Electing a New Pope, North Korea Fighting Ukraine, Vaccination Rates to Stop Outbreaks, and a Deadly Gold Mine in Turkey

It’s the beginning of a new era for the Catholic Church. A little less than a month after being discharged from the hospital — and after spending Easter Sunday with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square — Pope Francis died at the age of 88. El País has produced a detailed special on the composition of the conclave and the process of choosing the next pontiff. This edition of our Top 10 in Data Journalism, which considered stories between April 12 and 25, also highlights an analysis of North Korea’s vast operation to help Russia in the war against Ukraine; a look at how X influences Elon Musk’s suggestions on US government policy; an investigation into the operations of a controversial gold mine in Turkey; and a dive into the numbers behind the successful Danish toy maker Lego.

Process To Elect The Next Pope

Image: Screenshot, El País

Born in Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis was the first Latin American priest to lead the Catholic Church. Following his death, his successor will be chosen in a meeting known as a conclave. The Spanish newspaper El País produced a detailed guide on how the process works. There will be 133 voters — all members of the College of Cardinals who are below the age of 80. The report includes several graphs showing the length of previous conclaves and detailing how Pope Francis increased representation from Asia, Africa, and Oceania — he was responsible for appointing 108 cardinals — making this the most international conclave in recent history. The election will begin on May 7 with daily meetings until one of the cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel manages to obtain two-thirds of the vote. At the end of each round of voting, smoke is released: black if there is no pope, and white when a new pontiff has been chosen.

North Korea’s ‘Vast’ Operation to Help Russia in Ukraine

North Korea has dispatched ballistic missiles as well as long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, Reuters reports, representing the most significant direct military aid to Russia’s war effort. Image: Screenshot, Reuters

Reuters has been investigating the ways North Korea is helping Russia in its war against Ukraine, and in this special report, it explains how soldiers sent by Pyongyang have been instrumental in countering Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region. The report revealed that an estimated 14,000 troops have been sent to fight, while Russia’s military effort has been bolstered by millions of North Korean shells that have reached the frontlines in eastern Ukraine. These arrived in 64 sea and land shipments over the course of 20 months — all tracked by the Open Source Centre (OSC), an independent UK-based security research organization. North Korea has also reportedly sent ballistic missiles, long-range artillery, and multiple launch rocket systems, according to the report, meaning that, at times last year, the vast majority of projectiles fired by some Russian units were from North Korea. The findings were confirmed by reviewing Russian artillery reports intercepted by Kyiv, Russian military documents, satellite imagery, verified videos on social media, and through sources.

The Philadelphia Green Card Maze

Image: Screenshot, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump has revived several immigration policies from his first term — and tightened several others. But in many places, experts believe that immigration can be vital to the economy. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, this is the case in Philadelphia, where about one in five people living and working in the city are foreigners. In this special report, the newspaper presented an interactive maze to show how the path to obtaining legal permanent residency — known as having a green card — can be expensive and complex. The graphic detailed all the steps necessary to obtain the visa and adds up, along the way, the average amounts that must be paid at each part of the process — with fees that can run into thousands of dollars. The report also provided information on the dynamics of the annual availability of green cards, determined according to the type of application and the country of origin, among other factors, but which can result in long delays to an application being processed.

Investigating a Gold Mine in Turkey

Image: Screenshot, T24

In February last year, nine workers died after a gold mine in the eastern Turkish district of İliç was buried by a massive landslide. The same mine had previously been closed in 2022 after a cyanide leak, but reopened later that same year. The 2024 incident was the starting point for an investigation by Ortak, an independent newsroom for investigative journalists published in the independent Turkish online newspaper T24. The team conducted more than 100 interviews, and in the first of a four-part series, found evidence of longstanding deficiencies in inspections at the mine, and uncovered accidents that were “hidden from the public.” The report showed, through satellite images of the mine, how gold production was carried out at the site, included graphs on the number of inspections carried out by authorities over the years, and excerpts from documents that reveal accidents not disclosed to the public. (In response to the investigation, the owner of the mine said the firm “provides timely and transparent information to the relevant authorities.”)

How Outbreaks of Contagious Diseases Can Be Prevented

Image: Screenshot, The New York Times

Two unvaccinated schoolchildren and one adult have died from measles-related illnesses in the US this year, with the number of reported cases more than double that of all last year. In this special report, The New York Times considered how many people need to be vaccinated to stop a measles outbreak from spreading. The newspaper presented two interactive visualizations — one for a less contagious disease and the other for a more contagious one — in which the reader can control the percentage of people vaccinated and see what numbers would be needed to contain an epidemic According to the report, for less contagious diseases, outbreaks are quickly extinguished when the vaccination rate is above 40% — when “herd immunity” is often reached. For more contagious diseases, that number rises to 60%. Measles, however, is “one of the most contagious diseases known,” more so than either of the examples given, so scientists say vaccination levels need to be above 94% to contain an outbreak.

Urban Infrastructure of Brazilian Cities

In this graphic, Folha de São Paulo looks at the percentage of people in cities over 100,000 inhabitants who live on streets with trees. Image: Screenshot, Folha de São Paulo

DeltaFolha, the data hub of the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo, published a report with new information on urban infrastructure in Brazil. The data comes from the 2022 census, which was recently released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). On an interactive map, it is possible to view how residents in certain areas fare in terms of access to paved streets, sidewalks with accessibility ramps, trees, and public lighting. Nationwide, the data shows 19.5 million people living on unpaved roads. It is also possible to search by city to obtain detailed data on this same information for each Brazilian municipality. The report also included a series of graphs ranking different municipalities based on their urban infrastructure, including the cities with the highest and lowest percentage of trees and bike paths.

From Elon Musk’s Feed to the White House

Image: Screenshot, The Washington Post

Since Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, his use of the social networking site has “exploded.” That’s according to this Washington Post analysis of more than 50,000 posts between early 2020 and March 24, 2025 by the Tesla CEO, Trump megadonor, and now-White House advisor. Reporters dug into the data to understand how the platform has shaped both his worldview and his work at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It found that Musk now interacts on the rebranded X with other users more than 100 times a day, on average. The report provided an interactive visualization of the types of accounts Musk engages with and how those interactions have changed in recent years. According to the analysis, some posts on X “appear to have influenced the White House,” and The Post team identified multiple instances of Trump or DOGE implementing or discussing policy ideas proposed to Musk by users on X, including some examples that reportedly went from Musk’s feed to the White House Briefing Room in a matter of a few hours.

Mapping the Sudan War

Image: Screenshot, Al Jazeera

As the war in Sudan enters its third year, the fighting has turned cities into battlefields and, according to UN estimates, caused the forced displacement of more than 14 million people. Al Jazeera used data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project to create an interactive map that showed the geographic distribution and intensity of attacks recorded in the last two years. According to the report, more than 11,000 attacks — from armed clashes to air or drone strikes, missile attacks, and landmines — have been recorded, an average of 16 per day. Sudan’s army is believed to be responsible for around 50% of attacks, while the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF is believed to be behind 38%. The team also used satellite imagery from the past two years to map the extensive destruction at Khartoum International Airport and provide an interactive graphic on the movements of internally displaced people in the country.

Russians on Trial

From IStories: The number of people convicted under terrorism articles (Articles 205–205.6 of the Criminal Code) has continued to grow steadily since 2018. In 2024, 868 people were sentenced under these articles, which is 19% more than in the previous year and 266% more than six years earlier. Most people (368 convictions) were held accountable for public calls for terrorism or its justification in the media (Article 205.2, Part 2 of the Criminal Code). Image: Screenshot, IStories

The number of people convicted of treason in Russia last year — at 145 — was four times higher than in the previous year and a record, according to this analysis by IStories of new conviction data released by the country’s Supreme Court. There was also an increase in the number of people convicted of espionage and cooperation with a foreign state. The team created a series of graphs to show the key findings, including that the number of military personnel convicted under criminal articles for offenses like desertion and non-compliance with orders almost doubled. Some of the crimes mentioned were introduced into the Criminal Code after the start of the war with Ukraine, the reporters noted.

Building Lego’s Success

Spending on toys is falling across Germany, but in this piece, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine reported on how the Danish toy brick maker Lego continues to grow and outperform its rivals. The report featured a series of charts showing how the German toy market has seen “years of shrinkage,” according to data from a market research firm, followed by a brief period of growth during the pandemic. In 2010, Lego was the third-largest toy maker in the world, behind US companies Mattel and Hasbro, but the brick maker surpassed the other two in sales by 2018 and has continued to outpace its competitors since then, reporters found. Lego toys have attracted an unusual audience with kits that include the Eiffel Tower, Star Wars spaceships, and even a world map for adults.

Ana Beatriz Assam is GIJN’s Portuguese editor and a Brazilian journalist. She has worked as a freelance reporter for the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, mainly covering stories featuring data journalism. She has also worked for the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) as an assistant coordinator of journalism courses.