
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.

Two Germans sentenced for taking down the Greek Flag and raising a German flag on Crete
Two 23-year old German nationals were sentenced by a court in Chania, Crete on Monday for taking down the Greek flag down from a flagpole and raising the German flag in its place. The incident

Turkey threatens to install S-400 near Greece and Cyprus
Despite warnings from the international community and particularly the United States, Turkey is determined to proceed with the purchase of the Russian missiles defense system S-400. And not only that. Ankara is threatening its neighbour

VirtualDIVER: Innovative platform for underwater experience around Santorini
The innovative platform VirtualDIVER for virtual underwater experiences targeting the cultural and tourism industries has been developed in cooperation of Greek academics and private companies. VirtualDIVER will allow people to “travel” and “explore” the magical

Athens unveils its first electric bus
An electric bus built by Chinese automobile manufacturer BYD, which is silent and boasts of having no environmental footprint whatsoever, was presented for the first time in Athens on Tuesday. The BYD bus is 100%

Increase of households with Greek flag on their balconies
An impressive increase of households with the Greek flag on thier balcony has been recorded after the signing of the Prespes Agreement between Greece and North Macedonia and its adoption by the Parliament. This is

Mr. Tsipras’ twists and turns
Those who have closely followed the evolution of SYRIZA and Alexis Tsipras since they rose to power are aware of their constant Ovidian metamorphoses over many years. SYRIZA started off in 2008 as a basically

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

Turkey’s aggressive implementation of The Blue Homeland
“Whatever Turkey’s interests demand in the Aegean, the Black Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean, we will pursue with determination,” declared the president of Turkey in his speech. Angelos Syrigos on Greek Television said: We will

Trump slams Zuckerberg: “You’ll get life, like the other crooks!”
Former US President Donald Trump slams Zuckerberg: “You’ll get life, like the other crooks!” for conspiring against him in the 2020 election and warned the Meta CEO not to repeat it in the upcoming November

Afghanistan: Women defy Taliban bans by singing online
Women were the first to suffer the restrictions imposed by the new government. Recording themselves while singing, showing only a small part of their faces to the camera: dozens of Afghan women are participating in

UN condemns Taliban ban on women’s Voices in public spaces
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan expressed deep concern on Sunday over a new law recently endorsed by the Taliban that imposes further restrictions on women. The new legislation, published last Wednesday, is based on

RFK Jr. suspends 2024 campaign and joins Trump at Arizona rally
RFK Jr. suspends the 2024 campaign and joins Trump at the Arizona rally, endorsing former President Donald Trump. During an event in Phoenix, Arizona, Kennedy urged voters in red or blue states to support him

Putin’s 702 decree caused outrage in the West
As reported by journalists from China, Russian President Vladimir Putin caused outrage in the West with a new surprise decree. Relations between Russia and the West have reached their lowest point since the collapse of

