Greece: More than 100,000 protesters from across Greece have converged on Athens' main square to protest against a potential Greek compromise in a dispute with neighbouring Macedonia over the former Yugoslav republic's official name. Hundreds of chartered buses brought protesters in from around the country to the Greek capital, while more people arrived on ferries from the islands. Traffic was blocked throughout the city centre and three major subway stops were closed. Chanting "Hands off Macedonia!" and "Macedonia belongs to Greece!" the protesters converged on Syntagma Square. Police officials estimated the attendance at 140,000. Organisers claimed 1.5 million were at the rally.
Australia: Women in Australia are far less likely to consider wolf-whistling and even being hit up for sex as unacceptable, a study on attitudes about sexual harassment suggests. Two Perth universities have polled 1734 women from 12 countries, finding Australians will accept certain behaviours than others feel crosses the line. Just 26 per cent of the Australians surveyed believed it was inappropriate for a man to ask them for sex at a social event. But that's an absolute no-no for Egyptians, with 100 per cent objecting, along with Indonesians (99 per cent), Japanese (97 per cent), and Portuguese women (88 per cent). And only 25 per cent of Australian women thought wolf-whistling was inappropriate. However 64 per cent of Australian women don't appreciate a man showing up at places they're known to visit in the hope of an encounter. And 74 per cent think it's inappropriate for a man to send them strange parcels. That compares to 7 per cent and 23 per cent for Italians. The study involved women from Australia, Armenia, England, Egypt, Finland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Scotland and Trinidad. It's been published in the journal Aggressive Behaviour.
United States: Supporters of a Kansas chemistry teacher hope immigration officials will be lenient because he has lived in the US for 30 years without problems and has a family. The Kansas City Star reports Syed Ahmed Jamal was arrested in his front yard in Lawrence, Kansas, on January 24 as he walked his daughter to school. The 55-year-old Jamal, who is from Bangladesh, arrived in the US in 1987 to study at the University of Kansas. Most recently, he was teaching at Park University. Jamal's lawyer, Jeffrey Bennett, says an immigration judge allowed Jamal to remain in the country on a supervised basis provided he checked in regularly.
Britain: Construction of a tunnel past Stonehenge could spell the loss of a "unique" site which can trace the presence of people back to the last Ice Age, experts warn. Perfectly preserved hoofprints of wild cattle known as aurochs have recently been found at excavations near the famous stone circle in Wiltshire, University of Buckingham archaeologist David Jacques says. The 6000-year-old hoofprints, preserved in what appears to be a ritualistic manner, are the latest in a wealth of finds in a decade-long dig at Blick Mead, which Jacques says forms a "national archive of British history". But the tunnel, and a flyover close to the Blick Mead excavations, could irrevocably damage the site, he says. The Government has backed plans for the roadworks near the neolithic stone circle to ease congestion and improve the setting of Stonehenge.
Australia: Japan's Peace Boat has sailed into Sydney Harbour carrying survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings as well as descendants of Aboriginal survivors of the 1950s Maralinga nuclear testing, to advocate for nuclear disarmament. The 11-storey vessel is visiting Sydney as part of its 'Making Waves' tour, which is exploring the devastating humanitarian consequences of the use and testing of nuclear weapons.
Science: Children whose mothers took antibiotics during pregnancy face a greater risk of needing hospital treatment for infections, research suggests. A study by the Melbourne-based Murdoch Children's Research Institute has found children born to mums who took antibiotics during pregnancy can have up to a 20 per cent higher chance of being hospitalised with an infection. Those whose mothers who took antibiotics while pregnant and had vaginal births were at a greater risk of infection than those delivered by caesarean section. The findings, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, were based on a data from Denmark.
United States: A report says 35 manatees across Florida have died as a result of cold stress syndrome in January. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says that was five times as many deaths compared to the same period in 2017. But it doesn't come close to the 151 manatees that died during a cold snap in January 2010.
India: A ship carrying 22 Indian crew and 13,500 tonnes of petrol is missing in the Gulf of Guinea after contact was lost in Benin, the company and India's minister of external affairs say. The Gulf of Guinea has become an increasing target for pirates who steal cargo and demand ransoms. The Marine Express tanker, managed by Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern, was last see in Benin's waters after which contact was lost. A search was under way, conducted with help from Nigerian and Beninese authorities, Anglo-Eastern said.
Britain: Fossils discovered in a quarry in south Wales have been identified as a new small species of reptile that lived 205 million years ago. The species has been named Clevosaurus cambrica, the second part being Latin and referring to the fact it comes from Wales. Emily Keeble, an undergraduate at the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, studied the fossils as part of her final year project for her palaeontology degree. The fossils were collected in the Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry, close to Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, in the 1950s. They belong to a new species of the so-called 'Gloucester lizard' Clevosaurus, named in 1939 after Clevum, the Latin name for Gloucester. In the Late Triassic period, the hills of south Wales and the south west of England formed an archipelago that was inhabited with small dinosaurs and relatives of the Tuatara.
Australia: More than A$60 million has so far been paid to former Manus Island detainees as part of Australia's largest human rights class action settlement. Most of the 1696 people sharing the total A$70 million settlement have been sent their payments, the Victorian Supreme Court heard today. By the end of today, almost A$60.3 million will have been paid to 1447 former detainees.
- agencies