They’re a cheaper and convenient alternative to driving a car, but some e-bike riders are causing massive headaches for other road users and police. 

A string of serious injuries and deaths in e-bike crashes, particularly involving children, is fuelling calls for a crackdown. 

Today, Geoff Rose from the Monash Institute of Transport Studies on the influx of illegal e-bikes on the roads.

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Geoff Rose, Adjunct Professor in Transport Engineering at Monash University

Parents and teens are preparing for life cut off from social media when Australia’s world first ban for under-16s officially starts on Wednesday. 

The government has admitted it will take time to remove everyone aged under 16 from the platforms and it’s becoming clear older users could get caught in the net. 

So, how can you prove that you’re old enough to use the 10 platforms being targeted and how will teens get around the restrictions? 

Today, Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson, a tech reporter at the Australian Associated Press on what you need to know as the ban kicks in and why it could get messy.

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Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson, AAP technology reporter

Correction: The social media ban officially starts on Wednesday 10th December, not Thursday. 

The United States has deployed 15,000 troops and sent warships to the Caribbean in the biggest military build-up there since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

It follows months of deadly US strikes on boats from Venezuela it says are smuggling drugs.

Today, Latin America expert Orlando Pérez from the University of North Texas on why Donald Trump is turning up the pressure on Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro and why toppling him won’t be easy.

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Orlando J. Pérez, Professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas in Dallas

Australia’s renewable energy transition is well underway with new poles, wires and transmission towers planned across the country.

But some farmers say they’re being pressured and harassed to hand over land for the infrastructure to get electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s used. 

Today, reporter Alysia Thomas-Sam from ABC’s 7.30 program on the farmers pushing back at the farm gate and climate reporter Jess Davis on why transmission towers need to run through farmland.

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Alysia Thomas-Sam, 7.30 reporter

Jess Davis, ABC climate reporter

Australian property is now more expensive than ever and soaring mortgage debt has the financial regulator hitting the brakes on risky lending.

But could stopping banks for offering some loans do anything to stop rapid price growth for homes and units? 

Today, the ABC’s chief business correspondent Ian Verrender on what’s worrying APRA and the outlook for the housing market. 

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Ian Verrender, ABC chief business correspondent

In a flurry of peace talks over the last week, Ukrainian officials have been desperately trying to avoid an unjust deal with Russia being imposed on it. 

They’ve been pushing back against a controversial 28-point proposal that would have required Ukraine to surrender significant territory, restrict the size of its defence force and give up on ambitions of joining NATO. 

The US is leading the talks with both sides, but will Trump ultimately side with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin?

Today, international relations expert Rajan Menon on whether this latest round of diplomacy offers any real hope and what Kyiv may still have to give up.

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Rajan Menon, professor emeritus of international relations at the City College of New York

Every day millions of Australians take vitamin supplements, hoping for a health boost. 

But there’s been a sharp rise in people suffering numbness, nerve damage, even paralysis, after accidentally overdosing on vitamin B6. 

Many don’t even realise B6 is in so many products at high concentrations and that the vitamin can build up in the body. 

Today, reporter for the ABC’s 7.30 program Tom Hartley unpacks his year-long investigation into the surge in cases and the regulator’s long-overdue crackdown. 

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Tom Hartley, 7.30 reporter

Donald Trump has called a female journalist piggy, labelled another insubordinate and demanded Democratic politicians be arrested, even suggesting they could be executed for seditious behaviour.

The US president is no stranger to unconventional acts and confronting statements, but does his recent behaviour go beyond even his usual standards? 

Today, staff writer at The Atlantic magazine, Tom Nichols, on his analysis that the president’s latest outbursts are a sign he’s losing control of himself. 

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Tom Nichols, The Atlantic magazine staff writer

For many years the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a pariah on the world stage, but the US president is bringing him back into the fold. 

We know Donald Trump wants the US to do business with the wealthy Gulf Arab state, but what else does he like about the country?

Today, The New York Times contributor Noah Shachtman on how Trump wants America to be a lot more like Saudi Arabia and how he’s trying to achieve it. 

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Noah Shachtman, national security reporter and The New York Times contributor

Australians are all pretty invested in the weather and the Bureau of Meteorology is our go-to source of forecasts and information. 

So, people noticed when the BOM changed its website and many, including farmers, complained that data sources they relied on were either missing or hard to find. 

A change in the rain radar has already been rolled back and now the bureau has revealed it cost close to a hundred million dollars to build the website and all the infrastructure behind it. 

Today, the ABC’s lead rural reporter in Victoria, Justine Longmore, on the BOM website debacle.

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Justine Longmore, ABC lead rural reporter, Victoria