
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

Albanese brushes off concerns before Trump meeting – White House summit set for October 20
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on October 20, brushing aside questions about the deep political differences between the two leaders. Speaking to

Australia wipes student debt for millions – major HECS and HELP reforms begin
Starting today, millions of Australians with student loans will see thousands of dollars wiped from their debt as new HECS and HELP repayment rules take effect. The federal government has honoured one of its key

Australia, UK and Canada recognise Palestinian statehood in historic shift – Netanyahu furious
Australia has taken a historic step, joining Britain and Canada in formally recognising an independent and sovereign Palestinian state. The move, announced late Sunday (Sept 22), marks a major break from decades of Western policy

Australia to recognise Palestine: Albanese calls for peace and security
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed Australia will formally recognise a Palestinian state during this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York, joining the UK, Canada and several European nations in a move he

Australians selling burial plots online – Graves become lucrative investments
A striking and somewhat macabre trend is emerging across Australia: burial plots are being listed online as valuable assets, with some fetching more than $150,000. A nationwide shortage of cemetery space, especially in major cities,

Triple tragedy sparks outrage – Optus blamed for fatal emergency network failure
Australia is reeling after a catastrophic Optus outage cut hundreds of Triple Zero (000) emergency calls, resulting in three deaths—including an eight-week-old baby—across South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. Optus CEO Stephen Rue

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.

2nd Greek Youth Diaspora Symposium in Athens: “Connecting the Voices of Young Greeks Worldwide”
The 2nd Greek Youth Diaspora Symposium, a key initiative for strengthening ties between Greece and young Greeks around the world, will take place in Athens from 25 to 28 November 2025 at the Hellenic Cosmos

Mitsotakis says Europe can build its own powerful AI models
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has emphasised that Europe is capable of developing its own powerful artificial intelligence systems, rooted in European values, languages and cultural identity. Speaking in a public discussion with Arthur Mensch,

1,200 millionaires are coming to Greece with €7.7 billion in their suitcases – the country ranks eighth worldwide
Greece ranks eighth globally as a destination for millionaires, attracting over 1,200 individuals annually who seek safety, stability, and a better quality of life for themselves and their families. According to a recent report by

From Austria to Neo Voutza: A new fire truck for volunteers
A new high-capacity fire truck has recently joined the ranks of the Neo Voutza Volunteer Fire Department (PY.S.E.TH.), significantly enhancing its ability to prevent and combat fires in the region. The vehicle is a Mercedes

Greece ejects Turkey’s objections to updated Maritime Spatial Planning Map
Greece has firmly dismissed Ankara’s latest objections to the updated Greek Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) map uploaded to the European Commission’s platform, stressing that Turkey’s claims lack any basis in European or international law. In

The Norwegian energy success story and what Greece can learn
As part of my ongoing analysis on NewsBreaks artilce regarding energy policy and national resource management, Michalis Christodoulides examine here how Norway transformed its hydrocarbon reserves into a long-term national advantage — and what lessons

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

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

East-West prisoner swap: Largest since the Cold War
US President Joe Biden has celebrated the return of three Americans who were imprisoned in Russian penal colonies after secret “sham” trials. They were freed as part of a significant East-West prisoner swap. Biden and

