PM

Iraqi forces have reclaimed up to a third of western Mosul from Islamic State as they have the city surrounded. As many as 600,000 civilians trapped inside the city, being held by ISIS militants, as thousands of other residents have fled to nearby displacement camps. The sheer brutality of ISIS was reinforced this weekend when a mass grave of hundreds of people in a prison was discovered near Mosul. Now, as the Iraqi and US-led soldiers push further into one of the Islamic State's strongholds, they say they're finally making progress.

The new West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has spent the day getting briefings from the state's public servants. He's also had to fend off union claims that he 'owes them' for helping Labor into power on Saturday night. The head of WA's maritime union has gone as far as saying trade union aligned MPs deserve quid-pro-quo cabinet positions.

In the Northern Territory, a former detainee at an Alice Springs youth rehabilitation centre has spoken about being pushed up against a wall and choked by a guard. The Royal Commission into youth detention and child protection is hearing evidence from former detention centre workers as well as former and current detainees this week.

South Australia's Government is selling its energy strategy as a way to reduce energy prices, increase reliability, and return 'power to the people'. The Government says it'll announce what it calls a 'dramatic' intervention to address the power crisis tomorrow morning. It says gas will play a key role in the plan, but the full extent of the reforms hasn't been revealed.

The Federal Resources Minister says there's much to be learnt from how Japan's energy industry has adapted after the Fukushima meltdown. When the disaster struck in 2011 and the decision was taken to switch off nuclear power plants around the country, it left a gaping hole in the energy needs of the country. On the day of the disaster, nuclear power provided 30 per cent of Japan's energy needs. Since then, much of the demand has been met by new, 'high efficiency and low-emissions' coal-fired power plants which have been built to service the demand.

A group of Indigenous traditional owners in Central Queensland is calling for an extended Senate inquiry process into proposed changes to Native Title. The inquiry is examining the fallout from a recent federal court ruling, which threw into question more than 100 mining and pastoral agreements with Native Title holders, including an agreement with the controversial Adani Carmichael coal mine. The Federal Government is trying to pass legislation which would reverse that court ruling.

If the latest data is anything to go by, Australia is well on its way to becoming a cashless society. Official figures show the number of ATM withdrawals in January was down over 7 per cent compared to last year, to a 15-year low. Small business seem to be embracing the development, but not everyone's happy about the potential death of loose change.

Before the era of fake news and so-called alternative facts, there was talk radio, which exploded in Australia in the '60s with the likes of John Laws. Decades of controversy followed, and in different cities, people like Alan Jones, Ray Hadley, Derryn Hinch, Jeremy Cordeaux and Neil Mitchell have followed in Laws' footsteps - some of them stirring up scandals like cash-for-comment along the way. Star of new play 'Talk', John Waters, and writer Jonathan Biggins, speak to PM.

The CSIRO has confirmed it faces a $30 million bill to clean up radioactive waste near Woomera in South Australia. The contaminated soil is contained in almost 10,000 drums that have been left to deteriorate over decades. The clean-up is due to begin next month, and comes as the Federal Government continues to explore options for a national nuclear storage facility.

Farming communities in the New South Wales central west are nervous about the future, after a ferocious bushfire swept through the landscape four weeks ago, destroying people's houses, their farms and farm animals. This is the same local government area that suffered enormous social and financial losses in the Wambelong fire in January 2013. There are fears that the communities might not get the federal support that they say is essential if they are to recover from this fire.