The Second Coming of Donald Trump: Can He Become President Again? | 60 Minutes Australia

Not everyone in the west thinks Vladimir Putin is a dangerous megalomaniac - no less than former US President Donald Trump has called the man responsible for so much death and destruction in Ukraine a genius. Now of course Trump has made a career out of being unorthodox, and the more unpredictable he is, it seems the more his supporters love him. So much so, Donald Trump is now seriously considering another tilt at the White House. And if you thought it was a wild ride last time he was the leader of the free world, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Donald Trump: Der Ex-Präsident deutet seine Kandidatur für 2024 klar wie selten zuvor an: Trotz seiner Niederlage im Kampf um eine zweite Amtszeit ist Donald Trumps Einfluss auf die amerikanische Politik immer noch enorm. Wie gross ist seine Chance auf ein Comeback? Und welche Gefahr droht ihm durch die Ermittlungen der Justiz? Ein Überblick. »

Volodymyr Zelensky: From Actor and Comedian to Ukraine's Wartime Leader | 60 Minutes Australia

For ten days now the world has watched a country of 44 million people come under relentless attack. But while Ukraine is being destroyed, the resolve of Ukrainians isn't. And that's in large part to their leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former actor and comedian, who really did stumble into statesmanship. But what a role he's performing, especially considering the price on his head. Reports suggest Putin has tasked a kill squad with the job of eliminating him. So far though, they've failed.

Inside the Court Case That Ended in the Humiliation of Prince Andrew | 60 Minutes Australia

Not all pictures tell a thousand words. This one tells so many more. We’ll never know for sure, but it’s also probably worth about $20 million. That’s the reported price Prince Andrew will pay Virginia Guiffre to settle a very disturbing legal case against him. She says when she was 17 she was trafficked to the Prince by the paedophile businessman Jeffrey Epstein, ably assisted by his sex-offender partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. Despite that photo, Andrew denies ever meeting, let alone having sex with Ms Guiffre, but he’s been so discredited, these days it’s difficult to believe anything the disgraced royal says.

Operation London Bridge: Will the Monarchy Survive after the Queen Dies? | Under Investigation

On the Campaign Trail with Controversial Politician Pauline Hanson | 60 Minutes Australia

Feb 3, 2022 • She is Australia's most controversial political figure and she is back with a vengeance. Once thought a spent force, Pauline Hanson has returned to centre stage. After the stunning success of her One Nation Party in the West Australian elections, the message for leaders on both sides of the political fence is to be afraid, be very afraid. In a revealing and feisty interview, Hanson hits back at those who wrote her off. As she tells Ellen Fanning, she is not out to keep the bastards honest, she is out to get rid of them. Ellen travelled with the One Nation caravan during its Queensland election campaign. Her report is a real insight into Pauline Hanson's new strategy - the politics of vengeance.

The 'Unwinnable War': Should Marijuana Be Legalised in Australia? | 60 Minutes Australia

Jan 13, 2022 – It is our biggest cash crop and worth a fortune - $5 billion a year. The massive resources used to eradicate it are also costing us a fortune. Marijuana is virtually impossible to avoid in this country. Nearly 50% of Australians say they have tried it or regularly use it. Marijuana sales are twice what Australians spend on wine. Millions indulge and millions of dollars are spent trying to wipe it out. In the hills surrounding Nimbin, on the north coast of New South Wales, Richard Carleton accompanied the police on a series of helicopter raids. It is a fight that has all the trappings of war - armed police, state of the art machinery and sophisticated battle plans. Yet, if it is a war, many also believe that it is simply unwinnable.

It makes no sense to me to make smoking tobacco, cigarettes, the bête noire of our day and charge an arm and a leg for a packet of twenty—here in the UK, a packet of twenty Marlboro Reds currently costs £12.50!—yet they want to legalize and make the smoking of cannabis legal! Go figure! When I smoke a cigarette, it does not bend my mind; it simply gives me pleasure. The same cannot be said for marijuana. Enough already! – © Mark

Does Winning the Lottery Really Change Your Life for the Better? | 60 Minutes Australia

Before we begin - a warning. Some scenes in this story may excite some viewers. It contains fabulous mansions, flash cars, luxury yachts, all your wildest fantasies come true. What's more, the multi-millionaires who own this stuff are just ordinary people. Ordinary people who happened to get lucky, happened to win the big one, the really big one. Hundreds of millions of dollars. But deep down, are they genuinely happy? Well, let's just say that by the end of this cautionary tale, some of you may be feeling very self-satisfied indeed.

Former Models Expose the Ugly Truth of the Beauty Industry | 60 Minutes Australia

First there was Harvey Weinstein, and then Jeffrey Epstein, two men so corrupted by their own power and money they thought it entitled them to sexually abuse any woman or teenager they lusted after. Now one of the icons of the world of modelling stands similarly accused of being a sex fiend. His name might not be familiar to those outside the beauty industry, but for decades Frenchman Gérald Marie, now aged 70, was the super-agent who decided, or torpedoed, the careers of supermodels. He even married one of the most famous of them all, Linda Evangelista. But a 60 MINUTES global investigation has uncovered more than a dozen former models with shocking accusations about him. They say he’s a predator who ritually abused and raped young women – including minors. As Tara Brown reports, the women are now demanding that Gérald Marie be held accountable for his depravity, and it seems prosecutors in France are finally taking notice.

The Countries Banning Smoking and Taking On 'Big Tobacco' | 60 Minutes Australia

Dec 26, 2019 • What a fight it's become as governments around the world line up against Big Tobacco to outlaw smoking. Liz Hayes travels to California and Norway where they believe at last they're starting to win the war with tough new laws that say no ifs, no buts, no smoking - full stop.

The world is full of meddlesome people! They are not very consistent, either. At the very same time as the world is clamping down on cigarette-smoking, it is relaxing laws on the smoking of cannabis and other substances. How sensible, or logical, is that?

Furthermore, doctors and medical people are encouraging e-cigarettes and vaping; yet we don’t know the long-term consequences of that habit. Many a young person has suffered from “popcorn lung” because of vaping; some have even died.

Smoking cigarettes is not a healthy habit. That we know. But so many other habits are not healthy either. Moreover, are Americans today that much healthier than they used to be when they smoked a lot? I would say that they aren’t. Diabetes and obesity are huge problems in the States, indeed in the West in general. Diabetes, in particular, leads to cardiovascular disease just as smoking tobacco does. I would therefore posit that by making it difficult, and often virtually impossible, to smoke tobacco, we have merely traded in one set of illnesses for another, namely tobacco-related illnesses for sugar-related ones.

If you truly want a healthier population, find a way to encourage people to quit smoking (voluntarily) without those people taking up other bad habits to compensate for their loss of pleasure from smoking. But the fact remains that people throughout the ages have always got their fun, pleasures and kicks from something or other. If you take one source of pleasure away from them, they will find something else to replace it, something else to fill the void. And that ‘thing’ might yet turn out in the long-term to be unhealthier than smoking ever was! – © Mark

The Saudi Arabian Tyrant Silencing His Critics with Savagery | 60 Minutes Australia

”He might be wealthy beyond belief, and lead a life of extreme privilege, but in reality, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman is a thug and murderer; a man who places no value on the lives of those who question him. Now, ordinarily, uttering an insult like that would be enough to cause an international incident, but it’s what the CIA found following a top-secret investigation into the death of Jamal Khashoggi. The recently declassified report is damning, saying the outspoken journalist was assassinated, and his body dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, in an operation ordered by Bin Salmon. It’s savagery that’s stunned the world.”
Watch the documentary here.

Holistic Healing and Alternative Medicine; Is It Just a Scam? | 60 Minutes Australia

Nov 14, 2021 • Did you take your vitamin C this morning? Echinacea, folic acid or fish oil? Have you had acupuncture, a remedial massage, or seen a herbalist? If you have, you are certainly not alone. It's called 'alternative' or 'complementary medicine'; a booming industry, worth at least two billion dollars a year. Its products and therapies are used by more than half the population. Yet nobody can say for sure whether they work, and if they do, why? Even the experts seem divided. Some say science should keep an open mind. Others, that it's all in the mind, mere witchcraft, a waste of money and maybe even downright dangerous.

Prepare for Armageddon: China's Warning to the World | 60 Minutes Australia

The message coming out of China is getting louder by the day. It doesn't like other countries, especially Australia, ganging up and meddling in its affairs. As we know Beijing is currently doing its best to punish us economically, but in the last few days President Xi Jinping has also ratcheted up the rhetoric by warning of the perils of a new cold war. A loose translation is if we don't stop poking the panda, we'll face serious consequences. Now it's worth taking the threat seriously because Xi controls the largest military force in the world, and as one of his supporters cautions tonight, the cost of conflict with China could be Armageddon.

Hidden Crime Affecting Hundreds of Women | 60 Minutes Australia

May 15, 2018 • As a teenager, Rania Farrah was taken captive and held against her will by her father's family in Syria. A prisoner in the secretive and sinister world of young women who face the prospect of forced marriage. But refusing to be defeated, she secretly plotted and pulled off a daring escape back to Australia on the day she turned 18. On 60 Minutes, Rania very bravely speaks to Liz Hayes in the hope of lifting the veil on a hidden crime that affects hundreds of Australian women.

The Secret World of Sugar Babies and Sugar Daddies | 60 Minutes Australia

Jun 10, 2019 • Incredibly, right now in Australia there are more than 200,000 young women who have either become, or are trying to be, “sugar babies”. Their ambition is for a sweet life of pampered luxury, paid for by older, sometimes much older, men. For the so-called “sugar daddies”, the equation is simple: the wealthier they are, the more attractive they are. But as Sarah Abo finds out, it’s not hard to read between the lines here. The term sugar baby is often code for sex worker, and the male moneybags are often crinkled-up creeps. And that leads to a very important question: is this sugar baby phenomenon about empowering women or exploiting them?

Due to the content and bad language in this documentary, it is most unsuitable for children. Viewer discretion is therefore advised.

This phenomenon could also be called ‘sex for sale’; and we all know what the traditional word for that is! Just because it is high-tech, it doesn’t change the fundamental nature of what is happening here. It turns 'love' and sex into a financial transaction.

Personally, I find this a very sad indictment on modern society. True love can never be bought. It doesn’t matter whether it is straight or gay love. It’s just not how love works. Sad! – Mark

Major Investigation Targeting Australia’s Largest Neo-Nazi Group | 60 Minutes Australia

Aug 15, 2021 • A joint investigation by 60 MINUTES, ‘The Age’ and ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ to infiltrate and expose a toxic and rotting world of hate. Reporter Nick McKenzie has been working on this clandestine operation for the past eight months. The threat is so significant Australia’s top spy, the director-general of ASIO has agreed to his first major television interview. “This is of grave concern to ASIO, and should be of grave concern to all Australians,” Mike Burgess tells McKenzie.
This 60 Minutes Australia report is very disturbing, so I do not wish to embed the video on my blog; instead, I am posting a link to the video on YouTube so that you can view it there instead.

Be warned! This report is very troubling; further, much of the language used in the video is also troubling and disgusting. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. Both because of the report’s content and filthy language and racist sentiments used by the neo-Nazis in the report. Be aware that the report is NOT suitable viewing for children; nor is it suitable viewing for the anxious , the squeamish or the faint of heart.

Considering the dreadful history of the middle of the twentieth century, it is truly astonishing that people with such obnoxious and disturbing views should exist at all in the twenty-first century. Clearly, people like this have NOT learnt the lessons of history. Unfortunately, if we, as people, don’t learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them. This is extremely sad and very worrying.

The 60 Minutes Australia programme can be viewed here. – © Mark

The Alleged Dodgy Deals Casting a New Shadow on the Royal Family | 60 Minutes Australia

Their titles bring entitlement, but how much should the British royal family be allowed to exploit that privilege? The latest shadow cast over the Windsors comes from accusations they can – and are – being bought. The timing couldn't be worse with increasing fears for 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth's health. But as you'll see, some very curious characters have been doing some dubious deals, including with senior Royals, who appear to act as if cash for cachet is perfectly acceptable.

Former Models Expose the Ugly Truth of the Beauty Industry | 60 Minutes Australia

First there was Harvey Weinstein, and then Jeffrey Epstein, two men so corrupted by their own power and money they thought it entitled them to sexually abuse any woman or teenager they lusted after. Now one of the icons of the world of modelling stands similarly accused of being a sex fiend. His name might not be familiar to those outside the beauty industry, but for decades Frenchman Gérald Marie, now aged 70, was the super-agent who decided, or torpedoed, the careers of supermodels. He even married one of the most famous of them all, Linda Evangelista. But a 60 MINUTES global investigation has uncovered more than a dozen former models with shocking accusations about him. They say he’s a predator who ritually abused and raped young women – including minors. As Tara Brown reports, the women are now demanding that Gérald Marie be held accountable for his depravity, and it seems prosecutors in France are finally taking notice.

Viewer discretion is advised. This video is about filth in the fashion industry/modelling world and is DEFINITELY NOT suitable for children. – Mark

Former Gay Conversion Therapist Says Practice Does Not Work | 60 Minutes Australia

Sep 16, 2019 • John Smid knows better than most the devastating effects Gay Conversion Therapy can cause. For 22 years he helped run Love In Action, one of the largest Christian gay conversion institutions in the US. But in all his time working for the institution, he says he never once saw a person 'converted' to be straight – and that he spent over two decades not just deceiving LGBT church members but also himself.

Homophobie : l'Assemblée nationale vote à l'unanimité un nouveau délit contre les «thérapies de conversion» : Le texte prévoit une infraction spécifique contre les soi-disant «thérapeutes» ou religieux qui prétendent «guérir» les homosexuels, un délit puni de deux ans d'emprisonnement et 30.000 euros d'amende. »

Les «thérapies de conversion» pour homosexuels, entre mythe et réalité : DÉCRYPTAGE - Une proposition de loi veut interdire les pratiques ou discours visant à «guérir» l'homosexualité. Mais des associations s'inquiètent des contours encore très flous donnés à cette notion, qui risquerait d'attenter à la liberté de conscience. »

Plus de 300 dignitaires religieux appellent à interdire les «thérapies de conversion» »

Loi sur les thérapies de conversion : psychiatres et juristes s'inquiètent pour les enfants en questionnement de genre : Deux collectifs de psychiatres et juristes alertent sur le danger d'inclure «l'identité de genre» dans la loi visant à interdire les «thérapies de conversion» pour homosexuels : celle-ci pourrait empêcher la prise en charge des enfants souffrant de dysphorie de genre. »

War with China: Are We Closer Than We Think? | Under Investigation

Under Investigation has put together a war table of experts to forecast how we participate and ultimately survive if a war comes to fruition between China and the United States.

Reporter Goes to the Frontlines of the Afghanistan War on the Taliban | 60 Minutes Australia

You read about it, you see snippets on the news and, we hate to say it, Afghanistan becomes just another battle zone. Another skirmish in the so-called war on terror. That is until you're in the thick of it, under enemy fire. That's when you realise how grim, how relentless, maybe how futile this war really is. Despite the jubilation after the American invasion five years ago, the Taliban has not been defeated. Far from it. This conflict is now deadlier than ever, and we're about to send 240 more Australian troops into a country where the enemy's everywhere and everyone's a target.