Destructive. Devastating. Apocalyptic.

That’s how the wildfires burning across Los Angeles over the last week have been described.

The blazes have largely brought the US’ second largest city to a standstill, destroying thousands of buildings have been destroyed, and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.

It comes as officials declare 2024 the hottest year on record, with temperatures breaching the target of 1 point 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time.

Today on The Front Page, we’ll be discussing the ongoing climate risks that New Zealand faces with Victoria University of Wellington Professor Jonathan Boston.

But first, we’re in Los Angeles with 9 News USA correspondent, Lauren Tomasi.

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You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills

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Billionaire Elon Musk is not content with just having the ear of US President elect Donald Trump.

Over the past few weeks, the world’s richest man has weighed in on European politics, first writing an op-ed backing Germany’s far-right AFD party.

But the UK has become a particular obsession, with Musk frequently commenting on his social media platform, X, about child grooming and rape gangs, laying the blame squarely at the feet of the six-month old Labour Government.

So why is the tech mogul so interested in politics overseas, and how are the US’ European allies meant to respond when Musk is firmly in Trump’s inner circle?

Today on The Front Page, CNN senior political correspondent Stephen Collinson joins us from Washington DC to discuss the thinking behind Musk’s political commentary.

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

The 2023 general election was a battle between the two Chrises – Labour's Chris Hipkins, and National’s Christopher Luxon. 

It was a battle that Luxon ended up winning, thanks to the support of two coalition partners in Act and NZ First.

But it’s a match-up that currently looks set to be repeated next year, with Hipkins sticking around as Labour’s leader – and showing no signs of stepping aside. 

That’s likely because the polls between the coalition and Labour, the Greens and Te Pati Māori remain pretty evenly split.  

At the end of 2024, we caught up with both leaders a week apart for a wrap of the year.

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels 
Audio Engineers: Richard Martin 
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

People respond to election losses in various ways, from protesting to legal action to considering moving country.  

But, what about adopting a vow of celibacy through something called the “4B movement”?  

That’s what some young women in the US promised on social media in protest of Donald Trump winning back the White House.   

No dating. No sex, No childbirth. And no marriage.  

In a world where the next US President was found liable for sexual abuse, online vitriol against women is skyrocketing,  and the term “your body, my choice” is trending online - how effective could this 4B movement be?   

University of Otago PhD candidate Rachel Billington has researched how young people interact with each other online, and joined us in November on The Front Page to discuss this growing movement.   

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Richard Martin
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

Once it came into power, the coalition Government signalled “everything’s on the table” when it comes to a major shake-up of New Zealand’s gun laws. 

The world praised us when we took swift action following the Christchurch terror attack – banning semi-automatic firearms and assault rifles.   

But, now a coalition agreement between National and Act could see semi-automatics make a return to gun ranges. Various stages of reform are currently been worked through by politicians.  

In the US, April 20 marked 25 years since the Columbine high school massacre – where two teenagers murdered 12 students and a teacher.   

15-year-old Daniel Mauser was one of those killed in the school’s library.  

Daniel’s father, Tom, has spent the last 25 years advocating for gun control in America – and he joined us on The Front Page to discuss why New Zealand shouldn’t be complacent when it comes to firearms.   

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Paddy Fox, Richard Martin 
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

For over 50 years, the secretive Christian community of Gloriavale has fascinated New Zealanders.  

While the community has long been discussed by former members who have left Gloriavale behind, in the last few years, multiple official investigations and Employment Court proceedings have shone more light on what's happening behind the scenes. 

In March, a new TVNZ documentary, Escaping Utopia, premiered, looking back at the community’s chequered history and its recent problems.  

We spoke with co-director Justin Pemberton – who explained his fresh look at historic concerns.   

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Paddy Fox, Richard Martin 
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

It’s safe to say that in recent years, Boeing has gone through a patch of turbulence.  

In 2024 alone, we saw a door plug blow off mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 in January – while closer to home, a LATAM Airlines flight from Sydney to Auckland plunged mid-air, injuring at least 50 passengers. 

In October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia with 189 people on board. It was a Boeing 737 MAX.   

 Barely five months later, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing Max aircraft crashed, killing 157 people.  

One of those people was Graziella de Luis y Ponce, a United Nations interpreter.   

Her brother is Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics lecturer, Javier de Luis.  

He served on the US Federal Aviation Administration’s panel that reviewed Boeing’s safety practice last year.   

We spoke to Javier in March about what’s gone wrong, and what should change, at Boeing.  

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Paddy Fox, Richard Martin
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

This year, Tipene Funerals, best known for the television show 'The Casketeers', came under fire because one of its funeral directors allegedly swindled her grieving clients and put their dead relatives in plastic rubbish bags instead of the coffins they had paid for.  

It was only revealed when bodies in a public mausoleum were disinterred after Cyclone Gabrielle. 

Since then, Police revealed the scale of their investigation into former undertaker Fiona Bakulich, telling the Herald there are 10 bodies involved.  

She’s since appeared in court, facing a charge of misconduct in respect of human remains and nine of obtaining by deception. 

In August, we spoke to Herald journalist Raphael Franks – who began the investigation into this case.  

We also touched base with Funeral Directors Association chief executive Gillian Boyes about stats showing that burial and cremation costs to councils rose 50 percent in a year. 

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Paddy Fox, Richard Martin
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

Major earthquakes may not be a regular occurrence in New Zealand, but the threat of them is often in the back of our minds.  

With a major faultline running through the middle of the country, you only have to look to the events in Christchurch and Kaikoura to know the risk they pose.  

In May, new modelling was published that highlighted the impact a catastrophic quake could have on this country, including the threat of tsunamis, and how prepared we are for such an event.  

We spoke with Doctors Bilrtl Fry and Matt Gerstenberger from GNS Science to dig into the latest research on our seismic threats.   

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Paddy Fox, Richard Martin
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is taking its summer break, we will be shining a spotlight on some of the biggest podcasts from the New Zealand Herald network over the last year.  

In 2011, then Herald on Sunday journalist David Fisher reported on what the paper dubbed ‘the Facebook Predator’, an adult woman who had been caught catfishing dozens of teenage boys in the South Island.  

She would be named as Natalia Burgess. 

Fisher covered the Burgess case for months, before she eventually went to prison for two years as a result of her behaviour. 

He thought that was the end of it – until two years ago, an email out of the blue revealed that Burgess returned to her catfishing once she was free from prison. 

In the latest series of the Herald’s true crime series, Chasing Ghosts, Fisher went back to re-examine the case, see what he missed back in 2011 – and tried to get Burgess to front up again to what she had done. 

You can listen to half of the first episode of Chasing Ghosts: The Puppeteer now, and find the full series on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

The disappearances of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on New Year’s Day 1998 remain one of New Zealand’s infamous cases.  

Scott Watson has spent the last 25 years behind bars after being convicted of murdering them, despite no bodies ever being found.  

In June, Watson headed back to the courtroom four years after his case was referred to the Court of Appeal – it's his last shot at clearing his name.  

There’s still no word yet on the result of his latest appeal.  

We spoke with NZ Herald senior journalist Carolyne Meng Yee and editorial leader Oskar Alley – who took us back to 1999 when they both covered Watson’s infamous first trial, and ran through the evidence making up this appeal with senior reporter David Fisher.  

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Paddy Fox, Richard Martin
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.