Background Briefing

The cost of boom times in India is a surge in demand for everything - and top of the list is water. Industry, agriculture, households in middle class suburbs and global corporations all want as much as they can get. Is privatisation the answer when governments are struggling?

Whether you call them guest workers or skilled immigrants, they're part of a globalising workforce. Over 700,000 foreigners work in Australia - from CEOs to meatworkers and fruitpickers. Taking Aussie jobs? Exploitation? Maybe, but there are also one million Australians working overseas. Presented by Wendy Carlisle.

The man who wrote The End of History? is now disenchanted with American foreign policy. Fukuyama remains a conservative, but has strong views on what has gone wrong. He sees a need to demilitarise the struggle against violent fundamentalism. This talk was given at the Philadelphia Free Library .

Not long ago Windale was the most disadvantaged postcode in southeast Australia. Now it is beginning to turn itself around. It has had startling successes in reducing child abuse and neglect. Government money might have got things going, but momentum is kept by working with community strengths rather than weaknesses.

America has plans for Cuba after Castro, including the use of Guantanamo Bay. In Cuba, many people believe their world will not change. Others say it must, and are preparing for dangerous times. In Miami, exiled Cuban business people, and the US government wait for their day.

John R Bolton may be called 'the ugly American' and be widely disliked, yet his pivotal role as US Ambassador to the UN makes him extraordinarily powerful and important in world affairs. Obsequious, arrogant, doctrinaire and above all, Americanist - but no fool, neocons hope he may save the Bush administration.

Privatisation of health care in China has failed, and Beijing knows there may be social and political unrest as a result. The rich can buy good care - but for others the biggest concerns are incompetence, frayed services, and misery. In the case of a viral pandemic, weaknesses in the health system in China could affect the whole world.

Queensland has been having the fastest growth in population in the developed world, and is second only to Phoenix in the money that growth is bringing in. And yet, the schools, hospitals, roads and services haven't kept up. Premier Beattie is reassuring, smooth and soothing as he faces Queenslanders living with too much growth, too fast.

They shun contact with the world. Not just with technology, books, radio and TV, but also other people. They do not vote, because voting interferes with God's right to ordain who rules. But Satan has infiltrated democracy and the Exclusive Brethren have started putting money and time into political campaigns.

The worlds biggest retail company, Wal-Mart, is China's fourth largest trading partner, and the result is one of the most dramatic economic shifts since the industrial revolution. Tariffs are again in the air. There is international unease about labour laws, fair trade or free trade and the power of economic supremacy.