School's former pupils say girls were ranked and sexually harassed by boys

Sarah, not her real name, says she was sexually assaulted in her classroom by a fellow pupil.

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  • Australia opens quarantine-free travel bubble with New Zealand

    Emotions ran high Monday as excited passengers set off on the first flights to take advantage of a quarantine-free travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand, allowing families split by the pandemic to finally reunite. "(I'll) yell, scream, cry, hug, kiss, (feel) happy -- all of these emotions at once," Denise O'Donoghue, 63, told AFP at Sydney airport as she prepared to board her flight.The arrangement means that for the first time in almost 400 days passengers can fly across the Tasman Sea without undergoing mandatory Covid-19 quarantine when they arrive."It's a very big day and exciting for families and friends," said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who hailed the success of both countries in containing the virus as a key factor in allowing the travel corridor.Australia was New Zealand's largest source of international tourists before the pandemic, accounting for about 1.5 million arrivals or 40 percent of total visitors in 2019.The bubble's opening received saturation coverage from media in both countries, with live television reporting from airports providing regular updates on the progress of flights.On a grass embankment at the foot of Wellington Airport's runway, the words 'WELCOME WHANAU' (family) were spelled out in giant letters.Lorraine Wratt, a New Zealander stranded by the pandemic while visiting family in Australia, told AFP it was "wonderful" to be able to travel again."We're very excited to be heading back home but we're gonna miss our family (in Australia) big time," she said."We came to Australia on December 11 to spend Christmas with our children... planning to go back in February, it's been a bit of a nightmare."'Day one of our revival'Australia is home to hundreds of thousands of expatriate New Zealanders and before coronavirus many regularly shuttled back and forth across the Tasman on three-hour flights.O'Donoghue said the travel bubble's opening made her feel the world was returning to some sort of normality."I'll be going back, they'll be coming over, we'll just be back to normal," she said."What normal's going to be from now on I don't know, but I'm just really, really excited today."Air New Zealand executive Craig Suckling said the atmosphere at Sydney airport before departure was electric."It was quite the emotional rollercoaster here in Sydney," he said."The check-in area was a hive of activity and at the boarding gate, customers were eager to get on."The airline's chief executive Greg Foran said it was also a "monumental" day for those involved in the hard-hit tourism industry."(It's) a real turning point for the airline. It's day one of our revival," he said.(AFP)

  • COVID-19: Young people who have had coronavirus will get £5,000 for being deliberately re-exposed to the virus

    Young people who have previously had COVID-19 are going to be deliberately exposed to the virus for a second time - in a new study that aims to see how their immune systems react. The University of Oxford's "human challenge" trial also hopes to discover what dose of coronavirus is needed to cause a reinfection, and what this may mean for developing protective immunity against the disease. People aged 18 to 30 who have previously been naturally infected with COVID will be recruited and re-exposed to the virus in a safe, controlled environment.

  • Queen’s birthday to pass without gun salute for second time

    There will be no gun salute to mark the Queen’s 95th birthday on Wednesday as she continues to mourn the loss of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. For the second consecutive year, the traditional 41-gun and 21-gun salutes in Hyde Park and the Tower of London on April 21 have been cancelled, the Ministry of Defence said. Her Majesty will continue to observe a period of mourning until Friday and as such, is understood to be reluctant to mark this year’s anniversary. She is expected to enjoy a quiet lunch with close family members at Windsor Castle, the details of which will remain private. Plans to mark her birthday with a new portrait have also been abandoned, the Daily Mail reports. The Royal family’s social media channels will likely be the only commemoration of the Queen turning 95. Royal sources suggested that even before the Duke’s death on April 9, the Queen had not wanted her forthcoming birthday to be marked in any meaningful way. She was keen for the focus to be on his 100th birthday celebrations, which would have taken place on June 10, one said. Last year, the salute was cancelled in line with the Queen’s wishes that no "special measures" were taken while the pandemic continued. The monarch will no doubt spend time on Wednesday in quiet reflection, remembering last year’s birthday, spent with her husband at Windsor during the first lockdown, as they isolated together. The Queen’s birthday parade, Trooping the Colour, which was due to have taken place on June 12, was cancelled in March for the second consecutive year due to the pandemic. Before the Duke’s death, Buckingham Palace had been considering a smaller event within the quadrangle at Windsor Castle, in line with last year's ceremony. Last summer, an event described as a "mini Trooping" was held at Windsor, led by the Welsh Guards and massed Bands of the Household Division, to the clear delight of Her Majesty. The annual Garter service, also usually held in June, has also been cancelled. While the Queen is determined to continue carrying out some solo engagements, she is thought unlikely to undertake anything in public in the coming weeks. However, Buckingham Palace has confirmed that she will attend the state opening of parliament at the Palace of Westminster on May 11, one of the key events in her diary, when she is due to be accompanied by the Prince of Wales.

  • Britons with first dose of Covid vaccine ‘have become infected with variants’

    Dr Susan Hopkins has urged people to ‘take caution’ as India variant emerges in the UK

  • Model suggests ‘green light’ travel list could include only eight countries

    While the government works out how to categorise countries for a traffic light system, a new model predicts only eight countries will be on the ‘green’ list

  • Peter Dutton overrules decision to strip medals from SAS soldiers who served in Afghanistan

    Peter Dutton overrules decision to strip medals from SAS soldiers who served in Afghanistan. Move by new defence minister ensures 3,000 soldiers will retain meritorious unit citation unless they are convicted of war crimes

  • What To Know Before Your Second Dose Of The AstraZeneca Vaccine

    Dozens of HuffPost UK readers have shared questions and concerns about their second dose – but there's little need to worry.

  • Royal summit to decide future of monarchy to be led by Prince Charles and Prince William

    The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge will hold a summit to decide the future of the monarchy over the next two generations following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. In consultation with the Queen, Britain’s next two kings will decide how many full-time working members the Royal family should have, who they should be, and what they should do. The death of Prince Philip has left the Royal family with the immediate question of how and whether to redistribute the hundreds of patronages he retained. Meanwhile the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step back from royal duties, confirmed only last month after a one-year “review period”, has necessitated a rethink of who should support the sovereign in the most high-profile roles. Royal insiders say that the two matters cannot be decided in isolation, as the issues of patronage and personnel are inextricably linked. Because any decisions made now will have repercussions for decades to come, the Prince of Wales will take a leading role in the talks. He has made it clear that the Duke of Cambridge, his own heir, should be involved at every stage because any major decisions taken by 72-year-old Prince Charles will last into Prince William’s reign. The Earl and Countess of Wessex, who were more prominent than almost any other member of the Royal family in the days leading up to the Duke’s funeral, are expected to plug the gap left by the departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex by taking on more high-profile engagements. However, they already carry out a significant number of royal duties – 544 between them in the last full year before Covid struck – meaning they will not be able to absorb the full workload left by the absences of the Sussexes and the Duke of York, who remains in effective retirement as a result of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. In 2019 the Sussexes and the Duke completed 558 engagements between them. It leaves the Royal family needing to carry out a full-scale review of how their public duties are fulfilled. Not only do they have three fewer people to call on, they must also decide what to do with several hundred patronages and military titles held by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Sussexes and possibly the Duke of York, if his retirement is permanent. Royal sources said the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge would discuss over the coming weeks and months how the monarchy should evolve. The issue has been at the top of the Queen and the Prince of Wales’s respective in-trays since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s one-year review period of their royal future came to an end last month, but the ill health and subsequent death of Prince Philip forced them to put the matter on hold.

  • Labour drawn into Greensill row as it emerges key Starmer ally works for lobbying firm

    The Conservatives on Sunday night attempted to draw Labour into the lobbying row engulfing Westminster by claiming an senior opposition frontbencher has questions to answer over his role at a firm that provides advocacy services. Lord Falconer, shadow attorney general, is a partner at Gibson Dunn, an international law firm headquartered in the US, which has provided advice on “political lobbying” in the UK. It says of its “public policy” lobbying practice: “Unlike a pure lobbying firm, Gibson Dunn’s work is grounded in traditional analytic and advocacy skills, combined with broad experience in US and international government operations.” It says its methods “achieve the desired result without fanfare or unwanted publicity”. The Labour peer works for the firm’s litigation practice, rather than its lobbying arm. He is co-lead of the firm’s Covid Taskforce, which has published guidance to businesses on Covid support packages, including the Covid Corporate Financing Facility and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, via client updates on its website. In January he also appeared on a webcast hosted by the firm to discuss the Brexit deal secured at the end of last year and “whether it is good or bad for business”. The event focussed on the main structural changes of the deal and what it “means for trade (including supply chains and tariffs), financial services and competition law and what businesses need to do to respond and what to expect in the coming months”. In another webinar for the firm, Lord Falconer called the Covid pandemic “the gift that keeps on giving” for lawyers, a comment for which he later apologised. He first joined the leading US law firm in 2008, a year after leaving Tony Blair’s Cabinet, in which he had served as Lord Chancellor. Gibson Dunn marked his promotion to the shadow cabinet last April in a statement on its website. A QC, his role at the company is understood to focus on giving advice on what the law means. He has declared his work for the firm in the Lords’ register of interests. Labour leader Sir Keir has heaped criticism on an alleged “revolving door” between the Government and paid lobbyists in the wake of the row over the collapsed lender Greensill. Amanda Milling, chairman of the Conservative party, said of Lord Falconer’s links to a firm that provides lobbying services: “Is this a case of one rule for Labour and another for everyone else? It’s clear that Labour’s have questions to answer.” Tory MP Richard Holden said: “Labour London lawyers in their crystal palaces would be well advised against throwing stones.” A source close to Lord Falconer said that any suggestion that his work amounts to lobbying is “an absurd claim” that he “emphatically denies”. The source added: “Charlie Falconer is a lawyer, not a lobbyist. His work has all been properly declared. Since being employed by Gibson Dunn he has never lobbied any government minister from either Labour or Conservative governments. “The Conservatives should stop wasting time on bizarre and misleading claims and instead answer questions about how Greensill Capital was given the run of Whitehall, putting taxpayer money and thousands of jobs on the line.”

  • Parties call for inquiry into Boris Johnson’s ‘failure to be honest’

    Parties call for inquiry into Boris Johnson’s ‘failure to be honest’Exclusive: Commons Speaker asked to allow vote on inquiry as government spokesperson says ‘PM follows the ministerial code’ UK prime minister Boris Johnson during PMQs in the House of Commons. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/UK parliament handout/EPA

  • U.S. says Chad rebels heading towards capital from north

    N'DJAMENA (Reuters) -The United States said rebel fighters in Chad appeared to be moving towards the capital N'Djamena and ordered non-essential staff to leave, warning of possible violence. A spokesman for the rebel Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) said its fighters had "liberated" the province of Kanem, some 220 km (136 miles) from the capital N'Djamena, but the government denied this. "The authors of these false statements are not even on the ground, but somewhere in Europe," the government said in a message posted to Facebook.

  • Rise in students asking to repeat year after campus shutdowns

    Rise in students asking to repeat year after campus shutdowns. Final exam worries grow with in-person teaching still banned at universities in England

  • Reunited in grief: How Prince Harry spent a golden hour talking with his family

    They gamely presented a united front in the aftermath of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, strolling side by side and chatting amiably as they emerged from St George’s Chapel into the sunshine. But the Duke of Sussex, 36, was afforded a rare opportunity to have a proper heart to heart with his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, his father and his grandmother on Saturday, as they returned to the confines of Windsor Castle. There, a couple of hours after the ceremony, when most other guests had melted away, senior members of the Royal family spent around an hour together, face to face for the first time in more than a year. There, reunited in grief and in their support for the Queen, Prince Harry is understood to have spent valuable time with Her Majesty, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It was the first time they had been together under one roof since the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey last March, when the frostiness and the tension was palpable.

  • De Niro unable to turn down acting roles because of his ‘estranged wife's expensive lifestyle’

    Hollywood legend Robert De Niro is unable to turn down acting roles because he must pay for his estranged wife's expensive tastes, the actor's lawyer has claimed. Caroline Krauss told a Manhattan court that he is struggling financially because of the pandemic, a massive tax bill and the demands of Grace Hightower, who filed for divorce in 2018 after 21 years of marriage. The court has been asked to settle how much De Niro should pay Ms Hightower, 66, until the terms of the prenuptial agreement the couple negotiated in 2004 takes effect. “Mr De Niro is 77 years old, and while he loves his craft, he should not be forced to work at this prodigious pace because he has to,” Ms Krauss told the court. “When does that stop? When does he get the opportunity to not take every project that comes along and not work six-day weeks, 12-hour days so he can keep pace with Ms Hightower’s thirst for Stella McCartney?”

  • Vaccines in numbers: 42,780,069 jabs given in the UK

    Government data up to April 17 shows that of the 42,780,069 jabs given in the UK so far, 32,849,223 were first doses – a rise of 139,445 on the previous day. Some 9,930,846 were second doses, an increase of 499,635.

  • Cutting the cost of Covid tests for travellers

    Cutting the cost of Covid tests for travellersMike Whittaker has a suggestion to reduce test costs for those wishing to travel abroad, while Catherine Dunn says that if the government invested in public health infrastructure, we would have a more effective testing system ‘In principle, the samples from all persons in a travel group could be combined into one single sample tube, which is then tested with a single test.’ Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

  • Analysis: Beijing huddles with friends, seeks to fracture U.S.-led 'clique'

    China is shoring up ties with autocratic partners like Russia and Iran, as well as economically dependent regional countries, while using sanctions and threats to try to fracture the alliances the United States is building against it. Worryingly for Beijing, diplomats and analysts say, the Biden administration has got other democracies to toughen up to a rising, more globally assertive China on human rights and regional security issues like the disputed South China Sea. "China has always resolutely opposed the U.S. side engaging in bloc politics along ideological lines, and ganging up to form anti-China cliques," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement to Reuters.

  • Victoria Beckham Celebrates Birthday With Kim Kardashian And Husband David In Miami

    The former Spice Girl’s 47th was a star-studded affair.

  • Sinn Fein leader apologises for the death of Lord Mountbatten following Prince Philip's funeral

    The leader of Sinn Fein has said she is sorry for the murder of the Lord Mountbatten by the IRA following the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh. Mary Lou McDonald, the President of the republican party, said the death of the Duke’s uncle in 1979 was “heartbreaking” and that it was her responsibility to “lead from the front.” Her comments represent a significant shift from her predecessor Gerry Adams, who has refused to apologise for his previous claims that Lord Mountbatten “knew the danger” and could not “have objected to dying in what was clearly a war situation.” Lord Mountbatten was assassinated in August 1979 while holidaying at his summer home Classiebawn Castle. His boat was blown up by the IRA using a bomb that had been placed on the vessel. The explosion also killed his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, Lady Brabourne, the boy's grandmother, and 14-year-old Paul Maxwell a local boat boy.

  • Rapid Covid tests used by schoolchildren investigated for containing wrong instructions

    Chinese-made lateral flow tests handed to millions of schoolchildren are being investigated by the regulator after being sent out with the wrong instructions, The Telegraph can reveal. Devices have been handed out accompanied by out-of-date guidance that states they can be used if a person has symptoms. The boxes also contained a “confusing” notice from their Chinese manufacturer erroneously saying that the tests were for use by people “suspected of Covid-19 by their healthcare provider”. This contradicts the Government’s stated purpose for its mass rollout of the 30-minute turnaround tests, which is to catch infections in asymptomatic individuals, believed to comprise one in three Covid carriers. People with symptoms are supposed to get a PCR laboratory test, the results of which are reported automatically, triggering the contact tracing process. Experts warned on Sunday that if people with symptoms think it is permissible to use only a lateral flow test then they may not report their positive result, self-isolate, or give contact tracers the chance to reach others they may have infected. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has confirmed it is investigating the issue. It comes after leaked emails revealed that health officials fear the devices could pick up “on an optimistic assumption” only 10 per cent of infections when self-administered, and suggested they are considering scaling back the programme. Tens of millions of the devices are being used in schools, where children are required to be tested twice weekly.