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The new stone age: a selection of colourful crystals. Photograph: Aaron Tilley/The ObserverGwyneth loves them, Adele can’t sing without them and Kim Kardashian uses them to deal with stress. Many of us are lured by their beauty and promise of mystical powers, but are ‘healing’ crystals connecting us to the earth – or harming it? by Eva WisemanCrystallisation is a transition from chaos to perfection; the evolution of the crystal industry has been less simple. [Read More]

Top 10sFictionFrom classic tales such as Paradise Lost to ‘counter-epics’ by Anne Carson and Tim O’Brien, these stories lend real grandeur to their subjects What are epics? Typically, they are defined first by their length: they are traditionally long, and poems (this being the older, oral form). They often concern male heroes fighting a good fight (against an enemy either monstrous or geopolitical), and they’re presented as a nation-building texts: think of the Iliad, the Aeneid or Beowulf. [Read More]

AmazonCustomers to the online retailer’s first in-person location were disappointed by the limited selection and algorithmic picks Outside Amazon’s first in-person clothing store in California, Diemmi Le, 22, summed up her experience: “You don’t have to talk to anybody.” For years, Amazon tried – and ultimately failed – to translate its online book business into successful brick and mortar bookstores. Dozens of stores were shuttered this spring. Now, the online shopping giant is trying again, this time attempting to reinvent the mall clothing store. [Read More]

An injured baby is rushed to Al-Nasr children’s hospital after an Israeli attack yesterday in Khan Younis as fears grow for people from northern Gaza who continue to seek safety in the south. Photograph: Abed Zagout/Anadolu/Getty ImagesAn injured baby is rushed to Al-Nasr children’s hospital after an Israeli attack yesterday in Khan Younis as fears grow for people from northern Gaza who continue to seek safety in the south. Photograph: Abed Zagout/Anadolu/Getty ImagesThe ObserverIsrael-Gaza war This article is more than 2 months oldIsraeli airstrikes kill 80 in Palestinian refugee campThis article is more than 2 months oldFears mount for Gaza refugees as nowhere is deemed safe for civilians in effort to destroy Hamas [Read More]

OpinionSexuality This article is more than 9 years oldMy beef with Shakira and Rihanna? They're making life harder for bisexualsThis article is more than 9 years oldBella QvistSuperstars frolicking to get men's attention doesn't help the bisexual cause – or young women struggling with their sexualityAllow Spotify content?This article includes content provided by Spotify. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. [Read More]

Rapper and actor DMX – a life in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Earl Simmons, better known as the multi-platinum star DMX, has died following a heart attack News: US rapper DMX dies aged 50 Main image: DMX performs in 2016 in New York City. Photograph: Noam Galai/Getty Images Fri 9 Apr 2021 12. [Read More]

FictionReviewA woman’s desperate attempts to get pregnant, and the subsequent agonies of loss, are vividly captured in this Baileys-longlisted novel The childless protagonist of Ayòbámi Adébáyò’s Baileys-longlisted debut is so desperate to get pregnant that she breastfeeds a goat. It happens at the top of “the Mountain of Jaw Dropping Miracles” in southwest Nigeria, surrounded by drooling bearded men in green robes whose leader, Prophet Josiah, has been recommended to the barren Yejide by a pregnant customer at her hairdressing salon. [Read More]

The ObserverOrhan PamukReviewTurkey's struggle with modernity is brilliantly evoked in Orhan Pamuk's story of a young man's pursuit of his first true love, says Michael GorraIt's getting late in the Istanbul of Orhan Pamuk's new novel (his first since winning the 2006 Nobel prize), late in almost every sense of the word. Not dead, far from that, but the hours are small and time itself seems to be running down, as though the whole city were a memorial to its own better days. [Read More]

World news9/11 hijacker made last 'I love you' callA Hamburg court was given an insight yesterday into the last hours of one of the alleged pilots in the September 11 attacks during the trial of Mounir el-Motassadeq, a Moroccan accused of being the paymaster for the al-Qaida cell which led the strikes. Aysel Sengun, the German girlfriend of Ziad Jarrah, 26, who is believed to have flown the aircraft that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers apparently stormed the cockpit, said he had called to tell her he loved her. [Read More]

OpinionCats This article is more than 8 years oldIf you live with a cat, you live with a weirdo: your tales of feline oddityThis article is more than 8 years oldGuardian readersWe asked readers for the strangest things their beloved feline companions do As anyone with a cat knows, they can be extremely weird animals. How weird? The Guardian asked readers and other writers to share examples. Is your cat weirder than this? [Read More]