The world will officially record one million deaths from coronavirus in the next few days, but the tally could reach three million by the end of the year, ranking Covid-19 among the biggest global killers.

Beijing is using artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea to extend the range of its strategic bomber force. Anti-ship cruise missiles can now threaten U.S. Asia-Pacific region bases. Washington has sent ships from the U.S. Third Fleet to beef up the Japan-based Seventh Fleet.

When U.S. President Donald Trump faces Democrat Joe Biden in November’s presidential election, voters in most of America’s 50 states will have already had the chance to cast their ballots to avoid election day crowds.

Microsoft is buying ZeniMax Media, owner of video game publisher Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion – the biggest video game purchase in history. By acquiring Bethesda, Microsoft is doubling its gaming content capacity.

As nearly 400 pilot whales died in Australia’s largest mass stranding on record, scientists point to a number of potential reasons which could explain the phenomenon, including navigational errors.

Sir Harold Evans, a British-American editor whose 70-year career set the gold standard for investigative journalism, has died at the age of 92. His wife, Tina Brown, said he died of congestive heart failure. He was 92.

The United States has passed the grim milestone of more than 200,000 deaths from coronavirus, making America the worst affected country by far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Around half of Americans say they would not get a vaccine to prevent Covid-19, if it were available today – up from 27% four months ago. Of those who said they would take the vaccine, only 21% said definitively – half what it was four months ago.

The interactive version of the World Agenda for October includes the expiring of the UN arms embargo against Iran, a referendum on replacing Chile’s dictatorship-era constitution, the 30th anniversary of Germany’s reunification.

Each month Graphic News publishes a World Agenda of forthcoming events that will shape the world in the month ahead. Events in October include the U.S. vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris and Russia’s mass vaccination campaign against coronavirus.

Arctic sea ice covered 3.74 million square kilometres (1.44 million square miles) on September 15, the smallest area this year and the second-smallest since satellite monitoring began four decades ago.

Toxins in water, produced by bacteria, have killed hundreds of elephants in Botswana since March. Toxic cyanobacteria are occurring more frequently as climate change drives up global temperatures.

Both Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s XBox Series X gaming consoles are now available to pre-order. Sony sold millions more PS4 consoles than Microsoft’s XBox One, but this time things could be different.

All G20 countries except China are facing recession this year -- reflecting the global health crisis -- but economic activity should pick up in 2021, according to the latest OECD Interim Outlook.

Multiple Chinese aircraft flew across the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait and into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone on Friday and Saturday, prompting the island to warn it has the right to “self-defence and to counter attack.”

President Donald Trump’s push to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the election has infuriated Democrats, who fear Republicans will lock in a decades-long conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

Amid fears of the coronavirus, a record number of American voters plan to cast their ballots in the upcoming presidential election by mail. As many as six in 10 (61%) registered voters would prefer to use mail-in ballots before Election Day.

U.S. voters go to the polls to decide who will become the next President of the United States on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Biden’s advantage remains significant, although the race has tightened slightly from earlier in the summer.

Contrary to popular belief, American voters do not directly elect their president. When citizens go to polls, they vote for “electors” -- members of an Electoral College whose sole purpose is to select the president and vice president of the United States.

Since Apple launched its first smartwatch in 2015, it has taken just four years for it to sell more timepieces than traditional Swiss watch makers. According to analyst estimates, the U.S. tech titan shipped 30.7 million watches in 2019.

The EU Commission’s €672.5 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility includes €312.5 billion in grants and €360 billion in cheap loans to help member states kick-start their economies after the pandemic-induced recession.

European Union leaders are preparing to discuss a course of action for de-escalating tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, as Turkey said it would extend its search for oil and gas in disputed waters off Cyprus.

Super Mario Bros, the game that put Mario into millions of households and sparked a multi-billion dollar franchise, was launched 35 years ago.

A journey through time, charting all 45 U.S. presidents and their years in office. U.S. voters go to the polls to decide who will become the next President of the United States on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

The Caribbean island nation of Barbados says it wants to remove Queen Elizabeth as its head of state by next year, leaving only 15 countries worldwide with the British Queen as monarch.

The Spanish government plans to turn a monument to fascist dictator Francisco Franco into a cemetery for people who died on both sides of the Spanish Civil War. The initiative is part of a draft bill to confront the legacy of the Franco era.

Since President Trump took office the image of the U.S. has hit record lows in six nations, with most people in a new 13-country survey citing its response to the pandemic, a Pew Research Center survey shows.

Whoever wins the White House, the composition of the U.S. Senate will shape what they can accomplish. Democrats will need to pick up three or four seats to gain a majority, depending on which party wins control of the vice presidency.

The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, 400 years ago, carrying a group of settlers, who would later come to be known as the Pilgrim Fathers, to a new life in the New World. After a grueling journey, the Mayflower reached America on November 11, 1620.

Scientists have detected evidence of potential life on the planet Venus, traces of phosphine molecules in the atmosphere -- phosphine is a toxic gas produced by microorganisms on Earth.

A 110-square-km slab of ice has broken off the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Glacier in Greenland. In 2019 Greenland lost a record 532 billion tonnes of ice, more than double the yearly average loss of 235 billion tonnes since 2003.

A clause in the UAE-Bahrain accords with Israel may open the door for the Jewish to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound -- Islam’s third-holiest site -- in violation of an agreed 1967 status quo, analysts say.

World primary energy consumption rose by 1.3% last year, much weaker than the 2.8% growth seen in 2018. Growth was driven by renewables, while demand for coal declined for the first time since 2015, according to BP’s Review of World Energy.

While global automobile sales plunged dramatically from a peak of 22.7 million units in Q4 2016 to 14.4 million in Q2 2020, sales of electric vehicles in Europe have jumped by a massive 45.6%.

The UK government has published proposed legislation that would override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol and potentially breach international law, jeopardising UK hopes of securing trade deals with the EU.

Microsoft's hotly anticipated XBox Series X game console will launch on November 10, but without its flagship game, Halo Infinite which has been postponed until 2021 after coronavirus-related lockdowns slowed production.

Microsoft's hotly anticipated XBox Series X game console will launch on November 10. Its simple, box-like design belies the powerful processor it houses – which needs several innovative methods to keep it cool.

Maria Kolesnikova, one of the three women who joined forces to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko in August’s election and the last to remain in Belarus, has resisted an attempt to be deported to Ukraine.

Russia’s “Sputnik-V” coronavirus vaccine produced an antibody response in all the 76 participants in phase 1/2 trials. The so-called viral vector vaccine has now started a 40,000-strong phase 3 trial.

U.S. President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden will go head-to-head in three debates before the election on November 3. There is also one debate scheduled for their vice-presidential candidates, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris.

Despite reaching a “phase one” trade agreement, U.S.-China ties are at their worst in decades, with the Pentagon claiming that more than 30 Chinese firms opperating in the U.S. have links to the People’s Liberation Army.

China is expected to double its stockpile of nuclear warheads in the next decade and appears to be close to completing a so-called “nuclear triad” – the ability to launch nuclear strikes by land, air and sea.

A zero-emissions flying taxi could take to the London skies as soon as 2024, if plans by Vertical Aerospace come to fruition. The tech startup plans to use its vertical take-off and landing electric aircraft to fly from London to Brighton in 30 minutes.

The Earth lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice between 1994 and 2017 with 60 percent of melting occurring in the northern hemisphere, according to data published in the online journal Cryosphere Discussions.

Epic Games, maker of the video game, Fortnite is suing Apple and Google over the 30% cuts they take from game revenues earned through their online stores, believing the fee to be outdated and unfair.

The 2020 U.S. Presidential and Congressional elections will likely exceed the record $6.29 billion spent on the 2012 contest. Campaigns have raised more than $4.77 billion so far – with months to go to the vote.

Russia, China and Iran are all seeking to influence the U.S. presidential election in November -- with Kremlin-linked interference in 2016 regarded as a trial run, according to American intelligence assessments.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has named Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate -- the first black woman and Asian American in the role. Once a rival for the top job, Harris became the front-runner for the number two slot.

President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, promise sweeping progress over the next four years. Trump predicts that the U.S. economy will rebound in October and take off like a “rocket ship” in 2021.

A spate of exceptional heat has spread across the Arctic Circle, triggering record-high temperature readings and putting the region on track to post the lowest-ever sea ice coverage in 2020.

The U.S. has more confirmed cases of COVID-19 than any other country according to daily updates from the Johns Hopkins University, at around a quarter of the global total, with fatalities expected to reach between 100,000- 240,000.

It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the U.S. presidency -- a majority of the 538 votes across 50 states and Washington DC. About 45% of the U.S. population lives in 15 leaning and so-called toss-up states.

Heathrow Airport in the UK is deploying virus-killing ultraviolet light cleaning robots in a bid to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission. Cleaning robots are starting to appear in hospitals, hotels, offices, gymnasiums and airports around the world.

Trekkies are in for a treat as U.S. broadcaster CBS rapidly expands the Star Trek science-fiction franchise with seven new shows heading to its network and All Access streaming platform.

The World Health Organisation has acknowledged “evidence emerging” of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after more than 200 scientists urged the body to update its guidance.

A Japanese supercomputer, voted the world’s fastest, is to use its enormous power to try and identify treatments for Covid-19. The Fugaku supercomputer is already being deployed in the fight against coronavirus.

Anger following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in the United States has prompted a new look at the slave trade between Africa and the European colonies in the Americas.

Statues of slave traders, imperialists, conquerors and explorers are tumbling across the world in a wave of anger against racism following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in the United States.

A statue of Robert Milligan, an 18th-century slave trader, has been removed from its plinth in London’s glitzy business district of Canary Wharf -- the latest move against Britain’s historical links to slavery.

The Giro d’Italia starts in Sicily and ends a gruelling three weeks and almost 3,500km later in Milan. Usually the first Grand Tour of the Year, the 2020 race was rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The final Grand Slam tournament of the year takes place in Paris, France, as tennis returns to the clay courts of Roland Garros. Serbian Novak Djokovic and Romanian Simona Halep head the men’s and women’s seeds respectively.

The rescheduled 2020 edition of the Giro d’Italia starts with four stages in Sicily, beginning with a 15km individual time trial from Monreale to Palermo, and ends on Oct 25 with an individual time trial in Milan.

For the 2020 edition of the Giro d’Italia, nineteen UCI World Tour teams are automatically invited to take part with an additional three ”wild-card” UCI Pro Continental teams also participating.

Formula 1 returns to Nürburgring for the first time in 7 years for the Eifel GP, the 11th race of the Formula One 2020 season. Up to 20,000 fans will be allowed to attend if coronavirus infections do not rise in Germany.

Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton - already 55 points ahead of team rival Valtteri Bottas - are running away with the titles as the season reaches its tenth race, the Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom.

The final Grand Slam tournament of the year takes place in Paris, France, as tennis returns to the clay courts of Roland Garros. Rafael Nadal will aim to secure a 13th title.

The 2020 Catalunya MotoGP takes place at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit, which has hosted a Grand Prix every year since it was first included on the MotoGP calendar in 1992.

The Indian Premier League season begins with defending champions Mumbai Indians playing last year’s finalists Chennai Super Kings. The delayed competition will be played across the UAE, with Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi hosting the matches.

The 40th London Marathon for elite runners only will take place within a “secure biosphere” around St James’s Park, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Athletes will run 19 clockwise laps of a 2.15km route that takes in Horse Guards Parade and Buckingham Palace, with a traditional finish on The Mall

The delayed Roland Garros tournament will be held over three weeks rather than the usual two, to allow for a qualifying tournament to be played from Sep 21-25, followed by the main draw from Sep 27 to Oct 11.

The Italian city of Imola and the region of Emilia-Romagna will host the 2020 UCI Road World Championships, after the original event scheduled for Switzerland was cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions.

The 29th Premier League season kicks off, with Liverpool aiming to defend their title after ending a 30-year wait to become top-flight champions. Champions League qualification, fierce rivalries, title glory or relegation will all be decided over 380 enthralling matches.

Defending champions Juventus kick off the new Serie A season with a home clash against Sampdoria, while Internazionale, who finished second last season, face newly promoted Benevento.

The new Spanish La Liga season gets underway just weeks after the late finish of the previous season, which was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Granada host the opening fixture with a home clash against Athletic Bilbao.

Fussball-Bundesliga season, Germany’s premier football competition. Bayern Munich, the reigning champions and favourites to clinch a 30th Bundesliga title, kick off the new season with a home clash against Schalke.

The 2020-21 football season gets underway just weeks after the late finish of the previous season due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Premier League champions Liverpool hosting Championship winners Leeds Utd.

The NBA play-offs, the climax of North America’s National Basketball Association season, begin, with seven other teams vying to take the Championship from the Toronto Raptors.

The 2020 Stanley Cup will see a best-of-seven play-off series featuring the top four teams in each conference, plus four qualifying teams, culminating in the Stanley Cup Finals, contested by the two conference champions.

The 75th edition of the Vuelta a España, cycling’s final Grand Tour of the year, will feature more than three weeks of racing and 18 stages, covering a distance of almost 3,000km.

The ATP Tour resumes for the first time since March at the Citi Open in Washington -- the first of six tennis tournaments that include two Grand Slams and two Masters 1000 events in New York and Rome.

Formula One celebrates its 70th anniversary as the 2020 World Championship gets underway. The starting lights will go up on a delayed season that begins with eight races in Europe. The FIA aims to confirm up to nine further races as the sport recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme founded the Road Racing World Championship in 1949, staging just six Grands Prix in Europe. Now a global brand with multiple races each year, MotoGP is firmly established as the premier class of motorcycle racing.

The draw for the second Nations League tournament pits inaugural champions Portugal against France, Sweden and Croatia, while 2019 runners-up Netherlands face Italy, Bosnia and Poland in their quest to go one better this time.