In The News

At least 184 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-profit organisation that advocates for press freedom and the rights of journalists. Of these, 176 were Palestinian.For nearly 19 months, Israel has blocked the foreign press from entering Gaza to report on the war, leaving a small number of local Palestinian journalists to cover the conflict.Israel’s ongoing refusal to grant foreign journalists access to the strip is “without precedent in modern times”, a recent letter from the world’s media warned.Today on The Irish Times In the News podcast reporter Sally Hayden and CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg discuss the implications of barring journalists from entering Gaza and the realities of reporting from a war zone.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Declan Conlon. 

Tattle Life is a gossip site that many will have never heard of until a landmark defamation trial in Belfast this month.Donna and Neil Sands bought a defamation case against the site – and won. They were each awarded £150,000 (€176,000) in damages, with the court saying their costs should also be covered.The married couple who live in Northern Ireland said that cruel, untrue and hateful anonymous postings over several years on the site left them fearing for their safety, their businesses and their relationships and impacted on their mental health.Award-winning journalist Aoife Moore knows exactly how the Sands feel. She too has been the victim of an onslaught of online abuse on Tattle Life, with entirely untrue gossip spread about her personal and professional life.She tells In the News how that impacted on her and what the defamation case means for her. And while this is the first successful defamation case against the gossip site, she says it will not be the last.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Since Israel launched air strikes on Iran last Friday, the two states have traded missiles with mounting casualties on both sides.Iranian military leaders have been killed as have some of its nuclear scientists but the country’s citizens have borne the brunt of the air attacks.Israel has said its rationale for the middle-of-the-night attack that sparked the war was its need to ensure, for its own protection, that Iran’s nuclear programme is halted.How close Iran is to actually having a nuclear bomb is unclear but for Israel to obliterate entirely the nuclear threat it needs the US to join the war, to send its “bunker buster” mega bomb to destroy the Fordo uranium enrichment facility buried deep in the mountains.But if the US does enter the war, what will that mean for the region? And what is Donald Trump’s position on entering the war?Is there any chance that Iran, whose military capabilities have been weakened, will surrender?Faraz Gergez, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of several books on the Middle East including The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.

Someone in Ireland has just won €250 million. It's the biggest ever lottery win in Europe and it means the winner's life will never be the same again. But history shows that suddenly coming into vast wealth is not always a good thing. Conor Pope talks to Bernice Harrison about the pitfalls of winning the Euromillions - and what you should do in the extremely unlikely event you find yourself in that position.

On Monday, preparatory works began at the former site of the mother and baby institution in Tuam, Co Galway in advance of the long-awaited excavation to identify the remains of nearly 800 infants. The excavation, which is due to start in mid-July, takes place 11 years after research by local historian Catherine Corless found 796 children had died at the institution run by the Bon Secours religious order between 1925-1961. How long will the excavation take, what does it expect to find and what will happen to the remains of the infants uncovered at the former mother and baby home? Irish Times reporter Órla Ryan reflects on the decade since the Tuam revelations and the latest steps in bringing closure to family members still seeking answers. Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

On Sunday night, 57-year-old Vance Boelter was arrested and charged with murder following the largest manhunt in the history of the US state of Minnesota.Mr Boelter is suspected of shooting and killing a Democratic politician and her husband and of shooting and wounding a Democratic senator and his wife on Saturday.That same day, Donald Trump celebrated his birthday by holding a carefully choreographed military parade in Washington DC, while across the country, millions of protesters took part in ‘No Kings’ demonstrations.What do we know about the Minnesota attacks and what do these shootings mean for the safety of American lawmakers?To what degree is Trump’s rhetoric prompting violence against politicians in the US?And what do these mass demonstrations, and Trump’s response to protesters, tell us about the country’s deteriorating political situation?Today, on In The News, have the divisive politics of Trump’s second term reached boiling point?Professor of International Politics at the UCD Clinton Institute Scott Lucas joins the podcast.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by John Casey. 

On her last gruelling day on the stand in the murder trial that has gripped Australia, Erin Patterson faced three succinct questions from the prosecutor.She put it to Patterson that she had deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms in 2023, deliberately included them in the beef Wellington she served her former in-laws; and did so intending to kill them.Patterson uttered three words: Disagree. Disagree. Disagree.She is accused of killing her former husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson. They took seriously ill after eating the lunch and died a few days later. Wilkinson’s husband, Ian, was hospitalised but survived. She has maintained her innocence since her arrest in 2023. She says the deaths were accidental.All the evidence has now been heard, and deliberations will now begin.John Ferguson, associate editor with The Australian, broke the story in August 2023. He came on the podcast then to outline the events; now he’s back with details from the court.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Israel has launched widescale strikes against Iran, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders, raising the potential for an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries. Iran's leadership has called the attacks "a declaration of war" and promises reprisals. Mark Weiss reports on why the Israeli government has chosen now to launch "a war that’s been planned for a decade" and what might happen next.

Valerie French Kilroy was the mother of three very young boys, an occupational therapist and a much-loved sister and friend.In June 2019 she was murdered by her husband James Kilroy. She was 41. That he killed her was never in doubt – he admitted it – but the defence put forward at his trial in 2024 was that he was insane when he beat, stabbed and strangled his wife to death.That defence was rejected by the jury and he was convicted of her murder.For her siblings, including her brother David, Kilroy had committed child harm in that he had robbed three children of their mother. Such a crime they felt would surely mean he would no longer be the children’s legal guardian. They soon learned that legally that is not the case.From his prison cell Kilroy is still in the children’s lives as their legal guardian, making decisions to do with their welfare, from medical treatments to travel outside the country.David French is now fighting for changes to the legislation around guardianship that would ensure that in cases where a partner has deprived children of their parent, guardianship would be denied.Called “Valerie’s law” it is, says French, a simple change in the legislation that would be of enormous benefit to the children in such horrendous cases; he says an average of seven children a year are impacted. It would also give more certainty to bereaved families as they navigate the path ahead.French has written a book, For Valerie, and he explains to In the News why that was important to him and why he is fighting to make Valerie’s law a reality.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.