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Mining Afghanistan As foreign troops withdraw, will foreign miners move in? They’ve known of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth for a century but it hasn’t been safe or easy enough to extract it. Now Western companies, including Australian miners, are behind the geopolitical eight-ball as China and India lock up mining rights. Reporter, Stan CorreyListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Occupy: a global moment or a movement?It started with a bang in Wall Street and spread to over a hundred cities worldwide. But, as the novelty wears off, the tent city occupations are facing their own crunch time with the weather, the police and internal disagreements threatening their survival. Reporter, Hagar Cohen.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The great rural health challengeRural and remote Australia relies heavily on overseas trained doctors if it can attract a GP at all. Background Briefing looks at how a town can survive when its medical services start shutting down, how to support what remains, and whether Australia needs to overhaul its policy on overseas trained doctors. Reporter: Di MartinListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Harden Medical CentreDi Martin reports on Harden Medical Centre for Country Hour.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Apology for duplicate podcastsWe have just upgraded to a new website, and the move has caused some podcast subscribers to download duplicate mp3s. We apologise for this issue and hope you continue to listen to Radio National podcasts in the future.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-11-27 Riding the sports betting boom Freedom to advertise and the rise of the mobile app has led to a tripling of sports betting in Australia. The winning odds are now front and centre in the coverage of major sports and you can bet on all kinds of `exotic´ options. So what are the odds on a big corruption scandal or a new generation of problem gamblers? Reporter, Brendan King.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-11-20 The dark side of diplomacy Are there some people you should never negotiate with—despots, war criminals, terrorists—regardless of the circumstances? Or should you be open to talking to anyone to save lives, by ending war, delivering aid or rescuing hostages? Several prominent negotiators describe their experiences operating on the dark side of diplomacy. Reporter, Lyse Doucet (BBC World Service)Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-11-13 Guns are back Gun clubs report lots of new members, hunting is cool, and handguns are gangland chic. The hundreds of thousands of guns destroyed in buybacks since Port Arthur have been more than replaced by new ones. But guns are highly political and the national system for monitoring gun ownership is a mess. Reporter, Ian Townsend.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-11-06 Qantas and the ghost of Workchoices Qantas has opened a new industrial relations battlefront. The Labor government´s Fair Work laws are being put to the test but there are bigger political implications for the Opposition, which is split over whether to re-embrace Workchoices, the IR policy that many believe brought an end to the Howard government. Reporter, Stan Correy Photo: AAP, Miles GodfreyListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-10-30 Casualties in the war on people smuggling The Australian government wants to smash the people smugglers´ business model and courts around the country are now dealing with hundreds of the accused. But how many of them are just children from Indonesian fishing villages whose families think they´re lost at sea? Reporter, Hagar Cohen.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-10-23 Controlling people Is the world´s population out of control? There will be 7 billion people this year and 9 billion by 2050. With demographers, environmentalists and others fearing unsustainable pressure on resources, historian Matthew Connelly goes to India to examine past and present attempts at population control. From the BBC World Service.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-10-16 A noble cause Producing new medicines to extend lives and reduce suffering is a noble cause. The marketing of those drugs is often ignoble, with the wining and dining of doctors and the use of specialists to spruik the company line. A former industry insider gives a unique insight into the selling techniques of big pharma. Reporter, Ray Moynihan.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-10-09 Amnesty at 50 In its 50 years Amnesty International has revolutionised human rights campaigning and saved lives. It has also been dogged by quarrels, scandals and allegations of political bias. Reporter Matthew Bannister, from the BBC World ServiceListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-10-02 Boys and the buff culture 'Zyzz' was a ladies man and a puny boy´s dream realised. From skinny teenager to rippling Adonis he epitomised a growing obsession with male body culture. His death had an unexpected impact and has re-opened concerns about steroid use. Reporter, Brendan King. Photo source: FacebookListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-09-25 The mobile payments push Get ready for the next big app attack, urging you to chop up your credit cards and use your mobile phone. You won´t have to go to a shop, just point the phone at a handily-placed barcode, and you´ve paid! It´s not a phone, it´s a `smart wallet´, and your mobile banker skims off a bit of every transaction. Security? It´s a work in progress. Reporter, Stan Correy.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-09-18 Don't trust the web The internet is awash with misinformation, manipulated identities, fake reviews, and dishonest comments. Politicians use astroturfing. So do businesses and marketing firms. Beware—it's infecting everyone. Reporter Hagar CohenListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-09-11 Money for empties Container deposit schemes operate in many parts of the world, in SA, and soon in the NT. Why will some firms go to great lengths to prevent them? Politicians often fear the financial and strategic might of big business - even when it's about who picks up the drink can or the beer bottles. Reporter Di Martin.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-09-04 Nowhere to live Rents are rising even in country towns, and more people are forced into caravan parks, the back rooms of old pubs - or the river bank - even with young children. It can happen to anyone. It will get worse. Various attempts to create more places for people to live at cheap rent are not meeting the need. Reporter Anita Barraud.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-08-28 Soccer and technology Soccer is the biggest sport in the world and an enormous business. Millions can be lost through a wrong call made by a person with a whistle. Why won´t FIFA allow the technology now common in other sports? The controversy is raging over line ball technology. From the UK, sports reporter Tim Long.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-08-21 Amos Oz on fanaticism Renowned Israeli writer, poet, activist, and historian Amos Oz talks about the most urgent topic of our time—fanatics on all sides of politics and religion. If the UN agrees to recognise Palestine he hopes Israel will be the first to embrace the decision—and move on from there. The Ervin Graf Memorial Oration at the Shalom Institute.
Also Charles Massy talks about the $10 billion collapse of the wool industry in AustraliaListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-08-14 Auditing the auditors Where does the buck stop when big banks and corporations, even nations collapse. Who signs off on the books? The auditors or the directors of the board? And who should tell investors when there´s something shifty going on? Who are the auditors answerable to? Reporter, Stan Correy.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-08-07 Murderous Mexico In the first five months of this year, an astonishing l8,500 Mexicans have been murdered -- with very few convictions. In the last five years 66 journalists have been murdered. Mexico is a failed state with corruption, no rule of law, and spin and lies all around -- including in America. The speaker is American non-fiction writer Charles Bowden.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-07-31 50/50 parenting Legislation before the Senate now may take some of the heat out of tragic confusion over shared, or "equal time parenting", and the role of violence in Family Law decision making. Research shows children of high conflict families, forced into equal time, are suffering. Reporter Brendan King.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-07-24 Water bugs Every year more than 200 people in Queensland get very sick with a nasty, little understood, hard-to-treat type of bacteria. Other states report none. Why? Our water supply is now so complex, things are overlooked. Reporter, Ian Townsend.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-07-17 The Lord Monckton roadshow The Scottish peer Lord Monckton has been raising hell against the carbon tax in barnstorming rallies and public meetings around the country. But just who is Lord Monckton and who are the forces behind him? Chief amongst them a mysterious group called the Galileo Movement and mining magnate and now media player Gina Rinehart. Reporter Wendy CarlisleListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-07-10 Bullying at work It´s tricky territory. No one agrees on one definition, and what is bullying to one person is normal behaviour to another. But who investigates bullying, and is that process working? First-hand accounts from people who believe the system let them down. Reporter: Hagar CohenListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-07-03 Ghosts of Vietnam There are 300,000 Vietnamese still missing in action and their souls haunt the living. Real or metaphorical, these ghosts are disrupting society. Some American veterans calm their own souls by helping to find and properly bury these war dead. BBC World Service documentary.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-06-26 Digital convergence, connection and confusion It´s coming fast, the digital hub where i-pads talk to mobile phones, computers talk to TVs, TVs have hundreds of apps, and you can choose and change with your magical remote wand. But, big but, who is in charge of customer service for all these devices when something goes phut? Reporter Stan CorreyListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-06-19 The knight of Newcastle Nathan Tinkler is a billionaire and the richest man in Australia under 40. He loves fast horses, fast cars, the Newcastle Knights, and big business deals. He´s held in awe and trepidation - but he won't talk to BB. Nor will most people who know him. So who is he, how did he get so rich, and why will Newcastle rise or fall with him? Reporter Brendan King. Photo: Lucas DawsonListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-06-12 Who decides how we die? We should be able to choose the way we die by writing an advanced care directive, or appointing someone to make our medical decisions when we can´t. But there´s legal arguments, confusion and arrogance in the way of us going gentle into that good night. Make your wishes clear, tell someone about them, and do it while you´re competent. Reporter Di Martin Photograph: Tom CoullListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-06-05 Preventing cancer One in three cancers are preventable and successful campaigns such as 'Slip Slop Slap' are proof. Lung and bowel cancer are also coming down, and melanoma in children. St. Vincents Institute in Melbourne held a forum to discuss aspects of cancer prevention, including the fact that every $1 used in prevention saves $50 in treatment. Producer, Kirsten Garrett.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-05-29 Fatigue factor As an entire population we´re losing sleep. Fatigue has become a dangerous side-effect of 24/7 living and nowhere is the danger more acute than in the transportation industry - a frightening number of airline pilots as well as train, truck and car drivers admit to falling asleep on the job. But it´s almost impossible to know how many fatal accidents are caused by fatigue. Reporter, Ian Townsend. Photo: iStockphotoListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-05-22 Language barriers The compulsory English language test for migrants can make or break their future in Australia. But critics say it is a blunt instrument that can produce odd results. Frustration with the test is mounting and there is evidence of corruption. Reporter, Hagar Cohen.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-05-15 Digital revolutionaries under surveillance In Egypt democracy activists called themselves the Facebook revolutionaries, but in China there are fears the social networking sites will be used to spy on dissidents. For governments, social media represent easy access to their citizens, for good or ill. But for digital entrepreneurs, including the odd Russian billionaire, there must be money in it, if they could only find a way. No-one knows where it will go next. Reporter: Stan Correy
Extra AudioDownload Audio [13.24 | 6.13MB]Man in t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-05-08 How politics neglects feelings David Brooks, a leading political analyst for the New York Times and PBS NewsHour, has come to some surprising conclusions after years of observing political life. He says politicians place too much value on reason, and not enough on social relationships, emotion and morality. Politicians can only develop successful policies if they learn the skills of intuition, sympathy and restraint.
Also in this program, some analysis from Michael Scheuer, formerly chief of the Bin-laden unit on what m ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-05-01 Bess Price: welcome to my world Warlpiri woman Bess Nungarrayi Price gives a personal account of the way violence has ripped apart her family, and others, in Aboriginal communities of Central Australia. Bess and her white husband, Dave, argue passionately for the right of people in these communities to live without the fear of violence, and for children in remote areas to have access to a good quality education. Photo: Ann ArnoldListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-04-24 Medical turf wars Physicians' assistants have joined pharmacists, nurse practitioners and optometrists to say they can do the straightforward, simple, and repetitive work that would take the load off GPs. Patient safety is central to the debate, as the AMA guards its turf. Reporter Brendan King.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-04-17 Low IQ and in jail Many intellectually disabled people end up in jail. They plead guilty to minor crimes not understanding either social rules or the consequences. Hear the story of Melisa who has an IQ of 57, which is in the lowest l%, and who still faces jail. Reporter Cathy Van Extel.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-04-10 Church and state Concerns were raised when federal funding for chaplains in schools was introduced. Now some parents have evidence evangelism has seeped into the secular public school system. Others are staunch supporters. The controversy is now headed for the High Court. Reporter Hagar Cohen. Photograph: Andrew Turner
Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-04-03 Dementia: into the daylight We´re diagnosing dementia younger, we´re living with it longer, and more Australians will have it in future. How are we to deal with this devastating and costly disease? Like cancer 30 years ago, we prefer not to talk about it. But it needs increasing attention as the dementia epidemic breaks over our health and aged care systems. Reporter: Di MartinListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-03-27 Taxing mines Australia and Zambia are resource rich countries that both wanted to tax the super profits of mining companies during the world´s biggest commodity boom. Find out why they failed. Reporter: Stan CorreyListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-03-22 Overloaded internet Even silicon valley says the world is overconnected, corporations are overwhelmed, and we´re heading for another global crisis because the internet is now cowboy country, out of control. Internet high priest, historian, and author Bill Davidow says international regulations - or some way of making it all smaller is vital. Producer, Kirsten Garrett.
This story was originally broadcast on the 6th March 2011. If you wish to download the audio of this program please go to the original story ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-03-20 Japan's nuclear crisis As Japan nuclear emergency continues, some food produced near the stricken Fukushima power plant has been found to contain abnormal radiation levels. Radiation traces have also been found in tap water in Tokyo and it´s been detected in the air as far away as eastern Russia and the west coast of the US. What will be the health effects? Does the disaster prove nuclear power is inherently unsafe? Paul Barclay hosts the discussion this week. Photo: AFP Digital GlobeListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-03-13 The boy on Christmas Island Orphaned in the wild sea storm, 9 year old Iranian boy Seena Akhlaqi has become the political pawn of `stop the boats´. Why was a traumatised boy left in an overcrowded detention centre, with substandard care, for over two months? Was it a bungle or a cover-up? Reporter: Wendy Carlisle Photo: Getty imagesListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-03-06 Overloaded internet Even silicon valley says the world is overconnected, corporations are overwhelmed, and we´re heading for another global crisis because the internet is now cowboy country, out of control. Internet high priest, historian, and author Bill Davidow says international regulations - or some way of making it all smaller is vital. Producer, Kirsten Garrett.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-02-27 Mismanaging disasters Nature's forces - floods, cyclones, fires and this week the earthquake in Christchurch - won´t stop, yet we still live on flood plains, in the bush, on the beach and in earthquake zones. Rescue services struggle. Communications fail. Insurance companies spread the cost. It comes back to educating the people. Reporter Ian Townsend.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-02-20 Ugly cigarette packs The world is watching as Australia goes to battle with Big Tobacco over making cigarette packets plainer, uglier and uncool. If legislation gets through here, the EU and other countries will follow. It´s lobbyists vs lawyers, big retailers vs small retailers. And free traders are huffing and puffing. Reporter Hagar CohenListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-02-15 The Matilda Myth It´s 70 years since the death of Banjo Patterson, and tourists will drive the Banjo Route from Narrambla to Corryong armed with a book of his poems.
The Diamantina River, home of the famous billabong, is flowing again after drenching rains...just like in 1894 when the swagman of the story visited the waterhole. The Matilda Myth -- with an interactive website -- takes a look again at the politics and mysteries of these first years of the Labour movement in Australia. Devised and produced b ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2011-02-13 Egypt: what now? Special No Background Briefing podcast for February 13th. A special program on Egypt, presented by Fran Kelly is available from the Radio National Breakfast website.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | |