SBS News in Easy English 16 February 2024
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Greece’s parliament has approved a bill allowing same-sex civil marriage.
It is now one of the first Orthodox Christian countries to allow such unions.
Supporters of marriage equality say it is a landmark victory in a country that is socially conservative.
Nikos Nikolaidis was part of a crowd that had gathered in Athens to celebrate the bill.
“I am here because this is a very important step towards establishing human rights, towards equality, and a very important step for Greek society.”
A woman has died in floodwaters in northwest Queensland.
Emergency services say the 28 year old woman from Townsville was found in her car in the flooded Malbon River at Duchess, near Mount Isa.
Queensland Police have launched an investigation into what happened.
The federal government says it will provide more money to Ukraine as they fight Russia’s invasion.
The $50 million will go to the International Fund for Ukraine.
The fund uses contributions from around the world to buy military equipment and provide other support.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Crews are testing gardens and parks across Sydney to check for mulch that could be contaminated with asbestos.
Officials from the Environmental Protection Authority are also checking seven schools to see if the contaminated mulch is there.
E-P-A chief Tony Chappel says there is no need for people to be worried.
“New South Wales Health advise very clearly that bonded asbestos, if undisturbed, does not present a significant risk. Obviously in different contexts it can be disturbed, and we always take it seriously and work rapidly to remediate and remove it. But the community can be confident that they can go about their lives and they’re not facing a significant risk.”
Forty four homes have been destroyed in the western Victoria town of Pomonal, in the Grampians.
But that number of could increase as residents return to assess the damage from a recent bushfire.
Almost all of the fires sparked in Victoria on Tuesday are believed to have been started by lightning strikes.
Elsewhere, about 33,000 homes and businesses are still without power because of those storms.
Authorities say most will be re-connected to electricity by Saturday.
A senior foreign affairs official says critics of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees are exaggerating claims of mismanagement because they want it to be closed.
Australia has suspending funding for the UN-R-W-A as misconduct allegations are investigated.
Greens Deputy Leader Mehreen Faruqi has said that money must be restored because there is no evidence of wrongdoing.
Foreign Affairs Assistant secretary Marc Brown has told Senate Estimates they could not ignore the allegations, but are aware of the context.
”Unfortunately often these reports can contain a significant amount of exaggeration and so on. I mean, the agenda – and this is well known – the agenda is for UNRWA to be disbanded.”
An inquiry has begun into diabetes in Australia, and how the food and grocery industry can help prevent the disease.
A tax on sugary drinks and limits on junk food ads are in place in some countries to reduce obesity, which is a primary risk factor for type two diabetes.
But Tanya Barden from the Australian Food and Grocery Council says that is not the right approach.
She says there must be other ways to address the problem.
“Internationally, the implementation of heavy handed regulations to address preventive health has not resulted in reductions of obesity, and in fact has been repealed in some countries.”
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