Law must be strengthened, says home secretary, so professionals like teachers and carers face ‘full force of law’ if they fail in their duty to protectThe home secretary is to spell out new requirements for people working with children in England to report signs or suspicions of sexual abuse.The government is expected to set out details of plans in the coming days to tackle grooming gangs and better protect children. Continue reading...

School holiday delays of up to 14 hours blamed on ‘French border processes and sheer volume’Extra sailings are to run overnight at the Port of Dover to try to clear a backlog that left passengers stuck in Easter school-holiday traffic for hours on Saturday.A spokesperson for the port, which declared a critical incident on Friday, said it was hoping to clear the backlog by lunchtime on Sunday as some travellers said they had been held up for 14 hours. Continue reading...

Anti-monarchist claims the official portraits of the head of state are ‘scandalous’ at the time of spending cutsMinisters have been accused of “losing the plot” after setting aside £8m to offer every public body a free portrait of King Charles.In a move that drew criticism amid complaints of shrinking budgets across Whitehall and local government, Oliver Dowden, the cabinet office minister, said it was part of plans to celebrate the new reign and bring the nation together. Continue […]

Since the invasion, students have logged on to the Monash University virtual school from bomb shelters and bedroomsFollow our Australia news live blog for the latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastRemote learning isn’t new for Sofiia Yakymenko. The 13-year-old grew up during the Covid pandemic when shutdowns, computer screens and distance learning became normal.But the Ukrainian student wasn’t used to evenings spent on Zoom with teachers in […]