The Czech Republic cannot rule out legal action if the European Union tries to put in place any permanent quota system for distributing asylum seekers, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Sunday. The country was one of four central and eastern European states to oppose an EU quota scheme approved by member states last year to distribute 120,000 asylum seekers. Now the European Commission wants a permanent re-distribution system in place. The Czech leader said he thought it was unlikely the bloc would approve a permanent quota plan. “I expect…
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Moderate teachers’ union backs calls for industrial action over Government plan to force schools to become academies
Schools are being lined up ‘in preparation for wholesale privatisation,’ Mark Baker said PA A traditionally moderate teachers’ union has thrown its weight behind calls for industrial action over the Government’s plan to force all schools to become academies. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers voted unanimously in favour of urging its executive to consider action if the Government failed to listen to its opponents and withdraw the plan. The union’s move follows a decision by the National Union of Teachers over the Easter weekend to ballot its members on…
Read MoreTeachers consider taking industrial action with junior doctors over Government academy plan
Teachers may take joint action with the junior doctors as part of their campaign against the Government, National Union of Teachers general secretary Christine Blower has said. In her farewell speech to the NUT conference Ms Blower said she had received a letter of support from Yannis Gourtsoyannis of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors’ committee after her union had voted to back a ballot on strike action over the Government’s proposal to turn every state school into an academy. The junior doctors are also in the middle of a…
Read MoreBest beaches for action and activities
North Shore Oahu, Hawaii: marvel at surf masters Each December, surfers compete for the coveted Pipeline Masters surf title. All the action takes place in cavernous barrelling waves that come close to shore. Oahu’s north coast also sees the world’s best big-wave competition: theQuiksilver Big Wave Invitational, in memory of local surfer Eddie Aikau. It’s held only when the waves are more than six metres high. There’s an opening ceremony on 1 December each year, but the actual contest has run just nine times in 31 years. • The Garden…
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