The Front

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is making “targeted inquiries” into the actions of the bankers behind the canned multibillion-dollar stock-market float of data-centre builder Firmus.

Plus, Australia’s Tax Commissioner has admitted he didn’t quite get how businesses use credit cards before the ATO brought in a ban on plastic.

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Corporate regulator investigates lead managers behind cancelled $44bn Firmus float

ATO ‘jumped to conclusions’ over bungled credit card ban

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Breathtaking criminality - and a penalty that could have been much, much higher. The casino operator Star has had a huge judgment in the Federal Court with huge implications for the rest of the gaming sector - and for the punters. That’s today’s story.

Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

Star Entertainment secures lifeline as Federal Court spreads $260m penalty over 19 months

Federal Court hits Star with $260m fine for money laundering breaches

Crown in the black as casinos under the pump

This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey, and edited by Jasper Leak.  Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack and Joshua Burton. Jasper Leak also composed our music.

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Huge claims and no clear winner - yet: that’s the state of play in the high-stakes Israeli elections that have seen Arab Israeli parties emerge as the potential power players.  Also in the Front’s afternoon headlines: inflation’s up - are interest rates next?

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Israel election latest: No clear winner as count continues

Israelis vote in record numbers for knife-edge election

Albanese, Chalmers deflect blame for rising inflation, as rate hike looms

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Among the many revolting crimes of the failed Islamist movement ISIS was the enslavement and mistreatment of women and girls. They are Yazidis, a long-persecuted ethnic minority.  Now, a Yazidi woman says she was enslaved and raped as a nine year old girl in the house of an Australian woman, Hodan Abby. Abby - who’s not been proven to have done anything wrong - is still stranded in the Middle East and wants to come home. Her alleged victim, Aisha, wants Australia to hold her to account. 

Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

‘I want justice’: Yazidi slave survivor’s plea

One Nation fails in bid to block brides’ return 

This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. 

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Senior ABC brass have told a Senate committee they’re investigating whether or not a journalist they used to help cover the Israel-Hamas conflict was in fact a Hamas operative. Also in today’s afternoon headlines - the Government denies it is assisting another ISIS bride who is planning to return to Australia.

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ABC investigates whether journalist Roshdi Sarraj was Hamas terrorist

ABC news boss under fire for 'flippant' response to terror claims

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We all furiously agree public discourse is nasty and dangerous. But can politicians really change their ways - or will they just blame the manosphere, social media and their enemies? Dennis Shanahan is here.

Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

We’ll tackle the manosphere, says Albo

Dennis Shanahan: Echoes of a 25-year-old tragedy

This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Revealed today: the total likely cost to Australians of a climate change conference - in Fiji - to prepare for a bigger climate change conference later this year - in Turkey. Plus, the law firm hunting Jetstar for a voucher travel ‘trap’.

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Marine Le Pen is topping France’s presidential polls as her National Rally party’s anti-immigration, economic nationalist, law-and-order policies are supercharged by student riots and a crippling cost of living. Today - how a woman convicted for embezzlement became a serious contender for President of France.

Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

Marine Le Pen seizes on French chaos to present herself as leader in waiting

City of Light turns grey as Paris licks its wounds

Emmanuel Macron bans French protests as heavy police presence swarms Paris students

This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack, and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. 

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Most critics have Digger down as a dud. But what if they’re wrong? Ben Affleck says Digger’s a “pretty ambitious, interesting movie made by interesting people that have talent”, and our guest Jill Rowbotham, Senior Editor of Culture agrees.
With Oscar-darling Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu directing and Tom Cruise leading a cast of heavy hitters, Digger’s pedigree is undeniable. So are the rough reviews justified, or are we really just seeing a schoolyard-style pile-on among critics? 

Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

Tom Cruise has made a colossal flop. It’s brilliant

Tom Cruise delivers an exhausting misfire in new satire Digger

The weekend edition of The Front is co-produced by Claire Harvey and Jasper Leak. The host is Claire Harvey. Audio production and editing by Jasper Leak who also composed our theme.

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Labor is on the defensive over a so-called “dirt file” compiled about independent MP Helen Haines just weeks before she was attacked outside her electorate office. Plus, a world-first cancer vaccine delivers astonishing results, and Rebel Wilson’s latest legal win.

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It’s not a dirt sheet, says Marles, as Hanson calls for end to ‘grubby’ politics

‘Not good enough’: Helen Haines ally David Pocock queries Anthony Albanese’s dirt sheet defence

World’s first cancer vaccine slashes death risk in stunning findings

Analysis by Natasha Robinson: New vaccine pushes hopes of melanoma cure even higher

Rebel Wilson awarded $359,000 after winning legal battle over movie The Deb

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