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Russia
Ukraine Targets Logistics Hub
On the night of September 10, a significant drone barrage struck Saratov, Russia, targeting a logistics hub of the second-largest online Russian marketplace, Ozon, and causing a fire at a local oil refinery. This attack marked a resumption of Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign against Russian marketplaces, which had previously seen strikes on warehouses for Ozon and Wildberries in August. The Ukrainian defense technology firm Fire Point confirmed that FP-1 drones carried out the strike on Ozon’s expansive Saratov logistics center, which can store over 30 million items. The attack triggered a massive fire and prompted an evacuation of the facility, temporarily halting order processing and canceling existing orders in the Saratov region. This was the seventh attack on Ozon warehouses since August 22, 2026, contributing to an estimated 6% loss of the company’s total warehouse capacity and a drop in its stock price on the Moscow Exchange.
This map depicts locations of Ukraine’s expanding strike campaign against Ozon logistics facilities across western and southern Russia. Click on the map to learn more.
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India
Expanded BRICS Convenes
Leaders of the BRICS bloc are gathering in New Delhi, India, for an 18th summit marking 20 years since the group began formal coordination in 2006. Originally composed of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, it has now expanded to include, in order of accession, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia, alongside a growing but less formally associated group of partner countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. The expansion has introduced new challenges for cooperation among member countries with different economic and foreign-policy interests. Earlier this year, the conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States exposed divisions within BRICS, with foreign ministers twice failing to reach a common stance. At the same time, members continue to cooperate on trade, energy, digital infrastructure, climate action, and reform of multilateral institutions.
This map depicts BRICS member and partner countries, highlighting the bloc’s expanded geographic reach across the world since its original four members in 2006. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Nikkei Asia
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Indonesia
Earliest Evidence of Drug Use
Archaeologists have found what may be the oldest known evidence of habitual human drug use, dating back as far as 25,000 years on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Researchers studied the teeth of two prehistoric hunter-gatherers who lived thousands of years apart and found unusual grooves caused by repeatedly sucking whole betel, or areca, nuts. Chemical testing also detected arecoline, the nut’s psychoactive compound, inside the teeth. The older individual lived between about 25,000 and 16,000 years ago, long before agriculture developed in Sulawesi or even in the Fertile Crescent. Researchers believe sucking the nuts produced a mild numbing effect and may have originally been used to relieve tooth pain. Over time, however, the habit caused serious dental damage. Betel nut use later became deeply connected to cultures across South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and an estimated 600 million people still use it today. The discovery suggests that humans were experimenting with psychoactive plants and incorporating them into everyday life thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
This map depicts the archaeological sites in Sulawesi where evidence of ancient betel nut use was found, along with the wider historic region where betel nut traditions developed. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What country is home to the “Avenue of the Volcanoes,” a 200-mile (322 km) mountain valley lined by two parallel chains of towering, snow-capped volcanoes?
A: Ecuador
Ecuador’s Andes feature two main parallel mountain chains running north to south, separated by a high-altitude central valley known as the “Avenue of Volcanoes.” This famous corridor in the Andes was given this name back in the 1800’s when the famous German explorer and geographer Alexander Von Humboldt visited Ecuador. Humboldt traversed the Andes and was impressed by the many snow-capped peaks that were spread on both sides of the road. This road today is the Pan-American Highway. It runs in between both the Western and Eastern Cordilleras of the Andes mountain chain in Ecuador. The western chain faces the Pacific side and includes about 19 major volcanoes, such as Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak. This eastern chain (Oriente) drops steeply down toward the Amazon River basin and features massive glaciated volcanoes like Cotopaxi and Cayambe.
Source
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Q: Which body of water lies immediately to the south of Papua New Guinea’s mainland, separating it from the Australian state of Queensland?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Monday’s DailyGeo.
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