
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.

EU cancels Turkey’s “Turkaegean” Trademark
Greece has secured a major legal victory as the EU cancels Turkey’s “Turkaegean” Trademark. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) cancelled Turkey’s controversial “Turkaegean” trademark, citing cultural and economic concerns. The decision announced on

A legacy of weakness, concessions, and economic disasters
Former Greek prime minister Costas Simitis, who led the country into the European Union’s single currency in 2001, died on Sunday aged 88 at his summer house in the Peloponnese. While most mainstream media are

Four days of national mourning for Costas Simitis
Greece has declared four days of national mourning for former Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who passed away unexpectedly on January 5 at the age of 88. Flags are flying at half-mast across government buildings and

Embracing the spirit of the Greek New Year’s Eve traditions
It wasn’t until Roman influence spread throughout Greece that New Year’s celebrations became more widespread. But how does this relate το Embracing the spirit of Greek the New Year’s Eve traditions ? Julius Caesar in

Greece is too vast, historically and culturally to perish at your hands
There is no doubt that in order to progress and prosper, to escape the stagnation imposed by the dystopia of closeness to imperialist Turkey, Greece must strengthen itself within the international system, both geo-economically and

The Parthenon, 2,500 years of enduring genius
Let’s unlock its secret—optical illusions, sacred geometry, and acoustics— that will blow your mind: The Parthenon, 2,500 years of enduring genius At first glance, the Parthenon appears to be a perfect rectangle comprised of straight

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

“Drums of war” in the Middle East: Awaiting Iran’s retaliation – Israel on high alert
The Middle East appears ready to explode as the war atmosphere intensifies just hours after the U.S. declared that Tehran might attack Israel within the next 24 hours. All eyes are on Iran and the

Stock markets around the world are crashing right now, but why?
The answer to this question is the Yen carry trade, a term you’ll probably hear many times this week. So what exactly is the Yen carry trade and why did it cause a market downturn?

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

