Maps101 -- Geography in the News Articles

GITN Article: THE FALLING WATERS OF LAKE VICTORIA

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Lake Victoria, the world's largest tropical lake, is in trouble. While the lake provides food, transport and electricity to more than 30 million people, its resources are limited. Now, rising temperatures, sporadic rains and hydroelectric dams are putting environmental pressure

GITN Article: CHILD SOLDIERING CONTINUES

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The use of child soldiers is one of the world's most horrendous types of child abuse. It is a practice that continues in many war-torn countries.

In mid-May, a non-profit group called the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers published its 2008 Child Soldie

GITN Article: CYCLONE NARGIS BATTERS MYANMAR

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Mid-May in Myanmar (also called Burma) was marked by the arrival of the powerful and deadly Cyclone Nargis. This cyclone devastated much of the coastal region with winds reaching 120 miles per hour (193 kph).

Myanmar's ruling military junta estimates 80,000 people died i

GITN Article: HEZBOLLAH TAKES BEIRUT

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Hezbollah, or the "Party of God," is a powerful Lebanese political and military organization of Shia Muslims that recently waged a brief war against the Lebanese government. While the conflict may seem like a battle for control of one small country, it was actually a wider reg

GITN Article: PANDA REVIVAL

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Two days after the devastating earthquake hit China in mid-May, officials were able to confirm that all of China's estimated 239 giant pandas in captivity were alive and well. Unfortunately, the fate of the 1,590 pandas living in the wild in the country is unknown.

Becaus

GITN Article: BATS A-DYIN'

Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A deadly disease is destroying native bat populations in the northeastern United States. Unfortunately, the "white-nose syndrome," as the disease is named, seems to be spreading more quickly than scientists had anticipated.

The white-nose syndrome is just the latest threat

GITN Article: PIRATES ON THE LOOSE!

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Today's pirates aren't the caricaturized rogues with peg legs, patched eyes and pistols made popular in Hollywood films and literature. Ocean pirates today carry AK-47s and use speedboats to prey on ships navigating congested shipping lanes that are near some of the world's most vi

GITN Article: WORLD FOOD PRICE CRISIS

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

World food prices have hit an all time high. While we Americans may be feeling a slight price increase at the checkout line, it's the world's poor who suffer most when global food prices skyrocket. What is causing this global surge in food prices?

Protests over food pri

GITN Article: NATO AND RUSSIA SQUARE OFF

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The ex-Soviet republics and independent countries of Ukraine and Georgia have bid to join the world's premier security organization, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Russia, hoping to block the bid, has threatened to take military action and other steps along its borders

GITN Article: COMOROS ISLANDS CHAOS

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Comoros archipelago is located 186 miles (300 km) off Africa's east coast. Seemingly always in crisis, the country of Comoros has experienced 20 coups d'états, or attempted coups, since its independence from France in 1975. The political chaos in this remote and t