Show Notes
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 of Australia’s funk and soul scene, and their music is still finding new audiences. Founder and guitarist Lance Ferguson and lead singer Kylie Auldist look back on a quarter-century of making music together and why the band keeps going.
More from The Radio National Hour
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 times the rate of non-Indigenous Victorians. The Torch helps them imagine a life beyond the prison walls, using art to reconnect them with community and culture. The not-for-profit's latest exhibition, Future Dreaming 2026: Voices Beyond the Walls, has just opened in Melbourne it brings together works by First Nations artists who are either still in prison or have recently been released.
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 next week. Chief economic correspondent Ian Verrender explains why this critical economic measure is so hard to contain. And; Sting, Billy Joel, Sheryl Crowe; Rick Beato has interviewed them all. Now he's embarking on his first Australian stage tour.
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 Contemporary Art some suggested she should have stayed in rainy, cold UK. Her new memoir details how she transformed the near bankrupt institution, by throwing open its doors to everyone.
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 Kingdom, aims to turn the tide of toxic debate and build a better politics. Josie Gibson is the group's co-director. Nearly two hundred years ago a rebellion broke out at the Parramatta Female Factory; over sugar. In her new book Unravelled, historian and author Heather Garnsey tells this rollicking tale of Australia’s early colonial history through the eyes of a pioneering woman and her distant relative Elizabeth Fulloon.
. 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 how well do we really know North Korea and its people? A new book, Miss Kathi: Saving Lives in North Korea, written by veteran foreign correspondent Mike Chinoy and Swiss aid worker Kathi Zellweger tells the story of the ordinary people living beneath one of the world’s most repressive governments, and asks whether isolating the regime ultimately means abandoning the people.