In The News

It’s a story that could have come straight out a John le Carré thriller. The retired German spy chief accused of selling classified information amounting to thousands of secret documents; an alleged act of treason that continued for years and was only uncovered during a kidnapping investigation involving a steakhouse heiress and ex-Israeli spies.

August Hanning, head of the BND foreign intelligence agency for seven years until 2005, faces charges of treasonous espionage after the 80-year-old was arrested during a dawn raid on his home on Tuesday.

The focus now for investigators is his post-retirement consultancy, which he set up in 2010 – the same year he is accused of buying and using classified information.

It is Germany’s greatest-ever espionage scandal as Irish Times Berlin correspondent Derek Scally reports.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

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Over the past two weeks, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Spain to protest the country’s worsening housing crisis. The demonstrations were triggered by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman, Maria del Carmen Abascal, from her home in Madrid.

Known in Spain simply as Maricarmen, she had lived in the same apartment for more than seven decades and was evicted after it was sold to a private investment company. She died in a hospital in Madrid two weeks later.

In response to the public outcry following her eviction, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez put forward several emergency housing measures. However, when the proposals were rejected by Parliament, he called a snap general election for November 29th.

But will the Prime Minister’s gamble pay off? Is it likely his party will lead the next government and could this surprise election pave the way for parties on the right to seize power?

Irish Times contributor Guy Hedgecoe speaks to Bernice Harrison from Madrid.

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Christa Pike spent 30 years in jail in Tennessee on death row, waiting for the day the state would kill her. When that day finally came, last week, she was first given a lethal injection, then a second one when the first dose failed. She survived that too and the 50-year-old convicted murderer was taken to hospital where she was placed on life support.

So who was Colleen Slemmer, her teenage victim? What evidence convicted Pike and will this botched execution change attitudes to the death penalty in the US.

Keith Duggan, Washington correspondent has been following the case.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

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Wicklow businessman Brendan Kavanagh (61) has an entrepreneurial skill for building connections and seeing gaps in the market. That has led him to set up multiple businesses including the successful education-technology focused Olive Group.

But what happens when some of his high profile business relationships turn sour?

TV sports pundit and psychotherapist Richie Sadlier has a tale to tell; so too has fitness influencer Mr Motivator (Derrick Evans).

And it has been a turbulent time in the boardroom of Grinds 360.

He cofounded the successful online grinds company in 2024 with investors that include former rugby player Brian O’Driscoll, who spoke in a video promoting its services, and Caelan Doris, who helped garner media attention.

Irish Times investigations editor Mark Tighe has been following Kavanagh’s career for two years.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

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Irish drug gangs are now making as much money from cannabis as they are from cocaine, according to new Gardaí figures.

Housing, energy costs and childcare are among the main concerns people have been voicing ahead of Budget 2027.

Ireland’s borrowing costs are a fraction of bigger economies like France, the UK and the United States.

Garvaghy Road residents are in court today as the dispute over an Orange Order parade at Drumcree.

The latest delays to Ireland’s national children’s hospital are carrying a growing cost for patients waiting to use the new facility, new correspondence reveals.

Presented by Andrew McNair.

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At the Labour Party conference last week, British prime minister Andy Burnham surprised delegates by putting the prospect of rejoining the EU firmly on the political agenda. In a rousing speech he said the Brexit vote in 2016 had left the country weaker and failed to allow Britain to “take back control” of its borders and rules, as promised by the Leave campaign. “Brexit has done more harm than good,” said Burnham. Irish Times London correspondent Mark Paul, who was at the conference, explains how Burnham’s speech landed and what happens next.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

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Premier League football club Manchester City has been found guilty of boosting its coffers by more than €1bn by arranging “sham contracts” with big name commercial partners.

The infringements to the league’s funding rules were found by an independent commission to have taken place between 2009 and 2018 – a time when the club experienced unprecedented success. So what did the club do with the money? And did this extraordinary level of funding drive its success?

The club is owned by sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. Since taking over the club in 2008 his funds have helped turn it into a global brand.

The scandal was first uncovered by Rui Pinto, a Portuguese computer hacker and founder of the Football Leaks website. He passed the information to Der Spiegel and the German newspaper developed the story to the point that the Premier League took Manchester City to the independent commission to adjudicate on the allegations.

It’s a scandal that has rocked football.

So what happens now? The club denies all wrongdoing and an appeals process is open to it. Other clubs are demanding a stiff penalty for City though it is unclear what that might look like.

The Guardian’s investigations correspondent David Conn explains this turbulent week in the Premier League.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

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Irish citizen David Anderson (45) is charged with the premeditated murder of his ex-wife, Megumi Anderson, who died in January 2025 aged 43. Megumi died in a fire in her apartment in Budapest. The Japanese woman was found on the sofa with a cigarette nearby, surrounded by candles and empty wine bottles.

Police initially believed the fire was a tragic accident, but five days later they arrested Anderson on suspicion of murder. So what happened? How did Anderson go from a grieving ex-husband to the police's chief suspect?

Budapest-based reporter Bálint Dömötör was in court this week for the pretrial hearing and he outlines the prosecution’s case. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair.

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