Radio National Breakfast

For some time now, health experts and advocacy groups have been pushing for junk food ads to be banned in Australia.

Well now the UK has done just that...  prohibiting before 9pm TV and all online ads for high-fat, salt and sugar products in a bid to tackle childhood obesity.

• Guest: Dr Duane Mellor, dietitian and science communicator at Aston Medical School in the UK
• Producer: Eddy Diamond

Elon Musk's AI tool Grok is facing a growing global backlash over the generation of non-consensual and sexualised deepfake images of women and children by a feature called 'spicy mode'.    

Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says they're investigating a number of complaints about the Chatbot... whilst the EU's digital affairs spokesperson has said "This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling." 

• Guest: Mike Isaac, technology reporter for the New York Times
• Producer: Oscar Coleman

Israel's military has approved the use of electronic bracelets in the West Bank, as it looks for new ways to rein in violent attacks by Jewish settlers. 

The move follows advice from Israel's domestic security agency, and is being presented as an alternative to administrative detention, which the government no longer applies to Israelis

• Guest: Yonah Jeremy Bob, senior military correspondent and intelligence analyst at the Jerusalem Post
• Producer: Anne Barker

"Sounds good to me," Donald Trump said when asked whether there might be US action in Colombia to remove its leader Gustavo Petro... who has since retorted "come get me."

Colombia is one of several countries-- including Cuba-- potentially in an apparently emboldened US president's sights, following the capture of the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

• Guest: Jon Bonfiglio, a Latin American correspondent based in Mexico
• Producer: Pip Cook

Coverage and analysis of national and international events.

The Rufous  scrub-bird is one of the world's oldest surviving species of songbirds.

The tiny endangered birds can only be found in isolated rainforest areas of south-eastern Australia, but scientists warn another bad fire season could wipe them out.

• Guest: Dr Brian Hawkins, senior threatened species officer at the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water
• Producer: Pip Cook

The new year brings with it the start of Hollywood's annual awards season, where filmmakers and stars walk red carpets, give earnest speeches... its all leading up to the Oscars in mid-March.

Yesterday, it was the Critics Choice Awards, which went to some frontrunners in the Oscars race.

• Guest: Wenlei Ma, culture editor of The Nightly
• Producer: Flint Duxfield

Reverend Bill Crews, founder of The Reverend Bill Crews Foundation, shares his summer reading list with Barbara Miller.

Summer list: 

• The Fabric of the Cosmos, Brian Greene
• Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson 
• The works of Thomas Merton

Australia's red and yellow beach flags are one of the most recognisable symbols of surf safety in the world... but new research suggests they can also be dangerously confusing, particularly for tourists, migrants, and infrequent beachgoers.

The debate has taken on new urgency, with a series of drowning deaths already recorded in Australia in the opening days of 2026.

• Guest: Dr Masaki Shibata, drowning prevention researcher in intercultural studies at Monash University
• Producer: Jessica Lukjanow 

They were billed as the solution to escalating rates of serious crime, but Victoria's tougher bail laws- introduced in July last year- are straining the Magistrates' Court and leaving more criminal cases unresolved, according to Court Services Victoria.

New data from the independent body shows case finalisations are 7.6 per cent lower than expected, while the average cost per criminal case has jumped by almost by almost a fifth.

• Guest: Dr Louis Shetzer, national legal research and policy co-ordinator Justice Reform Shelter
• Producer: Eddy Diamond