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 has retained its position as fDi’s European City of the Future, while Paris has climbed to second place, knocking Dublin into the third spot. 

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.

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

Serbia’s 15 free zones are driving forward an ongoing flurry of foreign investment in the country’s buoyant manufacturing scene, especially in automotives.

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. 

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Consulting firms in the Middle East are likely to take a hit in 2020 due to the coronavirus, after two strong years.

The pandemic is likely to hit the Middle East’s more fragile countries hardest.

The fallout from the pandemic looks set to stall trade and investment to Latin America.

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.

A government bailout for the ailing subsidiary of the telecoms powerhouse has fallen through. 

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.

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. 

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