• In response to Catalonia’s push for independence, Spain moved this week to suspend the area’s autonomy and take over governance of the region.  [BBC]
  • A man tried to jump the fence at the White House Tuesday dressed in a Pikachu costume.  The man concocted the stunt in an effort to garner views on YouTube. [DCist]
  • Astronomers announced Monday that they had observed two dead stars colliding, showing the process by which most of the gold and silver in the universe was formed.  For more information on what this means for science(!), read what our own doctor thereof has to say about the discovery. [New York Times; The Sidebar]
  • The Norwegian women’s soccer team has become the first female national team to receive the same pay as their male counterparts. [Al Jazeera]
  • The Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia put a hold on a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed a detained undocumented teenager to obtain an abortion.  The Department of Health and Human Services, through its Office of Refugee Resettlement, has refused to allow the woman to leave its care to visit a clinic.  [NPR]

FACT OF THE WEEK:   The first Beatles single (“Love Me Do”) and the first James Bond film (“Dr. No”) premiered on the same day: Friday, October 5th, 1962.