In The News

US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Tánaiste Simon Harris it was a priority of the Trump administration to address the “trade imbalance” between Ireland and the US when they spoke by phone on Tuesday.By now it’s known what that means: tariffs.US president Donald Trump has already talked about a 25 per cent import tax on Europe so that phone call won’t have been a surprise.Nothing, as yet, is certain; not least the level of import taxes that might be imposed and whether it will be a blanket rate on all goods across the EU.But what would drastically increased tariffs mean for Ireland?And is there anything Taoiseach Micheál Martin can say over the bowl of shamrock when he meets Trump in the Oval Office next week that might influence the president?Irish Times economics columnist Cliff Taylor explains the business of tariffs and why, if Trump carries through on his promise, chaos is coming.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Declan Conlon.You can read Cliff's latest column on US tariffs here

This week, Stephen Mooney pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, Anna Mooney, at their home in Kilbarrack, Dublin in June 2023.Mooney had been due to stand trial for the murder but circumstances changed last month following a “significant development” in the case.After two years of being unable to access the contents of Mooney’s phone, gardaí were finally able to extract video and audio footage of the murder using controversial Israeli-made decryption technology.What is this decryption technology, how does it work and why did it take two years to work?And what else do we know about this decryption technology which is widely used by Israeli military?Crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher, who reported on this Israeli-made technology for The Irish Times, joins the podcast.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. 

Last Friday's showdown between Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Donald Trump in the Oval Office will have Irish officials on tenterhooks. Just hours after the Taoiseach accepted an invitation to the St. Patrick's Day shamrock ceremony at The White House, the Ukrainian leader's press conference with the US president turned into a shouting match. While Micheál Martin's visit is unlikely to be as eventful, there remains a number of landmines he will have to avoid on March 12th. They include our trading relationship with the US, Ireland's support for Ukraine and its recognition of Palestine as well as the EU's diverging view on tech regulation. But with a partisan press corps of fringe media outlets and the American culture wars dominating political discourse, journalist, tech entrpreneur and former RTE Washington Correspondent Mark Little says the Taoiseach will have to either "throw red meat to the president, or be the red meat" himself.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.

Backpacker Danielle McLaughlin knew that her mother Andrea worried about her when she was away on her travels, so every day she’d text home to Donegal.Then one day in March 2017 there was no text and Andrea soon learned, from one of Danielle’s friends in Buncrana, that her 28-year-old daughter had been murdered in Goa.The friend had seen the news on Facebook and it was up to Andrea to go to her local Garda station to seek help.Last month, Vikat Bhagat, 24 at the time of the killing, was found guilty of the rape and murder of the young Donegal woman. He was handed two life sentences with additional time for concealing evidence.The case took eight years to conclude (Bhagat has 90 days to lodge an appeal) and was before the court more than 250 times.Andrea, her second daughter Jolene McLaughlin-Brannigan and Danielle’s best friend, Louise McMenamin, travelled to India for the verdict.Irish Times reporter Kitty Holland travelled to Buncrana to talk to Andrea about her daughter, the slow-moving Indian legal system, the scenes in court as Bhagat was sentenced and what they hope will happen now.They still don’t know exactly how Danielle died.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

The run up to this year’s Oscars in Ireland has been quiet; for the first time in years there are no Irish contenders in the major categories.The movies named across several categories include Sean Baker’s Anora, Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance as well as Conclave and Wicked.It’s been a year when awards talk around movies and performances ebbed and flowed particularly since Cannes, as some gained momentum while others lost it.In one movie’s case, Emilia Pérez, that can largely be explained by the self-inflicted controversy around Karla Sofía Gascón, the film’s Oscar-nominated lead. For others, its more about timing and public reaction.Irish Times chief film correspondent Donald Clarke has a solid track record picking the winners and he tells In the News who he thinks will win in the main categories and why.And he predicts there is going to be one Irish winner on stage being handed the famous statuette.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

Elon Musk seems particularly taken with the opinions of three Irish men active on X: far-right activist Michael O’Keeffe; Barry O’Driscoll, whose idea of calling the US’s new cost-cutting agency DOGE was seized on by president Donald Trump’s right-hand man, and Keith O’Brien, a white nationalist who goes by the name Keith Woods on X. Musk interacts with these men and often amplifies their posts to his millions of followers. So what image of Ireland is the billionaire being fed by these men and why does it matter that so much of what he sees, and endorses from his “awesome” Irish friends, is often simply factually wrong? Crime and security editor Conor Gallagher profiles the men, including the Cork-based O'Driscoll who goes by 'Sir Doge of the Coin' on X, and explains what happened when he wrote about them in The Irish Times.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.

She’s been described as the politician of contradictions.Alice Weidel is the leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party but is married to a Sri-Lankan born woman.A gay woman, she has two children with her partner, but is part of a political party which defines family as a father and mother raising children.She’s a German nationalist who spends most of her time living in a small town in central Switzerland.She has been described as the “respectable” and more moderate face of party that has been linked to neo-Nazis and plots to overthrow the German state.While the AfD didn’t win Germany’s federal election last weekend, the party is now the second largest in the country, having doubled its vote share in just four years.How did Weidel break the AfD into Germany’s mainstream political area and rally the support needed to secure more than 20 per cent of the vote in last weekend’s election?And what is it about this Swiss-based ex-banker that appeals to the German people?New York Times reporter Christopher Schuetze, who covers politics from Berlin, joins the podcast.Presented by Sorcha Pollak, produced by Suzanne Brennan.

One in every three births in Ireland is by Caesarean section. In the case of first time mothers, that figure rises to 41%. These are some of the highest rates in the EU and OECD. It’s prompted concerns that some people may be unnecessarily undergoing the abdominal surgery; perhaps even suiting the hospital and the health system above themselves. But because there has historically been much handwringing about how women give birth – from church-led interference to the offensive ‘too posh to push’ label - it can be hard to ascertain what rate is appropriate. What are the factors influencing our high numbers? How much does fear of litigation play a part? And why is the Scandinavian rate so low by comparison? Dr. Deirdre Daly, professor of midwifery at Trinity College Dublin, outlines how Ireland came to have such a high number of Caesarean births, the obstacles to reducing the rate, and why we have a way to go before we truly have a woman-centred system.Further information about TCD's MAMMI study is available herePresented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan

In 2013 a Bitcoin hard drive – now worth more than half a billion euro – was mistakenly dumped in the council rubbish tip in Wales.Since then its owner, James Howells, has been fighting to get it back.For the past 10 years he has petitioned to search the site; gone to court to get compensation; and appealed for help through the media but to no avail.The council now says it is selling the dump in Newport and Howells wants to buy it.The 39-year-old engineer tells In the News how he became an early investor in cryptocurrency and where his attempts to find his lost millions will go next.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.