Covid-19

India
India races to catch up with China in space defence

India is getting into the starting blocks to close the gap with China in New Space intelligence, launching a flurry of calls for projects in strategic segments and boosting its nascent champion Pixxel.

India, Indonesia
Indonesia eyes monitoring technology from India's L&T for new capital

Indonesia is looking to be a player in the smart cities stakes, and its officials were recently shown New Delhi's Integrated Command and Control Centre, built with Israeli know-how.

China
Beijing ring-fences sensitive universities

To protect the scientific laboratories running major civil-military fusion projects from prying eyes, the Chinese Communist Party is tightening controls on the movements of foreign researchers on campus.

China, Israel, Japan
Japan turns to Israel's 9500 Group to counter Chinese Fukushima disinformation

A team of experts is working with the Japanese government to foil a Chinese disinformation campaign about the release of treated waste water from the Fukushima nuclear power station.

Spotlight | China, United States
US intel still struggling over its China strategy

As Washington's major focus, China is mobilising ever more of the US intelligence community's resources, leading to significant shifts within it.

United States
Ex-oil trader for Moscow Niels Troost hires his defence team with diplomatic passport in hand

The US Justice Department was reviewing evidence in mid-June that allegedly showed that embattled oil trader Niels Troost gained the title of Liberia's ambassador-at-large in Switzerland thanks to President George Weah.

Spotlight | Colombia, UAE
Melissa Moncada, the Medellin businesswoman driving Tahnoon bin Zayed's Colombian affairs

In this, the first of our two-part series on entrepreneur Melissa Moncada, we examine how the associate of Tahnoon bin Zayed, brother to the UAE president, spy master and Abu Dhabi's lead financier, has been quietly guiding his affairs in Colombia.

China, Laos, United States
Sparks fly between China and West over Laos power production

In supporting the Laos state electricity provider, the World Bank is trying to loosen China's grip on the country's power grid. The move has given some sense of ease to Western diplomats worried about the level of debt Laos has accrued with China.

The Agencies' Gazette
Vietnam's MPS, Qassem Al Araji in Tehran, France's new South East Asia diplomat, FSB

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every week, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community from Hanoi to Paris, via Tehran and Moscow.

VietnamTo Lam wants to further condense public security hierarchy

Iraq/IranQassem Al Araji defuses Sulaymaniyah security issues before return to Tehran

France/Vietnam/RomaniaOlivier Brochet tipped to succeed ambassador Warnery in Hanoi

RussiaFSB's new technical director settles in

China, Thailand, United States
Thai defence firm ACEIS clarifies links with China to lure US

In a bid to build stronger ties with the US defence industry, Thai firm ACEIS has had to clarify any potential associations that could be made online between it and Chinese companies, especially strategic ones.

Vietnam
ASIADEV guides French firms in Vietnam

Consultancy firm ASIADEV uses its broad Franco-Vietnamese network to steer French companies wanting to do business in Vietnam, especially in the defence industry, in which Hanoi has been investing significantly in recent years.

The Corporate Intelligence Gazette
Aussie PI in Mauritius case, BPI's corporate intel platform, Mintz vs Kossoff, from Nardello to Merck, Barker takes over Minerva, Parker's Kyiv mission, Rud Pedersen in Ukraine

Appointments, financial results, new contracts: every Wednesday, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community. This week, we go to Sydney, New York, Paris, London, Kyiv, Largo and Copenhagen.

Sydney/New York The investigator chasing a ghost investor

Paris Public bank boosts export intelligence scope

New York Mintz still investigating Kossoff's downfall

New York Ex-Nardello CISO goes to Merck

London Former FTI Barker moves to intelligence with Strix Varia

Kyiv/Largo New Ukraine mission for US Army vet Parker

Kyiv/Copenhagen Danish lobbyist Rud Pedersen sets up shop in Ukraine

United States
Legal clash between a UK investigative firm, a disgruntled ex-executive, an angry client and her lover has movie-calibre twists

London-based Conflict International filed a lawsuit in New York in late March asking the court to dismiss complaints against the firm from a former executive and a wealthy client. Meanwhile, the client's former paramour - whom she allegedly hired CI to smear - is suing the trio for $1.