Mickey the 'monster': Sinister allegations behind spectacular corporate unravelling

Micky Ahuja catapulted his company MA Services from nothing to the big time to become the security provider of choice to the federal government retail giants like Coles and Bunnings, and a major sponsor of AFL clubs.But his empire was a house of cards. Today Nick McKenzie on one of the more spectacular and disturbing corporate unravellings in recent memory. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israel and the United States are at war with Iran in a rapidly escalating conflict that Australia seems to be trying to avoid as much as possible. Today, we'll talk about how viable it is to be neutral these days, and whether Australia is doing its duty as a middle power. We'll also discuss the Liberal Party review that Opposition Leader Angus Taylor and others tried to keep it secret, only to have it leaked by none other than the prime minister himself this week. Joining Jacqueline Maley today is foreign affairs correspondent Matthew Knott and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Only six days since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, the destruction is mounting. More than 800 people have been killed, including Iranian schoolchildren and American service members.  What will it take to stop this war? And what might compel Donald Trump to end it, if he can?  Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on Trump's tactics, and how his MAGA base is responding.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this bonus episode of Inside Politics, we’re joined by the Nationals leader David Littleproud.He’s a man under pressure – commentators, Liberal MPs and some of his own colleagues blamed January’s split on the 49-year-old from Chinchilla in regional Queensland.Today, chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and Littleproud discuss the Coalition rupture and what’s next under the leadership of Angus Taylor.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If leading figures of the AI boom, like OpenAI chief Sam Altman, have their way, much of the world (or better yet, space) will be covered in data centres. But what about the havoc their construction is wreaking on our neighbourhoods? Today, investigative reporter Clay Lucas, on the Australians living next door to these loud, energy-sucking centres that some say are a threat to our environment. And whether our state governments are letting a rapidly evolving, resource-intensive industry expand largely unchecked.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Only days before US President Donald Trump declared war on Iran, another Epstein files bombshell dropped — this one, relating to allegations against the American president. An investigation revealed that the Department of Justice withheld more than 50 pages of FBI interviews and notes from conversations with a woman who accused Donald Trump of sexual abuse, decades ago, when she was between 13 and 15 years old. Today Foreign Policy magazine deputy editor Amelia Lester on what some Democrats are calling “the largest government cover-up in modern history”, and if it could hurt Donald Trump.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US President Donald Trump's act of war on Iran at the weekend seemed inevitable but nevertheless shocking. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and civilians died when joint American and Israeli strikes rained down on the country, beginning on Saturday. Trump says it’s time for the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow their government. Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher discusses who is likely to rule Iran and if this will lead to a wider war.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we had some not-so-great inflation figures and also reports that there'll be another interest rate rise right before the government hands down its federal budget in May. Newly-minted shadow treasurer Tim Wilson, aka the "energiser bunny", accused Treasurer Jim Chalmers of pouring fuel on the economic flames, but what is the government saying about the situation? Also in this episode, we discuss the extraordinary situation where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had to be evacuated from The Lodge in Canberra. Joining host Jacqueline Maley is chief economics correspondent Shane Wright and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pentagon once said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could succeed in three days. So, as the war rages on, more than four years later, what else have world leaders got wrong? For one thing, what a nation’s most important source of power is. Today international and political editor Peter Hartcher on the underestimated power that Ukraine holds, and what it would take for us to acquire it.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jamal Rifi is the Sydney doctor at the centre of a controversial mission to repatriate the so-called ISIS brides – 34 Australian women and children who are living in a camp in Syria. He also wants to bring back a young man who was taken to Syria as a boy who is now in an adult men’s prison.  The women travelled to Syria and were married to jihadists, who are now dead or in jail. When Islamic State's so-called caliphate fell, they were put in detention camps. For seven years they have lived in no man’s land, trying to return home to Australia.  Dr Rifi, a medical doctor and friend of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, speaks to senior writer Michael Bachelard for this special episode of The Morning Edition.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.