Belgium wants its intelligence services to keep tabs on Chinese investments

Belgium poised to ratify new telecoms data collection legislation 

Intelligence Online has had access to the draft memorandum on telecommunications operators' sharing of client data and metadata with the relevant intelligence and government services. It is intended to bring Belgian law into line with the needs of those services and the decisions of the European Court of Justice.

EU faces intelligence capacity challenges 

While European countries' determination to improve intelligence-sharing is providing more data for EU intelligence, the EU continues to lack its own independent means, which would free it from the whims of national governments.

• UZBEKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN - Tashkent refuses to return Afghan planes to Kabul.

• RUSSIA - Moscow decorates military engineers.

• FRANCE - Marc Burg lures more top spies to his degree course.

• PARIS - Senators call for a law on facial recognition.

• UNITED STATES - DNI tasked again to tackle China's support to Russia.

• EUROPE - Europol, future watchdog of foreign investment in the EU.

Paris banks on big data to counter foreign economic threats 

A finance ministry agency that plays a lead role in protecting France from economic interference, the SISSE, wants to detect threats to strategic assets more effectively by processing big data.

European Commission hires US's Rhodium to monitor Chinese investments 

The New York firm will keep a database on Chinese direct investments in Europe, following a less than stellar report on the European mechanism to control foreign investment that came into force in October 2020.