Diplomatic Pause: Reasons for and Consequences of the Termination of Gas Transit through Ukraine

On January 16, 2025, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to the situation on the EU gas market after the termination of transit through Ukraine. Anton Bespalov, the moderator of the discussion, noted that over the past three years, the situation on the gas market has undergone tectonic changes. At one point, Western public opinion was frightened by the weaponisation of Russian energy supplies to Europe, but today…

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Brits still associate working-class accents with criminal behaviour – study warns of bias in the criminal justice system

Research led by the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, raises serious concerns about bias in the UK criminal justice system due to negative stereotyping of accents.These stereotypes, the researchers argue, can affect all parts of the system from arrest to sentencing, and undermine not only suspects and defendants, but also the testimony of witnesses. The study is particularly concerned about accented speakers being incorrectly selected from…

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Rewiring technology to better serve customers and the business

While consumer habits and technologies have changed rapidly, the technology function within organizations has tended to be slower to adapt. That realization—and the desire to create experiences that its customers expect—inspired Verizon Consumer and Business Group (Verizon Consumer Group) to make sweeping changes to its technology organization, from a focus on supporting channels and platforms to supporting complete customer journeys. This shift required a broad set of architectural and operational…

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Philosophy Eats AI

Generating sustainable business value with AI demands critical thinking about the disparate philosophies determining AI development, training, deployment, and use. Michael Schrage and David Kiron January 16, 2025 Reading Time: 32 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images In 2011, coder-turned-venture-investor Marc Andreessen famously declared, “Software is eating the world” in the analog pages of The Wall Street Journal. His manifesto described a technology voraciously transforming every global industry it…

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The EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement: Is it time to revive talks on a Canada-Mercosur Agreement?

Context Reports out of Washington indicate that the United States is poised to impose “universal” tariffs (that is, tariffs on imports from all its trading partners) on health care and other “critical” goods on the basis of “national security”. This would or could – the situation remains “fluid/uncertain”, as reported – include tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, five years after President Trump agreed to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement precisely…

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Video AI Enhancing Physical Security While Preserving Privacy: Battery Leads Coram AI’s Series A

Physical security is a universal requirement for all organizations, which in the U.S. alone deploy an estimated 85 million security cameras to monitor their premises against threats and crime.  Yet almost all the exabytes of video data generated by these cameras serve no purpose: They vastly exceed the attentive capacity of people to view them.  Indeed, experiments show that even dedicated personnel cannot effectively detect threats or illicit behavior while…

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Navigating the new geopolitical uncertainty

Business leaders today confront a changing world order: intensifying regional conflicts, rising instability, and potential shifts in trade relationships and policy. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Cindy Levy and Shubham Singhal, global coleaders of McKinsey’s geopolitics work, speak with global editorial director Lucia Rahilly about how leaders can orient themselves within this evolving geopolitical landscape and, in particular, begin to move beyond mitigating risk to finding and mobilizing on new…

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Sarah Soule appointed dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business

Sarah A. Soule, a scholar of organizational behavior who has held multiple leadership roles at Stanford, will be the next dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford Provost Jenny Martinez announced today.Soule, the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior, has been a member of the GSB faculty since 2008 and served as the school’s senior associate dean for academic affairs from 2016 to 2023. Since September 2023, she has…

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Second Circuit Revives New York Reproductive Health Bias Law’s Notice Requirement for Employee Handbooks

Quick Hits The Second Circuit has revived a requirement that New York employers include in employee handbooks a notice informing employees of their right to be free from discrimination or retaliation based on their [the employees’] or their dependents’ reproductive health decisions. The ruling also revived a First Amendment challenge by religious organizations to New York’s Reproductive Health Bias Law (New York Labor Law Section 203-e), impacting how employers may…

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Canada’s first deep geological repository site is selected

On Nov. 28, 2024, the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) announced that the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation (WLON) and the township of Ignace in the province of Ontario were selected as host communities for a repository to be constructed on Revell Lake. The NWMO began its search in 2010 and initially considered 22 potential sites. The NWMO narrowed the site selection process to the following two locations: The Wabigoon Lake Ojibway…

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Managing Emotions at Work After the Inauguration

Next week marks the presidential inauguration, a time that often stirs strong emotions in the workplace. Excitement, disappointment, frustration, or even anxiety can find their way into daily interactions. Employees may consciously or unconsciously bring their political wins or losses into the office, and if left unchecked, these emotions can ripple through your organization, disrupting teamwork, productivity, and morale. According to SHRM’s Civility Index, 44% of U.S. workers believe the…

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A fitness agenda for government: Cultivating organizational health in the US public sector

Government agencies often undertake complex missions that can have a large impact on society. Whether they involve modernizing infrastructure or establishing nationwide health programs, such missions could be described as “big, hairy, audacious goals”—the term coined by management experts Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book Built to Last. But measuring the success of such efforts can be difficult. Many public sector agencies tend to fall back on conventional…

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Indian farmers’ optimism is driving interest in new products

Indian farmers expect better near-term prospects following a year of steady output and multiple years of market and weather-related disruptions. About three-quarters of farmers (76 percent) say they anticipate higher profits over the next two years, with more than 65 percent citing improved yields and higher crop prices as catalysts. This is a substantial improvement over 2022, when just 37 percent of farmers expected increased profits. These are among the…

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Cambridge leads governmental project to understand impact of smartphones and social media on young people

The work has been commissioned by the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology after a review by the UK Chief Medical Officer in 2019 found the evidence base around the links to children’s mental health were insufficient to provide strong conclusions suitable to inform policy.The project – led by a team at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with researchers at several leading UK universities – is aimed…

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Analytical AI: A Better Way to Identify the Right AI Projects

The allure of generative AI is undeniable, but it should not eclipse the proven capabilities of analytical AI. Consider a better way to ideate on the best AI projects for your organization. Pedro Amorim, Teresa Bianchi de Aguiar, Luís Guimarães, Bernardo Almada-Lobo, and Bruno Teixeira January 15, 2025 Reading Time: 10 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Large language models, with their ability to generate humanlike text and assist…

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Firms that use AI systems for any purpose: It’s time to make a to-do list

Through the publication of CSA Staff Notice and Consultation 11-348 Applicability of Canadian Securities Laws and the Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems in Capital Markets (the AI Staff Notice), the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have put registered firms on notice that using AI in virtually any fashion may trigger additional regulatory expectations to demonstrate compliance with securities laws. Best practices for the responsible use of AI All firms should consider…

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The Lessons for CEOs in the Turmoil at the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times

This commentary originally appeared in Chief Executive. Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, like Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, faced staff revolts, prominent resignations and thousands of readers canceling their subscriptions when his paper suddenly decided to drop political endorsements.‌ CEOs do make bold choices and reverse prior positions as market conditions and business priorities shift. As PepsiCo’s CEO, Indra Nooyi boldly shifted the company’s product mix to be more…

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Poised for take-off: Hyperscaling the United Kingdom’s climate tech

By the numbers, the United Kingdom’s start-up technology ecosystem has a lot to be proud of. By value, it is the largest in Europe, employing over three million people and surpassing $1 trillion in valuation in 2024. Much of start-up technology investment in the United Kingdom goes to climate technology businesses, which have a positive environmental impact at their core. With over 5,000 budding climate technology start-ups and scale-ups, second…

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The Global Health Network reaches 1 million members

Every day, millions suffer from preventable and treatable diseases that disproportionately affect underserved communities. At the same time, the threat of the next global outbreak looms large. The Global Health Network is transforming how these challenges are met by empowering all levels of healthcare workers with the skills, tools, and connections to conduct research that directly benefits their patients and communities. This is disrupting outdated hierarchies and driving equity in…

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Reform the justice system to save democracy, says David Sklansky

When he was a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles in the 1990s, Stanford Law School Professor David Sklansky often participated in the selection of juries. “I would hear potential jurors talk about their views about criminal justice, the police, and about crime in their neighborhoods, and I was repeatedly struck by how complicated and nuanced those views were,” says Sklansky, author of the recently published Criminal Justice in Divided America:…

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Not a United Front: How the Nordic Countries Are Promoting the Collective Security Agenda for the Baltic Sea and Arctic Regions Within NATO

The events of February 2022 provoked a sharp change in rhetoric among the authorities of the Nordic states and pushed two countries that had not previously planned to join the alliance to take more decisive action. Thus, it can be said that from their point of view, NATO has become the only option for articulating and ensuring their military-political interests in the Baltic Sea region and in the Arctic. The…

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Frequently Asked Questions About the New Jersey Data Protection Act, Effective January 15, 2025

Quick Hits The New Jersey Data Protection Act (NJDPA) takes effect on January 15, 2025, as New Jersey joins eighteen other states with comprehensive data privacy laws. The NJDPA defines a “consumer” as a New Jersey resident acting in an individual or household context, excluding those acting in commercial or employment contexts. The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs will provide a grace period for enforcement of the NJDPA until…

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New interpretation of the Canada Health Act

Introduction On Jan. 10, 2025, the federal Minister of Health released long-awaited guidance on the delivery of insured health care services pursuant to the Canada Health Act (the CHA). The Honourable Mark Holland, Federal Minister of Health (the Minister), issued a letter clarifying the Government’s position that patients should not be charged for services provided by any health professional if those services would otherwise be covered when delivered by a…

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Exploring an uncertain future with the help of scenarios

15 January 2025By Matteo Ciccarelli, Matthieu Darracq Pariès, Bettina Landau and João SousaCentral banks project future developments based on past data patterns and a set of assumptions. Crises can change economic structures, complicating this forecasting. The ECB Blog explains how scenario, risk and sensitivity analyses address the new uncertainty.We use economic models and data patterns from the past to project the future. In normal times, assessing what conditions will be…

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Last starlight for ground-breaking Gaia

Launched on 19 December 2013, Gaia’s fuel tank is now approaching empty – it uses about a dozen grams of cold gas per day to keep it spinning with pinpoint precision. But this is far from the end of the mission. Technology tests are scheduled for the weeks ahead before Gaia is moved to its ‘retirement’ orbit, and two massive data releases are tabled for around 2026 and the end…

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Dependency and depopulation? Confronting the consequences of a new demographic reality

At a glance Falling fertility rates are propelling major economies toward population collapse in this century. Two-thirds of humanity lives in countries with fertility below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per family. By 2100, populations in some major economies will fall by 20 to 50 percent, based on UN projections. Age structures are inverting—from pyramids to obelisks—as the number of older people grows and the number of younger people…

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New Year, New Penalties: OSHA and USEPA Increase Penalties

Seyfarth Synopsis: The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) have published their 2025 increases to civil penalties. We have blogged previously about the annual adjustments to the maximum civil penalty dollar amounts for OSHA and EPA violations. The agencies have now finalized the 2024 inflation adjustments, which increase the penalties. Under the rule, the new maximum OSHA civil penalties for 2025 will be increased by 2.6%:…

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Trump and Fear: the new alliance between mercantilism and geopolitics

Transactions vs. manipulation The first stage is media manipulation: what little protest Western governments have raised has been weak. There is a mix of explanations for this apparent apathy, the first of which is outright shock. At the heart of the Trump playbook (as demonstrated by many things Trump has said) is the strategy of cultivating a kind of “power through uncertainty” which vaguely echoes Nixon’s “madman theory”1 and which,…

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As dengue cases rise, research points to a simple solution: trash cleanup

As cases of dengue fever skyrocketed globally this past year, new findings by Stanford researchers and their international collaborators underscore the importance of one measure that can significantly reduce disease risk: cleaning up trash. Dengue fever is a viral illness spread through mosquito bites. While cases can be asymptomatic, many people experience high fever and painful body aches. Second infections are often more severe and can lead to hemorrhagic fever, shock,…

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FTC Announces 2025 Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Thresholds and Filing Fees

On January 10, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the 2025 threshold for applying the size-of-parties test of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act will increase from $119.5 million to $126.4 million. Deals that exceed this $126.4 million threshold may need to be reported to the FTC and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) depending on the size of the parties to the transaction as measured by the volume of their sales…

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FAQs Provide Details on Workforce Demographic Reporting for Massachusetts Employers

Quick Hits Massachusetts issued new FAQs containing details for employers on how they can meet their obligations when reporting wage data pursuant to the state’s new pay transparency law. Employers in Massachusetts will need to submit workforce demographic information to the state each year under a new law. Covered employers must submit their most recently filed EEO-1 report to the state by February 3, 2025. Employers need not provide customized…

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What’s in the Price?

“Am I too late?” This is the question that plagues traders trying to make gains from “novel” information. After all, there is always a chance that the signal that they are about to trade on has already been priced in by the market. When speculators contemplate trading based on a particular signal, can they tell if their signal is truly novel (on which it would be profitable to trade) or if…

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BMI, blood pressure and physical activity levels in childhood linked to brain differences

Obesity, hypertension (high blood pressure) and physical inactivity are known to be cardiovascular risk factors for dementia in middle age but, so far, little is known about these links between heart and brain health much earlier in life.Researchers led by a team at the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry, in collaboration with University College London and funded by the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre and Wellcome, looked at…

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The State of Luxury: How to navigate a slowdown

Over the past five years, the luxury industry experienced a period of exceptional value creation. Between 2019 and 2023, unprecedented demand for personal luxury goods—fashion, leather goods, watches, and jewelry among them—combined with a deep well of supply allowed the sector to achieve a 5 percent compound annual growth rate. Luxury brands outperformed global markets and achieved new profitability records. The pace of growth across the industry was remarkable and…

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The ‘value now’ consumer: Making sense of US consumer sentiment and spending

In McKinsey’s latest ConsumerWise research, consumers report feeling more optimistic about the US economy than they have all year. Even so, US consumer optimism overall is still lower than prepandemic levels, and more than half of consumers (53 percent) report mixed feelings or being pessimistic about the state of the economy.For decades, consumer sentiment and consumer spending have moved in sync—when people feel unsure about the economy, they spend less. But…

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Turbocharging Organizational Learning With GenAI

Topics How to Maximize the Business Value of Generative AI The promise of generative AI is value — higher revenue, streamlined efficiencies, and more innovative decision-making. Achieving this value isn’t easy. Maximizing it is even harder. This MIT SMR Executive Guide offers expert insights into the strategies needed to get the most out of GenAI. Brought to you by: More in this series Neil Webb Generative AI can radically improve…

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Oxford researchers develop blood test to enable early detection of multiple cancers

Named TriOx, this innovative test analyses multiple features of DNA in the blood to identify subtle signs of cancer, which could offer a fast, sensitive and minimally invasive alternative to current detection methods.The study, published in Nature Communications, showed that TriOx accurately detected cancer (including in its early stages) across six cancer types and reliably distinguished those people who had cancer from those that did not.Cancers are more likely to…

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The Art of Delegation

Consider this man. He takes daily post-lunch naps and frequently dozes off in a lounge chair after dinner. He spends his afternoons at home rather than at the office, tending to his garden and golfing. He spends months away from work on vacation. He prides himself on avoiding “hustling”. “I’m here because I shirked: [I] did less work,” he reflects.Many people may look askance at such a guy, but in…

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Charting the path to patients

Life sciences is on the cusp of a new era of innovation. The convergence of breakthrough technologies, widespread access to data, and deeper insights into complex biological systems is revolutionizing how the industry approaches R&D. For instance, venture capital funding for machine-learning-enabled drug discovery surged more than sevenfold from 2019 to 2022, according to McKinsey analysis. Interest in innovative modalities such as antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) remains strong, with the top…

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External innovation: Biopharma dealmaking to boost R&D productivity

The competition among biopharmaceutical companies for externally sourced assets is heating up. Despite recent successes delivering innovative therapies at a faster pace and achieving solid returns for shareholders, demand persists across a range of unmet needs. And yet, companies are increasingly pursuing the same disease areas and targets. This “herding” behavior makes it less likely that any company can outperform. Further, the breadth and complexity of all available targets and…

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