Europe is a land of legendary rivers. For centuries, they've fed cities, transported great armies and powered modern industry. But this summer, after a series of exceptional heatwaves, the Rhine, Danube, Loire and Po have all shrunk to record lows. Ben Coates, author of a 2019 book about the Rhine, discusses what the drying up of Europe’s rivers means for the continent and its future.

• Guest: Ben Coates, journalist and columnist based in the Netherlands. Ben is the author of The Rhine: following Europe's greatest river from Amsterdam to the Alps His article about Europe's dying rivers is here
• Producers: Ann Arnold and Julie Street

Since AI started being used by journalists in newsrooms around the world, there have been a number of high-profile publications that have made some rather embarrassing mistakes. Some have misquoted political leaders because AI simply made up and attributed statements to politicians who never said those words. Malicious actors are setting up fake news websites for AI to capture when it sweeps the internet for information. AI is also being used to generate fake videos that are alarmingly difficult to detect. Europe has just released an AI Act in an attempt to regulate what is being produced by big tech companies - and they don't like it. So as the ABC rolls out Anthropic's AI tool, Claude, and is about to trial the use of AI to help write digital news articles based on radio bulletins, LNL looks at whether AI is a tool that will give journalists super powers, or a slippery slope to AI slop at best, and dangerous misinformation at worst. 

• Guest: Liz Corbin, Director of News, European Broadcasting Union
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

During the Cold War, the US had 17 military bases across Greenland. Most were eventually abandoned, but now Washington wants to get its hands back on one.

Narsarsuaq is  a former American air base in the south, where historian Ole Guldager has documented the history of the American military presence.

• Guest: Ole Guldager, historian, curator at Narsarsuaq Air Base Museum, and author, Americans in Greenland in World War Two
• Producer: Ali Benton

Nearly a thousand trees are being cut down in Adelaide's heritage listed parklands to make way for a re-developed golf course and the MotoGP motorcycle race. A federal court case is underway, challenging the removal of certain trees due to both their heritage value and their significance to local Indigenous people. A parliamentary inquiry is also underway after more than 43,000 people signed a petition opposing the developments and thousands took to the streets of Adelaide, calling on the Premier to 'stop the chop'. But Peter Malinauskas is pushing ahead with the plans, citing the economic development opportunities they bring to the state. Some analysts are suggesting the SA government's aim is in fact to appeal to One Nation voters in Labor seats. 

• Guest:  Greg Mackie, Former CEO, SA History Trust, former Adelaide City Councillor
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Bruce Shapiro reflects on the life of American feminist icon Gloria Steinem, and how many of the things she fought for are now under attack. As the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has said he would be offended if Mayor Zohran Mamdani attends the commemoration at Ground Zero, in what Bruce says is a reflection of the legacy of Islamophobia resulting from the terrorist attack. 

• Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Four years on, Giorgia Meloni has done what few Italian leaders manage: stay in power. But has her right-wing revolution really materialised — and how secure is her grip ahead of the 2027 election?

• Guest: Lorenzo Pregliasco, Political analyst, Adjunct Professor, University of Bologna, Italy
• Producer: Ali Benton

The idea that everything in nature is interconnected comes largely from the German philosopher, geographer, naturalist and explorer, Alexander von Humboldt. After a scientific expedition to the Americas at the turn of the 19th century, Humboldt came to realise that nature existed in interconnected ecological zones, and that humans were not nature’s overloads, but part of nature itself, something which profoundly challenged religious beliefs about man’s place in the world. His observations were published in five volumes called Kosmos, a scientific work which would have a significant influence on evolutionary thinkers like Charles Darwin, and would ultimately kick off the ecology movement. 

• Guest: Dalia Nassar, Professor of Philosophy at The University of Sydney, author of Romantic Empiricism – nature, art and ecology from Herder to Humboldt, published by Oxford University Press, and host, The Wednesday Society podcast
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Anna Henderson discusses the political impact on the government of falling house prices, whether One Nation's superannuation policy is a vote winner and the response to Nationals' leader Matt Canavan's statement on the so-called 'feminisation of the curriculum'. 

• Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

For 80 years (1848-1928), the Queensland Native Mounted Police operated as a paramilitary force on Australia's frontier, with Aboriginal troopers under white command dispatched to suppress Indigenous resistance. The new book, Buried, shares the findings of a four-year project to locate, record and excavate the campsites of the Mounted Police, painting a more detailed picture of their activities - both violent and mundane. 

Guest:

• Heather Burke, Professor of Archaeology at Flinders University, co-author of Buried: Archaeology, frontier conflict and the Queensland Native Mounted Police (Sydney University Press), with co-authors Lynley A Wallis; and Bryce Barker

The quest to create enjoyable, successful lab-grown meat has been pursued over the past decade or two, by entrepreneurs around the globe who can see the potential for big rewards. But they have not, so far, been able to create the desired product. A reporter dives into the world of meat cells and venture capitalists.

• Guest: Erin Somers, writer, essayist, critic and novelist. Author of 'Where's the beef', the cover story of the September edition of Harper's Magazine.
• Producer: Ann Arnold

Amidst the chaos of the Khmer Rouge genocide and Cambodia’s civil war, a new crime wave emerged. Sacred temples across Cambodia were looted by smugglers and priceless treasures of the Khmer Empire were trafficked into the hands of elite collectors. At the centre of it all was a British expat named Douglas Latchford, aka “Dynamite Doug.” A new book explores how Latchford orchestrated one of history’s most brutal cultural heists, flooding the international art market with stolen antiquities from the Killing Fields. 

• Guest: Matthew Campbell, reporter and editor for Bloomberg Businessweek. Author of The Man Who Stole the Gods: A True Story of War, Obsession and a Global Art Conspiracy
• Producer: Julie Street