
Albanese and Chalmers under pressure to act on negative gearing reform
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers are facing renewed pressure to overhaul Australia’s negative gearing rules amid growing concern about housing affordability and younger Australians being locked out of the property market. Unions

Liberal MP breaks ranks to call for increase to Newstart
Liberal senator Dean Smith has broken ranks with the federal government to call for an increase to the Newstart payment. WA Senator Dean Smith has become the first Liberal MP to publicly back an increase

Aged care homes spending as little as $7 a day on residents food
Some aged care homes spend as little as $7 a day on food for each resident, a royal commission has been told. Celebrity chef Maggie Beer says that sort of budget is inadequate to prepare

Vic wants federal funds to remove cladding
The Commonwealth is being asked to stump up $300 million to help remove dangerous cladding from hundreds of buildings across Victoria. The state Labor government is establishing a $600 million fund, to be overseen by

Asylum seeker tries to set himself on fire at Melbourne detention facility
Another incident of self-harm has occurred in an Australian detention centre. An asylum seeker detained in the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation facility has been taken to hospital after trying to set himself on fire, according

No paperwork, increasing rent: Sydney landlords exploiting international students
International students are being exploited by landlords in Sydney’s tight housing market, a new report has found. International students in Sydney are falling victim to financial exploitation by dodgy landlords, who are overcharging on bonds,

Record number of Aussies rush to file tax returns
A record number of Australians have lodged their tax returns in the hope of getting their hands on a hefty refund. About 650,000 people have already filed their tax returns, with this year’s early rush

Turkish blocks research vessel from conducting surveys on behalf of Cyprus
Turkey is reported to have blocked the research vessel Fugro Gauss, sailing under the flag of Gibraltar, from conducting geophysical surveys on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus in a maritime area that Ankara considers part of its continental shelf, according to the newspaper Milliyet and other Turkish media outlets.

A blackmailed Prime Minister is not a Prime Minister!
For days now and since the confidence vote and the ratification of the Prespa Agreement, the government, the political system, and, by extension, the entire country, are faced with a “pending institutional issue” and have

Greece warns Turkey ahead of Imia crisis anniversary
In what was seen as a thinly disguised warning against Turkey, newly appointed Defense Minister and former chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff Evangelos Apostolakis said Greece will staunchly defend its national sovereignty

Mitsotakis says greece should Veto skopje’s accession to EU
As the Greek Parliament voted in favor to ratify the Prespa agreement on Friday, main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis released a statement saying that he is prepared to “fight” what might happen as a result

Thessaloniki: Protesters against name deal target President Pavlopoulos
About 250 protesters, have gathered outside Thessaloniki’s Music Hall to protest against the deal which will rename Greece’s northern neighbor “North Macedonia”. The protest is being staged on the occasion of the visit of Greek

FYROM’s name change deal may be an achievement for the E.U., but undemocratic
After the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991, Greece’s northern neighbor stole the Greek name “Macedonia”—but Athens refused to recognize it, saying it gave legitimacy to territorial, historical, and ethnic claims over the millenial old northern

Costas Karamanlis on Prespa agreement: ND’s criticism ‘powerful and fully documented’
Former Greek prime minister Costas Karamanlis (2004-2009) on Thursday removed any doubts over his stance regarding the contentious Prespa agreement, which comes up for ratification in Greece’s Parliament later in the evening. Karamanlis and his

Israeli officials endorse Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza City
Israel’s security cabinet has officially approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza City, a move confirmed by his office and seen as a major escalation in the ongoing conflict that has now lasted 22 months. The decision follows a lengthy security cabinet meeting held in Jerusalem, which began

Biden is half right on Eastern Mediterranean arms sales
The Biden administration reportedly will ask Congress to approve a $20 billion sale of F-16s to Turkey , coupled with a separate sale of F-35 fighters to Greece . The White House is half right:

An Honest Broker No Longer: The United States Between Turkey and Greece
Over the course of 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has maintained a steady drumbeat of provocations targeting Greece. The year began with his foreign ministry issuing a statement threatening to declare Greece’s sovereignty as

Zoltan Pozsar: The dusk of the petrodollar, the dawn of petroyuan
Credit Suisse contributor Zoltan Pozsar has continued his ongoing series about Bretton Woods III where commodities will dictate the new world order. For his last dispatch of the year, he described how the world is now shifting

Who Was Really Behind the Istanbul Bombing?
Amid a drop in Erdogan’s approval ratings ahead of next June’s elections, there are grounds for some skepticism about who carried out the attack. by Robert Ellis Sunday’s explosion on Istanbul’s busiest thoroughfare, Istiklal Caddesi,

Blowback: Italian police bust Azov-tied Nazi cell planning terror attacks
The arrest of Italian neo-Nazis affiliated with the Ukrainian Azov Battalion highlights the terrifying potential for blowback from the Ukraine proxy war Italian police announced a series of raids against the neo-Nazi Order of Hagal

Ukraine and western allies at odds over missile that exploded in Poland
A disagreement broke out on Wednesday between Ukraine and its western allies over who launched a missile that exploded in Poland, with Nato, Warsaw and the US saying the weapon was likely fired by Kyiv’s