In The News

It’s been a week of dramatic electoral upsets that show that right-wing waves moving across Latin America and Europe can be stopped.

Lula’s dramatic comeback to win Sunday’s presidential election in Brazil has put a halt to the right-wing advance across Latin America. At the same time in Serbia, what started as a student protest against corruption, became a political force capable of toppling Aleksandar Vucic in a parliamentary election.

Both wins offer lessons to progressive movements around the world, changing a growing narrative that a tilt to the right is inevitable.

But what are those lessons? How did Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva come from behind in the first round of Brazil’s elections to put paid to Jair Bolsonaro’s ambitions and how did student protesters in Serbia manage in a few years to turn angry street protests into a cool and effective political machine capable of toppling the long-time incumbent?

Denis Staunton, author of The Irish Times Global Briefing newsletter, explains.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the morning of Monday, March 31st, 2003, a woman answered the door of her house in south Dublin. A man purporting to work as a TV technician was standing on the doorstep. The attack that followed shocked the city and prompted a lengthy Garda investigation. But it has remained unsolved.

Earlier this month, a man was arrested and charged with rape, aggravated burglary and false imprisonment.

Conor Lally covered the story in 2003. He tells Aideen Finnegan about what was reported about these events at the time and what we know about the new case.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the world’s most recognisable faces in entertainment, Russell Brand, is on trial in a London court.

He has pleaded not guilty to seven charges. Three of rape, three of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.

The cases are historical, dating as far back as 1999, when Brand was 24 years old.

Who has the trial heard from, how is Brand conducting himself on the way into court each day, and will he eventually take the stand?

To find out what the court has heard so far, Aideen Finnegan is joined by Sachelle Connor, journalist and presenter of Four the Record: Russell Brand on Trial, a daily podcast from Channel 4 News.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘You hack her phone then you kill her – that’s what one Israeli intelligence officer told Naza director Yuval Abraham about their tactics in Gaza.

The shocking and disturbing film, comprising interviews with 24 Israeli military-intelligence officers and soldiers, reveals the systems behind the mass slaughter of civilians by Israel during the continuing assault on Gaza.

Made by Abraham and Rachel Szor, Naza deals in horror throughout.

We learn about the tapping of civilians’ phones and the AI tools that help determine targets. “Naza” is an acronym, in Hebrew, for “collateral damage”, and the whistleblowers explain a military strategy that allows for a percentage of collateral damage when targeting Hamas terrorists: it could be 10 people in the family killed in their beds at night; or 500 people in a village being levelled.

Irish Times film critic Donald Clarke talks about Naza and explores the backlash.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The four-month dispute between criminal defence solicitors in the free legal aid system and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan took a turn for the worse this week, with an escalation in both action and rhetoric.

Solicitors have now withdrawn their services to include people held in custody and cases involving children.

As the backlog in the courts grows, the Minister accused protesting solicitors of deliberately targeting rape trials. When that was indignantly denied, O’Callaghan doubled-down on his accusation.

The cost to the State of the free criminal legal aid system has risen from under €50 million in 2014 to a projected €120 million last year; the new flat fee payment structure aims to keep costs in check. Solicitors say it is not enough to cover lengthy and complex cases and will reduce the number of solicitors making themselves available for the free scheme.

With acrimony intensifying, the Minister has written to the Law Society asking for a meeting.

But according to Irish Times political correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones it’s too early to see that as the beginning of the end to this apparently intractable row.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.