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Smart analysis, lively conversations, and great company. Understand Australia and the world with Nick Bryant.
1216 Episodes
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Tonight the Matildas will take on Japan in the final of the AFC Women's Asian Cup in Sydney. Japan demolished South Korea this week, but the Tillies say they're up for the fight and will do what it takes to take home that trophy. After winning Australian hearts in the 2023 FIFA World Cup, the Matildas are the country's most recognisable sports team.Could this be the crowning glory in a golden age for the Matildas?
With the Iran war entering its fourth week, President Trump's MAGA base are growing increasingly uneasy.Podcast kings and Trump loyalists Joe Rogan, Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson have broken from the President, criticising attacks in the Middle East.This week, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent became the first official to resign over the war.With midterms looming, does the Iran war spell the end of Trump's populist movement?
Ahead of the South Australia state election, the polls are pointing to the re-election of the Labor government under Premier Peter Malinauskas. But the key test is on the conservative side of politics. We'll discover whether One Nation's recent surge in the polls can be translated into seats in the state parliament, and also what things are looking like for the Liberal Party.
The story of weight loss drugs like Ozempic has become global and multi-sided, spanning celebrity culture, public health and major policy debates.
The war in the Middle East is continuing to have economic consequences for Australians. Chief among these is higher prices at the petrol pump.The conflict is also forcing the government to reappraise its budget strategy. Might the Albanese government use the crisis to speed up economic reform?
The US-Israel war against Iran is poised to enter its fourth week with no immediate off-ramps.Now, the US military has deployed a second highly trained Marine Corp unit to the Middle East.From the very outset of the conflict, Professor Robert Pape has warned of it becoming an "escalation trap".
Guido Wolter is a visual effects supervisor from Adelaide, who's earned an Oscar nomination for his work on the film Sinners.Guido and his team made some true movie magic by allowing Michael B Jordan to portray not just one, but two, identical twins.
One person who understands exactly what the Iranian women's soccer team has been going through this week is Shiva Amini.A former Iranian women's national soccer player, she dared to play soccer without a hijab, wearing shorts and amongst men. She hasn't returned home to Iranian soil since.Earlier this week she addressed the UN, raising her concerns for Iran's national women's soccer team. She warns the returning Iranian women's soccer team will be paraded on state television and forced to praise the regime, while families of players who stayed in Australia will be punished.
Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie is about to start a solo tour of Australia. Bret talked to Saturday Extra about New Zealand politics, winning an Oscar and getting the Conchords back together later this year.He also provided a (long overdue) apology to Australia.
Earlier this week, Melbourne topped Time Out's 50 best cities in the world in 2026, beating the likes of New York, Paris, London and perennial rival Sydney.It's the first time Victoria's capital has topped this annual global ranking, attracting cheers from some Melburnians, and criticism of the whole process by others.
Nearly two weeks after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, Iran has found a way to inflict pain back on its enemies by stopping international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz — the passage for 20 per cent of the world's oil and gas supplies.Its military continues to target tankers and cargo ships in the Strait, driving the price of oil up and forcing countries around the world to release strategic oil reserves.
Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is "wounded and likely disfigured", according to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. But the regime still remains in place. So how long can it withstand the ongoing war with the US?The BBC's Lyse Doucet discusses the latest developments on day 13 of war in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump has demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender", in a dramatic escalation one week into the war he launched with Israel. Is the US administration winning over the US public to support the war and what paths are there to negotiate an end to hostilities?
Susannah Carr and Rick Ardon are the world's longest-serving television news anchor duo.Since 1985, they've read the news together at 7 News Perth more than 10,000 times — earning them a place in the Guinness World Records.
This week, master of Australian comedy Ted Emery passed away. He was the maestro behind some of Australia's classic TV comedies: Kath and Kim, Fast Forward, Full Frontal, The Micallef Program and Tonight Live with Steve Vizard.Magda Szubanski shares her memories of working with him.
A tiny possum with an extremely long finger and a new kind of gliding marsupial have been identified in West Papua. The two species were only previously known in Western science from the fossil record.
Anthropic and the Trump administration had a major falling out last week when the leading AI company requested restrictions on how the military uses its technology.The stoush goes to the heart of the government's relationship with this rapidly evolving, increasingly powerful technology.
Iran has spent decades and billions of dollars preparing foreign proxies as part of an alliance system stretching from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria to Yemen and Iraq.How has Israel's degradation of Iran's proxy network emboldened the US and Israel to push into the heart of the Iranian regime?
As the bombs keep falling on Iran, a big part of the Iranian strategy seems to be based on dragging out the conflict.The regime knows there's no appetite in the US for protracted conflicts after the so-called forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. So does the Iranian regime have the capacity to hang on?
The NSW State Librarian Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon joins Saturday Extra for The Last Thing. She talks about her last great read, last great sporting match and last great swim.
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RUDD. The minute you mentioned getting his insightful opinion you lost us. He needs to be treated with extreme caution. One does wonder how much he says / reports to China on ?
Probably no espresso bars in the country ? Hence moving back into the city. Hmmmm.