Idaho-based Micron Technology, the largest U.S. memory chip manufacturer, has been banned from major Chinese infrastructure projects on grounds that it poses “serious network security risks.” It is the first major retaliation for a series of similar U.S. measures against China’s chip sector.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the other G7 leaders kicked off their summit in Japan today by announcing new sanctions against 17 Russian individuals and 18 “entities” due to human rights abuses in Ukraine. They also announced new funding they said will help to guard against nuclear weapon proliferation.

The latest cybersecurity survey by Texas-based SolarWinds shows that foreign governments’ activities are the top concern for IT professionals at all levels of government in the U.S. Some 60 per cent of respondents ranked them as one of the greatest threats in 2023 compared with 41 per cent two years earlier. “More and more nation states use the cyber landscape to execute aggressive espionage campaigns, as well as other cyberattacks like ransomware and spyware,” says SolarWinds Vice-President Brandon Shopp.

Amnesty International reports that the number of executions confirmed globally in 2022 was the highest in five years, with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt accounting for 90 per cent of the total. A total of 883 executions were performed across 20 countries, up 53 per cent from 2021, but AI notes the exclusion of China, which is thought to execute thousands each year. There were five in the U.S.