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Honiara is a small city just three hours by plane from Australia, where many of the locals struggle on a daily basis. They grapple with poverty, crime, and unemployment. Some health care centres in town are breaking down; others are running out of paracetamol.

This, even though Chinese state-backed companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into the Solomon Islands.

As one landowner said of Chinese investors who are failing to fulfil their promises to the locals: “They are treating us like animals.” 

Today, North Asia correspondent Eryk Bagshaw on how the locals are suffering, now that China has become the new power player in the Pacific. And what threat this could pose to Australia.
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It has been called the world's biggest ever cryptocurrency ponzi scheme. 

The scheme, allegedly the work of South African con artist Johannes Steynberg, is estimated to have scammed $2.6 billion from consumers worldwide. 

But it’s the details behind the figures that read like something out of a Netflix special. Like how the alleged conman escaped to South America, to be with his mistress, and evade authorities. And the angry investors who became citizen investigators, and helped the authorities to hunt down Steynberg.

Today, business reporter Sarah Danckert on what enabled this scheme to spread like wildfire, and the nearly 9,000 Australians who became caught up in it.
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Earlier this month the High Court overturned 20 years of precedent, ruling that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful.

It led to the immediate release of dozens of people. Some murderers, some sex offenders, and others who had failed on character grounds to remain in Australia - but none of them could be returned to their home countries.

Since that November 8 court ruling, the federal government has been scrambling to find a solution, rushing through legislation to impose tough restrictions on the people who were released.

Now the High Court’s full decision has been released, the government is facing political pressure from the Coalition to pass new laws that would redetain the worst offenders, in the last few parliamentary sitting days of the year.

Today, University of Canberra constitutional and citizenship law expert Professor Kim Rubenstein and chief political correspondent David Crowe on where to next for the government on indefinite immigration detention.
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Last week, Bruce Lehrmann took the stand for the first day of his defamation trial against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.

The former Liberal staffer is suing the network, and Wilkinson, for what he says are their allegations in a television interview that he raped his former colleague, Brittany Higgins, in Parliament House in 2019.

Lehrmann has always strenuously denied the allegations against him.

Today, legal affairs reporter Michaela Whitbourn on what the court case has revealed about Lehrmann’s changing story with what happened that night in Parliament House, and the continuing fallout from one of the most damaging political sagas in modern Australian history. 
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We’re now eight weeks into the deadly war between Israel and Hamas. And one question looms large. What is Hamas’ goal? And who does it serve? The narrative surrounding this vital question has changed many times over the last 35 years.

The group has long been viewed by the States, the European Union and others as a terrorist organisation. But a perception of Hamas as freedom fighters has been growing steadily. 

Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on how Hamas has sold this image of itself to the world. And what its goal has been, since day one.
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It’s now the fourth day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 

Dozens of hostages have been released from Gaza, in exchange for the release of more than 100 imprisoned Palestinians in Israel. 

But what has the hostages' experience in captivity been like? How are they now? And does this extraordinary turn of events - the first pause in almost two months of fighting - signal a greater change in the conflict?

Today, national correspondent Matthew Knott on what the loved ones of hostages have told him about their experiences, and what might come next.
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