After 36 years as a diplomat without mishap, Elisabetta Belloni has for the last year been in charge of the Italian intelligence services. She owes her position to the intervention of former Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio.
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Back-door diplomacy As the US begins to sanction his close entourage, the businessman and former Bulgarian MP of Turkish descent has quietly put his yacht up for sale in Greece. On account of his alleged involvement in several court cases in Bulgaria, he has been trying to get rid of his many assets as fast as he can.
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Corporate Intel Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores Brussel's Place de Luxembourg, known as Le Plux, where EU and NATO officials quaff Belgian beer and chat as Russian spies listen in.
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Agencies Fanch Francis, founder of big data analytics company Oak Branch, claims that he was forced out of the company after it was taken over by Deveryware.
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Cybersecurity Despite the political rivalries in Oman, Mohammed Al Naamani remains firmly in place as Sultan Haitham bin Tariq's security chief. He has recently been instructed to continue with his mediation with Saudi Arabia on Yemen.
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Back-door diplomacy Despite tensions between the heads of the CSTO, a Eurasian alliance intended to act as a counterweight to NATO, Russia plans to have its member states focus on defence through more concrete action away from political declarations.
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Defence Border surveillance, which has returned to the top of the list of critical projects carried out by the Rostec arms conglomerate, is mobilising all the know-how of its subsidiary Ruselectronics. Moscow has decided to move up a gear in the Safe City programme.
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Corporate Intel 
