
Australia to mandate cash payments for essential purchases from 2026
Australia will introduce a nationwide cash mandate requiring major grocery and fuel retailers to accept cash payments from January 1, 2026, in a move aimed at protecting consumers who rely on physical currency for everyday

AFL 2025 Grand Final: Keys to Victory for Geelong Cats and Brisbane Lions
On Saturday, the Geelong Cats and Brisbane Lions will clash on the AFL’s biggest stage for the 2025 Grand Final, each aiming for the championship. AFL analyst Mick McGuane dons his “coach’s hat” to reveal

Albanese at the UN: strong rebuke of ‘Dictators’ and ‘Tyrants’ – direct message to Iran and Russia
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivered a forceful first address to the United Nations General Assembly, calling on world leaders to stand firm against “dictators,” “tyrants,” and authoritarian regimes undermining global peace and democracy. In

Albanese’s first meeting with Trump: warm words, sharp climate divide
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described his first face-to-face encounter with US President Donald Trump as “warm and engaging” after the two leaders shook hands and posed for a selfie in New York. The

Emma Mason moves UN with emotional plea: Protect children from the dangers of social media
Australian mother Emma Mason brought world leaders to their feet at the United Nations, urging countries to follow Australia’s lead in banning social media for children under 16. Mason, who spearheads News Corp Australia’s Let

Albanese finally meets Trump in New York
Anthony Albanese has met Donald Trump face-to-face after the US president used his UN speech to ridicule those buying into a “global warming hoax”, and criticised Australia for backing a Palestinian state. In a tense

Optus crisis: Kerry Schott to head independent review into deadly triple-zero outage
Telecommunications giant Optus has appointed Dr Kerry Schott AO to lead an independent investigation into last week’s catastrophic triple-zero failure, which has been linked to the deaths of three Australians. The announcement, made this morning,

Mitsotakis unveils major housing, loan and farming measures during Budget speech
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis used his address to Parliament during the debate on the State Budget to announce a series of significant policy initiatives targeting housing affordability, Swiss franc loan holders, and farmers. The announcements were described as some of the most substantial interventions of the current parliamentary term.

The 23-year-old farmer who drove the roadblocks and the government crazy with her fighting spirit
The 23-year-old farmer who drove the roadblocks and the government crazy with her fighting spirit has become a symbol of resilience and authenticity in Greece’s ongoing farmers’ protests. Anna Kampani, just 23 years old, has

Director of “Avgi” resigns after controversial front page featuring Alexis Tsipras
A significant internal shock has hit SYRIZA after the director of the newspaper Avgi, Spyros Sourmelidis, resigned following a controversial Sunday front page that placed former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in direct contrast with the

Tragedy south of Crete: Seventeen illegal migrants found dead — bodies stored in refrigerated truck as authorities investigate
Greek authorities are facing a major tragedy after 17 bodies of illegal migrants were recovered south of Crete following the sinking of a small boat in rough seas. Only two survivors, aged 16 and 20,

Tragedy in Zakynthos: Father of 2-year-old Leo speaks out — “I took in the pit bull because it was dying, and it killed my son”
The father of 2-year-old Leo, who was killed after being mauled by a pit bull in the village of Agios Leontas on Zakynthos, has spoken publicly in deep grief. The dog, which was kept chained

Farmers begin airport blockades: “This is a warning – we are not backing down”
Greek farmers are escalating their nationwide mobilisations, warning the government that symbolic road and border blockades are only the beginning. Speaking to journalists, representatives from agricultural unions insist they “will not retreat unless justice is

Pavlos Kontogiannidis launches fierce attack on Alexis Tsipras over new party plans
Greek actor and former MP Pavlos Kontogiannidis has issued an unusually harsh public critique of former prime minister Alexis Tsipras, accusing him of hypocrisy, political opportunism and an attempt to launch a new political party

Libya parliament speaker declares Turkey–Libya memorandum invalid, opens door to talks with Greece, Egypt and Turkey
Libya’s House of Representatives Speaker, Aqila Saleh, has publicly declared the 2019 Turkey–Libya maritime memorandum “invalid,” marking the first such statement in six years and signalling a potential shift in Libya’s approach to maritime disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean. Speaking to the Libyan News Agency, just days after an official

Stock markets around the world are crashing right now, but why?
The answer to this question is the Yen carry trade, a term you’ll probably hear many times this week. So what exactly is the Yen carry trade and why did it cause a market downturn?

Japan’s Nikkei is down 12%, the largest drop ever
Japan’s Nikkei is down 12%, the largest point ever, as fears of a US recession shook global markets. The Topix index erased its yearly gains, experiencing its steepest sell-off since “Black Monday” in October 1987.

Will Turkey attack NATO with American ships?
President Joe Biden pushed through his sale of F-16s and upgrade kits to Turkey on the logic that the deal was necessary to get Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to drop his objection to Sweden

Australia’s preeminent strategic thinkers: The era of Anglo-Saxon dominance in the Pacific is ending
This might be the most compelling and influential argument against AUKUS, particularly because it comes from one of Australia’s foremost strategic thinkers: Hugh White, the inaugural Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and

The impending conflict between NATO allies: Greece and Turkey
The relations between Turkey and Greece have never been normal. The legacy of Mongol Turkish conquest of Greece in the fifteenth-century poisons all connections between Turks and Greeks. The Greeks remember their Turkish oppressors like

Arab Coalition with Iran in response to Israel: The crucial meeting in Tehran
In the wake of the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Iran is mobilising what it calls the “axis of resistance” against Israel. High-ranking officials have been summoned to Tehran for consultations, raising fears of

