In The News

Mark Paul on why UK prime minister Keir Starmer evoked the arguments for Brexit - which he had opposed - when announcing a new crackdown on migration into the UK.

Members of Gaeltacht community groups and Irish language campaigners have issued a stark warning. They say the lack of housing, and oversupply of short-term holiday lets in Gaeltacht areas, is displacing native Irish speakers from their home counties.As a result, many fluent Irish speakers, who seek to bring up their families fully immersed in the Irish language and return home to their native town lands or villages, are unable to find a place to live.Census data in recent years continues to how the language is in decline – the number of daily Irish speakers dropped from 36% to 33% between 2016 and 2022.And now, the housing crisis in the Gaeltacht is creating a linguistic and cultural crisis.Campaigners have repeatedly warned that without a national language, Ireland will lose a unique part of its heritage. As the familiar Irish proverb warns – Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam.Dr Lorcan Sirr, senior lecturer in housing at the Technological University Dublin, discusses how Airbnb landlords and holiday homeowners are squeezing native speakers out of Gaeltacht areas.And physiotherapist and Gaeltacht housing campaigner Adhna Ní Bhraonáin describes the real-life implications for native Irish speakers who cannot find a place to life.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. 

"The future can be seen" was the tagline of 2002 dystopian cop thriller Minority Report, in which Tom Cruise prevented crimes yet to take place with the help of a snazzy screen and three psychics floating in a tank. Now Gardaí want to use AI technology to do the same - well, kind of the same. Proponents of the technology say it will help avert criminality driven by online disinformation, like the 2023 Dublin riot. The new capability raises questions about civil liberties and the limits of AI surveillance in the hands of State authorities. Conor Gallagher explains why Gardaí want this tool and how it might be used.

A group of men dubbed the “grandpa gang” are among 10 suspects on trial in Paris on charges of robbing reality TV star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian at gunpoint and stealing jewellery worth millions of euros during Paris Fashion Week in 2016. The billionaire business woman will be in court tomorrow to give evidence. Saskya Vandoorne, a senior producer for CNN based in the network’s Paris bureau, explains how the trial has unfolded so far and how the group planned their €10 million heist. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

US-born Robert Prevost, who worked in Peru for two decades and became a citizen there before becoming a cardinal, is now Pope Leo XIV. But what sort of pope will he be?

For years tourists have been told it’s a tradition in Dublin to rub Molly Malone’s breasts – “for luck”. Something that’s news to residents of the capital.And it is causing damage – not just to the look of the piece but also to its stability and that has prompted Dublin City Council to take action. Every day this week “Molly minders” were at the statue with one job – to stop tourists climbing up to touch her.The metal statue made by sculptor Jeanne Rynhart in 1988 shows all the signs of constant friction – the patina has rubbed off her breasts leaving them gleaming in the sunshine, a contrast to the dull finish on the rest of the near life-size figures.But that’s been obvious for at least a decade, what hasn’t been so visible is the damage people clambering up on Molly is doing to the structure of the piece and increase her stability is now in place.Irish Times Dublin editor Olivia Kelly explains why Dublin City Council has moved to protect the statue and what will happen next.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

India has conducted what it has described as “precision strikes” in neighbouring Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, days after it blamed Islamabad for a deadly attack on the Indian side of the contested region that killed 26 people.At least 26 civilians were killed and 46 injured by the Indian strikes, according to Pakistani officials.The Indian government claimed that nine non-military targets had been hit, in what it called “Operation Sindoor”.The military operation by India represents yet another bloody chapter in the decades-long simmering conflict over Kashmir, often called the Switzerland of India because of its lakes, forests and snow-capped mountains.The contested nature of the territory means that Kashmir is one of the most militarised zones in the world.To understand what happened this week – and why – it’s necessary to look back to 1947 when Pakistan and India became independent from Britain and when both claimed Kashmir.Shashank Joshi, defence Eeditor with The Economist magazine, explains the background and explores the fears of further hostilities in one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon. 

In the early hours of Monday morning, a drone carrying a pipe bomb, a viable explosive device, crashed beside a family's home in North County Dublin. But who was controlling the drone and who or what was the intended target? Irish Times security and crime editor Conor Lally reports. Presented by Sorcha Pollak, produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Chad now hosts 1.3 million forcibly displaced people, according to the UNHCR, despite itself being one of the world’s poorest countries. More than half of these refugees are Sudanese, mostly women and children, who have fled the fighting between rival militaries which erupted in April 2023.It has been called “the forgotten war” because of the lack of media coverage and global attention particularly on the plight of the refugees who live in sprawling refugee camps.The reasons why so few journalists have gone to the African country to report on the war and the massive displacement of Sundanese people include the difficulty in getting there and safety issues.Two Irish Times journalists, writer Patrick Freyne and videographer Chris Maddaloni, travelled to East Chad in April to report from the refugee camps there.Their trip was supported by the Simon Cumbers Media Fund.They tell In the News about what they saw and heard and explore why the world has turned its back on this war.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.