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United States
Gerrymandering in Question
A North Carolina state court ruled that the state cannot use it’s current congressional districts for the 2020 election, including the March presidential primary. The 3-person panel did not order new maps to be drawn but said disruptions in the election process could be avoided “should the General Assembly, on its own initiative, act immediately and with all due haste to enact new congressional districts.” The current districts were drawn by Republicans in 2016 and have since yielded 10 seats for Republicans and 3 seats for Democrats, despite a nearly even split in the popular vote. The 3-judge panel will soon hear a case to decide if the congressional districts are politically gerrymandered.
This map depicts the congressional districts of North Carolina that judges determined cannot be used for the 2020 elections. Click on the map to expand.
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Graphic Source: DailyKos
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Botswana
Ancestral Homeland
On Monday, scientists claim they have traced the ancestral homeland for all modern humans to a region of northern Botswana, south of the Zambezi River. While it has long been known that anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) originated in Africa, scientists were previously unable to pinpoint the precise location of our species’ birthplace. Using DNA sampling and migration patterns, scientists say that the genetic root of all modern humans comes from the Makgadikgadi–Okavango wetland region approximately 200,000 years ago. They added that early humans remained in the region for at least 70,000 years, until local climate change led them to migrate, roughly 130,000 years ago, first to the northeast, then to the southwest 20,000 years later.
This map depicts the origins and population dispersal of the earliest modern humans. Click on the map to learn more.
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Australia
Shark Attack
Two British tourists were severely injured after a shark attack Tuesday in Australia. The tourists were snorkeling in the popular destination, Whitsunday Island- near the Great Barrier Reef- when they were attacked. One man lost his foot and the other suffered lacerations on his lower leg. Whitsunday Islands saw a string of shark attacks in the past year. In November, a 33 year old man died after being attacked by a shark.
This interactive map depicts shark attacks near Whitsunday Islands including the most recent. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Adelaide Now
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Q: China has how many officially recognized time zones?
A: One
Despite spanning five time zones geographically, since 1949 China’s government has recognized Beijing Standard Time (UTC+8) as the official time zone for the entire country. This has caused confusion in the western region of Xinjiang, where many locals use an alternate time zone (UTC+6) in parallel with Beijing Time.
Source
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Q: The parliament of which African nation voted in January 2019 to move the country’s capital from Bujumbura to Gitega?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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