Radio National Breakfast

The average household churns through soft plastics, yet recycling this material has been a long-running challenge in Australia.

Now, a new large-scale soft plastics recycling facility is up and running on the New South Wales mid-north coast... with the facility set to process most of Australia's soft plastics waste.

• Guest: Suzanne Toumbourou, Australian Council of Recycling CEO
• Producer: Kate Uebergang

Flooding in north Queensland has turned deadly.... after authorities confirmed a man in his 70s was found in floodwaters in Normanton, in the State's remote north-west.

Flooded rivers, creeks and road closures have left some outback communities cut off and isolated from the rest of the state.

• Guest: Janene Fegan, Mayor of McKinlay Shire Council
• Producer: Kate Uebergang

Gambling giant Sportsbet pressured the Australian Communications and Media Authority into watering down an enforcement announcement, according to new documents released to the ABC.

In 2022, the watchdog fined Sportsbet two-point-five million dollars after it found the company continued to text and email tens of thousands of customers even though they had already tried to unsubscribe from marketing messages.

• Guest: Andrew Wilkie, independent MP for Clark
• Producer: Flint Duxfield

Coverage and analysis of national and international events.

Hateful graffiti at an Islamic College in Melbourne... dismembered pigs thrown onto graves in a Muslim cemetery in regional New South Wales ... Muslim women spat on, abused and threatened in Perth... they're just some of the incidents reported in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.

The Australian National Imams Council says incidents of Islamophobia have risen sharply since it was revealed the Bondi gunmen were motivated by extremist Islamic ideology.

• Guest: Bilal Rauf, special adviser to the Australian National Imams Council
• Producer: Jason Whittaker

Renewed questions about cruise safety and accountability have been raised after a cruise ship-- the Coral Adventurer-- ran aground on a coral reef off PNG at the weekend.

It's the same liner that made headlines in October when an 80 year-old woman was found dead after being left behind on an excursion to Queensland's Lizard Island.

• Guest: Dr Tim Stephens, Professor of International Law, University of Sydney Law School
• Producer: Jessica Lukjanow

US President Donald Trump says there are 'one or two very thorny, very tough issues' remaining as he attempts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Now he can add a nuclear-capable missile system to the list... with Russia announcing that it's mobilised its Oreshnik missiles in neighbouring Belarus, a system that Russian President Vladimir Putin claims can strike targets across Europe and evade interception.

• Guest: Daniel Fried, distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council and former Assistant US Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
• Producer: Anne Barker

Sometimes the world of science is stranger than fiction...

The Australian Science Media Centre has compiled the best of the year - a top 10 of the weirdest science stories to come out of 2025.

• Guest: Dr Joseph Milton, Senior News Lead at The Australian Science Media Centre
• Producer: Clare O'Halloran 

Last week Israel became the first and only country to recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state.

The move has raised concerns at the United Nations- and the Arab League is warning it could be linked to new military bases or to a plan for the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza...  allegations Israel rejects, saying its recognition is about cooperation with Somaliland and Red Sea security.

• Guest: Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat in the US, and a former political adviser to Israeli Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak
• Producer: Anne Barker

In what's been dubbed Justice Mission 2025, China has launched two days of live-fire military drills around Taiwan... deploying warships, bombers and new amphibious assault ships, aimed at simulating a blockade of the island. 

The US President appeared to shrug off the war games- saying it was more of the same.

• Guest: Richard McGregor, Senior Fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute 
• Producer: Anne Barker