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Depoliticisation of Cultural and Humanitarian Cooperation: How Do We Preserve the Common Space of Humanity?

On April 10, 2026, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion titled “The challenges of Depoliticisation of Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Ties in the Modern World.” Moderator Oleg Barabanov called this topic important and pressing, given the current international climate. Geopolitical divisions, conflicts and acute contradictions between states inevitably affect the cultural sphere. Humanitarian and cultural ties, as well as connections between people find themselves at the centre of geopolitical…

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The future is now: CIRO’s compliance report for 2026

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) released its latest annual compliance report (the Report) which details areas of focus for CIRO-regulated dealers in 2026 and beyond. As always, we encourage firms to use the Report as a checklist to conduct a gap analysis of regulatory and compliance priorities. Where Dealer Members may wish to focus In anticipation of CIRO’s enhanced focus on the following topics in upcoming CIRO dealer member…

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Relief for venture issuers: CSA adopts semi-annual reporting pilot

Venture issuers who meet certain conditions and criteria can now file financial statements and related MD&A on a semi-annual basis (the SAR Pilot) under the Canadian Securities Administrators’ (CSA) new Coordinated Blanket Order 51-933 – Exemptions to Permit Semi-Annual Reporting for Certain Venture Issuers (the Blanket Order). The Blanket Order introduces a voluntary pilot project that is intended to reduce the regulatory burden and costs associated with frequent interim reporting…

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Want to deal with Canadian clients or investors? What you need to know before you cross the border

Canada’s unique regulatory environment can present opportunities and challenges for U.S. firms looking to offer their funds or services to Canadians. Even the simple task of marketing your fund to a Canadian investor can put you offside Canadian securities law if you do not have a dealer that is authorized or exempt in the relevant jurisdiction of Canada with you at the pitch meetings. Exemptions from Canadian dealer, adviser and…

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Major access to information and privacy reform comes to Ontario

Bill 97 (the Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2026) will introduce significant amendments to Ontario’s freedom of information and privacy framework by updating both the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). For municipal institutions, school boards, colleges and universities, hospitals, and Crown agencies, these reforms are best understood as a legislative response to…

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Valdai Club to Discuss the Elections in Hungary

On April 15 at 12:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion titled “Elections in Hungary and the Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe.” On April 12, Hungary will hold parliamentary elections, in which Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, in power since 2010, could lose to MEP Péter Magyar’s Tisza party. During his 14 years as prime minister, Viktor Orbán has transformed Hungary into the…

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Ontario introduces cyber and educational technology regulations

On March 23, 2026, the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement published two regulations under the Enhancing Digital Security and Trust Act, 2024 (EDSTA). O. Reg. 51/26 (Cyber Security) and O. Reg. 52/26 (Digital Technology Affecting Individuals Under Age 18) will both come into force on July 1, 2026. These regulations impose new governance, reporting, and transparency obligations on a broad range of Ontario public sector institutions,…

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Historical Memory Issues in Relations between Russia and Serbia

In a context where historical facts and the events of the past century are being distorted in certain countries and international forums, the fight against the falsification of history has taken on particular importance. The need to resist such trends, particularly those of a purely political nature, at the state level by upholding historical truth and preserving historical memory has become fundamental for the Russian Federation and the Republic of…

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Why do people loathe London? (and how can we stop them?)

Q5 panel event: The nation’s ‘cash cow’ We recently convened a cross-sector panel to examine London’s role in the UK economy and the roots of anti-London sentiment. The discussion challenged zero-sum thinking, highlighted the impact of over-centralisation, and explored how stronger regional empowerment and collaboration could support more balanced, inclusive growth across the country. Listen to the podcast below. Reading time: 2 minutes We recently hosted a panel at The…

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The Intersection Between Whistleblowers, Compliance, and the New DOJ Declination Policy

Quick Hits The DOJ will not prosecute companies when they voluntarily self-disclose misconduct, fully cooperate with the DOJ’s investigation, and correct the misconduct in a timely and appropriate manner. Companies will be eligible for a declination even if a whistleblower reports to the DOJ first, if the company self-reports to DOJ within 120 days of receiving an internal report. The new policy became effective immediately. The DOJ investigates a wide…

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Bill C-15 receives royal assent: What it means for Canada’s transfer pricing rules

On March 26, 2026, Bill C-15 (Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1) received Royal Assent, bringing into force significant amendments to Canada’s transfer pricing rules under section 247 of the Income Tax Act. These changes have been anticipated since Budget 2025 was released in November 2025, but Royal Assent marks the point at which the proposals become binding law and provides certainty as to how transfer pricing audits and disputes…

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Carnegie Mellon University and AI Strike Team to Showcase the Future of Physical AI During NFL Draft Week

Carnegie Mellon University(opens in new window) and the AI Strike Team today unveiled new details for the Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase(opens in new window) — an invite-only gathering that will bring together global investors, founders, innovators and sports leaders to Carnegie Mellon during one of professional football’s most high-profile weeks. Meredith Meyer Grelli “This showcase reflects the spirit of Pittsburgh, a City of Champions where excellence…

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How CMU Powers Pittsburgh’s Innovation Economy

A century of transformative research Carnegie Mellon’s influence on Pittsburgh’s innovation economy was built over decades of sustained investment in research that’s foundational to modern technology.   Theresa Mayer CMU’s research enterprise spans more than 100 interdisciplinary institutes and centers, including  the Software Engineering Institute(opens in new window) — which has shaped how the federal government approaches cybersecurity — and the Robotics Institute(opens in new window), the first of its kind in the world…

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Knock on Wood: A Different Spin on Carnegie Mellon’s Buggy Race

At Carnegie Mellon University students anticipate the Spring Carnival(opens in new window) and century-old annual Sweepstakes(opens in new window) race by spending months building sleek, carbon-fiber buggies to push a driver around the hills behind campus.Sam Radziwon had an idea akin to long-ago races: The mechanical engineering senior built a wooden buggy, named Balsa, which will roll in an exhibition race Friday morning.Two years ago, Radziwon served as Booth(opens in new window)…

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Iran as a Node of Global Vulnerability: Why the Escalation Around Tehran Has Already Led to a Global Economic Crisis

This is precisely why tensions surrounding Iran affect the global economy far more profoundly than is commonly acknowledged in the public discourse. Markets rarely react solely to the physical disruption of supply chains. Risk anticipation kicks in much earlier. The mere perception that one of the key routes could become less predictable is enough to trigger a wave of reactions: insurance premiums rise, freight costs rise, market participants begin to…

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ONCA weakens entire agreement clauses in contract interpretation

Entire agreement clauses are often treated as a contractual safety net: once the definitive agreement is signed, prior drafts, negotiations, and understandings are meant to fall away. Courts have long recognized limited exceptions to that rule, most notably the use of surrounding circumstances as part of the factual matrix to resolve genuine ambiguity in the contract’s language.  In Project Freeway Inc. v ABC Technologies Inc., 2025 ONCA 855, the Ontario…

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Euro adoption and price increases in Bulgaria: separating myths from facts

9 April 2026By Ginevra Aguiari, Matteo Falagiarda, Christine Gartner and Ema Ivanova[1]Many Bulgarians feared large price increases when the euro replaced the lev. However, preliminary evidence shows that the changeover in Bulgaria has so far had a limited impact on consumer prices and on perceptions of inflation.As in other countries that have introduced the euro, public support for adoption of the new currency in Bulgaria was affected in the run-up…

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OSHA’s Heat Program to Expire While Heat Standard Stalls

Quick Hits OSHA’s heat-related illness and injury prevention NEP is set to expire on April 8, 2026, with no public indication that the current administration intends to extend or replace it. OSHA’s proposed permanent heat illness prevention rule has stalled with no target date for finalization and appears unlikely to advance in the near term. OSHA retains citation authority under the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause and multiple states already…

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2026 Update to the new interpretation of the Canada Health Act

In January 2025, former Federal Minister of Health, the Honourable Mark Holland, released a Letter to provinces and territories on the importance of upholding the Canada Health Act – 2025. We wrote about it here. In short, Minister Holland released an interpretation of the Canada Health Act (CHA) that charging patients for services provided by any health professional that are typically covered by the province when delivered by a physician,…

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Does Eliminating a Testing Requirement Make College Admissions More Inclusive?

In 2020, many colleges suspended their requirements for standardized test scores as the COVID-19 pandemic forced testing centers to close. That same year, the University of California Board of Regents announced it would phase out its SAT requirement for prospective students in a bid to increase equity and diversity. At the time, Yale SOM’s Faidra Monachou was getting her doctorate in Stanford’s Management Science and Engineering department, and she and…

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CMU Ranks No. 1 in 2026 U.S. News Graduate Rankings

Carnegie Mellon University secured six No. 1 rankings in the newly released 2026 Best Graduate Schools(opens in new window) rankings from the U.S. News & World Report.Carnegie Mellon ranks first for overall graduate computer science programs, tied with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University. Among computer science programs, CMU also earned No. 1 rankings in Programming Language(opens in new window), Artificial Intelligence(opens in new window), and Systems(opens in new window), along with…

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Illinois High Court Rules on Pre- and Post-Shift Wage and Hour Exclusion

Quick Hits The Illinois Supreme Court held that Illinois’s Minimum Wage Law does not adopt federal exclusions for preliminary and postliminary activities. The ruling came in a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and revived a class of employees’ state wage-and-hour claims over mandatory pre-shift COVID-19 screenings. The ruling highlights a trend of state courts holding that their states’ wage-and-hour laws do not necessarily…

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Federal Financial Institutions Legislative and Regulatory Reporter – February 2026

The Reporter provides a monthly summary of Canadian federal legislative and regulatory developments of relevance to federally regulated financial institutions. It does not address Canadian provincial financial services legislative and regulatory developments. In addition, purely technical and administrative changes (such as changes to reporting forms) are not covered. February 2026 Published Title and Brief Summary Status (if applicable) Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) February 26, 2026 Targeted…

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Valdai Club to Discuss Challenges of Depoliticising Humanitarian Cooperation

On April 10 at 12:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion titled “The Challenges of Depoliticising Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Ties in the Modern World.” A defining feature of contemporary international conflicts is the active use of mental, humanitarian, and cultural dimensions as alternative instruments of struggle. A kind of “weaponisation” of culture is taking place. This manifests itself both in efforts to dehumanise the societies of geopolitical adversaries and in the large-scale demonisation of cultural figures and other professionals.…

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Russia and Uzbekistan: Equal Partnership in Greater Eurasia

The comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Uzbekistan is currently one of the most important factors for international stability and development across Greater Eurasia. To strengthen the intellectual foundation of this interaction, the Valdai Discussion Club has been fruitfully collaborating for several years with the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. As part of this partnership, a conference titled “Russia–Uzbekistan: Strategic Partnership…

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Maine PFML Benefits Start May 1, 2026: What Employers Should Be Doing Now

Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program is entering its final implementation phase, triggering immediate compliance and readiness considerations for employers. Benefits begin: Employees become eligible for PFML benefits effective May 1, 2026. Applications open: Employees may submit PFML applications as of March 30, 2026, for leave beginning on or after May 1. With the benefit start date approaching and applications now being accepted, Maine employers should promptly review…

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California Bill Would Expand Background Check Restrictions for Employers

Quick Hits Assembly Bill (AB) 2095, introduced in the California Assembly, proposes significant amendments to California’s ban-the-box law, the Fair Chance Act. The bill’s provisions, among others, would require employers to provide a list of specific job duties that may be relevant to the employer’s subsequent assessment of conviction history and establish a rebuttable presumption regarding conviction-to-job relationships. AB 2095 would also require employers to document their assessments in writing…

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Pay Equity Act: Key points for private sector employers and considerations for M&A

Overview The Ontario Pay Equity Act requires private sector employers to establish and maintain compensation practices that provide for pay equity in their establishment(s). For most employers, this requirement is triggered  on the day they hire or hired their tenth employee. To meet the minimum requirements and to show that pay equity has been achieved, employers MUST have carried out each of these activities for each of their establishments: Determine…

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Cassidy Sugimoto Named Dean of CMU’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Cassidy R. Sugimoto, a globally recognized scholar whose work lies at the intersection of information science and science policy, will join Carnegie Mellon University as the next Bess Family Dean of the Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences(opens in new window), effective July 1, 2026.Sugimoto joins CMU from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she serves as school chair, Tom and Marie Patton Chair and Professor in the…

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America’s CEOs Have Become Reluctant Guardians of Democracy

With U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche appointed as acting Attorney General, just days after boasting about his purges of dedicated, nonpartisan, patriotic career law enforcement officials, his boss’s apparent orders are to increase the prosecution of President Trump’s campaign of political retribution. Although the “No Kings” rallies last weekend attracted an estimated 8 million to 9 million protesters, additional voices are still needed to join the growing chorus. These…

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Massachusetts PFMLA and the Scope of Employer-Only Liability

Quick Hits The Massachusetts Superior Court held that the PFMLA’s anti-retaliation protections impose obligations only on “employers” as defined in the unemployment insurance statute, and do not extend liability to a corporate employer’s officers, agents, investors, or board members. The court distinguished the PFMLA from the Massachusetts Wage Act, which expressly deems corporate officers and agents to be “employers” of the corporation’s employees, language that is absent from the PFMLA.…

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Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology secures five-year major funding from the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research

This substantial investment will enable the Institute to continue its world-leading research into the fundamental causes of inflammatory and musculoskeletal diseases, while accelerating the development of new and improved therapies.The funding will underpin KIR's distinctive discovery-to-translation pipeline, an approach that integrates fundamental scientific discovery with clinical application. This unique model enables researchers to translate insights from basic biology into innovative treatments for conditions including arthritis, fibrosis and inflammatory bowel disease.Over…

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Frank Elderson: Europe’s fossil fuel dependence poses risks to price stability

7 April 2026By Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECBEurope’s energy dependence increasingly complicates the task of maintaining price stability. Meeting the continent’s clean‑energy targets would weaken the link between volatile global markets and domestic prices. Crucially, the tools to make this transition are already within reach.Europe’s energy dependence has become one of the critical vulnerabilities of our…

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Massachusetts Federal Court Halts ACTS Survey in Seventeen States

Quick Hits A Massachusetts federal court granted a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of the ACTS survey against public institutions in seventeen plaintiff states, finding plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that the promulgation and adoption of the survey was arbitrary and capricious. The court rejected plaintiffs’ arguments that the ACTS survey exceeds NCES’s statutory authority and that it violates the Paperwork Reduction Act, affirming that NCES has broad…

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Russia and Modernization: The Enduring Legacy of Peter the Great

No matter how we define Russia—as a “civilisational state”, a “nation-state”, an “empire”, or in any other political form—without modernisation, it is doomed to perish. The legacy of Peter the Great is more than relevant in the current international climate, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Ivan Timofeev. The crisis in relations between Russia and the West suggests that the “window to Europe” created by the Russian Emperor Peter the Great…

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German Federal Labor Court Emphasizes Case-by-Case Assessment of Release Clauses

Quick Hits The German Federal Labor Court held that blanket release clauses in employment contracts that entitle the employer to grant a release upon termination constitute an unreasonable disadvantage and are invalid. An employee’s interest in continuing employment until the termination of the employment relationship generally outweighs an employer’s interest in granting the employee a leave of absence in a terminated employment relationship until the expiration of the notice period.…

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USCIS Completes Fiscal Year 2027 H-1B Lottery

Quick Hits USCIS has received enough H-1B registrations for unique beneficiaries to meet the annual cap. Petitioners will have ninety days, beginning on April 1, 2026, to file a completed H-1B petition for each selected beneficiary. Employment in H-1B status can begin no earlier than October 1, 2026. The FY 2027 lottery is the first to use the new weighted, wage-level-based selection process established under a DHS rule that took…

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Oxford’s women triumph in historic 80th boat race

An historic sporting challengeThe stakes were high for Oxford going into this year’s annual boat race against Cambridge, who have proved dominant over much of the past decade.A truly memorable and spirited contest on the river today. I could not be prouder of all our crews and coaches.The University of Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey CBE FRS FMedSciAn event harking back to 1829, this year marked the 171st men’s boat…

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Home Health Company’s Overtime Settlement: A Cautionary Tale for Healthcare Employers With ‘Program Managers’

Quick Hits ViaQuest Residential Services recently agreed to pay $975,000 to settle claims it misclassified program managers as exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Ohio’s wage laws. The case, Simmons v. ViaQuest Residential Services LLC, No. 2:23-00201 (S.D. Ohio), centered on whether program managers’ “primary duty” was management or direct patient care. One hundred-six plaintiffs opted in after conditional certification, illustrating how quickly liability can…

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