Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

Aussies love to gamble, whether it’s on the horses, down the pokies, at a fancy casino, or, increasingly, betting on their favourite sports team from the ease of our mobile phones. We love gambling so much we lose around $32 billion every year – more than any other country in the world. There’s long been support for putting the brakes on, but it seems our politicians are more addicted to the money than we are. Guest: Quentin Beresford, Adjunct Professor at Sunshine Coast University and author of 'Hooked - inside the murky world of Australia’s gambling industry', published by NewSouthProducer: Catherine Zengerer

'The genocide in Gaza was not committed in isolation, but as part of a system of global complicity.' That's the conclusion of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese. Her most recent report, “Gaza Genocide: a collective crime”  says that rather than ensuring that Israel respects the basic human rights and self-determination of the Palestinian people, Western states - including Australia - have provided, Israel with military, diplomatic, economic and ideological support, even as it weaponised famine and humanitarian aid. And this means we could be at risk of prosecution. Guest: Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967Producer: Catherine Zengerer

The Pope forgave the man who shot him in the stomach. Erika Kirk forgave the assassin who killed her husband, Charlie. But what, exactly, is forgiveness? When we forgive someone, what exactly are we doing?Guest: Professor Lucy Allais, a philosopher at both the University of the Witwatersrand and Johns Hopkins UniversityProducer: Alex Tighe

Patrick White was Australia's only Nobel Prize-winning author, renowned for novels like Voss, The Tree of Man, and The Vivisector. His work explored spiritual isolation, human cruelty, and the Australian landscape, often drawing from his own privileged but tormented life as a gay, asthmatic outsider. Now a new work has been written reflecting on White's startling use of language and his mythic depiction of the Australian landscape and the people who inhabit it. Guest: Professor Vrasidas Karalis, Sir Nicholas Laurantus Professor of Modern Greek, University of Sydney, author of "On Patrick White's Dilemmas", published by New South Books. Guest: Professor Vrasidas Karalis, Sir Nicholas Laurantus Professor of Modern Greek, University of Sydney

Dr. Michael Edwards, a Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Sydney and organizer of the anthropology department's centenary, dives into the complex history of the discipline. He discusses anthropology's colonial roots and the ethical dilemmas arising from early research practices. Insightful topics include the legacy of Ralph Pittington's exposé on abuses and the impact of the Vietnam War on reevaluating ethics in the field. The conversation highlights modern responsibilities regarding Indigenous data sovereignty and the ongoing evolution of cultural understanding.

On the streets of Chicago, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are busy arresting, detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants as part of "Operation Midway Blitz". But communities are finding ways to resist.Guest: Evelyn Vargas, Organised Communities Against Deportation, ChicagoProducer: Jack Schmidt, Ali Benton 

King Charles wants Prince Andrew out of the Royal Lodge, as allegations against Andrew resurface in Virginia Giuffre's posthumous memoir. The Prince continues to deny those allegations. Meanwhile, the UK Conservatives launch an extreme immigration policy, and UK Labour has suffered its first parliamentary defeat in Caerphilly for 100 years, as Plaid Cymru claim victory in the Welsh Parliament by-election.GUEST: Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentatorPRODUCER: Ali Benton Editor's note: the allegations referred to in this interview continue to be denied by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

If AI language models can "learn" human languages, and translate between them, could AI also help us to decode what animals are saying? Off the coast of Dominica, a Caribbean island known for its sperm whale population, some ambitious scientists are trying to find out. Project CETI aims to use advanced robotics and AI to break the barrier of human-animal communication.Guest: Professor David Gruber, Project CETI President and Founder and National Geographic ExplorerProducers: Rebecca Metcalf and Alex Tighe

International investigative journalism outfit ‘Lighthouse Reporter’ found a vast archive of data on the deep web containing thousands of phone numbers, emails and locations of people all over the world. The data came from a little-known surveillance company called First Wap. Headquartered in Jakarta, but run by a group of European executives, First Wap has quietly built a global phone tracking empire for its Altamides program, which has tracked journalists, environmental activists and political dissidents.Guest: Gabriel Geiger, lead reporter for Lighthouse Reports' "Surveillance Secrets' investigation.Producer: Catherine Zengerer

As parliament resumes, Labor has a big bill to push through: changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, which has been widely criticised as no longer fit for purpose and hindering productivity. The bill will establish Australia;s first National Environemnt Protection Agency, but the Greens say they won't support it if it doesn't contain a so-called "climate trigger', which would give the federal Environment Minister more power to scrutinise and control high-polluting projects based on their climate effects. The Coalition wats the bill split in two, with the more contentious parts around environmental controls moved into a separate bill.  Guest: Anna Henderson, SBS World News Chief Political Correspondent | National Press Club DirectorProducer: Catherine Zengerer