One of the most closely-contested general elections for decades formally gets under way today, with David Cameron accusing Labour of planning a £3,000 tax hike for every working family.
The Prime Minister is expected to warn of a "stark choice" facing the country when he returns to Downing Street after a symbolic final audience of his term in office with the Queen.
His Conservative Party entered the first day of campaigning buoyed by an opinion poll giving it a four-point lead over Labour - its biggest advantage since September 2010.
School staff 'face false claims'
More than one in five school staff have had a false allegation made against them by a pupil, a survey has found.
A further 7% said they have faced untrue claims from a student's parent or family member.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), which conducted the poll, said false allegations are blighting careers and putting added stress onto education workers.
Warning over pension data sales
An investigation has been launched into claims millions of people's pension pot details are being sold and ending up in the hands of criminals.
Pensioners' salaries, the value of their investments and the size of their pensions are being sold for as little as 5p without their consent, the Daily Mail reports.
The financial details are allegedly being bought by fraudsters and cold-calling firms.
Probe leak blunder costs SFO £180k
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been fined £180,000 after thousands of confidential documents from an investigation into defence giant BAE Systems were sent to the wrong person.
The UK's privacy regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), took action against the anti-fraud unit after evidence relating to 64 people was mistakenly sent to a witness in the case.
It is the first time the SFO has been fined by the watchdog, who said the public would be "quite rightly shocked" that information from such a high-profile case was not kept secure.
Hopkins' Rochdale tweets reported
Katie Hopkins has been reported to police over claims that she may have incited racial hatred in Rochdale by suggesting Pakistani men in the area were sex abusers.
Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who represents the town, sent an email to the Police Commissioner of Greater Manchester Police, Tony Lloyd, asking him to investigate whether a crime had been committed.
In it he complains the reality TV star had used Twitter to associate the Pakistani flag with the grooming of young girls in Rochdale, a scandal which has rocked the area.
Andy halts Redmayne awards run
Oscar-winning The Theory Of Everything star Eddie Redmayne has found himself in the unusual position of being pipped to an award.
Redmayne, who took the best actor Oscar and Bafta award for playing science genius Stephen Hawking, saw his clean sweep of award wins ended by Lord Of The Rings star Andy Serkis at the 2015 Jameson Empire Awards.
Serkis was named best actor for his motion-capture performance in Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, the style of acting that brought him to popular attention when he played the creature Gollum in Peter Jackson's trilogy and more recently in the first Hobbit film.
Oliver in food education petition
Jamie Oliver is launching a global petition calling for all children to be given food education.
The TV chef said it was "shocking" that worldwide obesity has doubled since 1980 and action needs to be taken to deal with the problem.
The petition, which is running on the change.org website, urges the governments of G20 countries - which includes the UK - to give youngsters practical food education in schools.
Group criticises council's banned law
A new law which allows councils to ban activities in public spaces is leading to "bizarre new criminal offences", campaigners against heavy regulation have said - despite public approval for the measures.
The Manifesto Club says the elderly, young people, buskers and homeless people could be deemed criminals as councils and other authorities introduce a "patchwork of criminal law" as part of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.
Authorities can use public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) to ban certain activities designed to restrict freedoms, the campaign group says.
Many underestimate child's weight
Parents with obese children may not be able to recognise that their child is overweight unless they are at very extreme levels of obesity, research has found.
The study found that parents were more likely to underestimate their child's weight if they were black or south Asian, from more deprived backgrounds or if the child was male.
The research, which is published in the British Journal of General Practice, discovered that just under a third (31%) of the parents that took part in the study underestimated where their child's body mass index (BMI) was on obesity scales, which classify children as very overweight (or obese), overweight, healthy weight, or underweight.
Cold set to bite back over Easter
Hopes of a sunny Easter break have been washed away as Britain braces itself for a week of wind, rain and even snow.
The country was hit by torrential rain and gale-force winds yesterday, and the miserable weather is set to continue.
Forecasters have predicted Easter Sunday itself will be dry - but still cold and cloudy.
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