|
Armenia-Azerbaijan
Border Clashes Continue
Renewed fighting along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan over the last day could derail peace talks. Armenia’s defense ministry reported Azerbaijan broke a ceasefire this morning with drone strikes that wounded two Armenian soldiers. European Council President Charles Michel will be holding peace talks in Brussels on Sunday with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The two countries have been at odds for decades over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave of ethnic Armenians inside Azerbaijani territory. Last month, Azerbaijan installed a checkpoint on the only road leading from Armenia into Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenia reported was a major violation of a 2020 peace deal brokered by Russia.
This map depicts locations in Armenia along its border with Azerbaijan where fighting has been reported over the last few days. Click on the map to learn more.
|
|
|
|
Graphic Source: Al Jazeera
__________________________________________
|
|
Israel-Palestine
Response to Gaza Attacks
As of today, at least thirty-one people in Gaza have been killed as Israel carried out a series of strikes against Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Tuesday. Roughly half of those killed were leaders and fighters of Islamic Jihad, and the other half were civilians. This morning, Israel recorded its first civilian death from rocket attacks out of Gaza in this latest round of fighting. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a series of rocket attacks deliberately targeted towards Jerusalem, which Israel considers its capital, but Palestinian resistance considers occupied territory, along with the rest of the West Bank. The Israeli Defense Forces reported 850 rockets have been fired out of Gaza over the last four days, while claiming to have successfully struck 215 militant targets.
This map depicts the Gaza strip, where Palestinian militants and the Israeli military have been trading attacks since Tuesday. Click on the map to learn more.
|
|
|
|
Graphic Source: BBC
__________________________________________
|
|
United States
Huge Seaweed Blob To Hit Florida
A giant mass of sargassum seaweed the length of North America is drifting towards Florida’s coastline. While sargassum is a characteristic of Gulf Coast beaches around the Caribbean, Mexico, and parts of the US, over the past decade, the US and Mexico have seen an explosion of sargassum washing up. Giant patches of sargassum provide drifting habitats and an abundance of food for sea creatures such as fish, turtles, seabirds, and invertebrates. However, the dense patches of seaweed also pile up on the beaches and release pungent sulfuric gases as they decompose, causing irritation to the eyes and nose. The 5,000-mile (8,046 km) belt of sargassum moving towards Florida will require labor-intensive and costly efforts to remove from tourist-popular hot spots during the peak bloom months of June and July.
This map depicts the massive stretch of sargussum seaweed making its way towards Florida’s coasts. Click on the map to learn more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Q: Located in the central coastal region, what is Mozambique’s principal seaport?
A: Beira
Beira is the largest city and capital of Sofala Province in central Mozambique, sitting north of the mouth of where two major rivers converge, the Buzi River and Pungwe River. As a coastal city, the Port of Beira holds regional significance as it is the gateway to both the interior of Mozambique as well as the land-locked nations it borders – Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It was originally named Chiveve after a local river, however was renamed by Portuguese settlers to honor the Portuguese Crown Prince (called the Prince of Beira) who was the first of the royal family to visit the city in the early 1900s. Prior to independence, Beira was known as one of the major well-equipped seaports in East Africa, with fishing, tourism, and trade surging. As a cosmopolitan port with varying ethnic communities, Beira thrived. In March of 2019, the massive Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall near Beira, causing severe flooding in Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, killing over 1,500 people, and affecting some 3 million. The city was left heavily damaged, with 90 percent of Beira destroyed.
Source
|
|
|
|
|
Q: located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, what small middle eastern country’s geography had a pivotal role in turning it into a trading powerhouse?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Monday’s DailyGeo.
|
|
|
|
|
AGS is accepting DailyGeo GeoQuestion suggestions.
Write to ags@americangeo.org with any ideas!
Please include GeoQuestions in the subject line, along with your answer and source.
|
|
|
|
DailyGeo is a daily digital communication created by AGS for the geography community. Feel free to share and encourage others to become part of the community too!
Copyright © 2023 American Geographical Society, All rights reserved.
We understand this might not be for everyone. Although we would hate to see you go, you can unsubscribe here.
How are we doing? We want to hear your feedback on the DailyGeo – what are we doing right and what should we be doing differently. Talk to us by emailing ags@americangeo.org.
|
|
|
|
|
