreed to establish a “four-power trusteeship over Korea” at the Yalta Conference (1945). However, the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) invaded Korea and took control of the north while the south remained under the rest of the allies, mainly the USA. The division of the two regions was along the 38th parallel north, which still continues to be the official border dividing the two Koreas.
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Locate the nation on the map, whose embassy, in New Delhi has filed an application seeking a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Nihonshu Beverage.
Japan. In Japan, Nihonshu is regarded as a special and valuable beverage made from fermenting rice. People traditionally drink nihonshu on special occasions, such as festivals, weddings or funerals, but it is also consumed on a daily basis. Thus, it is an integral part of the lifestyle and culture in Japan. The sake market (almost all are nihonshu) is the second largest brewed liquor (such as beer) market in Japan. This is the first time a product from Japan has filed for a tag at the Geographical Indication Registry.’
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A recent study has revealed that cold ocean currents have sheltered a group of islands from global warming. The islands are located in the Pacific Ocean around 1,000 km away from the South American continent. Locate the islands on the map.
Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos islands are protected from an otherwise warming Pacific Ocean by a cold, eastward equatorial ocean current. The equatorial undercurrent in the Pacific Ocean is bound to the equator by the force of the planet’s rotation. Under the ocean’s surface, a swift circulation of cold, nutrient-rich water flows from west to east. The Galapagos Islands, spread over almost 60,000 sq km, are a part of Ecuador. These are located in the Pacific Ocean around 1,000 km away from the South American continent.
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Recently, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international watchdog on terror financing and money laundering, has removed Pakistan from the list of countries under “increased monitoring” (Grey List). Meanwhile, another neighbor of India has been moved to the Black List, locate the nation on the map.
Myanmar. Myanmar, which was already on the Grey List of FATF, has been moved to the “black list” due to actions by the military leadership after the 2021 coup. FATF is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog set up in 1989 out of a G-7 meeting of developed nations in Paris.
