The US has the world’s strongest soft power, while China and Russia are rising in influence, according to a recent ranking from Brand Finance.

Announced greenfield projects into China plummeted in early 2020 with the US and Europe taking the lion's share of global foreign investment. 

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. 

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.

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. 

Foreign investment into Serbia is growing at a healthy pace thanks to its attractive automotive manufacturing industry and highly regarded free zones.

Serbia’s technology cluster is gaining momentum and attracting FDI, for both its software and hardware expertise.

Warsaw already offers a skilled workforce and has improved its infrastructure – now it must focus on climate change and reducing congestion, mayor Rafał Trzaskowski tells fDi.

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.

WhatWeb is a next-generation web scanner. WhatWeb recognises web technologies including content management systems (CMS), blogging platforms, statistic/analytics packages, JavaScript libraries, web servers, and embedded devices. WhatWeb has over 1800 plugins, each to recognise something different. WhatWeb also identifies version numbers, email addresses, account IDs, web framework modules, SQL errors, and more. WhatWeb supports an aggression level to control the trade off between speed and reliability.

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.

WhatWeb is a next-generation web scanner. WhatWeb recognizes web technologies including content management systems (CMS), blogging platforms, statistic/analytics packages, JavaScript libraries, web servers, and embedded devices. WhatWeb has over 1800 plugins, each to recognize something different. WhatWeb also identifies version numbers, email addresses, account IDs, web framework modules, SQL errors, and more. WhatWeb supports an aggression level to control the trade off between speed and reliability.

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. 

Wavteq's Henry Loewendahl discusses which sectors retain potential for foreign investment amid the current global crisis 

Long-dominant global supply chains look less tenable in the light of pressures ranging from pandemics to disasters, trade tensions and protectionism.

Covid-19 crisis has laid bare the weaknesses of global value chains around the world

The global pharmaceutical sector has seen consistent growth since 2014, with western Europe a major beneficiary.

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

Eco Equity is one of only a few Europe-based investors in medicinal cannabis from Africa and the Caribbean, an area in which the UK is missing an opportunity, according to CEO Jon-Paul Doran.

The UAE followed Singapore’s swift reaction to combat Covid-19, to preserve the health of its citizens. Now moves are in place to tackle the country’s economic wellbeing.

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

Foreign investment in the global renewable energy market hit unprecedented highs in 2019. However, the coronavirus crisis may reverse this trend. 

The coronavirus pandemic could change human behaviour more permanently in future.

Once the powerhouse of the industrial US, the rust belt states have revived their economies with the help of foreign investment. 

Stevens Mokgalapa talks about foreign investment opportunities and challenges in South Africa’s administrative capital, and the balancing act of development and environmental needs in the developing world.

Tesla's decision part of broader trend of investment into Germany at UK's expense.

Despite its thriving automotive sector, Gothenburg is vulnerable to global economic pressures. However, local authorities are confident that their strategies will see the city ride out the uncertainties related to Brexit and the US-China trade wars.

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.

Steve Armitage, general manager of destination at Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development explains why the New Zealand city’s international profile is growing so fast.

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. 

Asia outstrips the world for tourist arrivals and is still experiencing growth. Constant maintenance and upgrade are essential to maintain this lead.

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.

The social turmoil in Hong Kong has triggered an economic crisis, raising questions over the special administrative region’s future as a major financial hub on mainland China’s doorstep.