The Radio National Hour

Four Australians are among dozens of passengers trapped on board a luxury cruise ship that's been refused safe harbour following a suspected outbreak of Hantavirus. One person is confirmed to have died and two other deaths are being investigated. So what is this mystery virus and where does it come from? Sanjaya Senanayake, Associate Professor and Infectious Diseases Specialist with the ANU School of Medicine and Psychology says its a dangerous but rare infection that's usually passed from rodents to humans. The death of a newborn baby in a homeless camp on the banks of the Murrumbidgee in Wagga Wagga over the weekend has exposed, yet again, our broken housing system. Advocates say it's a complex problem that intersects with issues including domestic violence and mental health. Australia is famous for its flora and fauna, but it was Steve Irwin who inspired Justine E Hausheer's obsession with Australian wildlife. It's a passion which brought her to the frontline of Australia’s extinction crisis, urgently documented in her new book The Vanishing Wild.

Nearly 17 years after his untimely death a new biopic celebrating Michael Jackson’s life and music is raking in millions at the box-office. But this shiny, feel good film makes no mention of the child abuse allegations and bizarre behaviour that tainted his later years, prompting some to ask whether - at the end of the day - it's impossible to cancel ‘The King of Pop’.If you’re a fan of Japanese anime films like My Neighbour Totoro or Spirited Away you’ll know and love composer Joe Hisaishi. Now his scores of calm, wonder and whimsy are being brought to the Sydney Opera House by the Phoenix Collective String Quartet.

Global alliances continue to strain under the weight of tensions in the middle east with the United Arab Emirates announcing its withdrawal from the OPEC oil group, a victory for the ‘drill-baby-drill’ club, but what will it mean for your petrol prices? Two new reports from our AUKUS partners - the US and Great Britain - have cast fresh doubt on their capacity to deliver on their commitments to the 360 billion dollar submarine project. Adam Lockyer, Associate Professor in Strategic Studies at Macquarie University questions whether the current leadership in both countries has the political will to deliver on their ambition. Francesca Albanese is one of the most scrutinised and controversial human rights officials in the world right now.Her new memoir, When the World Sleeps, is part political reckoning, part personal testimony — tracing her journey from a small town in southern Italy to the centre of a global argument about international law, power, and moral responsibility.

They said it couldn’t be done. On Sunday not one but TWO runners completed the London marathon in under two hours. It's a feat of human endurance for sure, but what they were wearing on their feet also played a starring role. Australian and world champion marathon runner Robert De Castella reflects on far the technology has come.The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than it's ever been with decades old nuclear disarmament treaties under pressure and world powers choosing force over diplomacy to get their way. Australian nuclear weapons expert Dr Emma Belcher says the world is on the verge of a new nuclear arms race .Actor Lisa McCune, talks about her latest project, a stage revival of the Hollywood classic, Steel Magnolias.

Sting, the rock legend who fronted The Police, is now in Brisbane performing a musical he wrote based on his childhood experiences in a 1950s English, shipbuilding town. The Last Ship takes Sting back to the yard where his father and grandfather worked right up until it's last days. One of Australia’s leading experts on Motor Neurone Disease, Dr Dominic Rowe, discusses his new research revealing that if you live in Tasmania or South Australia, you have a higher chance of dying from this devastating disease which kills two Australians every day The high stakes, multi-million dollar Kyle and Jackie-O court case has a new twist. New radio figures show the pair’s explosive exit from the airwaves has barely shifted the ratings.

It's one of Labor’s crowning achievements but the world leading National Disability Insurance Scheme has become unwieldy and unaffordable. As the government looks to find massive savings in next month's budget, where are the kindest cuts? Dr Sam Bennett, Disability Program Director with the Grattan Institute shares his ideas. Ten years ago Dr Kakenya Ntaiya shared a story of extraordinary bravery with the ABC. It set off a chain reaction of kindness and ambition to educate girls in Kenya. Now the charity it inspired - Women For Change - is celebrating its tenth birthday after helping thousands of African girls graduate University. Left in ruins after Russia’s invasion of the country in 2022, the Ukranian city of Mykolayiv was adopted by the nearby country of Denmark. Dymtro Tarasenko explains how this novel aid delivery scheme has brought the city and its people back to life.

A ceasefire has been declared in Lebanon as a fragile peace holds with Iran, is this enough to bring everyone back to the negotiating table? Former US diplomat Alan Eyre helped to broker the Obama era deal, he questions whether this administration is really in it for the long haul.Acclaimed Finnish-Estonian writer Sofi Oksanen lives with a voice in her head, it belongs to her great-aunt who lost her own voice after being raped by a soldier in the Red Army in 1944. Her story is the backdrop to Oksanen’s latest work, Same River, Twice: Putin’s War on Women, a searing account of the toxic misogyny that courses through modern Russia and its brutal war in Ukraine. The trombone is having a moment, thanks to a recently discovered 16th-Century German manuscript - inspiring an orchestral epic called ‘The Book of Miracles’. Hellen Vollam - Principal Trombone of the BBC Symphony Orchestra - was the first musician to bring this work to life.

Against the backdrop of the Ukraine war, the asymmetric conflict in the Middle East and a volatile US administration Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles will tomorrow unveil the latest National Defence Strategy. Professor Ian Langford says there's an arms race underway across the world and its vital that Australia develops its own sovereign defence capabilities. Everybody’s a winner, and a loser it seems in a marathon case involving the mining wealth of Australia’s richest woman. A West Australian judge has found Gina Rinehart’s company must pay royalties to two rival mining dynasties from one of its valuable Pilbara iron ore projects - but the court dismissed other claims against Rinehart - including those brought by her children. His music is steeped in the soul of America's deep south, but it wasn’t until he left the US that blues maestro Eric Bibb found a kind of freedom.

US President Donald Trump threatened hell, fire and fury if Iran didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz - now he says the US is going to block the shipping lane. Maritime security analyst and former Australian naval officer Jennifer Parker says its a strategy that could work. As Hungary’s election results came in Viktor Orban was quick to see the writing on the wall - conceding defeat early in the piece - veteran foreign correspondent Julius Strauss says the combination of corruption, Russian influence and Orban's incountry’s new leader Peter Magyar will have to move quickly to satisfy the demands of chart a different course with Europe and Russia. Could you live without a stomach? Maori woman Karyn Paringatai had hers removed in 2010 to prevent a rare and aggressive hereditary form of stomach cancer - diffuse gastric cancer. The cancer is linked to a mutation of the CDH1 gene - unusually prevalent in Maori families.The radical procedure has become so common in parts of New Zealand that Karyn was recently sitting around with some of her aunties and cousins - of the eight people there they realised only one still had a stomach.

In an onslaught lasting just ten minutes, Israeli air strikes killed at least two-hundred and fifty people in Lebanon yesterday, prompting international outrage and placing the fragile ceasefire with Iran in jeopardy. Amidst the crisis the charity World Central Kitchen is feeding 25 thousand people a day. It's head chef is Aline Kamakian and she says the bombs are dropping within meters of their kitchens. Germany has closed down its nuclear power plants and ended its reliance on Russia for gas - but some are questioning those moves in light of the current energy crisis. The country’s State Secretary for Climate, Jochen Flasbarth insists there’s no going back.Singer songwriter William Crighton reflects on the death of Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst and the lessons passed from one rocker to another.

Victoria Cross recipient and former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. Chris Masters was one of two investigative journalists whose reporting laid out in painstaking detail, Roberts-Smith’s alleged murder of unarmed Afghans. Zohran Mamdani promised big changes for the Big Apple … becoming the youngest ever and first Muslim elected as the city’s mayor.100 days into his term ABC north America correspondent Kamin Gock asks if he living up to the hype?India has begun the complicated and painstaking task of counting and questioning its 1.4 billion people, in what will be the largest ever census in history. It’s also controversial because citizens will be asked to identify which caste they belong to.

The US President has delivered a baffling and bombastic address to the nation, declaring mission almost accomplished in Iran and calling on nations like Australia to go get their own oil from The Strait of Hormuz. Historian Stephen Wertheim says it was classic Trump fare, light on details and answers to the big question, like when will this war be over?It’s the stuff Hollywood blockbusters are made of, a gang of thieves stages an audacious raid on an Italian villa making off with masterpieces by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth millions of dollars … in a heist lasting just three minutes. But as our art detective will explain later this hour, there’s unlikely to be a ready buyer for their precious loot. As a human rights lawyer Suzy Miller knows how to command a courtroom, but it's on the stage that she's found her real power

Russia suddenly finds itself awash with the profits of war, after the US partially lifted sanctions on its oil to help alleviate the energy crisis brought on by the war in the middle-east. Billions are now flowing into the Kremlin's coffers, averting a looming budget crisis and potentially funding its war with Ukraine for years. For three decades beginning in the 1980s Sri Lanka’s government was locked in a violent civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels. As many as 100,000 people were killed and another million fled the conflict, including many to Australia by boat. Now Sri Lanka’s government wants them to come home and start afresh. Tourette's sufferer and campaigner John Davidson recently found himself embroiled in controversy after his racial outburst at the BAFTAs, the result of course an uncontrollable tic. John's experience of Tourette's Syndrome, a cruel and confronting condition inspired the award winning film, 'I Swear' by director Kirk Jones.