All new members of the Chinese Communist Party's politburo and discipline inspection committee appointed during the party's October congress were subjected to unprecedented scrutiny by Xi Jinping's closest collaborators. As a result, some factions saw their influence wiped out completely.
The results of the midterm elections should bring more stability to government oversight over the intelligence community which would impede the politicisation of intelligence some fear.
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The German foreign intelligence service has placed its former representative in France at the head of its administration, just as Paris and Berlin relations are going through a cold spell. The new BND vice-president has his work cut out for him with a raft of internal issues to deal with.
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European branches of the Orthodox Jewish Chabad-Lubavitch religious community are very actively engaged in Ukraine, putting the movement's Russian branch in a tight spot with the Kremlin.
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As strains emerge from criticism and legal action targeting prominent Qataris, France's defence ministry is hoping for a breakthrough in defence cooperation with the Gulf country, which has requested help from a French state armament agency to boost procurement.
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The US midterms, shortly followed by a general election in Kazakhstan, have shaken up the networks carefully crafted by Kazakhstani lobbying firms working in Washington for both the government and the opposition. This, as Astana has several cases still pending in the US courts.
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China's NVWA Project for the detection of unknown vulnerabilities has given no sign of life for several months. New notification rules now allow China to collect zero-day vulnerabilities directly.
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