The Radio National Hour

The leading voice and light of the civil rights movement for generations of Americans, Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84. His death comes at a critical moment for the Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, Marc Morial President and CEO of the National Urban League says the party should look to the example of Rev. Jackson when he galvanised the party at the 1984 Democratic National Convent...

Nearly a year ago Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, was awarded an Oscar for best documentary, in recognition of his film ‘No Other Land’. It tells the story of Palestinians struggling to stop the demolition of their homes in the West Bank. But since then the golden statuette has only brought heartache and violence, with repeated attacks by Israeli settlers on his village. Hamdan says he’s bein...

With the surging popularity of One Nation, the debate over immigration is heating up. With talk of a tougher values tests, a ban on migrants from certain countries - political leaders on the right are in a race to slam the door shut, hard and fast. We consider the policies being suggested with Abul Rizvi, former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration, Anthea Hancocks CEO of the The Scan...

It's curtains for Sussan Ley and the party she loves after Angus Taylor successfully challenged her for the Liberal leadership. But will changing horses midstream reverse the cratering polls and could the price of a leadership change be the loss of Sussan Ley's once secure seat of Farrar? Death-bots have been described as 'the future of grief'. Virtual persona's that enable people to recreate AI v...

Could the path to peace in Ukraine be via an election? The country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is reportedly under pressure from the US to call a poll for May with hopes of ending the conflict with Russia by the summer, just in time for the US midterm elections. Christopher Miller, chief Ukraine correspondent for The Financial Times says planning for an election has been underway for sometime b...

Sydney’s Muslim community is demanding an apology from the New South Wales Premier alleging that police used force to move on  moved people in prayer at Monday’s night's protest in the CBD. The special envoy to combat Islamophobia Aftab Malik says it was an humiliation. As young people increasingly shun arts and creative tertiary courses in favour of STEM and Universities respond by axing hundreds...

The 20-year sentence handed down to Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has reverberated around the world, with his family warning  the 78-year old will die in prison. For former Hong Kong legislator Ted Hui it's yet another reminder that he was lucky to escape Beijing’s wrath. Australia has given him sanctuary but even in Adelaide he finds himself the target of cruel slu...

Thailand’s snap election has delivered an emphatic win for the conservative incumbent Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the third leader in as many years. Polls had put the pro-democracy People’s Party well ahead of the incumbent, but with recent border clashes with Cambodia, Prime Minister Anutin was able to capitalise on surging nationalism. It was a vote for stability but was it a vote for pr...

The Winter Olympics kick off tonight in Italy, a celebration of human athleticism and death defying feats on snow and ice. But there's growing concern that climate change could change how and where the games are held and Olympic organisers are already making plans.       Three decades ago an American fella named Craig started an online mailing list. Craigslist took off, making him a billionaire an...

With the end of the New START treaty the doomsday clock has moved a little closer to midnight and the Kremlin is warning that the world is in a more dangerous position than ever before. Rose Gotemoeller negotiated the treaty in the Obama administration 16 years ago before becoming NATO deputy secretary general. She says we could be on the cusp of a new arms race, but we shouldn't panic yet.  Medic...

Israel’s President Issac Herzog flies to Australia on Sunday to honour and remember the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack, but the visit is dividing Jewish Australians. Will he bring comfort and connection with the Jewish heartland, or create new ruptures in our community. Lillian Kline, co-founder of Project A & Sarah Schwartz, executive officer of The Jewish Council of Australia debate t...

Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe has lashed out over the nation’s response to a potentially devastating bomb attack on First Nations people at an Invasion Day rally in Perth. Western Australian Indigenous leaders say their calls for recognition of the incident as an act of terrorism motivated by racism have been met with silence and indifference.  Gazans have quietly welcomed the opening of the Raf...

More Australians now prefer Pauline Hanson as an alternative Prime Minister to both Sussan Ley and Anthony Albanese. Is the surge in popularity of One Nation simply a protest or an existential threat to the Coalition?  Modern medicine has saved billions of lives, but behind almost all of those cures is a confronting reality - caged animals. Former host of the ABC's Q&A program Tony Jones lates...

You might be savouring the long languid nights of tennis but from next week your diet of daily sport will have a snowy backdrop, the winter Olympics kick off in Italy next Friday and Australia has a team full of talent, including ice dancers Holly Harris and Jason Chan.  Triple-threat - actress, singer and dancer - Caroline O’Connor is music theatre royalty. Her latest outing is a Sondheim classic...

US President Donald Trump has renewed his threats to strike Iran, deploying what he calls a ‘massive Armada’ to the region. But is he really willing to take the gamble with a ruthless and unpredictable regime?  Heatwaves already kill more people than all other natural disasters combined in Australia. So as temperatures keep climbing, what do we need to do to learn to survive them? Urban heat exper...

Five years ago lawyer Antonio Romanucci helped George Floyd’s family seek justice for his murder at the hands of police in Minneapolis, now he’s representing the family of Renee Good an American mother of three who was gunned down by ICE agents earlier this month and he’s determined not to let truth and transparency die as well.  It was hard not to be moved by last night’s showdown between Austral...

China’s president Xi Jinping has made a startling power play, purging the military’s top generals including one of his closest confidants on charges of corruption. Alone at the top of the world’s largest army, many now wonder what this means for President Xi’s ambition to retake Taiwan.  Senior officials In Iran’s ministry of health say as many as 30,000 people may have been killed during a month...

For senior Australian of the Year Professor Henry Brodaty the quest to understand, treat and maybe, one day find a cure for dementia is deeply personal. It became his life and career passion after watching his father succumb to the illness in his 50s and now he's on a mission to make ‘brain health’ as Australian as Slip-Slop-Slap.  Researchers in Austria have made a startling observation that’s up...

Myanmar’s national elections  conclude this weekend, but we already know the military backed Union Solidarity and Development Party will win, a preordained result according to observers, in a sham poll designed to legitimise the junta’s rule. Meanwhile the nation’s democratically elected leader, Nobel prize winning Aung Sun Suu Kyi is languishing in prison, her son Kim Aris has had no contact with...

‘Light will win’ is the message from the organisers of tonight's service of remembrance at the Sydney Opera House, the Chabad of Bondi. As the nation pauses to remember the 15 lives lost at Bondi beach on December the 14th 2025, we learn how this this tight knit community is recovering from the trauma.  Ae we witnessing a Greenland TACO? President Trump has backed down on his threat to hit Europea...

Anthony Albanese may not have got the bill he wanted through Parliament this week but his fortunes are improving, meanwhile - despite all their protests - the Coalition is facing an existential threat with three national party frontbenchers shown the door by Sussan Ley for voting against shadow cabinets position. Now David Littleproud says they might all quit.  As Gaza lies in ruins, with bulldoze...

US President Donald Trump promised American's a golden age when he was inaugurated for his second term a year ago. Some believe he's making good on that promise but others are alarmed by his increasingly unconstrained power. Long time Trump observer and biographer Tim O’Brien zooms out on a divided nation.  Patty O'Keefe is an ICE patroller, one of the thousands of community members in Minneapolis...

Today parliamentarians came together to remember the 15 people slain as the sun set over Australia’s most iconic beach on December the 14th last year. But as debate begins over the political response to the Bondi attacks, will MPs be able to summon the same unity? And we hear from the aunty of the youngest victim of the atrocity, 10-year old Matilda. 

It's summer on ABC Radio National, so we're bringing you some of your favourite stories from 2025. Today, Pulitzer Prize winning founder of the website PolitiFact Bill Adair on the golden age of lying in American politics  Also, as Tasmania’s salmon industry struggles to maintain its social licence amid mass mortality events Canada says it will ban open net  salmon farms altogether. And, reflectio...

It's summer on ABC Radio National, so we're bringing you some of your favourite stories from 2025. Today, thousands of people simply vanish in Japan every year, it’s not a vast criminal conspiracy, but an industry created to help people start over.  Also, author Jeanette Winterson celebrates 40 years of literary shock, awe and raging success. and, the sound of music, Swiss brothers Esteban and Ale...