SBS News In Depth

Israel is close to moving into the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioning that the next steps will be “more difficult” as tensions continue over Hamas’s disarmament, Gaza’s future governance, and the stalled two-state solution. Speaking in Jerusalem with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Mr Netanyahu received strong backing for Israel’s security while also confronting growing international scrutiny over alleged human rights breaches during the Gaza war.

The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, often known as the PALM scheme, allows eligible Australian businesses to hire workers from the Pacific for either short-term or long-term roles. But the scheme has been under scrutiny following media reports of worker exploitation and harsh working conditions, and advocates and unions have been urging the government to launch a reform.

That's the sound of snapping shrimp - music to oyster ears. Dr Dominic McAfee has been playing this sound underwater to help regenerate natural oyster reefs. He's been doing this work for years, but recently, there's been an upswell in interest, as the South Australian government tries to increase resilience against a harmful algal bloom. The ongoing environmental crisis has killed hundreds of species and resulted in tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of marine deaths. Dr McAfee says South Australia used to be home to huge oyster reefs, which would have curbed the intensity of the algal bloom because they naturally filter the water. He’s speaking here with SBS's Tee Mitchell, who started by asking about the role and extent of oyster reefs before colonisation.

The draw has been made for the 2026 FIFA World Cup - and Australia are up against the co-hosts.

An Australian cancer research centre has been awarded a 2.5 million dollar grant to further their research into one of the country 's deadliest brain cancers. Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne hope to fast-track diagnosis and treatment options.

As the festive shopping rush begins, vendors are bracing for a surge in shoplifting. Australia-wide, theft has hit a 21-year high. Experts say it’s part of a broader trend.

SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves speaks with Harry Morrow from Loftus Peak to find out more about OpenAI's new Australian intitiative including plans for a $7bn hyper data centre with NextDC; plus the day on the sharemarket with Omkar Joshi at Opal Capital Management.

Starting next Wednesday, Australia will become the first country in the world to ban under-16s from having social media accounts, forcing major platforms to comply with the law or face fines of up to $50 million. The Albanese government says the move will protect young people from harmful algorithms and negative mental-health impacts. Many parents support the change, while critics warn that tech-savvy teens are likely to find workarounds to the measures.

Europe’s largest cultural event is once again confronting the tension between entertainment and geopolitics. After the European Broadcasting Union formally confirmed Israel’s eligibility for the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, four countries - Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia - immediately withdrew. Their walkout has triggered one of the most serious disputes in the contest’s modern history, raising questions about neutrality, artistic expression and how far Eurovision can distance itself from real-world conflicts.

A group of around 900 asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat nearly 13 years ago remain stuck in visa limbo, fighting for permanency. Despite living and working in Australia for nearly a decade, they have no pathway to permanent residency thanks to a hardline 2013 immigration policy on boat arrivals. They're pleading with the Australian government to grant them leniency, as a last hope. And a warning - this story contains descriptions of self harm that some may find distressing.

A boost to the copper price and weaker US jobs data improving rate cut sentiment has helped lift the Australian share market, despite stronger than expected household spending data dampening hopes of future interest rate cuts locally. In fact, markets are increasingly pricing-in rate hikes in 2026. For more on this, Stephanie Youssef spoke with Morningstar chief investment officer Matt Wacher. Plus, ASFA CEO Mary Delahunty on the superannuation peak body’s latest Retirement Standard.

Devastating floods and landslides wreak havoc across much of south-east Asia. No compromise reached after the Russian President and the US try to iron out a revamped peace proposal for Ukraine. Plus, the asylum seekers living in limbo – why they’re pleading with the Australian government to grant them leniency - and the rebel nuns refusing to give up their social media accounts.

A new European Union initiative to store carbon dioxide beneath the North Sea is set to launch its operations next year. But environmental activists are concerned carbon capture technologies dissuade industries from acting to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

.The EU plans to increase aid to Ukraine, by using frozen Russian assets to increase the costs of war for Russia. Meanwhile, Ukraine is preparing to hold talks with US President Donald Trump’s team in coming days.

SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves speaks with Stephen Halmarick from Economists Unchained and Alice Shen from VanEck to find out what today's official GDP data really says about the economy, implications for interest rates, and how the sharemarket reacted.

Teenagers are more concerned than ever about the cost of living, according the annual Mission Australia Youth Survey of more than 17,000 young people. Financial worries have jumped significantly in survey results in recent years, with climate change falling as an issue of concern, and mental health still having a large impact.

The United States faces mounting accusations of extrajudicial killings after launching lethal airstrikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the waters of the Caribbean and East Pacific Ocean. A follow-up strike on survivors from a disabled boat on September the 2nd has sparked particular outrage, with legal experts and the U-N saying the attacks violate international law, and the Pentagon’s own rules against targeting the shipwrecked.

.Russian President Vladimir Putin has been meeting with President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff for talks on a possible way to end the deadliest European conflict since World War Two. Just before the meeting, President Putin warned Europe that it would face swift defeat if it went to war with Russia, and he dismissed European counter-proposals on Ukraine as being absolutely unacceptable to Russia.

The Australian share market has closed higher ahead of tomorrow’s key GDP data, where a strong economic growth figure could further complicate the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision next week. Plus, silver’s rally continues with the precious metal breaking above US$58 an ounce overnight. For more, Stephanie Youssef spoke with MPC Markets CEO Mark Gardner.

Australia's immigration detention regime is under United Nations scrutiny this week. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is examining how the country deprives people of their liberty — from prisons to offshore detention facilities. And for people like Muhammad, who spent six years in detention, this review is one that's long overdue.

United States President Donald Trump has threatened a ground invasion of Venezuela to disrupt what he claims is a vast drug-trafficking network. The US military has already deployed thousands of troops and dozens of warships to the Caribbean as a US air campaign that has killed at least 83 people continues. But how likely is an all-out war with their South American neighbour, really?

Ukrainians are cautiously optimistic that an end to the war could come soon, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a revised U-S peace plan for Ukraine is looking more acceptable. This comes as French President Emmanuel Macron says this may be a turning point for Europe’s security, as Ukraine doubles down on long-term defence with a large French fighter-jet deal.

New data reveals that surging home prices have wiped away the benefits of three interest rate cuts to new buyers. Rent prices are also rising in every capital city, prompting more and more Australians to form larger households or move back to their family home. The rising prices have left economists predicting a possible rate hike in 2026.

SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves speaks with Chris Weston from Pepperstone about the day's market action including another outage at the ASX. Plus Eliza Owen from Cotality Australia takes a look at the latest property price data and future moves.

Israel is facing a political shock wave after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon in his ongoing corruption trial. The unprecedented move has triggered fierce protests, legal warnings and a deeply polarised public debate over whether clemency would unify the nation or erode the rule of law.

Indigenous rangers from the Great Barrier Reef are learning coral spawning techniques in one of the largest reef restoration trials to date. The pilot program involves rangers working in the reefs off Queensland's Keppel Islands, which were hit hard by last year's mass coral bleaching event.

There's been widespread and growing speculation that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is an alien craft. But scientists have debunked the claims. New observations from NASA and South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope confirm it is a natural, volatile-rich comet showing textbook outgassing, hydroxyl radio emissions and expected orbital shifts. Far from extraterrestrial engineering, 3I/ATLAS offers a rare window into the deep past, likely originating in a star system billions of years older than our own.

The Prime Minister and his fiancée Jodie Hayden have just married, at a ceremony in the nation’s capital. The country's been kept guessing as to exactly when the wedding would take place for months.

Cost of living was the number one challenge identified by Australian youth surveyed by Mission Australia.

In Australia, around 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted every year. One female-founder has developed a solution in a box.

Australia is expected to spend billions of dollars to deport non-citizens to the small Pacific nation of Nauru. Meanwhile, Pauline Hanson as repeated a years-old stunt, environment laws have passed, and Barnaby Joyce has cosied up with One Nation. Greens Senator David Shoebridge talks about the Nauru deal, after a translation of an interview with the nation's president was controversially put on the record in the Senate.

SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves speaks with El Jannah CEO Brett Houldin as the charcoal chicken company secures international funding valuing it at hundreds of millions of dollars, allowing it to quadruple its national footprint and explore options in the Middle-East; plus the week on the sharemarket with Tony Sycamore from IG Markets Securities Limited.

The latest bushfire outlook forecasts an increased fire risk across parts of Australia this summer. Despite recent rainfall in the country's southeast, authorities say it won't take long for a blaze to take hold.

A blaze that began in bamboo scaffolding at Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court has become the city’s worst fire in decades, killing at least 83 people and leaving hundreds missing. Police have arrested two directors, and an engineering consultant of a firm contracted to perform maintenance on the buildings.

SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves speaks with Nathan Zaia from Morningstar about APRA's tightening of lending rules for high risk borrowers to find out if it will make a difference; plus, the day on the sharemarket with Hugh Lam from Betashares.

Alarm bells in Kyiv and Europe as the US is accused of presenting Putin’s peace plan for Ukraine. The ‘make or break’ COP30 climate conference ends in failure – have the petro-states won? Plus, the unlikely bromance blossoming in the Oval Office.

Alarm bells in Kyiv and Europe as the US is accused of presenting Putin’s peace plan for Ukraine. The ‘make or break’ COP30 climate conference ends in failure – have the petro-states won? Plus, the unlikely bromance blossoming in the Oval Office.

After five years of review, the government has struck a deal with the Greens to pass the largest reforms to Australia’s environmental laws in 26 years, which includes new environmental standards, protections for native forests, and the effective end of fast-tracked approvals for coal and gas projects. Despite these wins, the deal faces criticism from environmental experts.

Two U-S National Guard soldiers have been shot near the White House. A suspect has been taken into custody, and police say he was also shot - though his injuries are not life threatening.

The United States has amended its peace plan for Ukraine, reducing it to 19 points and opening a dual diplomatic track with Moscow and Kyiv. But the new plan is stirring anxiety that Donald Trump might be willing to push Ukraine to sign a peace deal heavily tilted towards Russia.

At least 44 people have been killed in a massive blaze in Hong Kong. Authorities say around 700 residents were evacuated as firefighters battled flames that spread rapidly along bamboo scaffolding and construction netting in several high-rise towers in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district. There are now unconfirmed reports three people have been arrested over the fire.

Lebanese and Jewish groups have condemned a planned event in Melbourne that appears to celebrate last year's Israeli pager operation in Lebanon, which killed dozens and injured thousands more. The event run by the group called Lions of Zion has been labelled 'disgraceful' - but organisers say they are celebrating what they describe as one of the most ingenious military operations in history.

SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Goncalves speaks with Damien Boey from Wilson Asset Management and Belinda Allen from the Commonwealth Bank as headline inflation continues to rise at 3.8 per cent in October to find out what that means for interest rates and investments.

The Australian Senate descended into chaos as One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wore a black burqa into the chamber, prompting immediate condemnation from Muslim Senators and a forceful intervention by Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Following the rejection of her motion to ban the burqa, Ms. Hanson's stunt, which she claimed was about "protecting national security," was decried as racist and disrespectful to people of faith, ultimately leading to her suspension from the Senate.

For Palestinian-Australian winemaker Sari Kassis, the reality of farming in the West Bank is one of constant physical and psychological danger. With settler violence surging in the West Bank, this year's harvest has seen a record number of Israeli attacks on farms and properties.

A wave of mass abductions in Nigeria have triggered school closures across the country with anxiety, panic and anger spreading. One of these attacks saw over 300 school children kidnapped from a Catholic secondary school in the worst single kidnapping incident in five years.

United States President Donald Trump claims a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is close, while Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed in principle to a new U--proposed peace framework. However, the Ukrainian president remains wary of being pushed into accepting a deal on Russian terms, while Ukrainians seem unwilling to meet their neighbour's demands.

World leaders have hailed the first G20 summit in Africa as a victory for multilateralism, even as they addressed challenges of climate change, inequality and war, against a backdrop of shifting geopolitical rivalries. The notable absence of President Donald Trump has raised questions the role of the United States, in a changing world order.

Despite interest rates stabilising, rental stress remains unchanged across Australia. In many capital cities, households are still handing over almost a third of their income just to keep a roof over their heads. And once again, Perth has it the worst. The nation’s least affordable capital has slipped even further — recording another four per cent drop in affordability on top of last year’s record low.

SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves speaks with Julia Lee from FTSE Russell to find out how investors are feeling ahead of official inflation data out on Wednesday, as traders feel increasingly confident of a US rate cut in December.