In The News

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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Since early Sunday morning, 35 members of the Orange Order have been waiting at Drumcree Church to parade down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown. It is a march that, in the 1990s, sparked tension and violence in Drumcree, and with the result that the Protestant loyalist organisation has been refused permission to march through the Catholic area for nearly 30 years. So why was it given permission now?

As of Tuesday, the Orangemen remain determined to march, saying they now have the legal right to do so. The local nationalist community is equally intent on preventing them. And the repercussions are being felt at Stormont. The DUP and the Orange Order have made complaints to the PSNI about the presence of Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, at the protest.

With tensions running high on the streets of Drumcree, and the DUP-Sinn Féin political partnership fraying, could this standoff bring down Stormont? Mark Hennessy, The Irish Times Ireland and Britain Editor, reports from the Garvaghy Road.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Susanne Brennan.
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When property developer Paddy Shanahan built Buckingham Village, a scheme of 125 apartments in north inner-city Dublin in 1991, hopes were high that it would help rejuvenate this socially deprived part of the north inner city.

But by 1994, Shanahan was dead; he had been fatally shot as he left a gym in Crumlin and the development’s connection to the Dublin underworld was cemented.
It regularly featured in crime stories and court reports, including the infamous Regency Hotel attack that kicked off the Hutch-Kinahan feud.

By 2018, Dublin City Council’s inspections revealed slum-like conditions being endured by the renters.

Using planning documents, enforcement data, property folios and company records, along with interviews with residents, activists, elected representatives and gardaí, Irish Times investigative reporter Conor Gallagher pieced together a history of Buckingham Village over its 36-year existence. He talks to In the News.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
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A comprehensive 3-0 away victory for the Republic of Ireland should have cause for celebration. Instead, it has been overshadowed by unprecedented crisis within Irish football.

In the days before Ireland's Uefa Nations League fixture against Israel, players faced mounting calls from politicians, celebrities and activists to boycott the match over Israel's genocide in Gaza and its continued expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Behind the scenes divisions emerged within the squad, culminating in the withdrawal of second goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu and a rancorous team meeting on Saturday. In the end an anonymous vote amongst the players resulted in the decision to proceed. But the damage had been done.

Sports correspondent Gavin Cooney speaks to In the News from Debrecen, Hungary. He explains the day as it unfolded, how the controversy escalated and what the fallout could mean for the future of the Rep. of Ireland team.

Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by Declan Conlon.
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