Advertise on podcast: What You Need To Know

Kim Ju Ae could be the most powerful teenage girl in the world. Not only is she the daughter of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – one of the most feared dictators in the world. She could also end up becoming the next Supreme Leader of the country. Recently, she’s been seen at official events more and more alongside her father. But could the patriarchal totalitarian regime in North Korea ever accept a female leader? Here's What You Need To Know.

On the 7th of May, the United Kingdom will go to the polls to vote in local and national elections across the country. And they are more important than you might think. National elections in Scotland and Wales could set a path for the breakup of the UK, England's council elections could decimate Labour and the Conservatives. The Greens and Reform are projected to make big gains, and the results across the board could be the end of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Here's what to expect, how results might play out, and what the knock-on effect might look like.

For the first time in more than 50 years, a half-million-mile return journey looping around the lunar surface. Artemis II will be full of firsts but also fraught with danger. So what are the 6 things that could go wrong on NASA’s moon mission?

In the weeks since the U.S. launched its attack on Iran, videos from the war in the Middle East have flooded social media, but in the age of AI, how much of it can we actually trust? Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to verify that content, with social media users relying on platforms like Grok and Gemini to confirm that content is real or fake. But their answers aren’t always adding up, telling users that videos are real when they’re in fact AI generated, or misidentifying content that is actually from the conflict in the Middle East. Mislabelling content can feed in to misinformation loops, and the team at ITV News are working hard to identify what is real and accurate, from what may be fake or even ai generated. So why can’t AI always be trusted to verify content and how do we fact-check what we see on social media?

In this ITV News explainer, correspondent Geraint Vincent breaks down the race to neutralise Iran’s missing uranium stockpile. Deep beneath the rubble of Iran’s bombed nuclear facilities lies an estimated 440kg of near-weapons-grade uranium. Following massive US and Israeli airstrikes in June 2025, much of this vast radioactive stockpile is now thought to be entombed underground, and the Iranian government claims it has no plans to retrieve it. With the material enriched to 60%—dangerously close to the 90% threshold required to create nuclear warheads—the United States military faces an unprecedented logistical nightmare. How do you secure nearly 1,000 pounds of toxic, radioactive material buried hundreds of feet beneath hostile territory?

MPs will examine the fairness of student loans repayment in a new inquiry following increasing debate over the system. The Treasury Committee is asking young people for their views on issues like whether they would still take out loans today and how their student loan repayments are impacting their finances. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said any change to the student loan system would have to be “fully costed and fully funded”, and indicated that the Government had prioritised other spending commitments in the NHS and defence.

After almost two weeks of the war in the Middle East, global attention has been on fears about the rising price of oil and gas, but there’s a hidden factor at play: the impact on the cost of food. Because with tensions across the region escalating, Iran has now closed the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to attack ships passing through the narrow stretch of sea. In this explainer, ITV News Science Correspondent Martin Stew breaks down the hidden impact this could have on global trade, food supplies, and agriculture.

After US and Israeli strikes on Iran, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, and the Middle East is in chaos. But who will replace the Supreme Leader? As Tehran faces a power vacuum, who is likely to be Donald Trump's desired candidate and what is his ultimate long-term aim for Iran. Will we see a new Supreme Leader, an internal revolution, or a return to the Iranian monarchy? Here's what you need to know about who could lead Iran, and how President Trump is influencing the country's future.

From FPV drones, to leaderboards for kills and captures, to large-scale cyber warfare, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has rewritten how modern combat is fought. As we reach four years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the stalemate between Putin and Zelenskyy continues to push military tech to its limits. So how is this new technology impacting soldiers on the battlefield and people living in the rest of Europe? And how will these four years of innovation define the future of warfare across the globe? Sam Leader tells you what you need to know. Contributions from: James Rogers - drone expert Lauren Sukin - Associate Professor, U.S. Foreign Policy

Could China be key in tackling the small boats crisis? Keir Starmer has been meeting President Xi Jinping in Beijing and is hoping a new security pact will be a game-changer, with more than half of small boat engines made in China. The Prime Minister is also pledging to put more money in British pockets through a better relationship with China. So will it work and what are the risks? Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen tells Paul Brand what you need to know.

People carrying knives are more likely to end up as victims. Weapons escalate arguments and confrontations - sending them out of control. Videos of violence, rapidly shared on social media, can strike fear into teens watching. But for some, far from putting them off carrying a weapon, it has the opposite effect, even when knife crime is falling. Police and schools across the country are grappling with this viscious cycle. So how can you stop teens carrying knives? North of England Reporter Jonathan Brown and Senior Producer Eleanor Gregory tell Lucy Watson what you need to know. -- Jonathan and Eleanor's teen violence investigations: On the front line with police tackling teen violence - https://youtu.be/b6tXl5_uUEU?si=cD-coyIdRpc6SRmT Inside a school lockdown as teachers drill for knife attack https://youtu.be/mWdsNPsbnZk?si=aZDVHCMQ-O-O_HkC

Opposition parties are demanding it, the government is consulting on it, the House of Lords have voted in favour of it and it's splitting opinion amongst bereaved families. But what do young people themselves think of a ban on social media for under-16s? Westminster Political Reporter Lewis Denison tells Faye Barker what you need to know.

Prince Harry is back in the UK, and back at the High Court. The Duke of Sussex is leading a high-profile group of claimants against the publisher of The Daily Mail and Mail On Sunday over claims of phone hacking, and other illegal information gathering. Elton John, Liz Hurley and Baroness Doreen Lawrence are amongst the others suing Associated Newspapers Limited. Associated Newspapers Limited denies the allegations. So what can we expect from the trial? Royal Editor Chris Ship tells Faye Barker what you need to know. -- Here more from Chris on the Talking Royals podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@ITVNewsTalkingRoyals?sub_confirmation=1

With Donald Trump blowing hot and cold on whether the US will strike Iran or not - how will this uncertainty and unpredictability play out with Iran's biggest trading partner - China? At least two thousand people have been killed in the Islamic Republic's brutal crackdown on protests, which were sparked by the country's soaring inflation and crippling price rises. In response the US President initially announced a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran. So could it spell the end of the US-China Trade war truce? And what would that mean for the world? From Beijing, ITV News Asia Correspondent tells Lucy Watson what you need to know.

Would upgrading ketamine to class A stop the drug's surge? The cheap, widely available drug can shred and shrink users bladders' - leaving them constantly rushing to the toilet. It can even kill, with Friends actor Matthew Perry and drag star The Vivienne both dying after taking the drug in recent years. The government is deliberating on whether to reclassify the drug from class B to class A, bringing harsher punishments for supply AND possession. Steve Rolles from Transform Drug Policy Foundation and Digital Reporter George Hancorn join Lucy Watson to discuss whether reclassification would put people off.