Saturday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Next week, Australia will become the first country in the world to ban social media accounts for users under 16, a rare bipartisan move, with both sides of government backing the legislation in an effort to curb the harmful impacts of social media on young people. Under the new rules, children under 16 will be barred from creating or maintaining accounts on platforms including Instagram, TikTok, S...

Sam Mostyn took up the role of being the Governor-General in Australia in July last year, and she’s only the second woman to perform the role.  Nick Bryant caught up with the Governor-General at her official Sydney residence, Admiralty House, to discuss her role at a time of polarisation, the importance of service, accusations that she is "woke" and how care has a deep and resonant place in our Au...

Myanmar's late-December elections are unfolding in what UN rights officials describe as an atmosphere of fear, violence. Ahead of that poll, which has been widely dismissed as an attempt by the military junta to obtain legitimacy, the country has released and dropped charges against more than 8-thousand people, many of them political detainees. But there's no sign of freedom for any of the country...

The Trump administration has released an updated National Security Strategy, which warned, among other things, that Europe faced what it called "the stark prospect of civilisational erasure."  The new strategy document also pledged to use "lethal force to defeat drugs cartels" which it said would replace the failed law enforcement-only strategy of the last several decades. It is the use of lethal...

It’s a chart topping podcast with millions of downloads around the world. Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland are distinguished historians — Oxford and Cambridge scholars, and bestselling authors. But their global fame comes from hosting the smash-hit podcast The Rest Is History which brings the past to life with gripping storytelling and expert analysis. They caught up with our own historian, Nick...

This week saw the eagerly anticipated release of the Australian Election Study (AES), compiled by academics at the Australian National University and Griffith University. The survey offers one of the most comprehensive snapshots of voter attitudes in the country. It digs into what drives Australians to vote the way they do — across parties, demographics and key policy areas — and helps explain bot...

At least 128 people have died and 200 people are still missing. It's the city's deadliest fire in 70 years, and it ripped through a housing complex with 8 tower blocks and about 2000 apartments. An early theory is that construction materials used for a renovation fuelled the blaze.

To discuss the Washington attack and the broader trajectory of the Trump presidency we’re joined by one of the most influential observers of American politics. 

As US negotiators head to Moscow next week, doubts are mounting over what - if anything - Russia is willing to concede in a Ukraine peace deal.  New reporting suggests Washington’s proposal clashes with core Kremlin demands, and a leaked call in which envoy Steve Witkoff is heard advising a senior Russian official has ignited political fury in Washington. Meanwhile, Ukraine and its European allies...

China is an engineering state, obsessed with building megaprojects, while America is a lawyerly society, reflexively blocking everything, good and bad. That’s the framework for a new book by Dan Wang which explores the merits and madness of Beijing’s engineering state – and how it compares with Washington. Through personal insights from living in both countries, Dan Wang explores China’s strengths...

As the popularity of Indian films surge in Australia,  a new era of bilateral film collaboration is being cemented through a cultural trade deal in India.  The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is on in Goa, and filmmaker Rachel Griffiths is part of an Australian delegation there to sign a historic agreement that will open up new, reciprocal opportunities between the two countries, inclu...

The widow of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi says she is hurt and disappointed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a warm welcome at the White House this week. US President Donald Trump fiercely defended the Crown Prince saying he wasn't aware of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, effectively contradicting CIA assessments that the Saudi ruler likely ordered the murder of Khashoggi...

As we enter the final parliamentary sitting week of the year Sussan Ley seems to have just survived the political killing season.  The Liberal Party leader's climbdown over net zero by 2050 has quelled a mutinous party room, for now at least. With the Coalition in disarray, and One Nation surging in the polls,  the centre has been left wide open for Albanese's Labor government.

South Africa is hosting the G20 this weekend and it should be the country's big moment, a chance to showcase its diplomatic and economic potential. But Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, and the leaders of Argentina and Mexico are skipping the meeting. Without the participation of major powers, is the G20's ability to function as a credible forum fundamentally undermined?

A US proposal to end the war with Russia has been widely leaked and interpreted as favouring Moscow's peace terms. Russia's President Vladimir Putin has backed the US plan for ending the Ukraine war, saying it can form the "basis of a final peace settlement." In an address to the nation, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine faced one of the most difficult moments in its history and faced eith...

From an office boy in 1950s Manchester, Norman Foster has become one the world’s most admired and influential architects. He’s designed Apple stores and the company's circular headquarters in California, the Reichstag Building in Berlin, Wembley Stadium,  the so-called  Gherkin Tower in London and two buildings in Sydney; Parkline Place and the Deutsche Bank building. Civic Vision in Sydney is a e...

Grandparenting has been an overlooked role in Australian history, and so researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) are conducting a large scale research study looking at their role post WW2. 

Are universities vending machines for degrees, or are they the a breeding ground for community and collaboration? The University of Sydney's project, Campus Collaboration is facilitating conversations around the value, purpose and identity of universities. The project is lead by English literature academic Sophie Gee, who has 25 years' experience teaching and researching at Harvard and Princeton U...

More than 20,000 files from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released this week by Democrat and Republican US lawmakers. Several of the emails added some details about Trump’s past relationship with Epstein but the White House has dismissed the significance of these files, with deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson saying  "These emails prove literally nothing".

The UK's public broadcaster was mired in a major scandal this week, leading to the resignation of two senior executives, its head of news Deborah Turness and its director general, Tim Davie. The debacle follows accusations of "serious and systemic" bias in news coverage. At the centre of the controversy was misleading editing of a speech by Donald Trump ahead of the storming of US Capitol on Janua...

When Governor John Kerr sacked Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on 11 November 1975, Michelle Grattan was a young reporter for The Age. The dismissal had been brewing with a government pushing through change at breakneck speed, and a series of scandals surrounding key figures.  Michelle remembers absolute pandemonium unfolding as shock waves from this historic event ricocheted across the country.  Gue...

Australia's uncontroversial electoral system and the compulsory voting requirement means that participation in elections is high – around 90 per cent. But it's a system that's arguable taken for granted.  Public trust in our democratic system – and knowledge of  how it functions – is on the decline in Australia. In Civic Duty, Annabel Crabb explores a democracy like no other, with sausage sizzles,...

It’s been one of Australia’s most elusive ambitions - a high-speed rail network connecting the East coast of Australia, it's now starting to gain momentum.  Infrastructure Australia has released a blueprint for how the first stage of the track, between Sydney and Newcastle might look.  Eventually there could be high-speed trains linking Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane - will it...

We live in a world built on the idea that freedom equals choice — and choice equals freedom. We get to choose what to buy, what to believe, who to love, where to live. We can go onto the internet and be overwhelmed with options, we can swipe right or left on a dating app to choose a potential life partner, we go to a restaurant and are given a menu of choices. Every day, we're told that the more o...

The Democrats celebrated victories across the United States this week, including in New York where 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani convincingly defeated Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral race. Mamdani is a self-confessed democratic socialist and his supporters insist he is the new face of the Democratic Party. Meanwhile in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, a moderate, centrist Democrat who used to work for the C...