Tag - espionage

 
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April 01, 2025
 

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ESPIONAGE

Max Lesser, a senior analyst on emerging threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has uncovered a network of companies operated by a secretive Chinese tech firm that has been trying to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government workers.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 26, 2025
Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers in U.S.
Max Lesser, a researcher who uncovered the network, said the campaign follows "well-established" techniques used by previous Chinese intelligence operations.
An example of a Russian disinformation poster that was spread via Telegram. Some analysts said that reducing work to counter Moscow's hybrid war tactics would prove dangerous for the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 20, 2025
U.S. suspends some efforts to counter Russian sabotage
Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, much of the work on monitoring and countering Russia's hybrid warfare campaign has come to a standstill.
A MI-8 helicopter from the Belarus army carries the Belarusian national flag in Minsk in 2017.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 18, 2025
Belarus sentences Japanese man to seven years for spying
The man allegedly took photos of military facilities as well as railway infrastructure, and had traveled to the Ukrainian border.
Professor Hu Shiyun of Kobe Gakuin University
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2025
Chinese professor returns to Japan after going missing in China
It is not known whether Hu Shiyun, who went missing after entering China in summer 2023, had been detained by Chinese authorities.
The website of the Qiaoxing Volunteer Group, a Chinese community organization in the Philippines, shows four men detained in late January in the Philippines on charges of espionage seen with Chinese defense attache Li Jianzhong and the governor of Cagayan province, Manuel Mamba, in this illustration picture taken Feb. 27.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 2, 2025
Alleged Chinese spies gave Philippine city and police cash and motorbikes
The men spied on the Philippine navy with drones, according to investigators, who also found also photos and maps of sensitive sites on their phones.
Philippine National Security Council Assistant Director-General Jonathan Malaya says information and psychological warfare have "become part and parcel" of China's malign influence in his country.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2025
Chinese hybrid warfare ops surge in Philippines: top security official
There has been a rise in Chinese disinformation tactics as well as suspected surveillance and espionage activities in the Philippines, the official said.
A business district in Tokyo. Japan plans to strengthen pre-screening measures for overseas investors that could potentially cooperate with foreign intelligence gathering efforts, addressing rising national security concerns.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2025
Japan to tighten investment pre-screening amid security concerns
While the updated regulations will impose an additional step for a broader range of investors, those who pass the screening can still invest in Japanese companies.
People hold an anti-Japan rally in Seoul in July 2019 following Tokyo's decision to tighten controls on exports to South Korea.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2025
North Korea incited anti-Japan sentiment in the South
North Korea aimed to fan the flames of anti-Japanese sentiment over issues like wartime labor and the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Palestinians pass through an Israeli checkpoint as they make their way to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in the West Bank, in March 2024. Israeli forces have frequently used disguises to infiltrate Gaza and target Hamas operatives.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 12, 2025
In the art of war, mimicry runs the gambit from disguises to deepfakes
Impersonation is one of the oldest tactics in war, because it exploits our social nature and persists because humans are dependent on identities for cooperation.
Rescuers work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, in October 2022.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2024
How one man became a Ukrainian traitor and Russian spy
Before the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian nationals were mainly recruited during trips to Russia, but approaches are more often made online now using social networks.
"Crossing prohibited" signs at a border fence running along the Polish border with Belarus, near the village of Bialowieza, Poland, in May
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2024
Another Japanese national is detained in Belarus
Belarus, an ally of Russia, previously detained another Japanese national in July for alleged spying.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew leave after Prince Philip's Thanksgiving Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2022. Revelations that a suspected Chinese spy became a confidant of Britain's Prince Andrew is renewing scrutiny of King Charles' disgraced brother.
WORLD
Dec 15, 2024
Latest scandal raises fresh questions about U.K.'s Prince Andrew
The latest scandal erupted on Thursday after judges upheld a government ban on the Chinese businessman, identified only as H6, from entering Britain.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meets with his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani, at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 13, 2024
The global spy alliance should let Japan join
Tokyo’s inclusion in the club is long overdue, especially as the region combats China’s growing assertiveness and the unpredictability of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court. Former Guangming Daily editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2024
China court sentences journalist Dong Yuyu to seven years on spy charges, family says
Former editor and journalist Dong Yuyu was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat.
While the ETH Zurich is an outlier for now in Switzerland, the decision has shone a spotlight on how universities in the German-speaking world are attempting to balance national security concerns with academia’s imperative to pursue open scholarship and collaboration across borders.
WORLD / Society
Nov 23, 2024
Swiss university applies stricter measures to Chinese students
Switzerland’s top technical university justified the move as complying with laws to counter international espionage.
Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force take part in a joint military drill involving Japan, the United States, Britain and Australia at Narashino exercise field in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in January 2023.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2024
Japan hosts Five Eyes group meeting for first time
The move highlights the growing cooperation between Tokyo and its allies amid shared concerns about a rapidly deteriorating security environment.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on Oct. 27.
WORLD
Nov 16, 2024
Senators ask Pentagon and U.S. attorney general to probe Musk's alleged Russia calls
Musk, who has been appointed to a senior government role by Trump, oversees billions of dollars in Pentagon and intelligence-community contracts.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump is interviewed by "Fox and Friends" co-host Pete Hegseth at the White House in Washington in April 2017. Trump nominated Hegseth to be the next U.S. defense secretary on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2024
Trump's picks: A Fox News host, an ex-spy chief and the world's richest man
The U.S. president-elect announced a spate of unconventional picks for key posts — including his defense and CIA chiefs — in his next government.
Then-U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe speaks to members of the media during a break of the Senate impeachment trial against then-President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in January 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2024
Trump picks John Ratcliffe to be CIA director
The pick signals that the second Trump White House will get even more hawkish on China — and prove reassuring for American allies such as Japan.
Tennessee National Guard soldiers offload from a C-17 aircraft at Grayling Army Airfield in Grayling, Michigan, in August 2022. Camp Grayling, which is within 160 kilometers (100 miles) of where China-linked electric vehicle battery maker Gotion plans to build a facility, will be added to an existing list where nearby property transactions may be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
WORLD
Nov 2, 2024
U.S. expands oversight on property deals near military sites
The move comes at a time of heightened concern over China-related land purchases.
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

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