Latest news with #Ryle
BreakingNews.ie
28-04-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Sentences for arsonists who doused car in fuel and rammed it into building too low, State argues
The Director of Public prosecutions has argued that three men received unduly lenient sentences after a 'targeted' and 'pre-meditated' arson attack in which a car was doused in fuel and rammed into a tanning salon, causing an enormous fire while families slept in the apartments overhead. 'It's difficult to conceive of a more serious arson offence,' said Niall Storan BL, for the DPP, as he sought a review of the sentences imposed on Keith McCormack Smith (24), Jason Ryle (25) and PJ Lyons (21) at the Court of Appeal on Monday. Advertisement The barrister described the incident as 'the apex of a spree of serious offending which occurred over several days'. All of the respondents were on bail at the time, he said. The court viewed video footage of the incident, in which a Toyota car can be seen reversing several times at speed into the building, which quickly becomes engulfed in flames. The court heard more than a quarter of a million euros worth of damage was caused to the premises. McCormack Smith – also known as Keith McCormick and Keith McCormick-Smith - of Riverview, Church Road, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 pleaded guilty to arson at Tip Top Tanning Studio, Tullow Street, Carlow on May 17th, 2022, and arson to a Toyota car on the same date and at the same location. Advertisement He also pleaded guilty to various other charges including unlawful use of a motor vehicle, unlawful carriage in a motor vehicle and theft between May 1st and May 17th, 2022. Judge Eugene O'Kelly sentenced McCormack Smith to six years with the final two years suspended at Carlow Circuit Court on July 31st, 2024. Jason Ryle of Raithin, Mullingar, Westmeath and PJ Lyons of Cedarbrook Walk, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, also pleaded guilty to arson arising out of the same incident. Ryle and Lyons further pleaded guilty to a number of other charges including unlawful use of a motor vehicle, attempted theft and theft on various dates in May 2022. Advertisement Ryle was sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment with the final two years suspended while Lyons was also handed a sentence of five and a half years with the final two years suspended for a period of two years and three months. At the time of sentencing, McCormack Smith had 24 previous convictions including offences under the Road Traffic Act, burglary, theft and criminal damage. In February 2024, McCormack Smith was sentenced to three years and two months with the final 12 months suspended for his role in a series of offences on January 23rd, 2022, during which a man died. The sentence was increased to five years on appeal. Ryle had 29 previous convictions for offences including robbery and misuse of drugs while Lyons had 17 for offences including endangerment and obstruction. Advertisement The incident in Carlow occurred shortly before 5am on May 17th, 2022, when a stolen Toyota Avensis was rammed into a building on Tullow Street in Carlow and set alight causing the building to catch fire. Mr Storan said the ground floor of the building operated as a tanning salon during the day and the upper levels were residential apartments. He said McCormack Smith was driving the Toyota car while PJ Lyons recorded what was happening on his phone and Ryle was also present. Ryle had a bottle containing accelerant in his hand which he then poured onto the car while McCormack Smith got out and the three fled the scene. A garda investigation revealed that multiple vehicles had been stolen in different locations and were involved in the commission of various offences which ultimately led to the arson at the tanning salon. Advertisement The offenders were ultimately identified through social media content from a TikTok account. Appealing the leniency of the sentences imposed on the three men, Mr Storan said it was 'difficult to conceive of a more serious arson offence' than this one which was both 'targeted' and 'pre-meditated' to cause 'an enormous fire'. He argued the headline sentence of eight years was too low and the sentences imposed did not adequately reflect the gravity of the offence. The lawyer suggested the judge had misplaced the offending at the mid-range on the scale of gravity. Mr Storan also said insufficient weight was given to the many aggravating factors including the fact that the apartments over the premises were occupied by families who were sleeping at the time, the pre-meditation involved, the use of an accelerant and the fact that the respondents were on bail. He said there was little mitigation available bar the defendants' pleas of guilty. Kathleen Leader SC, for McCormack Smith, argued the sentencing judge had exercised his discretion correctly when imposing sentence and said the headline sentence was calculated having regard to the aggravating factor of the offences being committed at different times. She said the prosecuting garda had agreed during cross examination that men were acting on the word of someone else to 'clear a drug debt' by carrying out this crime. Ms Leader said there was no evidence they were motivated by personal revenge or anything of that nature. She suggested this took them 'out of the very high range and put them in the mid-range' of five to ten years. Dara Foynes SC, for Ryle, said her client had made full admissions when interviewed by gardaí. She said she would associate herself with Ms Leader's comments in relation to the judge assessing the case as being in the upper end of the mid-range for arson. 'We feel that was an appropriate ranking of the sentence,' she said. 'They were young men their lives have been blighted by drugs and drugs were behind this. They were told by a person higher up the chain that they had to do this.' Damien Colgan SC, representing Lyons, also argued there had been no error and the sentence imposed was correct. He said his client had entered an early plea of guilty and had identified himself from the CCTV footage and had also identified himself from footage in the car posted on TikTok. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the court would reserve judgement and deliver its decision at a later date.
CBC
16-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
How a network of journalists uncovered billion-dollar accounts and toppled world leaders
In 2011, Gerard Ryle, an Irish journalist working in Australia, received a package. Inside was a disk featuring content that would lead to multiple investigations, exposing corruption worldwide, and forcing some political leaders to resign. Ryle is the executive director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, or ICIJ, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., responsible for some of the biggest international investigative stories of our time. The Offshore Leaks. The Panama Papers. The Paradise Papers. The Pandora Papers. Just to name a few. These stories uncovered billions of dollars stashed away in secret offshore accounts. Before taking the job at ICIJ, Ryle had published a major newspaper investigation into a company called Firepower. It claimed to have invented a pill that, if you put it in your gas tank, would vastly improve your mileage. The Australian government celebrated the company as a major success story. However Ryle found out that it was a Ponzi scheme, and that the pill was a scam and didn't work. Ryle later wrote a book about his investigation into Firepower. And someone who read it put a disk in the mail to Ryle. This disk would change Ryle's life dramatically, leading to the ICIJ becoming a leader in global investigations, and expose the nefarious world of dark money in offshore accounts, among other revelations. IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed recently interviewed Gerard Ryle onstage at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. It was part of the annual Dalton Camp Lecture in Journalism. Here is an excerpt from their conversation. GR: "After I wrote the book, someone then sent me a disk in the mail, and it was like a computer hard drive. It was the offshore law firm in Singapore that had set up all the offshore structures for this particular Firepower pill." NA: But you didn't know that when you got this disk? "Well, I had a fair idea. Another tip for you as a journalist is try to get stuff anonymously because you can always then say you don't know who the source was. And so when I was dealing with the sources, I was saying, 'Well, look, if you wanted to give me this material, please just send it to me in a brown paper bag at my newspaper address.' And when it arrived, my biggest challenge was understanding it and trying to work out what it was." So what did you do with it? "Well, at that stage, I had taken a new job in Canberra, and I bribed the IT guy with beer to try and open up the disk and to let me know what was in there. I found lots of spreadsheets of names [and] a lot of material about my company, but at that point, I'd written the book and I thought, 'Well, there's nothing new that I can really do with this.'" About Firepower? "About Firepower. But I'm not making this up, but I saw all these names from around the world and I remember distinctly seeing a Canadian name that got me really interested. It was a guy…" Do you remember the name? "I don't. And I can't even replicate what I'm about to tell you because I did try and search for this afterward and I still can't find it. But it's a true story. So, I saw this Canadian guy and apparently, he'd been killed involving some sort of drug deal. I think it was in Toronto. And there I saw an email address with his offshore company and the email address was something like: 'On the run at And honestly, it was like a light bulb [moment] for me. I thought, 'Oh my God, I wish I knew a Canadian journalist, I could give this to.' But when you're an investigative reporter and you're working in one country, you really have no interest in helping anybody else. "And so I sat on the material." For how long did you sit on the material? "A few months later, again, out of the blue, I got a call from Washington D.C. And it was from [a person who] was sitting on an organization called the Center for Public Integrity in Washington. And part of the Center For Public Integrity was the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. They were desperately searching for a new director. What I hadn't realized was that the ICIJ, at the time, was really just a fundraising device for the center, for the larger organization. "The ICIJ only had one grant, it was from a Dutch foundation. And the Dutch foundation had been very critical. The ICIJ had been going for about 12 years at that point. They'd given it a three-year grant. They were saying, we won't give you another three-year grant because you're too American-focused. So I thought I was being hired for my skills. But in fact, the only reason I was being hired is that I wasn't American. "But of course, I did have this disk in my back pocket." Right. Did you tell them about the disk? "I did not. Because again, I was worried that maybe it was a story, maybe it wasn't a story. I couldn't unpack the disk. It turned out the disk had two and a half million records. And my beer-consuming IT person had only allowed me to look at a very small part of it. "But I had an instinct that there had to be a good story in there somewhere. I just needed to work out a way of doing it." I am curious: are there ethical lines or boundaries for you in terms of what you will do to get at that data, or maybe what you won't do? "It's a good question. I mean, I obviously deal with a lot of people who have stolen material, and they're giving you stuff that is stolen. And often they get a reaction, 'Well, why would you take material that has been stolen?' But I keep asking myself the same question, which again, is the question that my lawyer in the U.S. keeps asking me: 'Is the material of public interest?' Your job as a journalist is to the public. It's not to courts or anyone else. Is this material of public interest? And if it is, then I will take the material. "There are things I would never do though. I mean, I would never pay for material and there are certain ethical lines that I would never go past. But generally speaking, what I tend to do if I do manage to get a big data set is that I will sit down, look at the data first, then I would write a note to my lawyer with what I'm seeing and make a case for why we should look at that material in more detail. And that was what we did every time." Would you ever endorse the idea of hacking into any kind of database or information source? "If I did the hacking myself, I wouldn't be able to use the material. If I paid for the material, I wouldn't be able to use it, so I'm very, very careful not to cross that line. But of course, I'm aware that a lot of material has been hacked, and the last 20 years have been transformational for information. Everything has been digitized... when people actually have access to them, they can be copied quite easily. And therefore, that's why whistleblowers now give you more and more data." This hasn't come up a lot lately in public, but what do you think about WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange? "The model that he was using was very much: publish everything. And I think that was a model that went against journalism because the idea of journalism is that you filter the information. You only publish what's in the public interest, not everything. The criticism of WikiLeaks was that it was just basically raw data dumped." "One of the things I wanted to do when I took over ICIJ was literally to take on that model in a different way, to show that journalism was important, that when we publish our big data sets, we do not publish all of the information that we find. "We have people's passport details, their bank accounts, passwords to their bank accounts. That is not in the public interest. But if it's a politician or if it is a public figure who's in there and they've got a secret offshore account and it's linked to something that you can prove is in the interest, then that is the kind of material that I think we need to, as journalists, do."
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Lunar eclipse coming this week: How to see it
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Set your alarm clocks Thursday night for a total lunar eclipse! The last time Ohio saw a total lunar eclipse was in November 2022, which is a much more common sight to see than a solar eclipse. While solar eclipses occur as often as lunar eclipses, the latter's shadow covers more space. A total lunar eclipse will be visible in March: How and when to watch Just like a solar eclipse, the lunar eclipse involves the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon, but in a different order. 'You've got the earth passing between the sun and the moon so that the earth is casting a shadow back on the moon's surface,' said Wes Ryle, astronomer at Cincinnati Observatory. 'And in the case of a total lunar eclipse, like what we're going to have coming up, that means that the moon will kind of appear to be, you know, blacked out as the moon drifts into the earth's shadow.' When totality occurs in a lunar eclipse, darkness doesn't set in, in part due to the sun and our atmosphere. Instead, the moon appears to turn red. 'Sometimes people refer to it as the blood moon. And that's because light from Earth's atmosphere is actually being bent back refracted onto the moon's surface,' said Ryle. 'It appears red because of the same reason that sunrises or sunsets appear red on the earth.' Why is the moon turning red in March? You will have to stay up past your bedtime Thursday night to see this cool phenomenon. The lunar eclipse will begin just after midnight on March 14. 'The visible portion of the eclipse where the moon passes into the darkest part of the earth's shadow. That's going to start right around 1:09 a.m.,' said Ryle. 'And then it'll enter the totality. The point where it'll be appearing, that kind of reddish color that starts right around 2:26 a.m.' NASA and private companies have lunar payloads on the moon, where they will be taking photos of the event, which from their point of view will be a solar eclipse. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
BBC News
20-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Lincoln firm moving to four-day week 'to attract the best staff'
A business based in Lincoln is among the latest to offer a four-day working week because it hopes to attract the most talented staff in a competitive Robinson, who runs Almond Financial compared the benefits to "semi-retirement".Last month, the 4 Day Week Foundation said more than 200 companies nationwide had committed to the idea, which it argued would increase another business in the city, Bells' Tea Shop, said a shorter working week would require it to hire more staff and increase the wage bill. Mr Robinson, 39, said employees at the financial advice firm would work Monday to Thursday, from 09:00 to 17:00, without a reduction in pay."In the really competitive market that we're in, it's very hard to recruit and we want to make sure that we're standing out from the crowd," he added. "And a happy workforce is a great workforce."The move followed a review of a four-and-a-half-day week, which Almond Financial had been operating for three Robinson said the business had implemented new processes and spent time managing clients' expectations about working patterns. The 4 Day Week Foundation has long campaigned for change, having claimed that a five-day week is outdated and no longer fit for Ryle, from the foundation, described the change as a "win win" for employees and employers, with staff enjoying more leisure time and companies benefiting from greater productivity and fewer sickness absences. Last week, more than a dozen MPs called for ministers to consider the idea as part of a new set of rules on workers' rights, though a government spokesperson said there were no plans to do so."A four-day, 32-hour working week is the future of work," the Labour MP Peter Dowd every business owner is convinced it would work for them. Nicola Lockwood, who owns Bells' Tea Shop, said the idea was good in theory, but she would have to take on more staff to cover opening hours, which would have a "massive" impact on her wage bill. "We'd all like to work less for the same amount of money," she said. "But ultimately, prices would have to go up."Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Express Tribune
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
BookTok is finally waking up from the Colleen Hoover fever dream
Scrolling through BookTok, it's impossible to miss the Colleen Hoover phenomenon. Her novels, especially It Ends with Us, have garnered immense popularity, often hailed as must-reads. Intrigued by the hype, I decided to check her work out myself to see what all the buzz was about. Starting with November 9 , I was immediately struck by the dynamics between the protagonists, Fallon and Ben. Their relationship, portrayed as passionate and intense, often veers into unsettling territory. In one scene, Fallon attempts to reject Ben's advances, clearly saying no, yet he persists, dismissing her refusal. This depiction of ignoring consent is deeply problematic, as it normalizes and romanticizes behavior that, in reality, constitutes sexual assault. Then there's It Ends with Us , the novel that skyrocketed Hoover into literary stardom. The book follows Lily, who falls in love with Ryle, a neurosurgeon who becomes physically abusive. Hoover's attempt to highlight the complexities of domestic violence is commendable, but the execution leaves much to be desired. The way Lily constantly rationalizes Ryle's behavior, combined with the infamous quote, "There is no such thing as bad people. We're all just people who sometimes do bad things," makes it feel as though his abuse is being excused rather than condemned. Atlas, Lily's childhood love and eventual rescuer, is positioned as the 'good guy,' a safe alternative to Ryle. However, even his character falls into the stereotypical 'perfect man' mold—a trope that often strips male love interests of real complexity in favor of making them saviors. While Atlas is presented as the ultimate contrast to Ryle, the oversimplified dichotomy between them undermines the reality of survivors who don't always have a 'perfect man' waiting for them. The novel ends up feeling more like a dramatic romance than a nuanced exploration of domestic abuse. Throughout Hoover's novels, female characters often fall into the "damsel in distress" trope, lacking depth beyond their romantic entanglements. They frequently depend on their male counterparts for validation and purpose, perpetuating outdated and harmful stereotypes about women's roles in relationships. Interestingly, Hoover's writing style and themes remind me of stories popularized on platforms like Wattpad—a space known for its serialized, user-generated content. Her novels feel like Wattpad tales for those who've never ventured onto the platform, blending melodrama with intense, often problematic, romantic scenarios. The over-the-top emotional stakes, rushed relationship arcs, and 'trauma as personality' approach are staples of Wattpad fiction, which often relies on fantasy-driven portrayals of love rather than grounded, realistic depictions. One particular line from Ugly Love left me baffled: "We both laugh at our son's big balls." This attempt at humor felt jarring and out of place, making me question the editorial choices behind such inclusions. It's not just the themes that are questionable—sometimes, the writing itself leaves readers scratching their heads. Beyond the pages, Hoover's personal life has also come under scrutiny. In 2022, her son, Levi, faced allegations of sexual harassment. A Twitter user accused him of inappropriate behavior when she was 16, claiming that Hoover blocked her after she reached out about the incident. Hoover addressed the allegations in a private Facebook group, stating that the claims were inaccurate and that she did not block the individual. Then there's the It Ends with Us coloring book debacle—an incident that still feels like it shouldn't have been real. In 2023, Hoover announced an It Ends with Us-themed coloring book, meant to let fans 'interact' with the story in a new way. The backlash was immediate. A novel centered around domestic violence was now being turned into a lighthearted activity book? People were understandably furious. It felt not only tone-deaf but outright disrespectful to survivors of abuse, who had once found solace in the book. Hoover eventually canceled the project and issued a statement apologizing, but the damage was done. It was a stark reminder that her relationship with her audience often felt more commercial than thoughtful. More recently, the film adaptation of It Ends with Us has been mired in controversy. Blake Lively, who stars in and co-produces the film, filed a lawsuit against her co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and the creation of a hostile work environment. Lively claims that Baldoni engaged in inappropriate behavior during filming, including improvising unwanted kissing and making inappropriate comments. In response, Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist, alleging defamation and extortion. Amid these scandals, Hoover deactivated her Instagram account, sparking speculation about whether she's stepping away from the public eye for good. With BookTok once serving as her greatest asset, it's now a space filled with more criticism than praise. Readers who once championed her work are now calling for accountability, questioning whether she should continue writing if her narratives remain problematic. The combination of her son's scandal, the It Ends with Us controversy, and the ongoing legal battle involving her movie adaptation has led to rumors that Hoover may be considering retirement. Some speculate that she's simply waiting for the dust to settle before returning, while others believe this could be the end of her publishing reign. Reflecting on these experiences, I can't help but question the widespread acclaim Hoover receives. While her storytelling is undeniably engaging, it's crucial to critically assess the messages being conveyed. Romanticizing toxic relationships and perpetuating harmful stereotypes can have real-world implications, especially considering her vast and impressionable readership. As readers, we must rememeber that popularity doesn't always equal to valuable literature. Given the controversies surrounding her work and personal life, it seems that more people are beginning to see Colleen Hoover for who she really is—a complex figure whose contributions to literature are intertwined with problematic portrayals and personal scandals. This growing awareness prompts necessary conversations about the responsibility of authors and the impact of their narratives on readers.
