Behind the Story

• Former FBI agent on the Annie McCarrick case and Israel’s strikes on Iran

  Kenneth Strange is a former FBI agent who is friends with the family of Annie McCarrick who went missing from her Dublin home in 1993. A suspect who was this week arrested in connection with her murder was later released without charge.Fran and Katie talk to Kenneth about the case, and later they are joined by Dr Eugenio Lilli of UCD to talk about how Iran may react to Israel's strikes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Ballymena riots and the online forces at play

  There have been calls for calm following two nights of riots that saw 32 PSNI officers injured. The riots started out as a protest on Monday night linked to an alleged sexual assault.Two teenagers have since appeared in court charged with attempted rape, while on the streets cars have been set on fire, houses have been targeted, and water cannons have been deployed. Many of those targeted are migrants living in the area, and the police have described the rioters’ actions as “racist thuggery”. David and Fran are joined by Northern Correspondant, Conor McAuley who on the ground during the riots and by Ciaran O'Connor, Senior Analyst for the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, who outlines how far right online figures have turned their attention to Ballymena and the influence it's having. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Leaving Cert uncertainty over classroom chatbots

  One of the country’s biggest teaching unions voted against Leaving Cert reform at the weekend citing resources and capacity. But another concern is a lack of guidance on the use of AI by students. While the Department of Education is working on guidelines here, Estonia is putting AI into the classrooms for 16 years from September. Fran and David speak to Estonia’s Education Minister Kristina Kallas and she explains how teachers and students are embracing it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Care concerns in nursing homes, Trump and Musk’s big, beautiful breakup

  A documentary by RTÉ Investigates revealed multiple examples of care failings at one of Ireland’s leading nursing home providers. Fran and Katie discuss the programme and the questions raised about how older people are cared for. Meanwhile, in the US, the bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk came to an abrupt end on social media after the tech boss criticised the President’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill. Adam Maguire joins the podcast to explain the money behind the relationship between the world’s richest and most powerful men. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Are drones changing the Russia-Ukraine war?

  Operation Spider’s Web was a Ukrainian attack that saw more than 100 drones target strategic bomber aircraft at sites deep inside Russia. The country’s domestic intelligence service claimed that it caused €6 billion worth of damage to Russia’s military in an attack that it had been working on it for 18 months. Fran and David talk to Dr Patrick Bury, Senior Associate Professor in Security at the University of Bath, about the logistics of the attack and what it means for the future of warfare. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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