Newsnight 17 March, 2005

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Thursday's programme, presented by Gavin Esler, covers the following stories:

Sisters in Washington

The McCartney sisters' astonishing story continues. Today, they visit the White House to meet President Bush at the annual St Patrick's Day reception.

We'll be asking a leading supporter of Sinn Fein in Congress whether American opinion has turned against the IRA for good.

And in the studio we'll be asking how five women from Belfast have managed to affect the Republican movement so dramatically, and whether women throughout history have been more effective campaigners against tyranny and oppression than men.

Oil and Iraq

As oil prices continue to hit record highs, Greg Palast will be dusting off the conspiracy theories that the war in Iraq was all about the black stuff.

Just what was the connection between US oil companies and the neo-cons as war approached?

Click here to read more on Greg's story

Iran

And we have an exclusive interview with Mohamed El Baradei, the Director-General of the world's nuclear watchdog.

He shares his concerns about Iran's nuclear programme and admits that the international treaty limiting nuclear proliferation may now be inadequate.

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