All posts tagged: Rebuke

Ofqual’s first ‘rebuke’ of exam board over serious failures

Ofqual’s first ‘rebuke’ of exam board over serious failures

Ofqual’s chief regulator has issued his first formal “rebuke” to an exam board for “serious failures” over a six year period. The exams watchdog said WJEC failed to collect and monitor centre declaration forms for four of its Eduqas GCSE, AS and A Level qualifications between 2019 and 2025, which are offered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The rebuke was first introduced as an enforcement tool in October 2025. It is used for cases that are serious enough to be publicly held to account, but do not warrant a fine. A WJEC spokesperson said they regretted the instances of non-compliance and had strengthened prevention measures. The declaration forms are required to show that centres have complied with the subject content requirements. The exam board admitted it had failed to make the relevant staff aware of the requirements related to the declaration forms. Affected qualifications include GCSE drama, AS and A Level drama and theatre, GCSE geography, and GCSE computer science. ‘No evidence for adverse effect on learners’ Chief regulator Ian Bauckham said the rebuke …

Democrats rejoice in Supreme Court rebuke of Trump tariffs

Democrats rejoice in Supreme Court rebuke of Trump tariffs

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks at a press conference with other members of Senate Democratic leadership following a policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 28, 2026. Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Images Congressional Democrats rejoiced on Friday and Republicans remained divided in the wake of a momentous Supreme Court decision striking down a large portion of President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda. “Trump’s chaotic and illegal tariff tax made life more expensive and our economy more unstable. Families paid more. Small businesses and farmers got squeezed. Markets swung wildly,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement after the decision. “We’ve said from day one: a president cannot ignore Congress and unilaterally slap tariffs on Americans. That overreach failed.” The ruling is a major hit to Trump, who used a novel reading of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to slap a barrage of tariffs on American trading partners. Tariffs and the economy more broadly will be a key messaging issue for Democrats on …

Supreme Court strikes down Trump tariffs in rebuke of signature policy

Supreme Court strikes down Trump tariffs in rebuke of signature policy

The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a huge chunk of President Donald Trump’s far-reaching tariff agenda, delivering a major rebuke of the president’s key economic policy. The law that undergirds those import duties “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs,” the majority ruled six to three in the long-awaited decision. The ruling is a massive loss for Trump, who has made tariffs — and his asserted power to impose them on any country at any time, without congressional input — a central feature of his administration’s economic and foreign policies. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion of the court. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. Trump’s legal stance “would represent a transformative expansion of the President’s authority over tariff policy,” the majority concluded. They noted that before Trump, no president had ever used the statute in question “to impose any tariffs, let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope.” To justify the “extraordinary” tariff powers, Trump must “point to clear congressional authorization,” the court wrote. “He cannot.” The ruling …

Trump takes a beating from GOP amid Epstein files and tariffs rebuke

Trump takes a beating from GOP amid Epstein files and tariffs rebuke

US President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he walks to board Marine One prior to departure from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on Feb. 13, 2026. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images President Donald Trump’s iron grip on the Republican Party might be starting to loosen, just a bit. The few elected Republicans who regularly cross him — including Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina — are more vocal than ever. And in recent days, daylight has emerged between the president and a handful of his top supporters in Congress. The apparent shift is underway as Trump, the Republican Party’s undisputed leader, grapples with stubbornly low approval ratings — especially on the economy, a perennial issue on which he was elected that has only grown more important to Americans chafing under high prices. Six U.S. House Republicans voted this week to overturn Trump’s tariffs on Canada. Tillis remained resolute in holding up the president’s Fed chair nomination in protest over a Justice …

Lavrov’s Rare Rebuke Of Trump: In Reality, Relations No Better Than Under Biden

Lavrov’s Rare Rebuke Of Trump: In Reality, Relations No Better Than Under Biden

The Kremlin has lashed out at the Trump administration in a rare moment, revealing its impatience and dissatisfaction with the way trilateral talks focused on ending the Ukraine war are going.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a fresh interview also accused Washington of sabotaging efforts to improve bilateral relations while undermining negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. The charge is ironic, given it is typically the West which mounts the same accusation at Moscow. “Despite all the statements by the Trump administration about the need to end the war… it does not challenge all the laws that Joe Biden passed to punish Russia after the start of the special military operation,” Lavrov said in an interview with TV BRICS. Getty Images “In practice, the opposite is happening: new sanctions are being imposed, a war is being waged against tankers on the high seas, in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said in reference to recent actions involving the US seizing shadow fleet tankers. The Trump administration also slapped sanctions …