For many people who watched the coverage of Charlie Kirk’s memorial, it was the sounds that struck them the most.

The triumphant 60,000 conservatives who erupted with yelps and claps after messages of forgiveness… and hate.

Today, North America correspondent Michael Koziol, who attended the memorial, on what Donald Trump and members of his administration said in the Arizona arena, and what it might mean for their agenda, going forward.  And what life on the ground in the US, after Kirk’s assassination and this highly charged memorial, feels like, right now.

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Optus is in the firing line once again over an outage that left customers unable to call Triple Zero for 13 hours.

In that time, four people died – including an eight-week-old baby.

Authorities later said they don’t believe the baby’s death is linked to the outage. 

Today, technology editor David Swan on whether the telcos can be trusted to run Triple Zero.

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Once upon a time, the dangers of eating too much fast food were at the front of our minds thanks to documentaries like Super Size Me. But that was more than 20 years ago.

Since then, the topic may have fallen off the front pages, but fast food chains have been on the march, opening up across Australia.

Today, regional editor Benjamin Preiss and senior health reporter Henrietta Cook on the growing movement to halt the growth of the "golden arches" in regional areas.

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The government announced its 2035 emissions reduction target this week, committing Australia to climate action despite a retreat from the United States. Meanwhile, the Coalition looked a lot like it was about to take up arms in the climate wars - again.

Chief political commentator James Massola joins host Jacqueline Maley.

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A flurry of numbers relating to climate change have been tossed around all week.

But what do they mean?

Today, environment and climate reporter Bianca Hall and climate and energy correspondent Mike Foley on what impact the government’s climate emissions target for 2035 will have on all of us.

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Three years ago, mainstream newspapers in the West had a bit of fun ridiculing so-called nepo-babies, and the unfair advantage enjoyed by the children of the rich and the powerful, like Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter, Apple, or Lenny Kravitz’s daughter, Zoe.

But in Nepal, nepobabies are no joking matter.

They have just, in part, sparked the most widespread social unrest that the nation has seen in recent years. Last week, this left the prime minister toppled, and the wife of one former prime minister in critical condition.

Today, Griffith University International Relations Professor Renee Jeffery, on the Gen Z-led violence that has erupted in Katmandu, and what triggered tens of thousands of protesters to take to the streets.

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Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s charisma has led to her meteoric rise, and also, to her recent relegation to the back bench.

Lambasted for her position on various issues including the Stolen Generation, the Black Lives Matter movement, and more recently, immigration, the Indigenous senator is celebrated by some of the most powerful conservatives in the country, and has become the most followed Coalition MP on social media.

Today, investigative reporter Patrick Begley and federal political reporter Natassia Chrysanthos track plain-speaking Price’s journey from children’s entertainer to political celebrity.

You can read their story here: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/she-s-making-big-trouble-why-jacinta-price-is-losing-favour-in-her-family-s-hometown-20250912-p5muia.html

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US President Donald Trump is a fascist, running an authoritarian regime.

We hear this allegation a lot, now. But is he? Really?

Fascism expert Jason Stanley says he moved with his family to Canada so that he could leave behind, and protest against, the political climate in the United States.

Today, Stanley, a University of Toronto philosophy professor, and author of Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, argues that American exceptionalism has blinded many Americans from thinking fascism could ever take root in their country. And he discusses if fascism could flourish here in Australia.

Jason Stanley appears in Curious at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday 28 September and in Melbourne on Thursday 2 October, presented by The Wheeler Centre.

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Controversial Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was sacked from the Coalition frontbench this week. Price left Opposition Leader Sussan Ley with little choice, after she refused to apologise for comments she made about the Indian community, and then refused to publicly affirm her faith in Ley’s leadership.

Chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos discuss the inside story of the sacking with host Jacqueline Maley, and they also check in on the climate debate, before a key climate policy measure to be decided next week.

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When we think of countries trying to show the world their power and influence, we might think of muscular shows of force, like China’s army parading its newest nuclear weapons, missiles and lasers in a military parade in Beijing, last week.

But then there was our government scrambling to out-deliver China with a tit-for-tat over, of all things, cars, for a tiny but crucial Pacific nation.

Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on why the region Australia long thought was least important is now the region that matters the most.

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