headlines
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LGBT activists changed minds – 'including mine'Democratic frontrunner touts record on equality and makes pledge to end discrimination as she addresses supporters during HRC speech
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Afghanistan hospital bombing 'violates international law'Médecins Sans Frontières decries ‘horrific’ loss of life, as US airstrike revives questions over whether enough is done to protect civilians in Afghanistan -
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Inside the village where a mob killed a man for eating beefIn Bishara, near Delhi, fear and tension are both on the rise as India’s nationalist right and its Muslim minority live uneasily together
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highlights
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How do you know you've really become an adult?Although I am an adult-aged person (and have been for more than a decade), I don’t feel like one at all. So when does ‘adulting’ turn into adulthood?
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Why the cable channel lost its way and how to fix itOnce a serious competitor with HBO, the network has hit a slump. Can The Affair and Homeland keep the cable network going?
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Habeas Corpus review – a rare and direct workThe artist collaborates with former Guantánamo prisoner Mohammed el Gharani via livestream in a refreshingly clear performance
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Chinese gene-modified pets with $1,500 price spark animal rights outrageAnimals may suffer ‘horrific impairments’ as a result of genetic editing techniques developed at Beijing genomics insititute, claims RSPCA
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oregon college shooting
Saturday
3
October
2015
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Enrolled at the collegeObsessed by the notoriety of mass murderers, Chris Mercer was enrolled in the class where the mass shooting took place
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Why the US has so many mass shootingsThere’s a disparity between overwhelming public approval for modest gun control reforms and an almost total stasis gripping Congress on the issue
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This is what America's gun crisis looks likeThe Oregon school shooting is evidence of ‘routine’ response to gun violence, Obama says. The data reveals an even more shocking human toll
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Is enacting gun control a political risk? Congress blinks while states go it aloneGun lobbyists’ grip on Congress may block action on tightening gun laws, but reforms on the state level have proven not to be as politically toxic as advertised
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We are all one missed storage payment away from an episode of HoardersStorage units allow us to hang onto all the useless ephemera we spend years accumulating. It’s against our best interests
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Guns kill people in the US because we pervert the Second AmendmentOur founding fathers put the right to bear arms in the US Constitution to protect us. Now we must protect our country from those who misuse it
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Japan leans on US to break impasseTrans-Pacific Partnership countries oppose US push to set a longer period of exclusivity for pharmaceutical companies who develop biological drugs
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Authorities report 74 heroin overdoses in three daysHeroin laced with powerful painkiller fentanyl suspected and though no deaths reported reports say patients found with needles in arms
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UN torture investigator says UK plan to scrap measure is ‘dangerous’David Cameron’s bid to replace act with British bill of rights risks subverting international obligations aimed to protect those fleeing persecution
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Catholic bishops divided descend on Rome for synod on the familyBattle between conservatives and progressives likely as church debates how it should approach modern world without veering away from doctrine
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special report: the counted
in brief
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Footage of lightning over erupting volcano was stirring, dramatic – and fakeEmbarrassment as broadcaster admits mixing film of two eruptions in Patagonia to make video that went viral
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Tell-all book upsets Nobel committee by breaking code of silenceGeir Lundestad, former secretary, accused of breaching Norwegian Nobel committee’s code of silence in The Peace Secretary
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Maisie Williams claims she knows Jon Snow's fate on Game of ThronesActor who plays Arya Stark may upset fans with revelations about season six
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Anne HathawayAs the Oscar-winning actor returns in the Nancy Meyers comedy The Intern, we take a look back at some of her finest moments
in depth
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How the wealthy are laying claim to California's coastComplaints have been streaming in about security guards, hired by wealthy homeowners, removing people from public beaches
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Why James Bond is a religionWhen Spectre opens later this month, millions of devotees will flock to cinemas, ready for the accustomed rituals of sex, death and redemption (and explosions)
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Can its soft spot for Clinton endure?Democratic frontrunner may have to work harder to keep loyalists and woo skeptics as primary rivals also boast strong records on equality
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Dystopian science fiction taken to a new levelWhether mazes, blocks or bunkers, Ballard was drawn to the psychology of enclosed, brutal environments. This inner space, rather than outer space, was his SF realm
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How different are east and west reallyAfter two and a half decades of growing back together, huge gaps remain between the two former halves. We take a look at how they compare
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Native American tribes push for marijuana legalizationTwo Wisconsin tribes, the Menominee and the Ho-Chunk, look to follow South Dakota’s Flandreau Santee Sioux, seeing a potential revenue stream – but it could force them to cede some of their sovereignty to federal and local governments
what to watch
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Matt Damon thanks his lucky stars in sci-fi test of survivalDamon’s likable everyman is stranded on the red planet in Ridley Scott’s down-to-earth drama
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Hanging out with Victor and the French undeadThe supernatural series is back after winning an Emmy and leaving its heroes locked in a community centre under assault from the town’s zombie population. What happens next?
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Vertiginous funHeartfelt and entertaining dramatised version of Philippe Petit’s amazing 1974 wire walk between the twin towers does a decent job of making palms sweat
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Awed documentary captures extraordinary subjectThe remarkable courage and composure of the subject of Davis Guggenheim’s movie turns out to be both its advantage and its undoing
video & pictures
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The 20 photographs of the weekWatery flows on the surface of Mars, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin in New York, the Rugby World Cup, Rihanna at Paris fashion week – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week
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The Brooklyn after-school projectHomework, parks and tentative romances: over the past year, Cassandra Giraldo has been capturing Brooklyn teenagers outside their school gates.
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'Memories of Vietnam made me seek Iran deal'Speaking to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, the US secretary of state says his time served in Vietnam helped motivate him to seek a deal with Iran over their nuclear program
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Aftermath of MSF hospital bombingBombs dropped on a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz have killed at least nine workers and injured many more, with US forces admitting they may have been responsible
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Original Observer photography: September 2015The European refugee crisis, the Labour leadership election, the Rugby World Cup. All this plus New Order, Penelope Cruz and Dynamo in this showcase of the best photography commissioned by the Observer in September
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A photojournalist's viewGetty Images photojournalist Christopher Furlong spent several weeks in Hungary, Serbia and Croatia covering the unfolding and unprecedented refugee crisis
people
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I set myself a schedule of three to five pages a dayMan Booker-winning novelist Margaret Atwood explains how her dystopian visions of future are always inspired by the real world
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It took me a long time to face up to my addictionIn an exclusive extract from his new book, Steve Coogan looks back on failure, rehab and becoming Alan Partridge
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We don't have much to learn from the UKActivist film-maker says he left out the UK in documentary Where to Invade Next because it’s become too much like the US – and there are no ideas to steal
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My life in foodThe food writer and broadcaster looks back on the best (and worst) meals of her life, from picky child to domestic goddess
the big picture
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Hull international photography festivalJohn Bulmer, Peter Dench and Frieke Janssens among photographers exhibiting at venues across Hull, the next City of Culture in 2017
Oregon college shooting Gunman killed himself as police approached, sheriff says
Roseburg Chilling accounts of shooting emerge
Oregon shooting Residents see more reason to carry guns
The victims All nine identified