US unveils tighter foreign investment rules
Tighter new rules governing sensitive foreign investments will take effect in a month, US officials said Monday, broadening the president's ability to review and block transactions that could threaten national security.
The new rules enforce reforms Congress enacted in 2018 amid heightened concern about Chinese economic espionage, although officials said the measures do not target any one country.
The new rules broaden the authority of a federal interagency panel -- the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS -- which was created in the 1970s to prevent US adversaries from gaining access to sensitive technologies, critical infrastructure or military installations.
In a statement, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the new regulations modernized the process for reviewing such investments while still encouraging foreign investment in "American businesses and workers."
Among the changes, CFIUS will now have the power to review investments -- even if they do not involve the sale of a controlling stake in a target company -- when they involve crucial technologies and infrastructure or sensitive personal data.
According to media reports, CFIUS has recently reportedly opened a national security review of the Chineseowned video app TikTok and required the Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech to sell the gay dating app Grindr. After publishing draft regulations in September, US officials modified the final rules to clarify some definitions and rules, including the way rules apply to investment funds and the geographic areas near military installations covered by the rules.
Three allied countries, Australia, Canada and Britain, enjoy a special status as "excepted foreign states," meaning the rules' application to them is limited. The list of such countries may be expanded in the future, according to the US Treasury. American director Spike Lee was named president of this year's Cannes film festival jury on Tuesday, becoming the first black head of the panel.
The maker of "Malcolm X" and "Do the Right Thing" is the first person of black African descent to preside at the world's biggest film festival, which is held in May on the French Riviera.
Lee, 62, said he was "shocked, happy, surprised and proud all at the same time" to make history.
The Cannes veteran has premiered seven of his films at the festival, with his debut movie "She's Gotta Have It" causing a sensation in 1986 when it won the youth prize at Directors' Fortnight. His appointment comes as activists criticised the Oscars on Monday for ignoring actors and directors of colour, with no nominations for the acclaimed performances of Awkwafina in the Chinese-American drama "The Farewell" and Lupita Nyong'o in the horror movie "Us".
Lee who showed his last film "BlacKkKlansman" at Cannes two years ago said "my biggest blessings... have happened out of nowhere. "I'm honoured to be the first person of the African diaspora (USA) to be named president of the Cannes jury and of a main film festival."
Lee will also be awarded a Palme d'Or, the festival's top award, for lifetime achievement. In a written statement from his home in "Da People's Republic Of Brooklyn, New York", Lee said Cannes had changed his life.
"To me the Cannes film festival (besides being the most important film festival in the world -- no disrespect to anybody) has had a great impact on my film career.
"You could easily say Cannes changed the trajectory of who I became in world cinema," he added.
Lee also thanked "the great people of France who have supported my film career throughout four decades. I will always treasure this special relationship."
Only one Asian, the Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, has ever led the Cannes jury in its 73-year history.
French actress Isabelle Adjani, whose father was Algerian, became the first person of African descent to lead the jury in 1997.
The world's top film festivals have faced fierce criticism for their lack of diversity in recent years.