60 Minutes: August 4

It’s a Wiki-war…

Liz Hayes has an interview with Julian Assange for 60 Minutes this Sunday. But a News Limited correspondent Charles Miranda will beat them to air with an Assange interview on TEN’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning, both inside the Ecuadorian embassy.

Ouch.

Mother Mary
We love her as Effie and for 20 years she’s made us laugh by poking fun at her Greek heritage. But off stage, Mary Coustas’ struggle to become a mother has been marred by tragedy. Along with her husband George she’s endured a decade of IVF treatment and miscarriages. Then they turned to donor eggs and through a fertility clinic in her ancestral home of Greece, Mary fell pregnant. But what would follow, would be harrowing. Mary describes how IVF, selective reduction and then premature labour, would see them go from having “none, to two, to three, to one, to none”. On 60 Minutes, Mary and George tell their story, bravely and honestly, and show how they dealt with their grief, in a bid to help others. And just when you thought all hope was lost, there’s one more twist in this remarkable story.
Reporter: Michael Usher
Producer: David Alrich

Asylum Seeker
Julian Assange is Australia’s most famous asylum seeker. He’s been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than a year. The Wikileaks founder fled there to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he’s wanted for questioning over allegations of rape. He believes it’s a ploy to have him sent to the U-S for trial over the publication of hundreds of thousands of top secret and highly embarrassing military and diplomatic documents. This past week American soldier Bradley Manning, who passed some of the files to Wikileaks, was found guilty of espionage and faces up to 136 years jail. Now Julian Assange fears he’s next in line. He invited Liz Hayes into his small world, where he talked about thoughts of escape, running for the Australian Senate and how long he can sustain his diplomatic stand-off.
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producer: Stephen Rice

Bon Voyage
In 1977, NASA launched the two Voyager space probes from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Their mission was supposed to last for 5 years and take them on a journey to explore Jupiter and Saturn. They kept going past Uranus and Neptune and continued onwards, away from the Sun. 36 years later, Voyager 1 is now 18 billion kilometres from Earth. It’s by far the furthest a manmade object has ever travelled. In fact, some scientists believe Voyager 1 is now entering interstellar space, where the influence of the Milky Way takes over from the Sun’s gravitational pull. Ray Martin was at Cape Canaveral when the Voyager probes were first launched and he’s just been back to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to see how they’re travelling!
Reporter: Ray Martin
Producer: Stephen Taylor

7:30pm Sunday on Nine.