The Morning Edition

The energy vampires next door: Life next to an AI mega-factory

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/ [https://subscribe.smh.com.au/] See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Abuse claims against Trump in the missing Epstein files: will it bring him down?

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/ [https://subscribe.smh.com.au/] See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

US-Iran war: Iran’s government has been ‘decapitated’. What now?

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/ [https://subscribe.smh.com.au/] See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Tim Wilson accused the treasurer of pouring fuel on the inflation flames – is he right?

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/ [https://subscribe.smh.com.au/] See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

What Ukraine’s four-year resistance against Russia teaches us about survival

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/ [https://subscribe.smh.com.au/] See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.