If You're Listening with Matt Bevan

The Red Sea is the most trafficked trade route in the world, and now the US Navy and a group of militant Houthi rebels are going to war over it. The Houthis are attacking ships it says are linked to Israel and its allies; America is desperately trying to stop them. I mean, America might not get directly involved in the Israel-Gaza conflict, but you bet they'll protect their trade routes. The stakes couldn't be higher — if the US can't prove they have this under control, plenty of other groups around the world might decide to try their hand at blocking global trade as well.

In 1974, the Shah of Iran was diagnosed with cancer. It led to a Shakespearean tragedy that brought about the end of the Iranian monarchy and shaped the Middle East conflict we're seeing today. As open warfare between the US and Iran becomes more and more likely by the day, it's worth remembering that it all started with something tiny — a small lump in the spleen of one man.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a revolutionary leader with a revolutionary idea. In just 10 years as Supreme Leader, Iran became a global pariah; virtually friendless in the international community. Yet when he died, millions of Iranians hysterically grieved his death. In today's episode, how Ayatollah Khomeini changed the course of Middle Eastern history, and how his ideas are still affecting us today.

Donald Trump was ordered to pay a $463.9 million fine for lying to banks about how rich he is. He's also facing at least five other cases that could cost him millions more in legal fees and fines. And this is all happening as he tries to run for president again — and political campaigns ain't cheap. So the question is: Can Donald Trump make it to election day without running out of money?

The police arrested and interrogated Andrew after he was set up by hackers. Now we know how Chinese spies pull it off. An unprecedented leak of data from Chinese company i-Soon has cracked open the black box, revealing the secrets of China's cyber espionage operations.

Russia is in the midst of an election, but we already know Vladimir Putin will win. He always wins. So why does Russia bother holding elections? What’s the point? Putin learned a lesson many years ago about the illusion of democracy, and it’s one he has never forgotten.

The Princess of Wales has barely been seen since Christmas and everyone is asking, where is Kate? The Royal Family released a photo meant to squash the rumours, but when it became obvious it had been photoshopped, the speculation just got worse. Fake photos are everywhere, and there's a long history of people doctoring them, from photocopying to photoshopping, to straight up AI. But is there a time coming where we won't be able to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake?

Australia’s housing market is, like many places in the Western world, in the midst of a crisis that feels like it will never be solved. Owning a property in an Australian city has only drifted further out of reach for most Australians in the last decade, and there are very few practical solutions on offer. Is it possible to actually unpick this situation? Japan offers a useful example. Thirty years ago, property in Tokyo was the most expensive in the world. Today, home ownership in that same city is comparatively affordable, with plenty of available stock on the market. How was this massive turnaround achieved, and how can other countries learn from the Japanese model?

The Duterte and Marcos families are the Montagues and Capulets of the Philippines. They are, depending on who you ask, the country's most famous statesmen, thieves, murderers or heroes. They have tussled for power for nearly 60 years, and now there are talks of secession splitting the country in two. Could this family feud literally tear the Philippines apart?

People don't like wind farms. They say they're bad for wildlife, they affect property values and they create pollution. But are any of these claims true? Today, the wind farm debate and how it nearly tore the small Australian community of King Island apart. This episode of If You're Listening is a live recording from the Newcastle Writers Festival.

Iran and Israel are caught in a cycle of revenge. On April Fools' Day, there was a huge escalation in the conflict when an Israeli air strike killed 16 people, including two Iranian Generals. Two weeks later, the skies over Israel lit up with a counterattack. It might seem like in this conflict, anything goes, but each response and retaliation is a calculated move. Israel knew the attack was coming and almost every drone and missile was intercepted. So, when the game of chess begins, how does it end? Last time the revenge cycle started to turn, Donald Trump was in the White House, and the wheel only stopped because of a tragic mistake. This time, Israel's response could change the trajectory of the conflict in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He is doing everything he can to stay in office, because if he holds office, he can't be thrown in jail. Sound familiar? It's a bit like Donald Trump's situation in the United States. But Netanyahu's case has an old-school flavour. It's a fierce battle between media tycoons, and it even involves Australian media nepo baby James Packer. It's a rollicking tale. But with a military campaign against Gaza and tensions with Iran rising, it could also change the fate of the war in the Middle East.

Plans for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics are not going well. It's a political quagmire, with plans for billion-dollar stadium upgrades or massive new venues being thrown around like confetti. There are concerns that Brisbane is going to blow its budget. Fifty years ago, the 1976 Montreal Olympics suffered a financial disaster so massive it nearly heralded the end of the Olympic Games. Is Brisbane repeating the mistakes of the past?

Michael Cohen is the star witness in the Trump 'hush-money' trial. He was once Trump's personal attorney and said he would "take a bullet" for his boss, but then everything changed. He has served years in prison for lying, tax fraud, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. But he thinks everything he's gone through will be worth it if he can take Trump down.

Australia's first domestic violence shelter Elsie opened in the 1970s, and researchers have been analysing the problem ever since. In the last three decades more than 1,500 women have been killed by intimate partners in Australia and we're still no closer to finding out why. Campaigner Rosie Batty has compared domestic violence to terrorism, and called for similar levels of funding. Is that comparison extreme, or is it the best way to get us closer to fixing the problem?

Earlier this week the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in bad weather. Raisi was a phenomenally important figure in Middle Eastern politics — not just Iran's President, but the likely next Supreme Leader of Iran. He got there through acts of extreme brutality, showing his willingness to do anything to defend the Iranian status quo. How did Ebrahim Raisi become the heir-apparent to the Iranian Supreme Leadership, and what could happen now he's gone?

The island of Taiwan, just off the coast of China, is shaping up as the most likely spark for the next global conflict. China's president Xi Jinping wants to claim all the territory he thinks belongs to China, without triggering a nuclear war. It's a century-old civil war, which has been frozen in place for decades. It's an almost unimaginably dangerous situation, and one mistake could lead to catastrophe.

When the UK Conservative Party won the election in 2010, they took a butcher's knife to the budget. David Cameron's money-man George Osborne — the young heir to a wallpaper fortune — had a big plan called "austerity," but it put the country on a journey to total chaos. This is the first episode in a four-part series called Who Broke Britain. It's about the past 14 years of Conservative Party leadership, all the way up to the general election that's happening next month. London was once the largest city on Earth — capital of a global empire larger than any other in the history of the world. Even as recently as 17 years ago, Britons were the richest people in any of the world's large economies. Since then, they've gone backwards, more than any other large economy. Britain feels broken. So, who broke it?

British Prime Minister David Cameron took a colossal gamble when he called for a referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union. Instead, he brought about Brexit and sent the country into three years of chaos. Cameron was certain his side — Remain — would win. How did he get it so wrong?

Britain's National Health Service was in crisis when COVID arrived in the UK. After years of increasing demand and flatlining funding, the NHS was deeply broken. One Chancellor called the NHS "the closest thing the English people have to a religion", so how was it left to fall into disrepair, on the edge of collapse, right as a catastrophic pandemic hit? This is part 3 of our series, Who Broke Britain.

The UK election is being held today and polls indicate the Conservative Party will lose in a landslide. One of the key policies the government is running on is a version of Australia's offshore immigration detention policy, which was launched by prime minister John Howard in the lead-up to the 2001 election. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's two year fight over this policy has not only been a colossal failure, it will likely drag the Tories down with it. So as the UK decides on their next Prime Minister, we're asking, who really broke Britain?

Last week, the UK Labour Party won the general election in a landslide victory. In the past four episodes we've detailed the chaos, ineptitude and hubris of the Conservative Party during their time in office. So you might be thinking, what took the Labour Party so long to get elected? On the final episode of our Who Broke Britain series, how Labour went to war with itself — over policy, factions, personalities, Brexit, and anti-Semitism.

When 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at former-President Donald Trump on July 13, the American public was ready with conspiracy theories explaining how and why he did it. And that shouldn’t come as a shock. Most Americans think President John F Kennedy was assassinated as part of a conspiracy, either by the US Government, Cubans, or the Mafia. They’re primed to believe their government is keeping secrets from them—because it is

After weeks of speculation and acrimony, President Joe Biden has abandoned his bid for re-election, and endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris to be his successor. This scenario has happened once before - late in the election cycle, a President bailed out and tried to hand over power to their Vice President. The subsequent chaos at the 1968 Democratic convention is legendary, and is something the party will be desperate to avoid in 2024.

Kamala Harris is the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee for President of the United States. But four years ago, she didn’t even make it to the first primary vote. They needed to pick someone who would beat Donald Trump, and Harris just wasn’t ‘electable’ enough. Whatever that means. So if she wasn’t electable then, is she electable now?

Since Kamala Harris became his opponent in the race for US president, Donald Trump has argued that she is responsible for a migrant crisis. He says President Joe Biden named her the ‘border czar’, in charge of dealing with the unprecedented number of people attempting to cross the US-Mexico border. It’s a policy area that the Trump campaign hopes will win him the election in November. So what’s real, and what’s fake, when it comes to Kamala Harris and the US border?

In the early hours of July 31 this year, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran. It's presumed Israel was behind the killing, with reports detailing a complex operation by its spy agency Mossad. So if it was Israel that did this, why did they do it in such an extraordinary manner, and in Iran of all places? The answer tells us a lot about the complex political situation Israel finds itself in, where it feels the need for revenge, but only in a way that doesn’t alienate its allies.

A shift is on display at the Democratic National Convention—from fear of Donald Trump to mocking him. After years of arguing Trump is dangerous, the Democratic pick for Vice President Tim Walz is changing the party’s attack strategy, calling their opponents 'weird'. This potential path to victory is not seen as very presidential. But could it work? A correction: in this episode we incorrectly refer to Tim Walz as the Governor of Mississippi. He is the Governor of Minnesota.

It’s a dangerous moment for the Middle East. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire over the weekend, including attacks on a pretty unique pocket of farmland — an Israeli-annexed area called the Golan Heights. In 2019 then-President Donald Trump broke with the rest of the international community and recognised it as part of Israel. There’s even an Israeli settlement named after him. Now, the world is watching the Golan Heights closely, fearful that fighting there could escalate and become a massive regional conflict.

Russia defends its enormous borders with the threat of nuclear war. It’s this threat that has long stopped Ukraine and its allies from attacking Russia on its home turf—there are ‘red lines’ that can’t be crossed without nuclear retaliation. Yet Ukraine just invaded Russian sovereign territory and still, no nukes. Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears to be calling Vladimir Putin’s bluff. It seems the ‘red lines’ were done in red pencil, not red pen. So how does this reshape the war, and what does it mean for Putin?

The massive infrastructure project NEOM sits in the Saudi Arabian desert, and the jewel in its crown is The Line, a futuristic city which looks insane. It's the brainchild of the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. The AI-generated ads depict a car-free city, for 9 million people, housed between two mirrors. Despite promises of millions of residents by 2030, the project has been scaled back by 98 per cent. The Line will be more like a dot. So what the hell happened? And was it all just a scam?

This month, the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment of two Russian state media employees. It alleges that they were funnelling millions of dollars into the pockets of American YouTubers, known for their contrarian viewpoints and controversial takes on the war in Ukraine. The YouTubers say they are victims of a criminal scheme and did not know they were being paid by Russia. But it’s not the first time that something like this has happened. There’s a long history of foreign adversaries covertly paying Americans to spread fake news to other Americans—it’s a move right out of Nazi Germany’s propaganda playbook.

After years of tension, diplomatic cold shoulders, and mountain skirmishes, both India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping appear to be looking for ways their nations can be friends again. So what’s changed between the world’s two most populous countries? And what would a closer relationship between India and China mean for the rest of us?

The world's most famous artificial intelligence company, OpenAI — the creator of ChatGPT — was set up to create a superintelligent AI, while at the same time safeguarding humanity from an omnipotent robot overlord which could enslave us all. So is an AI apocalypse possible, and with wunderkind CEO Sam Altman in charge, will OpenAI be able to protect us from its own robots?

Donald Trump did not win the 2020 presidential election. But if you watched his speech on election night, you wouldn’t come away with that understanding. ‘Frankly,’ he said ‘We did win this election.’ In the months that followed, the story backing up that claim warped and changed, but at its core was a big lie about a supercomputer called ‘The Hammer’, an imaginary software called ‘Scorecard’, and a man with a long history of fooling the US government. And now Donald Trump is on the ballot again. Over five episodes, If You’re Listening looks at the transition period after the 2020 election, and what it tells us about the plan in 2024.

After the 2020 election, Donald Trump searched desperately for any theory that would allow him to retain control of the White House. On Christmas Eve, his team called a constitutional lawyer named John Eastman, who gave them something to work with. Eastman’s theory relied on Vice President Mike Pence playing along. In this second episode of America’s Last Election, If You’re Listening looks at the theory the riot on January 6 was based on, and why Trump’s supporters thought it might work.

Matt Bevan is on the ground in Michigan, Detroit, a key swing state in next week’s US presidential election. There are just some things you don’t get when you’re telling a story from your basement in Newcastle: candid chats with Republican voters on the plane, for one. Vice presidential motorcades screaming past you on the highway for another. Follow Matt as he travels through America in the lead up to election day, and hear from the people he meets along the way.

On the road in Michigan, Matt Bevan heads to the state's political capital of Lansing, where he meets a swing voter named David who is all in on Trump, navigates the labyrinth that is the state Capitol building, and samples local delicacies on the I-96. Former top Trump advisor Steve Bannon is out of prison, and vowing to do what he can to help the Trump campaign win days out from the election, but the car radio is abuzz with a different story — the impact of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's jokes on Puerto Rican voters in key swing states.

In the United States, presidential elections rely on thousands of actual people coming together to scrutinise and then certify the results. That’s what will happen next week, when polls close on the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. So what would happen if they just refused to certify a result, for political reasons? In 2020, exactly this scenario played out, in an extraordinarily tense meeting room in Detroit, Michigan. In the four years since, Trump’s supporters have worked hard to try and replicate this roadblock around the country.

It’s Halloween in America, and with the countdown on to election day, things are getting spooky. In downtown Detroit, Matt Bevan meets early voters, trick-or-treaters, and samples local delicacies — thanks to everyone who emailed with tips. Keep them coming,

With only days until the election both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are zigzagging across the United States holding rallies to shore up support. At a Trump rally in the suburbs of Detroit, Matt Bevan chatted to a whole lot of fans waiting in line about why they're voting for Trump and what happens if the election doesn't go his way. He and Insiders host David Speers debriefed in the car ride back to the city.

Eight months before January 6, a very similar mob stormed a different government building. Armed men, furious about an extension of COVID lockdowns, stormed the state Capitol building in Lansing, Michigan. It was a precursor to the march on the Capitol in Washington DC, with chants, signs and even protesters in common. But among some of the men in Michigan that day, a plot was brewing that was more sinister. It shows just how insidious and dangerous the lies spreading among Donald Trump’s supporters can be. If he wins, Trump has vowed to pardon those people convicted of crimes on January 6—what signal could such immunity send?

It's election eve in America, and Matt Bevan is in Washington DC. How did he get there? By train, from Detroit, where he took in the fall foliage from the comfort of his tiny bunk bed, and talked politics over breakfast with a fellow train-devotee named Bill. But neither Kamala Harris or Donald Trump is taking the slow train to election day -- both campaigns have whirlwind 24 hours planned, hitting the swing states key to winning the White House. Donald Trump is ending years of campaigning with a late-night rally that looks to soothe his superstitious mind, and Kamala Harris is throwing a massive garden party in Philadelphia.

It's election day in America! But in the dying hours of Monday night (and the campaigns), Matt Bevan took a train to Pennsylvania to stand in queue for a massive Lady Gaga concert — Kamala Harris's final event before election day. Luckily, you can get the speeches online. What you can't get is the vibe, which was apparent speaking to supporters in this kilometres-long queue. On the train ride home Matt and Dr Emma Shortis from The Australia Institute decide the Democrats' election-eve vibe was: things seem good for Kamala Harris ... nobody jinx it.

As the night goes on, and key states in the US presidential election are called for Donald Trump, it's becoming harder to see a way that Kamala Harris wins the White House. Matt Bevan shares his view from a Washington rooftop on election night, where ABC News is covering the results. He reflects on the Harris and Trump campaigns, and what a second Trump presidency could look like.

It’s Matt Bevan’s last 24 hours in Washington DC, and he’s leaving a very different place to the one he arrived in. Donald Trump is going to be president again, and in the United States, people from across the political spectrum are figuring out exactly what that looks like. Matt sits down with ABC Global Affairs Reporter John Lyons in sunny Lafayette Park to chat about the potential geopolitical impacts of a second Trump term and how world leaders are already scrambling to get Trump on the phone to strike a deal.

Over the last four episodes we’ve told the story of Donald Trump’s denial of the 2020 election result. It’s a period of time many thought would disqualify him from another run for US president. Now, exactly four years later Trump is preparing to head back to the White House after a significant election win against Kamala Harris, and the way his last presidency ended has shaped his campaign. January 6th and the events that led up to it alienated many moderate actors in Trump’s orbit, and unless they’re brought back into the fold, this presidency is set to look very different to his last.

In this update from Washington DC, Matt Bevan is filling in as host for ABC News Daily to bring you an early morning update on all the events from overnight Australian time. In a spectacular victory, Donald Trump has secured the US election to become the 47th President of the United States. Matt is joined on the ground by Emma Shortis from The Australia Institute to explain where the Democrats went wrong and the Republicans went right - and what a more emboldened Trump with the support of the House, the Senate and the Supreme Court means for America.

After January 6, many who had stuck by Donald Trump through his presidency condemned his denial of the election, and his failure to stop the attack on the Capitol. Banished to Mar-a-Lago the former president was banned from major social media platforms, driving his messages and MAGA community underground, into a parallel online world. That response by big tech to the violence of January 6 was designed to stop it happening again. Instead, it found Donald Trump powerful allies, and fostered his comeback, one that would send him all the way back to the White House. This is the final episode of America's Last Election. We'll be back next week with an episode about something completely different. If you liked the series, please share it around

A Chinese-owned cargo ship called the Yi Peng 3 is sitting idle in Danish waters, after undersea internet cables were cut in the Baltic Sea. European officials have cried sabotage. It’s not the first time something like this has happened; similar events have seen cables cut in other parts of the ocean. There’s serious concern that China and Russia are planning more of these attacks, and the way the internet is set up, it wouldn’t take many of them to cause serious problems. So how vulnerable is the internet to undersea sabotage? And if a big global conflict were to break out, would the cables be the first casualty?

The International Criminal Court in The Hague wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes in Gaza. But international justice works differently to other forms of justice — it relies on everyone opting in. More than 20 years into its existence the court is yet to convict any world leaders of anything. As the first fugitive from the ICC who is also an ally to Western countries like Australia and France, this case is one that could make or break the court itself. So what does that mean for Netanyahu and his allies? And what does it mean for the idea that there are some crimes that go beyond borders, committed against humanity itself.

Hunter Biden has been a main character in far-right conspiracy theories for years, and Donald Trump’s associates have spent significant effort searching for proof that could lead to his prosecution. In the end, Hunter reportedly provided the only evidence that has mattered: a laptop full of terribly embarrassing and potentially incriminating material. The story of how that laptop found its way to Trump’s favourite lawyer Rudy Giuliani is almost too bizarre to believe. But the Biden family story has been improbably tragic for decades, and it was those tragedies that have seemingly steered the outgoing president to pardon his son despite the very real cost to his own reputation, and the country.

The people of Georgia are in the streets of Tbilisi, protesting the ruling party’s recent election win. At the heart of the fight is whether the country should appease Vladimir Putin, or oppose him. For years Georgia was moving closer to the European Union, but the war in Ukraine changed everything. Now, billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgia Dream party are betting on a relationship with Putin, hoping to save the country from a fate similar to Ukraine’s.