The sperm donor loophole that led to 27 half-siblings

For the last 54 years, countless writers have lived by the words of the late author Graham Greene who wrote that writers should have a “splinter of ice in the heart”. He meant that we need to maintain a critical distance from the events we cover, in order to remain objective. But have journalists become part of the world’s problems, with our focus on catastrophes? Today, international and political editor, Peter Hartcher, on the argument that some journalists have been “bad friends” to all of you, and the clarion call for a new type of writing, to meet this moment of calamity that we find ourselves in.  Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The release of images of starving children lying listlessly in their mothers’ arms, in the Gaza strip, has pushed a growing number of global leaders to accuse Israel of breaking international law.  So, is this the tipping point that will end the war? Today, foreign affairs and national security correspondent Matthew Knott on the plight of Gazans, now. And whether Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will bow to Donald Trump, who has just said he wants to make sure that Gazan civilians are given “every ounce of food”.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Smyth was one of Australia’s very top cancer scientists. Or, as one former colleague puts it, “the god of immunology." But Smyth was a god who fell to earth and doubt now surrounds his work after a public unravelling. Today, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald's national science reporter Liam Mannix on Smyth’s so-called “lab of secrets”, and his faked data, which now underpins a cancer drug being given to patients. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Obesity affects about a third of Australian adults, while another third are classified as overweight. But the weight loss drug Ozempic has proven to be a game changer in tackling this health epidemic across the country.  Drugs such as Ozempic have evolved from managing diabetes to managing waist lines as Hollywood celebrities and doctors have   hailed it as a phenomenon, with Ozempic users dropping kilos without crash diets or joining the latest run club. A  But what's the catch?   Today, Explainer reporter, Jackson Graham breaks down the wonder drug and the side effects you need to know while balancing the risks with the benefits.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faces tricky terrain with the government lifting a ban on US beef imports to Australia this week, leaving him open to suggestions he has capitulated to pressure from Donald Trump. We also witnessed a democratic festival in the form of the opening of the new parliament, with former foes Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack putting differences aside to attack the government's 2035 emissions reduction target. Soon, the PM will have to decide on the interm emissions target. Some big companies want him to go hard, while others urge a slower approach to the green energy transition. Now that the US has pulled out of the Paris Agreement altogether, what will Albanese do? Today, Chief Political Correspondent Paul Sakkal joins host Jacqueline Maley.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A showdown looms between two of the world's most powerful men, Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch, with the American president suing the media mogul for a whopping $10 billion. Front and centre of the case is Trump's connection to the late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, an issue that has become so divisive lately that it threatens to tear the MAGA movement apart and destabilise the president's leadership.  Today, international and political editor Peter Hatcher discusses what one of Trump's most loyal supporters, Steve Bannon, told him about the biggest controversy to hit Trump's second stint in the White House.   Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may be like half of all Australians who now take a multivitamin, to improve their health. But are they safe?  Melbourne dad Dominic Noonan-O’Keefe had no reason to think the multivitamin he took recently, to boost his energy, would be anything but. And then, one day, he sat at his desk and felt like his brain was exploding. Today, health reporter Angus Thomson on the hundreds of Australians who’ve joined a class action investigation against wellness giant Blackmores. And the Australians who are unintentionally poisoning themselves with over-the-counter supplements. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More Australians are turning towards using in-vitro fertilisations to have babies, every year. Often it's done through regulated IVF clinic, but sometimes parents - desperate for a child - search for a sperm donor on social media. But as this extraordinary case shows, there can be many more risks associated with - as one lawyer put it - the ‘wild west’ - of online sperm donation. Today, senior reporter Henrietta Cook on the case of a Melbourne man who fathered 27 children, and the fall-out after the women he donated to found each other.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

East Jerusalem is one of the most contested pieces of land in the Middle East. International law says it is an occupied Palestinian Territory. Israel claims it is an essential part of the Jewish state. But for the Palestinians and Jewish people who live in East Jerusalem, side by side, it’s often a daily struggle to feel safe. If not physically, then psychologically. And since the war in Gaza began nearly two years ago, an increasing number of Palestinians have been evicted from their homes there. Today, foreign affairs and national security correspondent, Matthew Knott, on the battle for statehood that is being fought in this area, house by house. And the Australian-Israeli man who’s at the centre of it all.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, here we are, a new term of parliament begins next week. There’ll be fresh faces and, hopefully, fresh ideas.So will the government use its massive majority to press ahead with major reforms in housing, or tax, and how will opposition leader Sussan Ley and her team rebuild their battered party?Before we get to that, the news this week has been dominated by Anthony Albanese’s trip to China, which has been full of stage-managed warmth. But with our very own Paul Sakkal away travelling with the PM, and our host Jacqueline Maley on a book tour, we have acting political editor Nick Bonyhady in the chair with special guests: Nine’s political editor Charles Croucher and CBD columnist Kishor Napier-Raman.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.