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World
Vaccine Contracts
American health care workers and nursing home residents are some of the people who are expected to start receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week after it was approved by federal authorities last Friday. The United States follows countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada in its approval and plans to distribute 2.9 million doses in the first round of shipments. Data shows that 7.95 billion doses of vaccine from nine pharmaceutical companies have been allotted to countries around the world. This will allow almost half of the world’s population to be vaccinated in the coming months, as most vaccines use two doses. This interactive map by Bloomberg shows the percentage of the population covered by arranged vaccine contracts in each country. The speed of vaccine production has been financed in part by wealthy nations, which in turn has allowed these countries to be at the front of the line to acquire the vaccine for their populations. Canada has agreements with six companies and has reserved more than four times what is needed to inoculate its population.
This map depicts the percentage of the population covered by vaccine contracts between countries and pharmaceutical companies. Click on the map to learn more.
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Saudi Arabia
Oil Tanker Explosion
On Monday, an oil tanker off Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah suffered an explosion. According to reports from the Singapore-based shipping company Hafnia, the Singapore-flagged BW Rhine’s hull was hit from an external source while discharging at the port city around 12:40 am local time. The ship which had been docked at Jeddah’s port since 12 December was carrying over 60,000 metric tons of unleaded gasoline from an Aramco refinery at Yanbu for consumption in the kingdom. All 22 sailors on board escaped without injury but some oil may have leaked into the water. The Monday attack which is under investigation nudged up oil prices, which had been rising in recent days as Western countries begin distributing coronavirus vaccines.
This map depicts the route of the oil tanker before the explosion. Click on the map to expand.
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Graphic Source: Reuters (2)
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Nigeria
Hundreds of Students Missing
As many as 400 students are missing after a secondary school in Kankara in the northwestern state of Katsina, Nigeria was attacked by bandits on Friday night. The attackers armed with AK-47 rifles, swarmed the school and kidnapped many of the estimated 600 students believed to be studying there at the time. Police engaged the attackers in a gunfight which allowed some students to scale the fence surrounding the school and escape. Authorities have located the bandits’ enclave in the nearby Zango/Paula forested area and have launched an ongoing operation in hopes of locating the students. Groups of bandits in northwestern Nigeria have become notorious for kidnapping people for ransom. Schools have often been a target of attacks by terror groups in Nigeria; the most serious attack occurred in 2014 when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a school in the Borno state.
This map depicts the location of the city of Kankara, in northwestern Nigeria, where the attack occurred. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: The “Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” stretching approximately ten miles (16 km) long and reaching depths of up to 3,000 feet (900 m), can be found on what island?
A: Kauai
The Waimea Canyon, located on the southwestern side of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands, was formed approximately 10 million years ago, following the collapse of a nearby volcano and the subsequent route of the Waimea river carving through remaining lava and basalt formations. Though much smaller than the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the “Grant Canyon of the Pacific” got its moniker in 1869 after American explorer, John Wesley Powell, visited the island of Kauai.
Source
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Q: Which mountain, growing at a rate of 7 mm (0.27 in) per year, was awarded a Guinness World Record for fastest rising mountain?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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