This year the gap between the rich and the poor widened in Australia – as the housing crisis deepened and the cost of living hit hard. But while there were moments of despair, there were also times of joy that may give us reason to be hopeful for 2025. Bridie Jabour talks with editor in chief Lenore Taylor, head of newsroom Mike Ticher and national news editor Jo Tovey about the highs and lows of 2024 and and what to expect next year

Prince Andrew is in trouble again, this time for meeting a businessman who has denied spying for China. In parliament, it has sparked fears about how far the British establishment has been infiltrated by spies. In Beijing, there has been outrage. For Prince Andrew, it has led to him missing Christmas dinner at Sandringham with the rest of the royal family. It is fair to say the accusation that the Chinese businessman Yang Tengbo has been spying for China has caused a serious stir. Dan Sabbagh and David Pegg report

The opposition leader has finally released the Coalition’s costings for its proposal to build seven nuclear power stations in Australia. Peter Dutton says the plan will cost tens of billions of dollars less than Labor’s transition to renewables. But experts say the plan is not credible and fails to address the climate crisis. Climate and environment editor Adam Morton tells Nour Haydar why the plan doesn’t stack up.

This episode originally ran on Monday 19 June 2023. Theodore ‘Ted’ Kaczynski died at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, last year at the age of 81. Known as the Unabomber, Kaczynski waged a 17-year bombing campaign from an isolated shack in the Montana wilderness before finally being caught in 1996. One of those who helped apprehend Kaczynski was former FBI agent Jim Fitzgerald. He tells Michael Safi that the arrest was only possible after the publication of the bomber’s manifesto in the Washington Post. It was those words that were recognised by Kaczynski’s brother, who took his concerns to the authorities

This summer Australian politicians are being encouraged to read more widely on the history of Palestine. Five books were sent to all 227 federal MPs and senators as part of a campaign backed and funded by dozens of Australia’s most prominent authors. And in the bundle is one work of fiction – a novella by a Sydney-based author.Nour Haydar speaks with author of The Sunbird Sara Haddad about the summer reading for MPs initiative, Palestine, and writing as activism

Last Friday, a large blaze engulfed a synagogue in Melbourne — which authorities are treating as an act of terrorism. It prompted the federal government to set up a special taskforce to investigate antisemitism in Australia. But in the aftermath, Peter Dutton was accused of ‘disgusting’ political point-scoring by escalating the Coalition’s already growing criticism of the government’s response and by attacking Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns.Bridie Jabour talks to the head of newsroom, Mike Ticher, and the national news editor, Jo Tovey, about Peter Dutton’s strongman politics and why he is stoking culture wars

Last week South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, shocked the world when he declared martial law. Although the decision was reversed hours later, Yoon had taken the country into a new and unnerving chapter in its young democracy. Reged Ahmad speaks to Seoul-based journalist Raphael Rashid about why the streets have now exploded with anger and whether the country can come back from the brink

The Northern Territory coroner has handed down findings in an inquest into the horrific domestic violence deaths of four Aboriginal women. The landmark report exposed systemic failings and made 35 recommendations aimed at stemming what the coroner called an “epidemic of violence”.Nour Haydar speaks to Guardian Australia’s Indigenous affairs editor, Lorena Allam, and Indigenous affairs reporter, Sarah Collard, about the four women at the centre of the inquest and the coroner’s findings

Foreign correspondent William Christou travels to Damascus, hours after Syria’s decades-long dictator Bashar al-Assad is ousted from power, and asks whether the country’s 13-year civil war has finally come to an end Read More: Who are the main actors in the fall of the regime in Syria? I wept and wept as I watched the Syrian regime fall. At last, I have a home again

As rents continue to increase at alarming rates and more Australians are priced out of the housing market, the Guardian put the call out to readers for their experiences from inside the housing crisis. The response was overwhelming. Reporter Daisy Dumas tells Reged Ahmad what 150 readers have to say about how the pressures of renting and buying have affected their income, relationships and health

What if you could take a pill or a shot that reduced your blood alcohol level and made you feel better in the morning? That’s the promise of a range of wellness products aiming to be the next big hangover antidote. But what exactly are hangovers, and which methods of preventing them are backed by science? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Sally Adams, an alcohol researcher and associate professor of psychology at the University of Birmingham