As reported earlier, the Dead Sea, on the border of Israel and Jordan, is disappearing. Jordan and Israel cannot agree on how to solve the problem so the environmental crisis continues. The AFP has an thorough article on the problem.

In an echo of The Nine Nations of North America, The Atlantic has published an interesting article called The Nine Nations of China that divides China into nine regions based on the concepts of regional geography. Pop-up boxes provide more information about these nine regions of China. Hat tip to The Map Room!

In writing my new article about The Nine Nations of North America, I started thinking that ideas to break up North America are often put forward. Thus, I created a page to allow everyone to chime in with their ideas about how to divide North America. Share your thoughts (on the page) about North America. Should it be divided (and if so, how?) or should it remain as it is?

GlobalPost has published a listing of the world's fattest countries based on WHO data. Unfortunately, number one on the list, American Samoa, isn't a country at all but a territory of the United States. Nonetheless, their incredible 99.5% obesity rate is worth noting. Following American Samoa, the actual world's fattest country is Kiribati, with a whopping 81.5% obesity rate. The United States follows with 66.7% obesity. Germany is not far behind at 66.5%.