The Radio National Hour

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang has admitted to an affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. Could an alleged honey trap reshape the US-China race for AI supremacy? 

The Democrats have swept back into control of the US Congress after a resounding midterm victory, the question on many people's minds now is whether they will they pursue an agenda of retribution against the Trump administration or focus on the key issues - like cost of living - that drove voters to them. 

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas is warning Australia is heading towards an...

It’s a disease that afflicts nearly half a million Australians. Dementia is often spoken about as a scourge. But for the past five years, dementia rehabilitation has become a new buzzword, changing how people accept and move forward after their diagnosis. 

The US President Donald Trump is digging in after last week's midterms but Michael Fullilove, the executive director of The Lowy Institute says his power and influence on the international stage is diminished and that leaders will now be imagining at post-Trump world. 

They call her ‘Q’ and she’s here to shake up New Zealand politics. Qiulae Wong is the leader of New Zealand's Opportunity Party which is tipped to pick up its first seats in the parliament at tomorrow's general election. And that might just make her a Kingmaker.

Not many of us get to fall in love with a 300-year-old but, Cello virtuoso Mischa Maisky has enjoyed one particularly enduring love affair - with his instrument - built in the age of Bach. He's touring Australia and performing with his pianist daughter Lily Maisky. 

And true cr...

David Jones is fighting for its life after entering voluntary administration today. The iconic retailer has survived 188 years, but can it weather its biggest crisis yet? And is there any future for up-market department stores, like DJs?

A new report has found that more than 8,200 sharks and rays have died as a result of South Australia's algal bloom, potentially making it one the largest natural mass mortality events for these species ever recorded. Vincent Raoult, Senior Lecturer in Marine Ecology at Griffith University says it's just one of many human-made crisis threatening the sharks. 

After thr...

First came South Carolina, then Texas, followed by the once unthinkable - Kansas. One by one these deep red states flipped, as Americans turned out in record numbers to cast their ballots in the midterm elections, delivering a stunning repudiation of President Donald Trump. Veteran political commentator E J Dionne says the historic result marks the end of the Trump era. 

A crowd funded, community inquiry into AUKUS has delivered its verdict calling for the $368 billion project to be sunk. Immediately. Former chief of the Australian Defence Force retired Admiral Chris Barrie says the project is a co...

The Reserve Bank has moved again, pushing the cash rate to the highest level in 18 years whilst warning that inflation will remain above 3 percent for the coming year. Former NAB chief economist Alan Oster says 

The government insists its world-first social media ban is protecting children from harmful content online. NSW Libertarian MP John Ruddick say it’s a violation of their right to free speech and he's challenging the ban in the High Court.

And for decades the US state of Texas has been the shiniest red ruby in the Republican political crown, but tha...

Arab-Israeli voters turned out in record numbers for last week’s Knesset elections in Israel, now as the opposition resists their calls to form a coalition, many fear that vote will count for little. 

The earth’s frozen regions are experiencing the worst impacts of a warming planet. With the world on track to overshoot 1.5 degrees of warming, a new report reveals that the impact on Earth’s cryosphere, will likely be irreversible for generations, even if we bring down temperatures quickly. Dr James Kirkham is the Chief Science Adviser at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative says the worl...

New research is raising questions about whether a commonly used IVF technique could be associated with an increased risk of childhood cancer. Marie Hargreaves from the Danish Cancer Institute, who helped conduct the study, explains what the findings mean and why the absolute risk remains low.

For nearly a year, Shirin, an Iranian-Australian, found herself stranded in Iran as economic turmoil, protests and conflict transformed daily life around her. Now safely back in Australia, she shares what she witnessed and the pain of leaving her family behind.

For 25 years, The Bamboos have been a fixture...

The race to pick the next Secretary General of the United Nations is gathering pace after months of backroom negotiations and a lack of consensus over potential candidates. But the woman considered most likely to fill the post comes with baggage. Global human rights champion Kenneth Roth explains why her candidacy is so controversial. 

Bayley McKenna will make history leading the Wheelaroos - Australia’s wheelchair rugby league team - at the World Cup in Wollongong this weekend, but not for the reason you’d imagine.  

In Victoria, First Nations people are jailed at more than ten...

It was pitched as an election for Israel’s identity, but the early result is a familiar story. Two voting blocs and no majority. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right partners are ahead but will still fail to achieve the necessary 61 seats to form a government. Gadi Eisenkot and the Yashar party could get there, but only with support from the Arab bloc.  

The economists describe it as sticky, but for many Australians it’s a cause of stress and fear. September’s inflation rate has come in higher than expected, all but guaranteeing another rate rise ne...

Serbia has voted for change, but its new student-led political party has no leader and a caucus that includes opera singers, professors and sportspeople. Is this Europe’s next anti-establishment wave? 

Victoria’s CFMEU was Australia’s most powerful construction union, until it was brought down by allegations of corruption and collusion with organised crime. A new book by journalists Nick McKenzie and Ben Schneiders exposes the political, criminal and industrial power dynamics that allowed it to happen.

When Elizabeth Ann Macgregor arrived in Sydney from Scotland to take the helm of Sydney’s Museum of Contem...

Israelis head to the polls tomorrow in an election that’s being described as ‘existential’. After nearly 20 years in power, strongman Benjamin Netanyahu is pitching for the security vote, but his rivals say he’s a threat to democracy. Mairav Zonszein, an Israel analyst with the International Crisis Group, says Israelis want change but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unlikely to go quietly into the night. 

Only two months ago, a group called Compassion in Politics Australia gained the first signatory to its "Civility Pledge" - Helen Haines. The organisation, based on a similar foundation in the United Kin...

. Generation Z is angry - in Asia, Africa and more recently Europe. They say governments aren’t listening to their concerns - about housing, jobs and the future they’re inheriting. Oxford University economist Tim Vlandas says his theory of ‘Gerontonomia’ explains the dilemma facing many countries.

President Donald Trump is on a frenzied mission to win friends and influence people ahead of the midterms but almost half of all US Ambassadorial roles are currently vacant. Tracey's guest for The Diplomats, Ambassador Donald Hevlin says there is no substitute for eyes and ears on the ground.

And ho...

Two thirds of the world’s websites use an open source programming language called PHP. For years we’ve known it has some security flaws, but no one was smart enough to exploit them - until - artificial intelligence cracked the code. Now the race is on to patch the problem before hackers get their first. Johanna Weaver, Executive Director of the Tech Policy Design Institute says it's another reminder of the need for better regulation and guardrails. 

Who's a good refugee? A deserving migrant? They’re questions usually answered by people who have never had to flee the...

Helen Haines' husband Phil has given a heartbreaking update on his wife's condition, confirming she has now had both legs amputated. We take you into her electorate of Indi and speak to the woman who preceded her as local member, Cathy McGowan.

From diagnosing disease to wearables that warn of looming medical threats, AI promises to transform medicine. But how much should we trust it with decisions about our health? 

And it's time to get twitching again. Conservationist, comedian and Bird Nerd Sean Dooley joins Fran to talk about the annual Aussie Bird Count and w...

As the independent member for Indi Helen Haines fights for her life in a Melbourne hospital the Governor General of Australia Sam Mostyn reflects on the ugly forces working to undermine Australian democracy and urges Australians to 'show kindness and enter into debates better'.

Amid warnings of escalating threats of violence against politicians, was this atrocity predictable? Liesbeth Long a councillor with the Central Goldfields Shire Council in Victoria and its former Mayor says she's been confronted with vile slurs and death threats throughout her career. 

He’s one of the most important British artists of t...

Democrats are being urged not to count their chickens after the latest Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, which shows President Trump's approval rating has plummeted to a new low of 33%. The Democrats now hold an eight point lead nationally among registered and likely voters. Scott Clement the polling director for The Washington Post says midterms tend to be a referendum on the president and many Americans aren't happy with theirs. 

While many Americans are turning off politics, Israelis are flying across the world to cast their ballots in what’s considered by some as an election for the natio...

It’s one of the most scrutinised jobs in the world. On Tuesday Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia stepped up to the lectern for her first press briefing, an awkward exchange in which she confused her husband with the president and took just three questions. We look back at the history of the people who speak for the president with long-time White House correspondent Brian Karem.

14 years ago former American Marine Corp veteran Austin Tice disappeared on a freelance reporting trip in Syria and hasn’t been seen since. A new podcast is seeking answers...

Paul Keating once said, "anyone who’s any good never writes about themselves.” Luckily, plenty of others have and last weekend Fran sat down in front of a live audience, with celebrated journalists - Kerry O'Brien, Laura Tingle and Lorena Allam – to talk about great political writing. From the Yirrkala bark petitions, to Gough’s memoir, and the many leadership spills, what are the political books that have shaped the way we think about politics and the people who govern us.

We’re told it’s bigger - much bigger - than any technology revolution that’s come before, but are we buying the AI hype or, perhaps more crucially, are we willing to pay for it? Chief business correspondent Ian Verrender explains why markets around the world are getting the jitters.    

They’re the invisible workforce: more than 3 million Australians who work (unpaid) as carers for loved ones with mental illness, disabilities and the elderly. As we mark National Carer’s Week, carer Laura Knight and Jonathan Harms, CEO of Mental Health Care NSW share their experiences.

More than...

In 2023 oncologist Ophira Ginsburg blew the whistle on the scandal of millions of women dying prematurely because of medical misogyny in cancer care. Three years on she says progress is being made but too many women in the developing world are relying on miracles instead of science for a cure. 

ACCC boss Gina Cass-Gottlieb has launched action against some of Australia’s biggest egg producers accusing them of colluding for years to choke the supply and drive up the price of eggs.

And schools out for the 2026 Sydney Symphony Fellows, cellist Noah Lawrence and trumpet play...

More than a decade ago, neuroscientist Rafael Yuste made a startling discovery: enabling the technology that is now being used to read and manipulate human minds. Now he's working to ensure that our neural privacy is protected in legislation.

Angry 'Cockroaches' are being encouraged to take to the streets of India's capital New Delhi. That's the name given to a highly motivated and mobilised youth-led movement that has the country's ruling government spooked. 

A documentary about a Port Arthur survivor became something its filmmaker never expected: the story of his own descent into the world o...

When Jenny Bloomfield arrived in Australia from Greece at the age of 12 she felt like an alien landing on a strange planet, little did she know three decades later she would be representing her adopted home as its Ambassador to Greece, just one chapter in a diplomatic career that took her across the world.

Tsar Samuel, the Emperor of Bulgaria, conquered the Balkans more than one thousand years ago. Now, after years of negotiations, what are believed to be his remains have finally been laid to rest in Sofia. But his old bones have become a political...

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us. 

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us. 

It's like something out of a Dickens novel: Australians sleeping rough, veterans, migrants and those suffering severe mental health are being buried in unmarked, mass graves in New South Wales and Queensland because they're unable to afford a proper burial or relatives can't be identified. In an exclusive investigation The Guardian's chief investigative correspondent Christopher Knaus has identified more than 100 graves & Rev Bill Crews says state government's have failed to properly identity the dead for years. 

After relinquishing the on hosting rights for this year's UN Climate Conference to Turkiye, the Australian Government is determined to make t...

Tennessee prison authorities tried for more than an hour to kill her with two doses of a lethal poison before doctors intervened to save her life. Murderer Christa Pike remains on life support after last week’s botched execution. So will this catastrophic failure be a moment of reckoning for Americans who still support the death penalty?

Facing increased threats from China, North Korea and Russia, Japan is building its first intelligence agency, described by the country’s Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae as a “matter of the utmost urgency”.

And what makes a good political cartoonis...

Former Australian Prime Minister and Ambassador to the United State Kevin Rudd joins The Diplomats to reflect on his differing roles in diplomacy, as well as explore the misinterpretations between the US, the West and China.Humorist and essayist David Sedaris's latest work focuses on travelling, growing older, family but continues his iconic style of finding humour in everyday oddities. Could artificial intelligence every replace him? 

And in 1997 the people of Newcastle lined the M1 to Sydney to cheer on their Knights to their inaugural rugby league premiership. Veteran broadcaster, author and mental health advocate Craig Hamilton r...

The latest 'State of the Force' was another firey speech from US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth signposting an American focus on autonomous warfare, 'Fortress America', faith and the promotion of a warrior culture. Retired Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Air Force Rachel VanLandingham, now  professor of law at Southwestern Law School looks at the broader agenda. European intelligence officials are warning Russia is stepping up its attacks across NATO territory. Steven Erlanger, the chief diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, explains how Moscow is testing resolve. The tale of how Australian women war artists inspired author Pip...

With David Shoebridge voted in by his peers as the new federal leader of the Greens, Phil Coorey, Political Editor of The Australian Financial Review looks at where the party could wield its influence in the Senate. Plus Kos Samaras, pollster and director strategy and analytics at Redbridge Group, looks at what the electorate thinks of the Greens and where it does have support, but where its also leaking potential votes. With more tricky economic data showing inflation rising a day after interest rates rose, does the removal of credit card surcharges provide consumers with any relief? Simon Birmingham C...

The Albanese Government wants to help more first home owners get into the market, but the fourth rate rise from the RBA this year just made that more difficult. Dr James Graham, Assistant Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Sydney and a former economist with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand explains why there's a perfect storm of factors at play working against the government's objective.  As the ABC's Foreign Correspondent program trails the fight to track down missing Ukrainian children, abducted during the war, Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at t...

What do we know after a public tip off about three 'suspicious' white vans which led to five arrests near a British airforce base used by the United States in its war against Iran? The UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Jonathan Hall explains what happens next.Where should Australia turn after OpenAI paused training of its latest AI models, following the revelation its confession that it lost control of its own AI Agents, which broke into Australia's Medicare website last week? Executive Director of the Tech Policy Design Institute Johanna Weaver, who also served as Australia's chief cy...

Tracey Holmes brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge, entertain and inspire us. 

OpenAI’s stunning confession that it lost control of its own AI Agents, which broke into Australia's Medicare website, has raised alarm in Canberra and around the world. AI expert Kate Crawford and former national security adviser to the Department of Home Affairs, Greg Sadler, unpack the fallout.

The leaders of the world’s two AI superpowers, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, sit down for talks in Washington later tonight - who holds the upper hand? Head of the Science, Technology and Innovation Program at the Berlin-based think tank MERICS, Rebecca Arcesati previews the...

The race for AI dominance has reached fever pitch. Former Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate Rachel Noble explains the threat this technology poses to us right now and what role Australia can play in regulating it.

A childhood on the run with America’s most dangerous woman, playwright Zayd Ayers Dohrn shares more about his radical parents - leaders of the infamous militant activists The Weather Underground.

This week marks one year since Australia joined a group of Western nations to recognise Palestinian statehood. Deputy Foreign Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Omar Awadallah says it...

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us. 

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us. 

Tracey Holmes brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge, entertain and inspire us. 

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us. 

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us.