Dinosaurs, mermaids, and dragons – who knew the Red Planet was so exciting?

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It’s 1 September: Prepare to get emotional.

So, it's 1 September, and as any dedicated Harry Potter fan will know, the Hogwarts Express leaves King's Cross at 11am.

Warner Bros.

And while Harry, Ron, and Hermione may have left Hogwarts years ago, the second generation of the Potter-Weasley clan is just about to take over...

Warner Bros.

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We went to Reading Festival and tested the crowd’s music credentials.

Kat, 28.

"Spice Girls, 1997."

Rachael Krishna / BuzzFeed

Alex, 21.

"Gareth Gates."

Rachael Krishna / BuzzFeed

Bryoni, 22.

"Busted."

Rachael Krishna / BuzzFeed

Steph, 28.

"Hear'Say at Birmingham NEC."

Rachael Krishna / BuzzFeed

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BREAKING: You don’t have to be cuddly to be cute.

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AARGHHHHHH, YES WE SPEAK ENGLISH. STOP ASKING.

"How come you speak English so well?"

Well, you speak ignorant so well, so I guess we're all great at multiple languages?

Vinod Chopra Productions / Via bollywoodreactions.tumblr.com

"Why don’t you have a proper Indian accent?"

I tried booking Apu from The Simpsons to teach me, but he had prior commitments.

FOX / Via mmmsimpsons.tumblr.com

"Did you ever want to be in Bollywood?"

Yes, exactly how you've always wanted to be in Hollywood.

Via bollypop.in

"There's a great Indian place round the corner that you have to try."

Firstly, you don’t have any “great" Indian places here. Secondly, why would I fly across the world to eat something that will never be as great as Indian food back home?

Via koimoi.com

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GIGA Selfie is the app that will take selfies like you’ve never seen. No selfie sticks required.

Selfies have one thing in common: FACES, FACES, FACES.

Ellen De Generes / Twitter

Which makes it hella challenging for travellers wanting and ~needing~ mementos of every second of their trip.

Unless you have really long arms or the ever-controversial selfie stick.

Swissmedia / Getty Images

Well, this app called "GIGA Selfie" lets you take your token tourist snap easily.

Tourism Australia is set to launch the app as part of their "There's Nothing Like Australia" campaign.

Tourism Australia

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HERE ARE THE TOP STORIES

President Obama urged global leaders to address climate change during a visit to Alaska’s Arctic.

At the international GLACIER conference yesterday, President Obama warned “that the effects of global warming that have hit the Arctic the hardest would soon engulf the world,” the New York Times reports. Obama also stressed that “we’re not acting fast enough.”

Obama delivers remarks to the GLACIER Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, yesterday.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Obama’s pledge is to cut emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025 — a goal the president hopes will help make climate change “the cornerstone of his final year”.

However critics are still deeply disappointed that his administration has given Shell permission to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean this year — a decision that Obama insists does not clash with “his efforts to move economy to clean energy.”

President Obama’s trip marks the first time that a U.S. President ever toured Alaska’s Arctic. Later today, Obama will tour shrinking glaciers near Seward, about 125 miles south of Anchorage, the Los Angeles Times reports. He is also expected to propose “speeding the acquisition and building of new Coast Guard icebreakers” that are able to operate year-round.

The United Nations confirmed that the main temple in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra was destroyed.

Yesterday, there were conflicting reports on whether an explosion may have destroyed the Temple of Bel in Palmyra. The city, which is considered one of the ancient world’s most important cultural centers and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, was captured by ISIS in May. Syria’s antiquities chief said the basic structure was still intact, but satellite images released by the United Nations show almost nothing remains of the 2,000-year-old site.

BuzzFeed News

A little extra.

ISIS recently blew up another temple at Palmyra, the temple of Baalshamin, which UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokov said amounted to “a war crime.” And last month, ISIS beheaded 81-year-old Khaled al-Asaad, a renowned Syrian antiquities expert.

The group has targeted other historical sites in Iraq and Syria it considers heretical. “The sale of looted antiquities is one of the group's main sources of funding. It has also been accused of destroying ancient sites to gain publicity,” BBC News writes.

For more, here’s a list from CNN of other sites ISIS has destroyed, like Nimrud and Hatra, and why they’re significant.

WE’RE KEEPING AN EYE ON

The body of a woman who died on Saturday in Sierra Leone has tested positive for Ebola.

The news comes less than a week after a woman, who was the country’s last known Ebola patient, had been discharged from the hospital. Adama Sankoh’s recovery started the 42-day countdown — twice Ebola’s incubation period — to declaring Sierra Leone Ebola-free. More tests are needed to confirm if the new death was in fact from Ebola.

The current Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 11,300 people, has mainly affected the three West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.

What’s next?

If the woman did die of Ebola, more cases are expected in the country, the AP reports, especially since the woman was treated at home. And it could reset the countdown to declaring Sierra Leone Ebola-free. A similar situation happened this summer in Liberia, which was first declared Ebola-free in May. In June, new cases emerged, but the country is now on track to possibly being declared free of Ebola this week.

In this photo taken Sunday, Aug. 16, Ebola survivor Victoria Yillia feeds her newborn son Barnabas outsider her home in Kenema, on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Sunday Alamba / AP Photo

7,000 pages of Hillary Clinton’s email are out.

“The State Department released another large, monthly batch of Hillary Clinton’s email yesterday night — as the Democratic front-runner continues to face questions and an investigation into her email protocols and criticism of how she has addressed the subject,” BuzzFeed News’ Katherine Miller writes.

“The emails, dating from 2009 and 2010, contain a heavy dose of ­mundane bureaucratic back-and-forth, a little gossip and an occasional glimpse into the murky terrain of sensitive but routine communications that are now the subject of an FBI inquiry,” the Washington Post writes.

Hillary Clinton at a campaign stop in Iowa last Wednesday.

Scott Morgan / Reuters

Here’s a bit of background: While she was secretary of state, Clinton used a personal email account that was housed on a private server. She has said she didn’t send classified information on that account. In December, Clinton turned over about 55,000 pages of email to the State Department, which is releasing them after determining which ones can go public. In August, her campaign said she would send the server she used to the Justice Department.

What’s next?

Clinton will testify before Congress on Oct. 22. She’s expected to “answer questions about her role in the events that led up to the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attack that left four Americans dead — and, more than likely, her email practices,” according to Politico.

If you want the latest news and stories, download the BuzzFeed News app for iOS. (We also have a ~super secret~ Android version, so if you want to be a beta tester, send us a note.)

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?

The U.S. asylum system is completely overwhelmed.

According to federal data and to the accounts of asylum seekers and their lawyers, the U.S. asylum system is crippled by backlogs, BuzzFeed News’ David Noriega reports. “Around the country, asylum seekers are waiting anywhere from two to four years just to schedule an initial interview with immigration officers, merely the first step in a long adjudication process,” Noriega writes.

M., an asylum seeker from Vietnam, is stranded in the Bronx.

David Noriega / BuzzFeed News

Secret memos reveal details of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s troubled three-year stay in Ecuador’s embassy.

“Staff and security guards at the Ecuadorian embassy are keeping minute-by-minute records and filing daily official reports on the activities of their long-term guest Julian Assange,” BuzzFeed News’ James Ball and Paul Hamilos report. “The documents, marked ‘secret,’ reveal the occasionally fraught relationship between the WikiLeaks chief and his hosts, laying out details of clashes with embassy staff, concerns over Assange’s psychological health, and potential escape plans.”

Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012. He refuses to return to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault allegations, fearing it would make him vulnerable to extradition to the U.S. to face espionage charges. Many of WikiLeaks’ most prominent revelations were from U.S. military documents on the Afghan and Iraq wars in 2010.

Quick things to know:

• Three Ukrainian national guardsman were killed yesterday and about 140 people were wounded during clashes outside the parliament in Kiev. (BuzzFeed News)

• The main suspect in last month’s bombing of Bangkok’s Erawan shrine has been arrested, Thailand’s prime minister says. (BuzzFeed News)

• Hundreds of people have arrived by train to Austria from Hungary, as European Union asylum rules collapsed under the escalating migration crisis. (New York Times)

• The death of a Texas man inside a jail lobby after a struggle with deputies was ruled a homicide. (BuzzFeed News)

• Murder rates are rising sharply in many U.S. cities — 104 people have been killed this year so far after 86 homicides in all of 2014. (New York Times)

• The U.S. Supreme Court says a Kentucky county must issue marriage licenses while its clerk appeals a ruling in a lawsuit from three same-sex couples against her "no marriage licenses" policy. (BuzzFeed News)

• Lawyers for the NFL and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady failed to reach a settlement in the deflategate case. A decision is expected by Friday. (BuzzFeed News)

• Hurricane Fred is a hurricane of three firsts. (Washington Post)

• Netflix aficionados: The streaming service declined to renew its contract with movie distributor, Epix. This means popular films including Transformers and Hunger Games, will be taken down by the end of September. (BBC News)

• News you can use: A new study suggests that the human eye can reduce the blind spot with training. (New York Times) You can now pair Android Wear with your iPhone. (BuzzFeed News) And if you send messages on LinkedIn, you can now add emoji and GIFs. (Mashable)

• Photos of selfie sticks around the world. (The Atlantic)

• New Zealanders are getting a new flag. The public will choose between four designs, which include three silver ferns and a black-and-white koru. (BuzzFeed News)

Via govt.nz / Via govt.nz

Happy Tuesday

Here are 15 of the bravest military animals to ever serve their country. Because sometimes the bravest are also the furriest, BuzzFeed’s Gabriel Sanchez writes. We salute you, Sergeant Stubby.

Sergeant Stubby earned his rank as the most decorated war dog of World War I. This tiny terrier met combat in 17 battles in the trenches of France, warned his unit of incoming poison gas and mortar attacks, found his wounded comrades on the battlefield, and even captured a German spy!

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OMG, it’s been 25 years since we were first introduced to the drama-filled world of rich Beverly Hills teens!!!

Spelling Television / ©Aaron Spelling Prods/Everett Collection / Everett Collection

Craig Barritt / Getty Image

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“Why do people do this?!”

The Test Friends and Zach of The Try Guys got together in the early morning hours to go to a rave at Daybreaker in Los Angeles. Surprisingly, this crew was ready to bring the action!

BuzzFeed Video / Via youtu.be

So, it's Tuesday at 5:35 AM... What are you usually doing?

Sleeping...? Snoring...? Eating...?

BuzzFeedVideo / Via youtu.be

Jen shared the most accurate thought ever at that time of morning: "WHY?!"

But the fun was about to be well worth the early wake up call, because the RAVE was about to go DOWN!

BuzzFeedVideo / Via youtu.be

Henry was ready, per usual, to get his dance on.

"Goin' up on a Tuesday!"

BuzzFeedVideo / Via youtu.be

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“I can no longer sit idly by as the phonies and fakes of the world go unpunished.”

Do you remember Matt Vescovo? You can't see him in this picture...

Facebook: stockphotobomb

...but you can in this one. Vescovo, 45, from Los Angeles, is better known online as the Stock Photobomber.

Facebook: stockphotobomb

Earlier this year, his hilarious project to inject himself into the unreal world of stock photos went viral.

Facebook: stockphotobomb

And he's got a new project: He's trying to crowdfund a book of his best bombs.

Facebook: stockphotobomb

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That’s a nice shade of red you’re wearing… on your face.

Meeting new people is totally nerve-wracking.

FOX

Especially when it's ~important~ people like a new boss or your partner's parents.

FOX

You're often described as "the quiet one."

Universal Pictures

And sometimes people think you're a bitch because of it.

Paramount Pictures

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He’s just so gosh darn adorable!

BloodBlitz Comedy have uploaded a cleverly crafted clip that explores what Game of Thrones would be like if Joffrey was the hero.

youtube.com

It's really something – and quite convincing!

HBO

I mean, if you ignore the whole sociopathic maniac thing.

HBO

~Our hero~

HBO

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You might think twice about doing shots all night long.

The brilliant minds at AsapSCIENCE are here to blow your mind with some crazy facts about how much of a good thing you really can have. Turns out you can overdose on just about anything.

youtube.com / Via youtube.com

Not only would it be crazy expensive, but drinking 70 cups of coffee could be fatal for a person weighing about 70 kg (approximately 154 lb).

According to the video, "This amount of caffeine can trigger heart palpitations or even cardiac arrest."

AsapSCIENCE / Via youtube.com

Next time you're celebrating with a few rounds of shots, make sure someone keeps count. Unlucky number 13 could be the end of the party.

AsapSCIENCE explains, "Because alcohol is a depressant, the area in the brain controlling basic life functions like breathing and heart rate begins to shut down."

AsapSCIENCE / Via youtube.com

Thinking of drinking ~ALL OF THE WATER~ to cure that hangover? Be careful!

Too much water can cause your brain to swell, causing headaches, seizures, comas, and in extreme situations, yes...even death.

AsapSCIENCE / Via youtube.com

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“Any kind of identity, any kind of body shape, any kind of gender, can do anything the hell they want.”

Tania Safi for BuzzFeed

From Marilyn Monroe to Mad Men, there's no denying the style of the 1950s and 1960s holds a certain kind of appeal for many in the modern era. Pinups in particular have connotations of a classic sex appeal that is incredibly far removed from our current jeans-and-hoodie-chic.

We had four BuzzFeed staff members head to Sherbet Birdie, a pinup photography studio in Sydney, to be transformed into pinups and see what they could learn about the style – and themselves – along the way.

Watch the video here:

youtube.com / Via youtu.be

Tania Safi for BuzzFeed

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Outgoing sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says the rules are holding us back, and it’s up to us to rewrite them.

Elizabeth Broderick has given a powerful and inspirational speech at the National Press Club, in her last public appearance in her role as Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner.

In her eights years in the job, she's seen the number of women on corporate boards double, the introduction of a paid parental leave scheme and domestic violence become a priority for the government.

But Broderick says we still have a long way to go until we right the wrongs of the past, as women and men stand together in the fight for equality.

Lukas Coch / AAPIMAGE

On denying reality:

Here are some cold, hard facts about sex discrimination quoted in her speech:

- One in four women have been sexually harassed in the workplace in the last five years.

- Fewer big Australian companies are run by women than by men named Peter.

- The majority of unpaid caring work is undertaken by women

- The gender pay gap, for full-time working Australian woman over a typical 45 year career equates to about $700,000.

Broderick said these statistics cannot be dismissed as "the ravings of the feminist left."

On changing the world:

Broderick was told by a woman in the United Nations that "she did what she could, when she could and that's how she changed the world."

"That simple concept gives me confidence and energy," she said.

Releon8211 / Getty Images

On the battle for equality:

Broderick said that men also suffer from the inequality that exists for women.

"Gender equality is not a battle of the sexes; it is a battle for equality – a battle that men and women must wage side by side," she said.

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She was apparently forced to see an ultrasound because “it’s the law”.

This woman's Tumblr post – written as a "public service announcement" – has gone viral. It describes a confronting experience getting an abortion at an Australian hospital.

The long post makes several claims about abortion law in Victoria, one of Australia's largest states, including what's required of doctors before carrying out an abortion.

We spoke to several health professions about the woman's experience...

First, BuzzFeed News approached the overarching medical body that writes the code of conduct for Australian doctors about the woman's claims.

Tracey Nearmy / AAPIMAGE

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) governs the rules of Aussie doctors and is open to complaints like the Tumblr user's above.

A spokesperson said each state has its own laws and that doctors must comply with them or risk an investigation.

BuzzFeed News then spoke to several women's health experts from Victoria, who all said there was no legal requirement for doctors to perform an ultrasound on a woman before she has an abortion.

Siri Stafford / Getty Images

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Time flies when you’re Fred and Daphne.

It seems only yesterday that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr met on the set of Scooby Doo.

Warner Bros.

And started dating.

Getty Images

Only to fall in love.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

And become the perfect '00s couple.

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

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Life man, life. H/T r/me_irl.

Life is this guy's tablecloth trick:

imgur.com

And this workout:

Twitter: @CommonWhiteGirI / Via imgur.com

It is this girl's bicycle ride:

imgur.com

This proud family:

imgur.com

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The story of Shakes will give you all the feels imaginable.

World For All, a Mumbai-based stray animal welfare organisation, has uploaded a touching video about a very special cat called Shakes.

World For All

8-week-old Shakes suffers from a condition known as Feline Cerebellar Hypoplasia.

World For All

This causes her body to constantly have uncontrollable tremors, which she will live with for the rest of her life.

World For All

But despite the setback, Shakes doesn't let it stop her from living life like any other crazy adorable, curious kitty.

World For All

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