Baltic Sea

Bruce Gellerman of member station WBUR in Boston reports on the shadowy dumping of massive amounts of Nazi and possibly Soviet chemical weapons into the Baltic Sea after World War II. After nearly half a century on the sea floor, some of the weapons are starting to leak and wash ashore.

Ever since 1744, The Baltic Dry Index has measured the strength of the global economy. Jeremy Penn, chief executive of the Baltic Exchange talks about the most important economic indicator you’ve never heard of.

For today’s Geo Quiz we were looking for the largest island in the Baltic Sea ? the answer is the Swedish island of Gotland. Islander Orjan Rudstedt sent us an audio postcard from Gotland featuring some rather noisy grey seals.

For today’s geoquiz we were looking for the Baltic country that declared its independence twice in the 20th century, first from the Russian Empire, and then from the Soviet Union. That country is Latvia. And it’s celebrating its National Day today. The World’s David Leveille has more.

For today’s Geo Quiz we’re looking for the site of a famous battle between Russia and Sweden that took place 299 years ago. The answer is the Ukrainian city of Poltava. The World’s Jason Margolis tells us that plans for a 300th anniversary commemoration are stirring up old feelings.