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Lebanese-born artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino are back at the helm of Australia’s 2026 Venice Biennale pavilion,   following a dramatic reversal by the organization that makes the Australian Pavilion in Venice possible, Creative Australia.  The decision, reported earlier today by the Art Newspaper , comes after an independent review and months of backlash over their abrupt removal—a move that critics widely condemned as a politically motivated act of censorship. The trouble  began in February,  just days after Creative Australia announced Sabsabi’s selection. A column in  The Australian  labeled the pavilion a “creative approach to racism,” singling out  You , Sabsabi’s 2007 video installation that includes manipulated footage of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addressing a crowd after the 2006 Lebanon–Israel war. In one scene, rays of light emanate from Nasrallah’s face—imagery that the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, ...

Exercise Trident Fury 2025 (Ex TF25) brought together more than 1,000 military personnel, including five Royal Canadian Navy vessels, Royal Canadian Air Force aircrafts, Canadian Army personnel, and ships from the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and Mexican Navy. The exercise ended July 1, 2025, after two weeks of multinational training activities conducted across southern Vancouver Island. Ex TF25 is hosted by Maritime Forces Pacific and is focused on enhancing interoperability among allied and partner forces across a range of operations. Exercises included anti-submarine warfare, uncrewed aircraft systems, gunnery and air defence, mine countermeasures, maritime interdiction, and defence against small boat attacks. This year’s exercises also included participation by the 4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, whose members contributed to surveillance training and sovereignty protection tasks. “Exercise TRIDENT FURY 2025 offers an exceptional opportunity for the Royal C...

The 2025 Jubilee Cup is upon us. The four-week series to find this year’s Wellington club rugby champion commences on Saturday. However, there is guaranteed to be a new winner this year, with last year’s title taker Old Boys University having finished ninth and re-setting to start the tier 2 Hardham Cup. Whilst the defending...

Alby Makeham was a halfback and one of the most well-known and respected figures in Wellington rugby throughout the 1950s decade. From winning the Jubilee Cup at the start of the decade, to helping orchestrate a famous Ranfurly Shield win for Wellington in the middle of it, to bringing his representative career curtain down a...

Iwan and Manuela Wirth, owners of the global art gallery Hauser & Wirth, have moved their permanent residency from the United Kingdom to Switzerland, where the gallery’s holding company is located. The relocation comes as some high-profile figures involved in the art industry depart the UK following tax reforms on the country’s ultra-wealthy. The Wirths registered their relocation in documents related to their businesses filed with Companies House this month. The filings are overseen by a government agency that tracks UK-based company audits. The gallery confirmed to the Financial Times , which first reported news of the move, that the owners are working on projects in Switzerland, the US, and the UK and the relocation is due to personal reasons, unrelated to tax law changes. The Wirths, which separately run a development and hospitality company called Artfarm, haven’t stepped back from investments in its UK presence. They plan to open a new London location in 2026, despite sa...