The upgrades to the territorial features will seek to make them liveable for troops, Manila’s military chief Romeo Brawner said on Monday. The announcement came amid simmering tensions between the Philippines and China.

“We’d like to improve all the nine, especially the islands we are occupying,” Brawner said, referring to the nine features, including reefs and islands, it occupies in the South China Sea.

These include the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin, as well as Thitu Island, the biggest and most strategically important in the South China Sea.

Source – https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/15/philippines-to-upgrade-outposts-in-disputed-south-china-sea-for-its-troops

Passage 2

Iran said late Monday, January 15, 2024, it had launched strikes against a “spy headquarters and gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” shortly after missiles hit an upscale area near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

The security council of the Kurdish regional government said in a statement that four civilians were killed and six injured in the strikes.

Peshraw Dizayi, a prominent local businessman with a portfolio that included real estate and security services companies, was killed in one of the strikes along with members of his family, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by former Iraqi member of parliament Mashan al-Jabouri, who said that one of the missiles had fallen on Dizayi’s “palace, next to my house, which is under construction on the road to the Salah al-Din resort.”

Source- https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/iran-strikes-targets-in-iraq-and-syria-as-regional-tensions-escalate/article67743366.ece

16th JAN 2024

First Name

Passage 1

1. . The South China Sea is not bordered by which of this?

A. Malaysia

B. Vietnam

C. Singapore

D. Laos

2. Who is the current President of Philippines?

A. Imelda Macros

B. Rodrigo Duterte

C. Bongbong Macros

D. Sara Duterte

3. Which of this is not correct with respect to the South China Sea issue?

A. South China Sea dispute revolves around territorial claims to land features (islands and reefs) and their associated territorial waters.

B. As many as 70 disputed reefs and islets are under contention, with China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Taiwan all building more than 90 outposts on these disputed features.

C. China claims up to 90% of the sea with its "nine-dash line" map and has physically expanded islands and constructed military installations to assert control.

D. None

4. In which year, the Philippines initiated arbitral proceedings against China under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)?

A. 2013

B. 2014

C. 2015

D. 2016

5. UNCLOS (UN Convention on Law of the Sea) was adopted in?

A. 1980

B. 1982

C. 1984

D. 1986

Passage 2

6. Iranian revolution which took place in February of which year?

A. 1971

B. 1973

C. 1976

D. 1979

7. As per the above passage, another statement claimed that it had hit a headquarters of Mossad, which is the intelligence agency of?

A. Iraq

B. Russia

C. Israel

D. Pakistan

8. Last month, Iran accused Israel of killing of which of this high-ranking Iranian general, in an airstrike on a Damascus neighbourhood?

A. Seyed Razi Mousavi

B. Mohd Irbil

C. Abil Ibhrahim Suleman

D. Both a and c

9. The Iran Nuclear Deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program reached in Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1. Which of this is not in P5?

A. Germany

B. USA

C. UK

D. None

10. The Chabahar Port, which is important deal between India and Iran is in?

A. South-Western Iran

B. North-Westernern Iran

C. South-eastern Iran

D. None

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Daily Editorial Practice Questions For CLAT UG: 15/01/2024