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Latvia
Drones Bring Down Government
Controversy over the government’s response to the accidental incursion of Ukrainian drones into Latvian territory has forced Prime Minister Evika Silina to resign. The two drones entered Latvian airspace on May 7, with one crashing into an unused oil facility, causing minor damage. Ukraine has waged a successful campaign of drone attacks against Russian oil facilities, aiming to destroy Russia’s economic capacity to maintain its war against Ukraine. NATO members Latvia and Estonia both lie between Ukraine and Russia’s oil depots on its Baltic Sea coast, and Russian electronic interference can cause the drones to go off course. Silina had compelled her Defense Minister to resign over lack of responsiveness to the drone incursion, but her effort to find his replacement caused a member party of her governing coalition to pull support. Latvian President Edgar Rinkevics will now meet with party leaders to determine a way forward to form a new government.
This map depicts the location where Ukrainian drones bound to attack Russia flew off-course into Latvian territory, where they crashed. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: The U.S. Sun
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United Arab Emirates
New Pipeline Will Bypass Hormuz
The United Arab Emirates has fast-tracked a plan to construct a new oil pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The order to accelerate the previously-unannounced plan was given by Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), with a targeted completion sometime next year. ADNOC currently runs one west-to-east pipeline, the Habshan-Fujairah, bypassing Hormuz. The new pipeline will double UAE’s export capacity from the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the Hormuz chokepoint. Oil exports from the Persian Gulf have been severely restricted due to Iran’s attacks on shipping through the Strait in response to Israeli and U.S. airstrikes on Iran. The UAE has recently exited the OPEC+ cartel of global oil producers, meaning the country will be free to set its own level of production.
This map depicts the current pipelines which transport oil produced in the Persian Gulf to export points that bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The United Arab Emirates has just announced its intention to add a second pipeline to double its capacity to export oil from the port of Fujairah. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: The Guardian
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United States
LIRR Shutdown Looms
New York State’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has announced contingency plans for Long Island commuters in the event that workers from the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) go on strike. At 12:01am Saturday, an extension of service negotiated by the Trump administration between the MTA and five labor unions representing around half of the LIRR’s workers will end, with the unions threatening to walk away from work without a new deal for worker pay. The LIRR is the country’s largest commuter rail system, carrying over a quarter-million passengers to and from New York City’s eastern suburbs and exurbs every day. The MTA’s contingency plan will run shuttle buses from six major Long Island stations to two of the easternmost points of the subway in the Long Island-adjacent borough of Queens, where commuters could then ride the subway further into the city.
This map depicts the contingency plan of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority in the event that workers from the Long Island Rail Road commuter rail system go on strike. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What country is the largest sovereign enclave in the world, known as the “Mountain Kingdom”?
A: Lesotho
As an enclave of South Africa, with which it shares a 687-mile (1,106 km) border, Lesotho is the largest sovereign enclave in the world, and the only one outside of Italy. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest peak in Southern Africa. A scenic land of tall mountains and narrow valleys, Lesotho owes a long history of political autonomy to the mountains that surround it and protect it from encroachment. Lesotho was formed in 1824 by King Moshoeshoe I. Continuous encroachments by Dutch settlers made the King enter into an agreement with the British Empire to become a protectorate in 1868 and, in 1884, a crown colony. The nation gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1966.
Source
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Q: What country is home to the highest peak in Southeast Asia?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Monday’s DailyGeo.
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