Saturday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Griffin Dunne is the star of the Martin Scorsese movie, After Hours, an actor in American Werewolf in London, the son of the late Vanity Fair writer, Dominic Dunne, and the nephew of the author of Joan Didion. He produced and appeared in a Netflix documentary of his aunt, The Centre Will Not Hold. He’s also the author of a new memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club. Griffin Dunne is in Sydney for the Sydney Writers Festival's year-round program at the State Library of NSW. he'll also be appearing at the Newcastle and Canberra writers' festivals.Guest: Griffin Dunne - Writer, Producer, Director

Anthony Albanese will meet the US President Donald Trump at the White House next week, ending months of speculation about the failure to secure a meeting. There is a lot at stake: the AUKUS submarine plan, the issue of tariffs, and pressure on allies to cut trade ties with China. However the meeting comes with a degree of uncertainty for the Prime Minister as Mr Trump has a habit of ambushing visiting leaders. 

Darcy Niland's Australian classic The Shiralee is a story of family breakdown, and hard-boiled masculinity and love on the margins of 1950s Australia. The bestselling book has been adapted for the screen twice. The 1957 film starring Peter Finch and the 1987 mini-series featuring Bryan Brown have become iconic renditions of Australian bush culture. Now, playwright Kate Mulvany has adapted the book for the stage, drawing on her own relationship with her father to create a rich and timeless tale.

For decades, Australia has been grappling with the notion that our future security and prosperity relies on our integration in Asia.Yet there was a 75% decline in enrolments in South-east Asian languages at Australian universities between 2004-2022.At the current rate of decline, Bahasa Indonesia won't be taught in a single Australian school by 2031.So how do Australians learn to live more effectively in our region? 

Gift-giving has been part of foreign policy since the dawn of diplomacy. It dates back to ancient Egypt. As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese embarks on a diplomatic tour of the US, UK and the UAE, which includes an official visit with President Trump at the White House, what is he packing as a gift for Donald Trump?

The BBC's Tom Bateman travelled with Donald Trump for the President's day-long trip to the Middle East to clinch the Gaza agreement. Tom reflects on that day - one of the most critical moments after two years of war between Israel and Hamas..And Elise Labott discusses the diplomatic breakthrough from the perspective from United States, where Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky has met with Donald Trump  for talks on whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.

In his new book, Professor Stephen Hopper delves into the ancient history, biology, and cultural significance of the Australian eucalyptus tree. In addition to his approach as a botanist, Hopper honours Indigenous knowledge systems to better understand how we can help preserve them amid the challenging future that they face. Guest: Professor Stephen Hopper, Botanist,  University of Western Australia

It’s been two years since Hamas’ horrific attack on October 7, which killed twelve hundred Israelis and abducted another 251. Israel’s retaliation has since decimated Gaza, killing over 67,000 Palestinians, a level of violence which the UN has said constitutes genocide, a claim which Israel refutes. While there have been a couple of failed attempts at a ceasefire, the end to this current conflict is in sight, with Israel and Hamas signing off on the first phase of a new Gaza peace plan this week and the implementing of a ceasefire. What will this new 20-point peace plan mean for the political and social rebuilding of Palestine and what are the challenges that lie ahead?Guest: Ghaith Al-Omari, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute. He has served in various positions in the Palestinian Authority, including as an advisor to Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. 

There's been another major cost blow out to the Snowy Hydro scheme 2.0, first announced by Malcolm Turnbull in 2017. It commenced in 2019 and was forecast to take 5 years to complete. It started with a two-billion-dollar price tag — that climbed to twelve billion — and now that figure has been overrun. More funding is needed to see it through to completion in 2028.Guest: Alison Reeve, energy and climate change program director at the Grattan Institute 

In the US and Europe, young people have been central to a right wing resurgence, partly due to the presence of online influencers. While in Asia and Africa, Gen Z protest movements are railing against corruption and inequality.