
Australian father stranded in Iraq issues urgent Christmas plea amid legal limbo
An Australian father, Dr. Robert Pether, who spent more than four years in an Iraqi prison under what he calls “bogus charges,” has issued a desperate Christmas plea, urging Australians to push the government to

Anglicare: It costs more to be poor
Unemployment benefits are not enough to cover basic living costs, according to a new report from Anglicare Australia. The national not-for-profit organisation highlighted the impact of inflation – and cost-of-living increases from energy suppliers that

Study finds two-thirds of retirees less financially secure amid cost of living crisis
Most retirees in Australia are happy with their retirement, but a significant proportion are concerned about their financial security, according to research commissioned by investment firm Challenger and conducted by YouGov. The survey of 1,000

Regional hospitals are collapsing
Regional hospitals are warning they face ‘inevitable closures’ or widespread job losses following a Victorian-wide mandate to cut spending ahead of this year’s state budget. Leaked internal documents reveal that chief executives of many of

Samantha Mostyn: The next Governor General of Australia
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that Samantha Mostyn will be the next Governor General of the country. Ms Mostyn, a prominent businesswoman and gender equality advocate, will succeed David Hurley and become Australia’s 28th

“Battle” to release documents from Daniel Andrews’ time in office
In a legal battle with implications for government transparency, Jacinta Allan’s Premier’s Office is fighting to keep secret hundreds of documents from the time of former premier Daniel Andrews. Lawyers for the Premier’s office are

When does daylight saving end?
Australians in most states will get an extra hour’s sleep when clocks go back an hour at the end of daylight saving time in April. The change will bring sunrise and sunset earlier in the

Holiday traffic normalizes after Tuesday’s gridlock
After yesterday’s disruptions, traffic on the Athens–Lamia and Athens–Corinth highways is expected to return to normal today, Wednesday, as farmers and traffic police coordinated to improve vehicle flow ahead of Christmas. On Tuesday, drivers faced queues of up to 20 kilometres due to farmers’ roadblocks, leaving many stranded for hours.

Autonomy
The government intends to allow universities and not the education ministry to set the number of students they will admit each year. That addresses a basic need, the need (for many and varied reasons) for

Alarm bell
To avoid the errors of the past the current government must move swiftly to address the deficiencies left behind by previous ones. The extent of the natural disasters by which Greece was struck over the

Theofilus
About 150 years ago, the influential folk artist Theophilus (Theophilus Kefalas – Hatzimichail) was born in the village of Vareia, on the south-eastern tip of the island of Lesvos, overlooking the shores of Asia Minor.

Greek elections: Landslide victory for centre-right New Democracy party
Incumbent prime minister Alexis Tsipras, of Syriza, calls rival Kyriakos Mitsotakis to concede defeat Voters in Greece have given Kyria-kos Mitsotakis’ centre-right New Democracy party a resounding mandate to form a new government after it

Ballot Box stolen from polling center in Exarchia and set on fire
At least one ballot box was stolen from a polling station in the anarchists’ district of Exarchia in Athens and were allegedly set on fire. The unprecedented incidents took place on early Sunday evening short

‘Evdokia’ the 1200 Year Old Olive Tree in Corfu, Greece
An imposing olive tree on Corfu, known as ‘Evdokia’ by the locals, has been estimated to be between 1086 and 1200 years old, according to stu-dies by German scientists from the Dresden University of Technology.

Australian father stranded in Iraq issues urgent Christmas plea amid legal limbo
An Australian father, Dr. Robert Pether, who spent more than four years in an Iraqi prison under what he calls “bogus charges,” has issued a desperate Christmas plea, urging Australians to push the government to secure his safe return. Dr. Pether was arrested in Iraq in 2021 and sentenced to

ISIS threat to Champions League confirmed as security tightens in Paris, Madrid and London
Concerns are growing as Europe goes on red alert following the threat of terrorist attacks at Champions League matches by Islamic State. France, Spain and Britain have all reacted swiftly to tighten security ahead of

Trump leads Biden in six of the seven most competitive states
Republican leader Donald Trump has a 2 to 8-point lead over incumbent President and Democratic leader Joe Biden in a poll conducted in six key states ahead of the November United States presidential election. According

Earthquake in Taiwan: Fear for those trapped inside tunnel
Rescue teams in Taiwan are racing to free trapped people after the more than seven-magnitude earthquake, the largest in 25 years, shook the country yesterday. Among them were more than 130 people trapped inside buses

Major 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan: Tsunami warnings
An earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale struck Taiwan just before 8am (Taipei time). The epicentre of the quake was quite close to the island, prompting emergency tsunami warnings in Taiwan itself and on

Turkey Local Elections: Opposition asserts victories in major cities, dealing blow to Erdogan
Ekrem Imamoglu, Mayor of Istanbul, celebrates triumph, dealing a blow to the longstanding power of the Turkish president after two decades. In Turkey’s local elections, the primary opposition party has declared triumph in Istanbul and

Serbian President Vucic: Dora Bakoyannis should be ashamed
Serbian President Vucic strongly criticized Dora Bakoyannis, saying Dora Bakoyannis should be ashamed, alleging that she altered her position as the European Parliament’s speaker regarding Kosovo’s accession to the Council of Europe.”I am well aware

