November 11, 2017 -- After 10 years of planning and construction, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is finally set to open its doors to the public. Featuring a vast silver dome filled with art, the museum will be the first of its kind in the Arab world.

ART: Louvre Abu Dhabi (Graphic DUE Nov 3, 10:00GMT)
GN35910 Graphic shows features of the Louvre Abu Dhabi and details of its construction.
(107mm by mm deep)

November 1-30, 2017 -- Graphic shows news events in November 2017.

WORLD AGENDA: November 2017 interactive (Interactive DUE Oct 24, 16:00GMT)
GN35908 Graphic shows news events in November 2017.
(640px wide by 600px deep)

November 1-30, 2017 -- Graphic shows news events in November 2017.

WORLD AGENDA: November 2017 (Graphic DUE Oct 23, 16:00GMT)
GN35907 Graphic shows news events in November 2017.
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November 5-11, 2017 -- Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.This week features the Android mobile operating system, the end of the Battle of Passchendaele in WWI, Marie Curie’s work on radioactivity, the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, the launch of the first Saturn V rocket, the opening of the Great Wall of China to tourists, and the death of actor Robert Vaughn.

November 5, 2007: The Android mobile operating system was unveiled by Google. It was designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets

November 6, 1917: The Battle of Passchendaele ended after five months. It was one of the bloodiest episodes of the World War 1, claiming around half a million casualties in total

November 7, 1867: Marie Curie, who received Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry for her work in radioactivity, and discovery of radium and polonium, was born in Warsaw, Poland

November 8, 2016: Businessman Donald Trump won a shock election victory to become the first U.S. President never to have held public office or served in the military

November 9, 1967: The first Saturn V rocket, carrying the unmanned Apollo 4 spacecraft, was successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida

November 10, 1957: The Great Wall of China opened to tourists for the first time. Lying northwest of Beijing, this part of the wall was built in the Ming Dynasty, between 1368 and 1644

November 11, 2016: Actor Robert Vaughn, best known as secret agent Napoleon Solo in the popular 1960s TV series The Man from UNCLE, died at the age of 83

ON THIS DAY: November 5-11, 2017 (week 45) (Graphic DUE Oct 22, 12:00GMT)
GN35849 Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.
(Each 52mm wide by 118mm deep packaged as a set)

October 25, 2017 -- One century ago the Russian Revolution – an attempt to create a more just nation – sealed the fate of the Romanov dynasty, formed the Soviet Union and led to more than 70 years of communist rule. Today, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin’s embalmed body lies in a Moscow mausoleum.

HISTORY: RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 100th anniversary interactive (Interactive)
GN35906 Responsive interactive infographic shows lead-up events and aftermath of Russia’s October Revolution.
(800px wide by 568px deep)

October 20, 2017 -- Typhoon Lan with heavy rains and destructive winds is expected to hit southern Japan on Sunday when the nation holds a national election.

WEATHER: Typhoon Lan (Graphic)
GN35909 Graphic shows forecast path of storm.
(107mm by 119mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 19, 2017 -- French scientists may have found a physiological cause for dyslexia hidden in the photoreceptor cells in the human eye. The learning difficulty affects one in 10 of the world’s population.

Like being left- or right-handed, most people have one dominant eye, the cells in this eye send priority visual information to the brain.

In people with the reading disability, the cells are arranged in matching patterns in both eyes, which may be to blame for confusing the brain by producing slightly different images, co-authors Albert Le Floch and Guy Ropars wrote in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“The lack of asymmetry might be the biological and anatomical basis of reading and spelling disabilities,” the study’s authors said.

They added: “For dyslexic students their two eyes are equivalent, and their brain has to successively rely on the two slightly different versions of a given visual scene.”

SCIENCE: Dyslexia reading disability (Graphic)
GN35904 Graphic shows seemingly physiological cause for dyslexia.
(107mm by 148mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 19, 2017 -- Deadline set up by the Spanish government for Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to back away from claiming independence or face the possibility of direct rule from Madrid.

In a confrontation viewed with mounting alarm in European capitals and financial markets, Puigdemont has yet to respond to Madrid’s ultimatum to clarify whether he had declared unilateral independence in a speech on Oct 10. He has instead called for dialogue.

POLITICS: Madrid set to impose direct rule over Catalonia (Graphic)
GN35903 Graphic shows measures implemented by Spain to thwart Catalonia’s push for independence.
(107mm wide by 163mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 25, 2017 -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin -- one of the world’s foremost proponents of revolution -- set out to replace Russia’s feudal social order with a “dictatorship of the proletariat.”

Lenin ruthlessly cracked down on dissent using the Red Terror, carried out by the Cheka secret police, and his propaganda of lies for strategic advantage.

A century later President Vladimir Putin has expanded Russia’s territorial boundaries with the annexation of Crimea, and has allegedly manipulated European and American elections by using cyber warfare to spread propaganda.

HISTORY: 100 years since October Revolution interactive (Interactive)
GN35898 Responsive interactive graphic shows brief timeline of 100 years of Soviet and Russian history from Vladimir Lenin to Vladimir Putin.
(800px wide by 568px deep)

October 17, 2017 -- Bell Helicopter’s advanced V-280 Valor tiltrotor prototype, developed to replace the U.S. Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters, is scheduled to make its maiden flight before the end of 2017.

AVIATION: Bell V-280 Valor factfile (Graphic)
GN35886 Graphic shows features of Bell’s V-280 Valor.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 17, 2017 -- Over the first nine months of 2017, demand for passenger cars remained positive in the EU and EFTA (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), with more than 12 million new vehicles registered -- an increase of 3.6% compared to the same period last year.

Car sales fell in September, dragged down by a 9.3 percent fall in the UK, Europe’s second largest auto market, according to the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

The British fall, amid a weak pound and stalled Brexit talks, was the sixth straight monthly decline and the first contraction for September since 2011.

Registrations since January gained, with Germany rising 2.2 percent, France up 3.9 percent, Italy jumping 9.0 percent and Spain climbing 6.8 percent

*ACEA reports figures from the 28 EU countries, excluding Malta, as well as Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.

BUSINESS: European new car sales (Graphic)
GN35900 Graphic shows European car sales since January 2017
(107mm by 148mm deep)

October 16, 2017 -- At least 35 people have died in wildfires in Portugal and northern Spain as strong winds worsened by Hurricane Ophelia fanned hundreds of blazes sweeping across densely forested territory.

DISASTERS: Portugal and Spain deadly wildfires (Graphic)
GN35897 Graphic shows latest location of the wildfires.
(107mm by 128mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 16, 2017 -- Iraqi security forces are advancing on the oil-rich city of Kirkuk as they seek to reclaim areas taken by Kurdish militias in 2014. The move follows a non-binding referendum in which the Kurds voted for independence from Iraq.

IRAQ: Advance on Kurdish-held Kirkuk (Graphic)
GN35895 Graphic shows Kurdish areas of control.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 16, 2017 -- Analysis of the cost of living space around the world by RENTCafé reveals the size of apartment you can rent for $1,500 per month.

Of the cities compared, Istanbul, Turkey yields the best value, coming up with a 176-square-metre home for the $1,500/month price.

You can rent a 29 square-metre apartment in San Francisco and enjoy the perks of living in the land of the free. By moving from the Golden Gate City to Austria, you can triple your living space. A monthly sum of $1,500 would rent 94 square metres in the capital Vienna. The musical capital of the world also offers museums, cinemas and live shows to recreational parks and hiking trails.

BUSINESS: Apartment costs around the world (Graphic)
GN35896 Graphic shows floor area available for $1,500 a month around the world.
(107mm by 165mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 16, 2017 -- Irish authorities warn that lives may be endangered as the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia batter the country and parts of the western UK in one of the worst storms to hit the region in 50 years.

WEATHER: Storm Ophelia threatens Ireland 11:38GMT
GN35892 Graphic shows projected path of storm Ophelia
(107mm wide by 116mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 29 - November 4, 2017 -- Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.This week features the first U.S. hydrogen bomb, the 2016 baseball World Series, the first ever space traveller, the end of China’s one-child policy, Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds, and the inflatable rubber bicycle tyre.

October 29,2015: China ended its controversial one-child policy after 35 years, allowing married couples to have two children as a way to offset the country’s ageing workforce

October 30, 1938: Orson Welles’ radio play The War of the Worlds caused mass panic when millions of Americans mistakenly believed that Martians had invaded the Earth

October 31, 1888: Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop patented his pneumatic (inflatable) rubber bicycle tyre, conceived to give his son a smoother ride over bumpy cobbled streets

November 1, 1952: The U.S. detonated the first hydrogen bomb at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The blast was 500 times more powerful than the bomb exploded at Nagasaki

November 2, 2016: The Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians to win the 2016 baseball World Series, ending a 108-year title drought, the longest in World Series history

November 3, 1957: A Russian dog named Laika became the first ever space traveller when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik II, the second spacecraft to enter Earth orbit

November 4, 1862: The first rapid-fire machine gun, the forerunner of the modern machine gun, was patented by U.S. inventor Richard Jordan Gatling. It was named after him

ON THIS DAY: October 29 - November 4, 2017 (week 44) (Graphic)
GN35848 Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.
(Each 52mm wide by 118mm deep packaged as a set)

October 22-28, 2017 -- Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.This week features the Cuban Missile Crisis, the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to North Korea, Concorde and the era of supersonic air transport, the first Marxist revolution in history, the eradication of smallpox, the foundation of Amsterdam, and Beijing being designated the capital of China’s Ming dynasty.

October 22, 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis began when U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced a naval blockade of Cuba until Soviet missiles were removed
October 23, 2000: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright became the highest ranking U.S. official to visit North Korea since the Korean War, meeting with leader Kim Jong-Il

October 24, 2003: The era of supersonic air transport came to an end as the last ever Concorde flights touched down at London’s Heathrow airport after 27 years of service

October 25, 1917: Russian Bolsheviks led by Lenin overthrew the moderate socialist government of Alexander Kerensky in the first Marxist revolution in history

October 26, 1977: The world’s last natural case of smallpox was recorded in Somalia. Vaccination wiped out the disease, which killed up to 500 million people in the 20th century alone

October 27, 1275: The city of Amsterdam was traditionally founded, after people living near the Amstel river built a bridge and dam across the river following two major floods

October 28, 1420: Beijing was officially designated as the capital of China’s Ming dynasty, in the same year that the Forbidden City, the seat of government, was completed


ON THIS DAY: October 22-28, 2017 (week 43) (Graphic)
GN35847 Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week.
(Each 52mm wide by 118mm deep packaged as a set)

October 16, 2017 -- The conservative People’s Party, led by Sebastian Kurz, has won 61 seats in Austria’s 183-seat National Council. Short of a majority, Kurz is likely to form a coalition with the far-right, anti-immigration Freedom Party.

The Austrian Freedom Party, led by Heinz-Christian Strache, came in third place with 26 percent, amounting to 52 seats, while the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Christian Kern won 26.9 percent, placing them in second with 53 seats.

A final vote count is expected Thursday after some 800,000 absentee ballots are due to be tallied.

POLITICS: Austria’s snap election results (Graphic)
GN35891 Graphic shows result with 85 percent of the vote counted.
(107mm by 127mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 13, 2017 -- Norway – a world leader in zero-emission vehicles – is proposing a one-off tax that will hit owners of large electric cars which have hitherto been exempt from heavy taxes imposed on other vehicles.

Norway’s capital of Oslo boasts bus-lane access for electric vehicles (EVs), recharging stations aplenty, free parking, and toll-free travel for EVs.

The initiative began in the 1990s as an effort to cut pollution, congestion, and noise in urban centres; now its primary rationale is combating climate change. With 98 percent of the country’s electricity coming from hydropower, Norway’s booming EV fleet leaves almost no carbon footprint.

BUSINESS: Norway “Tesla tax” on electric cars (Graphic)
GN35889 Graphic shows rise in Norway’s EV fleet to September 2017 and global electric vehicle fleets as at December 2016.
(107mm by 137mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 12, 2017 -- After a decade-long rift, the Palestinian group Hamas says it has reached an agreement with rival group Fatah in Egyptian-brokered talks about the terms of control of the Gaza Strip.

MID-EAST: Hamas-Fatah deal (Graphic)
GN35884 Graphic shows details of the preliminary deal.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 25, 2017 -- One century ago the Russian Revolution – an attempt to create a more just nation – sealed the fate of the Romanov dynasty, formed the Soviet Union and led to more than 70 years of communist rule. Today, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin’s embalmed body lies in a Moscow mausoleum.

The centenary Revolution Day* presents a dilemma for Russia’s current President Vladimir Putin. He reveres the Soviet Union, which he served as a Communist party member and KGB officer, but hates the concept of the popular uprising that created it.

Last year Putin ordered Kremlin strategist Sergei Kirienko to tell Russia’s state media companies to play down the occasion -- it should be discussed only by experts and historians. However, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation plans a series of events in St.Petersburg in November.

*The October 24-25 anniversary of the revolution is officially celebrated on November 7 in Russia because the country switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar following the revolution.

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: 100th anniversary (Graphic)
GN35876 Graphic shows lead-up events and aftermath of Russia’s October Revolution.
(219mm wide by 168mm deep)

October 25, 2017 -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin -- one of the world’s foremost proponents of revolution -- set out to replace Russia’s feudal social order with a “dictatorship of the proletariat.”

Lenin ruthlessly cracked down on dissent using the Red Terror, carried out by the Cheka secret police, and his propaganda of lies for strategic advantage.

A century later President Vladimir Putin has expanded Russia’s territorial boundaries with the annexation of Crimea, and has allegedly manipulated European and American elections by using cyber warfare to spread propaganda.

RUSSIA: 100 years on from the October Revolution (Graphic)
GN35881 Graphic shows brief timeline of 100 years of Soviet and Russian history from Vladimir Lenin to Vladimir Putin.
(163mm wide by 244mm deep)

October 26, 2017 -- A British team developing a car capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,600km/h) aims to make its first test run of 200mph at Newquay Airport in Cornwall. The British-engineered supersonic car will attempt to break the 1,000mph barrier and set a new land speed record on a dried-up lake bed in South Africa’s Northern Cape province next year.

The Bloodhound SCC project - to develop a car capable of reaching 1,000mph - was proposed in 2006 by Andy Green and Richard Noble.

Richard Noble reached 633mph (1,019km/h) in 1983 in the Nevada desert driving Thrust 2, and went on to lead the project building Thrust SCC which in 1997 reached 763mph (1,228km/h) with Andy Green as the driver. This is the current world land speed record.

SCIENCE: Bloodhound SSC supercar interactive 2017 (1) (Interactive UPDATED Oct 11)
GN35877 Interactive graphic shows features of Bloodhound SSC and evolution of land speed record since 1964.
(800px wide by 570px deep)

October 11, 2017 -- Turkey has sent troops across the border into Syria’s Idlib province as part of a joint mission with Russia to monitor a de-escalation agreement and clear the region of Al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

SYRIA: Idlib security operation (Graphic)
GN35878 Graphic shows areas of control around Idlib province.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 9, 2017 -- The chief of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards is warning that U.S. regional military bases would be at risk of an Iranian missile attack if Washington imposes new sanctions against Tehran.

IRAN: Missile threat to U.S. bases (Graphic)
GN35868 Graphic shows Iranian missile ranges and numbers of U.S. military forces in region.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 3, 2017 -- Ethiopia is finalizing construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, its first major dam on the Blue Nile, and then will eventually start filling the giant reservoir behind it to power the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa.

ETHIOPIA: Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Graphic)
GN35855 Graphic shows features of dam project.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

October 1, 2017 -- The government of Catalonia is to hold a referendum on independence from Spain despite a crackdown by the Madrid government, which says the vote is illegal.

With its own language and a recorded history of more than 1,000 years, Catalonia is one of Spain’s wealthiest regions and among the most independent-minded.

Madrid has vowed to stop the vote but the Catalan government insists it will go ahead and plans to declare independence within 48 hours of a “yes” victory.

POLITICS: Catalonia history timeline interactive (1) (Interactive)
GN35832 Interactive graphic shows key events in Catalan history from the 9th century to the present day.
(800px wide by 600px deep )

October 18, 2017 -- China’s five-yearly congress of the ruling Communist Party will start on October 18th. Some 2,300 hand-picked delegates will select 200 members of the 400-member Central Committee, which will, in turn, choose roughly 10 of the 25-member Politburo.

Most attention will focus on who makes it into the Politburo’s Standing Committee. Five of its seven members are due to retire, including Xi’s supporter Wang Qishan.

For President Xi, this is an opportunity to install loyalists and shore up his legacy. Who gets promoted and who doesn't could have a significant global impact, as the world's second-largest economy posts its slowest pace of growth in a quarter of a century.



CHINA: Communist Party Congress (Graphic)
GN35803 Graphic shows process of selecting China’s top officials and names of possible Politburo Standing Committee candidates.
(107mm wide by 160mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

September 11, 2017 -- North Korea’s recent nuclear weapons test is fuelling concerns over a potential high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack which could cripple power supplies and electronic systems across a wide area.

NORTH KOREA: Nuclear EMP threat (Graphic)
GN35783 Graphic shows how an EMP attack works.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))

September 7, 2017 -- Satellite imagery indicates that North Korea is moving an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) towards test facilities at Panghyon Airbase or Sohae Satellite Launching Station, suggesting a launch during Saturday’s founding day celebrations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has conducted 84 missile tests since taking power in 2011. Of 18 test launches this year alone, five failed.

In July, Kim observed a successful KN-14 (Hwasong-14) ICBM launch from Panghyon Airbase which flew a high-altitude trajectory of 2,784km (1,730 miles) and a distance of about 928km (577) miles, landing in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

On August 28, the launch of a missile, believed to be a KN-17 (Hwasong-12), from Pyongyang flew 2,682km (1,667 miles) over Northern Japan before breaking into three pieces – consistent with the failure of a reentry vehicle.

NORTH KOREA: Missile tests interactive (Interactive)
GN35774 Responsive interactive graphic shows the ranges of North Korea’s principal missiles and launch facilities plus details of all 18 missile launches so far in 2017.
(480px wide by 600px deep)

September 7, 2017 -- The United States could use its Ground-based Midcourse Defence (GMD) system – designed to intercept incoming warheads in space – if threatened by a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

MILITARY: U.S. ICBM defence system (Graphic)
GN35772 Graphic shows how the U.S. Ground-based Midcourse Defense system works.
(107mm by 140mm deep (print) and 2-screen responsive graphic (digital))