Saturday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Blood is spilling across stages around the country, as an original production of Dracula pushes the boundaries of ballet. An adrenaline fuelled show with a plot you can sink your teeth into, this is ballet for the TikTok generation. Dracula features renowned dancers from Mariinsky Theatre, the English National Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Australian Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, and it is now touring Au...

Melbourne Innovation Week has been buzzing with a debate about whether the relentless pursuit of “peak optimisation” is a blessing or a curse for society, asking just because we can try and perfect some things, should we? Does an efficient society necessarily make a happy one?

The population of feral cats, foxes, deer, pig, buffalo and camels - among other species - are exploding across the continent.  Yet our response has been ad hoc, small target, and lacking in strategy. Now, the Invasive Species Council is pitching a galvanising vision that could shift the dial on eradicating feral animals in Australia.

Just over four years ago the Taliban seized control of Kabul in a matter of days and established a de facto government, after decades of Western military intervention to stop exactly that.  Despite promises of moderation and inclusion, the Taliban has established a repressive, exclusionary regime and edicts have erased women from public life.

The former US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns is one of America’s most seasoned diplomats. He has served six presidents and nine secretaries of state.   He joins Nick Bryant to discuss Beijing’s massive display military power to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and China's moves to reframe its role in the conflict as part of its ambition to rearrange the global balance of p...

For decades China’s wartime contribution against the Japanese was not given proper credit in the West.   But now, Rana Mitter says China is picking and choosing the parts of history that best suit its current geopolitical goals - to frame to China, rather than the U.S, as the real inheritor of the 1945 global order.

The Last Thing: our regular monthly segment where guests share the last great movie they watched, book they read, or place they visited.  Katrina Rathie is a trailblazing former lawyer who spent much of her career trying to change the Australian corporate world by pushing for women to get better jobs and higher pay, by urging firms to reflect the ethnic diversity of the country, by making their co...

The university sector is facing a widespread budgetary crisis, hundreds of job losses, and criticism of high executive salaries.   There's also been a reduction in the number of new overseas students coming to the country  - reducing revenue for the sector.  When you add in  the use of AI and increasing student needs - it's a very challenging time.  So how can universities rebuild?

The Australian World Orchestra was founded in 2010 with the aim of bringing home Aussie players home to play as an ensemble.  This year they've come together for a Mahlerfest - Gustav Mahler’s 4th and 5th symphonies will be played for one night in Melbourne, at the Hamer Hall, and one night in Sydney, at the Opera House.

Under the authoritarian rule of President Rodriguez Duterte in The Philippines, Maria Ressa was targeted online, and had 11 arrest warrants out for her in just over a year. Since then, Duterte has been arrested on an International Criminal Court warrant and Maria Ressa has won a Nobel Peace Prize.  As democracies increasingly elect strongman leaders and tech companies circulate misinformation with...

The threats posed by sovereign citizen views materialised again this week with the killing of two police officers in Victoria's north-east by the alleged gunman Dezi Freeman, who remains at large. In the same week, an ASIO investigation found that Iran was ultimately responsible for an attack on a Melbourne synagogue, and an arson attack on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney, and potentially...

If video killed the radio star, will artificial intelligence slay the voice-over artist? It’s a serious question  - and the Australian Association of Voice Actors is now calling on the government to mandate the labelling of all AI-generated content. Cloning voices is no longer science fiction - it's here and threatening to take the jobs of voice over actors, artists and narrators. There's a global...

This week, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers brought together the "Economic Reform Roundtable" in Canberra to canvass ideas about to improve productivity and how to generate more prosperity. Twenty-five participants found common ground on how to speed up home building, environmental approvals, and abolish some nuisance taxes. Now the stage is set for greater tax reform to improve intergenerational in...

Katherine Bennell-Pegg is one of only about 100 “space-ready” astronauts in the world. She’s also the first to be trained under the Australian flag. And this weekend she’s in Melbourne at the Now or Never Festival, speaking about The Future of Space and exploring some of the cultural moments that shaped our view of the cosmos. 

President Trump has called Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell a "numbskull" and a "stubborn mule," as he bunkers down on pressure to reduce interest rates. Last night Powell gave a much anticipated speech, responding to a challenging economic situation, insurgency within his own institution, and a hostile political climate.

Israel is calling up tens of thousands of extra reservists as it prepares to send troops to occupy Gaza City. Human rights groups and the UN warn the offensive will deepen the humanitarian crisis, with many civilians saying nowhere in Gaza is safe. Meanwhile, Hamas and Arab mediators have backed a proposed 60-day ceasefire. However Israel is yet to respond, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Neta...

After the Putin Trump summit in Alaska, Europe's most influential leaders travelled to the White House with Ukranian President Zelensky. Talks of a security guarantee for Kyiv still have little clarity, and in the last couple of days Russia has launched one of its biggest offensives on Ukraine yet. So where to from here for Ukraine?

Italy has approved plans to build the world's largest suspension bridge, to link the mainland with Sicily. The 13.5 billion Euro infrastructure project has been long delayed by debates over its scale, earthquake threats, environmental impact, and the spectre of mafia interference. The Italian government forecasts the project will create 120,000 jobs a year, and boost southern Italy's lagging econo...

This morning Trump and Putin will give a rare joint press conference, a coup for the Russian leader who has long been isolated by the West.  But how did the Alaska meeting come about, and what promise does it hold? Trump gained the ear of the Kremlin through an unlikely messenger, Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko.  Time Magazine journalist Simon Shuster sat down with President Lukashenko i...

The Federal Labor government is insisting it will not deviate from its election mandate when it comes to economic reform. The government has instead asked others for big ideas to boost flagging national productivity and Australia's declining standard of living. Plenty of practical ideas have been offered, but can this small summit with very divergent interest groups open up space for genuine refor...

Currently, only a small percentage of known marine fish species have had their genomes sequenced.  Scientists from The Minderoo Foundation in WA and Parks Australia want to change that, and have been delving into the oceans depths to capture and record floating DNA, called eDNA (environmental DNA). eDNA can reveal the presence of rare, cryptic, deep-sea or hard-to-observe species without needing t...

Friday 15 August is the 80th anniversary of VP Day. But the end of World War II didn't necessarily mean peace. It ushered in a new era of conflict and violence in many parts of Asia.  Phil Craig's new book 1945: The Reckoning reinterprets the impacts of World War II in Asia, focusing on how it crystallised independence movements in colonies including India, Burma, Indonesia and Taiwan.

When President Trump meets Vladimir Putin today, he will be hoping to forge in person what he hasn't been able to accomplish by phone — a commitment to end Russia's war on Ukraine. However there are concerns that Putin is coming to Alaska with a very different goal, aiming to keep in Trump's good graces while continuing to pursue his ambition of reasserting Moscow's dominance over Kyiv.

Professor Richard Scolyer is marking an incredible milestone this weekend. The world renowned pathologist was last year's joint Australian of the year, and is running in the Sydney City to Surf despite dealing with the effects of an incurable, aggressive brain cancer. He is participating with family and friends, and raising money for cancer treatment centre The Chris O'Brien Lifehouse.