Suspended spies + belt tightening + 'kamikaze'

Good morning,

• Germany's foreign intelligence service has suspended several of its agents on suspicion that they have far-right sympathies. One of the agents, who was based at the Bundesnachrichtendienst’s (BND) signal intelligence unit in Bavaria, was suspended after Nazi paraphernalia was found at her son's apartment. Another was a member of the AfD party in Thuringia, where the far-right group is led by a man with links to the neo-Nazi scene. BND head Bruno Kahl said that the suspensions proved that “staff are checked very carefully to see whether they stand on the ground of our free democratic constitution”. That’s ironic, as the man the BND recently put in charge of vetting its spies was arrested in December on suspicion of selling state secrets to Russia.

  • BACKGROUND: 'A brilliant piece of Russian espionage'

• Germany's Finance Minister has warned that the country has a "massive expenditure problem" due to spending pledges inherited from the Merkel era. With interest rising on state de…