Papercraft illustration of a Pamir mountain glacier in Central Asia — the roof of the world — with meltwater streams flowing down navy and blue paper ridges into a valley, symbolizing the record 2025 ice loss

Mapped: Central Asia’s ‘Roof of the World’ Glaciers Are Suddenly Melting — the Pamir-Karakoram Anomaly Is Ending

For decades the Pamir and Karakoram mountains were the planet’s last stable glaciers, defying the global melt. In 2025 that ended: Central Asia lost a record ~30 km³ of ice — nearly 2% of what remains — in a single year, and new research shows the anomaly tipped around 2018 when snowfall collapsed. Mapped, with what it means for the Amu Darya and the millions who depend on its meltwater.

Mapped: Central Asia’s ‘Roof of the World’ Glaciers Are Suddenly Melting — the Pamir-Karakoram Anomaly Is Ending Read More »

Stylized papercraft hero illustration of fatherhood around the world — layered cut-paper composition with a world map, a faint calendar grid, and warm father-and-child silhouettes in navy, cobalt blue and gold

Mapped: When Is Father’s Day Around the World? — 130+ Countries and Six Date Rules

Father’s Day is the most globally synchronized holiday on the calendar: roughly 86 countries — the US, UK, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico and most of Africa and Asia — celebrate on the third Sunday of June (June 21 in 2026). But Catholic Europe honours fathers on March 19 (St Joseph’s Day), the southern hemisphere waits until spring, Germany ties the day to Ascension, and a long tail from Thailand to Taiwan to Russia picks its own date. This post maps every country’s Father’s Day and explains why one parent’s holiday is so neatly aligned while the other’s is scattered across the year.

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A colourful fjord village in Norway, the world's most prosperous country in the 2026 Atlantic Council Prosperity Index

Mapped: The World’s Most Prosperous Countries in 2026 — and Where Prosperity Outruns Freedom

The Atlantic Council’s 2026 Atlas ranks 164 countries on a 0–100 Prosperity Index. Norway tops at 91.6, South Sudan trails at 32.6, and prosperity tracks freedom at a 0.72 correlation — but Gulf petrostates are prosperous without being free, while democracies like Cape Verde and Ghana are free without yet being prosperous. Mapped: every country’s prosperity, and where it diverges from freedom.

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