WAO ART #133

The Japanese export credit agency, Nexi, has invested $14.8m in the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) as part of a strategic partnership to strengthen Japan's presence in Africa. ATI provides political risk insurance to companies, investors and lenders interested in doing business in the region.

CACEIS Bank, owned by Credit Agricole and Santander, has been granted a license by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) to provide crypto custody services in France. The license allows CACEIS to operate as a crypto asset custodian authorized to store users' private keys.

Australia's top court has rejected Russia's bid to hold on to a plot of land in Canberra, where Moscow had planned to build a new embassy. The government cancelled Russia's lease on national security grounds, prompting a court challenge. Experts said the planned embassy posed a spying risk.

US troops, including 87 Marines, have been deployed to Peru for a 16-day joint Bilateral Jungle Operations Exchange with the local Navy at the Iquitos Base. The deployment was authorised by the Peruvian Congress, which also cleared naval units and military personnel from Japan.

New evidence of China's spy balloon program has been uncovered by BBC Panorama, including flights over Japan and Taiwan. Japan has confirmed balloons have flown over its territory and said it's prepared to shoot them down in future. Chinese balloons are equipped to gather signals intelligence.

The jury selection process for Donald Trump's classified documents case in Florida will be crucial, as the court must find 12 jurors who can leave their opinions of the former president at the door. With a figure as Trump, lawyers say it could prove difficult to find unbiased jurors.

Greek conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has won a second election in a month, with his New Democracy party (ND) winning 40.5% of the national vote, almost 23 points ahead of Alexis Tsipras's Syriza party. Mitsotakis has said he has a "strong mandate" to move faster on the path of change.