Saturday Extra - Separate stories podcast

It is five years since a fire ignited a storage warehouse in the port of Beirut, causing a massive explosion in the Lebanese capital.With shock-waves equivalent to a 3.3 magnitude earthquake, the port was pulverised and the death toll is believed to be at least 221.The political and personal shock-waves continue to this day, but there is renewed hope for justice after the resumption of a judicial investigation into the blast. 

President Trump's August 1 deadline for tariff deals has passed with a flurry of agreements as countries rush to avoid punitive levies.The European Union and Japan agreed to 15 per cent tariffs. India has accepted a 25 per cent tariff. Tariffs on Australia will remain at the baseline of 10 per cent.So has the self-styled 'tariff man' delivered on his promise to up-end the terms of global trade?

This week, one of the country's most unique fashion events kicks off in Darwin: The 10th Country to Couture, which brings together First Nations designers, stylists and models.It's Australia's largest showcase of Indigenous fashion, and it's a runway that has launched models and designers from remote Australia onto the international stage.

ack Beaumont is a former French intelligence operative who has used his real life experience to write two spy thrillers with a third, Liar’s Game coming out next week. Guest: Jack Beaumont, (pen name) author Liar's Game

AI Boot camps are a growing trend in big business. Staff are being asked to down tools to experiment and learn new AI systems in one short week rather than across multiple workshops in a bid to fast-track AI skills. Canva is one of several Australian companies aiming to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to the challenges and opportunities of AI. 

A damming portrait by two of America's leading journalists describes the desperate efforts to hide the truth of the last year of Biden’s presidency, and a media unwilling to question Biden's mental sharpness.

The week in politics for the 48th Parliament was dominated by division in the Coalition and the Greens.Meanwhile,  the prime minister has warned Israel to comply with international law, in some of his strongest language on the Gaza conflict to date.What we can expect from the term ahead? 

Warming oceans are pushing marine life out of familiar habitats, and as the long-spined sea urchin migrates south to Victoria and Tasmania it is wreaking havoc on ecosystems and commercial fisheries.Where climate change has created a pest, scientists, designers and divers are finding solutions.New research promises to turn sea urchin shells into fabric dye, potentially solving an environmental problem and resolving a challenge for commercial divers.

Australia's 48th parliament sits for the first time on Tuesday. As new parliamentarians catch flights to Canberra and prepare their maiden speeches, we meet a couple of the new faces.The Liberal Party's youngest MP, Leon Rebello has worked his way up from parliament's mailroom to the green seats of the House.While Labor Senator for Queensland Corinne Mullholland is preparing to juggle caring for an 8-month-old baby with the demands of Canberra. 

Donald Trump’s mother Mary Anne MacLeod was born on the Hebridean island of Lewis. Like many islanders of her time she headed as a young woman across the Atlantic where she met and married Fred Trump.The US President is expected to make a private visit to his ancestral home this month to visit his golf course on Scotland's east coast.In Aberdeenshire there’s a long history of dispute between the President and the locals about his controversial golf courses and his will to rid the Scottish horizon of off-shore wind farms.