Late Night Live - Separate Stories Podcast

The role of Africa, and Africans, has been sidelined from the story of the making of the modern world, an acclaimed new book argues. The examples include the great expansion and exploration of Europeans to Asia and the Americas, from the 1400s through to the 1600s, that was only possible because of earlier involvements in Africa and the reality that the founders of America only had the time to write and reflect on how to build their new nation, because slaves were on hand to cook, clean and grow their wealth from their labors on the plantations.

In a new podcast series, National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts joins a group of Black scuba divers as they traverse the globe in search of buried shipwrecks from the transatlantic slave trade and uncover the truth of their history.

Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Sudan have all been suspended from the African Union after recent military coups. Chad and Zimbabwe have also experienced military coups in recent years. So what's behind the unrest?

Ian Dunt discusses where the United Kingdom has been performing well, and where it hasn't, in responding to the war in Ukraine. Plus, how are perceptions of 'Europe' changing in response to this crisis?

History tried to hide the fact that explorer Louis de Freycinet's wife Rose stowed away on his ship and circumnavigated the world in 1818.

The war in Ukraine is already causing food shortages in Ukraine, but soon the food shortages will also be affecting the rest of the world. Grain prices are skyrocketing and the globally significant wheat harvest from Ukraine seems unlikely to make it to export to countries who rely on it like Yemen and Lebanon.

President Biden has some big choices to make about Ukraine. Will he ban Russian oil imports, and split from the European position? How much US aid can he, or will he, send to Ukraine? 

A new global history of sport sweeps across countries and cultures, arguing that sport inevitably reflects the cultural time and place in which it operates. We also talk about the legacy of Shane Warne, with one of the world's pre-eminent sports historians.

The risks of a nuclear incident are increasing in Ukraine as Russia captures both the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors. Meanwhile, here in Australia we are drawing loser to the USA with Pine Gap likely playing a critical role in the war in Ukraine.

PM Scott Morrison calls for increased defence spending and cops criticism for the government's slow response to the flood crisis, and women step up their demands for the federal government to act on gender issues.

For decades, writer and publisher Julianne Schultz has been thinking about the historical legacies and contradictions that have prevented Australia from finding a unified sense of purpose and identity. Her new book is part memoir, part political analysis, with philosophical and insightful observations about this country and where it could be, or should be, headed. 

Troy Bramston's biography of Bob Hawke sheds new light on the personal and professional struggles as well as the extraordinary achievements of Australia's 23rd Prime Minister.

Judith Wright is most famous for her poetry, but she also wrote hundreds of essays, speeches and letters which reveal her changing ideas on poetry, Indigenous Australians, the environment and what it means to be Australian.

Last month, five former Chagos Islands residents returned to their homeland without a British escort for the first time since they were forcibly removed fifty years ago. It was a symbolic moment in their attempts to challenge the United Kingdom's claim to the Chagos Archipelago. Author and international lawyer Philippe Sands advises the government of Mauritius government on the status of the Chagos Archipelago, and he joined the Chagossians on this emotional journey.

President Joe Biden vowed to fight Russian aggression in Ukraine and tackle inflation with American manufacturing, in his first State of the Union address. He reassured listeners around the world that the state of the union is strong, but it remains to be seen whether this historic address will be enough to reverse President Biden's falling approval ratings at home.

A direct descendant of Fletcher Christian separates myth from reality and tells the story of the mutiny on the Bounty, William Bligh, Fletcher Christian and Pitcairn Island.

Despite nearly 50% unemployment in Gaza, the highly educated, young and resourceful population are creating job opportunities in IT, agriculture and renewable energy. Janine di Giovanni introduces us to just a few of them.

Tonga continues the clean-up from the volcanic eruption, the Solomon Islands deals with a challenging COVID outbreak, and we get an update on the moves towards independence in Bougainville.

Since the Green Revolution our diets have become increasingly homogenised, with a handful of companies in control of everything from seeds, to cheese cultures, to beer. The foods we're losing represent much more than sustenance, they are intimately connected to thousands of years of culture and could be the key to our survival as a species.

As Russian troops advance towards Ukraine's capital Kyiv and peace talks begin, journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk provides an update on the situation on the ground in Kyiv.