September 1-30, 2017 -- Graphic shows news events in September 2017. Angela Merkel looks likely to win a fourth term in office in Germany’s federal election, the leaders of the five BRICS nations meet in China, and President Trump expects to view prototypes of his controversial border wall with Mexico. A vote on an independent Kurdistan takes place in several Iraqi regions, and EU leaders focus on the bloc’s Digital Single Market (DSM). Pope Francis visits Colombia, India lays the foundation stone of its first high-speed rail line, and a hearing begins in Spain in the Salvador Dali paternity case.

WORLD AGENDA: September 2017 interactive (Interactive DUE Aug 23, 13:41GMT)
GN35678 Graphic shows news events in September 2017.
(640px wide by 600px deep )

September 1-30, 2017 -- Graphic shows news events in September 2017. Angela Merkel looks likely to win a fourth term in office in Germany’s federal election, the leaders of the five BRICS nations meet in China, and President Trump expects to view prototypes of his controversial border wall with Mexico. A vote on an independent Kurdistan takes place in several Iraqi regions, and EU leaders focus on the bloc’s Digital Single Market (DSM). Pope Francis visits Colombia, India lays the foundation stone of its first high-speed rail line, and a hearing begins in Spain in the Salvador Dali paternity case.

WORLD AGENDA: September 2017 (Graphic DUE Aug 23, 12:00GMT)
GN35677 Graphic shows news events in September 2017.
(163mm wide by mm deep)

August 22, 2017 -- U.S. defence contractor General Atomics is pursuing the potential sale of up to 90 Predator C Avenger unmanned aircraft to a foreign buyer.

MILITARY: Predator C Avenger profile (Graphic)
GN35732 Graphic shows features of Predator C Avenger, and comparison with MQ-9 Reaper attack drone.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 22, 2017 -- Four suspects arrested in connection with last week’s terror attacks in Catalonia have appeared in Spain’s National Court in Madrid. The last known member of the 12-man Barcelona terror cell was shot dead by police on Monday.

At the centre of the investigation is a shadowy figure linked to the so-called Islamic State, Abdelbaki Es Satty. The 45-year-old was killed on August 16, a day before the attack, when explosives that the group was manufacturing detonated accidentally.

Before his involvement with the cell, Es Satty regularly travelled to Belgium after a three-month stint as the imam of a mosque in the Belgian town of Diegem, located northeast of Brussels, according to Flemish daily newspaper De Standaard.

The apparent ringleader of the Spain terror attacks also had links to one of the 2004 Madrid bombers.

Es Satty served a two-year prison sentence for trafficking hashish from Morocco to Spain and was locked up alongside Rachid Aglif, “the Rabbit,” jailed for his role in the 2004 Madrid bombings that killed 196 people.

TERRORISM: Barcelona terror cell (Graphic)
GN35740 Graphic shows timeline of terrorist attacks in Catalonia.
(107mm by 164mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 21, 2017 -- President Donald Trump outlined a revised vision for the 16-year U.S. war in Afghanistan on Monday, pledging to end a strategy of “nation-building” and instead bolster operations against a resurgent Taliban and other militant groups.

Congressional officials said the administration has told them about 4,000 additional troops would be sent to Afghanistan to boost the 8,400 U.S. service members currently in the region.

Just minutes after Trump concluded his Afghanistan policy speech, ousted White House chief strategist Steve Bannon accused President Trump of a “flip-flop” and likened him to his predecessor, President Barack Obama — a known sore spot for Trump.

AFGHANISTAN: New U.S. strategy (1) (Graphic)
GN35736 Graphic shows control of Afghan districts, and U.S. troop numbers.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 21, 2017 -- At least 10 U.S. sailors are missing after the USS John S. McCain collided with a tanker, the Alnic MC, early Monday east of Singapore, the second accident involving a ship from the Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months.

The USS John S. McCain has now arrived at Changi Naval Base in Singapore after suffering damage to its hull that caused flooding in compartments, including crew berthing, machinery, and communications rooms. “Damage control efforts by the crew halted further flooding,” the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement.

Navy experts said such accidents are “infrequent” and provide lessons. Ships have nautical rules of the road, established by the International Maritime Organization, and technology such as radar and crew members to lookout for other vessels.

However, over the past eight years, U.S. Navy vessels have been involved in eight incidents, including four collisions this year alone.

ACCIDENTS: U.S. Navy recent mishaps (Graphic)
GN35737
(107mm by 160mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 27 - September 2, 2017 -- Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day of the week. This week features the Tokyo Bay suspension bridge, the invention of the board game Monopoly, the Yangtze River dolphin, the ancient temple of Bel in Palmyra, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, and Mother Teresa

August 27, 1993: Japan’s famous suspension bridge across Tokyo Bay opened. The Rainbow Bridge is lit by red, white and green lights using solar energy obtained during the day

August 28, 1967: Charles Darrow, inventor of the board game Monopoly, died. Launched in 1935, the game’s success made Darrow the first ever millionaire game designer

August 29, 2007: A Yangtze River dolphin, or baiji, was spotted in Anhui, China. The species had recently been declared functionally extinct, its decline due to human activity

August 30, 2015: The ancient temple of Bel in Palmyra was destroyed by so-called Islamic State militants, one week after they also blew up the temple of Baalshamin

August 31, 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, her friend Dodi Fayed and their driver were killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris while being pursued by paparazzi photographers

September 1, 2011: The remains of executed Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, famed for carrying out his crimes in home-made armour, were found in a former prison in Melbourne

September 2, 2016: Mother Teresa was officially declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis in a ceremony at Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City

ON THIS DAY: August 27- September 2, 2017 (week 35) (Graphic)
GN35663 Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.
(each 52mm wide by 118mm deep)

August 18, 2017 -- The Catalan government says an attack in the seaside resort town of Cambrils and an explosion in Alcanar are both linked to a deadly van attack on pedestrians in Barcelona’s tourist district of Las Ramblas that killed 13 people and left dozens wounded.

The region’s Interior Minister Joaquin Forn told local radio RAC1 early Friday that the Cambrils attack “follows the same trail. There is a connection.”

He did not explain what connected the attacks. He confirmed the driver in the Barcelona attack remains at large.

Police earlier said two people who have been arrested were not the driver. The Cambrils attack involved five suspects who carried bomb belts. Police shot and killed the suspects and detonated their explosives.

TERRORISM: Spain terror attacks (Graphic)
GN35731 Graphic shows location of Barcelona's Placa Catalunya and Las Ramblas Avenue, Cambrils and Alcanar.
(107mm wide by 141mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 17, 2017 -- Few people trust Vladimir Putin to do the right thing for the world, according to a Pew Research Center survey of 37 countries; however, citizens of 22 countries trust Putin more than Donald Trump.

Putin is more trusted than Trump among citizens of numerous U.S. allies, including Japan and South Korea and seven European NATO members, according to the survey released Wednesday. Both leaders scored poorly overall in the poll.

Among NATO allies Greece, Germany, Turkey, Hungary, France, Italy and Spain, more people had confidence in the Russian president than in his U.S. counterpart, according to the poll.

Trump scored higher than Putin in NATO members Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and Poland. Trump also led among non-NATO U.S. allies Australia and the Philippines, as well as in Israel, according to the survey.

POLITICS: More confidence in Putin than in Trump (Graphic)
GN35727 Graphic shows confidence in President Putin to do the right thing in world affairs by region and 37 country comparison between Donald Trump and Putin.
(107mm by 177mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 20, 2017 -- Global sukuk markets — Islamic bonds that comply with Sharia law — surged in the first half of 2017 to $48 billion, driven by governments covering budget deficits caused by weak oil prices. Saudi Arabia plans to launch the second issue of its sukuk programme during the week beginning August 20.

Eleven new sukuk have been initiated with a value of $19 billion so far this year, surpassing the $16.75 billion of new additions in 2016, according to the Dow Jones Sukuk Index.

As tracked by the index, new sukuk issuances came from countries including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Oman, and Hong Kong.

Saudi Arabia debuted its first U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk in July, raising $9 billion, equally split into five- and 10-year tranches. Riyadh offered five-year sukuk at yields of 2.90 to 3.00 percent, and 10-year at 3.55-3.65 percent.

BUSINESS: Global sukuk markets rebound (Graphic)
GN35724 Graphic shows global sukuk markets by volume and market share.
(107mm by 151mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 21, 2017 -- North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un may have hidden a secret message to the United States in his boasts to “wring the windpipes of the Yankees.” A statement from Pyongyang suggests Kim will watch U.S. behaviour for a conciliatory gesture before giving the order to launch a salvo of missiles towards Guam.

The signal comes as South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in told a gathering he will prevent war in Korea “at all costs” and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he is committed to working with U.S., South Korea, Russia and China to ensure that North Korea doesn’t launch more missiles.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has offered to dispatch a diplomatic delegation to the Korean Peninsula to mediate between Pyongyang and Seoul.

The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, is travelling to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing as annual U.S. and South Korean military exercises, which begin on August 21, risk further increasing tensions with North Korea.

POLITICS: Diplomacy amid North Korea crisis (Graphic)
GN35694 Graphic shows key positions of the players in the North Korean crisis.
(107mm by 186mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 14, 2017 -- Norwegian firm Statoil’s Hywind project is the world's first full-scale floating wind farm, set up off the north-east coast of Scotland. The five turbines, each designed to generate six megawatts of electricity, are expected to power 20,000 households from as early as October.

ENERGY: Hywind floating wind farm (Graphic)
GN35693 Graphic shows features of Hywind project.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 14, 2017 -- The first round of negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the U.S. Canada and Mexico will take place August 16-20 in Washington D.C.

Open trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico under NAFTA took effect in January 1994. Since then, the U.S. economy has created 32 million jobs.

President Donald Trump says trade deficits are the central cause of U.S. manufacturing and economic woes. If reversed, they will create many jobs and reopen factories.

Many economists say trade deficits don’t necessarily give the U.S. an advantage at the negotiating table and if reversed, may not add many new jobs due to automation.

One study by Ball State University says robots have replaced 87% of American manufacturing jobs. Only 13% have disappeared because of trade. Apparel making was hit hardest by trade, it said, and computer and electronics manufacturing were hit hardest by technological advances.

U.S. trade: NAFTA factbox (Graphic)
GN35715 Graphic shows NAFTA trade staistics since 1994 and rise in U.S. jobs numbers.
(107mm by 155mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 10, 2017 -- Retailers in several European countries have pulled millions of eggs from supermarket shelves after it was discovered that some had been contaminated with the potentially harmful insecticide Fipronil.

HEALTH: Contaminated eggs scandal (Graphic)
GN35689 Graphic shows a factfile about Fipronil, and countries affected by the contamination.
(107mm by 152mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 10, 2017 -- North Korea outlined on Thursday detailed plans for a missile strike near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

Gen. Kim Rak-gyom, the commander of the Strategic Missile Force of the Korean People’s Army, said that four of the country’s Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) would fly over the three southern Japanese prefectures of Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi. They will hit the ocean about 40km from the coast of Guam, 17 minutes and 45 seconds after launch.

If the planned launch goes ahead there was a risk that a missile could land much closer to Guam than planned – Guam’s territorial water extends for 12 nautical miles or 22.2km.

Guam, more than 3,000 km (2,000 miles) to the southeast of North Korea, is home to about 163,000 people and a U.S. Navy installation that includes a submarine squadron, a Coast Guard group and an air base.

To date, there have been four test flights of the Hwasong-12, also known as the KN-17. The first three were failures. However, the most recent flight on May 15 from a location near the city of Kusong was a success.

On its 30-minute flight, the missile flew 787 kilometres and lofted to an apogee of just over 2,111km. This trajectory indicates that the missile could have flown around 4,500km if fired on a range-maximizing ballistic trajectory. According to one technical analysis of the launch, the full range of the Hwasong 12 could be closer to 3,700km carrying a 650kg warhead.

NORTH KOREA: Missile threat to Guam (Graphic)
GN35690 Graphic shows planned flight of Hwasong-12 missile.
(107mm by 135mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 8, 2017 -- Potent, climate warming gases are being emitted into the atmosphere but are not being recorded in official inventories – a key provision of the Paris climate deal – according to a BBC investigation.

CLIMATE CHANGE: “Flawed” greenhouse gas data (Graphic)
GN35682 Graphic shows data for main greenhouse gases and CO2 emissions.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 8, 2017 -- Special counsel Robert Mueller, appointed to investigate Donald Trump’s alleged links to Russia during the U.S. presidential campaign, has set up a grand jury to study the evidence.

Moscow denies any meddling and President Trump has dismissed suggestions of collusion by his campaign.

A grand jury has significant powers including the right to issue subpoenas which compel witnesses to testify. Mueller's team of investigators includes 16 lawyers -- it is unclear how long the investigation will last.

POLITICS: Trump team links with Russia (Graphic)
GN35681 Graphic shows alleged links between members of the Trump campaign and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
(163mm wide by 249mm deep)

August 31, 2017 -- The 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, is commemorated. Diana was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, at the age of 36. Her friend Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, also died when the car struck a pillar in a tunnel as the princess was being pursued by paparazzi.

ROYALTY: Princess Diana 20th anniversary timeline interactive (Interactive)
GN35669 Responsive interactive graphic shows key events Princess Diana’s life.
(640px wide by 600px deep)

September 12-20, 2017 -- Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are to lay the foundation stone for India’s first high speed rail line that could see trains run at 350 kilometres an hour.

The project is part of a 'Diamond Quadrilateral' of high speed trains over 10,000km of track that India wants to set up connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

TRANSPORT: India first bullet train (1) (Graphic UPDATED Aug 4)
GN35670 Graphic shows the E5 Series Shinkansen Bullet Train, route of the Mumbai - Ahmedabad high speed rail, and map of India’s potential high-speed rall lines.
(107mm by 156mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

August 31, 2017 -- The twentieth anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. There have been multiple investigations into the death of Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, in a Parisian underpass two decades ago, and all have blamed a drunken chauffeur and a pack of wild paparazzi photographers.

In Britain, Operation Paget conducted by the Metropolitan Police and an official coroner’s inquest both emphatically rejected conspiracy theories, voiced by Dodi Fayed’s father, Mohammed Fayed.

Chief among the conspiracy theorists, Fayed claims that a plot by MI6 -- the British security services -- and the Duke of Edinburgh killed the couple.

None of the paparazzi who raced the couple at speed through Paris -- some of whom kept taking photos as Princess Diana lay dying -- have faced criminal prosecution, having been cleared by French police in 1999.

EDITORS: This graphic was originally produced for the tenth anniversary of the death of Princess Diana in collaboration with Jan Schwochow of Golden Section Graphics

UK: Death of Princess Diana (1) (Graphic UPDATED Aug 3)
GN21383 Graphic shows timeline of events on August 31, 1997, plus a breakdown of the three investigations into the death of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. All three inquiries – the French report, Operation Paget and the official British inquest – place blame on driver Henry Paul, concluding he was drunk and under influence of antidepressants, and the pack of paparazzi.
(347mm wide by 285mm deep)

August 31, 2017 -- The 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, is commemorated. Diana was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, at the age of 36. Her friend Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, also died when the car struck a pillar in a tunnel as the princess was being pursued by paparazzi.

ROYALTY: Princess Diana 20th anniversary timeline (Graphic)
GN35628 Graphic shows key events in Princess Diana’s life.
(163mm wide by 229mm deep)

August 1-31, 2017 -- Graphic shows news events in August 2017. Events this month include the start of negotiations on a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and presidential elections in Rwanda and Kenya. India and Pakistan gained independence 70 years ago, and Diana, Princess of Wales, died 20 years ago. Airbus Perlan II will attempt to set a new glider altitude record, boxer Floyd Mayweather and mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor face off in a historic bout, and a solar eclipse will sweep across the continental U.S. from coast to coast.

Aug 16-20, U.S., Canada, Mexico: Negotiations begin on a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Donald Trump’s administration has a list of demands, while Canadian premier Justin Trudeau stresses the virtues of cross-border trade, claiming common ground with Trump by saying both are focused on jobs

Aug 4, Rwanda: President Paul Kagame, in power since 2000, is expected to win a further term as president. Criticism of the authoritarian leader is muted because Rwanda is thriving just two decades after the Hutu-Tutsi genocide ripped the country apart

Aug 8, Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) and opposition leader Raila Odinga face off for the presidency. The support of young voters, in a country where 80% of the population is aged 35 and below, could be decisive

Aug 21, U.S.: A solar eclipse will sweep across the country from coast to coast. Over 12 million people live within the path of totality, and 200 million more within one hour’s drive

Aug 31, UK: Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris 20 years ago. Tributes will include the unveiling of a statue erected in the grounds of her London home, Kensington Palace, at the request of her sons Princes William and Harry

August, Argentina: Airbus Perlan II, a carbon-fibre glider, will attempt to reach 27.5km (90,000 feet) above Patagonia in a bid to set a new glider altitude record

Aug 26, U.S.: Undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather (left) and mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor come to blows in Las Vegas in a bout hailed as the “biggest fight ever”

Aug 14, India & Pakistan: The nuclear-armed rivals gained independence 70 years ago. The end of British rule in 1947 created two nations, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, but disputed Kashmir remains a flashpoint and tensions are once again on the rise

WORLD AGENDA: August 2017 interactive (Interactive)
GN35630 Graphic shows news events in August 2017.
(640px wide by 600px deep )

August 21, 2017 -- For the first time in almost a century, a total solar eclipse will sweep across the U.S., plunging a strip 113km wide into darkness. Outside the path of totality, skywatchers elsewhere in North America and northern South America will experience a partial eclipse.

More than 12 million Americans live inside the path of totality and 200m within one day’s drive of it. Anyone within the path of totality will see the sky become dark for several minutes as the moon completely covers the sun. The path is around 70 miles wide, and stretches from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina.

SCIENCE: Eclipse across America (2) (Graphic UPDATED Jul 12)
GN35555 Graphic shows eclipse path and stages.
(107mm by 188mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 1, 2018 -- BepiColombo is a joint European-Japanese initiative that will send two satellites to the planet Mercury, where they will separate to conduct different but complementary observations.

Scheduled to launch in October 2018, the mission includes a carrier spacecraft called the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) — which supplies electrical power during interplanetary cruise — and two separate orbiters. The European Space Agency’s Mercury Planet Orbiter (MPO) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO).

When approaching Mercury in late 2025, the MTM will separate from the orbiters just before Mercury orbit is achieved. Then, the two spacecraft will then move into their orbits to make measurements of Mercury's interior, surface, exosphere and magnetosphere

Only NASA’s Mariner 10 and Messenger have visited Mercury so far. Messenger, which orbited the planet from 2011 to 2015, discovered that the planet has a magnetic field, indicating a molten interior. BepiColombo will make measurements designed to reveal the planet’s internal structure in greater detail.

The mission is expected to last for one Earth year, which is the equivalent of four Mercury years.

Link to ESA’s BepiColombo mission

SPACE: Dual satellite mission to Mercury (Graphic)
GN35585 Graphic shows how the unusual mission works.
(107mm by 160mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 1, 2017 -- With its upcoming iPhone 8, Apple is strongly rumoured to be ditching the home button, including its Touch ID fingerprint sensor, in favour of an improved security system that will scan a user’s face. Apple is likely to release updated iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus in September, and iPhone 8 in October.

TECH: iPhone 8 face scanner (Graphic)
GN35577 Graphic shows the latest design leaks for the much-anticipated iPhone 8.
(107mm by 160mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))