Graphic News Planner (news) 08/04/2020 18:01:25

March 17, 2020 -- The race to find a vaccine for the coronavirus outbreak is underway. Still, vaccines go through multiple stages of development -- from discovery to animal trials, human trials, regulatory approval and manufacturing.

The Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), made up of vaccine makers and health agencies -- is leading the bid to fast-track a vaccine.

Researchers in the U.S. at Massachusetts-based Moderna, a CEPI-sponsored start-up, began developing a “nucleic acid vaccine.” The vaccine contains the genetic recipe for human recipients to generate antigens -- in this case SARS-CoV-2 viral fusion proteins -- inside their body. These antigens then trigger the immune system to produce antibodies to block the virus.

Forty-five young, healthy volunteers began participating in a trial of Moderna’s vaccine at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle on March 16.

A CEPI-sponsored team in Australia is also using the “spike protein” on the outside of the virus. The viral spike protein binds to a receptor on the human cell surface called ACE2 (Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2).

Before being injected into humans, a candidate vaccine goes through pre-clinical trials in which experiments on animals determine whether treatments are safe and effective.

In the next phase, a lengthy series of clinical trials evaluate the vaccine’s safety and ability to generate an immune system response.

The production of a vaccine for large-scale use could take 12–18 months and might not be possible during the current outbreak, explains Nicola Stonehouse, a professor in molecular virology at the University of Leeds. “What it might do is help control future outbreaks,” she says. “To make a vaccine conventionally -- to test it and get it on the market -- can take a decade.”

HEALTH: Coronavirus vaccine development video (Video no due date yet)
GN40106 Video graphic shows stages in vaccine development.
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December 16, 2020 -- Ludwig van Beethoven (17 December 1770 - 6 March 1827), a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets.

HISTORY: 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth (Graphic DUE Apr 9, 17:00GMT)
GN40116 Graphic shows timeline and highlights from the life of Beethoven.
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April 8, 2020 -- More countries are advising people to wear a mask when they go out in public, as growing evidence suggests that even a simple cloth face covering could help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

HEALTH: Making a no-sew fabric face covering
GN40128
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April 8, 2020 -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has risen to almost 10,000 and caused more than 500 deaths. The continent now faces an imminent catastrophe, according to the World Health Organization.

Egypt reported Africa’s first COVID-19 case on February 14. Since then, more than half of Africa’s 54 countries have confirmed cases and imposed lockdowns, curfews, travel bans or other measures.

“COVID-19 has the potential not only to cause thousands of deaths but also to unleash economic and social devastation. Its spread beyond major cities means the opening of a new front in our fight against this virus,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

The latest readiness assessments by the WHO indicates Africa has minimal intensive care capacity and trained personal for treatment of severe Covid-19 cases. Nations that have intensive care units lack sufficient ventilators. Many countries have none -- Liberia has just four intensive care beds for the entire country.

Africa’s relatively weak health systems also face other infectious diseases -- from HIV and malaria to tuberculosis.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) estimates Africa may need up to $10.6 billion in unanticipated increases in health spending. UNECA has called for emergency actions to protect 30 million jobs immediately at risk across Africa, particularly in the tourism and airline sectors

The International Monetary Fund said it had received requests for emergency financing from some 20 African countries, with an additional ten or more expected to follow.

HEALTH: Africa Covid-19 cases (Graphic)
GN40127 Graphic shows Covid-19 cases and fatalities across Africa as at April 08, 2020.
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April 8, 2020 -- More countries are advising people to wear a mask when they go out in public, as growing evidence suggests that even a simple cloth face covering could help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC) changed its long-standing policy on face masks last week, and is now advising Americans, whether or not they have symptoms of Covid-19, to cover their face with a mask or cloth covering whenever social distancing is difficult to maintain – such as in grocery stores and on public transportation.

The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N95 respirators – those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers, the CDC says.

The shift in recommendations reflects growing evidence that Covid-19 can be transmitted by a person’s exhalations and normal speech but also the fact that people are not effectively covering their sneezes and coughs.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) continues to recommend that healthy people only need to wear masks if they are caring for others suspected of being infected or if they themselves are coughing or sneezing. It also emphasises that masks are only effective if combined with frequent hand-washing and used and disposed of properly.

One reason is that mask use can easily backfire if mishandled, according to Dr Dale Fisher, an infectious disease physician and chair of the WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.

He said many mask-wearers may feel a “false sense of security” and can easily end up transferring any virus droplets on the surface of their mask onto their hands or the surfaces in their home when they take off the mask.


HEALTH: Making a fabric face mask (Graphic)
GN40124 Graphic shows how to make a sewn fabric face mask.
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April 7, 2020 -- British foreign minister Dominic Raab is designated to act as deputy for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is in intensive care suffering from the coronavirus, if he is unable to fulfil his role.

Raab, who has a black belt in karate, has a reputation for discipline. A staunch Brexiteer, he has long-held ambitions to lead the Conservative party.
Last year he ran for the Conservative Party leadership but he was knocked out in the second round of voting by MPs.

Britain’s unwritten constitution does not have a clear rule for what happens if a prime minister becomes incapacitated or dies. Seven prime ministers have died in office, but the most recent was in 1865.

Johnson delegating Raab to fill in for him clarifies things for now, but it does not mean Raab would automatically take over permanently should a new leader be needed. If it became clear Johnson could not return to his job, the Conservative Party could elect a new leader, who would become prime minister.

POLITICS: Dominic Raab factbox (Graphic)
GN40125 Graphic shows profile of Dominic Raab.
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April 7, 2020 -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in an intensive care unit at a London hospital with a severe case of coronavirus. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is deputising for the PM “where necessary.”

Johnson is “in good spirits,” according to a Downing Street spokesman. He said the prime minister, 55, was stable overnight and is being given oxygen -- and was not on a ventilator.

In a statement on Tuesday, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The prime minister has been stable overnight and remains in good spirits. He is receiving standard oxygen treatment and is breathing without any other assistance.

“He has not required mechanical ventilation or non-invasive respiratory support.”

A ventilator takes over the body’s breathing process when a disease has caused the lungs to fail.

POLITICS: Boris Johnson factbox (Graphic)
GN40126 Graphic shows timeling of Boris Johnson’s career.
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April 6, 2020 -- Men infected with Covid-19 appear to be at a significantly higher risk of having severe symptoms and dying when compared to women, according to data collected by Global Health 50/50.

HEALTH: Coronavirus deaths by gender (Graphic)
GN40122 Graphic shows percentage of deaths by gender from Covid-19 for selected countries, and possible risk factors.
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April 6, 2020 -- Saudi Arabia and Russia are pressing the U.S. to strike a deal to cut crude supply worldwide by at least 10 million barrels per day in an attempt to stabilize prices as the Covid-19 pandemic pummels demand.

OPEC+ -- the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries -- will convene a teleconference on April 9, in a bid to negotiate a truce in a Saudi-Russia fight for market share that has brought crude prices down by as much as 60 per cent since January.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will slap tariffs on crude imports if he needs to protect U.S. energy workers from the oil price crash.

Saudi Arabia has delayed pricing its crude for May delivery as it awaits the result of the conference, indicating that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) is not willing to flood the market with cheap supplies before an agreement.

Alongside the U.S. and the OPEC+ producers, MbS could demand all countries that pump more than one million barrels a day take a hit. In essence, this would include Canada, China, Brazil, Qatar, Norway and the United Kingdom. Otherwise, Saudi Arabia could continue to pump 12.3 million barrels a day, which would result in prices collapsing to single figures, hitting the U.S. shale oil industry that has been a thorn in the sides of both Saudi Arabia and Russia for the past six years.

BUSINESS: Global oil industry (Graphic)
GN40123 Graphic shows oil producers pumping more than 1 million barrels of oil per day.
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April 5-19, 2020 -- Graphic shows anniversaries and events on this day in history. Updated now to include the data for weeks 15-16 i.e. to April 05-18. The events and images are the same as on the GN On This Day print graphics GN40093 and GN40094 If you are hosting GN36036 on your own servers (rather than using the embed code supplied by Graphic News), the data in the hyperesources folder can be topped up with the data for the separate weeks. These can be downloaded separately in the ZIP.clip file.

The graphic is “auto-updating”, so if you look at the graphic tomorrow it will show a different picture and selection of events to those shown today. This is because the graphic is constructed like an “interactive” graphic, but is not “interactive” in the sense that the viewer can change the events displayed; instead it “interacts” with the clock on your computer or mobile and this determines the selection shown.

The graphic is also responsive so if you view on a mobile phone it will look as good, but different, from the version seen if you view on your larger tablet or computer screen.

If you host the graphic yourself you may wish to substitute some of the events or images to give a more national or local interest. This is easy to do as there are separate files for the images and words for each day in the hyperesources folder. (Instructions available - see below).

HISTORY: ON THIS DAY “interactive” (week 15-16) (Interactive UPDATED Apr 6)
GN36036 Responsive graphic showing anniversaries and events from today’s date in history, changes automatically each day. Come back tomorrow to see anniversaries and events for that date.
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April 3, 2020 -- The World Health Organisation is considering whether to update its guidance on the routine wearing of face masks in public in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

A panel of advisers to the WHO will weigh up new research which suggests that coughs and sneezes may project virus particles much further into the air than previously thought – 6m for a cough and up to 8m for a sneeze, the BBC said.

The WHO currently recommends keeping at least 1m from anyone coughing or sneezing.

It says that healthy people only need to wear masks if they are caring for others suspected of being infected or if they themselves are coughing or sneezing.

It also emphasises that masks are only effective if combined with frequent hand-washing and used and disposed of properly.

Coronavirus disease is spread by droplets that can spray into the air when infected people talk, cough and sneeze. These can enter the body through the nose, mouth and eyes, either directly or after touching a contaminated object. But the spread of these droplets may be curtailed if infected people wear masks.

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is also looking at whether to change its position on the use of masks, which at the moment are not recommended for healthy people.

The advice being considered calls for the use of simple cloth face coverings, leaving urgently-needed medical masks – including surgical and N95 masks – free for healthcare workers, according to a Washington Post report.

Mask-wearing has long been common in some countries during respiratory outbreaks, especially in parts of Asia. As questions grow about whether people sometimes can spread the virus before realising they are sick, more and more health officials appear to be coming around to the idea of masks for the general public.

HEALTH: Wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus (Graphic)
GN40115 Graphic shows features of main types of medical masks, and current WHO guidelines.
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April 3, 2020 -- A new study finds a correlation between countries that require citizens to get the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine and those showing fewer confirmed cases and deaths from Covid-19.

The century-old BCG vaccine increases immunity to tuberculosis (TB) -- a bacterial infection spread through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person.

Now, a study posted on medRxiv -- led by Gonzalo Otazu, assistant professor at the New York Institute of Technology -- analysed numbers of Covid-19 cases in Japan and South Korea, which have managed to control the disease. Both countries have universal BCG vaccine policies, Otazu reported. Data on confirmed cases from low-income countries were considered not reliable enough to make a sound judgment.

Researchers are to roll out tests across four countries. Some 4,000 health workers in hospitals across Australia and 1000 health care workers in eight Dutch hospitals will receive the vaccine or a placebo.

Additional trials will take place in Boston, Massachusetts, and at Exeter University in the UK.

Studies on infants in Africa revealed that the BCG vaccine protects the body’s innate immune system and stimulates white blood cells to fight off pathogens other than the TB bacterium.

If successful, it could mean the vaccine -- which costs as little as €34 (£30, $36) a dose -- could provide a cheap and readily available method of warding off coronavirus.

HEALTH: TB vaccine link to coronavirus (Graphic)
GN40118 Graphic shows difference in Covid-19 cases in selected countries that recently had mandatory BCG vaccination.
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April 2, 2020 -- The recent recovery of whales, seals and other marine species have allowed scientists to formulate a plan showing how the glory of the world’s oceans could be restored within a generation.

Humpback whales migrating from Antarctica to eastern Australia have been increasing by about 10 per cent each year, from a few hundred in 1968 to more than 40,000, benefiting from the ban on commercial whaling in 1986.

Northern elephant seals were hunted almost to extinction by 1880, when only 20 breeders remaine­d. However, due to strong protection there are now more than 200,000.

The number of southern sea otters in Canada has grown from about 50 in 1911 to several thousand.

Scientists from 16 universities around the world say there is now the knowledge to create an ocean renaissance for wildlife by 2050 and with it bolster the services that the world’s people rely on, from food to coastal protection to climate stability.

The measures needed, including protecting large swathes of ocean, sustainable fishing and pollution controls, would cost $10-20bn a year, but would bring benefits 10 times as high.

Climate change, and the challenges of scaling up existing conservation efforts, are the big hurdles, they say.

The researchers caution that the window for action is now very narrow.

The study has been published in the journal Nature.

ENVIRONMENT: Oceans can be restored by 2050 (Graphic)
GN40117 Graphic shows recovery trends of selected marine populations since 1950.
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April 2, 2020 -- With most of us subjected to the coronavirus lockdown, you can still take your mind for a virtual vacation courtesy of Google Street View.

If you are one of the millions of people socially isolating yourself at home to avoid possible contact with the coronavirus, chances are you are desperate to escape to the great outdoors.

That may not be possible right now, but you can at least take your mind for a virtual wander courtesy of Google Street View.

You might be surprised to learn that the service isn't confined to city streets either. You can in fact delve into the Grand Canyon or soar to new heights climbing Machu Picchu... or even travel into space!

International Space Station: bit.ly/39FX0AV

Diagon Alley (Harry Potter): bit.ly/346gWvl

Colosseum: bit.ly/3bFSDae

Stonehenge: bit.ly/33ZoiAW

Machu Picchu: bit.ly/2UA9m9q

Grand Canyon: bit.ly/3bAfXWW

Great Barrier Reef: bit.ly/3dLOkfl

HEALTH: Virtual vacations (Graphic)
GN40104 Graphic highlights several interesting locations to visit using Google Street View – includes bit.ly shortcut links.
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April 1, 2020 -- Russia and Saudi Arabia are boosting oil production, pushing down prices and threatening America’s heavily indebted shale industry -- U.S. shale oil companies need higher rates to remain profitable.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that in 2019, about 7.7 million barrels per day of crude oil were produced directly from shale oil (also known as tight oil) resources in the U.S. This was equal to about 63% of total U.S. crude oil production.

A sharp plunge in demand for crude driven by the coronavirus pandemic -- and a subsequent oil price war initiated by Russia and Saudi Arabia -- has seen prices for U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fall by more than 68 per cent this year.

On Monday, WTI plunged to $20.09 a barrel -- down from $63.27 on January 6 -- far, far short of what American shale producers need to cover their costs of production.

The average breakeven price of oil has fallen around $2 per barrel over the past year, to $50 per barrel, according to the latest Dallas Fed Energy Survey.

Moscow wants to inflict economic pain on U.S. shale producers, to force the U.S. to lift sanctions in place over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the alleged part that the Russian government played in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

If oil prices remain below $40 a barrel, highly leveraged U.S. energy companies could face bankruptcy. Russia needs about $42 a barrel to balance its budget, and Saudi Arabia needs $82, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Both nations should be able to survive a protracted economic war, as Saudi Arabia has foreign exchange reserves of $490 billion and Russia has reserves of $440 billion.

BUSINESS: Oil war threat to U.S. shale (Graphic)
GN40114 Graphic shows oil production and breakeven crude oil costs.
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April 1, 2020 -- The first comprehensive estimates of hospitalisation and death rates from coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in mainland China have revealed a considerable increase in risk for patients from middle age.

The study found that the proportion of deaths from both diagnosed cases and from milder, unconfirmed cases is strongly influenced by age – ranging from 0.0016% in 0 to 9-year-olds to 7.8% for people aged 80 and above.

Differences in hospitalisation rates by age were also reported, with nearly one in five over-80s infected with Covid-19 likely to require hospital care, compared with around 1% of people under 30.

The analysis, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, estimated the overall death rate, including unconfirmed cases, at 0.66%. While the figure is lower than some recent estimates for Covid-19, it is still much higher than the 2009 pandemic “swine flu” virus, which was estimated to be fatal in around 0.02% of cases.

The authors note that the data does not separate out the effect of underlying health conditions, which often correlate with age.

HEALTH: Age-related risks for Covid-19 (Graphic)
GN40111 Graphic shows analysis of hospitalisation and death rates from Covid-19 in mainland China.
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April 6, 2020 -- Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as Raphael, the renowned Italian Renaissance artist and architect, died on April 6, 1520, aged just 37.

Raphael's work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition, and together with Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci, he completes the most famous trinity of great masters from the period.

Given his short lifespan, Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and creating a vast body of work, much of which is to be found in the Vatican.

He is best known for "The School of Athens", a large fresco representing Philosophy adorning a wall in the Stanze di Raffaello (Raphael Rooms), inside the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. It is regarded as his masterpiece, embodying the classical Renaissance spirit and notable for its accurate perspective projection.

Unusually for a painter of such notoriety, Raphael championed printing, and entered into a commercial partnership with engraver Marcantonio Raimondi. Together they created around 50 designs which became the most famous Italian prints of the century.

At the age of 31, Raphael was appointed architect of the new St Peter's and for a short time was the most important architect in Rome. After his untimely death from fever, most of his work in St Peter’s was altered or demolished to make way for his great rival Michelangelo's designs.

Post-Renaissance, the influence of Michelangelo pervaded until the 18th and 19th centuries, when Raphael's more serene and harmonious qualities became fashionable once more.

HISTORY: 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death (Graphic)
GN40102 Graphic shows timeline and highlights from the life and works of Raphael.
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March 31, 2020 -- Inventors, academics, carmakers and aerospace firms are rushing to build hundreds of thousands of ventilators to help save the lives of people with Coronavirus-related breathing difficulties.

For patients with the worst effects of the infection, a ventilator offers the best chance of survival.

A mechanical ventilator unit pushes air into a patient’s lungs, replicating the normal breathing when disease causes the lungs to fail.

Big names of industry such as General Motors, Airbus, McLaren and Dyson have offered their engineering expertise or factory lines, which in many cases have slowed or halted because of the pandemic.

University College London engineers have worked with clinicians at UCLH and Mercedes Formula One to build what is known as the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device. Mercedes F1 is offering to build up to 1,000 CPAP machines per day.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 80% of people with Covid-19 recover without needing hospital treatment.

But one person in six becomes seriously ill and can develop breathing difficulties. In these severe cases, the virus causes damage to the lungs.

HEALTH: Global race to make ventilators (Graphic)
GN40110 Graphic shows how ventilators work.
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March 30, 2020 -- The new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has spread to nearly every country in the world since it first emerged in China three months ago, drawing parallels with some of history’s most deadly pandemics.

Over the past century, there have been four influenza pandemics, including the most recent “swine flu” or H1N1 pandemic in 2009-2010.

“Spanish flu” was the most severe pandemic in recent memory. It was also caused by an H1N1 virus, with genes of avian origin, and claimed the lives of at least 50 million people worldwide from 1918 to 1919.

The worldwide death toll from Covid-19 – which passed 35,000 on March 30 – pales in comparison to that of other recent pandemics.

HEALTH: How Covid-19 compares to past pandemics (Graphic)
GN40109 Graphic shows how Covid-19 compares to recent influenza pandemics.
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March 30, 2020 -- Physicians across the globe are running trials on drug treatments repurposed from other diseases -- from Ebola to malaria to arthritis -- in a race to offer hope to Covid-19 patients.

Scientists are investigating three main types of medications in their quest to stop the pandemic. The first category includes antivirals to stop the virus from replicating. Treatments include the HIV drug combination Kaletra, which U.S. biotech AbbVie recently waived its patents on so it can be made available as a generic. Other therapies include the antimalarial drug chloroquine and an anti-flu drug from Japan’s Fujifilm.

Gilead Sciences’ Ebola drug, remdesivir, is also being repurposed to see if it can effectively treat COVID-19.

Second are anti-inflammatories that treat the lungs after the immune system is overwhelmed. Regeneron and Sanofi have partnered on Kevzara, while Roche has started a trial on Actemra, approved for use on rheumatoid arthritis in 100 countries.

The third category is antibody-based treatments, derived from recovered Covid-19 patients. Eli Lilly and Canadian start-up AbCellera are developing an antibody-based treatment, while Japan’s Takeda is developing a new drug derived from the blood plasma of others who have survived the virus.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have launched clinical trials using the generic blood-pressure medication losartan.

In Australia, the bacillus Calmette-Guerin -- or BCG vaccine which has been used for a century to prevent tuberculosis -- is being given to 4,000 health-care workers in Melbourne to see if it will protect them against the coronavirus. Similar research is going on in the Netherlands, according to the EU Clinical Trials Register.

HEALTH: Quest for C-19 drugs (Graphic)
GN40108 Graphic shows selection of existing drugs that could tackle Covid-19.
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March 26, 2020 -- Countries around the world are struggling to control the pandemic of the pneumonia-like virus that originated in China late last year as it spreads across the globe.


The number of people around the world who have contracted coronavirus is continuing to surge, with the death toll from the pandemic rising rapidly, as the global outbreak continues to take lives and wreak havoc on economies and established routines of life.

Medical workers and health services around the world are also at breaking point and the livelihoods of millions are at risk amid a widespread shutdown caused by the virus and the damage the viral outbreak is inflicting on the global economy. Layoffs are sure to accelerate as the world sinks into a recession with revenue collapsing at restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, gyms, airlines and numerous other businesses.

HEALTH: Coronavirus pandemic interactive (3) (Interactive UPDATED Mar 30)
GN40054 Interactive graphic shows cases, fatalities, and recovered cases from the COVID-19 coronavirus. N.B. This data will be updated daily
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April 12-18, 2020 -- Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries for each day of the week. This week features U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Apollo 13 mission, golf master Tiger Woods, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin, and the start of the American Revolutionary War

April 12, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only U.S. President to serve four terms, died in office as World War II neared its end. He was succeeded by Vice President Harry Truman

April 13, 1970: An oxygen tank exploded on board Apollo 13, crippling the spacecraft as it neared the moon. The mission was abandoned but the crew returned safely to Earth

April 14, 2019: Tiger Woods won the U.S. Masters to record his first major golf title in 11 years. It was his 15th major overall and gave him a fifth green jacket at Augusta

Aprl 15, 2019: A major fire engulfed the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. The spire and roof collapsed but the bell towers and valuable treasures were saved

April 16, 1940: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark was born. She has reigned since 1972, when she became the first woman in nearly 600 years to occupy the Danish throne

April 17, 1790: U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin died. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence, and also invented bifocals and carried out experiments into electricity

April 18, 1775: Paul Revere rode through the night to warn the colonists of Massachusetts of the arrival of British troops at the start of the American Revolutionary War

HISTORY: On this day April 12-18, 2020 (week 16) (Graphic)
GN40094 Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.
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April 5-11, 2020 -- Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries for each day of the week. This week features the epic movie Ben Hur, the Italian Renaissance painter Raphael, the Indian musician Ravi Shankar, Venus de Milo, Britain’s Prince Charles, Angela Merkel of Germany, and President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.

April 5, 1960: The epic movie Ben Hur won 11 Oscars, a record unequalled for 38 years. It was finally matched by Titanic in 1998, and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2004

April 6, 1520: Italian Renaissance master Raphael died. He is best known for his Madonnas and his frescoes in the apartments of Pope Julius II in the Vatican (detail above)

April 7, 1920: Indian musician Ravi Shankar, credited with introducing the sitar to Western audiences, was born. Among his many students was Beatle George Harrison

April 8, 1820: The Venus de Milo, a marble statue slightly larger than life and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture, was discovered on the island of Milos

April 9, 2005: Britain’s Prince Charles married his long-term companion Camilla Parker Bowles, a day later than planned to allow Charles to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II

April 10, 2000: Angela Merkel became leader of the Christian Democratic Union, the first woman, and first citizen of the former East Germany, to lead a major political party in Germany

April 11, 2019: President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan was deposed in a coup after nearly 30 years in office, following months of mass protests against his government

HISTORY: On this day April 5, 2020 (week 15) (Graphic)
GN40093 Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.
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March 26, 2020 -- As the Covid-19 coronavirus enforces sweeping changes to everyday life, iconic venues are closed and popular events have been cancelled or postponed. Tourist attractions, heritage sites, theme parks, museums, galleries, theatres, and cinemas have all been forced to shut their doors until such time as the emergency has passed.

Films postponed include the premiere of the new James Bond film, No Time to Die, Fast and Furious 9, and the latest Minions movie.

The Cannes Film Festival, Eurovision Song Contest and Coachella music festival are also on hold, but Glastonbury, which would have marked its 50th anniversary this summer, has been cancelled.

Iconic venues off limits to the public include the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal and Sydney Opera House.

HEALTH: Coronavirus in Culture timeline (Graphic)
GN40103 Graphic shows cultural events across the globe affected by COVID-19, as at 17:00GMT, Thursday, March 26.
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March 26, 2020 -- Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has suffered its third mass bleaching event in just five years. Warmer sea temperatures in recent months are feared to have caused huge coral loss.

The Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest reef system, covers over 2,300km. A World Heritage site is recognised for its “enormous scientific and intrinsic importance”.

The reef has only just begun to recover after being heavily hit by two consecutive years of coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017.

The earlier events hit two-thirds of the reef system, wiping out coral populations and destroying habitats for other sea life.

In 2019, Australia downgraded the reef’s five-year outlook from poor to very poor, due to the impact of human-induced climate change.

ENVIRONMENT: Great Barrier Reef mass bleaching (Graphic)
GN40105 Graphic shows spots where coral bleaching was most severe in 2016 and 2017 and an explanation about coral bleaching.
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March 26, 2020 -- Governments around the world have released unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimuli in a bid to stop hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises going out of business -- permanently.

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve a $2 trillion fiscal package to shore up the economy -- the most extensive stimulus package in modern American history.

The bill would send direct payments of $1,200 to Americans earning up to $75,000 -- gradually reduced for those with incomes of more than $99,000 -- plus an additional $500 per child. The U.S. package would also extend benefits to freelancers and gig workers for the first time.

Faced with intense pressure to support businesses, Britain’s Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced plans to pay 80% of at-risk workers’ wages to discourage their employers from laying them off.

In Norway, unemployment has risen five-fold this month, according to the Labour and Welfare Agency. Unemployment stood at 10.9 per cent on March 24, up from just 2.3 per cent at the end of February. Joblessness is at the highest rate in Norway since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The minority right-wing government -- led by Conservative Party Prime Minister Erna Solberg -- has cut the mandatory notice period from two weeks to just two days. And the government has agreed to pay 100 per cent of salaries for laid-off workers for 20 days.

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is spending C$107bn (US$75bn) in emergency aid and economic stimulus, with C$2,000 ($1,416) a month for the next four months for people who have lost their job.

BUSINESS: Pandemic economic bailouts (Graphic)
GN40107 Graphic shows economic bailouts announed to fight coronavirus pandemic.
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March 26, 2020 -- With coronavirus cases multiplying rapidly, the United States could overtake Europe as the new epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Health Organisation.

Cases of coronavirus in New York are escalating at an alarming rate, likened to "a bullet train" by its governor Andrew Cuomo, with known cases now over 33,000 (and well over 300 deaths) – amounting to more than half of all U.S. cases.

The recent U.S. upsurge in new cases, which is expected to continue, is the result of more state and private labs testing for the virus after weeks of delays and test kit shortages.

New York State, home to the most populous city in America (8.6 million people), has been testing residents especially thoroughly, disclosing more than 7,400 new cases on Wednesday, March 25 alone.

HEALTH: U.S. may become coronavirus epicentre (1) (Graphic UPDATED Mar 26)
GN40101 Graphic charts 10 U.S. states worst hit by the coronavirus (as of 1100GMT, March 26, 2020).
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April 1-30, 2020 -- Each month Graphic News publishes a World Agenda of forthcoming events that will shape the world in the month ahead. Available for print and a responsible interactive format for digital publishers -- the latter, an extended version of the print version for websites, smartphones and tablets.

Events in April are dominated by the global coronavirus pandemic. Forthcoming events include:

Apr 6, Italy: Raphael, one of the masters of the High Renaissance, died 500 years ago, on his 37th birthday, making his breathtaking artistic achievements even more astonishing.

Apr 8, China: The 11-week lockdown in Wuhan, the epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic, will be partially lifted and anyone given a “green” code on a widely used smartphone health app will be allowed to leave the city. This is in marked contrast with many other countries where severe curbs remain.

Apr 15, South Korea: National Assembly elections will go ahead, with the country cautiously optimistic over falling numbers of coronavirus cases. It sees President Moon Jae-in in a precarious position over the flagging economy.

Apr 15, France: The roof of Notre Dame was destroyed by fire one year ago. The coronavirus pandemic is bound to slow progress on repairs to the Paris landmark.

Apr 20, U.S.: The Deepwater Horizon oil rig blast in the Gulf of Mexico 10 years ago killed 11 workers and caused the largest ever marine oil spill. The anniversary will leave the Trump Administration scrambling to defend rolling back the safety mandates introduced after the spill.

Apr 22, World: Concerns over coronavirus see Earth Day mark its 50th anniversary by going online, where the first-ever Digital Earth Day will continue to address urgent threats to people and the planet.

Apr 24, Space: The Hubble Space Telescope turns 30 and there are no plans for its retirement. NASA sees advantages in having Hubble and the James Webb telescope, due to launch in 2021, in operation at the same time.

Apr 29, Space: An asteroid big enough to destroy Earth passes close by. 1998 OR, a 1.6km-wide rock travelling at over 30,000km/h, is the largest known Near-Earth Object to whizz past our planet over the next two centuries.

WORLD AGENDA: April 2020 interactive (1) (Interactive UPDATED Mar 25)
GN40099 Responsive interactive graphic shows news events in April 2020.
(640px wide by 568px deep)

April 1-30, 2020 -- Each month Graphic News publishes a World Agenda of forthcoming events that will shape the world in the month ahead. Both print and interactive formats of the Agenda are available -- the latter, an extended version for websites, smartphones and tablets.

Events in April are dominated by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Apr 6, Italy: Raphael, one of the masters of the High Renaissance, died 500 years ago, on his 37th birthday, making his breathtaking artistic achievements even more astonishing.

Apr 8, China: The 11-week lockdown in Wuhan, the epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic, will be partially lifted and anyone given a “green” code on a widely used smartphone health app will be allowed to leave the city. This is in marked contrast with many other countries where severe curbs remain.

Apr 15, South Korea: National Assembly elections will go ahead, with the country cautiously optimistic over falling numbers of coronavirus cases. It sees President Moon Jae-in in a precarious position over the flagging economy.

Apr 15, France: The roof of Notre Dame was destroyed by fire one year ago. The coronavirus pandemic is bound to slow progress on repairs to the Paris landmark.

Apr 20, U.S.: The Deepwater Horizon oil rig blast in the Gulf of Mexico 10 years ago killed 11 workers and caused the largest ever marine oil spill. The anniversary will leave the Trump Administration scrambling to defend rolling back the safety mandates introduced after the spill.

Apr 22, World: Concerns over coronavirus see Earth Day mark its 50th anniversary by going online, where the first-ever Digital Earth Day will continue to address urgent threats to people and the planet.

Apr 24, Space: The Hubble Space Telescope turns 30 and there are no plans for its retirement. NASA sees advantages in having Hubble and the James Webb telescope, due to launch in 2021, in operation at the same time.

Apr 29, Space: An asteroid big enough to destroy Earth passes close by. 1998 OR, a 1.6km-wide rock travelling at over 30,000km/h, is the largest known Near-Earth Object to whizz past our planet over the next two centuries.

WORLD AGENDA: April 2020 (1) (Graphic UPDATED Mar 25)
GN40098 Graphic shows news events in April 2020. An interactive version of this graphic is also produced each month.
(163mm wide by 210mm (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital) (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital) (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

March 24, 2020 -- Viruses are a package of nucleic acid bundled inside a collection of lipids and proteins which can include a fat-based viral envelope -- soap can destroy a virus from your hands before it can lead to infection.

Coughs or sneezes can contaminate non-porous surfaces, where the virus can remain infectious for more than 72 hours and then infect a victim when they touch their face.

New studies indicate we touch our face far more frequently than we wash our hands. One study published by the American Journal of Infection Control recorded 26 subjects who on average touched their faces 23 times per hour. Of all face touches, 10 (44%) involved contact with a mucous membrane -- eyes, nose or mouth -- infection points of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Now, virus-busting soap comes to the rescue. The Babylonians were the first to master the art of soap making around 2,800 BCE. The basic recipe hasn’t changed for more than 4,800 years -- mix fat or oil with an alkali such as caustic soda (sodium hydroxide).

The ends of a soap molecule hold two electrical charges like a battery -- positive and negative.

The positive hydrophilic polar head binds with water and the other end, the hydrophobic tail binds with grease and fatty acids, also known as lipids.

The lipid envelope of a coronavirus is readily broken down by soap. A thorough hand wash with soap and water, for at least 20 seconds, actually destroys the virus.

If access to soap and water is restricted and then a vigorous hand-clean with an alcohol-based hand sanitiser with an alcohol concentration of at least 60% will also destroy the virus.

HEALTH: Virus-busting soap (Graphic)
GN40100 Graphic shows how soap destroys a virus.
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March 23, 2020 -- As countries around the world grapple with COVID-19, front line medical workers are deploying robots to help contain the pandemic.

China and Spain have used drones to monitor people during lockdown campaigns, while South Korea has deployed them to help disinfect areas in Daegu, an epidemic hotspot.

Early March, a field hospital staffed by robots opened in the Hongshan Sports Center in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began.

Dubbed the Smart Field Hospital, the facility is a project involving Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, China Mobile and CloudMinds, a maker of cloud robotics systems based in China and the U.S.

The Smart Field Hospital is a trial aimed at relieving exhausted health-care workers even as the outbreak in China slowed in recent weeks.

Robots in this facility include the “patrol robot”, which can check
temperatures, identities, and disinfect areas used by hospital visitors.

Other robots used elsewhere include the virus-zapping robot manufactured by Denmark-based UVD Robotics and Texas-based Xenex.

These machines move autonomously around hospital rooms, emitting beams of concentrated UV-C ultraviolet light to disinfect surfaces.

Recently, scientists at Tsinghua University in Beijing have developed a robotic arm that can be controlled by doctors in a separate room.

The arm can swab patients' mouths, perform ultrasounds and even listen to their organs.

HEALTH: Robots helping to fight coronavirus (Graphic)
GN40095 Graphic shows key robots used to fight coronavirus.
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March 20, 2020 -- The new coronavirus which causes an illness known as COVID-19 has spread to more than 150 countries and territories since it was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December.

The Chinese government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan and many other cities in central Hubei province in late January, but cases of the virus had already been exported to other regions of China and to other countries.

The World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11 due to its rapid and sustained global spread and the severity of the illness the virus causes.

As of March 18, more than 245,000 cases of the virus had been reported across the world and more than 10,000 people had died.

HEALTH: Timeline of coronavirus spread (Graphic)
GN40091 Graphic shows timeline of how the new coronavirus has spread.
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March 20, 2020 -- A rapid, low-cost, chip-based testing kit to detect coronavirus uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) -- a method of amplifying small amounts of genetic material -- and a fluorescent marker to identify the virus.

Researchers are working to find ways of detecting the virus as fast as possible to enable the quarantine of confirmed cases to prevent any further spread of the virus.

South Korea moved quickly, with some 20 pharmaceutical companies coordinating the production of diagnostic tests from January 27, when the nation had just four known cases of the Covid illness.

South Korea has now tested more than 250,000 citizens, from a population of 51.5 million, and Italy has tested almost 150,000 of its 60.5 million people.

Britain has screened about 50,000 out of its 66.4 million population, and the U.S. has run some 32,000 tests -- just 0.01 per cent of its 327.2 million people. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rolled out its first tests to all 50 states on February 4. But state testing labs uncovered a quality issue with the three-part test.

Italian hospitals are turning diagnostic tests around in four to six hours. In Britain, it takes at least a day, and in the U.S. the wait is longer. In China, supply has soared to around 1.6 million kits a day according to the World Health Organisation, and the nation is now exporting 15-minute diagnosis kits.

Most of the diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 use real-time PCR, and high-performance automatic machines developed by companies such as Roche can analyse around 1,000 swab samples in 24 hours.

HEALTH: Coronavirus testing (Graphic)
GN40092 Graphic shows principles of Portable nucleic acid analysis.
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March 18, 2020 -- A newly discovered 66-million-year-old fossil indicates that “modern” birds survived the asteroid impact that caused the mass extinction of all large dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period.

The spectacular fossil, affectionately nicknamed the “Wonderchicken”, includes a nearly complete three-dimensional skull found inside a rock from a limestone quarry near the Belgian-Dutch border.

Writing in the prestigious journal Nature, an international team of palaeontologists led by the University of Cambridge
report that the skull combines many features common to the group that includes living chickens and ducks – a group called Galloanserae.

Dr Daniel Field from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, who led the research, said that “this is one of the best-preserved fossil bird skulls of any age, from anywhere in the world”.

Asteriornis provides the earliest direct glimpse of what modern birds were like during the initial stages of their evolutionary history.

The fossil bird has been given the scientific name of Asteriornis in reference to Asteria, the Greek Titan goddess of falling stars.

The announcement of the find coincides with a new exhibit at Cambridge’s Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, where visitors can learn more about Asteriornis and see the fossil up close. “Dawn of the Wonderchicken” is scheduled to run from March 19 to June 15. Admission is free.

SCIENCE: World’s oldest bird discovered (Graphic)
GN40084 Graphic shows details about the relevance of the discovery.
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March 18, 2020 -- Scientists studying the new coronavirus have found that it can survive for lengthy periods outside the human body, remaining viable in the air for several hours and persisting on surfaces for days.

Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, attempted to mimic the virus deposited from an infected person onto everyday surfaces in a household or hospital setting, such as through coughing or touching objects, Reuters said.

They used a device to dispense an aerosol that duplicated the microscopic droplets created in a cough or a sneeze.

The scientists then investigated how long the virus remained infectious on these surfaces, according to the study that appeared online in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday.

The tests show that the virus can live in the air for at least three hours, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.

HEALTH: Coronavirus persistence (Graphic)
GN40089 Graphic shows virus transmission routes and its persistence in air and on surfaces.
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March 13, 2020 -- The European Union is banning all non-essential travel throughout the Schengen free-travel zone and beyond as more countries close their borders in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the measure would cover EU countries and non-members of the bloc that are part of the 26-country Schengen passport-free travel zone. 

EU citizens, their family members, bloc residents and workers in sectors deemed “essential” would be exempt from the measure.

The measures would be in place for at least 30 days.

Meanwhile, tough new measures in France restricting movement from the home are coming into effect on Tuesday.

HEALTH: Europe shuts borders in virus battle (Graphic)
GN40086 Graphic shows cases of coronavirus across Europe as at 16:00GMT, Tuesday.
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March 17, 2020 -- The race to find a vaccine for the coronavirus outbreak is underway. Still, vaccines go through multiple stages of development -- from discovery to animal trials, human trials, regulatory approval and manufacturing.

The Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), made up of vaccine makers and health agencies -- is leading the bid to fast-track a vaccine.

Researchers in the U.S. at Massachusetts-based Moderna, a CEPI-sponsored start-up, began developing a “nucleic acid vaccine.” The vaccine contains the genetic recipe for human recipients to generate antigens -- in this case SARS-CoV-2 viral fusion proteins -- inside their body. These antigens then trigger the immune system to produce antibodies to block the virus.

Forty-five young, healthy volunteers began participating in a trial of Moderna’s vaccine at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle on March 16.

A CEPI-sponsored team in Australia is also using the “spike protein” on the outside of the virus. The viral spike protein binds to a receptor on the human cell surface called ACE2 (Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2).

Before being injected into humans, a candidate vaccine goes through pre-clinical trials in which experiments on animals determine whether treatments are safe and effective.

In the next phase, a lengthy series of clinical trials evaluate the vaccine’s safety and ability to generate an immune system response.

The production of a vaccine for large-scale use could take 12–18 months and might not be possible during the current outbreak, explains Nicola Stonehouse, a professor in molecular virology at the University of Leeds. “What it might do is help control future outbreaks,” she says. “To make a vaccine conventionally -- to test it and get it on the market -- can take a decade.”

HEALTH: Vaccine development (Graphic)
GN40087 Graphic shows stages in vaccine development.
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March 16, 2020 -- Some symptoms of COVID-19 – the disease caused by the new coronavirus – are similar to those of the common cold, allergies and the flu, making it tricky to diagnose without a test.

The coronavirus primarily affects the lungs and commonly causes a fever and dry cough. It can also lead to shortness of breath, a symptom not associated with colds or the flu, though it is common for allergies.

Those people who are sneezing and have a runny nose are likely to have the flu or a cold. The flu is also more likely than COVID-19 to come with aches and pains.

HEALTH: Coronavirus symptoms compared (Graphic)
GN40081 Graphic shows comparison of symptoms of COVID-19, the common cold, allergies and the flu.
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March 16, 2020 -- The coronavirus could have a $130 billion impact on the aviation industry -- more than three times worse than the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to IATA, the International Air Transport Association.

Airlines around the world are making drastic cuts to their flying schedules, shedding jobs and seeking government aid because of the fast-spreading coronavirus.

At the epicentre of the outbreak, China’s airline sector is taking the hardest hit, losing $3 billion in February alone, with an 84.5 per cent drop in passenger traffic and a 21 per cent drop in cargo flows. Now, IATA projects a 23 per cent drop in Chinese passenger numbers this year, with revenue dropping $22.2 billion.

China’s so-called “Big Four” carriers -- Air China, China Southern, China Eastern and HNA Group -- are facing an 85 per cent drop in flight capacity.

In Europe, IATA warns that airlines could see a reduction in passengers of up to 24 per cent this year, and a fall in passenger revenue of more than $37 billion. Also, President Donald Trump has slapped a 40-day travel ban on 26 European Schengen nations, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Last year the passenger market between the U.S. and Schengen nations was worth $20.6 billion.

BUSINESS: Airlines under threat (Graphic)
GN40082 Graphic shows threat of coronavirus to the world’s aviation industry.
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March 10, 2020 -- Vaccines harness the natural activity of the body’s immune system to recognise and attack a virus or bacteria when it is infected. Vaccines are traditionally grown inside living cells such as hens’ eggs.

Now, as the world faces SARS-CoV-2 -- the new coronavirus that causes the respiratory illness Covid-19 -- the race is on to produce a vaccine. And a key player in that race is headquartered in Norway, the Oslo-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) -- a partnership of governments, industry and charities, created three years ago to fight emerging diseases that threaten global health. CEPI is already sponsoring four Covid-19 vaccine projects.

Shortly after Chinese scientists published the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 on January 10, the race was on. Researchers in the U.S. at Massachusetts-based Moderna, a CEPI-sponsored start-up, began developing a “nucleic acid vaccine.” The vaccine contains the genetic recipe for human recipients to generate antigens -- in this case viral fusion proteins -- inside their body. These antigens then trigger the immune system to produce antibodies to block the virus. By February 7, Moderna’s scientists had manufactured dozens of doses of clinical-grade vaccine, ready for testing.

A CEPI-sponsored team in Australia is also using the “spike protein” on the outside of the virus. A viral spike protein is like a key that “unlocks the door” to gain access to the cells of a human host. The University of Queensland scientists use “molecular clamp” technology to hold the fusion proteins in a shape that antibodies are most likely to recognise.

“There is a real sense of urgency,” says Dr Richard Hatchett, CEPI’s executive director, “because the threat we are facing is unprecedented in the last 100 years in terms of its speed and potential severity.” Hatchett estimates that developing Covid-19 vaccines at speed will cost about $2 billion over the next 12-18 months.

HEALTH: Vaccine explainer (Graphic)
GN40071 Graphic shows alternative routes to producing a vaccine.
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March 6, 2020 -- A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey has come into effect in northwestern Syria, where escalating fighting had threatened to put forces from the two countries into direct conflict.

The Associated Press report that the truce halted a terrifying campaign of bombing from above that killed hundreds and sent a million people fleeing toward the Turkish border during the Russian-backed assault by Syrian government forces on the country’s last rebel stronghold.

The agreement, announced Thursday after a six-hour meeting between the Turkish and Russian presidents in Moscow, essentially froze the conflict lines. The deal does not force Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces to roll back military gains made in the past three months, which had been a key Turkish demand.

That effectively rules out the possibility of hundreds of thousands of displaced people returning to their homes.

The deal also lacked specifics or a known mechanism to enforce the truce. It is the latest of many ceasefire agreements for Idlib over the past few years. All have ended up unraveling after few months, triggering new government offensives that captured more territory from the opposition. Government forces now control much of Syria after evicting rebels from other parts of country.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan each back rival sides in the Syrian conflict and have become the main power brokers in the war-torn country.

The situation in Idlib worsened in recent weeks after Turkey sent thousands of troops there. Clashes with Syrian government forces have killed 60 Turkish soldiers and scores of Syrian troops since the beginning of February.

The Russia-Turkey agreement appears to achieve Moscow’s key goal of allowing the Syrian government to keep control of the north-south highway known as the M5. Syrian forces captured the highway’s last segments in the latest offensive.

The deal also would set up a security corridor along the M4, a key east-west highway in Idlib. According to the ceasefire deal published in Syrian pro-government media, Russian and Turkish troops are supposed to begin joint patrols on the M4 on March 15.

SYRIA: Ceasefire between Russia and Turkey (Graphic)
GN40055 Graphic shows areas of control in northwestern Syria.
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March 4, 2020 -- Turkey has deployed dozens of remotely-piloted aircraft to strike Russian-backed Syrian government forces in retaliation for the killing of Turkish soldiers in northwest Syria.

The series of strikes by unprecedented numbers of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) targeted Syrian bases and chemical warfare depots, Bloomberg said, citing the Turkish military. Turkey also located and destroyed some Syrian missile defence systems, raising questions about the effectiveness of the Russian-made equipment intended to deter such air attacks.

The tactic threatens to bring NATO member Turkey into direct confrontation with Russia, Bloomberg said.

MILITARY: Turkish armed drones in Syria (Graphic)
GN40044 Graphic shows details of Turkey’s Bayraktar TB2 drone.
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March 3, 2020 -- The offensive against the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies in the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli is threatening to ignite a proxy conflict between its supporters Turkey and Qatar, and the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia and France on the other side.

Rival governments in Tripoli and Tobruk have failed to stabilise war-plagued Libya since the fall of authoritarian ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The Tobruk-based government is allied to General Khalifa Haftar -- a renegade officer from the Gaddafi era whose militia’s control most of Libya’s east and south. Haftar is supported mainly by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and UN Security Council permanent member Russia. The Government of National Accord (GNA), led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and backed by the UN and international community, holds a shrinking area in the west, including the capital Tripoli.

Three powerful Islamist militias allied to the Muslim Brotherhood back the GNA. These include the Misrata militias which liberated the Islamic State stronghold of Sirte in 2016.

Having been criminalised for decades by the Gaddafi regime, the Muslim Brotherhood has tried to establish itself as a legitimate political force. In 2012, the Brotherhood’s new Justice and Construction Party (JCP) stood in Libya’s first post-Gaddafi national parliamentary elections, winning 34 out of 200 seats. However, JCP support waned amid political gridlock and deteriorating security, and in the 2014 parliamentary elections, it secured only 25 seats.

Currently, JCP holds sway over the GNA government as its members and associates hold positions of power in the political, security, and economic sectors.

To Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the idea of the Brotherhood controlling Libya’s oil and gas wealth is anathema. These nations have turned to General Haftar to block the advance of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya.

Shortly after Haftar launched his current offensive against Tripoli last April, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi urged U.S. President Donald Trump to join him in branding the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. Trump responded by calling Haftar and praising his “role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources.”

Turkey announced in January that it is sending troops to Libya in support of the GNA. The decision followed the deployment of hundreds of Syrian fighters to reinforce the GNA’s militias.

A succession of peace efforts over the last two months, including an unofficial ceasefire declared by Turkey and Russia, has failed to curtail the current offensive. The next meeting is scheduled for early March in Rome, though it remains uncertain which of the warring sides will attend.

MILITARY: Libya proxy war (Graphic)
GN40041 Graphic shows participants and weapons in proxy conflict.
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March 2, 2020 -- People aged over 60 and those with pre-existing medical conditions appear to be most at risk from the coronavirus, the World Health Organisation has said.

In the first large-scale study of coronavirus cases in China, the death rate was much higher for patients in their 70s and 80s, likely because many of those people had pre-existing health issues.

Coronavirus patients with heart disease, for instance, had a mortality rate of about 10 percent, while for those with diabetes it was 7 percent.

The research, conducted by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, also showed that patients in their 50s were about three times more likely to die than those in their 40s.

About 80 percent of coronavirus infections were mild, according to the analysis of more than 44,000 confirmed cases.

HEALTH: Coronavirus case fatality rate (Graphic)
GN40042 Graphic shows COVID-19 mortality rates.
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April 25, 2020 -- Germany’s centre-right Christian Democrats are seeking a new leader after Merkel’s chosen successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said she would not stand as chancellor in the next federal election.

The empty chair at the top of the country’s biggest and most powerful party, CDU, is due to be filled at a special party gathering in Berlin on April 25.

Barring any surprise candidacies, delegates will choose between Armin Laschet, the centrist state premier of North-Rhine Westphalia and closest to a Merkel continuity candidate, the veteran rightwinger Friedrich Merz, and Norbert Röttgen, a foreign policy expert.

Merkel’s protegee, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, threw the party into turmoil in February by saying she would not stand as chancellor in the next federal election, due by Oct 2021, and would give up the CDU party chair.

Kramp-Karrenbauer resigned when the CDU was tainted by a political scandal in the state of Thuringia.

A deal with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now annulled, put a liberal in charge of Thuringia thanks to AfD and CDU votes. It broke a post-war German taboo: no deals with the far right or far left.

POLITICS: Candidates to succeed Merkel (Graphic)
GN40036 Graphic shows candidates for CDU party chair.
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February 26, 2020 -- Russian energy giant Gazprom is looking at ways to finish construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline without international assistance, after U.S. sanctions halted work on the controversial project.

In December 2019, U.S. sanctions forced key Swiss-based contractor Allseas to withdraw its pipelaying vessels from the project – with less than seven percent of the total length of the pipeline left to lay.

The U.S. has been an outspoken critic of the pipeline, which will allow Russia to transport natural gas directly to Europe via the Baltic Sea, bypassing the traditional route through Ukraine. Along with eastern European countries that also oppose the project, the U.S. government argues that it will increase Europe’s dependence on Russia for energy.

Nord Stream 2 is owned by Russia’s Gazprom, with investment from several European companies.

In mid-January, President Putin said Russia could finish building the pipeline on its own but its completion would be delayed until the end of 2020 or early 2021. Nord Stream 2 was originally expected to come online by the end of 2019.

Russia could use an existing vessel of its own – the Akademik Cherskiy – to lay the final stretch of the pipeline, according to industry experts. The Gazprom-owned ship departed Nakhodka on Russia’s east coast on February 9, potentially on its way to Europe, Bloomberg said.

ENERGY: Russia aiming to finish Nord Stream 2 (Graphic)
GN39995 Graphic shows route of Nord Stream 2 and key dates in the project.
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February 6, 2020 -- The new coronavirus first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan is similar to the one that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and there is evidence it originated in bats, new research suggests.

According to the study published in Nature, the new virus, named 2019-nCoV, enters cells through the same route as SARS coronaviruses.

The team, led by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, analysed samples of seven patients with severe pneumonia. Six of the patients were workers at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, which has been linked to the coronavirus outbreak.

About 70 percent of the samples were nearly identical to each other, and their genetic sequence was 79.5% similar to SARS.

The researchers also found that 2019-nCoV is nearly identical to other coronaviruses circulating in Chinese bat populations – 96 percent of the genetic codes match.

However, scientists stress that the animal source of the virus outbreak in China has not been confirmed.

HEALTH: New coronavirus closely related to SARS (Graphic)
GN39945 Graphic shows possible origin of the new coronavirus and similarities with SARS.
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February 6, 2020 -- Christina Koch has set a new record for the longest continuous stay in space by a woman. Her 328-day mission is just 12 days short of Scott Kelly’s all-time U.S. record.

The Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Koch parachuted down to the grasslands of Kazakhstan at around 09:12 GMT on Thursday.

She spent 328 days on the International Space Station (ISS), surpassing the previous record held by fellow American Peggy Whitson.

The holder of the longest single spaceflight by any person remains the Russian Valeri Polyakov, who spent more than 437 days aboard the Soviet – and later Russian – space station Mir from Jan 8, 1994 to Mar 22, 1995.

Koch wrapped up the mission on her first flight into space, providing researchers the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman.

The study is important since NASA plans to return to the moon under the Artemis program and prepare for the human exploration of Mars.

SPACE: Longest human spaceflights (Graphic)
GN39949 Graphic shows longest continuous spaceflights
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February 3, 2020 -- A study of initial cases of a new viral illness that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan reveals that more than a quarter of hospitalised patients developed a potentially fatal complication requiring intensive care.

The study, reported by The Lancet medical journal, involved the first 41 patients hospitalised with confirmed cases of the virus in Wuhan.

The patients displayed a wide range of symptoms, many of which were similar to those caused by SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which spread around the globe in 2003, eventually infecting more than 8,000 people.

All 41 patients in the study had pneumonia, and most had fever and cough. Some patients had fatigue and more than half of them also experienced shortness of breath. The researchers noted that, unlike SARS, the new virus – known as 2019-nCoV – rarely produces runny noses or intestinal symptoms.

Like SARS, the majority of 2019-nCoV cases affected healthy individuals, with less than a third of cases occurring in people with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease.

Twelve patients (29 percent) developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening condition which occurs when the body does not receive enough oxygen from the lungs. About a third of the patients needed intensive care, and six of them died.

Two thirds of patients had visited the Huanan seafood market that was linked to the first cases in the virus outbreak, the study found.

HEALTH: Coronavirus symptoms and reproduction interactive (Interactive)
GN39935 Interactive graphic shows selected findings from the study and key facts about the new coronavirus, and comparison of transmission rates with selected other diseases.
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February 9, 2020 -- A European Space Agency (ESA) mission aims to make unprecedented observations of the solar surface, including the first-ever views of the sun’s poles.

The €1.5bn Solar Obiter is due to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The mission’s primary goal is to help scientists better understand what drives the sun’s dynamic behaviour.

The probe will venture just 42 million km from the sun – about a quarter of its distance from Earth – and train its telescopes on the surface of our star, where it will resolve details as small as 70km across.

Solar Obiter’s suite of 10 sensors will observe solar plasma and magnetic fields to better understand what drives the sun’s activity.

To protect the spacecraft engineers have designed a heat shield made of several layers of titanium, the outermost of which is covered in specially developed “Solar Black” coating capable of withstanding more than 500 degrees Celsius.

Sliding doors on the heat shield covering camera and telescopes will open just enough to let in sunlight needed to take pictures. The sun’s energetic outbursts have the ability to damage satellites, harm astronauts, degrade radio communications, and even knock power grids offline.

Solar Orbiter is launching just 18 months after another sun-studying mission, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP), got off the ground, and the two spacecraft will work together. As Parker samples solar particles up close, Solar Orbiter will capture imagery from farther away, contextualizing the observations. The two spacecraft wil occasionally align to measure the same magnetic field lines or streams of solar wind at different times.

SPACE: Europe’s Solar Orbiter probe (Graphic)
GN39936 Graphic shows specifications of the spacecraft.
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January 30, 2020 -- U.S. political parties select candidates for president and vice-president through a series of local caucuses and state-wide primaries in which voters cast secret ballots, culminating in national conventions.

On Monday at seven in the evening, tens of thousands of Democrats in Iowa will gather in schools, gymnasiums, churches and libraries, in all 1,678 precincts of the state, to select which of the presidential candidates they support.

Iowa’s caucuses —  caucus means “a meeting of neighbours” — hold the distinction of voting first in the process to select who represents the United States’ two major political parties in November’s presidential election. Candidates must reach a 15 per cent state-wide threshold to qualify for pledged national convention delegates. If a candidate fails to hit that threshold, the path to the nomination is pretty much impossible.

With the first fundraising reports of the 2020 cycle in, President Donald Trump has to date amassed $165.67 million in Campaign Committee funds. The dozen Democratic candidates have collectively pulled together more than $318.20 million, according to The Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington DC-based nonpartisan research group.

In Iowa, there are four Democrat candidates bunched in the top tier in polls, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden. And after spending more than $60 million in television advertising markets across the state, the contenders have made their “closing argument” ads, to use political jargon.

Sanders talks about the “fight,” while Warren delivers the powerful closing message herself: “I approve this message because I’m going to beat him.” Buttigieg’s campaign calls for a “bold vision for the next generation,” and for Biden, it’s clear: “Vote Biden. Beat Trump.” On Monday, the people of Iowa will decide.

U.S. ELECTION: Road to the White House (Graphic)
GN39931 Graphic shows dates in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
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January 29, 2020 -- A massive research effort is underway to understand why the Thwaites glacier is melting so fast. If it collapses, it could trigger catastrophic sea level rise, putting coastal cities around the world at risk.

Thwaites glacier, covering 192,000 square kilometres – an area the size of Great Britain – is particularly susceptible to climate and ocean changes. Over the past 30 years, the amount of ice flowing out of the region has nearly doubled.

A collapse of the glacier would increase sea levels by around 65cm and could trigger a wider collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, raising seas by a calamitous 3.3m.

As part of a five-year, $50m international effort underway to understand why the glacier is changing so rapidly, a team of scientists have drilled through the Antarctic glacier.

The 600-metre deep borehole has allowed researchers to lower down a torpedo-shaped robotic submarine to explore the underside of the ice shelf.

Called Icefin, it carries high definition cameras, sonar, and instruments for monitoring water flow, salinity, oxygen and temperature.

As climate change raises global sea levels, parts of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet are particularly vulnerable to collapse. At the end of the last ice age, parts of West Antarctica thinned by an average of 0.5m to 1m per year. Today with GPS, satellite and airborne measurements, scientists are seeing parts of West Antarctica thin by 1m to 6m per year.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Antarctica’s doomsday glacier (1) (Graphic UPDATED Jan 30)
GN39917 Graphic shows how the Thwaites glacier is melting.
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