
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

ANZ and NAB chiefs face parliamentary scrutiny after record fines and misconduct
Australia’s largest banks are facing intense parliamentary scrutiny as the government examines past misconduct, employment practices, and customer protections. ANZ’s new chief executive, Nuno Matos, publicly apologised to a parliamentary committee for the bank’s historic

Australians hold 209 million days of unused annual leave as employment landscape shifts
Australian workers are heading into the summer break with a massive stockpile of unused annual leave, collectively sitting on 209 million days of accrued holidays, new data from research firm Roy Morgan shows. The near-record

Surge in social media use replaces sport, reading and arts among Australian children
A dramatic rise in social media use among children and adolescents is reshaping daily routines and pushing aside key developmental activities such as sport, reading and music, according to a major new study by the

Optus fined $826,320 after major verification flaw allows scammers to steal customer identities and tens of thousands of dollars
Optus has been hit with a substantial $826,320 penalty after a serious security lapse allowed scammers to bypass customer verification processes and steal as much as $39,000 from individual victims. The Australian Communications and Media

Albanese issues ultimatum to Turkey over hosting COP31 Climate Talks
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has drawn a firm line in ongoing negotiations with Turkey over the hosting of next year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), ruling out any possibility of co-hosting the event. Speaking

Australian families face rising private health insurance premiums in 2026
Australian families may be set to pay significantly more for private health insurance in 2026, as premiums are projected to rise between 3.9 and 4.4 per cent. According to analysis by Money.com.au, this increase could

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.
Recognition of Macedonian language a ‘grave mistake,’ says prominent linguist
Greece committed a “grave mistake” in recognizing the existence of a Macedonian language, prominent linguist and former education minister Georgios Babiniotis said, adding that the clause in the Prespes accord signed between Athens and Skopje

Greek foreign ministry reacts to Erdogan comments on military flights in Aegean
Athens immediately responded on Friday to inflammatory statements a day earlier by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, among others, said “we (Turkish military) scramble aircraft in the Aegean, as long as the Greeks do

Lack of new framework to protect primary residences blocks disbursement of €970 mln to Greece
Eurozone finance ministers – the Eurogroup venue – on Monday did not approve the disbursement of a 970-million-euro tranche to Greece, a more-or-less expected development linked with a failure to finalize a new legal framework

Mitsotakis to CNN: Greece will be a ‘positive surprise’ in terms of investments in next 2-3 years
Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis stuck to his pro-reform and pro-market message during an interview with CNN on Monday, as he continued a visit to the United States amid opinion polls

British newspaper reveals plans to uncover Athens’ ancient Ilissos river
The British newspaper The Telegraph revealed on Sunday that a Greek urban renewal firm called ”Anaplasis” plans to uncover Athens’ ancient river of Ilissos. Back in October of 2018, a part of the Athenian tram

Greece blasts BBC for report on non existant “Oppressed Macedonian Minority”
Greece’s Ambassador to the UK, Dimitris Karamitsos-Tziras, send a letter of complaint to the BBC on Monday, following a report which spoke of the existence of a “Macedonian minority” in the country. Karamitsos-Tziras said the

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

Nuclear brinkmanship: How Trump and Putin are testing the limits of deterrence
As the war in Ukraine drags on and Donald Trump’s attempts at peace with Moscow falter, tensions between the United States and Russia have reached their highest point in years. Both nuclear superpowers appear to

“Zoran Mamdani becomes New York’s first muslim mayor: A progressive milestone in U.S. politics”
Zoran Mamdani, 34, has been elected the new mayor of New York City, according to projections by NBC News and CNN, marking one of the most remarkable and unpredictable elections in recent American political history.

EU report condemns Turkey for rights backslide and challenges to Greek sovereignty
The latest European Commission progress report on Turkey delivers one of the most critical assessments in recent years, highlighting a severe deterioration in rule of law, human rights, and democratic governance. It also accuses Ankara

Horror on UK train: multiple stabbed in Cambridgeshire attack
London, November 2, 2025 — A terrifying knife attack on a crowded London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train in Cambridgeshire has left ten people injured, nine of them in critical condition, in what police have

Prime Minister Albanese confirms direct line to President Trump
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that he now has a direct line of communication with United States President Donald Trump, putting to rest months of speculation and political criticism over his alleged lack of

Pentagon approves Tomahawk missile delivery to Ukraine — final decision rests with Trump
The U.S. Department of Defense has approved the delivery of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, assessing that the move would not compromise America’s strategic stockpiles. However, the final word lies with President Donald Trump,

