Last Sunday, around 45000 people marched with the ‘Republic Now’ protest in Barcelona in support of independence.

Despite formidable legal obstacles, the marchers took part in the rally to demand formation of a new Catalan government.

Rally organiser, Augusti Alcoberro, said people took to the streets as citizens to demand that the republic they voted for in October continues forward.

Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari has revealed plans to negotiate the release of 110 girls abducted from a school last month rather than use military action to free them by force.

The girls were allegedly abducted by jihadist group Boko Haram, with the group accused of kidnapping the girls on February 9th.

The kidnapping is one of the largest since Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in 2014; approximately 100 are yet to be released.

Police are calling for males that resided in a Sydney boys home from 1965 to 1985 to come forward after a sixty-seven year old man was arrested following sexual assault allegations.

Twenty-five staff members have also been linked to the assaults as persons of interest.

An investigation into the school has found that eighty boys aged ten to fourteen had endured significant sexual abuse.

Detective Superintendent Brett McFadden has advised victims to come forward to have an opportunity to be heard.

A recent study showing high rates of STDs in Aboriginal children has lead Federal Children’s Minister, David Gillespie to discuss relaxing adoption rules for Aboriginal children.

While acknowledging concerns of a new stolen generation, Gillespie said he thinks it is more important to place children in a safe environment rather than one with a shared culture.

Gillespie also said his concern with the overall low rate of adoption, with only 143 out of nearly 48000 children in foster care  adopted.

The Noosa Festival of Surfing started Tuesday and will continue to run through the week at First Point, Noosa.

Now in its twenty-seventh year, the festival is the biggest surfing event in the world by participation with nine-hundred entries last year.

The festival’s professional division attracts some of the best surfers from around the world, but the festival caters to all age divisions from ‘grommets’ to ‘grandpas’ plus team divisions for family generations and clubs.

An online skin cancer test developed by Queensland researchers is said to identify people with high risk of melanoma within 90 seconds.

The tool, which consists of questions and comparative pictures allows the user to perform a self assessment on the risk of developing cancerous moles.

The simple test has proven to be effective and Professor David Whiteman of the institute said the test is the most robust instrument that they have ever been able to develop for predicting the risk of melanoma.