In The News

Liberty Recycling is a well-known Irish charity associated with second-hand clothes and the bulk export of rags, not luxury goods.

But all that changed last week when the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau revealed that it had carried out raids on several premises associated with people involved with the charity and seized Rolex watches, jewellery, luxury cars and Louis Vuitton handbags.

It emerged that the raids were part of an extensive investigation into allegations of money laundering at the Dublin-headquartered charity.

The long-established social enterprise, founded to help former addicts enter employment, is big business. In 2024, the last year for which figures are available, its income from charity shop sales and the bulk export sale of textiles was €3.6 million.

With its accounts now frozen, the High Court on Tuesday appointed a provisional liquidator in an effort to keep the business going and secure the jobs, at least in the short term, of its more than 60 employees.

Now, as Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally explains, a criminal investigation into the alleged misappropriation of funds held by the charity is expected to involve arrests.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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‘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.