The Gulf region is making extensive reforms to its foreign investment landscape in an effort to attract foreign investors to sectors outside oil and gas, according to a recent report by PwC. 

The UK’s prime minister has pledged to rebalance the UK economy away from a dominant London. However, this might require greater incentives for foreign investment in the regions outside of the capital, which are underperforming. 

Authorities in the US, the EU and across the developed world are stepping up efforts to scrutinise foreign investment on the grounds of both national security and tech sovereignty.

Sustainability is gaining traction in the creative industries, with the Italian region of Trentino designing a film production rating protocol that is being considered by the EU.

In spite of the uncertainty caused by Brexit, London retains its position as fDi's European City of the Future for 2020/21, while Paris keeps the regional crown.

London is crowned best major city in Europe in fDi's FDI Strategy category, with Glasgow, Vilnius, Reykjavik and Galway also winning out.

Paris Region has kept its fDi European Region of the Future title, while Dublin Region holds on to second place and North Rhine-Westphalia is in third. 

North Rhine-Westphalia is fDi's top large region for FDI Strategy, with the Basque Country topping the table for mid-sized regions and Ireland South East first among small regions. 

London LEP and Thames Valley Berkshire LEP hold on to their respective first and second places in the Local Enterprise Partnership rankings, while Oxfordshire LEP jumps up eight places to third. 

From historically underperforming when compared with its peers, the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate is now attracting major investment projects on the back of its auto and electrification expertise.

This Metasploit module exploits a type confusion bug in the Javascript Proxy object in WebKit. The DFG JIT does not take into account that, through the use of a Proxy, it is possible to run arbitrary JS code during the execution of a CreateThis operation. This makes it possible to change the structure of e.g. an argument without causing a bailout, leading to a type confusion (CVE-2018-4233). The type confusion leads to the ability to allocate fake Javascript objects, as well as the ability to find the address in memory of a Javascript object. This allows us to construct a fake JSCell object that can be used to read and write arbitrary memory from Javascript. The module then uses a ROP chain to write the first stage shellcode into executable memory within the Safari process and kick off its execution. The first stage maps the second stage macho (containing CVE-2017-13861) into executable memory, and jumps to its entrypoint. The CVE-2017-13861 async_wake exploit leads to a kernel task port (TFP0) that can read and write arbitrary kernel memory. The processes credential and sandbox structure in the kernel is overwritten and the meterpreter payloads code signature hash is added to the kernels trust cache, allowing Safari to load and execute the (self-signed) meterpreter payload.

This Metasploit module exploits a vulnerability in Total.js CMS. The issue is that a user with admin permission can embed a malicious JavaScript payload in a widget, which is evaluated server side, and gain remote code execution.

Kuwait's National Vision 2035 has economic diversification at its heart. This move from hydrocarbon reliance to other sectors is attracting investor attention, as Wendy Atkins reports.

The documentary "American Factory" tells us communities need to go beyond the job creation narrative when it comes to attracting foreign investment. 

FDI in the leisure and entertainment sector has risen sharply in recent years, with Asia-Pacific the leading region 

The UK is the top country, but Dublin is leading city, for foreign companies setting up headquarters in Europe, according to fDi’s ranking.

Philomène Dias, director of inward investment at Portuguese investment promotion agency Aicep, on how staff and organisation are working through lockdown.

The Dutch appeal court has reinstated a major $50bn award to Yukos shareholders by Russia, in a long-running dispute.

Having opened new production facilities in Rwanda and South Africa, Mara Phones is looking to alter Africa's mindset from being a 'consumer' to being a 'manufacturer'. 

Passion Capital's Eileen Burbidge talks to fDi about what fintech companies should consider when expanding internationally, and why London will always be a key market in the sector.

Despite nurturing its R&D capacity, the city of Braunschweig lags its German peers in attracting FDI. Now it hopes a focus on the mobility sector will mean its technical skills are matched with investment.

AstraZeneca will set up a R&D centre and an AI innovation centre in Shanghai, as well as create a $1bn fund that would invest in healthcare start-ups.

Global free zones may be spurring development in less economically developed countries

Despite recurrent challenges, Afghanistan’s business environment is improving. Now the authorities are working to persuade investors the rewards are worth the risk through a series of economic and legal reforms. 

Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, has approved a new 2018 to 2028 strategy that will eventually expand its investment activity beyond the domestic market.

Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, Pakistan’s UK high commissioner, talks about his country’s potential for foreign investors.

The situation between the US and China is bad news for South Korea’s investment climate.

Uruguay-based Zonamerica has successfully expanded into Colombia and China, and is now looking to export its model to other parts of Asia and Africa.

While governments grow more protectionist over trade and physical borders, companies such as Microsoft are bridging the gap by funding international collaborative enterprises.

Giant investment firm BlackRock throwing its weight behind sustainability issues is sending a signal to the corporate world to respond urgently to global calls for action, writes Gregg Wassmansdorf.

Scientific innovation, a conducive regulatory climate and increased globalisation of drug markets are driving an investment boom in biotechnology, with small companies and emerging markets shaking up the sector.

Antwerp’s vice-mayor, Claude Marinower, talks about the city's history as a diverse business location, and its plans to promote traditional industries alongside innovative concepts.

With a multilingual population, Antwerp enjoys a diverse talent pool that has made it a popular testbed for digital innovation and entrepreneurship.

Canada's Atlantic Ocean-bordering provinces are making the most of their coastal resources, using decades of knowhow to balance economic growth with sustainability.

Quebec hopes a major maritime strategy that includes constructing a container port and building naval vessels will boost its economy by creating jobs and attracting investment.

Over the past three years, the UK has led Europe for financial services FDI, with the US as top investor. Emma McCoy reports.

Global FDI in the biotechnology sector has witnessed year-on-year increase since 2015.

The Egyptian capital Cairo led Africa in 2018, attracting 10 foreign business services investment projects, in its strongest performance since 2012. Joshua Crawford reports.

GE Renewable Energy announced the shipment of the four tower sections that will be part of GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW prototype to be installed later this summer in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam (NL). The four segments at tower manufacturer GRI’s site in Seville, will be arriving in the Netherlands before the end of the month.

A sparsely populated Chinese province that’s home to the headwaters of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers is attempting to set a new record for clean energy use, serving as a test bed for the entire country.