Radio National Breakfast

Australia is the land of fire and flood with both causing emergencies across multiple states in recent weeks.

The federal government has announced tens of millions of dollars in relief funding as communities count the cost of fires in Victoria — and flood damage in several regions across North Queensland.

• Guest: Kristy McBain, Minister for Emergency Management
• Producer: Joe Sullivan

Two gunmen using a footbridge to target people attending a Jewish celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach.

The future of the heritage-listed bridge is now being debated. 

The New South Wales Premier Chris Minns argues it should be removed and not become in his words a "ghoulish" reminder of the attack. 

Others want it to remain as a tribute to the victims.

However, a structural engineering report has indicated the footbridge is nearing the end of its useful life.

Days out from parliament being recalled to debate the wideranging Combating Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill, the opposition has accused the government of rushing the process. 

Votes are being counted in Uganda's general election amid an internet shutdown and accusations of vote rigging from the opposition.

The election is a re-match of the 2021 contest between 81-year-old incumbent President Yoweri Museveni — who's been in power for four decades — and the 43-year-old singer-turned-politician known as Bobi Wine.

The campaign has been marked by the disruption of opposition activities, with security forces accused of assaulting and detaining Wine's supporters.

• Guest: Fergus Kell, research fellow at Chatham House's Africa program
• Producer: Pip Cook

Organisers of the Adelaide Festival attempted to put a damaging scandal over free speech behind them yesterday. 

They apologised to Palestinian-Australian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah for dumping her from the Writers' Week program and invited her to return next year.

Next month's event has been cancelled after more than 180 authors withdrew and director Louise Adler resigned.

The declaration of large parts of the lower Murray River as 'critically endangered' has raised questions over how Australia manages its most important waterway.

Yesterday, Environment Minister Murray Watt announced greater protections for the river and its surrounds - following years of concern from scientists about its declining health.

The coolest library on Earth has opened in Antarctica - and it doesn't store books.

Known as the Ice Memory Sanctuary, it's a tunnel buried in a more than 3-thousand-metre thick ice sheet.

Scientists are using it to store glacier ice cores threatened by global warming.

The United States says it has launched phase two of President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza by setting up a technocratic Palestinian administration to run the coastal strip.

The plan also aims to demilitarise Hamas and begin rebuilding Gaza even though Hamas has refused to disarm without a Palestinian state — and Israel has not committed to a full withdrawal.

The next phase faces big questions about how it would work on the ground, who holds real power, and whether it can succeed while the ceasefire is so shaky.

Guest: Daniel Levy, former Israeli peace negotiator, now President of the US-Middle East Project

Producer: Anne Barker

The White House is weighing its options in response to a deadly crackdown by the Iranian regime.

The US-based rights group HRANA estimates more than 2,600 people have died and more than 8,000 have been detained since nation-wide protests began.

Iran has warned it will strike US bases in the region if Washington intervenes and President Donald Trump has appeared to tone down his public rhetoric, saying he's been told the killing of protesters in Iran is easing — and there's no plan for mass executions.

The United Nations Security Council is due to meet as fears grow of a wider regional escalation.

Guest: Ambassador Barbara Leaf, a former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs under Joe Biden and a Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute

Producer: Anne Barker

The Adelaide Festival has apologised to author Randa Abdel-Fattah and invited her to participate in the 2027 Writers’ Week, following a week-long saga that has engulfed the festival. 

She spoke with Radio National Breakfast on her decision to accept the Festival's apology.