Our Troops in Afghanistan SUMMARY: This last week a coalition convey in Afghanistan was ambushed by insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, leaving nine Australian soldiers injured, one very seriously. This is the highest toll of casualties in one incident suffered by our soldiers in almost 40 years. And it´s not just Australians - in the past couple of weeks, Polish, French and Canadian soldiers have lost their lives through a concerted Taliban push before the cold weather sets in. We are committed to Afghanistan, PM Rudd has made that clear, yet this is the war that probably best represents the word 'quagmire'. NSW Labor Unravels SUMMARY: What a tumultuous few days in NSW politics. This political mayhem kicked off by the sudden resignation of the Deputy Premier John Watkins, then Treasurer Michael Costa was sacked and quickly followed by the resignation of the NSW Premier Morris Iemma. So what do the events of the last few days really tell us about the NSW Labor Party? Is there a Great American Emptiness? SUMMARY: The US Election continues to provide some major surprises - the latest controversy being the selection of Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, Alaskan Mayor Sarah Palin. Announced by Republican Presidential nominee John McCain a week ago - there's been plenty of questions raised about whether this bold gamble will pay off. Today a discussion about the kind of values Sarah Palin is said to represent to the American public - and what her selection means for the Republicans chances at the November poll. Not-For-Profit review SUMMARY: There are more than 700,000 organisations in Australia that come under the umbrella of Not For Profit. They range from charities, sporting and social clubs, registered clubs and even superannuation funds to name but a few. But a major reform of the sector is now brewing, with a Senate inquiry underway and a Federal government review of the tax status of Australia's charities having recently been established. There's no denying the very positive contribution - both social and economic - that NFPs bring to Australian life. But it does seem that increased regulation and governance is on the way, as is perhaps even a rethink on exactly how we should define concepts such as charity. How is is it though that a multi-billion dollar sector has been apparently under regulated for so long, particulary today when everything and everyone else is audited and accounted for in such detail? Bob Wurth SUMMARY: We had a big response to our interview last week with Dr Peter Stanley from the National Museum of Australia and this week Bob Wurth gives his reasons for why he believes Australia was threated in 1942. A League update SUMMARY: The A League for season 2008/2009 is three rounds in and Melbourne Victory are setting the early pace. The competition is taking a break this weekend but we thought it might be worth taking a bit of a long view of how the competition is building. This is the 4th season of the A League, but can we call it an unqualified success? Film with Julie Rigg SUMMARY: "In Bruges" a hit man thriller by Irish playwright Michael Mcdonagh and it stars Colin farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Also "Son of Rambow" a sweet, funny English film about two pre teen kids making a movie.

US Democratic Convention SUMMARY: This week thousands of Democrat delegates from across America gathered in Denver, Colorado, to officially nominate Barack Obama as Democratic presidential nominee. The convention culminated in Obama's acceptance speech delivered to a crowd of over 80,000 people at an open air football stadium. After the euphoria attention has turned to his opponent, John McCain, and why he has picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. Reporting season SUMMARY: The reporting season for most of Australia´s listed companies has come to a close, and the final day proved pretty grim for many investors. One time sharemarket darlings Centro Property and Allco Finance declared annual losses of 2 billion and 1.7 billion respectively and the immediate future of both companies remains in doubt. ABC Learning was to have reported yesterday but didn´t; the missed deadline putting the company in breach of ASX rules. But those results also served to highlight what a terrific year many other businesses have enjoyed -- albeit in a pretty tough credit environment. BHP, Commonwealth Bank and Woolworths all reported very strong figures; in fact Woolies posted a stellar 26% rise in annual profit to 1.63 billion dollars. So what do we make of these contrasting fortunes? To borrow from a new but already well worn phrase, it´s been something of a two speed reporting season. Solar thermal SUMMARY: Worley Parsons is acting as a central broker for a range of companies to work up plans to build the world's biggest solar thermal power plant. They hope to have a definite plan by the end of the year. Lessons from Russian History SUMMARY: As the Russia government is making headlines over its lastest stoush with Georgia, the deteriorating political relations between these neighbours is leading some commentators to start thinking out loud about whether the West needs to pay more attention to history to try and make sense of the situation. Battle for Australia SUMMARY: Peter Stanley says there is no evidence to support the idea that the Japanese had a plan to invade Australia in 1942. Yet many Australians believe the reverse and the Federal government recently announced that the first Wednesday of September will mark the Battle for Australia and `will commemorate the service of those who served in defence of Australia in 1942 and 1943'. Film with Jason Di Rosso SUMMARY: Jason reviews Not Quite Hollywood, a documentary about Australian genre cinema. And Hellboy II: The Golden Army; Mexican director Guillermo del Toro's comic book adaptation about a red demon who fights for good.

The anthrax scientists SUMMARY: A story with all the ingredients of an Agatha Christie novel. It involves a bungled examination by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into the 2001 Anthrax letter attacks, a scientist who committed suicide, mental torture, broken marriages, alcohol dependence and some psychotic characters. Dilemmas for NATO SUMMARY: Next year NATO turns 60 and as the alliance heads towards this anniversary there are questions over its future. Some observers argue that NATO is distracted and weakened and, as evidence, point to the conflict in Georgia and the NATO campaign in Afghanistan. Babcock & Brown SUMMARY: We all know the blunt verdicts delivered on Australian political players. Well how blunt should they be in the business world? It´s a question being debated right now in the case of Babcock & Brown, which this week became a casualty of the long-running and developing international credit squeeze. De-leveraging SUMMARY: Getting out of debt and recovering from bad debt habits that have been learned over the past 15 to 18 years: many financial analysts say that this indeed is the debate-we-have-to-have in Australia. National treasures SUMMARY: In 1979, the late Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, said that 'antiquities are the most precious relics the Iraqis possess'. At the time the dictator maintained one of the most flourishing archaeological collections in the Middle East. But things changed with the first Gulf war when Saddam Hussein´s men went on a ruthless campaign to destroy relics of Shiite culture, and then in 2003 more was lost with the looting of the Iraq Museum. This discussion is about what happened next. Film with Julie Rigg SUMMARY: Julie reviews Son of a Lion, a new film made by a novice filmmaker with Pashtun people on Pakistan's north-west frontier.

Arthur Mutambara SUMMARY: Arthur Mutambara is the leader of a faction within the Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Both men, plus Robert Mugabe and South African President Thabo Mbeki, are partipating in talks that many hope will culminate in some sort of national unity government. BHP results SUMMARY: BHP is the world's biggest miner, and a business that many of us have long known as 'The Big Australian'. As the commodities boom has gathered pace, the term 'big' almost undersells the scope of the company's operations, or its profit. Its annual results are due out on Monday and expectations are for a net profit in excess of 17 billion Australian dollars. David Malouf SUMMARY: One of the descriptions many of us would least want to have attributed to us is that we were naive. There is something terribly exposing and suggestive of foolishness to be judged naive, it's indeed the very opposite of experienced. Brazil SUMMARY: In 2001, the chief economist for Goldman Sachs, Jim O´Neill, coined the term BRICs to describe Brazil, Russia, India and China. By 2050, these rising markets would steer the global economy. Of course, the international community laughed at the inclusion of Brazil. 'I was told that I must have put the B in BRICs to make the acronym sound better,' he told Newsweek magazine. That was then. Today Brazilians are just as surprised as the international community at their biggest economic expansion in thirty years. Kasztner's Train SUMMARY: On a Friday in June 1944 an extraordinary event happened in a Budapest railway station. On this day Rezso Kasztner secured the safe passage of over 1,500 Jews to neutral Switzerland. Hungary was occupied by the Nazis and the final solution had reached its apex, but Kasztner had managed to strike a deal of goods for human life. Movies with Jason Di Rosso SUMMARY: