Background Briefing

The use of private military companies is now widespread, but now there are also private intelligence organisations working closely with government. Business is booming and the worlds biggest private equity company, Carlyle, has just bought part of the big intelligence company, Booz Allen Hamilton. They're active in Australia, too. Reporter Stan Correy.

Uranium is now a hot energy property, and there's big business in the nuclear trade. An investigation of the business of the bomb - from South Africa in the 80s to today - shows that nothing, it seems, is going to stop the worlds race to nuclear. American RadioWorks with the Center for Independent Reporting.

A new register of some of the biggest "third party" lobbyists and their clients will go some way to making public who has access to government in Canberra. But most lobbying and schmoozing will continue unchecked through old networks, secret meetings, and confidential discussions. Reporter, Erica Vowles.

Organised crime is said to be the biggest and most influential business in the world, and it got bigger and richer when the cold war ended. In some countries it is part of government, in others authorities are struggling against the tide. BBC World Service Documentaries.

Today's generation of farmers is experiencing unrelenting change - climate change, drought, globalisation and plummeting incomes. Many families are finding the pressures too much to bear. Reporter Di Martin grew up in sheep and wheat country, and tells the story of one of her cousins, as he puts his property on the market.

Allergies to everything from dust, to cats, to peanuts are hitting young children hard, and doctors don't really understand why or what to do. Long held theories are changing, and there's great confusion. Reporter Ian Townsend.

One hundred years ago this month, there was social ferment in Australia. Industrial unrest, crime and political changes were widespread giving the working class a new confidence. And in an astonishing series of events and people, football was changing forever. Rugby League was born. Reporter Stan Correy.

The Olmert government is dependent on the support of the extremist, ultra orthodox religious movement in Israel. They now make up 10 per cent of the population, and make no secret of their desire for Israel to become a religiously based state. Reporter Hagar Cohen

For years it's been one of the science community's great taboos but the idea of global climate control is starting to be openly discussed. Ideas like placing giant mirrors in space or firing sulphur particles into the stratosphere to cool the planet are no longer just in the domain of science fiction. Many scientists now believe the time for these ideas will come. Reporter, Wendy Carlisle

Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, and co-author Linda Bilmes, argue the Iraq war has led directly to America's current economic crisis. The price of a barrel of oil has quadrupled since the war began and the total cost of the invasion is staggering. Stiglitz and Bilmes describe how they came to the figure of three trillion dollars, and how difficult such an estimate is to achieve in the face of the Pentagon's accounting procedures.