With its voter ID ruse and a bid to capture the civil service, the government is emulating US Republicans’ winner-takes-all populismAny competition with a prize worth having attracts cheats. That is as true of politics as it is of sport. Whether cheats prosper depends on a combination of regulation and culture. There must be rules, enforced by independent institutions, but also an ethos of honouring the rules, policed by conscience.The introduction of mandatory voter ID for local elections in England this week is doubly insidious because it smuggles dishonourable intent in a measure purporting to strengthen the rules.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnistRafael Behr will discuss his new book, Politics: A Survivor’s Guide, at a Guardian Live event on Monday 12 June. The event will be live in London and livestreamed. Book tickets here Continue reading...

Mohamed Khairullah, mayor of a New Jersey town, says he’s on list ‘that has targeted me because of my identity’The US Secret Service denied security clearance for Mohamed Khairullah, the longest-serving Muslim mayor in New Jersey, and prevented him from attending a White House Eid al-Fitr event on Monday afternoon marking the end of Ramadan.Khairullah, who was critical of the Trump administration’s travel ban in 2017 that restricted entry to the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries, received the call from the Secret Service while he was en route to the White House. President Joe Biden revoked that ban in 2021. Continue reading...

World Cup and Olympic champion will compete in multi-city professional event climaxing in Washington DC in AugustThe World Cup and Olympic gold-winning New Zealand winger Ruby Tui will play in the US this summer in Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s), a multi-tournament competition in which men’s and women’s teams compete for one trophy.Announcing the move, Tui said: “I’ve been a massive fan of Premier Rugby Sevens and what they’ve done for women’s rugby since they formed in 2021 in the United States.” Continue reading...

The list of things he derided included #MeToo, fat women, gay marriage and immigrantsThe theme for this year’s Met Gala wasn’t a concept; it was a person. But the organizers’ departure from their usual theming convention wasn’t the most controversial thing about the night.The real issue is that Karl Lagerfeld, the man they’ve chosen to honor, was also notoriously fatphobic, anti-immigrant, possibly homophobic and, many would say – despite his slew of famous muses – low-key misogynistic. Continue reading...

Greg Abbott rows back on ‘inhumane’ remarks amid barrage of criticism after shooting that killed five, including a childAfter a barrage of public criticism from immigration advocates, Latino state lawmakers and Congress members, Texas’s Republican governor Greg Abbott has backtracked from controversial remarks he made referring to the victims of a recent mass murder as “illegal immigrants”.“Any loss of life is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to the families who have lost a loved one,” Renae Eze, a spokesperson for Abbott, told ABC News in a statement about those slain in a shooting in Cleveland, Texas, on Friday night. “Federal officials provided the state of Texas information on the criminal and the victims, including that they were in the country illegally. We’ve since learned that at least one of the victims may have been in the United States legally.” Continue reading...

Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin expected to testify that columnist told them about alleged assault shortly after it happened in 1996Jurors in E Jean Carroll’s legal action against Donald Trump for alleged rape and defamation are expected to begin hearing on Tuesday from two women who say they can back key parts of the advice columnist’s account.Carroll wrapped up three days on the witness stand on Monday as the judge in the civil case, Lewis Kaplan, denied a defense motion for a mistrial on the grounds that he had made “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings” against Trump’s team during its cross-examination of the former president’s accuser. Continue reading...

More than 70 cars and several big-rig trucks involved in vehicle collisions on Interstate 55 that left 37 people injuredAt least six people were killed and nearly 40 others were injured on Monday in a pile-up involving more than 70 cars along Interstate 55 in southern Illinois during a dust storm, state police said.Two big-rig trucks caught fire – and one of them possibly exploded – in the pile-up that unfolded shortly after 11am local time (12pm ET), Maj Ryan Starrick of the state police said. Continue reading...

Stateside obsession with the Windsors appears to have peaked with Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview. Now there is little but apathy towards King CharlesHello from Philadelphia where the excited natives are counting down the days until Charles III’s coronation. Anticipation fills the air and there is royal swag everywhere: the shops are overflowing with coronation-themed trinkets. There isn’t a single American in this city that isn’t tingling with excitement about Britain’s new king and his glorious crown.I’m joking, of course: from what I can see from my little perch, the US is mostly ignoring the pageantry taking place across the Atlantic. It wasn’t like this for Queen Elizabeth II: her coronation reportedly “created a television broadcasting battleground” in the US and 85 million Americans watched recordings of the highlights. Queen Victoria’s coronation was also a transatlantic crowd-pleaser: according to a dispatch in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, a prominent political magazine from the time, the US was infected by “Victoria Fever” and “Queen-mania” back in 1838. A writer, going by the initials ADF, spent a day in Philadelphia – the “birthplace of America” – and declared the city so smitten with the new Queen that it should be renamed “Victoria-delphia”. Everywhere you went, ADF said, there was Victoria-related merch. There were hairbrushes with her picture on, Victoria-themed soap and gloves – even Victoria riding whips. I have thoroughly examined every grocery store in my corner of Philadelphia and I can assure you that there isn’t a single Charles-themed riding whip to be found. There isn’t even a can of beans with his face on. Continue reading...

Horrific detail piles on horrific detail as the inquiry rumbles on, barely noticed by those for whom this injustice is seemingly not sexy enoughI can’t help suspecting that former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells might have been more publicly vilified if she’d done a bad tweet, rather than merely presided over a firm during the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history.Forgive the return to this furrow, but no matter how often they are restated (far from often enough), the details of the Post Office scandal are so incredible as to be almost literally impossible to believe. Put as sparsely as possible, 736 subpostmasters and postmistresses were prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting in their branches, between 2000 and 2014. Yet they had done nothing wrong, The fault was with a new computer system designed by Fujitsu and forced on to them by Post Office management – a system that top brass allegedly knew was faulty. Continue reading...

Russian casualties mark acceleration even when compared with first days of the war, says White House national security council spokesperson. Plus, all the coverage from the Met Gala

Tens of thousands of migrants are expected to cross the border once Title 42 rules expire, overwhelming support servicesThe Texas border city of El Paso has declared a state of emergency ahead of the Biden administration’s ending of Title 42 pandemic-related rules next week that, since 2020, have barred many migrants from crossing into the US to exercise their right to request asylum.City leaders are preparing for a potential influx of more than 35,000 asylum seekers currently stuck in the Mexican sister city of Juárez, after the scheduled 11 May lifting of the emergency public health regulation that was meant to curb the spread of Covid-19 but had severe consequences for hundreds of thousands fleeing to the US from crises in their home countries. Continue reading...

With even nationalist pro-war bloggers criticising Putin’s actions in Ukraine, his desperation and paranoia are growingMay is traditionally a month for public celebration in Russia, with massive public processions on 1 May for Labour Day and military parades on 9 May for Victory Day, a holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Not so in 2023. Russia’s biggest trade union cancelled its traditional Labour Day demonstrations because of the “heightened risk of terrorist activity”, while regions near the Ukrainian border called off Victory Day parades so as to “not provoke” the Ukrainian army.The Russian government has warned people across the country to stay away from military installations on Victory Day, while the hugely popular Immortal Regiment, an event during which ordinary citizens all over Russia march with portraits of relatives who died in the second world war, has been moved online.Samantha de Bendern is an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House and a political commentator on LCI television in France Continue reading...

Failure of four banks in six weeks is purely a sign of poor risk management, says chief executiveHSBC’s chief executive has denied the possibility of a fresh banking crisis, saying the failure of four banks in six weeks was a merely a sign of poor risk management, as the lender tripled its own first quarter profits to $13bn (£10bn) after its rescue of Silicon Valley Bank UK.Noel Quinn’s comments came a day after JP Morgan stepped in to buy most of the collapsed lender First Republic in a $10.6bn takeover, as part of regulators’ efforts to draw a line under lingering turmoil across the banking sector. Continue reading...

The former world champion has already won fortune and fame. Muhammad Ali’s biographer believes the Briton should walk away and preserve his healthA friend asked me recently what I thought Anthony Joshua should do next. There have been reports that Joshua will fight again this summer and other reports that he has decided to wait until December. Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder have been mentioned as possible opponents. But there may be a rematch against Dillian Whyte or a fight against a second-tier opponent.I thought about those and other options. And the answer hit me with crystal clarity: Joshua should retire.Thomas Hauser’s most recent book – In the Inner Sanctum: Behind the Scenes at Big Fights – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Continue reading...

Best player of his generation should have nothing to prove. And yet Golden State always seem to end up standing in his wayIn his 20th NBA season LeBron James has officially reached the ageist chapter of his hero’s journey. Since passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, the 38-year-old hasn’t been able to take a dribble without being declared the oldest to do this or that, as his son literally waits in the wings to take up his father’s mantle. But nothing plagues the elder James quite like the Golden State Warriors, a royal pain that simply refuses to go away.King James surely winced when the defending champions outlasted Sacramento in Game 7 of their playoff series to set up a showdown with his Lakers, which starts on Tuesday night. Already, fan conspiracy theorists are hinting at Adam Silver’s invisible hand. This heavyweight fight between sixth-seeded Golden State and the No 7 Lakers isn’t just mega for the Western Conference second round; it will hijack the NBA playoffs for the next two weeks. The legacies at stake alone are enormous. Continue reading...

Stephanie Scott was stripped of her election authority after she was accused of improperly handling voting equipmentDeepening tensions within rural and conservative Hillsdale county, Michigan, are coming to a head in a recall election for an election-denying township clerk who has been accused of spreading misinformation and mishandling a vote tabulator.Elected in Adams Township in 2020, Stephanie Scott, who ran unopposed, has spent her years as a clerk – a position that would typically oversee township elections – mostly removed from the electoral process. After she refused to turn over a voting machine for regular maintenance in 2021, allegedly shared confidential voter data with a third-party IT analyst, and spread lies about election rigging, the Michigan Bureau of Elections removed Scott’s power to administer elections. Continue reading...

The independent Vermont senator argued against unfettered capitalism in an interview with journalist Chris WallaceThe US government should confiscate 100% of any money that Americans make above $999m, the leftwing independent senator Bernie Sanders said late last week.Sanders expressed that belief in an exchange on Friday evening with the host of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? on HBO Max. Continue reading...

Officials say the bodies of Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 16, were found on the property of a convicted sex offenderThe bodies of seven people, including two missing teens and a convicted sex offender, were discovered in rural Oklahoma on Monday, officials confirmed.Authorities found the bodies on a property near Henryetta, a town of about 6,000 located about 90 miles (145km) east of Oklahoma City, where the sex offender, Jesse McFadden, lived. They had been searching for Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 16, after officials issued an Amber alert earlier Monday. Continue reading...

Jamie Dimon’s remarks follow $10.6bn takeover brokered by US regulators to buy most of failed First RepublicJamie Dimon, the boss of JP Morgan, has played down the risk of a spiralling banking crisis after America’s biggest bank stepped in to buy most of collapsed lender First Republic in a $10.6bn (£8.5bn) takeover hurriedly brokered by US regulators.After weekend talks to secure a sale of First Republic, the third US lender to fail this year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) confirmed JP Morgan as the buyer. Continue reading...

Samantha Miller’s new husband was also injured in the South Carolina beach crash and remains hospitalized in critical conditionA bride leaving her wedding reception was killed just moments after the ceremony when a drunk driver slammed into the newlywed couple’s golf cart on a South Carolina beach road, authorities said on Monday.Samantha Miller, 34, of Charlotte, North Carolina, died in the wreck, according to the Charleston county coroner’s office. Miller had just gotten married hours earlier, Folly Beach public safety department director Andrew Gilreath said. Three others in the golf cart were injured, including the groom, who remains hospitalized and in critical condition. Continue reading...

Writer tells New York jury George Conway, the husband of top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, encouraged her to take legal actionThe advice columnist E Jean Carroll sued Donald Trump for rape after she was encouraged to take legal action by George Conway, the husband of a top aide to the then president.On her third day on the witness stand, Carroll told the jury hearing her lawsuit for battery and defamation over the alleged sexual assault in a New York department store changing room in 1996 that she did not intend to sue Trump until he called her a liar when she went public with her accusations more than two decades later. Continue reading...

The network and Trump had a difficult relationship when he was in office, but the event could goose both of their ratingsThe announcement that CNN will host a New Hampshire town hall event for Donald Trump was met with widespread criticism on Monday.Angelo Carusone, chief executive of Media Matters for America, a progressive watchdog, said: “The transparent attempt to goose their ratings does feel at least a little odious. But all the more reason that they need to get this right.” Continue reading...

Disgraced film mogul, who is serving 23 years for rape and sexual assault in New York, was sentenced to 16 years in LA convictionHarvey Weinstein has hired Bill Cosby’s lawyer to appeal his conviction in Los Angeles for sexual assault and rape, after a jury found him guilty and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.The former film producer, whose exposure as a sexual predator in October 2017 via investigations by the New York Times and the New Yorker precipitated the #MeToo movement, has hired Michael Freedman and Jennifer Bonjean as his lead legal counsel. Bonjean got Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania overturned on a legal technicality in 2021. The disgraced comedian, who has been accused by more than 60 women of rape, was released from prison after serving two years of a 3-to-10 year sentence. Continue reading...

Host gave unflattering opinion of the Fox Nation website and the size of its audience before he was fired by Fox NewsBefore he was fired by Fox News, rightwing TV host Tucker Carlson said the Fox Nation streaming service for which he produced content “sucks”, leaked video showed on Monday.The news follows widespread reporting that comments about his employer, including “highly offensive” remarks about executives, contributed to Carlson’s shock firing last week. Continue reading...

Republican Greg Abbott condemned for calling Honduran victims of Friday night shooting in rural Cleveland ‘illegal immigrants’As he announced a reward for the capture of a 38-year-old Texas man accused of fatally shooting five people after some of them complained about his firing a rifle in his yard, the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, went out of his way to describe Francisco Oropeza and those he allegedly murdered as “illegal immigrants”.The Republican’s words drew ire from immigration advocates, state and federal lawmakers and other politicians as Abbott’s words hewed closely with his track record of using anti-immigrant rhetoric in the wake of mass shootings. Continue reading...

Company that won $787.5m settlement pursuing defamation lawsuits against two Fox competitors and four Trump alliesDominion Voting Systems, which last month reached a $787.5m settlement of its $1.6bn defamation case against Fox News, is seeking wider accountability for the broadcast of Donald Trump’s election fraud lies and will “not … stop until we get it”, a co-founder said.A Dominion lawyer, meanwhile, said he hoped messages redacted in court filings but reportedly linked to the dramatic firing of Tucker Carlson would soon be revealed. Continue reading...

Two Manhattan and two Brooklyn parking garages ordered closed due to deterioration that poses ‘threat to public safety’Four New York City parking garages were ordered emptied last week amid inspections prompted by a deadly garage collapse that killed one person and injured five.The four parking garages – two each in Manhattan and Brooklyn – were determined to have “deteriorated to the point where they were now posing an immediate threat to public safety”, said the city’s buildings department spokesperson, the New York Times reported. Continue reading...

Francisco Oropeza, 38, wanted by police after five members of Wilson García’s family shot and killed in rural town of ClevelandAs his month-old baby cried through the night, Wilson García just wanted his neighbor to shoot his rifle farther away.Joined by two others, García “respectfully” asked Francisco Oropeza, 38, to change where he was firing off rounds on Friday night as more than a dozen people – some on a church retreat – gathered at the family home in Cleveland, Texas, a rural town north of Houston. Continue reading...

Former US president arrives in Aberdeen for trip in which he will open course at controversial resortDonald Trump said it was “great to be home” as he arrived in Scotland to cut the ribbon on another golf course near Aberdeen.The first former US president to be charged with a crime said on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns, that he was going to the Menie estate near Aberdeen to open a second course. Continue reading...

Advice columnist is seeking damages for alleged rape in New York department store changing room in 1996, and for defamationThe advice columnist E Jean Carroll returns to the witness stand on Monday to face another day of cross-examination in her lawsuit against Donald Trump for alleged rape and defamation.Last week, Carroll denied that she falsely accused Trump of assaulting her in order to sell books and for political ends. She is seeking damages for alleged rape in a New York department store changing room in 1996, and for defamation after Trump accused her of lying when she went public with her accusations in a book. Continue reading...

The former US president arrived at Aberdeen airport at about 11.30am and was met by two pipers, a red carpet and a 10-vehicle motorcade. Earlier, Trump wrote on Truth Social – the social media platform he owns – that he would be opening a 'spectacular' second course at the controversial Menie estate in the north-east of the country. After his time in Scotland, he will head to his course in Doonbeg on Ireland’s west coast

Officials estimate between 50 and 100 homes damaged by tornado that also downed trees and caused gas leaksA popular coastal US tourist destination has declared a state of emergency after a tornado moved through the area on Sunday and damaged dozens of homes, downed trees and caused gas leaks.Officials in the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia, said it was unclear how many homes had been damaged but they estimated between 50 and 100, after the tornado touched down just after 6pm, WTKR-TV reported. Continue reading...

Many states have restricted how schools can teach race and gender, but only Texas has banned student interaction with elected officialsThe defining experience of Jordan Zamora-Garcia’s high school career – a hands-on group project in civics class that spurred a new city ordinance in his Austin suburb – would now violate Texas law.Since Texas lawmakers in 2021 passed a ban on lessons teaching that any one group is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive”, a little-noticed provision of that legislation has triggered a massive fallout for civics education across the state. Continue reading...

Newspapers’ power is being eroded and disinformation is rife – but there is a way forwardOur understanding of the world is driven by information. It feeds our ability to make informed decisions about our lives, our communities, the way we’re governed. This fundamental freedom, the power to be able to access reliable information, sits at the heart of a thriving democratic society.But increasingly that power is being eroded. Indeed, some never had it to begin with. Press freedom is being threatened, compromised and denied in an increasing number of countries around the world.Kelly Walls is executive director of the Guardian FoundationYou can support the Guardian Foundation’s work hereDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

After decades locked alone in small cages in San Quentin, men sentenced to die brace for sweeping changeSan Quentin prison guards shackled Keith Doolin’s hands behind his back and escorted him to a small cage. It was 8am on a Saturday in early March, and Doolin, along with a dozen other men – all condemned to be executed by the state of California – sat in roughly 6ft by 8ft cells. There were metal bars on all sides and overhead, giving the death row visiting room the appearance of an animal shelter.Doolin, 50, smiled as he explained why he chose to wear a tattered blue shirt that the prison had given him more than two decades ago. Unlike newer prison uniforms, his outfit has no “inmate” label or “California department of corrections and rehabilitation” (CDCR) marking: “I’ll wear this shirt until it falls off … Here, they strip you of your name and give you a CDC number. It’s part of the psychological warfare – tearing you down, making you feel worthless and not even acknowledging you as a human.” Continue reading...

Leading railroads give four paid sick days after years in which workers weren’t allowed to call in sick the morning of their shiftUS freight rail companies nearly spurred a nationwide railroad strike last fall by refusing to grant paid sick days, but in a surprise move welcomed by workers, those railroads have recently granted paid sick days to almost half their workforce.After being roundly criticized for not offering paid sick days, the leading rail companies – BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific – have granted many of their 93,000 workers four paid sick days a year through labor negotiations, with an option of taking three more paid sick days from personal days. Continue reading...

The party has settled on a new playbook: shifting right and hoping demoralized voters are repulsed by RepublicansThe Democratic party’s political class has developed a rote formula over the last decade: ignore rather than channel discontent among the party’s rank-and-file voters, prevent competitive primaries where those voters can act on their dissatisfaction, and then hope to eke out general election victories on a wave of voter disgust with the Republican party’s outlandish nominees.This isn’t just a fleeting tactic. This is now The Formula of Democratic Politics™, one with mixed results. In 2016, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer publicly bragged that the Formula would result in flipping enough moderate voters to secure a victory – just before the Formula’s epic failure handed Donald Trump the presidency. Continue reading...

Dennis Barnes estimates he could end up with at least $10m in offers when every school to which he applied answers himNew Orleans high schooler Dennis Maliq Barnes has clinched what is thought to be a US record after securing more than $9.7m in scholarship offers from nearly 140 American colleges and universities, surpassing a mark that had previously been set by another Louisianan.Barnes recently made national headlines after his school sent out a news release announcing that he was approaching an apparent – if unofficial – four-year-old record of $9.4m after hearing back from about 125 of the more than 180 universities to which he had applied. Continue reading...

The president is trying to appeal to climate-conscious young voters and appease the fossil fuel industry. It won’t workJust before announcing that he would again run for president, Joe Biden signed off on what on the surface looks like a great move to help address the climate crisis: an executive order that creates an office of environmental justice in the White House. “Environmental justice,” the president said from the Rose Garden, “will be the mission of the entire government, woven directly into how we work with state, local, tribal and territorial governments.”That is a beautiful sentiment. And sentiment, when coupled with substantive policy positions, can lead the country forward. The idea of a White House office that can help mobilize an all-of-government response to the climate crisis could be a force multiplier in the fight to save the planet. But to be effective it needs real presidential leadership that involves the creation of a bold and realistic plan to phase out fossil fuels along a strict timeline.Steven Donziger is a human rights and environmental lawyer, a Guardian US columnist, and the creator of the Substack newsletter Donziger on Justice Continue reading...

Group Pastors for Trump is drawing sharp rebukes from mainstream Christian leaders for being extremist, distorting religious teachings and endangering American democracyA far-right religious group with ties to Donald Trump loyalists Roger Stone and retired Army Lt Gen Michael Flynn, is planning events with pastors in swing state churches in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere to spur more evangelical backing for the former US president’s 2024 campaign.But the group, Pastors for Trump, is drawing sharp rebukes from mainstream Christian leaders for being extremist, distorting Christian teachings and endangering American democracy, by fueling the spread of Christian nationalism. Continue reading...

Time will tell who got the best haul of players in Kansas City this year but the already formidable Philly look like they aced the draft once againPhiladelphia Eagles. In the past two seasons, the Eagles have given masterclasses in how to execute a perfect draft. The reigning NFC champions have found gold in the south by selecting top-tier players from college football’s best defense. In last year’s draft, the Eagles selected two dominant defensive players, Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean, both of whom helped the Georgia Bulldogs capture the 2022 national championship. Continue reading...

Refreshing response to a question from the media was unlike much of the discourse surrounding elite professional sportAlmost certainly fed up while facing the press in the media centre of Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum last Wednesday night, Giannis Antetokounmpo made no attempt to disguise his utter contempt for the query he had just been asked to field. The Bucks basketball legend had fronted up before the ladies and gentlemen of the fourth estate after his team’s elimination by the lowly ranked Miami Heat after a five-game series, arguably one of the most seismic upsets in NBA playoff history. Antetokounmpo’s gaze was caught by Eric Nehm, the man from the Athletic on the Bucks beat, who kept his question fairly short and to the point. He had already asked it of Antetokounmpo’s coach and now wished to hear the player’s considered opinion. “Do you view this season as a failure?”A protracted sigh from the top table was followed by an audible groan of “Oh my God”, as Antetokounmpo wearily rubbed his hands up his face and through his hair, in the manner of a man who can’t quite believe the absolute inanity of the question he’s just been asked. Countering with several of his own, rhetorical questions regarding the successes or failures his inquisitor might have enjoyed or endured in his professional life over the past 12 months, he proceeded to expound on his own idea of what constitutes failure, or if there’s even any such thing. “Michael Jordan played 15 years,” he said. “Won six championships. The other nine years was a failure? That’s what you’re telling me? I’m asking you a question, yes or no?” Continue reading...

Unsuccessful US college applicants have started having cathartic parties to ‘celebrate’. I think they might be on to somethingHigh school students in the US are tackling the brutal process of college applications with rejection parties, the New York Times reported last week. At one school, students bring along a printout of their college rejections, ceremonially feed them into a shredder, then get an ice-cream; there is a prize for the most rejected. It sounds wonderful: a cathartic, collective “screw you” to a broken system, using fun to salve the pain.I wonder if owning rejection is easier in the US, where there is at least a partial sense that failure is OK; it’s considered a learning opportunity and a key part of the origin story. The Silicon Valley motto “fail fast, fail often” took hold because failure was seen as indicative of audacity and a willingness to try. Rejection is a particularly stinging subset of failure, but the principle remains: you took the shot; it didn’t pay off; you try again. Continue reading...

Participants who turned in guns were given up to $500 for each firearm at nine program locations throughout the stateThousands of guns were surrendered across New York on Saturday in exchange for gift cards as part of the state’s gun buyback program.According to the New York attorney general, Letitia James, whose office organized the event, more than 3,000 guns including various assault-style rifles and “ghost guns” were given up in what she hailed as a “landmark event”. Continue reading...

I have explained what has happened to me, on my own terms, and people have responded in kindI’ve had a double mastectomy. I don’t find it straightforward to spell or to pronounce, but it’s the term I find easiest to use when I tell people what has happened to me. I just can’t put it in plain English, and say exactly what the surgeons did. This may change, but it seems too painful to me, and I worry about the people listening.Generally, since I was diagnosed with breast cancer last summer I have tried to avoid couching things in terms that may be unclear. Years of writing articles on complicated financial products and schemes in my roles on the Guardian’s Money and Investigations desks have conditioned me to avoid jargon. I like to get to the point and use language that is accessible, rather than words that exclude people, and in the main I have taken this approach to my illness.Hilary Osborne is the Guardian’s money and consumer editor Continue reading...

More than 200 law enforcement officers were looking for suspect Francisco Oropeza as the FBI acknowledged it had 'no tips' nearly two days after a shooting near the town of Cleveland, Texas. Oropeza, 38, is accused of shooting five neighbors to death after being asked to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep