By Sarah Rainsford Eastern Europe correspondent, Warsaw It was 01:33 on Monday when Szymon Szumniak dropped his voting slip into the ballot box at Wroclaw Polling Station No 148. The entertainment blogger had been queuing in the biting cold with hundreds of others for six hours, long after the polls should have closed. The giant…

Two US hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have been released. Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie had been abducted during Hamas’s deadly raid on Israel. In the video shared by the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, workers wearing International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) uniforms are seen helping the freed hostages.

By Helen Briggs Environment correspondent Conservationists are racing to protect rare flora and fauna clinging to survival in the UK’s last temperate rainforests. These lush, humid woodlands, mostly along the UK’s western coasts, are home to weird and wonderful lichens not found anywhere else on Earth. The historic decline of rainforests has put some globally…

By Joel Gunter Reporting from the West Bank Abed Wadi was getting dressed for the funeral when the message arrived. It was an image, forwarded to him by a friend, of a group of masked men posing with axes, a petrol canister, and a chainsaw, with text printed on the image in Hebrew and Arabic.…

By Nadine Yousif BBC News, Toronto A controversial bill that requires young students to get parental consent to change their pronouns in school has passed in a Canadian province. Saskatchewan used a constitutional override to pass the bill after a court granted an injunction that paused the policy. It had been challenged by an LGBT…

From Britney to Beyoncé, veteran German photographer Ellen von Unwerth has captured them all. She talks to Cat Woods about burlesque beauty and creating sensual dreamworlds. Ellen von Unwerth is the grande dame of fashion-and-portrait photography who has captured Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus – in all their near-nude, high-glam gloriousness. She is also…

Raanan familyCopyright: Raanan family Judith and Natalie are part of a large extended family caught up in the attack. They were in Israel to celebrate the 85th birthday of Judith’s mother, Tamar Raanan, and Natalie’s graduation from high school. They had planned to fly home to the US earlier, but changed their flights to stay…

This powerful 12,000-year-old artform has been used in worship, battle and throughout Japanese history. Taiko may simply mean “drum” or “the art of Japanese drumming” in Japanese, but these wooden, barrel-shaped instruments symbolise the powerful, rhythmic and dynamic energy of Japanese percussion. They have also been a vital part of Japanese culture for millennia, as…

Israel has confirmed the release of two US hostages who were held by Hamas. Judith and Natalie Raanan had been abducted during a lethal raid on Israel. Their rabbi, Meir Hecht, described the mother and daughter to BBC News. “Judith is someone who loves life and humanity. Her daughter is the same way,” Rabbi Hecht…

By Tarhub Asghar and Simon Fraser In Doha and London Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is flying home this weekend from self-imposed exile ahead of general elections. Few, if any, could have scripted the dramatic turnaround for someone who has been a thorn in the side of the powerful military for so much of…