Australia

Hollywood is out in force at the Paris Olympics, perhaps taking notes before the United States' turn to host with the next Games in 2028.

Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Steven Spielberg, Lady Gaga — there have been plenty of A-listers around Paris for the first few days of the Games.

"The Council of Ministers receives applications for the resignation of regional governors and deputy regional governors from all over the country. The action is unprecedented and puts to the test the fulfillment of the legal obligations of the executive power." This was announced by the press service of the Ministry of Justice on Monday.

Labor and Social Security Minister Kostis Hatzidakis announced on Friday a possible new intervention next month for pensioners who, due to the so-called "personal difference," did not see an increase in the final amount they receive.

The new Elvis Presley biopic by Australian director Baz Luhrmann will get its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the organizers have confirmed.

Tom Hanks, who plays the rock'n'roll legend's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, will be among the stars attending the premiere, which comes ahead of the worldwide release of "Elvis" between June 22 and 24.

Australia unveiled a billion-dollar package to protect the climate-ravaged Great Barrier Reef on Jan. 28, hoping to prevent the vast network of corals from being removed from UNESCO's World Heritage list.

Australia has changed one word in its national anthem to reflect what the prime minister called "the spirit of unity" and the country's Indigenous population.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on New Year's Eve announced that the second line of the anthem, Advance Australia Fair, has been changed from "For we are young and free" to "For we are one and free."

Through their visual project "Greek Australians: In Their Own Image," Australian documentary photographer Effy Alexakis and her historian collaborator Leonard Janiszewski have shone a light on a kind of Greek-Australian history that few are familiar with, with more than 2,000 recorded oral history interviews as well as various types of documentation.

Bulgaria introduces new anti-epidemic measures. They were announced by the Minister of Health Prof. Kostadin Angelov.

They will take effect on Friday, after being approved by the Council of Ministers.

The 60/40 wage support scheme used by the state to pay 60% of the social security contributions and 60% of the salaries will be amended and will continue from July 1 until September 30, Bulgaria's Minister of Labor and Social Policy Denitsa Sacheva said. 

Turkey has taken sweeping steps to cushion the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic to protect both employers and employees.

Any firm forced out of business due to a Force Majeure, such as the pandemic, can approach the government.

The government will pay 60% of the staff salaries for a period of three months.