In The News

Dec 11 2024 708 ep. 23 mins 1.4k
In The News Podcast artwork

In The News is a daily podcast from The Irish Times that takes a close look at the stories that matter, in Ireland and around the world. Presented by Bernice Harrison and Sorcha Pollak.
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Luigi Mangione: Why do some Americans support a suspected killer?

Dec 11 2024 23 mins  
On Wednesday, December 4th, Brian Thompson (50), the UnitedHealthcare chief executive was murdered in cold blood outside a hotel in Manhattan.The manhunt to find his killer ended on Monday when the chief suspect, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, was arrested as he sat in a McDonald’s in a railroad town in Pennsylvania. He has been charged with murder.From the moment the CCTV of the sh

Syria: Lara Marlowe on the tyrannical al-Assad dynasty

Dec 10 2024 27 mins  
Lara Marlowe met Bashar al-Assad twice during his early years as president of Syria. The writer and journalist also interviewed the dictator's father, Hafez, who seized power in the 1970s and groomed Bashar to assume the presidency before his death in 2000. The regime collapsed on the 7th of December after 13 years of civil war, which claimed the lives of at last 560,000 Syrians an

What now for Sinn Féin and Mary Lou McDonald?

Dec 09 2024 26 mins  
Four years ago, Sinn Féin changed the landscape of Irish politics by securing the highest share of first preference votes in the 2020 general election and breaking Ireland’s two-party system.The question among many voters in those weeks before the pandemic hit was not if Mary Lou McDonald would become taoiseach of this country, but when.Jump forward four years, and the party has

The backstory to Disney's IRA thriller Say Nothing

Dec 08 2024 23 mins  
Veteran republican Marian Price has initiated legal action against streaming giant Disney+ over the TV series Say Nothing, based on a book of the same name by Patrick Radden Keefe, which her lawyers say depicted her as being involved in the murder of Belfast woman Jean McConville.Lawyers for Price, who was jailed for her part in the IRA’s London bombing campaign of 1973, said the

Dublin Airport has a hidden metro station. Why was it never opened?

Dec 05 2024 19 mins  
When a taxi driver told Irish Times economics correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy that there was a ghost train station under Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport he was intrigued. The architects who designed the terminal in the late 1960s were smart enough to future-proof it – to incorporate into their plan a vast underground train station because, surely it wouldn’t be long before a metr

Explainer: How the martial law debacle rattled South Korea

Dec 04 2024 18 mins  
South Korea’s unpopular President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law late on Tuesday in a move that surprised citizens and parliamentarians.His attempt to ban political activity and censor the media saw armed troops force their way into the National Assembly in Seoul.The martial law order was lifted just six hours later and there is now a move to impeach Yoon if he doesn’t resi

What did Hunter Biden do and was President Biden wrong to pardon him?

Dec 03 2024 20 mins  
Joe Biden has granted his son Hunter Biden a full and unconditional pardon following his criminal conviction on tax and gun charges. The US president's only surviving son was due to be sentenced this month. The 82 year-old had repeatedly stated he would neither interfere in the judicial process nor use his presidential power to pardon him. So why the u-turn and what will the fallou

How Padraig Nally's manslaughter case divided the nation

Dec 02 2024 19 mins  
Last week, Mayo farmer Padraig Nally, the man who was jailed for less than a year for the manslaughter of an intruder in his home near Lough Corrib in 2004, died. He was 81 years of age.Two decades ago, his shooting of John ‘Frog’ Ward became one of the most divisive murder cases in Ireland. Nally was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for the manslaughter of Ward. However,

Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch loses out and Ireland's political future takes shape

Dec 01 2024 33 mins  
The count continues with seats in several constituencies throughout the country still to be filled. As it stands, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in pole position to form the next government. The Greens have suffered a near wipeout, retaining just one seat; while Social Democrats and Labour have outperformed expectations.In today’s episode we’re bringing you coverage from our co

The standout stories from Angela Merkel's autobiography

Nov 28 2024 25 mins  
Angela Merkel's eagerly anticipated memoir lifts the lid on parts of her childhood, her private meetings with world leaders and what she thought of Ireland and the bailout. But only partially. In fact, for those who are wondering what her personal reflections are on some of the most consequential decisions she ever made, they're likely to be left as disappointed as Irish Times Berl