Questions and Answers about
Places
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in PlacesWhat is NORAD?
Answer: A joint military organization of the US and Canada, NORAD identifies and tracks objects in the air, including recent “UFO” sightings, like the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, 2023. NORAD has since adjusted its radar system to be more sensitive, catching more flying objects. The…
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in PlacesWho’s replacing Queen Elizabeth II on Australia’s $5 bill?
Answer: Instead of King Charles III’s portrait on the A$5 banknote, Australia will replace Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait with a design honoring Indigenous culture in Australia (AKA the First Australians). After consulting with the federal government. the Reserve Bank of Australia announced the change on Feb. 2, 2023. Indigenous groups will be involved in designing…
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in PlacesWhat caused the nationwide power outage in Pakistan in Jan. 2023?
Answer: As a government energy-saving measure backfired. Pakistan went without power for several hours on Jan. 23, 2023. During low usage hours overnight. the government turned off electricity to conserve fuel. As a result. schools, hospitals, factories, and shops were out of power or water during the brutal winter weather. Activist group NetBlocks.org says the…
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in PlacesWhat is the name of the current Chinese zodiac year?
Answer: The Chinese zodiac names each year after one of its 12 signs; this year is the Rabbit year. Despite being China’s biggest annual holiday, Lunar New Year celebrations have been muted for the past three years due to the pandemic. Jan. 22, 2023, marked the first time in three years that people could finally…
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in PlacesHow long had Matteo Messina Denaro, the notorious Mafia boss, been on the run before his arrest in Sicily?
Answer: The notorious Cosa Nostra Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested in Sicily on Jan. 16, 2023, after 30 years on the run. More than 100 armed forces members were involved in the arrest of Italy’s most wanted Mafia boss._x000D_
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in PlacesWhat did rioters do to the iconic A Justiça statue outside the Supreme Court in Brazil?
Answer: Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the presidential palace, and the Supreme Court in Brazil on Jan. 8, 2023. The rioters caused destruction and chaos. calling for military intervention to get Bolsonaro back to power or to get the newly re-elected Lula da Silva out. Among the damage caused by the rioters was spray…
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in PlacesWho initially used to live in Venice’s ghetto?
Answer: The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice, Italy, where Jews were forced to live since a 1516 decree of the Venetian Senate and until Napoleon’s army occupied Venice in 1797. The English word ghetto is derived from the Jewish ghetto in Venice. The ghetto’s 16th-century synagogues have remained operational continuously, except for the…
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in PlacesWhere is the Hoover Dam?
Answer: Hoover Dam is a dam built during the Great Depression in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between Nevada and Arizona. One of the most extensive hydroelectric facilities in the US, each of the Hoover Dam’s 17 generators can supply electricity to 100,000 households
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in PlacesHow many US states share the Colorado River water?
Answer: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming share the Colorado River water. Colorado’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, have reached “dangerously low” water levels as of 2022 and hover at around 25% capacity. Federal officials called on the seven states to cut their overall usage of Colorado River water by…
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in PlacesWhat is the largest religious minority in Iran?
Answer: While the Constitution of Iran specifies Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians as the only recognized religious minorities, the Baháʼí Faith is the largest religious minority in Iran. About 350,000 members of the Baha’i faith live in the Muslim country.
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in PlacesWhere do most of the world’s Muslims live?
Answer: According to the Pew Research Center, around 62% of the world’s Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region (from Turkey to Indonesia), and just about 20% live in the Arab world – including the middle-east. The largest Muslim population lives in Indonesia, home to 12.7% of the world’s Muslims, followed by Pakistan (11.1%), India (10.9%),…
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in PlacesIn New Zealand, it’s an offense to defecate in public, unless what?
Answer: It is illegal to defecate or urinate in public in New Zealand, but if a person believes no one is watching, they may escape the $200 fine. Responsible Campers Association Inc. argues that the law should be revised to require that people bury their waste at least 15cm below ground level and conduct their…
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in PlacesWhere is one most likely to be greeted, “Allinllachu”?
Answer: “Allinllachu” means hello in southern Quechua, the primary language in the Quechua linguistic family spoken mainly in Peru and Bolivia. Approximately 25% (7.7 million) of Peruvians speak a Quechuan language. Quechua variants are still widely spoken today, being the co-official language of many regions and the second most spoken language family in Peru. Quechua…
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in PlacesThe city of Memphis, Tennessee, is named after which country’s Memphis?
Answer: Memphis, Egypt, was the ancient capital of the Lower Egypt district of mḥw (“north”). Its ruins – 20 km (12 mi) south of Giza (just outside Cairo) – include the Saqqara site, which contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ancient Memphis._x000D_
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in PlacesWhere is the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge?
Answer: Sky Bridge 721, The longest pedestrian suspension bridge, is located in the northeastern part of the Czech Republic near the border with Poland. The 721-meter (2,365-foot) -long bridge, which opened on May 13, 2022, was built at more than 1,100 meters (3,610 feet) above sea level. It connects two ridges of the mountains and…
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in PlacesWhich London monument has been officially known as the Elizabeth Tower?
Answer: The Big Ben clock tower in London has been officially known as the Elizabeth Tower since 2012, when it was renamed in honor of the queen’s diamond jubilee. A 5-year silencing of the Big Ben bells for renovation, which started in August 2017, finally ended in summer 2022, according to a New York Times…
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in PlacesWhy are picnics banned in Rome in May 2022?
Answer: Rome health authorities have banned picnics and fenced-off trash bins to contain the wild boar population after detecting African swine fever in the body of a dead boar in the Insugherata nature reserve on May 5, 2022. About 50,000 pigs who live in and around Rome are at risk, according to estimates from Coldiretti,…
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in PlacesTrans-Dniester is a separatist province of which country?
Answer: Trans-Dniester lies between the eastern bank of the Dniester River in Moldova and the country’s border with Ukraine. The region declared independence in 1990 and insisted it is not part of Moldova, which declared independence in 1991._x000D_
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in PlacesWhere is the longest suspension bridge in the world?
Answer: Officially opened on March 18, 2022, the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey is the longest suspension bridge globally—with a main span of 2,023 meters (6,637 ft) connecting Asia and Europe. The bridge surpasses Japan’s previous record-holder Akashi Kaikyo Bridge by 32 meters (105 ft).
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in PlacesHow high is the Eiffel Tower?
Answer: The Eiffel Tower now measures 330 meters, after growing 6 meters (19.69 ft) on March 15, 2022, when a new DAB+ (digital audio) radio antenna was attached to the top of the Paris monument by helicopter.
