GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE

• CANADA/CHINA - CSIS at heart of tensions between Ottawa and Beijing

• RUSSIA - Telegram channel close to military intelligence is hiring

• UKRAINE/EUROPE - NATO boosts cooperation with security teams

• TAIWAN - CCP sees ex-police officer Hou Yu-ih as best shot at presidency
  

• IRAQ - Lahur Talabani throws spanner in election plans
  

Hossam Louka active across all fronts, from Syrian countryside to Riyadh and Moscow 

Now Bashar al-Assad's top spymaster, Hossam Louka has begun to quietly take the lead on Syria's normalisation processes, both on the international scene and at a local level.

• IRAQ - Mohammed Shia al-Sudani still helming INIS
  

• FRANCE - Intelligence control commission beefs up retrospective controls outside Paris

• GERMANY - Secrecy clearances under fire in parliament

• ITALY/TAIWAN - Taipei uses business to renew political dialogue in Milan

• SYRIA - Arab League invitation but not reintegration on the cards for Damascus

• RUSSIA - Customs chief succession causes headache

Baghdad called upon to mediate between the MIT and the PUK 

Hugely concerned about the origin of the intelligence that allowed the MIT to attack the Sulaymanyah airport on 7 April, the PUK has called on Baghdad to lead the investigation. It is also hoping to calm down the increasingly tense relations between the Talabani clan and Ankara.

• FRANCE/SYRIA - YPG representatives at the French National Assembly

• UKRAINE - Economic security office headless

• KYRGYZSTAN - Ex-spymaster on the rise in diplomatic corps
  

• US - Food security as well as agricultural sovereignty

Secret diplomacy helping Syria pressure EU on sanctions  Free

Though it may still be isolated on the European scene, the Bashar al-Assad regime harbours hopes of having the EU ease its sanctions against Syria.

• ISRAEL - Shin Bet opposes National Guard plan
  

• FRANCE - DRM appoints civilian as "platform" chief
  

• UKRAINE - Information protection service sets up new partnerships
  

• PALESTINE - Mahmoud Abbas confirms Majed Faraj's role as spymaster

• FRANCE - French intelligence doubles down on need for Hebrew

• CHINA - Beijing uses Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to promote its vision of democracy 

• UKRAINE - Chechen opposition faction grows stronger in Kyiv