By Friday, the death toll in the Hong Kong apartment complex inferno had reached 128 with many more people unaccounted for.

A blaze that began in one 32-storey apartment block on Wednesday quickly spread to seven of the eight towers in the densely populated complex. So how did one of the city’s deadliest ever blazes spread so quickly.

The Kwong Fuk Estate, a public housing development, was undergoing refurbishment and the buildings were covered in bamboo scaffolding and netting. New cladding had been installed and now that the rescue operation is over, attention is turning on investigating why and how the fire took hold.

As the death toll grows and questions around building standards mount, Irish Times Beijing correspondent Denis Staunton, who reported from London in 2017 sees clear parallels with the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ireland has been slow to name its airports after people. Streets and housing estates, yes, but as Ronan McGreevy points out, the State is more inclined to honour those who died for Ireland rather than those who lived for it.

A Bill to rename Dublin Airport after former taoiseach Seán Lemass has been brought forward in the Dáil.

It is not the first time the suggestion has been made; four years ago Taoiseach Micheál Martin proposed it, but talk of it fizzled out.

For McGreevy, an Irish Times journalist and historian whose next book is on Lemass, the former taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil (1959-1966) is a clear choice.

He tells In the News how Lemass was a great moderniser and as minister for industry and commerce when the airport opened in 1940, was a a supporter of facilitating air travel both in and out of the country.

The proposed legislation was introduced on Tuesday by Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne, who said the airport “owes much to his policies and foresight”.

So will the Seán Lemass Dublin International Airport Bill 2025 succeed? And why are we so reluctant to honour our former taoisigh? He points out that Cork’s Jack Lynch Tunnel is the only piece of State infrastructure named after a former leader.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and John Casey.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Heart disease is the leading causes of death of women in Ireland but yet, many of us still consider it a male illness.

Cardiovascular disease claims more women’s lives than breast cancer, while women are more than two times more likely than men to die after a heart attack. The risk of heart disease substantially increases during menopause and yet, women and their doctors often underestimate the severity of their symptoms.

Why is that?

Years of poor research into women’s cardiac health, combined with the perception often promoted through film and TV that heart attacks solely happen to men, has created a distorted image of this disease and resulted in a health system primarily designed to cater for the needs of men, not women.

For decades, scientific experts presumed the results of cardiac trials designed using the male anatomy would also hold true for women. Women’s hormonal fluctuations during periods and menopause often excluded them from heart disease trials.

And while research into heart disease among women has improved in the past decade, many women have no idea the risks they face, particularly during and after menopause.

So, what are the heart attack warning signs women need to watch out for? And what changes can they make early to try to avoid heart disease?

Today, on In The News, cardiovascular nurse Shirley Ingram reflects on her personal experience of suffering a heart attack. And Dr Sharon O’Donell and Dr Deidre Daly from Trinity College discuss how the university’s international Caramel project hopes to transform how women understand this disease.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.