Getty Images By Katya Adler Europe editor @BBCkatyaadler Spain’s election on Sunday is provoking political tremors even before polls open. The most likely government to emerge – most analysts predict – will be a coalition including a hard-right nationalist party for the first time in Spain since the death of fascist dictator Francisco Franco in…

The Washington Post via Getty Images By Max Matza BBC News An athletic trainer for DC United, the MLS football club in Washington DC, has been fired for making a gesture that is considered by some to be a hate symbol. The decision comes after the discovery of the “discriminatory hand gesture” in a post…

University of Sydney By Leisha Chi-Santorelli BBC News Culture Virginia Woolf’s personal copy of her debut novel, The Voyage Out, has been fully digitised for the first time. The book was rediscovered in 2021, having mistakenly been housed in the science section of the University of Sydney library for 25 years. It is the only…

By Jasmine Andersson BBC News Children aged 10 and 11 will be able to use passport e-gates at the UK border from Monday, after the government announced a change to the rules. Currently, only eligible children aged 12 and above can use the e-gates, which are at 15 air and rail ports. The change comes…

EPA By George Wright BBC News Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has signed an order to tighten gun controls in a bid to halt a surge in firearm ownership. Under Lula’s far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, there was an almost seven-fold rise in registered users. Limits will be placed on stockpiles of guns and…

Getty Images By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News The rarefied setting of Aspen, Colorado, with its mountain views and manicured lawns, is a world away from the minefields and trenches of Ukraine’s front-line, but for a few days this past week the two places were connected. Every year, the Aspen Security Forum plays host…

Barbie dolls dressed in space suits have been helping scientists solve the problem of lunar dust, writes Grace Tyrrell. Barbie can do it all. In Greta Gerwig’s 2023 film, she appears as a US president, a Nobel Prize winning physicist, a Supreme Court Justice and even a mermaid. The movie reflects the many roles the…

Nhlanhla Moshomo By Mpho Lakaje BBC Africa Daily, Johannesburg A new trend appears to be emerging among young South Africans – polyamory – having romantic relationships with multiple partners at the same time. With her short hair and matching white trousers and top Lethabo Mojalefa cuts a striking figure. She is a bisexual woman who…

Gazelle Sharmahd By Damien McGuinness BBC News, Berlin It was the middle of the night when the phone call came. Gazelle Sharmahd was woken up by her mother, who told her that her father, Jamshid, was calling from his jail cell in Iran. Gazelle hadn’t been allowed to talk to her father, an Iranian-German businessman,…