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Russia-Ukraine
Ukraine Launches Largest Strike
Ukraine has launched its most extensive drone attack on Russian territory so far, hitting six regions. Drones reportedly hit an airport in the western city of Pskov, damaging four transport planes. Morok (“dark spirit”), one of the prototype drones used in Crimean operations, is a promising fixed-wing kamikaze drone design being considered by Ukraine for long-term operations, with reports indicating about 35-40% of drones make it through to the general vicinity of the target. A source close to Ukraine’s commander-in-chief claims that the two sides are now equal in ability, as Russia has eliminated Ukraine’s initial three-to-one advantage in tactical drones. In light of this, Ukraine needs new strategies to develop drones, including using artificial intelligence to improve accuracy. Success in this area will help ensure that Russian resources are eliminated or pulled away from threatening Ukraine’s forces on the front lines.
This map depicts Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia and Russian-held territory in Ukraine. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: The Economist
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Democratic Republic of the Congo
Deaths at Anti-UN demo in Goma
At least ten people were killed Wednesday in the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after soldiers attempted to stop an anti-UN protest. The plan to enter UN bases and demand the departure of peacekeepers was organized by a Christian group known as the “Natural Judaic and Messianic Faith towards the Nations.” The city of Goma banned the protest, but there was still fear for the lives of local UN workers. In a pre-emptive move against the protestors, Congolese military personnel killed six protestors in a raid, with another three succumbing to their injuries shortly after. The tenth death was that of a policeman lynched in the violence. There will likely be more deaths reported in the coming hours.
This map depicts the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu area, where at least ten people died during a pre-emptive strike against anti-UN protestors. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: New Vision
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India
ISRO to launch satellite Saturday
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will be supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) in its efforts to study the sun via satellite mission Aditya-L1. The ISRO will launch a satellite into a halo orbit around Lagrange Point 1, or L1, which is a point in Earth’s orbit at which the gravitational forces from the Sun and the Earth cancel each other out. This equilibrium point will be a stable place for the spacecraft to study the sun. The ESA will provide support for Aditya-L1 with their three space antennas in Australia, Spain, and Argentina, and two stations located in French Guiana and the United Kingdom. This space-based mission to study the sun will be India’s first. The objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission include gathering data on the sun’s upper atmosphere, magnetic field, and solar wind.
This map depicts the points at which the ESA will support Aditya-L1, and L1, the point that the spacecraft will orbit.
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Q: What natural resource from the Sahara has historically been a precious commodity in the Sub- Saharan forest and savannah regions?
A: Salt
The Sahara Desert was the chief natural source of rock salt in West Africa, either acquired from surface deposits caused by the desiccation of old lake beds or extracted from relatively shallow mines where the salt is naturally formed into slabs. The savannah region south of the western Sahara Desert (the Sudan region) and the forests of southern West Africa were poor in salt. Thus, salt from the Sahara was a highly valued commodity, transported via camel caravans and by boat along such rivers as the Niger and Senegal to trading centers, where it was exchanged for goods such as ivory, hides, copper, iron, and cereals. The most common exchange for salt was gold dust from the mines of southern West Africa. Salt production and trade led to the rise of the Ghana Empire (6-13th century CE), the Mali Empire (1240-1645 CE), and the Songhai Empire (15-16th century CE). Whoever controlled the salt trade also controlled the gold trade, and both were the principal economic pillars of the various empires of West Africa’s history.
Source: World History
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Q: In what present-day country was the earliest surviving map of the world (c. 600 BC) found?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Tuesday’s DailyGeo.
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