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. …

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 …

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 …

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 …