
Trump Turns Up the Heat: Australia Pressured to Boost Defence Spending or Face Trade Penalties
The Trump administration is putting mounting pressure on Australia to drastically increase its defence spending, aligning with NATO’s new benchmark of 5% of GDP. While NATO allies recently accepted this demand, Australia is resisting calls

Australia marks 25th anniversary of East Timor service
Today marks 25 years since Australian troops were first deployed to Timor-Leste. Around 5,500 Australian service personnel were sent to Timor-Leste in 1999, the largest deployment of Australian troops since the Vietnam War, after the

Experts predict no interest rate relief until 2025
Stressed homeowners will have to wait until next year for mortgage relief, according to a polled array of experts. Comparison spoke to 42 experts and economists for this month’s RBA Cash Rate Survey, and every

More cash for millions of Australians from today as welfare payments rise
More than five million people will have more cash in their pockets from today as welfare payments receive an indexation boost. Age and disability pensions, rent assistance, carer payments, and JobSeeker payments all increase from

Thousands Rally in Melbourne for CFMEU Support Amidst Crackdown
Thousands of tradies and union members rallied in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday in support of the CFMEU, with a key union leader praising John Setka as an exemplary leader. Thousands Rally in Melbourne for CFMEU

Nearly $18 billion in lost or unclaimed super, tax office says
Almost $18 billion in lost and unclaimed super is waiting for Australians to pick it up. The Australian Taxation Office is urging people to check whether any of the current $17.8 billion pool belongs to

Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocides to be Included in NSW School Curriculum
In a landmark decision, the New South Wales (NSW) Education Standards Authority (NESA) has finalized its History Syllabus for Years 7 to 10, incorporating a mandatory study of Australia’s humanitarian efforts during World War I.

Mitsotakis pushes for EU action on Libya migration route and defence funding
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking after the conclusion of the EU Summit, called for urgent action to address a new irregular migration route emerging from Eastern Libya to Crete. “We will use every means available—carrot and stick—to ensure this route is not consolidated,” he stressed. Mitsotakis announced that the

Turkey sending fourth energy drill ship into Cyprus’ waters for oil exploration
Turkey has sent its fourth drilling ship to the eastern Mediterranean waters to participate in the exploration for natural gas and oil within the Cypriot maritime economic zones, defying European and international warnings. The Ministry

Mitsotakis govt announces measures to prevent another 2015-like migrant/refugee crisis
A recent spike in the number of landings of vessels carrying irregular migrants and would-be asylum seekers to a handful of eastern Aegean islands generated a Greek government reaction on Saturday, with a top defense

Greek FM summons Turkey’s Ambassador over mass migrants’ arrivals
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias summoned the Turkish ambassador to Athens in order to express Greece’s deep dissatisfaction over the increased influx of migrants from Turkey, that culminated with the unprecedented mass arrivals of more than

Major spike in number of illegal migrants, would-be asylum seekers landing in Lesvos last week
A significant spike in the number of small craft carrying third country nationals, mostly Afghans, to the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos (Mytilene) was recorded on Thursday, with no less than 13 flimsy inflatable vessels

Cosco-led Piraeus Port Authority submits revised master plan; worth 800 mln€
A revised master plan by the Cosco-managed Piraeus Port Authority was tabled on Friday for review by a shipping ministry ports committee in the coming period. The revised master plan, which according to the port

Mitsotakis to Observer: Athens will ask for loaning of Parthenon Marbles amid 2021 series of events
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the “loaning” of the Parthenon Marbles – 14 friezes or metopes – from the British Museum in London to Greece on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of

Trump Turns Up the Heat: Australia Pressured to Boost Defence Spending or Face Trade Penalties
The Trump administration is putting mounting pressure on Australia to drastically increase its defence spending, aligning with NATO’s new benchmark of 5% of GDP. While NATO allies recently accepted this demand, Australia is resisting calls to push its military budget beyond its current trajectory of 2.3% of GDP—well short of

Ask Your Heart, a film about a Muslim girl who falls in love with a crypto-Christian in Turkey
The Turkish film Yuregine Sor (Ask Your Heart) is a true story about a woman of Muslim faith (Esma) who falls in love with a crypto-Christian (Mustafa). Prior to 1856, Christians in the Ottoman Empire

NATO Command in Smyrna congratulates Turkey on the Asia Minor Genocide
NATO congratulated Turkey for the events that led to the Greek & Armenian Genocides – A similar message was posted by NATO last year, but it was deleted after the strong reaction of Athens In

The British Museum lost the argument that Parthenon Sculptures safer in London
Against the backdrop of the scandal of the theft of hundreds of valuable objects from the British Museum, Greece’s Culture Minister Lina Mendoni stressed that the institution’s argument for the non-return of the Parthenon Sculptures

Turkish attack in Pyla Cyprus is a challenge to status quo
The violent attack on Unficyp personnel in the buffer zone by Turkish Cypriot soldiers and policemen, some in plain clothes was universally condemned by the international community. Never before has an incident in the buffer

French Riviera: Following Herakles’ Steps in Monaco
A whole coastline is full of a glamorous lifestyle, and then, there’s the Principality of Monaco, the second-smallest state after Vatican City and the most densely populated sovereign state in the world. Having a huge

Hagia Sophia’s reverberant acoustic sound as it was 15 centuries ago
With a stunning reverberating sound time of over 11 seconds. The acoustics of Hagia Sophia were measured and analyzed and auralized in real-time on Cappella Romana’s performance by the Icons of Sound team at Stanford