Europe in the Eyes of Asia: Pakistan’s Evolving Perspective Amid Europe’s Internal Changes

The evolving global order has placed Europe and Asia at a crossroads, where mutual perceptions significantly influence bilateral and multilateral relations. Europe, as one of Asia's largest trading partners and a key player in global diplomacy, plays a crucial role in shaping the region’s geopolitical and economic dynamics. Historically seen…

Digitale zorg in Nederland: Van evolutie naar revolutie

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:18 mins read

Zolang we niets doen aan verdere digitalisering van de zorg, stevent de Nederlandse samenleving af op een mogelijk onwerkbare situatie: De zorgkosten stijgen ieder jaar sneller en de personeelstekorten lopen in snel tempo op. Digitale zorg kan niet alleen de zorgkosten omlaag brengen en de personeelstekorten verminderen, maar ook de…

How to Manage Tech Debt in the AI Era

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Technical debt is an anchor, dragging down business leaders’ efforts to run a tight ship. The accumulated costs and effort from IT development shortcuts, outdated applications, and aging infrastructure sap a company’s ability to innovate, compete, and grow. A degree of technical debt is…

Changes to U.S. Mission India’s Nonimmigrant Visa Processing

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:6 mins read

Quick Hits The U.S. State Department has revised drop box eligibility criteria, limiting it to applicants renewing a visa in the same class that is either still valid or expired within the last twelve months (a departure from the previous forty-eight-month policy for any visa class). Despite efforts to streamline…

New findings on the power of enzymes could reshape biochemistry

Using a series of more than 1,000 X-ray snapshots of the shapeshifting of enzymes in action, researchers at Stanford University have illuminated one of the great mysteries of life – how enzymes are able speed up life-sustaining biochemical reactions so dramatically. Their findings could impact fields ranging from basic science…

The Hidden Game: Uncovering The Business of Sports

  • Post category:INSEAD Knowledge
  • Reading time:10 mins read

A nail-biting penalty shootout. A sprint title decided by mere milliseconds. A championship that comes down to the wire. From baseball to badminton, sport has a remarkable ability to unite millions of people around the world and leave them on the edge of their seats, whether they’re watching the action…

Improving military aircraft sustainment to strengthen Europe’s defense

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:13 mins read

In response to the changing geopolitical environment, European NATO countries have increased defense budgets, a significant share of which are expected to go to new equipment. As munition stocks grow and existing equipment ages, mission readiness—the ability to deploy military assets for their intended use—is an increasingly important priority for…

How Europe Is Rewriting the WWII History

Simplification and instrumentalisation of history has devastating effects as once unifying symbols become subjects of discord. We are warned of the dangers ahead and alerted to our responsibility toward the younger and future generations to lead this struggle for History with a capital ‘H’, Jean-Pierre Page writes.   “THAT men…

Rethinking your company’s clean-power strategy

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:12 mins read

Businesses increasingly want to buy clean electricity—especially as the fast expansion of data centers powering artificial intelligence pushes technology companies’ power demands to new heights. Unchecked, these increased power demands further threaten the world’s ability to meet climate targets. Whether to meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) targets, cut costs, or…

CCS in Southeast Asia: An opportunity or distant reality?

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:14 mins read

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is projected to play a significant role in the world’s energy transition, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors. Based on McKinsey Energy Solutions’ analysis, future CCS demand is anticipated to be driven by sectors such as power, hydrogen, iron and steel, cement, and refining. The conditions in…

NLRB Acting General Counsel Rescinds Many of Predecessor’s Memos, Sets Stage for New Labor Policy

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:5 mins read

Quick Hits NLRB Acting General Counsel William B. Cowen rescinded numerous memoranda from his predecessor, Jennifer Abruzzo. The rescinded memos included key guidance on various labor issues, such as the employee status of college athletes, remedies, and the legality of noncompete agreements and other restrictive covenants. In Memorandum GC 25-05,…

Diving deeper into the PPPA: Reynolds v Deep Water Recovery Ltd.

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:9 mins read

The Protection of Public Participation Act, S.B.C. 2019, c. 3 (the PPPA) creates a pre-trial procedure that allows a defendant to apply to the court for an order dismissing a proceeding that arises out of an expression on matters of public interest. But what happens when the proceeding deals with…

Faster, smarter trials: Modernizing biopharma’s R&D IT applications

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:14 mins read

Breakthroughs in scientific research and increased public and private investments have yet to negate the long timelines and rising costs of clinical trials. Such challenges continue to drag down biopharma R&D productivity and hold back innovative therapies from making it to market. Although clinical development speed increased during the COVID-19…

The state of demand for commercial real estate

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:9 mins read

It’s been a year and a half since McKinsey published Empty spaces and hybrid places: The pandemic’s lasting impact on real estate. The comprehensive report examined the effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on behaviors, including office attendance, residential moves from urban centers to the suburbs, and in-person versus online shopping.…

Articles On: Spies, Protesters, Media Regulator, Military, Data, Apple’s App Store, Wall Street, Economic Coercion, Universities, and Tesla

How not to get seduced by foreign spies: China’s spy agencyby Qian Langvia Radio Free Asia on February 7, 2025 Bail denied for Hong Kong woman arrested by nat. security police for allegedly helping fugitive protestersby James Leevia Hong Kong Free Press on February 8, 2025 Hong Kong police arrest…

NLRB Acting General Counsel Rescinds Non-compete Labor Policy

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:5 mins read

Quick Hits On February 14, 2025, NLRB Acting GC William B. Cowen rescinded memoranda that deemed as violations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) two categories of restrictive covenant agreements with non-supervisory/non-management employees: (1) non-compete agreements in employment contracts and severance agreements and (2) stay-or-pay agreements whereby employees are…

A tax to-do list for Canada’s next government

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:10 mins read

The recent prorogation of Parliament is unfortunate on many levels, most notably for extending by some months the period of time that many government initiatives remain in limbo. The business community is used to managing risks, but some are more avoidable than others. In these particularly trying times, the last…

New demographic reality poses challenges for countries and companies

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:5 mins read

New research by my colleagues at the McKinsey Global Institute shows that as the world becomes youth-scarce, the number of people of working age per senior in advanced economies and China will halve, from about four today to just two by 2050. The fact that people are living longer is…

The U.S. tariff effect: A multi-part analysis of the impact on Canadian employers

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:7 mins read

The Trump Administration’s decision surrounding the potential imposition of new tariffs in the near future has introduced significant uncertainty for Canadian businesses, employees and trade unions alike. While much of the focus has been on trade and economic policy, these measures also have critical implications for employment and labour law…

Progress and lessons learned on the road to 2030 climate goals

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:9 mins read

2025 is a notable year in the world’s continued efforts toward a more sustainable future. It marks the five-year countdown to 2030, the end of the timeline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 2025 will also be the 30th convening of the UN Climate Change Conference—also known as COP30—and it…

Building leaders from the ground up

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:21 mins read

CEOs are confronting double the number of critical issues today compared with ten years ago. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partners Daniel Pacthod and Kurt Strovink, along with McKinsey Senior Advisor Wyman Howard, join McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro to discuss the characteristics today’s business leaders need…

Arnab Bose on AI’s impact on cybersecurity

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:14 mins read

In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, McKinsey Partner Rikki Singh sits down with Arnab Bose, the chief product officer of the Okta Platform. During their conversation, Singh and Bose discuss how AI has changed the landscape of cybersecurity, how Okta innovatively protects its clients against deepfakes and phishing…

Six Essential Tips for Selling Commercial Products and Commercial Services to the Federal Government

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:7 mins read

In celebration of the release of the 6th Edition of the Government Contracts Compliance Handbook, we are sharing six essential tips for selling commercial products and commercial services to the federal government. While legislative reforms have simplified the process of selling commercial products and commercial services to government agencies, federal…

iGaming in Canada: 2024 deals a strong hand and a few wildcards for 2025

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:14 mins read

A review of Canadian iGaming developments in 2024 and what’s to come in 2025. What you need to know All eyes on Alberta. While optimism around the timing surrounding a potential 2025 launch of a regulated online gaming market in Alberta has been tempered, efforts remain underway to create a…

Enhancing supply chain efficiency with agentic systems

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:13 mins read

The supply chain challenge continues  Retailers and consumer goods companies have faced constant change, particularly in supply chains. New sales and distribution models, such as online sales, omnichannel approaches, direct-to-consumer sales, and complex ecosystems, have evolved. External disruptions are frequent, with 90% of leaders reporting supply chain challenges in 20241. …

Returning to the office? Focus more on practices and less on the policy

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:21 mins read

The world of work is still in flux as many companies continue to follow hybrid and work-from-home models. At the same time, Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Nike moved to mandated in-office policies of at least four days a week in 2024, and more organizations,…

Expert Comment: Paris AI Summit misses opportunity for global AI governance

Following previous summits at Bletchley Park (2023) and Seoul (2024), global leaders re-convened at the Paris AI Summit this month to find a shared direction for the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI). The Declaration agreed at Paris, signed by fifty-seven states and bodies such as the UN, the OECD, and the…

CoDa marks new era for computing and data science at Stanford

As computing and data continue to influence nearly every facet of society, Stanford University is committing to the future of both with the opening of the new Computing and Data Science (CoDa) building."}">svg]:su-mt-3 md:[&>svg]:su--mt-2 lg:[&>svg]:su-mt-4 [&>svg]:su-w-41 [&>svg]:su-h-43 md:[&>svg]:su-w-[97px] md:[&>svg]:su-h-[102px] su-mr-8 lg:su-mr-19">sAs computing and data continue to influence nearly every facet…

Webinar: Drafting Restrictive Covenants That Work – Insights from Recent Legal Battles

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Denys Nevozhai, Unsplash 2025 Trade Secrets Webinar Series REGISTER HERE Thursday, February 27, 20251:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific About the Program Restrictive covenants continue to face evolving legal challenges and heightened regulatory scrutiny. With…

EU-Mexico’s new trade deal: What about a trilateral trade tango with Canada?

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:10 mins read

In 2018, the first Trump Administration imposed tariffs – on purportedly national security grounds - on all imports of steel and aluminum, including from Mexico and Canada, its trading partners since 1994 in the North American Free Trade Agreement.1 In 2019, Canada and Mexico agreed to renegotiate the NAFTA. The…

AI at Work: Let’s talk about AI pricing strategies

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:7 mins read

When your company is investing in AI, it can be hard to gauge ROI. What use cases will generate the most value? How will you measure ROI? With these big questions looming, it’s understandable that leaders might feel uncertain about answering one of the most basic questions: how much should…

New study highlights ways to future-proof cocoa production

This Valentine’s Day, millions of pounds worth of chocolate will be exchanged as gifts, but climate change and biodiversity loss imperil future global supplies of this treat. A new research study led by the University of Oxford and published today (14 February) demonstrates that sustainable agricultural practices that both protect…

What do US consumers want from e-commerce deliveries?

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:12 mins read

Consumers still love to shop online, but growth in e-commerce is no longer likely to be as frenzied as it was in recent years. E-commerce sales in the United States soared to 18 percent annual growth between 2019 and 2023. Our analysis suggests that sales could now normalize at a…

Brussels Centralism Threatens to Cause Even Greater Economic Damage to Europe

Undermining sovereignty According to certain political elites, Europe’s economy is facing a “state of emergency” due to sanctions against the Russian Federation, energy crisis, the trade war with China and the United States, Trump’s tariffs rhetoric – not to forget the ongoing debt crisis in many of the Member States.…

The Future of Artificial Intelligence: A World Without Secrets?

On February 13, 2025, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to the future of artificial intelligence. Anton Bespalov, moderator of the discussion, invited the participants to address the prospects of a technological confrontation between China and the United States and Russia's place in it. Ruslan Yunusov, Co-Founder of…

Global Private Markets Report 2025: Private equity emerging from the fog

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:27 mins read

To the casual observer, 2024 may have felt like yet another difficult year for private equity (PE) globally. Fundraising remained tough—down 24 percent year over year for traditional commingled vehicles, marking the third consecutive year of decline. Investment returns were muted, especially compared with buoyant public markets. Our analysis reveals…

Navigating the New Energy Landscape: Key Takeaways from Trump’s Recent Executive Actions

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:5 mins read

In a decisive shift from the prior administration’s energy policies, President Trump has enacted a series of executive orders aimed at bolstering domestic fossil fuel production and overhauling the permitting process for energy projects. These actions underscore the administration’s commitment to achieving energy independence, expediting infrastructure development, and reinforcing the…

New York Federal Court Ruling Highlights a Potential Pitfall in Settlement Agreement Enforcement

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Quick Hits New York’s General Obligations Law (GOL) § 5-336 and Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”) § 5003-B both impose strict requirements on nondisclosure clauses in matters involving discrimination claims, including that the inclusion of such clauses in a settlement agreement be at the plaintiff’s preference. The U.S. District…

Regulation of renewable energy projects in B.C.: Streamlined approval processes for project development

  • Post category:BLG law firm
  • Reading time:4 mins read

What to know Building capacity for renewable energy projects is a key priority for the current British Columbia government and they have recently announced that they will introduce new legislation for renewable energy projects in the spring of 2025. If passed, the legislation will expand the authority of the British…