Maricarmen Abascal, 87, has died, Madrid’s tenants’ union said Wednesday. Her eviction prompted protests across Spain over the past couple of weeks, including activists camping in a major Madrid square and calls to address the growing housing crisis.

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Maricarmen Abascal, 87, has died, Madrid’s tenants union said. Unable to afford rent increases, she was forcibly taken from her apartment of more than 70 years on a stretcher on 23 September. Her eviction sparked protests across Spain and a political row over the housing crisis.

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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed condolences after the reported death of María del Carmen Abascal, 87, whose eviction prompted protests across the country.

SpainMaría del Carmen Abascaleviction protests

Maricarmen Abascal, 87, has died, Madrid's tenants' union said Wednesday. Her eviction sparked housing protests in Spain.

Maricarmen Abascalhousing protestseviction

Madrid's tenants' union said Wednesday that 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal had died. Her eviction sparked massive housing protests that grew into a political crisis and eventually led Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call a snap election.

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Maricarmen Abascal, an octogenarian whose eviction prompted housing protests across Spain, has died, the Madrid Tenants' Union said. The union called her cause a turning point in the country's history.

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A senior WHO official said Wednesday the agency does not know how a lab worker in Siberia died. With concerns about pneumonic plague lingering, WHO is urging Russia to provide more information.

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A senior World Health Organization official says the agency does not know how a laboratory employee in Siberia died amid concerns about plague.

World Health OrganizationplagueSiberia

Several people familiar with the inquiry say new charges are anticipated for Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's former president, and his wife, Cilia Flores. The allegations concern the torture of Americans detained by the Venezuelan government in recent years.

VenezuelaNicolás Maduroalleged torturecharges

As Israel marks three years since the October 7 attacks, questions remain about warnings Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received beforehand. Ayala Panievsky, a City University of London lecturer and author of *The New Censorship*, says allegations ahead of the elections are damaging to Netanyahu, though a fragmented opposition and control of major media mitigate the risk.

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Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel killed about 1,200 civilians and saw 251 people taken hostage. Israel’s ensuing operation in Gaza has left tens of thousands dead. Ahead of the attack’s third anniversary, Meduza spoke with Israelis; one woman recalled friends killed at the Nova festival, celebrating her birthday in a bomb shelter, and fearing capture.

October 7 attackIsraelHamasNova music festival

Nvidia RTX Spark laptops from Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, MSI, HP, and Asus start at $2,599. A fully configured Asus ProArt P16 costs up to $6,999.99, and the laptops are set to launch this month, as early as October 16th.

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Microsoft plans to sell a new device priced at $2,599 and equipped with an Nvidia AI chip. The product signals that the company remains committed to making its own PCs despite not being among the leading device makers.

MicrosoftNvidiaAI chipsPCs

Microsoft subjected Surface devices to repeated button presses, radio-wave exposure, and drop tests in a lab on its Redmond campus. The Surface Laptop Ultra debuts Nvidia’s RTX Spark chip, which Microsoft says is designed for local AI and creative workloads; it starts at $2,599.99.

MicrosoftSurface Laptop UltraNvidia RTX Sparklaptops

Microsoft says its RTX Spark-equipped Surface Laptop Ultra will launch October 16th, starting at $2,599 for an 18-core CPU, 24GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. The 15-inch HDR touchscreen reaches 2,000 nits of peak brightness; the top configuration costs $5,899.99.

MicrosoftSurface Laptop UltralaptopsNvidia RTX Spark

As protests spread across France, high school students have listed demands addressing staff shortages, rats in school corridors and a university admissions system they say feels like a lottery. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has pledged a government response by the end of October, but whether it will calm the unrest is unclear.

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More than 250,000 people are protesting across France, calling for more resources for schools they say are underfunded. Hundreds of schools are partially closed this week.

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Students, parents and trade unions staged demonstrations across France on Tuesday over what they describe as insufficient investment in high schools. Major student and youth protests, from May 1968 to the 2006 CPE crisis, have pressured leaders and reshaped French politics.

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Widespread protests over anger at France’s school system took place across the country on Tuesday. Police used tear gas and water cannons after violence broke out among some people at the edges of the marches. Parents marched with their children to back their cause and, after several teenagers were injured, to help keep them safe from further clashes.

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Student protests over school conditions and funding in France have entered their third week and grown into wider, more violent unrest. Experts quoted by Fox News blame an alliance of far-left, radical Islamist and pro-Palestinian groups for fueling the demonstrations. Authorities have arrested more than 5,000 people and nearly 200 have been injured; schools have been vandalized, blockaded and set on fire.

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France has suspended police use of stun grenades at student-led demonstrations, the interior minister said, as allegations of police brutality grew after several days of sometimes violent protests nationwide. Tens of thousands marched Tuesday for better high-school conditions, while President Emmanuel Macron met Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and other ministers that evening to address the crisis.

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Israel ordered the UK consulate in East Jerusalem to close in response to Britain’s ban on trade with illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and sanctions on those who support their construction or financing. The mission is due to shut on Thursday, marking a low point in UK-Israeli relations; reports say London is considering expelling Israeli diplomats. Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza will lose the consulate’s services.

UK-Israel relationsEast Jerusalemconsulate closurePalestinians

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey have decided to immediately put their collective-defense commitments into practical effect, providing military forces and capabilities for rapid deployment in Saudi Arabia. The move comes as fighting involving Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi militia escalates. The scope of any Turkish deployment remains unclear, while critics in Turkey question the pact’s implementation without parliamentary approval.

Saudi ArabiaPakistanTurkeyMecca defense pactHouthis

Pennsylvania’s health department reported 145 new measles cases over the past week on Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,078 as the state continues to confront a rapidly growing outbreak.

measlesPennsylvaniaoutbreak

Indian police detained opposition leader Rahul Gandhi during a protest, after 130 million people were purged from the voter roll.

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Ukrainian authorities say Russian attacks killed at least 24 people and injured at least 134 across Ukraine in the past 24 hours. A cruise missile struck a residential building in Pryluky, killing 14, including at least four children, and injuring 50, among them seven children. Rescue efforts continued as Kyiv and other areas also came under attack.

Russia-Ukraine warPrylukyRussian attacksrescue efforts

Residents in Adigrat told the BBC that convoys carrying Eritrean soldiers were heading south towards central Tigray, near areas where clashes have recently occurred. The reported movements have not been independently verified by the BBC. Renewed fighting has raised fears of a wider regional conflict, as Ethiopia and Eritrea severed diplomatic relations last week.

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