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University professor Xavier Crettiez admits that he doesn’t know the real names of many of the students on his course.

This is a highly unusual state of affairs in the world of academia, but Prof Crettiez’s work is far from standard.

Instead, he helps train France’s spies.

“I rarely know the intelligence agents’ backgrounds when they are sent on the course, and I doubt the names I’m given are genuine anyway,” he says.

If you wanted to create a setting for a spy school, then the campus of Sciences Po Saint-Germain on the outskirts of Paris seems a good fit.

With dour, even gloomy-looking, early 20th Century buildings surrounded by busy, drab roads and large, intimidating metal gates, it has a very discreet feel.

Where it does stand out is its unique diploma that brings together more typical students in their early 20s, and active members of the French secret services, usually between the ages of 35 and 50.

The course is called Diplôme sur le Renseignement et les Menaces Globales, which translates as Diploma of Intelligence and Global Threats.

It was developed by the university in association with the Academie du Renseignement, the training arm of the French secret services.

This came following a request from French authorities a decade ago. After the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the government went on a large recruitment drive within the French intelligence agencies.

It asked Sciences Po, one of France’s leading universities, to come up with a new course to both train potential new spies, and provide continuous training for current agents.

Large French companies were also quick to show an interest, both in getting their security staff onto the course, and snapping up many of the younger graduates.

The diploma is made up of 120 hours of classwork with modules spread over four months. For external students – the spies and those on placement from businesses – it costs around €5,000 ($5,900; £4,400).

The core aim of the course is to identify threats wherever they are, and how to track and overcome them. The key topics include the economics of organized crime, Islamic jihadism, business intelligence gathering and political violence.

To attend one of the classes and speak to the students I had to be vetted first by the French security services. The theme of the lesson I joined was “intelligence and over-reliance on technology”.

One of the students I speak to is a man in his 40s who goes by the name Roger. He tells me in very precise, clipped English that he is investment banker. He adds: “I provide consultancy across west Africa, and I joined the course to provide risk assessments to my clients there.”

Prof Crettiez, who teaches political radicalisation, says there has been a huge expansion in the French secret services in recent years. And that there are now around 20,000 agents in what he called the “inner circle”.

This is made up of the DGSE, which looks at matters overseas, and is the French equivalent of the UK’s MI6 or the US’s CIA. And the DGSI, which focuses on threats within France, like the UK’s MI5 or the US’s FBI.

But he says it’s not just about terrorism. “There are the two main security agencies, but also Tracfin an intelligence agency which specializes in money laundering.

“It is preoccupied with the surge in mafia activity, especially in southern France, including corruption in the public and private sectors mainly due to massive profits in illegal drug trafficking.”

Other lecturers on the course include a DGSE official once located in Moscow, a former French ambassador to Libya, and a senior official from Tracfin. The head of security at the French energy giant EDF also runs one module.

The private sector’s interest in the diploma is said to be continuing to grow. Big businesses, especially in the defence and aerospace sector, but also French luxury goods firms, are increasingly keen to hire the students as they face relentless cybersecurity and spying threats as well as sabotage.

Recently graduates have been snapped up by the French mobile phone operator Orange, aerospace and defence giant Thales, and LVHM, which owns everything from Louis Vuitton and Dior to champagne brands Dom Perignon and Krug.

Twenty eight students are enrolled in this year’s class. Six are spies. You can tell who they are, as they are the ones huddled together during class breaks, away from the young students, and not too overwhelmed with joy when I approach them.

Without saying their exact roles, and with arms crossed, one says the course is considered a fast-track stepping stone for a promotion from the office to field work. Another says he gets fresh ideas being in this academic environment. They signed the day’s attendance form with just their first names.

One of the younger students, Alexandre Hubert, 21, says he wanted a deeper understanding of the looming economic war between Europe and China. “Looking at intelligence gathering from a James Bond viewpoint is not relevant, the job is analysing risk and working out how to counteract it,” he tells me.

Another class member, Valentine Guillot, also 21, says she was inspired by the popular, fictional French TV spy drama Le Bureau. “Coming here to discover this world which I didn’t know anything about except for the TV series has been a remarkable opportunity, and now I am very keen to join the security services.”

Nearly half of the students in the class are in fact women. And this is a relatively recent development according to one of the lecturers, Sebastien-Yves Laurent, a specialist on technology in spying.

“Women’s interest in intelligence gathering is new,” he says. “They are interested because they think it will provide for a better world.

“And if there is one common thread amongst all these young students it’s that they are very patriotic and that is new compared to 20 years ago.

If you are keen to apply to get on the course, French citizenship is an essential requirement, although some dual citizens are accepted.

Yet Prof Crettiez says he has to be wary. “I regularly get applications from very attractive Israeli and Russian women with amazing CVs. Unsurprisingly they are binned immediately.”

In a recent group photo of the class you can immediately tell who the spies are – they had their backs to the camera.

While all the students and professional spies I met are trim and athletic, Prof Crettiez is also keen to dispel the myth of James Bond-like adventure.

“Few new recruits will end up in the field,” he says. “Most French intelligence agencies jobs are desk bound.”

Donald Trump has warned Venezuela’s new leader Delcy Rodríguez she could “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she “doesn’t do what’s right”.

His comments to US magazine The Atlantic came as the country’s deposed president Nicolás Maduro was set to appear in a New York court on Monday.

The US accuses Maduro, who is charged with drug trafficking and weapons offences, of running a “narco-terrorist” regime, a claim he denies.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted the US is not at war with Venezuela, after air strikes in Caracas on Saturday led to Maduro and his wife being taken into custody and transported to the US.

Some Democratic lawmakers said the operation was an “act of war”.

In an interview with The Atlantic on Sunday, Trump said of Rodríguez: “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”

He added that for Venezuela,”Regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can’t get any worse”.

On Saturday, Trump had vowed the US would “run” the country until “a safe and proper and judicious transition” was possible.

Trump also promised US oil companies would move into the country to fix infrastructure “and start making money for the country”.

Despite the US president’s claims, Maduro’s allies remain in charge.

The Cuban government has said 32 “brave Cuban combatants” died when US forces attacked and captured Maduro and his wife. Cuba – a longstanding socialist ally of Maduro – has announced two days of national mourning.

In several TV interviews on Sunday morning, Rubio defended the US’s military operation in Venezuela, stressing the action did not mean the US is at war with the South American country.

“We are at war against drug trafficking organisations. That’s not a war against Venezuela,” Rubio told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning.

The secretary of state also told CBS that if Venezuela doesn’t “make the right decisions”, the US “will retain multiple levers of leverage to ensure that our interests are protected”.

That includes the “quarantine” the US has placed on Venezuela’s oil, he said.

“We’re going to judge everything by what they do, and we’re going to see what they do,” he added.

Maduro, who leads the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and has been in power since 2013, has frequently been accused of repressing opposition groups and silencing dissent in Venezuela, at times with the use of violence.

He is widely seen by opponents within his country as well as by foreign governments as having illegitimately won Venezuela’s 2024 election.

Venezuela’s left-wing leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured at their compound and flown to the US, as part of a dramatic special forces operation in the early hours of Saturday that also saw strikes on military bases.

The couple have since been charged with weapon and drug offences and are set to appear at a court in New York on Monday.

Maduro has denied being a cartel leader and has accused the US of using its “war on drugs” as an excuse to try to depose him and get its hands on Venezuela’s oil.

While US officials have said that no American troops were harmed in the attacks, Venezuela’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said a “large part” of Maduro’s security team and “soldiers and innocent civilians” were killed in the US operation.

When asked why congressional authorisation wasn’t sought before the US operation in Venezuela, Rubio told ABC it “wasn’t necessary because this wasn’t an invasion”.

He described it as a “law enforcement operation”, and said Maduro was arrested on the ground by FBI agents.

You can’t notify Congress of an operation like this because “it will leak”, he added.

Maduro’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez is now the interim president after being sworn in by the nation’s Supreme Court. The country’s military has also given its backing to her. She will sworn in as president on Monday in Caracas, at 08:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

Speaking to US media outlets, Rubio was asked if the US recognises Rodríguez as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

He answered that “this is not about the legitimate president” as the US does not recognise the regime as legitimate.

Some Democratic lawmakers have condemned the administration’s actions.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the secretive military operation, which was conducted without approval from Congress, “was not simply a narcotics operation”.

“It was an act of war,” Jeffries told NBC’s Meet the Press.

“This was a military action involving Delta Force, involving the army, apparently involving thousands of troops, involving at least 150 military aircraft, perhaps involving dozens of ships off the coast of Venezuela and South America.”

Jim Himes, the most senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, told CBS Face the Nation he had had “zero outreach” from the Trump administration, adding “no Democrat that I’m aware of has had any outreach”.

In an interview with ABC This Week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer questioned the legality of the US operation.

Schumer said that while he believes Maduro is a horrible person, “You don’t treat lawlessness with other lawlessness”.

“We have learned through the years when America tries to do regime change and nation building in this way, the American people pay the price in both blood and in dollars,” Schumer said.

He added that Trump had abandoned his campaign promise of “no more endless wars.

Both Schumer and Jeffries vowed to support a resolution that, if passed in both houses, would prohibit Trump from taking any further action in Venezuela without Congressional approval.

In a joint statement, the governments of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain said the US’s military actions “constitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger the civilian population”.

They said they wanted a solution to the Venezuela situation to come from peaceful means such as dialogue and negotiation.

They also expressed concern about external control that is “incompatible with international law” and “threatens the political, economic, and social stability of the region”.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he seeks to reset frayed ties with his country’s biggest trading partner.

Regional security and Beijing’s unofficial ban on Korean pop culture are also on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, which is their second summit since November, when Xi visited South Korea.

Given what a vital economic partner China is, experts say Lee is looking for assurances that it would not weaponise that relationship in the face of political tensions in the region.

For weeks, China and Japan have been engaged in a diplomatic row over the former’s claim on self-governed Taiwan, which puts Seoul, a key regional power, in an awkward spot.

Beijing ramped up the rhetoric against Japan after its prime minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in parliament that Tokyo could respond with its own self defence force in case of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

So visiting Beijing at this time is a significant move for Lee. Like Japan, South Korea too is an ally of the US, which supports Taiwan and supplies arms for its defence.

Lee, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday, will attend a banquet hosted by Xi on Monday. He will then meet China’s Premier Li Qiang and the chairman of parliament, Zhao Leji, before flying to Shanghai.

Speaking before Korean residents in Beijing, Lee said his visit would “serve as a new starting point to fill in the gaps in Korea-China relations, restore them to normal and upgrade them to a new level”.

This is the first visit by a South Korean leader since 2019. The relationship soured under Lee’s predecessor, impeached ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was very critical of China.

On the other side, Xi’s eagerness to meet Lee signals the pressure he faces in finding a regional ally, Park Seung-chan, professor of China studies at Yongin University told the BBC.

“China may beat around the bush but its demand is clear: side with China and denounce Japan.”

Beijing has been leveraging the two countries’ shared history of fighting against Japan during the 20th Century, Mr Park said. Lee is expected to hold a memorial service in Shanghai for activists who fought for Korea’s independence from Japan.

While Korea is “still showing all its deference towards China”, it wants to “strengthen its relationships with both Japan and China”, Mr Park added.

Seoul has long walked a diplomatic tightrope between Beijing and Tokyo. Lee is reportedly planning to visit Japan later this month to meet Takaichi. And on Friday, South Korea’s national security director Wi Sung-lac told reporters on that the country “respects the One China policy” – the diplomatic acknowledgment that Beijing is the only Chinese government.

Security on the Korean Peninsula will also be part of the discussions with China, Wi told reporters.

Lee has sought to engage North Korea diplomatically, but there has been little progress so far. He needs Chinese cooperation in pressuring the North’s Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons. Beijing is the dictator’s biggest supporter, economically and diplomatically, Russia aside.

“China is a very important cooperative partner in moving toward peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said in the event with Korean residents in Beijing.

On Sunday, Seoul’s military said Pyongyang fired ballistic missiles off its east coast. And on Monday, North Korea’s KCNA news agency said the North test-fired hypersonic missiles to assess its war deterrence capabilities in the face of geopolitical developments.

Pyongyang had denounced America’s arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a “serious encroachment of sovereignty”.

It remains unclear how much Lee will be able to push China on North Korea. In September, Xi had pledged to strengthen Beijing’s “traditional friendship” with Pyongyang.

And Seoul and Beijing are not natural allies.

US troops have been stationed in South Korea for decades in case of an attack from the North, and last year the two sides agreed to cooperate on building nuclear-powered submarines. The announcement drew warnings from China.

There are other sore spots, such as China’s unofficial restrictions on South Korean music and dramas that have been in place for a decade. K-pop and K-dramas are either unavailable or difficult to access on Chinese media platforms.

While China has never acknowledged a ban on Korean artists, it’s believed to be a protest against South Korea’s decision to deploy a US anti-missile system in 2016, which China sees as a threat to its military operations in the region.

Persuading Beijing to lift these restrictions is said to be high on Lee’s agenda. China is a massive market for Korean entertainment, which is already a huge global success.

Lee would also be seeking to put a stop to China’s build-up of maritime structures in waters between the two countries. Beijing says the structures are fish-farming equipment, but they have sparked security concerns in Seoul.