Sixty four years ago today, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and days later in Nagasaki during the second World War. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and almost overnight an era of nuclear power was born. The anniversary of this event is a time not only to look back on the events of the past, but also to question the never-ending debate over our nuclear future. Featured in this story: DAVID TREBILCOCK, participant in the South Australian peace movement and original member of the SA Hiroshima Day memorial service and JOYCE VAN DER SMAN, participant in the Hiroshima Day service.

Hiroshima Day is being used as a reminder about Australia’s own nuclear and radioactive legacy. The British bomb testing at Maralinga over 50 years ago left a poisoned landscape and also a poisonous genetic inheritance for the people who lived and worked in the area . There has been a long fight for compensation by veterans and the local Aboriginal people. Earlier this year the British courts decided that veterans there could sue their government and that’s given hope to Australian veterans, and perhaps also to Aboriginal people . The Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation today called for Aboriginal people to also be able to join nuclear veterans in getting equitable access to legal processes leading to health compensation. Story features ANTAR President Janet Hunt.

The Australian Nuclear Veterans Association is pursuing compensation for the British bomb tests, with a potential class action pending after the British decision earlier this year. However Ric Johnstone from the Association says ANTAR’s call for the British government to pay up is misguided as since Australia signed a treaty in the nineties with the British government agreeing to forgo all compensation. He says they will be expecting the Australian government to foot the health costs if their claims are successful.

The media has been saturated with stories surrounding the exploitation of international students lately. These range from violence against Indian students, to Four Corners' report on bogus university practices. Greens Senator Sarah-Hanson Young held a roundtable meeting in Melbourne today to discuss the problems facing international students. Featured in story: Greens spokesperson for Education and Immigration, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

On the day Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, five Australian journalists were murdered by the Indonesian military. The truth of their murders was never admitted by Indonesia or Australia, and now 34 years on, a film has been made showing what really happened. Film follows journey of the Balibo five, as they have become known, through the pursuit for justice of another Australian Journalist who was also murdered. Balibo Director Robert Connolly and actor Damon Gameau who plays one of the Balibo Five - Greg Shackelton – speak with Clare Rawlinson about how they were affected by the making of this harrowing film.