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Mali
Sweeping Attacks Against Junta
Mali’s defense minister was killed over the weekend during sweeping attacks by jihadists and separatist rebels who seized several towns and military bases. The offensive by the combined forces of al-Qaeda’s Sahelian affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a tribal secessionist group from northern Mali, is part of an ongoing campaign to topple the ruling military junta. The capital of Bamako, Kidal in northern Mali, Mopti in the central part of the country, and military bases in Gao, Sevaré, and Kati, where the Malian military’s command center is located, all came under intense assault. Mali’s defense minister, Sadio Camara, was killed in a suicide bombing attack on his residence in the garrison town of Kati. In Gao, Malian troops and Russian mercenaries were confined to former United Nations bases. The military intelligence chief, Modibo Koné, was reportedly also killed and Russian mercenaries backing the junta withdrew from the strategically located city of Kidal. Authorities are yet to provide a death toll, but said on Sunday that the assault was over.
This map depicts the locations of coordinated attacks on towns and cities in Mali on April 26-27, 2026. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: The Guardian
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Ukraine
40 Years After Chornobyl Disaster
Yesterday marked 40 years since the world’s most severe nuclear disaster, when a reactor exploded at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine, forcing the evacuation of thousands of Ukrainians and Belarusians and sending fallout across Europe and beyond. The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, which received the highest levels of radiation and where human habitation is forbidden, has an approximately 37-mile (60 km) radius surrounding the plant, in parts of the Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Chernihiv regions and parts of southern Belarus. Despite observed ecological changes from high levels of radiation, field research indicates that many species in the zone have since rebounded, and even increased, such as wolves, which are now seven times more abundant. Scientists believe this is due in part to human abandonment of the exclusion zone and continued population decline in adjacent areas. This reactor is again at risk from ongoing Russian drone and missile strikes near the plant. Ukraine relies to a large extent on nuclear power, with 15 reactors generating about half of its electricity.
This map depicts the site of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster and the estimated radiation doses relative to distances from the site of the disaster. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Sky News
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United States
Alaska’s “Golden Orb” Identified
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Smithsonian Museum of Natural History have finally identified the “golden orb” discovered and retrieved from the Gulf of Alaska. The gold-colored blob was found around two miles deep by a robot in 2023 as part of a deep sea survey being run by NOAA. DNA analysis has finally revealed that the golden material is the remaining base of a species of sea anemone – Relicanthus daphneae. The long-tentacled animal is known to inhabit the bottom of the sea around the world, but is not well observed due to the extreme depths it inhabits. Scientists have observed other anemones seated on gold-colored bases, called cuticles, which may be left behind after the animal moves on.
This map depicts the location where a robot surveying the depths of the Gulf of Alaska for NOAA retrieved a “golden orb,” which has been identified by DNA as a leftover base for a species of anemone. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What South American country became landlocked after the War of the Pacific in the late 19th Century?
A: Bolivia
Bolivia is a landlocked nation bordered by five countries: Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay to the southeast, Argentina to the south, Chile to the west and southwest, and Peru to the southwest. While Bolivia lost its territory on the Pacific coast to Chile during the War of the Pacific, agreements are in place with neighboring countries that grant Bolivia indirect access to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The war was fought from 1879 – 1884 between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru. During that time, Chile annexed the Peruvian province of Tarapacá and the Bolivian coastal province of Litoral, leaving Bolivia landlocked while gaining lucrative territories rich in saltpeter, copper, and nitrate minerals. Along with being landlocked, high production costs, lack of investment, and inadequate transportation infrastructure have inhibited Bolivia’s economic development.
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Q: Which sea is the only sea in the world to have no shores?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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