Eight more state schools are set to re-open in the flood-affected Townsville region, taking the total number of schools re-opened to 20.

Education Minister Grace Grace has announced the appointment of a Disaster Recovery Coordinator to help flood-ravaged state schools get back to normal.

Ms Grace says alternative arrangements will be made for students from state schools which are unable to be re-opened.

Bees have a grasp of basic maths and are able to add and subtract, a joint Australian-French study has shown.

In an experiment with far reaching implications, scientists taught honey bees to recognise colours as plus or minus symbols.

Armed with this knowledge, they went on to solve basic mathematical problems set by the scientists.

The bees completed the tasks with a success rate of up to 75 per cent. Understanding how a tiny bee brain can do arithmetic could lead to better artificial intelligence (AI) systems, according to the Australian and French team.

While Australia suffered through its hottest January on record, around the world things aren’t much better.

The past four years - 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 - have been confirmed as the warmest years on record around the world, according to new research released by the UN's World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on Thursday.

Average global surface temperatures were 1.0 degree Celsius above pre-industrial times in 2018, the report said, based on data from US, British, Japanese and European weather agencies.

A second US politician has been embroiled in scandal, apologising for wearing blackface to a party in 1980 to impersonate a rapper.

Attorney General Mark Herring is second in line for for the governorship of the state of Virginia, where the Democratic governor and the lieutenant governor are already facing claims of scandal.

Herring, 57, who has served as attorney general since 2014, apologised for what he described as "callous and inexcusable lack of awareness."

Brazilian health experts are warning of a potential health crisis after a dam containing mining waste collapsed in the state of Minas Gerais.

There are fears the contamination could result in the spread of dengue, yellow fever or diarrhoea for communities in the affected area.

Authorities are continuing their search for 199 missing people following the dam collapse, but no one has been found alive since January 26.

Japanese authorities are slaughtering thousands of pigs in a bid to halt the outbreak of swine flu.

Farm Minister Takamori Yoshikawa says they are facing a critical stage.

The government could end up killing a total of 15,000 pigs.

More than 100 extra police officers have been sent to help the flood-ravaged community of Townsville.

The reinforcements will assist local officers who are set to return to regular policing duties.

Inspector Damien Irvine says the officers will help with flood recovery operations as well as protect empty houses from possible looting.

Four women have made allegations of sexual misconduct against the CEO of Victoria's Aboriginal Legal Service Wayne Muir.

Mr Muir is facing accusations of rape, indecent assault and sexual harassment, which are alleged to have taken place between 1987 and 2003.

He has denied the allegations of rape and indecent assault as false and defamatory.

The Crime Stoppers call centre will be operated by Queensland police due to a lack of public funding.

There are fears over the centre’s loss of independence and the possible reduction in the number of calls to the service.

Police Minister Mark Ryan says he is confident Crime Stoppers will not be negatively impacted by the transition.