Media columnist David Carr — who wrote the Media Equation column for The New York Times and penned a memoir about his fight with drug addiction — collapsed at his office and died on Thursday. He was 58.

A US judge granted bail to one person accused of spying for Russia and denied bail to two others after a prosecutor warned the defendants had plenty of helpers in the US to help them flee.

Officials in Dublin are today investigating claims that a false Irish passport was to be used by a member an alleged Russian spy ring in the US.

SECURITY concerns prompted the Government to consider a recall of more than two million Irish passports earlier this year – the same version of passport linked to an alleged Russian spy facing charges in the US.

Madonna’s second book for children, Mr Peabody’s Apples – a story about the power of words and the importance of teachers – has gone on sale in the US.