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Panama
Panama Backs Out of Belt & Road
China on Friday lashed out at what it called U.S. “coercion” after Panama declined to renew a key infrastructure agreement with Beijing following Washington’s threat to take back the Panama Canal. The agreement is part of the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy drive to bind China closer to countries in the region and beyond by building roads, railways, airports, power plants and other infrastructure. The 48-mile-long (77 km) man-made waterway between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans plays a vital role in world trade, moving roughly $270 billion worth of cargo every year. Panama’s decision to walk away from the deal was seen as a concession to the U.S. over the canal. However, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has rejected pressure from the new U.S. government to discuss ownership of the waterway, as well as Trump administration assertions that U.S. government vessels transit the canal for free.
This map depicts Chinese presence and investments in the Panama Canal. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: BBC
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Europe
Baltic States Leave Russian Grid
The Baltic states are set to sever Soviet-era ties with Russia’s power grid and integrate further with the European Union (EU), as the suspected sabotage of undersea cables has spurred efforts to strengthen regional security. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will disconnect from the Unified/Integrated Power System early on Saturday and, subject to last-minute tests, they will join the EU’s grid on Sunday. The three countries have spent nearly $1.66 billion (1.6 billion euros) since 2018, largely using EU funds, to upgrade their grids to prepare. For Russia, this departure means its Kaliningrad exclave, located between Lithuania, Poland and the Baltic Sea, will be cut off from Russia’s main grid, leaving it to maintain its power system alone. Moscow has spent $1.03 billion (100 billion rubles) on preparations, including building several gas-fired power plants.
This map depicts the regional power grids across Europe. Click on the map to learn more.
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United States
CA Community Sliding into Pacific
A peninsula in Los Angeles County is slipping at a faster rate than before, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California has been slipping towards the Pacific Ocean for decades. But according to data from NASA’s Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), that rate swelled to 4 inches (10 cm) per week from mid-September 2024 through mid-October 2024. This rate can be credited to record-breaking rainfall in Southern California in 2023 and heavy precipitation in early 2024, according to NASA. The UAVSAR instrument was mounted on a Gulfstream III jet to collect the data, taken over four flights in September and October. NASA produced a visual showing the spread and velocity of the landslide. Researchers indicate the footprint of land experiencing significant impacts has expanded, and the speed is more than enough to put human life and infrastructure at risk.
This map depicts the landslide velocity (cm/week) and direction affecting the coastal community near Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What country’s main territory touches all four hemispheres?
A: Kiribati
Kiribati is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. The state comprises 32 atolls and one remote raised coral island, Banaba. The islands’ spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian, making Kiribati the only country in the world located simultaneously in all four hemispheres: the Northern, Southern, Western, and Eastern hemispheres. The area now called Kiribati has been inhabited by Austronesian peoples speaking the same Oceanic language, from north to south, including the southernmost Nui, since sometime between 3000 BC and 1300 AD. France, through colonial networks, also extends across all four hemispheres, with its territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, French Guiana in South America, and several peri-Antarctic islands.
Source
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Q: What U.S. metropolitan area is the fastest sinking city in the country?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Monday’s DailyGeo.
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