Maricarmen ​Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked housing ​protests in Spain, has died, Madrid's tenants' union said on Wednesday. Abascal's eviction sparked a series of ​protests ‌across Spain in the past couple ⁠of weeks, including activists camping on one of Madrid's main ‌squares, and calls for tackling a ⁠mounting housing crisis. FRANCE 24's Sarah Morris reports from Madrid.

Maricarmen ​Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked housing ​protests in Spain, has died, Madrid's tenants' union said on Wednesday. Massive protests following Abascal's eviction spiralled into a political crisis, eventually leading Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call a snap election.

A court on Wednesday ordered the former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service August Hanning to remain in pretrial detention after his arrest on suspicion of espionage and treason, along with a former deputy who allegedly supplied him with secret files. Here's what we know about one of the biggest security breaches in German history.

The World Health Organization joined Western leaders on Wednesday in urging Russia to share more information about what killed a plague institute worker in Siberia as reports emerged of a second suspected case. The Kremlin said Moscow had shared what it knew and accused the media ​of spreading "false information".

François Picard is pleased to welcome Philip Ingram, journalist and former British military intelligence officer. The events surrounding RAF Fairford are not an isolated incident, Ingram explains. They are part of a much wider security issue in which conventional military operations, intelligence activity and "grey zone" tactics increasingly overlap.

Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for solving a 100-year-old chemical mystery, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Wednesday. Nobel Prize recipients receive a prize of 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million).  

The death of a 28-year-old Russian lab worker at Siberia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute has sparked online panic about a "plague, despite the WHO assessing the public health risk in Russia as low. Unverified claims about how the worker became ill, including a laboratory accident involving a test tube, are circulating online. Misleading posts and out-of-context videos have also fuelled speculation and fear. Vedika Bahl goes through them, and what we know, in Truth or Fake.

Assassinated Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya "predicted" Moscow's trajectory under President Vladimir Putin 20 years ago,  her former editor said ahead of the anniversary of her death on Wednesday. Politkovskaya had reported on the war in Chechnya and Putin's rise before she was gunned down in her Moscow apartment block on October 7, 2006.  

Russian missiles and drones killed at least 21 people in Ukraine, including four children, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky ‌called a “massive” strike on Wednesday. Ukraine has come under increased attack in recent weeks as Russian attacks have targeted energy infrastructure and rail and road transport.   

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would speak “very soon” with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the reported death from plague of a laboratory technician, as Washington and the World Health Organization pressed Moscow for greater transparency and clarity over conflicting accounts of the incident in Siberia.

Former German spy chief August Hanning was detained Tuesday on suspicion of treason and espionage after prosecutors accused him of paying for secret intelligence documents and using them to prepare an analysis for a foreign intelligence service, in a case that could strain Berlin’s ties with allied spy agencies.

A seventh man was arrested Tuesday over a major incident last month at a British military airbase used by the United States to launch strikes on Iran, police said. The arrest came a day after President Donald Trump said the United States had withdrawn all B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford because of "threats" he believed were linked to Tehran. A 22-year-old British male was arrested in London "on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts", Britain's Counter-Terrorism Policing network said in a statement. Six men in their 20s have already been arrested and released on bail after three suspicious vans were stopped near the base in southwest England on September 27. FRANCE 24's Bénédicte Paviot reports from London.

A former German spy chief was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of espionage and treason, an embarrassing case at a time when the country is seeking to broaden the powers of its intelligence agencies. August Hanning, who ran Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency from 1998 to 2005, is accused of espionage, treason and working for foreign intelligence services, federal prosecutors said. FRANCE 24's Nick Holdsworth reports from Berlin.

A Spanish Supreme Court judge on Tuesday lifted the arrest warrant for Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, clearing the way for him to return home without fear of detention ahead of a general election in November.

Recent reports and videos of alleged recruitment irregularities are fuelling tensions between mobilisation authorities and Ukrainian society, while raising questions about the oversight and implementation of military recruitment.

Mass protests over decrepit conditions at France's high schools descended into sporadic violence Tuesday, leading to nearly 500 arrests and prompting President Emmanuel Macron to call an emergency meeting. Members of the public have accused the authorities of using disproportionate force as protesters clashed with the police in several French cities. 

UK ​police on Tuesday said they had ​arrested ‌a ⁠22-year ‌old British man ⁠in London on suspicion ​of preparing terrorist acts ‌in relation ​to the suspected plot at the ​RAF ​Fairford ​airbase used ​by the US to strike Iran.  

Bulgarian authorities on Tuesday launched a search for missing crew members of a boat that sank in its economic zone in the Black Sea after drones hit two merchant vessels. Black Sea shipping has been hit by growing fallout from the war in Ukraine in recent months. 

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, October 6: The death of a researcher in Siberia, reportedly from the plague, sparks concern despite Russian authorities' denial. But first: French high school protesters are promising "Act 3" of their protest movement against learning conditions. Also, Le Monde speaks to the editor of Russian independent outlet Novaya Gazeta ahead of the 20th anniversary of the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Finally, it appears that butter is back in fashion.

Ukraine launched overnight one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow in the past two years, killing two men and injuring several people in the Russian capital, local officials said on Tuesday.