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Kosovo-Serbia
Agreement Reached
European Union foreign affairs head, Josep Borrell, announced yesterday that leaders of Kosovo and Serbia have accepted a proposal from the European Union to normalize relations. Kosovo was formerly a province of Serbia, and is predominantly populated by ethnic Albanians. It declared independence in 2008, with support from the EU and NATO. Under the new agreement, the Serbian government still doesn’t recognize Kosovo as an independent country, but will recognize official documentation issued by Kosovo’s government and institutions. The agreement also stipulates that neither country will resort to violence to resolve disputes, and that neither country will prevent the other from seeking membership in any international organizations, including the EU.
This map depicts Balkan countries seeking eventual EU membership, including Kosovo, a former province of Serbia which declared independence in 2008. Yesterday, leaders of the two countries came to terms on an EU-brokered plan to advance normalizing relations. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Bloomberg
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United Kingdom
New Brexit Customs Deal
Representatives of the European Union and the government of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have prepared a new agreement on customs controls for goods moving into or through Northern Ireland. Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in 2020, or “Brexit,” the Northern Ireland Protocol imposed the EU’s customs controls on all goods from the greater UK entering Northern Ireland, which shares an island with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, in order to minimize controls at their land border. Under the newly-established Windsor Framework, goods designated to remain in Northern Ireland will only require minimal paperwork, while goods designated to enter the Republic of Ireland and the greater EU will go through EU customs controls. While the agreement has been endorsed by leaders of the EU and the Republic of Ireland, and will likely face little opposition in the UK’s Parliament, it remains to be seen whether the proposal will satisfy Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party.
This map depicts the changes in customs protocols for goods entering Northern Ireland from the greater United Kingdom under the newly-proposed Windsor Framework in comparison to the current Northern Ireland Protocol. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: BBC
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Singapore
Shoe Recycling Investigation
Journalists from the news agency Reuters have uncovered inconsistencies in the shoe-recycling operations of petrochemicals giant Dow, Inc. and the Singapore government. Dow and Singapore had previously announced a plan to divert 170,000 pairs of shoes from landfills annually. The investigators planted hidden Bluetooth trackers inside 11 pairs of donated shoes and found that most of the shoes were exported and resold instead of being repurposed into playgrounds and running tracks. Reuters found 10 pairs that were exported to Indonesia and surrounding countries. Following the revelations, Dow launched an investigation into their partners on the project, finding a second-hand clothing exporter had been contracted to manage shoes deposited in recycling bins and was diverting the shoes intended for recycling into its own supplies for export.
This map depicts the journey of 11 pairs of shoes that had been deposited in bins for recycling in Singapore but instead were found being sold second-hand in neighboring countries. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What jungle in Mexico is known as a biodiversity hotspot and is home to numerous archaeological sites with remnants of the Mayan civilization?
A: Lacandon Jungle
Located in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, the Lacandon Jungle stretches from the southeast state of Chiapas, Mexico into northern Guatemala. While most of the jungle outside of the reserve has been cleared for cattle ranching and development, the Lacandon is still one of the largest montane rainforests in the country, and includes some of the most extensive and best preserved remnants of lower montane forests in Central America. Some 1,500 different tree species, 25 percent of all Mexican animal species, and 33 percent of all Mexican birds call the hot and humid Lacandon Jungle home. The rainforest also houses many important Mayan archaeological sites, including Palenque, Yaxchilan, and Bonampak. with many smaller sites still waiting to be fully excavated. The rainforest has also become the site of political tension, as the Zapatistas want to use the land for farming against international environmental organizations, while the Lacandon Maya Indigenous group holds claims to most of the land in Montes Azules.
Source
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Q: On what New England mountain can you ride the first ever mountain cog railway in the world to its summit, and then ski or hike down?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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